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How To Stick To A Healthy Eating Lifestyle

Efficient Lifestyle |

Starting to focus on eating a healthy diet that fuels your body is an exciting journey! And in my experience the starting is actually the easier part. Sticking to a healthy diet is often the harder part of your new healthy lifestyle. Which is why today I am sharing my best tips for how to actually stick to a healthy eating lifestyle!

But before we get into these tips for sticking to a healthy diet let’s quickly chat about why it’s important to stick to a healthy eating lifestyle.

Why you need to stick to a healthy eating lifestyle:

There are so many reasons that everyone should strive to eat healthier. But here’s a few of those reasons that have been the most important and encouraging to me:

  • Healthier diets lead to increased and better nutrients that help provide you with more energy.
  • Healthier food helps boost your mood and feel better about yourself. 
  • Eating a healthy diet can help lead to losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight. 
  • Eating healthy leads to better short term and long term health including a decreased chance of heart diseases and diabetes.

So now that we have chatted about the reasons let’s get into the actual tips for how to stick to your healthy diet!

How To Stick To A Healthy Eating Lifestyle

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How To Stick To A Healthy Eating Lifestyle

Tips for sticking to a healthy diet:

Tip 1: Pace yourself while you are eating.

The first tip for sticking to a healthy diet is to learn how to pace yourself when you are eating. 

There is a delay between your brain and your stomach. Which means that even if you physically are full you can still end up eating more food before your brain realizes that you are full. 

So eating your food at a moderate pace will allow your brain time to realize that you are full so you can stop eating!

Tip 2: Keep realistic snacks available.

Keeping snacks that are both healthy but you actually like to eat in the house is so helpful. It can stop you from grabbing unhealthy snacks and keep you from getting super hungry.

Because getting too hungry is one of the worst things you can do to your body for so many reasons!

I love to keep a variety pack of protein bars in the house at all times because the variety pack helps to keep me from getting bored with my snacks. Here is my current favorite!

Tip 3: Create and stick to a grocery list

Grocery lists are so important for making sure that you are stocking your fridge and pantry with healthy food that will help you stick to your healthier lifestyle. 

I personally use an app (OurGroceries) but if you prefer to use pen and paper then get a grocery shopping list that magnetic like this one so that you can stick them to the fridge and keep a running list.

Tip 4: Make sure you are drinking lots of water

Adding more water into your life is one of the easiest tips for having a healthier life.

If you are struggling to drink enough water then I recommend getting a tracking water bottle. They have times of the day marked on them so that you can remember to drink enough water every couple of hours. 

Tip 5: Find healthy substitutes that you like.

Making small switches and substituting in healthier food options. 

A few ideas for how to do this are:

  • Switch regular pasta for spaghetti squash of wheat pasta. 
  • Switch rice for cauliflower rice. 
  • Switch dairy milks for almond milk. 
  • Switch standard cooking oils for cocnut oil.

And the key to this tip is to make sure that they are really healthy substitutes that you like and don’t make you “miss” the original food item.

Tip 6: Find alternatives to fast food favorites

This is a two part tip! 

Part 1: find healthier menu items at your favorite fast food places. Sometimes (like on road trips) it’s really difficult to avoid eating fast food so having healthier options will help you maintain a healthier diet.

Part 2: find healthier food options for when you are in a rush. Finding things like drive through smoothie places will help you avoid going to fast food and eating unhealthy food. 

Tip 7: Find drinks that are zero calories that you enjoy.

Pop, coffee, alcohol, and juice can all have way more calories than you realize! 

Those yummy Starbucks drinks can quickly add up to 800+ calories for one single drink! And having a couple cans of pop during the day can quickly add up to 500 calories.

Plus those drinks don’t usually have very many healthy nutrients for your body. 

Tip 8: Be aware of hidden unhealthy foods

Unhealthy elements of your diet can sneak up on you without you even realizing. 

Switching your salad dressing at the restaurant can accidentally lead to you eating more unhealthy foods and calories than you intended. 

Sauces and condiments are two of the least healthy things that can sneak into your diet. Another way is through adding creamers to your coffee.

Unhealthy food can also sneak into your diet through small bites. “Trying” other people’s foods or just taking 1 bite of the cake in your fridge can quickly add up to a lot more bad food than you realize.

Tip 9: Plan your meals in advance

The final tip (for now) for eating healthier is to plan your meals in advance. 

Get a meal plan board and each Sunday morning before you get groceries for the week plan your meals for the week. Including trying to pick the restaurants for the week so that you can research healthy food options at the restaurants. 

Bonus: by sticking to a meal plan when you’re grocery shopping you’ll end up wasting less food and spending less money.

Korra-Shay

If you found this article on how to stick to a healthy eating lifestyle helpful then you probably (hopefully!) will find these helpful as well:

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