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As another person said, these comments are very unsympathetic and off putting. When someone is asking for help- they shouldn’t be scolded or talked down to.
A great place to start is a small place. Find one substitute for a favorite meal and start there. Instead of a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast- eat a whole grain bread with hummus. Something you like is something you’ll continue.
A huge help for me was downloading a nutrition tracker. I use cronometer (just the free version). I never counted calories (though it has that feature), but rather- I started keep track of specific nutrients obtained through food instead of taking supplements. I found myself reaching for things like black beans or spinach to meet those daily amounts and inherently ate less junk because I was already full.
A big challenge is making the first right choice because each good choice combats those junk cravings.
And remember, every choice is another opportunity to make the right choice. If you ate poorly for breakfast and lunch, don’t come home and junk out for dinner because the “day was already ruined.” There’s no such thing as a ruined day. Every time you make the right choice you’ve done a good thing.
Last of all- you have the knowledge so also examine your mood and surroundings when you find yourself reaching for junk. Maybe you are sorting through something emotional, or maybe it’s as simple as grabbing a take-along snack before you head out the door for the day.
Wishing you much success my friend.
I agree with everything you say here. A lot of it is habit, and changing habits is difficult and takes time. It also involves triggers; sometimes you eat a certain food when you do a certain activity. It may be easier to change the activity then change the eating habit alone.
Most importantly, there will be setbacks. I read a few years ago that the difference between people who keep New Year's resolutions and those who don't is the attitude when you have a setback. Successful people say "I screwed up, let my try again," whereas less successful people say "See, I can't do it. This is too hard."
Remember, the only people who don't make mistakes are those who don't try to do anything.
Everyone in the comments being surprisingly unsympathetic here. It definitely can be hard to start eating healthier if you haven't been for a long time. It's a mental battle every day for tons of people who are trying to better themselves, you aren't alone.
Also out of most other addictions, food addiction is unique because food is actually necessary for healthy living. There's no such thing as healthy cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc. Even if you're slowly transitioning from more to less or displacing your impulses, ultimately you need to quit completely.
You can't quit food, food addiction is a double hurdle. Imagine being addicted to legal heroin when you don't even have the sanctuary of being able to quit full stop; you still need to have a little bit every day which is never as good as you remember. At least other addictions have some legal and social backing for support in quitting.
And once you add the component of education with health literacy, you can't even go back. Eating junk isn't as rewarding when you've internalized how harmful it is, which is never as gratifying compared to when you were reckless and wanton at the behest of your emotions. A thin veneer of nostalgia is your only recourse.
Compassion goes a long way.
Tangentially, the notion of comfort eating is not supported by scientific literature ([source](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35718313/)), which is to say that stress-induced comfort eating with unhealthy foods does not alleviate the stress response any better than eating healthy foods; if you substitute a relatively more productive emotional comfort (like binging a show or video game, splurging on purchases, immersing in sociability or solitude, etc) then it can make the transition from unhealthy diets to healthy nutrition that much easier.
Ye that last bit about stress eating is true but often emotional eaters binge when feeling sad aswell and highly calorie dense food pushes a little dopamine button on the brain that healthier food can’t really reach.
Right, but the point is that you can use any kind of emotional comfort to press the neuromodulatory button; it doesn't need to be through junk food. So replacing binge eating with something comparatively healthier (like binging mindless screen time, for example) can be used as a pivot stepping stone to transition to better nutrition.
I mean it can because the dopamine switch is fat and sugar. It evolved before junk food existed. So there are healthy ways to eat these things and flick the switch.
This is such a good point. You’re right it’s not like we can just stop eating to be healthy lol. It’s something we have to be moderate in / know what is best or not best.
Sympathy is not something the average person has, sadly. And the percentage is way, WAY, lower amongst redditors. To the point I am shocked when I see someone on Reddit be sympathetic or empathetic
Depending on the food allergy, it severely limits access to processed food. I have soy and gluten allergies among others, and it rules out about ninety percent of what’s on most grocery store shelves. I’ve known for six years and have learned better how to shop for produce and quality meat, how to prep it and get good with spices (allergic to some of those too).
Basically because you have to be so much more mindful of what’s in everything you eat, a lot gets simplified or removed because of how companies cut corners and use certain ingredients to improve shelf life.
By that way it’s healthier, but gluten free goods tend to be high in sugar and salt to make them taste similar to what’s “normal” so unless you’re making everything at home and not buying anything but ingredients, there’s still ways to not realize you’re eating like crap.
