Do you want to start eating healthy? This is the guide to change your diet forever

Has the time come to change our way of eating? We all experience a degree of satisfaction with our current way of eating. However, particular circumstances such as a change in the preferences when eatinga stage of life cyclehe current activity levelthe rhythm of life or the state of health of each person can lead us to think about the need to change our way of eating.

There is no doubt that the need for change associated with the food gratification and pleasure factors it is highly subjective. It is oneself who has to determine if his current behavior is close or far from the desired one.

However, we have well-defined criteria about what is considered a healthy diet. To the extent that our habits deviate from these recommendations it will become more evident need to change.

In any case, once the decision is made to change the way you eat and start eating healthier, it is a good idea to establish a good plan so that the changes are lasting over time.

4 signs that you should change your diet

Here is a relationship common eating mistakes which are a good indicator that you have to eat differently. Any of these cases is susceptible to change if what you want is to eat healthy.

Your diet is unbalanced. Excess fats, sugars and proteins together with deficiencies of vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber, the result of an insufficient intake of vegetables, fruits and legumes, and an excess of meat, dairy and pastry products.You have irregular eating rhythms. Skipping main meals, snacking between meals, having insufficient breakfast, having copious dinners, dieting during the week and then “freeing yourself” during the weekend…You consume inadvisable preparations. Too much salt, frying a lot or badly, using excessive animal fats and butter, eating pre-cooked meals regularly, eating few raw foods…You eat more calories than is desirable. A distinction must be made here between healthy weight and desirable weight. We have a reliable criterion, the Body Mass Index (BMI), to which we must direct our gaze to determine the degree of adequacy of what we eat. Maintaining a weight within the parameters considered normal indicates that the calories that are ingested are in balance with those that are spent.

How to start eating right and keep the change forever

Suppose we come to the conclusion that It is important to modify certain aspects of our diet, which we want to change some of our habits.

We will certainly have given a necessary stepfundamental, but by no means sufficient. This puts us in the threshold of changeat the starting point, but now you have to get going and walk the path.

At this stage, it may be useful to know some of the characteristics most important associated with all process of change:

There is no magic formula, unique and infallible to change. You have to forget about finding a kind of easy-to-apply recipe or list of commandments that you just have to follow to achieve what you want.change is not easy. It is necessary to assume this reality, given that our general behavior is based to a large extent on habits, that is, on behaviors that, based on repetition, have been consolidated and automated, and that are activated very easily. They are therefore difficult to move. And there is no doubt that our eating behavior is full of these habits.Alert against relapses. Understanding the previous point can prepare you to deal with difficult times and relapses with better guarantees. And it is that expecting habits that have been ingrained for a long time, perhaps years, to disappear overnight, seems impossible. Knowing this can be prevented or face possible catastrophic and paralyzing readings of the type “I will never be able to”, “this is too much for me”, “I am a failure”, “I do not have enough willpower”, etc.

Following the spirit of Confucius’ maxim: “our greatest glory is not never to fall, but to get up every time we fall”, it will be easier to give yourself second or third chances.

Definition of objectives. This is another fundamental question. the objectives represent the goal, the destination, they determine the course to where we want to go. The objectives chosen must be possible, achievable. Many change processes fail because they do not adjust the demands to the capacities. Excessive expectations are fertile ground to undermine self-esteem and confidence in one’s own possibilities. should take the change process as a long-distance race, where each step towards the goal is important. And, if possible, enjoy the tour.The objectives must be defined concretely and specifically. “I want to eat better” can be a great statement of intent, but an impractical one. It must be translated into concrete facts, defining as exactly as possible what must be done and when it must be done, that is, setting day and time.Reinforce desired behaviors. It is very important to keep in mind that, to a large extent, behaviors are maintained or not depending on their immediate consequences. When a behavior is followed by a favorable consequence, it is more likely to be repeated. This issue is of great relevance in the case of eating behavior, because while the sensory pleasure derived from food consumption is immediate, the benefits of a healthy diet are only reaped in the long term. Hence, it can be very useful to establish certain types of reinforcements (gifts, rewarding activities, words of recognition, etc.) after carrying out the desired eating behaviors. Interesting for everyone, this measure is Of special interest to the little ones.Radical changes? No, thanks. As far as diets are concerned, experience shows that important changes are very often difficult to maintain over time. This is what happens, for example, with many of the slimming diets. It should not be forgotten that eating behavior is an axis on which many other aspects of our lives revolve and that the changes that occur in it can have many and important repercussions in different areas.

