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6 Tips to Keep You on Track with Good Eating Habits
For many of us, living a healthy lifestyle is at the top of our personal to-do list, since eating well is an important part of leading a healthy life. But do you ever feel that you start the year off strong, only to find that as the months wear on, you have a hard time sticking to that goal with your busy schedule, work and personal commitments?
Instead, here are six suggestions to help keep your healthy eating resolution going strong all year long:
- Select a Few Healthy Snacks to Keep You on Track. Some healthy snacks include almonds, popcorn, dried fruit or granola bars. Try some different options to find what you like best and what keeps you feeling full during the day. You can even try healthy snack subscription services like NatureBox, Graze or Love With Food to add some variety to your snacking.
- Portion out Your Snacks for the Week. When hunger strikes during the day, it’s important to have healthy snacks available. Instead of keeping large bags of almonds, popcorn or your favorite snack at your desk, take a little extra time to portion out servings at the beginning of the week so you have suitably-sized snacks for each day. Having one snack already pre-portioned will help you avoid the pitfall of eating the whole bag while sitting at your desk, and will also help you avoid unhealthier food that you can find around the office. (We’ve all seen that cake magically appear in the break room!) Instead of saying yes to that, keep yourself on track by providing your own healthier option.
- Don’t go Grocery Shopping Without a List. And Stick with What’s on that List. The grocery store: it’s the place where you have to avoid temptations. One helpful tip is to “shop the perimeter” of the store. Most of the fresh foods are part of that perimeter – meats, seafood, produce and dairy. Fresh foods are always better for you, and can help limit the purchase of salt-laden, processed and unhealthy foods lurking in those middle aisles – after all, if you don’t bring the bad food back to your house, you are less likely to fall off track.
- Plan Out your Meals for Busy Days. Does this sound like a familiar situation? You finally make it home after a very busy day, and you just want to eat the first thing that is easiest. Or, you make a poor choice by stopping on your way home and grabbing take-out that you may regret later. Solution: when you have some time to cook, such as on a weekend, make extra meals and freeze them for use later in the week. Or you could set aside some time on Sunday afternoon to prep the ingredients for the week. Then, all you have to do when you get home is put the meal together. Another option: a healthy, simple crockpot dinner. Lastly, for those days when you are on the go and just simply don’t have any time to cook, find a couple of healthy items at a few “fast casual” restaurants – like Panera — that you can use as a go-to for when those situations arise.
- Try Adding Protein Shakes or Juices to your Diet. Protein shakes are all the rage these days. Some people use them as a supplement or a meal replacement. Juice bars have also increased in popularity during the last several years and can also be a healthy breakfast or snack.
- Drink Plenty of Water. This seems like a simple tip, and probably one that you’ve heard before, but staying hydrated can help you feel fuller. And choosing water over a higher calorie beverage can help you keep unwanted extra calories at bay.
If eating healthy is part of your New Year’s resolution, try some of these tips to help keep up the motivation throughout the year. And always remember to stay patient with yourself; if you slip up, understand why that happened, and move forward with a plan to avoid the same pitfall next time.
