How to Find the Motivation to Eat Healthier

Eating healthy is made to be much more complicated than is necessary. There’s so much conflicting evidence about what a “healthy diet” even consists of, never mind finding the motivation to eat healthier and stick with it. Here are some suggestions for easy ways to eat a healthier diet without unnecessary struggle and angst.

Take Weight Loss and Aesthetic Goals Out of it

While your long-term goal might be to eat more healthfully in order to shed a few pounds, it’s best it this isn’t your primary goal. It’s been shown time and again that dieting doesn’t work, so put weight loss aside for the present and simply focus on eating a healthier diet.

Don’t track your food in the beginning, including calories and macros. Personally, I’ve never been a calorie counter. I find it cumbersome and annoying, but that’s just me. I want to keep it as simple as possible. Instead, make small, sustainable changes to your diet; changes like adding more fruits and vegetables, eating whole grains instead of refined grains, and making sure you’re eating small amounts of lean good quality protein and healthy fats in your meals.

Focus on Changes to Your Physical Health

Instead of thinking about aesthetic goals with eating healthier, begin by thinking about how a few changes can positively affect your physical health. Make a list of all the ways you’d like to improve your health, such as having more energy, increasing your fiber intake to help with bowel movements, reducing any gut issues you experience, or improving your cholesterol levels.

By keeping these in mind, you are focused more on eating nutritious foods and less on just trying to restrict your foods for weight loss purposes.

Healthy Eating Also Impacts Your Emotional Health

Switching to a more nutritious diet can also change your life on an emotional and mental level. I know this in a big way as making changes like these is how I “disappeared” decades of living with chronic depression. This is another great thing to keep in mind as you begin to focus on healthier eating. For some people, their anxiety is increased when they eat poorly, especially if they eat lots of junk food, caffeine, and alcohol. Perhaps you notice you feel more stressed when you don’t eat well? Consistently making poor food choices and knowing you aren’t eating as healthfully as you could be can negatively affect your self-confidence and self esteem.

Stay Motivated With Smaller Goals

Think about small goals you can reach with your healthy eating that will help to keep you maintain motivation to eat healthier. It’s the small victories that keep us hanging in there. Again, these are not weight loss goals or aesthetic goals as you switch to a healthier diet. Here are some other goals you can set, such as:

Drinking at least 8-10 glasses of water a day

Adding fruits and/or vegetables to every meal

Reducing your snacks and eating more nutrient-dense meals

Consistent goals, like eating a type of healthy diet for a certain number of days in a row

Cooking more recipes from home

Eating out less

What are some other goals related to healthy eating that will encourage you to take action to treat your body more kindly? Email me and let me know what your ideas are. I’d love to hear from you.

Helping You Achieve Major Wellness!

Cheryl A Major, CNWC

I’m author, health coach, and entrepreneur Cheryl A Major, and I would love to connect with you! If you’re new to the world of creating better health, both mental and physical for yourself, please check out my training on how to get gluten out of your diet. Becoming Gluten Free Me is where to check it out. Learn how gluten affects us and how to go about reducing or eliminating it from your diet. You don’t have to suffer with Celiac Disease to benefit from getting gluten out of your life!

Be sure to follow me on Twitter so you won’t miss my daily postings for health, wellness and mindset!

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P.S. If you’d like to read my success story of freedom from chronic depression through eating, please check out my book, “Eat Your Blues Away”. You can get the paperback or the Kindle version. You do NOT need a Kindle device in order to read it, as the Kindle Reader has always been available. Check the book out here: http://CherylLoves.me/EatYourBluesAway