Healthy Eating as a Lifestyle, not a Diet

Healthy eating is not something you should do on occasion. It’s something that you should be doing all the time. It’s not a New Year’s resolution nor is it something that should be accomplished through Lent. It’s not what we do in spring to get ‘beach body ready’ nor is it something that we should try to drop the extra weight that we might have put on over Christmas. No, healthy eating is a lifestyle, it’s constant, and there are numerous reasons why you should have this mindset.

You ARE What You Eat

It’s true, research shows that what we eat can actually impact our mood, how we feel about ourselves and even our level of self-confidence. We’re not talking about when you look in the mirror and feel fat either because you see the flab hanging over the waistband of your trousers. No, we’re talking about actual chemical reactions that affect the way we think about ourselves. The obvious and most commonly referenced example of this is chocolate. Chocolate contains endorphins that seem to have a similar effect on our mind to the reactions that occur when we feel love. However, with every high, there is a low and chocolate effects are no different. The impact of chocolate on your mood last minutes before you are back to feeling low. It provides a short burst of energy which is why hikers eat chocolate bars on long journeys. They give them the little jolt they need to get up the next mountain.

This, however, does not mean it’s good to consume it on a daily basis. Quite the opposite, in fact.

The Danger Of Yo-Yo Dieting

You might wonder what is so wrong about dieting on occasion and then treating yourself for a month or so. This is essentially yo-yo dieting, and it can be detrimental to your health. When you yo-yo diet, you take off as much weight as you want, and then you eat normally once more, reverting back to old bad habits. The issue here is that eventually, your body just recognizes that pattern. So, if you ever do want to lose more weight or stay in shape, it becomes increasingly difficult to do so. In fact, you may find that exercising and dieting for short periods no longer works at all. Instead, your body retains the weight because your body is used to you putting it back on anyway.

As such, it’s far better to simply eat well throughout the year and avoid the issue of yo-yo dieting completely.

Minerals, Vitamins, And Antioxidants

It’s wrong to think of healthy eating simply as a way to lose weight. Healthy eating shouldn’t be about losing weight or at the very least, it shouldn’t be your primary goal. Instead, you should work to eat healthily because it will provide you with the minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants that your body needs. Vitamins and other important dietary needs are important for your body for a variety of reasons. Some strengthen the resistance of your immune system, others reduce the chances of conditions associated with aging like dementia. As such, there are many reasons to eat healthy that stem far beyond your weight or your body shape. This is perhaps the most fundamental reason why healthy eating can’t be a diet or something that you do now and again.

As You Age Dieting Becomes Less Effective

You might be fantastic at dieting now, and it could be working wonders. It could allow you to shave off those pounds with no trouble at all. But that will certainly change as you get older. Indeed, once you reach the point of middle age, your body won’t react as quickly, and dieting may not be quite as effective. Instead, you can think of your body as essentially being set in its ways. You can find it rather difficult to lose weight or put on muscle purely through dieting at this point. That’s why you should be eating healthy as part of your lifestyle now. By doing this, you can ensure that you won’t struggle to lose weight when you’re older and get in shape when your body just isn’t able to manage it.

So, now that we have seen why it’s important to embrace healthy eating as a lifestyle choice rather than a diet let’s look at the ways that you can do this.

Use A Meal Plan

Using a meal plan is a fantastic way to make sure you’re eating healthily every day. With a meal plan, you’ll be able to prepare the meals you will have through the week, and this will make things a lot easier shopping. You’ll also be able to think about different meals, how to make them healthier and ensure you have the right ingredients rather than thinking on your feet when you are actually in the shop.

The other big benefit of a meal plan is that you can count the calories for each meal and make sure they add up to the right amount for every day of the week. In doing so, you can ensure that eating healthy isn’t just a one-off or an afterthought.

Use Your Tech

If you want to keep track of your healthy eating and ensure that you’re not cheating yourself, you might want to look into using technology to help out. Tech is great for staying fit with a Fitbit, but it’s also rather useful for calorie counting. As well as this, there are apps that off brilliant, healthy recipes as well so with the right app on your phone, you can be covered across all bases.

Get Some Healthy Snacks

Last but certainly not least, sometimes you’re out and about, and you find yourself feeling peckish. What do you do? If you’re a forward thinker, you’ll make sure you have a few healthy snacks with you. Otherwise, you might just resort to heading to a fast food restaurant. It’s worth pointing out that fast food can stay in your body for days, so it’s not a small mistake.

7 years ago

Be A Genius Snacker!