"5 Reasons"

A while ago I had signed up for daily health articles from thankyourbody.com. Today’s article discussed different reasons we come up with to ruin our healthy eating regime. I thought it was quite interesting to hear the top reasons people come up with. Let’s face it, we probably had one of these reasons at some point in time. I know I have! So I wanted to share them all with you.

5 Reasons Healthy Eating doesn’t stick

A good point the article made was that REAL food isn’t “diet” food. And many people go out to the stores and buy processed foods that are labeled as “healthy” but in fact have ingredient list a mile long and that in turn, are horrible for you! Anything processed is not good for you. The longer the ingredient label, the less healthy the food is. A lot of these ingredients can increase appetite making you crave those foods even more! The article stresses having this as a motivation when shopping and boosting up your inspiration into making healthier food choices. Yes! Sometimes we may slip up here and there, but just because you do, doesn’t mean you should throw your progress out the window altogether. That brings me to Reason #1.

1.     You try the “all or nothing” approach.

You just learned that GMO’s, vegetable oils, trans fat, HFC’s, and artificial ingredients are basically killing you right now. So you throw everything in the pantry out and bask in the glory of being free of all the garbage. But then you realize, you have nothing to eat. So you result in ordering take out or rushing to a fast food restaurant. You messed up and then decide to quit trying and just eat whatever. You only live once, right?

 

2.     The food doesn’t appeal to you.

Yea, I can admit, processed foods tend to be a lot more tasteful. That’s because of all those toxic ingredients they put in it. The added chemicals are there to increase the taste making it more flavorful and prolonging its shelf life. Buying things kale, won’t be as tasteful, it may even taste like sewage! You may even toss it out and grab that number to local take out restaurants again. But don’t fret, your body and taste buds will readjust. Stick to it!

 

3.     Meal planning is a constant source of frustration.

With thousands of recipes surfacing the internet, you have many options. Shopping for these recipes can get frustrating when looking for an item you’ve never heard of before. Make it easy on yourself, use an old recipe first, and switch off the bad ingredients for good ones. And as you get yourself use to meal planning, begin introducing new ingredients and recipes.

 

4.     Old habits keep coming back.

It’s called the dinner rut. Sure, you’re sick of eating the same four dishes every single night. But you know how to cook it and it requires zero thought!

 

5.     It’s not easy.

When all is said and done, the reason most people fail to keep at their healthy eating goals is because it’s just overwhelming. From finding recipes you actually like, that can be made in the time you have, that don’t require a detective to source all the ingredients, to keeping your life in balance instead of going crazy just trying to get food on the table. No wonder people give up! But don’t give up! You have all the power within yourself to do this! It takes 21 days to form a habit. So your first goal, make it to 21 days of healthy eating. I challenge you! ;-)