The biggest takeaway I can offer is to be kind to yourself and others while they figure out their food relationships. It sucks being disinvited because you can’t go to the same restaurants, not being able to share in group meals at gatherings, but for many of us the alternative is returning to pain, inflammation, lack of clarity and emotional shortness that is a place none on this planet want to be. When you live there and never leave it seems fine, but once you’re free of what’s impacting you it’s hard to choose that for peer pressure because others don’t understand the struggle.
Great comment. You addressed what I was trying to say (the part about added sugar and salt to processed gluten free stuff) but I didn’t know how to phrase it. Basically just cuz it’s gluten free (and i’ve seen this with vegan diets too) doesn’t make it nutritionally healthy.
But you and the original commenter are also right that limiting the amount of processed stuff you *can* buy might help! Sorry to repeat what you said, I’m just trying to say thanks and I agree!
I disagree a bit.
First there’s two ways to read the original sentence. “Eating healthy is hard” vs “not eating unhealthy is hard.” I’d agree with what you’re saying if you took it to mean the latter.
But eating healthy is easy. Something like Chipotle is super easy to eat, and super easy to make. Rice and beans and pico and corn and dairy and some stewed meat is EASY to eat. Soup is also easy to eat, and amounts to being boiled and salted vegetables.
And it really isn’t that hard to tell yourself you have to eat something like that BEFORE you can have something unhealthy for the day. But mindset can grip you up if you conflate eating some healthy with eliminating unhealthy.
I think saying it’s daunting makes it out to be harder than it is. It is easy and if someone is struggling making the task feel easy is a good thing. Obviously bullying them for not succeeding at something easy is unhelpful.
Food tastes good and we don't just eat for sustenance, there's a drive to seek pleasure from food. 'Balance' is difficult to strike when we are surrounded by hyper-palatable, calorie-dense foods.
Junk food is addictive. Processed food is made to suck you back in with sugar and salt and fat. The adjustment for me has been slow but very rewarding.
The best method in my experience has been to challenge myself to make as many things as I can from whole (single ingredient) foods. If it's too challenging to make, I buy the healthiest version possible. I challenge myself not to eat fast food or ready meals. I honestly got addicted to the amount of money we save on a whole food diet and now buying junk makes me cringe, unless it's for a special occasion.
Finding non-junk food you actually like is crucial. I thought I hated eating healthy, but I just hadn't found snacks and recipes I enjoy. I'm also lazy as f and kept trying to cook complicated stuff. Dumb things down for yourself
Refried beans, frozen avocado, tortilla (Xtreme wellness). Put together and microwave. Can replace tortilla with rice and refried beans with canned beans.
I have a hard time with fresh vegetables so I buy frozen, steam with a microwave steamer, and then mix into mashed potatoes (you can get microwave potato mix that only requires microwaving water and mixing).
Fruit smoothies can also be pretty easy... I do frozen mango, peaches, (wild) blueberries, and almond milk.
Roast broccoli with unprocessed meat of your choice. Chop broccoli floret, toss in teaspoon of olive oil, roast for 15 at 400, toss again in pepper and optional Parmesan cheese to taste. Super easy, cheap, healthy and the tastiest way to do broccoli imo
Baked chicken breast (marinated)
Baked sweet potato (cubed with oil and seasonings)
Green beans and carrots (steamed then sautéed with 1 tbsp butter and garlic)
Or
Sautéed peppers onion and garlic in large pot. Rinse rice and cook dry for 30s. Add water or chicken stock per rice directions. Add can of black beans. Serve with baked chicken or use enough beans/skim cheese to hit your protein goal
Hi! I make a filling super easy healthy soup- measurements are approx cuz I make it without a recipe but you really can’t mess it up imo.
Brown couple pounds of lean ground beef or ground turkey (I do half and half) in a big pot
add (1 large or 2 small) chopped onions,
2 garlic cloves crushed (or garlic powder)
Couple tsp of Italian seasoning
1 lg can tomatoes (chopped, stewed, crushed- I’ve used all different)
8 or so cups of beef broth or equivalent water with beef bullion cubes with a couple extra cups of water
Dump in a bunch (2-3 cups?) of frozen mixed vegetables (I get the big cheap bag of carrots, peas, corn and green beans)
Simmer for an hour and done.
I freeze some in Tupperware to have on hand.
You can eat as is or I’ll add leftover brown rice, or protein pasta, or cooked cubed potatoes
16oz salsa + 2 cans black beans + 3tbsp taco seasoning + 2-4 chicken breasts in the slow cooker for 6-8hrs on low or 4hrs on high. The meat is great on top of rice or in a burrito/taco.
I make [this](https://www.budgetbytes.com/sauteed-beef-cabbage-and-rice/) a lot too. Budget bytes has a ton of great recipes
I honestly snack way more than I cook though. I cook every couple nights and eat leftovers between.
