True or false? Healthy eating is only about the foods you eat.

False.

There is a huge misconception that healthy eating is simply about what kinds of foods you’re eating, but it goes far beyond that.

Today’s topic is an important one – we’re addressing the non-food side of healthy eating.

Healthy Eating Isn’t Just About the Food!

1. It’s about eating smart.

Before you eat you need to ask yourself “am I hungry?”, and if so, “how hungry am I?”.

While you are eating you need to be continuously assessing your hunger level as it changes by asking yourself “am I full?”, and if so, “how full am I?”.

This step is about learning to listen to your body. Remember, food is fuel for your body – not your emotions!

2. It’s about eating what you like … and don’t like.

You need to give yourself permission to enjoy the foods you love, even if they aren’t healthy. Feeling guilty about it will lead to stress, anxiety or worse, binge eating or purging.

But with that comes accepting that to eat the unhealthy foods you love without guilt, you also need to eat some foods you don’t love for the sake of your health.

This step is all about finding balance.

3. It’s about eating with a plan.

Every healthy eater, who successfully changed habits, was able to do so because they had a meal plan in place.

They are always prepared!

It’s also helpful to plan to eat at a specific time each day to train your body when it should be hungry and when it doesn’t need to think about food. Missing this can throw off #1.

This step is all about setting yourself up for success.

4. It’s about trusting yourself.

Can I get a heck, yeah!

You need to give yourself some credit because confidence is the first step in taking action.

[bctt tweet=”Confidence is the first step in taking action.”]

You need to trust that you can pay attention to your own satiety signals (am I hungry? am I full?).

You need to trust yourself to balance your meals – trusting that you will eat foods you like in moderation, even if they aren’t healthy, but that you will also balance that out with healthy foods that you may not like as much.

You also need to trust that you can stick with the plan you’ve made … and you can!

This step is all about confidence in your abilities.

If you’d like help overcoming your eating or health challenges – book in a consultation!