My switch to healthier eating has been pretty recent. Sure I've been telling myself that I have been doing better since September, but in actuality I wasn't doing that great. I dislike eating healthy. I have cravings for fast food, ice cream, pizza, you name it! I know that these foods aren't going to help my goals of losing weight, so I've been slowly moving towards a healthier lifestyle in general. It's hard! Here's what I do:
- If you are going to choose an unhealthy food, try to add something healthy to it. I still eat pizza, but I make it homemade (store-bought dough) and add spinach, onions and peppers to it. I use turkey sausage and low-fat mozzarella. I still get that yummy pizza taste, but it's not as bad for me.
- Think about the money you save. It's been getting easier and easier to turn down those packaged goodies in favor of fruits and veggies when I look at my grocery receipts! Fresh food seems to cost a loss less and since we're on a budget going healthy is more economical. Make the effort to wash and chop up your own produce instead of buying the more expensive versions that do the prep for you.
- Hold yourself accountable. It has made a huge difference sharing my health goals with my husband. He reminds me of them (because I've asked him to) when I might be tempted to eat unhealthily. We make the meal plan together and shop together so that it's easier to make good choices.
- Make switches slowly. In the last month or two we have almost doubled the variety and amount of veggies we used to eat, we now make our own whole wheat bread, we stopped buying muffins and pastries, we only buy natural pop (and not much of it) and we don't buy ice cream anymore. We used to buy ice cream at every shopping trip, so that was a huge change for us! We are still trying to eliminate processed foods, but we recognize that it is slow. Just pick one focus each week (or month!) and agree on it as a family. If my husband was still eating unhealthily, I wouldn't be doing so well. It's hard to succeed when there are unhealthy options available in your home. Start small and move your way up.
- Treat yourself a little. While we don't buy ice cream (or haven't for about a month...we'll see if we can last!), we have started buying frozen fruit bars. They still have that satisfying sweet taste, but they don't have the high amounts of fat from ice cream. I think it's important that you don't totally deprive yourself (not that we'd starve). You are still going to want treats, just try to make good choices that will still give you some satisfaction.
What changes or moves have you made to eat healthier? I'm always looking for more ways to improve.