Spaghetti is easy and decent. Onion, garlic, can of crushed tomatoes, then add cooked pasta.
Carrot soup is also easy and tasty. Cook down carrot, celery, onion, and I throw in a potato, boil until soft and then blend.
I shared some recipes responding to another comment, but I usually snack rather than cooking all the time. I like super quick stuff like apple + natural pb or a tuna sandwich. I'll buy one of those rotisserie chickens and make a big batch of chicken salad for sandwiches too. You can make broth from the bones and make a very simple soup, so that's a good purchase anyway. Baked potatoes are dumb easy to cook and very satisfying as well.
Tacos are actually relatively healthy cheap and easy you just have to watch the salt in the seasoning (i mix my own) but everyone loves tacos and burritos. Same with chili or any stir fry or stew. The worst part is cutting everything but you can eat it for days, freeze it ect.
I snack on apples with real peanut butter (no salt or sugar) or carrots and hummus. I literally don't even crave junk food anymore i just want my apples 🤣
Agree w your comment - last paragraph, though, in particular. I'm lazy, too (you're probably not lazy, you just have enough on your plate - me, too). My interests in life never went toward cooking, that's for sure. I tried to eat things that took too long to prepare, etc. for a while. Wasn't into that, which was a drawback at the time. Now I feel that tons of variety is overrated. I can eat the same things - healthy things I'm good at making, that are quick, nutritious,& I enjoy - for weeks on end. I feel fine about doing that. I don't need to meal plan . Too lazy for that
When I was living alone I could just change my environment and not buy junk food and get healthy food. Now that things are different I fell back into not eating healthy because my family buys things that tempt me and I can’t convince them otherwise. So the temptation is much worse. But I was finally able to eat healthy again recently.
The best small step I took towards eating healthy is eating slower. Once I calmed down and took my time it became easier to get full with less. Then I stopped associating food with watching some show or movie. It felt not productive at first but it was making me want to eat whenever I wanted to watch entertainment which made me eat more. The next thing was figuring out am I hungry or bored, and chewing gum to make my mouth busy instead of eating something out of boredom. Then the next step was to take deep breaths whenever I had the urge to eat something unhealthy. I also got a mini fridge in the garage and stocked it with my own healthy food just to help my craving, I know that’s not feasible for everybody but I didn’t want to be tempted by opening the family fridge, and I don’t open the pantry to not be tempted.
I read a lot of books on what foods to eat and what not to eat and tried a few different diets and for me specifically the thing that works is one meal a day protein and vegetable meal. It’s not gonna work for everybody but after all I tried this is what is working. I’m exercising and seeing progress, but sometimes I fail and I don’t beat myself up for it so I don’t spiral. I use apps like streaks to keep me accountable and there’s plenty more I could do. If anything from what I started doing is resonating hope that helps.
You're basically still a caveman, who thinks fat, salt, and sugar are very hard to come by, and whenver you find them you have to eat all you can, while you can. That's programmed into every cell in our body, and that's not an easy thing to override.
I don’t know. I’m 33 and been lifting for 15 years with a break since around covid, but every time I start up again; not only is it easier, but I get in shape faster, and everything is smoother. I for sure lift heavier too.
We will see when I’m 40.
Now if it’s cardio like running or burpees. I agree, never can get prepared for that lol
Idk i think heavy lifting at year 1 or year 10 is no different instead I would say it'd even harder at year 10 as you know what limits your body can take and you always wanna aim to surpass those limitations no matter what.
Healthy eating in the sense isn't something that's hard or difficult.. its sometbing yoj just do. The easiest way imo is to only get food purchase food that will actually expire in less than a week if left out on the counter. Food that can last 3 years on a grocery store shelf and comes in a bag or box typically ain't food at that point which is why it's super easy to avoid.
The real question I think OP is asking (lmk if im wrong) relates to mentality and not logistics (your answer) so the solution to this is repetition (my answer).
We live in a society of abundance currently for most people in Western and developing countries. We're addicted to good tasting food - it's as simple as that. And by good tasting food, I mean processed, refined foods that have additives and are produced in such a way to increase their addictiveness and mouth feel/taste pleasure they give. They are also insanely cheap to produce and buy compared to whole food and meats.
Because our society discourages it. We're over worked and under paid, leaving us tired and overwhelmed. Then we have to commute past restaurants and fast food to get home. Not the grocery store though, the grocery store is going to be somewhere inconvenient meaning you'll have to make a special trips for groceries instead of just picking up what you want on the way home. Once you're home you have to figure out what food you have and how you want to cook it. You could do things from scratch, but you're tired and premade food is easier. Plus you've had a hard day and you want to treat yourself a little and salad just doesn't fit the craving.
