Table of Contents
- Cook at home
- Plan your meals
- Have healthy snacks on hand
- Choose quality over quantity
- Add one extra vegetable
- Have a buddy
It may not be the new year, but it’s never a bad time to reflect on adding more healthy eating habits to your life.
This time around, pick 1-2 realistic goals you can see yourself sticking with. That way, when motivation fizzles out (which often happens), you can fall back on habits you have spent months perfecting.
6 Tips to Build Healthy Eating Habits
Keep reading to find out our top six tips to start building healthy eating habits.
Cook at Home
You don’t have to cook at home every night, but choose one or two nights a week that you can prioritize a home-cooked meal. If you prefer getting all of your cooking done at once, consider meal prepping once or twice a week to set you (and your family) up for success.
This is especially helpful when you have a family. Did you know one of the best ways to encourage your kids to try new foods and vegetables is by having family dinners?
Cooking at home doesn’t ensure you will eat healthier foods, but it does put you in control of the amount of added fat, sugar, and salt that your foods contain.
To become a home chef, it’s important to have a good foundation of healthy pantry options to fall back on. It makes it more realistic to cook at home when you have most of the necessary ingredients for your recipes. Check out our blog on how to build a healthy pantry to get started.
Plan Your Meals
I don’t know how many times I have gone to the grocery store, bought something thinking, “I’m sure I’ll eat this at some point”, and then never do. Not only does impulse buying waste money, but also makes it more difficult to eat healthier when those impulse buys are convenience foods.
Take ten minutes at the beginning of your week to plan a couple of healthy recipes then buy the ingredients you need for those recipes when you hit the grocery store. Even though it may seem like a small thing, this can improve your healthy eating habits dramatically.
Have Healthy Snacks on Hand
When are we most likely to reach for convenience foods?
When we are hungry, tired, and short on time. So when this inevitably happens (because it will), give yourself some healthy snacks to grab instead.
Stock hummus, yogurt, low-fat cheese, and a variety of ready-to-eat produce in your fridge. Prime your pantry with high-fiber cereals, popcorn, and homemade trail mixes like our Cranberry Almond Snack Mix.
By doing these little things, you set yourself up for success. With a belly full of healthy snacks, you can make it the extra thirty minutes it takes to cook one of our healthy dinner recipes!
Choose Quality Over Quantity
We will never tell you to skip an ice cream run with your kids or avoid going out to eat with friends because you want to stick with your diet.
Instead, we encourage you to live by one rule: everything in moderation.
Go on the ice cream run, but choose a smaller cone than you usually would. Go out to eat with friends, but pack half of your entree away to eat for lunch the next day.
Enjoy yourself by choosing smaller portions of foods that still leave you satisfied.
Add One Extra Vegetable
We believe that the difference between a healthy lifestyle and a crash diet is in the way it is approached.
Rather than avoiding certain foods, focus on adding more nutrient-rich foods to your diet, like lean proteins, fruits, veggies, and whole grains.
This idea leads us to the next piece of advice: add one extra vegetable to dinner tonight – whether it’s a cilantro garnish on your taco or sneaking diced onions into a store bought pasta sauce.
These little changes make all the difference!
Have a Buddy
Everything is more fun when we do it with the people we love. Ask your partner, kids, and friends to join you as you make these small, healthy changes.
Ideas to include your family and friends in your healthy eating habits:
- Take your family on a walk after dinner.
- Invite a friend to help meal prep once a week and split the food.
- Plan a dinner date with your partner trying out a new recipe.
- Share your goals with your family and ask them to help keep you on track.
Conclusion
What are you waiting for? Grab a friend and browse our library of healthy recipes today on ChooseHomemade.com. You are one small change away from a healthier lifestyle!