4 Effective Principles To Maintain Healthy Eating Habits

I want to share with you all the routine that keeps me on my A-game when it comes to maintaining a routine to eat healthy. Eating healthy is important because it has a direct correlation to your quality of life. If you eat well you’ll feel well but it also comes with sacrifice and discipline. Everyone has choices in life and you’ll always be faced with the decision to eat well or eat something that’s not good for you but tastes good. Despite that internal battle, I want to break down these four steps that I practice to maintain healthy eating.

Now a lot of this I learned through trial and error, some of this I learned through tips and tricks online, but what is very important for me when I’m eating healthy is that I plan out what I’m going to eat.

Meal Planning

This will save you time during the busy week and take the stress off of deciding what tomorrow’s lunch will be. Planning and making a routine out of it is an effective way of staying on track, saving money, and achieving your goals. Meal planning involves a bit of research especially if you want to eat healthy. I cook a lot but I’m also always searching for new recipes so that I don’t grow tired of what I make. I use Pinterest, and YouTube, or get inspiration from some foodie Instagram pages. Then I take note of what meals I want to make and what ingredients I’ll need to carry out my next step.

Grocery Shopping

I do not enjoy grocery shopping but it’s just one of those things you have to do! Anyway, if you have any goal in mind (to lose weight, to gain weight, to eat healthier, or to save money) grocery shopping and cooking are two of the most important things. I don’t recommend shopping blindly and like I mentioned in the previous step it’s best to take your time and do some research on what ingredients recipes need so that you’re not wasting time at the grocery store. Designate a day to go and make a budget to stay within. Lastly, and this is very important, make a list and stick to it when you go shopping. You don’t want to get sidetracked and forget what food you meant to purchase.

Meal Preparing

You thought this was the same as meal planning, didn’t you? Well, it isn’t quite the same. Meal prep consists of making your grocery items more accessible for you to cook by chopping, cleaning, slicing, or dicing – whatever the case may be. I tend to grocery shop on Saturday mornings and do my meal prep on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. I eat a lot of vegetables so what I do is clean and cut them then store them in Ziploc bags so that by the time I’m ready to cook them I simply add them to the pot. It takes up time but it pays off in the end because it’ll give you more time to do other things after work or school in the week.

Cooking

I don’t understand it when people tell me they can’t cook. In my opinion, if you can read and follow directions, you can cook! No excuses. I mean, unless you burn boiling water then I don’t know :/ When I don’t know how to cook something, I’ll usually refer to Google to help me out. Youtube is great for those who need to see how a meal is prepared.  I sometimes just create my recipes as I’m cooking. The more you cook, the better you will become and who knows maybe you’ll even grow to enjoy it. I mention all of this to say, that cooking plays an essential role in your pursuit of wellness. Especially if you have food allergies, you can’t completely trust what you eat when it’s takeout so it’s wise to prepare your meals.

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It’s important to keep in mind if you miss a grocery day or don’t meal prep as much as you’d hoped it’s ok! Just make time when you can and remember to stay consistent. It’s not going to be easy but it will be worth it.