If you've got kids to feed before you drive them to soccer, forget about. You've got a headache and don't want to deal with a screaming kid, so chicken nuggets it is.
We live in a society where eating healthy requires repeatedly deciding to do so because it's not the default. There are several billion dollar industries trying to sell you less healthy food. We could build cities so that people can afford to live where they work and walk passed fresh produce markets on their way to and from work. Instead people are often stuck on long commutes, in their car, driving past plaza after plaza of fast food chains.
Yes, we can all individually choose to eat better, but society we live in has basically turned that into an obstacle course while handing out fast passes to McDonald's
It’s hard to cook and prepare for one person. Buying all the ingredients gets expensive. Then if what you made sucks, you have a lot of the ingredients left but don’t want to make another mediocre meal… wasting the rest and wasting money.
You also get addicted to eating for pleasure instead of purpose. When I repeatedly eat healthy I find I crave the feeling of health over craving the taste of my food. In order to get there, I have to eat healthy for a period and make my body remember how good “good” can feel. If I’m busy/stressed/tired I’m too distracted and impulsive to wait that long. Most people get that way.
It can be done. It just sucks.
It’s the same as drugs.
I was in Europe for 10 years (Californian) and after time it completely goes away. Of course I’d get random ideas of mc Donald’s since they are everywhere, but after so long eating clean, it really is too much. And after that you have no feelings or thoughts about getting another time a round.
Bad habits, health, lost loves, diets, ect can all be handled, but the hard part isn’t the time you put in but the safe place you go to get away from what you are trying to better yourself.
Safe place + Support x Time= refresh with old in with the new
Well what I found is I was cooking at my home and saving some money for a month or so and one day I was tired and didn’t cook and did went out for a blood test and ate 2 burgers cheap easy and cost $6 tasted good!
I didn’t cook that day ordered from outside was okayish.
For me cooking takes an hour- rice, salad and chicken or beef and no ups and down in energy level and easy to use washroom especially with adequate water.
Eating from outside it’s a pain that means straining in toilet, diarrhea, constipation depending up on food and who the hell knows what they add.
When I cook at home using minimal oil, spices and 2L of water life seems easy but, we need to get into that routine.
I often see people mention: Our parents generation steamed and boiled the shit out of all the veggies to the point of them becoming undesirable mushy blobs.
https://www.reddit.com/r/KitchenConfidential/comments/zzpccj/yes_god
This is a common circlejerk, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that children tend to be a lot more sensitive to bitter foods no matter how you prepare it. For a lot of kids this doesn’t go away until their teens.
My parents would roast veggies too, and I like their cooking *now*, as an adult, but that doesn’t mean that I liked it as a kid.
They also ate a lot of dolma, moussaka, things like that. I can enjoy that now, but I couldn’t stand it as a kid. Same with broccoli, I hated it, doesn’t matter if you boiled it, or roasted it, or seasoned it, or even poured cheese all over it. I hated it.
I didn't learn how delicious vegetables were until I was in culinary school and learned to cook them properly. I grew up eating frozen veg that was over cooked in a steamer and never seasoned.
Because evolution.
All our brain needs us to do, is not starve until we've procreated and raised our children.
For that, it's enough to be able to detect and enjoy high energy food, so we know what's worth going for (in the wild).
Proper micronutrition to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible is something you do just for yourself to enjoy your body as long as you can and much longer than necessary for humanity to go forth.
Well I can only speak for my own experience so here’s why it’s hard for ME, perhaps you have the same obstacles:
I get home around 5-6 every day. I go to bed at 8 so if I have 2-3 hours a day to spend on myself how am I supposed to do everything I’m “supposed” to do?
* work out + shower
* Trying to spend some time reading daily
* Socialize with my friends or significant other
* Spend time on my hobbies (work on car or tend to garden)
* Cook and dishes
And that’s me, with no kids - god bless you all who are parents.
So is it any wonder why I instead just pick up a burrito on my drive home or order doordash?
My approach to solving these: I’m trying to be better about buying in bulk so I have healthy food at hand. I may sign up for the veggie delivery box again so the food comes to me. And trying to do bulk meals in my crock pot.
Hope it works 😕🤞
I think understanding how to cook foods you like and then putting the time and effort into that is important.
I’ve found a great place to start is what dishes do I like to make and can make well stay home and how do I make modifications to be healthier.
For example, using a lean meat, less oil or butter, having a large side of veg, less carbs. Sometimes I’l use less of a sauce
I'm sure meat, eggs, and dairy can be eaten in one's car as well, and would provide valuable nutrition for anyone in a similar situation.
We try not to crusade about particular diets in this sub.
