People often think that eating healthy is difficult, or that they need to learn some new skill to do it. But the truth is, learning how to eat healthy is actually a very old skill—one that we’re all born with! In this post, I’ll outline some simple steps you can take to get started on your journey towards optimal health and likely weight loss. So don’t wait any longer—let’s get started eating healthier!
What you will learn
Eating habits in the 21st century
Before we start, let’s define the problem we face-the true pandemic of bad eating habits and poor health that is sweeping almost all the world.
In the 21st century, people have developed very bad eating habits. They’re now more likely to eat for pleasure and entertainment than out of necessity, and they’re drawn to ultra-processed foods, junk food, and foods full of saturated fats.
People are more concerned with the taste of their food than the quality. They have become used to eating meals that are high in saturated fat and sugar, and as a result, they have lost touch with what it means to eat for sustenance. Instead of eating to satisfy their hunger, they eat to satisfy their cravings.
As a result, rates of obesity, heart disease and other chronic disease are skyrocketing.
Why do I struggle to eat healthy?
We struggle to eat healthy for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, processed foods have taken over our diets. These foods are often high in sugar, fat, and calories, and low in nutritional value. They’re easy to consume in large quantities, and they’re often cheaper than healthy alternatives. As a result, we end up consuming more calories than we need, and we don’t get the nutrients our bodies need to function properly.
In addition, the food industry spends billions of dollars each year promoting these unhealthy foods. They bombard us with advertising that makes processed foods look irresistible, and they make it hard to find healthy options in stores and restaurants. As a consequence, we frequently wind up with eating unhealthy foods even when we’re trying to eat healthy. Healthy eating is often seen as boring or restrictive. We’re bombarded with images of delicious-looking unhealthy foods, and it’s easy to think that healthy foods will be bland and unappealing.
Resistance is difficult. We have become a society that is reliant on packaged and highly processed foods and food consumption has become our modern way of having fun and entertainment. We are surrounded by thousands upon thousand restaurants, fast food chains, or even luxury ones that offer us ready-to-eat foods for purchase on the go. The quest to find delicious pleasure is what drives many people today as they continue their journey in search for satisfying their taste.
The missing link to starting healthy eating
Almost every article or blog post trying to answer the question “how to start healthy eating?” mentions the same repeated tips: eat fruits and vegetables, eat more healthy fats, limit processed food, eat whole foods (e.g. whole grain bread), count food intake, make a healthy eating plan, etc. How many times have you read all these tips?
If those tips, rather than eating habits, were effective enough we would be all in a better shape. Yet, the truth is different. Those habits offer assistance in the right direction to improve our dietary intake but they do not answer the above question. Establishing good habits comes after overcoming the obstacle of starting healthy eating.
As we stated in the previous paragraph we have to beat huge difficulties (food factories, advertisements, social eating for entertainment, etc). Likely, the tip or advice to start eating healthier should be mental.
How can I train myself to eat healthy?
The training to start a healthy diet begins by training our minds. It is training to develop a new mentality around food. Just like any other skill, it takes time and effort to learn. But it is so worth it! The health benefits are more than you imagine.
The zero-step for that training is to become aware of our current eating habits. Aware of the reasons which make us struggle to eat healthy. Do we tend to eat when we’re stressed or bored? Do we reach for sugary or fatty foods when we’re feeling down? Why and when do we eat? Once we know our triggers, we can start to work on Overcoming them.
After realizing the problem we can start to build our mental training, to start educate ourselves about the authentic relationship with food. It is absolutely necessary to re-evaluate that relationship. What we should start thinking, to that direction, is the following very crucial question:
What is the essential purpose of food?
We need to persuade ourselves that the primary, and therefore unique, role of food is to provide energy as well as all the necessary nutrients to the body in order to properly function.
The basic information above is well known. What has been altered is that energy supply has ceased to be the sole purpose and tends to come last, forgotten in a series of fabricated reasons. That is why it is important to consciously bring back the main purpose first on this list.
This effort requires systematically, every day, every hour, to ask yourself: What is the primary role of food? – and give the same answer: We need healthy food to provide necessary nutrients to the body for better function and well-being.
That mentality was natural for people of an old era. People lived in prehistoric times, before the agricultural revolution, and then later, in antiquity, maintained a pure, traditional relationship with food. The relationship that is linked to primitive notions of survival and is expressed by the idea that food is a source of energy for the body to carry out all necessary activities in nature.
Changing our eating perspective needs time and dedication. Once we have made this shift in mindset, it will be easier to make healthier choices when it comes to what we eat.
How can a beginner start eating healthy?
First and foremost. Don’t be afraid!
The thought of leaving behind all of the delicious, greasy, and unhealthy foods that we love so dearly can be a daunting one. It seems like an impossible task to give up the things that we have been eating our whole lives. Our soul denies to leave these known habits, even knowing that they are bad.
Take a step back and look at the bigger picture, it is clear that making the switch to a nutritious diet is a necessary change that you need to make. So, do not let your fear or anxiety keep you from making this positive change in your lives.
Start acting!
- Become aware of your current eating habits and the reasons which make you struggle to eat healthy. Write down everything you eat, when you eat and most importantly what you feel eating the food. You could also write what affects you for every food choice and how strong is the impact of your social environment to these choices.
- Educate yourself #1. Start asking yourself, systematically: what is the essential purpose of food? Try to convince your mind and soul that food’s primary purpose is to provide energy as well as all of the essential nutrients the body needs in order to operate properly. Dedicate time and effort to that training in order to change your mindset.
- Educate yourself #2. Learn about the different nutrients our bodies need and how we can get them from the foods we eat. Learn about: simple and complex carbs (whole grains, brown rice, etc), healthy fat (olive oil, nuts, seeds, fatty fish etc), fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, dairy products, lean protein sources (e. g. grain fed beef). This knowledge is your power and will help you make better choices when you’re grocery shopping or ordering food at a restaurant.
Finally, be patient with yourself and don’t expect overnight results. Making lasting changes to your diet takes time and effort, but it is definitely worth it in the end.
Conclusion
Congratulations on making it this far! I hope you’re feeling motivated to tackle the challenge of changing your relationship with food. It won’t be easy, but the knowledge we’ve shared in this series should help make the process a little less daunting. Remember, change doesn’t happen overnight so take things one step at a time and be patient with yourself. And most importantly, don’t forget to celebrate your successes along the way!
