What Healthy Eating Means to You?

Cheryl A Major, CNWC

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to healthy eating really isn’t developing new habits. Before you work on changing habits, it’s important to define what healthy eating means to you. The truth is it’s going to be different for everyone, so before you begin adding new healthy eating habits, it’s a good idea to understand what healthy eating means to you.

What Are Your Current Eating Habits?

To figure out what you want your healthy eating to look like, begin with where you are now. How and what do you eat on a daily basis? Write down what you eat in a typical week, not just one day. Days can change throughout the week, so it’s best if you look at your diet over a period of several days.

Take a few days to write down what you ate, when your mealtimes were, when you snacked, and little eating habits that you don’t think are the best for you. It’s also important to note the foods you ate that didn’t serve your good health and how you felt or what was going on when you made those food choices. Did you have a bad day, an argument with someone, were you feeling down? It’s important to incorporate your mental and emotional stuff when looking at what and how you eat. Many of us use food to replace love or approval, so it’s important to write down how you felt (especially if you reached for that box of cookies and devoured them).

What Do You Need to Change?

Once you’ve looked at everything you ate over a period of several days and have really analyzed it, what jumps out at you as something you would like to change? What could you take off your plate and know you were moving in a healthier direction? The more you think about foods you aren’t quite sure fit into a healthy routine, the more you’ll discover what your personal definition of healthy eating is. Awareness and the ability to choose food and to eat with awareness is the best first step!

For example, your first change might be snacking after dinner and before going to bed. The basic healthy eating habit you incorporate is simply eating a more nutritious dinner to avoid the need to snack in the evening. Other people might find healthy eating to them is about including more plant-based foods in their diet.

What Do You Consider a Healthy Diet?

Next, get more detailed about what you think of when you think of healthy diets. This can mean so many things, but here are a few examples to get you started:

• Eating more whole foods
• Whole grains, fruits, and veggies
• Limited or no snacking between meals
• Reducing foods containing dairy and gluten
• Limiting high fat foods
• Fewer sweets and high sugar foods
• Limiting refined carbs

How Can You Develop These Healthier Eating Habits?

When you’ve defined healthy eating and have a better understand of what it is you want to change in your own lifestyle, what are some ways you can add healthy eating to your routine? Awareness and making small but steady changes are the best ways to create a healthier eating lifestyle that you can maintain. Remember, this is not about going on a diet. Instead, it is about making changes that you will stick to on a consistent basis. It’s about figuring out what healthy eating means to you.

Helping You Achieve Major Wellness!

Cheryl A Major, CNWC

I’m author, health coach, and entrepreneur Cheryl A Major, and I would love to connect with you! If you’re new to the world of creating better health, both mental and physical for yourself, please check out my training on how to get sugar out of your diet. Crack Your Sugar Habit is where to check it out. Learn how sugar, as yummy as it may taste to you now, affects your mental and physical health and how to go about reducing or eliminating it from your diet.

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