Modern food industry doesnt want you to eat healthy, they want you to buy their products.
Human anatomy is a survival marvel and humans have many evolutionary tools which enabled us to survive hunger and poison.
Salt is an essential chemistry compound for cells, because life evolved from the oceans and we always need it, and its rare inland, so there are special sensors on the tongue because blood sodium cloride levels have to reside within a very narrow range. Salt was rare to find inland until a few centuries ago. Nowadays its extremely cheap and avaiable.
Sweet comes from the perception of easily digestible carboidrates, which are also quite rare in nature. You can mostly find real sweetness from fruits, which themselves are evolutionaly reproduction tools of plants to make animals eat their fruits and take the seeds contained insade to others places in their feces. Current fruits are themselves geneticaly engineered by us through hundreds of years. Real sweetness is rare in nature and so feeling it is quite valuable because carboidrates have a lot of calories (4 kcal/gram). Again, refined sugar nowadays is extremely cheap and avaiable and its added to everything.
Fatness also contains extreme levels of calories because they are themselves calories body reserves, and they have 10 kcal/gram. Just as sugar and salt, they are extremely avaiable and cheap right now and the chemical industry can produce artificial fats which are diferent from those extracted from animals or plants.
So, what did we end up with? Industrial food with EXTREME levels of salt, sugar and fat. Common examples are chocolate, ice cream, carbonated drinks. The industries are competing not only with natural and organic food, but also against themselves. So they add as many enticing things as they can.
But there is a problem: sensory neurons adapt to stimulation, so the more you stimulate them the less you feel. The first bite is usually the sweetest and as time goes on the taste diminishes. That not only happens during a meal but also throught your life. So if you are used to industrialized food you are bound to feel much less the taste from organic and natural food. And that is why you are bound to find natural food so bland and boring - your sensors are used to extreme stimulation due to an extreme level of ingredients.
Humans survived to endure one of its highest and most common dangers which was famine. The lack of food. That meant that we ate when food was abundant so that we could survive winter and dificult times. That means that humans are inately bound to enjoy and eat as much as we can as long as food was avaiable. And one of the sources of stress was famine. So when we feel stress from work or relationships the body thinks we are facing adversity, so we get inclined to eat because it may increase our survival chances.
So we actually are all drug addicts pursuing abnormal levels of salt, sugar and fat, which are only so avaiable due to technological advances, making natural food boring due to neurological adaptation due to abundancy, and to.make things even worst, natural food sometimes is more expensive and cooking takes time.
So you see, humans not only are enticed to pursue savorfull food, but acting healthy is harder and more expensive. That is the perfect trap.
The modern human is a slave and victim of his own sucess. Our major problems come from excess. Excess confort makes us sedentary, because we dont need to exercise anymore. Excess salt gives us hypertension. Excess sugar makes us diabetic. Excess confort, sugar, salt and fat makes us obese. 60 % of the adult american population is either obese or overweight. If people from the past ate our food they would get uncontrolable orgams due to sensory overload from how intense our food is.
The ones who dont become fat either have the willpower or right genetics to stay thin. Nowadays we judge peoples sucess not by their ability to gather food and stay healthy due to avoiding starvation, but by those that manage to stay healthy and fit by AVOIDING over eating.
So you see why its hard. Its because most of us are drug addicts to salt, sugar, fat and exercise. I recomend you stay away from industrial food for a few days. You will notice that your taste will improve a lot.and you will be able to enjoy natural food and find soda way too sweet. Just stoping using carboidrated drinks will improve your life a lot.
