I am a foodie (really, I am an eatie) and a fairly conscientious shopper, but trying to follow all of the healthy eating tips can be overwhelming. It’s no wonder we procrastinate! I once went to my favorite market and spent an hour cruising the aisles becoming more and more overwhelmed by all the food rules racing through my head. Eat more fruits and veggies, eat organic, only buy what’s local, only buy what’s in season, don’t buy anything processed, it has to be sustainable, low sugar, low salt, no white flour…yada, yada, yikes! In the end, I ditched the cart and went home empty-handed feeling like all the joy of preparing and eating food had been sucked out of me. I don’t recall what I ended up feeding my family for dinner that night, but I am sure it wasn’t pretty.
What food goals are you putting off? What do you want to eat more of? Less of? What new habits do you want to develop? In psychology, procrastination is viewed as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision. There is endless information and advice on the web about how to curb procrastination and it all boils down to setting goals, planning ahead, and getting support (none of which I did prior to my ill-fated shopping trip).
The tips below are nothing new – and surely not rocket science – but they are worth repeating. Give them a try and see if they can help you overcome procrastination and start meeting those goals!
7 Simple Tips to Meet Your Healthy Eating Goals
- KISS. Keep it Simple, Sally! The lesson in my shopping story is that I tried to do way too much and ended up accomplishing nothing.
- Set a couple of achievable goals that can be met in a reasonable time frame. For example, I tend not to eat a lot of whole grains. My goal this week is simply to eat a serving of whole grains each day.
- Plan your menu. Wait – before your groan and shut this post – this doesn’t need to be complicated or rigid. Just spend a few minutes before you go food shopping to think about your goals and how you’ll incorporate them into your meals for the week. To achieve my goal of eating more grains, I plan to eat oatmeal a couple mornings, I plan to make my brown rice salad for dinner one night, and beef stew with barley another night.
- Shop ahead. Set yourself up for success — have the ingredients you need on hand. Let’s face it, no one wants to go the store to pick up brown rice after a tough day at work when the ice cream in the freezer is calling you home.
- Take small steps. My example again: choosing whole grains is a great first step. Next time it might be organic whole grains, and then maybe local, and so on.
- Focus on progress not perfection. Give yourself credit for what you did right and don’t get hung up on the missteps.
- Rely on your buddies. I’ll bet nearly every one of your co-workers and pals is trying to eat better. Help each other out. Back in the days when I worked in a large corporate office, a co-worker and I used to take turns bringing in healthy lunches for each other. It was just as easy to prep for 2 as for 1, we each only had to make lunch 2-3 times a week and it was fun to try each other’s recipes. Buddy up. Support each other and find ways to have some fun.
Have other tips to share? Let us know your tips and tricks for staying on track with health eating.
p.s. If, like me, your goal is to eat more whole grains, check out these tips and recipe ideas for preparing whole grains from EatingWell magazine.