Hello every one, I trust you all are doing well this week. I'm back once again with a new and essential information that will help us all in staying healthy. Remember health is wealth. You don't needs to do something drastic or strenuous to stay healthy, its all about having the right lifestyle for better living. Today I want to take you along with me as we discover how to develop good and healthy eating habits.
Consciously or unconsciously we all have developed some eating habits over the years. Some which are good and some, not so good. Sometimes, our health goals interfere with our eating habits. When we want to loose belly fat, we usually change the way we eat. When we want to gain more weight, we increase the amount of meals we eat. These health goals such as exercising regularly losing weight could take months or years to achieve, while goals like eating healthier and making better food choices are difficult to measure.
Therefore making sudden abrupt changes like taking nothing but vegetable can give you a desired short term goal of losing weight but such changes is neither a bright idea or healthy.
To permanently improve your eating habits require a careful analysis and approach which include;

REFLECT

Source

Here you examine and take a look back on your eating habits both good and bad. Identify your unhealthy ones and the necessary triggers. You can do this by;

• Making a list of your eating and drinking habits - create a food diary for some few days. Write down all the food you eat and drink and the time of the day you take them. This is important in uncovering your habits. For instance, you may find out that you usually take sugary drinks before and after lunch to help you through the days work
• Identify the unhealthy habits - Be sure to recognize the unhealthy eating habits from your list and the necessary triggers that causes you to engage in them. Pick a few you would like to work on first. Don't forget to pat your self on the back for the ones your doing well. Acknowledging your success will motivate you to make more changes.

Some unhealthy eating habits include
eating mindlessly or quickly, eating when not hungry, skipping meals, always eating dessert and so on
Most times we eat for reasons other than hunger. Mark how you were feeling at those time, a particular emotional state could encourage eating when not hungry.

Common triggers for unhealthy eating include; feeling bored or tired and thinking food might help, seeing your favorite food or snack on the cabinet, walking past a plate of doughnut in the counter.

REPLACE

Here you replace unhealthy eating habits with new ones. For instance, you realise you eat too quickly when alone. Make a plan to share lunch with a colleague once or twice per week.

• Minimize distractions- such distractions like watching TV while eating will prevent you from observing how fast you eat or the amount you eat.
• Eat more slowly - To avoid the food choking you and so you will pay attention to when your hunger is sated.
• Eat only when you're truly hungry- if you find yourself eating when you're experiencing an emotion besides hunger, like when you' bored or anxious. Try to find a non-eating activity to do, maybe you go for a walk, phone a friend or something.
• Lastly you make plans before hand to ensure that you eat a healthy, well balanced meal.

REINFORCE:

Habits are something that takes time to develop, it doesn't happen immediately. Therefore give your self time and do not scold yourself when you find yourself backsliding. Instead pause, ask yourself why did I do this? When did I start doing this? What changes do I need to make? Don't think that one mistake can blow a whole days worth of healthy habits