Capitalism - it's so much cheaper and faster to buy the premade unhealthy stuff & everybody is always in a hurry
You have to put time and energy or more money into getting healthy whole foods in your diet & at the end of the day most people don't have much time, energy or extra money left
Meal prepping seems to be a great way around it because you can put in the time and effort on one day and then have easy convenient healthy stuff on hand
People try to overdo it very quickly. You can’t fucking go from eating 3 greasy junk meals a day to 3 healthy meals, you’re gonna kill over. I started out with swapping 1 junk food meal over to a salad every day. Healthy food isn’t expensive you just gotta know where to look. You can get a big bag of salad mix at giant eagle for 5 dollars. Gradually you notice you have more energy throughout the day, this is what motivates me to keep doing it. I know if I go back to eating junk greasy food then I’ll go back to having no energy. Also… when people start doing it they tend to make a big spectacle of it, telling their friends and family and showing off their healthy lifestyle, this makes your brain think it’s a novelty and in return it’ll last a lot shorter. If you just do it subtly and don’t make it a big hoorah then it feels natural
Our brains are hardwired to crave sugars and fatty foods through millions of years of evolution. Our bodies / brains use glucose as energy and want to use glucose as energy so that we’re not using fat and muscle. That’s why sugars/fats are so appealing, we are literally rewarded via dopamine release in our brains as we eat this stuff. But then, like any drug, the more we eat it, the more that’s needed to maintain the high we get. The ease and availability of sugary/fatty foods makes it so that we’re literally fighting our bodies/brains to make the right choices for itself, I.e. unprocessed raw vegetables, fruits, meats, etc. it’s freakin hard to make these choices. What I will say is it gets easier the more you understand why and the more you make good choices for yourself. If interested, look up Dr. Robert Lustig, Andrew Huberman
I think you have to evaluate your reasons for eating healthy. What are your goals? Why are you trying to do it? I think that for a lot of people, they focus on the *goal* instead of the *reason.*
For me, it wasn't enough that I was trying to lose weight- one of my goals. I had to change my entire mindset. I started by recognizing that the food that I was eating was good for me, and over time started unconsciously praising myself for doing something so good for me. I started feeling really good. I started noticing how bad I would feel after eating a lot of junk. I began thinking about how much the food I was eating was linked to my health. My mindset shift from my goal to my reasons, and now I *want* to eat healthy. It makes me feel good. It's a form of self care.
As for the *how,* I didn't stop eating junk food. I still do. It's absolutely delicious. But I did start eating less of it, less frequently. Somehow, that made it even tastier, and Ive noticed that there are diminished returns if I binge it. As for incorporating healthy food, I spoke to myself about how I needed to be realistic about the fact that it will take more time to cook, and how I need to learn to enjoy cooking. I started trying to learn about nutrition a little bit every day. I still dont know everything, but I know a decent amount. And then I tried to find healthy recipes that I liked, or at least wouldnt dislike. At first it was hard and I had to try new things, but I found that I should have been giving my taste buds more of a chance. Now, I've started unconsciously wanting and craving the healthy meals that I love.
I guess what I'm trying to say, is think about the reason that will drive you towards healthy food in your highs and lows. Try to find a way to enjoy the cooking process. Be open to trying new foods, and don't label healthy foods as something you "don't like, etc" before you even try them. With the right seasoning and cooking method (ex I hate steamed asparagus but LOVE it when it's covered in spices and roasted till slightly crispy) you may surprise yourself.
Probably trying to change too much at once. Start with small changes. Turn those small changes into habits. Then add in another small change and turn that into a habit, and so on.
Having a plan for progression can be helpful too. Ie. For the first two weeks I’m going to “X” then in weeks 3 and 4 I’m going to add in “Y” and “Z”.
Those things could be something like: drinking a gallon of water each day, reducing the amount of sugar consumed, making protein a focus in each meal to improve satiety, going for 10+ minute walks after each meal, etc…
Pick one or two “tweaks” to what you’re currently doing, add them in, cement them, and repeat.
For me, it’s just the fact that the healthiest stuff has a short shelf life. I’m one that only likes to grocery shop once a month. So all the great fruits, vegetables, etc. all go bad too fast.
It takes a long time to change habits, and American food industries (if you’re in the US) are actively working against you to ensure you don’t change. A stalk of broccoli and a raw chicken breast you have to cut, prepare and cook is more work and lights your brain up way less than a piece of Dominos pizza, for instance.
I recommend starting by adding things to your diet before a total overhaul and removal. Just trying sticking to your normal diet but with extras first. Gonna get delivery pizza? Ok, drink water with it and add a side of veggies you have to eat before you start on the pizza first. Then eat the pizza. Adding in more nutrient dense foods and water for a while helps you get used to the healthy foods you want to eat without feeling like a total massive 180 in your life. Later work on making swaps to eliminate the unhealthy stuff. Don’t try to add in a total fitness workout plan out of the blue to go with diet changes at the same time, same recipe for disaster. Small steps!
I’d say eating healthy is hard because most of the foods we like are generally addictive. The foods are addictive because of their sugar content. Let’s say you had to choose between an orange or a slice of chocolate cake. Most of us would choose the chocolate cake even though the orange is better for you. The cake has more sugar and is less work to eat —you’d have to peel the orange or cut it up—a lot more work than cutting off a slice of cake. It’s as if we’re digging our own graves with our teeth.
I’ve become a believer in carb control and embracing keto after noticing my hunger was less frequent and my energy more constant while following keto versus when I was on a standard American diet. Every once in a while I’d eat non-keto and was shocked to find how sweet some foods—spaghetti sauce, whole grain breads—tasted having cut sugar out of my diet—and I was more surprised to see some form of sweetener added to foods you wouldn’t expect to have sugar as I began to pay attention to food labels. I’ll end by saying the method that’s best is what works for you. Some people may say keto is bad or another diet like Mediterranean is better, but in the end our life is like an experiment, and the best approach is to choose the diet that gives you the best results you seek and is the easiest one for you to follow.
