At some point, we all have that thought “I’d like to eat healthier”. For some people, it stops at that thought and we never change our habits, for others we make a real effort to eat healthier but we don’t sustain it for long. Finally, there are those people who decide to eat healthier and do. Are these three groups of people so different? Does the final group simply want to change more, have more discipline? While these can be factors, sometimes the winners just have a better approach. The truth is that if you don’t know how to approach it, eating healthy can be a real chore. Yet, it doesn’t have to be. The real secret to eating healthy is to make sure you enjoy it.
Some of us have grown up eating food that is high in sugar and salt and making the transition to healthy foods makes everything taste bland. If you start eating healthy you may take pride in this new regime to begin with and with every bland bite, you pat yourself on the back even more. However, it won’t last. At some point, you will simply crave delicious food and you will give in. You will likely break your diet and never return.
Instead, try and start eating healthy food without sacrificing taste. There are a number of approaches to do this successfully. The easiest method is to simply add more healthy food into your existing meals and slowly take out the bad foods. Adding an avocado to your burger has been shown to reduce the inflammation caused by red meat. This is a great first step to loving avocado. Don’t be surprised if avocado soon becomes your favorite part of that burger. In the future, you may even enjoy an avocado salad as a result but start slow.
Kale has a sharp taste but having it with bacon makes it delicious. I am not saying bacon is healthy and be realistic about how much you will change if you keep eating unhealthy foods as the majority of your meals but this is a good place to start. If you are eating a dish with pasta or rice you can make that same carb-heavy dish but mix vegetables in between. We have seen so many people attempt to eat entire bowls of vegetables and they hate it but rice and veg can be very tasty.
The second approach is to spice up your healthy food, literally. By adding more spices and herbs you can get a lot more taste from your veg. Chili eggplant is an amazing dish and pretty healthy. Adding herbs and spices can add a lot of complex flavors to a dish and keep you coming back for more. Roast salmon and potatoes with herbs and spices is the nicest dish in the world.
This is a good start but over time you should start to eat more of these healthy foods and less of the unhealthy ones. Increase the proportion of veg in your meals while reducing the proportion of carbs and meat. Before you know it you will be a big fan of some vegetables. Start to include them in more of your meals until you wake up one day and realize you actually enjoy healthy food.
Smoothies and juices are another great way to get your nutrients. Don’t purchase these from shops as they pack in a lot of sugar. Instead, make your own healthy juices at home and realize just how delicious they are.
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be difficult. That is just what fast food companies want you to think. If you put salmon in the oven for 25 minutes and boil rice at the same time you can have an easy, healthy, and delicious meal. There really is no excuse for ordering that pizza anymore.
