Healthy eating is easily the number one thing that most people struggle with and I am no exception. Even though I’ve reached my goal weight and live a fitness lifestyle, I still find healthy eating difficult. I’ve just accepted that it’s just something that doesn’t come naturally for me, and that’s okay! But it means I need to regularly work on my healthy eating habits to make sure I never get too far off track.
Over the past year or so, I’ve worked hard to take control of my emotional eating and to develop better healthy eating habits. And while I’m far from perfect, the eating tips below have helped me lose a large amount of weight and keep it off.
Now, just because there are 10 tips below does not mean that you need to do all of them at once. Try out one or two at a time before adding on others. You’ll build up your healthy eating habits over time. Remember that tiny changes add up to huge results!
Eat from a smaller plate.
Eating from a smaller plate is an age-old trick that works. I often eat from a side plate when I feel tempted to overeat. Eating from a smaller plate gives the illusion of having a large amount of food when in reality you’re eating a much smaller portion size. It’s also an easy habit to try first as it doesn’t require you to change anything about your eating beyond the size of your plate.
When you eat from a small plate your brain won’t feel like it’s deprived with less food. And if you do occasionally feel like have a small helping of seconds, it won’t be a big deal because you will have eaten less food in the first place.
This post contains affiliate links. See Disclosure for details. Opinions are my own.
Don’t eat the last bite.
I try to make a point of not eating the last bite of my food. I started doing this a while back when I was trying out different methods of willpower. For example, I would leave a few bites of food on my plate and tell myself that if I was still hungry in five minutes I could finish the food. Doing this really changed the way I listened to my body’s full and hungry cues. Most often, I didn’t feel the need to finish my plate
We need to get over this idea that we have to clear our plates at each meal. That kind of thinking often leads to overeating and teaches the body to ignore signs of fullness.
Make half your plate veggies.
If you’ve clicked around a bit, you’ve probably caught onto the fact that I’m vegan. So, I’m always going to be a supporter of eating a lot of veggies. But seriously, making your plate at least 50% vegetables will do wonders to your waistline. Vegetables tend to be high in water and fiber, and low in calories. This means that you can eat a lot of them and truly fill your stomach without worrying about calories. In fact, many vegetables are considered “zero-calorie” foods in that your body will naturally burn off the calories throughout the day even without added exercise.
The idea is to add as many different colors to your plate as possible. You want your plate to look like a rainbow if I’m being honest. Need some inspiration? Check out my Pinterest food board for endless plant-based recipes.
Make bread a “sometimes” food.
I get it. Bread is delicious! But if you really want to change your eating habits and lose weight then bread should become a “sometimes” food. Now, I understand a lot of people will disagree with me and that’s fine. I know plenty of really fit women who eat bread every day. But as someone who went from 249lb to 145lb naturally, I’m going to say firmly that limiting my bread contributed that huge weight loss.
Limit “on-the-go” snacks.
Since changing my eating habits I choose to only eat snacks at home. I rarely, if ever, eat while out on the go anymore. Snacking while in the car or shopping often leads to unhealthy food choices. Let’s be real, few people who snack while shopping opt for an apple. Chances are if you’re snacking on the go you’ll grab something sweet or salty.
Choosing to snack only at home means you only get to choose from the food option you have at home. Most of the time, this results in healthier food choices. Give it a try!
When craving something sweet, eat fruit first.
One thing that I read a couple of years ago that changed so much for me was, “if you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple then you’re not truly hungry.” And this couldn’t be truer. Whenever a craving for something sweet hits turn to fruit. If you’re really craving sugar then the fruit will be satisfying. However, if you’re looking to self-soothe than you’ll probably find fruit unappealing.
What’s key in this instance is learning the difference between being hungry and wanting to self-soothe. If you’re emotionally aware, you have the opportunity to make a healthy food choice. However, if you eat blindly whenever a craving hits, you teach yourself to ignore signs that your stomach is genuinely hungry or full.
Challenge yourself to choose fruit when you crave something sweet. Listen to you whether or not you’re really hungry. Make the choice to give your body what it needs vs what your brain thinks it wants.
Drink water with meals.
Any easy way to reduce unwanted calories is to cut out sugary drinks. Drinking water with meals as an easy habit to adopt. Things, like carrying around a bottle of water or having a pitcher of water at the table during meals, will help ensure you make water a priority. If you’re struggling to cut out the soda and miss carbonation, grab some sparkling water. Not only does water cut out unnecessary calories but choosing to drink water with your meals will aid in digestion and help break down your meals.
Remove sugar from coffee and tea.
This healthy habit can take some time. Personally, it took me a couple of weeks to truly cut out all sugar from my coffee and tea. But removing sugar from your hot beverages is an easy way to cut out a ton of unnecessary sugar.
You might think that having sugar in your tea or coffee isn’t a big deal but the average teaspoon of sugar contains 16 calories. Think about how many teaspoons you actually put in your coffee or tea. Multiply that by the amount of coffee and tea you have each day or week. It adds up quickly.
Use portion control containers.
Using portion control containers to portion out my meals is an eating habit I’ve adopted over the past year. For me, portion control was the last piece of my healthy eating puzzle. For the longest time, I found portion control so confusing. Everything was always about hands and handfuls etc and it just never made sense for me.
Then I discovered portion control containers. Portion control containers make eating healthy so easy. I more or less eat what I want so long as it fits in my containers. It takes the stress out of eating! I highly recommend these portion control containers from Amazon.
Cook your own food.
Cooking your own food is an obvious healthy habit that is one of the hardest to adopt. Even I struggle with making my own food all week, every week. We live in an age where delivery and take-out is more convenient than ever before. But getting into the habit of cooking your food will make a huge difference in your weight loss.
When you’re cooking your own food you are in charge of how much salt, sugar, and fat goes into your meals. It’s much easier to slowly eat healthier when you’re in charge of the ingredients. Want to ensure you stay on track with your cooking? Try meal prep!
Practice intermittent fasting.
I talk about intermittent fasting and how it works in this post. And it is no secret that I am a huge fan of this method of eating. Intermittent fasting changed everything about my body burns calories. Intermittent fasting is a healthy and safe method of eating that doesn’t require a ton of change in what you eat. What it requires is a change in when you eat.
You can read more about how and why intermittent fasting works here.
Adopting these easy eating habits can lead to huge weight loss. I’m proof! Want to see some before and after pictures? Check out my Instagram!
- Starting A NEW Fitness Journey At Nearly 40 Years Old! - 06/09/2024
- 30-Day Walking Challenge For Beginners - 12/05/2024
- 3 Simple Things That Healthy People Who DON’T Diet Do Differently - 10/05/2024