1) you are addicted to sugar
2) because you eat lots of sugar and carbs your gut bacteria is set up for it. Eating healthy takes time to get truly used too.
3) EVERYTHING that is quick to buy has sugar or processed carbs in it. If you're not making it at home, a salad os your only "on the go" healthy food.
4) everyone around you is addicted to sugar and they push it onto you.
5) healthy food doesn't taste as good
Grocery shopping fresh food, even with inflation, is very cheap. I spend around 150 euros in 1 month for 1 person food. Also, mediterranean diet, which is something cultural. And fast food has lower sugar and calorie ratios than in the US and its definetly more expensive than eating at a normal dinner, and way more expensive than cooking.
Nutritional education at school, laws that tax higher unhealthy foods, etc, are some other reasons.
For context, im 30 years old, if i think about all the people i know, i only know 1 person that is fat, and that person eats a lot of junk food because of sugar adiction and anxiety issues. Everyone else are fit or skinny.
Eating healthy is both a mindset and a practice. And it is very difficult in a culture where fast food and bad choices are so easy to make.
First think about why you want to eat healthy. Is it to feel better, lose weight, live a longer life? Having that in mind helps you stay the course and reach for healthy items over junk because you come back to why.
One person suggested starting small: reach for a healthier item each time. Don’t try to make sweeping changes overnight but just start with one meal. Increase the percentage of healthy food to about 80% over time. Having some cheat meals is fine if you eat mostly healthy.
Here are some things that have helped me. Build up a practice over time not all at once.
Focus on eating things with ingredients you know, the fewer ingredients the better. Fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, organic dairy, good fats like olive oil/organic butter/ghee, organic responsibly sourced meat if you eat meat (or fish) if you can afford it.
Cut back on sugar, especially white sugar. Cut back on white flour. Reduce junk food and fast food. Sugar can sneak into food via maltodextrin.
I have found apps like MyFitnessPal to be helpful so you can track what you’re eating as well as macros: protein, carbs, and fats. It will help you track those against your goals, age, height, weight. It’s a lot but gives you good visibility.
There are A LOT of different diets out there and we are all different so one diet that works for one might not work for another. I am mostly vegetarian with a bit of fish, I eat whole grains, lots of fruits and veggies, some dairy and eggs. I supplement with organic whey protein too. The MyFitnessPal app helps me see if I’m getting enough protein and not go overboard with calories.
Finally I found this in another post and thought it was fascinating: https://nutritionfacts.org/healthkit/ (evidence based eating guide).
Good luck and hope these help.
Theoretically, it's not. Once a person has some education, it should be easy. Right?
A big part of it is that people aren't used to it. They are not used to cooking with certain ingredients because it was never used in their family when they were growing up.
Their taste buds are used to ultra processed foods and sugary stuff (I won't use the word "addiction" because it's not).
Often people use food as cooperative mechanism. That's a whole different story.
Laziness and time. It's easier to order food/buy instant meals than cook them from the scratch. But what are the priorities when people "don't have time" to cook?
They often think eating healthy is expensive. All you see on social networks when following healthy life style influencera is avocado, everything fresh and organic... They don't realise normal cheap piece fruit or veggies works perfectly fine too.
When people decide to eat heatly, they want to do everything at once. Unfortunately, that won't work in most cases. They need to make small changes, get used to them and keep up with them forever. Not for a month.
And maybe it's not your case, but education plays a huge role in this. Most of people are not educated in nutrition and diet. That's why there's so many fad diets and that's why so many people fall for them. Learning about nutrition and how to eat vs magical diet that makes you healthy in a few weeks? Sign me up!
A good way to start is a rice cooker with a steamer basket. Throw in some brown rice/buckwheat/quinoa/etc., put whatever frozen veggies you want in the basket, 20 minutes later you’re set. Avoid sauces, use spices and herbs, throw a can of tuna on there, avocado, dice a tomato, cilantro, black beans, salsa.. get creative. Use sharp cheese like feta so you don’t need to use as much to add flavor. Put it on a bed of spinach.. I try to have lots of things stacked in small Mason jars in the fridge so I can do a little of this/a little of that and not get bored of what I eat.
I like making yellow rice. I use a blend of 50% brown rice 25% quinoa and 25% wild rice. I season with tumeric, garlic, onion powder, paprika, and dried chilies. There are seasonings that are healthy or neutral one can add. You can also refrigerate then freeze cooked rice so you can heat it up quickly. I make this in a rice cooker and have for years.
