how to change eating habits
Discover positive ways to easily change eating habits. The suggestions on this page make changing to healthy eating positive and a joy.
enjoying new foods rather than denying ourselves of old ones
We can easily develop strong habits and varying degrees of addictions to foods and find it very challenging to change eating habits. Obvious foods examples would be alcohol, coffee, sugar, fats, processed baked foods and salt. In fact the more we try to stop eating them the more appealing they become.
Another approach to change eating habits is to focus on the new healthy foods we want to bring into our daily diet.
become a connoisseur
Become a connoisseur of the food you want to eat more of. The word connoisseur originally comes from the French word to know. It seems that when we become interested in a food our pleasure of experiencing it increases. Wine would be an obvious example. By investing time in exploring the where the grapes grow, the conditions, the fermenting and so on, we perceive drinking the wine as being more pleasurable.
We can apply the same principle anytime we want to change our eating habits. To drink less coffee and more green teas, one strategy would be to research green teas. For example, there are many types of green tea, depending on the season it is picked and where it comes from. Each type of green tea can be dried, steamed, roasted or smoked, creating very different tastes. Connoisseurs even claim it makes a difference whether the tea is picked in the morning or afternoon and the weather conditions. Loose teas consisting of larger leaves can be considered more desirable, and so it goes on.
We can experiment with how we make our tea, letting the water cool to between 70-80 degrees C before adding the tea. How long do we leave the tea in? Times vary from 1 minute to 8 minutes. The longer the tea is brewed the stronger and more bitter the flavour. With very little effort with can become knowledgeable about green teas, increasing the pleasure we get from drinking them.
positive associations
We can change eating habits more easily by ensuring each time we eat our new food we make the whole experience emotionally enjoyable. This will help us establish positive emotional associations with our new healthy food. So we could put on our favourite music, look at inspiring images or laugh with friends as part of our eating experience. We can extend the healthy food experience to include the ritual of shopping, cooking, serving and tasting it.
become a connoisseur of macrobiotic foods
We can become connoisseurs of miso, shoyu, brown rice, vinegars, olive oils, herbs, vegetables and fruits. With enough interest we can become fascinated with any foods as well as the subject as a whole. So if you want to make a change to more healthy natural foods try learning as much about them as possible. Tasting the subtle differences between one variety and another makes the eating experience more satisfying. It becomes an easy way to change eating habits.
satisfy the senses
Make sure the new foods satisfy the senses in terms of colour, smell, taste and texture. Use your favourite plates, bowls and cups. Consider candles and flowers if that creates an enjoyable atmosphere.
keep adding new healthy foods
By adding a new healthy food to your diet each week, old unhealthy foods will begin to be naturally eliminated. Using this process you slowly change eating habits without really having to give up anything.
personal help to change eating habits
Call Simon on 07543663227 or email to discuss how he can best help you change eating habits. This can be a course of personal or Skype / FaceTime sessions.