Ever made a New Year's Resolution only to be disappointed in yourself and back to your old habits by February? We've all been there! We make a pact with ourselves to live a healthy lifestyle because we know that good eating habits will enhance our lives. Nobody doubts the ability of healthy eating habits to improve our health but not many have the will power to make the changes needed to create a new lifestyle unless they have help. You can change your eating habits and have a healthier lifestyle without having to wreck your social status or have your friends turn and run. The biggest reason why people fail and don't stick to this New Year's resolution is that they expect to change overnight and become perfect. If you set your goals to high and make unrealistic expectations, you are setting yourself up to fail. Here are some practice tips for eating healthy and forming good eating habits: 1. Tell Your Family and Friends Plan a family night of making smoothies and let everyone know they are in for a fun night. Let them know why you are doing this. Tell them that everyone needs to have more fruits and vegetables in their diets. This will get everyone involved in a whole lifestyle change. Don't try doing it alone because you feel if you tell and then do your late night run to McDonald's they will consider you to be a failure. You just might be pleased and surprised. Your family and friends will have respect for what you are working to accomplish and will be able to support you and hold you accountable. Maybe get your husband to start doing the grocery shopping and have children start dinner - Miracles do happen. 2. Do everything you can to avoid the fast food restaurants in the beginning. It starts with small steps and the first one you may need to do is start cooking meals at home instead of resorting to a fast food restaurant. If we do go out to eat, we can make healthier choices from the menu. It is very important when you make the decision to eat with health in mind that you avoid your triggers. It is nearly impossible to change your eating habits when you visit a fast food joint often. The smell, the golden arches are all triggers that will dissolve your resolution to eat healthier. It is not a lack of will power that drives you to order a "Big Mac" and fries, much of the taste and aroma of American fast foods are chemically manufactured to elicit both emotional and physical responses. Even just getting a smell of a McDonald's burger causes you to feel hunger even when you've just finished eating. Everything that's gone into their advertising is designed to make you associate the fast food with good times and great eating. 3. Take Small Steps: Poor eating habits are just as much an addiction as smoking or drinking. It is pounded into our subconscious our entire lives, and we fight it everyday. It may be the lack of time, or the social value it promises without having to slave in the kitchen that drives us to eat this type of food, but we have developed these types of eating habits to make our lives easier. The reality is they do more harm than good. Changing your eating habits doesn't have to mean you have to give up everything you love, or that you need to do all or nothing. The best we can do is to take a slow, steady approach to revamping our eating habits. Little steps that we can follow everyday. Sometimes small substitutions of healthy foods for those we know are unhealthy add up to a good start toward health.
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