Achieving a healthy weight revolves around 3 main things:
- Habits
- Mindset and
- Food
And in this article, we will talk about this theme to help you focus on making healthy food habits and lifestyle changes instead of embarking on a diet. At times, our thoughts, bad habits, and unhealthy food are the stumbling blocks preventing us from achieving our health and wellness goals. Now, it’s time to make a change, reset, and say goodbye to all these things.
Is it good to stay away from foods that make us want to take sugar? Does it make sense to stop bad habits that affect our health? Should we get rid of unhelpful, negative thoughts? Should we just stay away for some time, or are we breaking up with it forever?
Below, you’ll find many valuable tips to help you make healthy changes to achieve your desired weight and keep it.
How to Ditch a Food and Make Healthy Habits Instead
Breaking up is a difficult thing to do……you will know what we’re talking about if you have ever experienced a breakup. But at times, the thing we like the most is not good for us.
In this case, we are referring to FOOD.
Ditching the foods you love, the ones you cannot say no to, or just take a bite and stop. The foods that trigger you to eat more and more.
Most of us eat trigger foods not because we are hungry but because of our emotions or habit. A trigger food is one that you often get addicted to, and they are usually processed foods, containing a high amount of calories and carbohydrates. But there are ways to deal with emotional cravings and triggers.
If you are not just starting your weight loss journey, then chances are that you have already had a difficult conversation with your trigger food. Did you bid it goodbye forever, or is it a see-you-later thing?
Now picture this: You have put in a lot of work to begin a new healthier lifestyle and get rid of excess pounds. Now you are seeing little changes, and you love it! Then you come across your trigger food – the popcorn, the potato chips. Then you say to yourself:
“I can handle this. I will just eat one and stop.”
But will you?
Ideally, every time we find ourselves in that critical moment, we would make the right decision and have just one bite. However, those critical moments happen very fast, and we are not always conscious of our decisions. In many cases, they occur automatically, out of our old but unburied habits.
You need a lot of willpower to avoid temptations when they come or to stop at a single bite. But all of us have probably been in a situation where that willpower is lacking when we need it the most. It’s easy to lose self-control when we are stressed, tired, famished, or have other psychological and emotional issues on our minds. Your brain, which acts based on logic, becomes tired and wants to act on an impulse. That’s why it is important to set up your environment in a way that helps you make healthier food choices in the absence of willpower. So, stay away from the snack aisle at the food store.
Avoid looking at it. And tell your family members not to come home with any of your trigger food. Inform the waiter at the food restaurant not to place chips, fries, or other appetizers on your table.
Ditching Your Trigger Food. Forever!
Write a goodbye letter.
In this letter, let your trigger food know what you think of it, and then bid it goodbye for life! For the sake of accountability, share this letter with your partner, a friend, or a diet coach. Place the letter where you can easily see it and never look back. And soon, your trigger food will become a thing of the past.
How to Give Up a Bad Habit
Our habits and behavior are not easy to change. A lot of habits we would like to give up, have been part and parcel of us for a very long time. Although they provide instant pleasure, they result in regret and undesirable health issues. At times, the enormity of cultivating several new healthy habits and dropping old ones can be overwhelming. But instead of changing everything at once, we can begin with a little change to increase our confidence and slightly improve our health in the process. Now is the time to ditch an unhealthy food habit and resort to a healthy one.
Below are Some Ways to Give Up a Habit:
To give up an old habit, break it down into smaller pieces.
- Do you want to watch less TV? Switch off your television one hour before bed.
- Do you wish to stop taking coffee? Ditch your afternoon coffee.
- Do you want to consume fewer takeout foods? Find one meal that you can replace with homemade food.
Letting go of something we frequently do can be difficult, so try to do less of it, knowing that each step draws you closer to achieving better health.
Get Your Temptation Out of Sight and Make It Harder to Do
One effective way to break up our bad habits is to make them more difficult to do. Although some of these suggestions may seem ridiculous, sometimes you need to take huge steps to make a change.
For example,
- Not going out with your credit card can prevent you from making impulse purchases.
- Keeping your wallet in your car’s trunk can make ordering food at the drive-thru harder.
- Leaving your phone in a different room at night can make it impossible for you to browse social media before bed or switch off the alarm too frequently in the morning.
- Removing the batteries of devices that tempt us or keeping things out of sight or in difficult places can make the objects of our habits harder to reach.
Replace Your Old Unhealthy Food Habits with New Healthy Ones
You will reap double benefits when you replace a bad habit with a new healthy one.
Taking a cup of healing herbal tea instead of a glass of wine, replacing sugary sodas with sparkling water, doing morning meditation instead of staying up in bed, taking a brisk walk instead of eating snacks before dinner – offer you twice the benefits!
If you are looking for more healthy habits to lose weight, this article from our coach could be very helpful.
Always Remind Yourself of the Advantages of Making a Healthy Change
At times, we need to persuade ourselves not to do an unhealthy thing. Having a simple reminder and writing small notes about the benefits of staying away can help. Tell yourself:
“If I reduce my coffee intake, my tummy will feel better, and I will have a better sleep.”
“If I don’t go to the snack aisle at the food store, I will save calories and money.”
“If I stop hitting the snooze button, I will have more time for myself in the morning.”
Keep Track of Your Progress
Tracking your habits makes you accountable and helps you to know your progress. So, create a spreadsheet or get a calendar and give yourself a check for each day you are able to avoid or replace your habit. Promise yourself not to miss twice. If you revert to your habit, then strive not to go back to it ever again.
Ditch your habit the following day and start monitoring your progress again.
Reward Yourself
Rewards motivate us to achieve our desired goals.
Ponder on one thing you wish to give yourself as a reward after a particular time and monitor your progress until you qualify for the reward. It could be a new pair of shoes, a bag, a special treat, or any activity that makes your efforts feel worth it.
Once you earn your reward, check whether you still have to continue working on the said habit or if it is now easy for you so that you move on and start tackling another habit.
We all have things to do to improve ourselves, so we can live healthier, happier lives for longer. So, it’s important to give yourself time and grace while trying to change your habits.
How to Break a Tradition or Situation
What comes to your mind when you think of Saint Patrick’s Day? Do you think of taking some green beer or an Irish Bomb Shot?
What of Easter? Do you need to eat a Cadbury egg, chocolate bunny, or grilled ham with cheese and macaroni? Do you see yourself being asked to come with a particular cookie, cake, or any healthy food that you’re known for your family dinner?
The point we are trying to make is that it’s going to be difficult to achieve success with a healthy eating plan when our customs revolve around unhealthy food choices. Just because something is a tradition does not mean we should continue doing it when we know it’s bad for us.
Now is the time to give up these traditions and situations.
If we wish to live a healthy lifestyle and change the way our children, family, and friends think about their food and general wellness, we need to lead by example.
Take Little Steps to Make Healthy Changes
Rename your days of the week! And once you have done that, choose a healthy activity, guide meditation, or anything that aligns with your new view of the week. Here are some clever ideas to adopt some healthy food habits.
If you feel like taking a green drink on Saint Patrick’s Day, order a Basil Club Soda with lime or a Muddled Mint.
On Easter day, prepare a cheesy broccoli bake and eat it instead of cheese and macaroni.
You can also decide to make a huge change and start NEW healthy traditions. Begin to take healthy food to family gatherings, eat fruit and cheese plates for dessert instead of pies or cakes, and make veggie trays for the holidays.
Before you know it, people will start referring to you as the HEALTHY person and asking you to come with that amazing healthy food to parties or dinners. With time, people will be asking what you brought to dinner, knowing that if they eat it, they will not feel crappy the following day.
How to Ditch an Unhelpful Mindset
Reframing
Our thoughts have more power over us than many people think!
They can heal or destroy us, give hope or destruction, build or shred us apart. What kind of thoughts are you allowing in your mind, and how can you get rid of thoughts that are not helpful?
The simple way to do this is to:
- Identify the unhelpful thoughts
- Recognize or ditch these thoughts
- Reframe or rebuild
For example:
Unhelpful thinking, “I’m so bored. Let me go grab some snacks.”
Helpful thinking, “I’m so bored, but I’m not hungry. Let me find something interesting to do.”
Ask yourself, how is boredom related to eating? They are not related, but we link them together a lot of time. No, eating food will not stop you from being bored. What changes boredom is embarking on an exciting project, task, or activity.
This is just an example…..
Do you have any unhelpful thoughts you would like to reframe? Tell your health coach about them!!!
At times, we have unhelpful thoughts that can be reframed to help us remain steadfast in achieving our health and wellness goals.
Self Sabotage
Do you self-sabotage? Have you ever embarked on a goal only to see your old-thinking setting in and returning you to your old behaviors?
For example – Let’s say you began a new healthy eating plan and your friends invite you to dinner….
Sabotaging thinking: “I will consume anything I want tonight and begin again tomorrow.”
Helpful thinking: “Oh, I like this restaurant and already know the taste of my old favorite meals. Now, let me try a new meal that will help me stay on track.”
Here are the steps to avoid self-sabotaging yourself:
- Know the patterns of self-sabotage
- Take preemptive actions in these moments, make a plan, and get ready in advance
- Instead of seeing these moments as a threat, see them as a chance to know how committed you are to your new goals, objectives, and mindset.
- Acknowledge your plan and way of thinking whenever you overcome something that would normally trigger you to self-sabotage.
Can You Read Mind?
Do you tend to read minds?
Have you ever said to yourself,
“I had to take this hamburger, or other people would feel uncomfortable if I just sat there and did not eat with them.”
Or
“I need to eat these cookies because my grandma made them just for me, and she would be unhappy if I did not eat them.”
Do these thoughts help in any way? Do you really know what another person is thinking?
In most cases, you don’t. You can only assume. And if your friend is aware you are trying to improve your health and achieve your goals, they will probably help you realize them!
So give the cookies to a colleague or neighbor, go for healthy food, even when nobody else is… and stop mind-reading!! Focus on your goals, your mindset, your WHY, and your health!
Labeling
What do you label yourself as?
Do you think of yourself as a foodie or stress eater? Are you from a heavy family or okay with how you currently are? Have you been like this all your life?
Do these labels help you, or are they preventing you from moving ahead?
Tell the truth!
They are unhelpful!
And even when we are beginning to make changes, they can revert us to our old ways. It‘s important to ditch old labels that are not helping us achieve our goals or health.
Try these and note if they feel different….
“I’m a stress eater, but I can look for new ways to manage my stress.”
“We tend to be overweight in my family, but I can learn to exercise, eat, and think differently in order to achieve a healthy weight.”
“This is the way I have been in the past, but how I will be in the future is not yet decided, and I can change that.”
“I like to eat food a lot, and in the past, that meant fatty and sugary foods, but from now on, I’ll be a foodie of healthy foods with different veggies, proteins, seasonings, and flavors.”
“I used to tell myself that I’m okay with this weight, but I am sure that I can feel better and I’m worth putting in the efforts to achieve it.”
Doesn’t it feel different? It’s a way of thinking that recognizes old labels and arms you with the necessary tools to go beyond that restricting label.
Try to give yourself new labels when ditching unhelpful ones. Make sure that these new labels help you live your life in the best way possible – You are Able, You are Sufficient, You are Strong, You are Healthy, You are worth all the efforts, You can make healthy choices, You can withstand temptations!!
Comparison
Comparison steals your joy.
We often hear some people say,
“Skinny people don’t need to bother about what they eat.”
That is not a helpful statement. Does it make you feel great? NO! Is it true? The answer is NO (in most cases).
While it’s true that some people eat anything they want and seem not to gain weight, this does not necessarily mean they are in good health. Bad food probably still affects them in some ways. Food can be likened to fuel. If you fill your body with bad fuel for an extended period of time, the effects of that will surface.
If you pay attention to your slim friends or speak with them, you will notice that they are concerned about the food they eat. You may also find that your skinny friends sometimes make healthy choices, measure their weight every day, take plenty of water, and try to eat healthily.
We have a client who started our weight loss program a few years ago to shed just 7 pounds. While she did not appear like she had to lose any weight, shedding those pounds made her feel better. Ever since, she has always followed our maintenance approach of eating, and she sticks to this way of eating no matter the environment, restaurant, or vacation she’s on. Of course, her coach helped her in this and we provided her with a useful guide to eating out while trying to lose weight.
So avoid comparison and try to enjoy your life. Live your life the best way possible and stop comparing. If you still want to compare yourself, compare the person you are today to who you were the previous year or who you wish to be the following year.
This is the kind of comparison that can help you focus on your goals, improve you and motivate you to achieve your health and wellness goals.
We hope this year you will make changes to your food environment, adopt healthy habits and take some of the best choices for your health and life. If you need any other guidance or have a query, feel free to set up a free consultation with our coaches.
