Here are nine ways you can keep yourself motivated to eat healthier and meet your goals over the next 12 months – and beyond. You have probably realized that maintaining motivation to eat healthier becomes challenging over time. Whether you are looking to boost your motivation to eat healthier or to work out consistently, getting others to join in with you may be helpful.
Working together to become healthier can also be motivating for you to make better choices, stock the home with nutritious foods, and even to have someone who will stand by you when you are feeling challenged. Eating good foods and staying physically active may help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight, as well as improving the way you feel. Of course, eating right may be difficult: Family schedules are busy, and ready-made, convenient foods are easy to access.
Convenience meals and quick, on-the-go meals are the norm, and this can contribute to a lifetime of weight and health struggles. Food fuels our minds and souls, just like it fuels our bodies, and getting someone to quit eating one kind of food may be the most frustrating task. Using sugary or unhealthy foods as rewards for good behavior or mood boosters starts bad habits, which may result in emotional eating in adults.
Staying motivated over the long haul requires finding healthier ways of dealing with those feelings, stopping ourselves from being triggered by bad eating habits, and learning to stop needlessly reaching for snacks.
Fortunately, there are some tactics that can be used to convince someone to learn how to eat healthier. We have provided useful tips for encouraging healthier eating. Nearly every parent knows the struggle of getting kids to make healthier choices about their meals (or even to try new foods altogether). Make a food plan and try to stick to it as much as you can. Family dinners provide parents the chance to introduce their children to new cuisines and set a good example for healthy eating.
You will also be better able to create healthy meals and snacks at home when you have the necessary foods readily available. Cooking at home makes sure that you know exactly what is going into your meals, gives you better control over how much you are eating, and typically makes enough leftovers for the following day's lunch. Sure, it takes a little bit more time, but cooking at home rather than going out is an extremely simple way to eat healthier (and, as a bonus, save money).
Sometimes, encouraging healthier eating can be useful by reminding the individual about the concrete importance of good nutrition and how eating nutritious foods can impact their body. More importantly, if you can make kids reflect on what they are eating at lunch, you may be able to help them make a positive change. Expect change might not happen right away, but you might help one develop a better relationship with food over time. Help the person see how healthier foods boost energy, whereas fatty foods make them feel tired and drowsy, or make them crash later.