How to Start a Healthier Diet in a Realistic Way

With most of the talk of New Year’s resolutions behind us, many of us are looking to start a healthier diet in a more realistic way. Instead of the fads leapt into with the enthusiasm of a fresh year, it’s time to take a more practical look at the types of things we can do to improve our lifestyles.

After all, four out of every five people who set a New Year’s resolution to eat better, exercise more or lose weight will have given up on their plans by the second week of February! If you want to start a healthier diet that won’t come to an abrupt halt only a few weeks in, then it’s a good idea to find out exactly how to go about doing it properly.

Don’t Start a Healthier Diet Goal You Can’t Achieve

Many people start a healthier diet full of drive and enthusiasm but without a complete grasp on what their truly capable of maintaining over the long run. Changing your lifestyle habits can be very hard. Doing so slowly and steadily can give you a far greater chance at success than setting lofty goals that will seem too far out of reach after a very short time.

Use the following tips and tricks to keep yourself on track and start a healthier diet in a way you can actually keep up over time.

Trust Your Instincts

Indeed, if you’re trying to start a healthier diet, doing everything on impulse won’t do you any favors. However, if you pay attention to the way you feel as you make your food choices, you’ll discover a lot about what’s going on in your decision making. For instance, if you feel guilty, like you know you’re cheating on your diet, or that you’re eating too much, the odds are that you’re right. Learn about what healthy eating looks like and pay attention to your gut feeling. If you get that niggling feeling that tells you you’re being sneaky, give yourself a break and make a different choice.

Get the Junk Food Out of Your Kitchen

Sure, you can have a snack now and again that has no nutritional value. However, that should be the rare exception. If you want to start a healthier diet, begin by giving away all the junk food you don’t want to be eating. If it’s not in the house, and you don’t buy it when you grocery shop, you won’t eat it. The odds are that you won’t make a trip out to get it when you get hungry. Once it’s out of your house, it will stop being something you eat.

Never Use a Vending Machine

Give yourself a no vending machine rule and you’ll automatically cut out all the candy, candy bars and chips, among other types of junk that you’ve been snacking on in fits of hunger. Instead, bring a healthy snack with you or find a convenient source of healthy snacks that you can buy when hunger strikes.