If you want to change, act. No matter how much theory and knowledge we have, absolutely nothing will change until we start to act. Most people have enough information to eat better than they do. They know, for example, that eating vegetables is healthy but they eat them in insufficient quantity. They also know that fats should be taken in moderation but they still ingest them in excess… What is needed then is to get down to work.Customize the changes. Adapt the changes to the reality of each one: to their tastes, to their preferences, to their lifestyle. Each person is a world and what may go well for one may not be useful for another. Instead of putting on a standard-size dress, it’s about making one that fits as closely as possible to each person’s measurements.change is stressful. On many occasions this is the case, because it is associated with a certain feeling of loss of control. We abandon behaviors and territories known by others that are not yet known or are not well established. It is a period that is usually presided over by provisionality, uncertainty, ambivalence, fears, doubts… And you have to count on it to persevere in difficult moments. The better we know the nature of the change and the dynamics and the factors involved, the greater the guarantee of success we will have.

In terms of healthy eating, any change that implies an improvement is always welcome, no matter how small. Perfection is not sought.

The Right Disposition: A Healthy Mind for a Healthy Body

Once we have identified what does not interest us and what we want to change, and defined the objectives with realistic expectations, the time has come to take actiona determining moment for any process of change.

In practice it is deal with different situations that are presented in the most effective way possible. For this task it can help a lot get rid of rigid patterns of behavior and thought particularly harmful.

In this sense, some common mistakes are:

see things in terms of all or nothing,think that a single transgression already ruins all the efforts and the capacity for change, take the success or failure in the process as a measuring stick if we are fantastic or failures throughout,take advantage of slip-ups as a passport for the rampages, to think that we must choose between health and pleasure…

On the contrary, they can favor us positions such as:

take perspective,relativize the issue both the negative and the positive aspectstolerate ambivalenceor think that changing dietary habits to eat better It is not a penance or resignation but a decision made freely to improve.

Perfection is not sought, it seeks to change as much as necessary and possible. It does not matter if it is something as simple as substituting a cola drink for a glass of water, or using aromatic plants instead of salt in a stew. This allows end the excuses who hide in beliefs of the type “either I do it well or I don’t”.

What to do with the changes that resist?

It is possible that some foods present more problems than others when it comes to doing without them. Much depends on the gratification they provide and the role they have been given up to that point.

With those changes that are more resistant, special strategies can be used: gradual reductions, use of substitutes, prioritizing other changes that facilitate their subsequent abandonment…

The most important is Do not collapse and go looking for solutions to problems.

For example, when during the day we have not been able to adjust to what was planned, we can use dinner as a wild cardboth in terms of quantities and type of food consumed.

Or when a food does not feel good to us, we must not force ourselves to continue consuming it; for better or worse, there is no essential food.

Depending on the intended objectives, on some occasions certain observable changes: dispose of higher energy, regulate traffic intestinal, adjust weight body to desirable values, improve skin conditionetc.

However, it must be taken into account that they will never be changes that will occur from one day to the next, but rather they will need their time. Besides, many other favorable modifications will be hardly observable, so the only positive response that we will have within our reach is to know that we are doing things properly. Nothing more and nothing less.

Beyond the day-to-day monitoring, Every week or every fortnight you can make a general balance of how things are going, a kind of panoramic review to detect the strengths and weaknesses of the change, and take appropriate action.

Once the changes are started, and if we persevere, time plays our…