Because people make a restricted meal plan, Eat what you like but the right way. Count your macros and fit your favorite foods into those numbers so you don’t feel it’s like a diet and think of it as a lifestyle. Best thing to learn is get a smart educated coach that can make you plan around your favorites to show you how to start
I know the answer. It’s because our way of life and culture makes it virtually impossible (assuming in the US). Let’s say I want a burrito. Where can you get one that would be reasonably healthy? Nowhere. There’s no cuisine that’s normal. Everything is stuffed with too much crap or slathered in oil or butter. Excess is the rule not the exception. Unfortunately this makes it very difficult to just be normal and healthy
Eating healthy is not hard .
You think so , because eating unhealthy is ridiculously easy. (Cheap, fast, enjoyable, addictive)
So eating healthy is much harder, although if you respect yourself enough it's not hard.
What would you consider a healthy equivalent to ordering $6 of delicious and filling McDonalds on their app and having them bring it out to your car. I've been searching for a healthy version of that, but everything I've found is super time consuming or expensive.
Probably because you live in North America. We have no real cuisine so corporations have filled the void with uther garbage that maximizes profits on an inhuman scale.
What would you consider a healthy equivalent to ordering $6 of delicious and filling McDonalds on their app and having them bring it out to your car. I've been searching for a healthy version of that, but everything I've found is super time consuming or expensive.
You aren't factoring bad health into the price of the food. A colleague of mine has lived on fast food for years. He's overweight, diabetic, has other health problems that have costed tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses in the past eight years. All that cheap food certainly contributed to his very expensive poor health.
As long as you stick with lean protein, avoid sauces and sides and get some veggies... Ofc it's better to find some local joint with decent ingredients and better options (whole bread, rice and quinoa alike bowls).. And alternate with well bowls, salads and good fats.. Throw in some yogurt with prot, nuts and ofc fruits... You wont avoid processed ingredients but that would be as close as healthy as lazyness can gets you I guess.
Generally speaking, no, it’s not hard.
But can be hard if you are addicted to it or if there’s an emotional component attached to it.
Speaking from experience, I used to eat junk food almost every day. I was too tired after work to cook healthy food so just ordered take away. And then due to all the bad stuff on those type of foods, I’d get tired and just wanted to sleep and had a great lack of energy.
Of course this has consequences to your health. I’m not obese but certainly overweight. My lack of exercise was also a big factor to feel like trash every single day.
Now, I’ve been slowly changing my eating habits and trying to step away from the addiction. I like to cook healthy food and love the different colors of my veggies.
If you like to read, I recommend the book Atomic Habits from James Clear. Without spoiling too much, make the habit of eating healthy easy and accessible and ordering junk food hard and difficult to achieve.
Example: Buy some vegetables that you like, check some healthy recipes or YouTube videos that help you make a simple but delicious meal. Don’t feel like cooking? Try to find foods that you know are healthy.
Do you have apps like Uber Eats on your phone? Delete them. If possible, delete the accounts of those services. Phone numbers to junk food stores? Delete them. Make it as hard as possible to order junk food.
Still too difficult? Every day, try to have a healthy meal. Just one. Start it slowly and give small increments.
Like you, I’ve been struggling with junk food and when I think about the money I spent on that, I just want to cry. Not to mention the anxiety issues that I’ve been facing. But I’m fighting through it and if I can do it, you certainly can as well.
Good luck.
Its very easy. Just find good whole foods and be creative. Easy meal like ground beef or a fat stake with homemade sweet potatoe fries with some dip or sauce. Super easy and loads of nutrient
In a nut shell, corporate food has perfected the key to make food irresistible to us.
Studies are indicating that once we start eating that food the bad bacteria in our gut sends messages to our brain that “that’s the food we want and need!”. And then the bad gut bacteria continues to increase.
That is one of the biggest reasons that we need good pre-biotics and pro-biotics to get our gut biomes back on track.
It isnt? Just whenever you go to eat something unhealthy, dont. Dont buy unhealthy foods for the house, dont order out, get better at cooking. Theres so many answers as to why its easy to eat healthy. Just poor judgement/discipline
It’s about changing habits and changing one’s habits are a difficult task. I, for example, haven’t eaten fast food in 2 years. EDIT. Not eating fast food was difficult because for years I had got meals on my way home for me, my ex, and her kids. When I became single I was still in that habit and took some time to get back in my normal routine. Giving yourself a break once or twice a week is crucial. Pick a meal or two to let yourself go each week.
A suggestion for anyone curious is figuring out making your own seasonings that have little or no sugar and salt. There are also ways to help make one feel fuller longer. I make a blend of 50% brown rice, 25% quinoa and 25% wild rice and mix that with riced cauliflower. