How to Improve Your Eating Habits

 How to Improve Your Eating Habits

When it comes to eating, we all have very ingrained habits. Some are good (“I always eat breakfast”) and others are not so good (“I always leave my plate clean”). Although many eating habits we acquire from childhood, it does not mean that it is too late to change them.

Sudden and radical changes in eating habits, such as eating nothing but cabbage soup, can lead to short-term weight loss. But these exaggerated changes are neither healthy nor good and will not help in the long run. To permanently improve eating habits, a Reflect, Substitute, and Reinforce approach is needed.

• REFLECT on all of your eating habits, both good and bad, as well as the things that trigger unhealthy eating.
• SUBSTITUTE your unhealthy eating habits with healthier ones.
• STRENGTHEN your new eating habits.

Reflect, Substitute, and Reinforce: A Process to Improve Your Eating Habits:

1. Make a list of your eating habits Keeping a "food diary" for a few days where you write down everything you eat and the time you eat will help you figure out your habits. For example, it may be that you always want something sweet when you feel your energy low in the afternoon. It's good to write down how you felt when you decided to eat, especially if you weren't hungry. Were you tired or stressed?

2. Underline the habits on the list that are causing you to eat more than you need. Eating habits that can often lead to weight gain include:

• Eat very fast
• Eat everything that is served from the plate
• Eating when you are not hungry
• Eating standing up (can make you eat without thinking about what you eat or very quickly)
• Always eat dessert
• Skipping meals (or just breakfast)

 

 

3. Review the unhealthy eating habits you have highlighted. Be sure to identify all the factors that trigger these habits. Identify some of the ones you will try to change first. Be sure to congratulate yourself on things you do well. Maybe you almost always eat fruit for dessert or drink low-fat or fat-free milk. These are good habits! By acknowledging your accomplishments, you will be motivated to make more changes.

4. Make a list of "triggers" by reviewing your food diary. You will be more aware of where and when "triggers" arise to eat without feeling hungry. Write down how you usually feel on those occasions. It is often an environmental "trigger" or a particular mood that prompts us to eat without feeling hungry. Common triggers that drive you to eat when you're not hungry:

. Open a drawer and find your favorite snack.

. Sit at home and watch television.

. Before or after a meeting or stressful situation at work.

. Coming home from work and having no idea what to eat.

. Have someone offer you a dish that they made "just for you"!

. Walk past a sweet dish on a counter.

. Sit in the lunchroom at work near the vending machine for treats or snacks.

. See a plate of donuts in the morning during a business meeting.

. Spend every morning at the window of your favorite fast food restaurant.

. Feeling bored or tired and thinking that eating something will lift your spirits.

5. Circle the “triggers” from the list that you face on a daily or weekly basis . Getting together with your family on Thanksgiving can be a “trigger” for overeating. It would be nice if you have a plan in place to counteract these factors. But for now, focus on the ones you have most often.

6. Ask yourself the following for each “trigger” you have circled:

. Is there anything I can do to avoid this trigger or situation? This option works best with some triggers that are independent of others. For example, could you take a different route to work to avoid stopping at your favorite fast food restaurant? Is there another place in the lunchroom at work where you can sit that is not near the vending machine?

. Of the things that I cannot avoid, can I do something different that is healthier? Obviously, you cannot avoid all situations that trigger unhealthy eating habits, such as work meetings. In these circumstances, evaluate your options. Could you suggest or bring healthy snacks and drinks? Could you offer to take notes to divert your attention from those snacks? Could you sit further away from the food so that it is not easy for you to grab something? Could you have a healthy snack before the meeting?

7. Replace unhealthy habits with new healthy habits . For example, reflecting on your eating habits, you may find that you eat too fast when you are alone. To counteract this, arrange to have lunch each week with a co-worker or invite a neighbor out for dinner one night a week. Other strategies may be placing silverware on the plate between bites or minimizing other distractions (such as watching the news at dinner time) with which we cannot pay attention to the time it takes to eat or the amount of food.
Here are more ideas to replace unhealthy habits:

. Eat more slowly. If you eat too fast, you may run out of all the food on your plate without realizing that it is already full.

. Eat only when you are really hungry, instead of eating because you are tired, distressed, or in any other mood. If you find that you are not eating hungry but because you feel bored or distressed, do something else that does not involve eating. You might feel better with a brisk walk or calling a friend on the phone.

. Plan meals ahead of time to make sure they are healthy and well balanced.

8. Reinforce your new healthy habits and be patient with yourself . Habits are formed over time, they are not adopted overnight. When you see that you are practicing an unhealthy habit, quickly stop and ask yourself: Why am I doing this? When did I start doing it? What do I need to change? Don't be too hard on yourself or think that one mistake will ruin a whole day of healthy habits. You can do it! You can do it one day at a time!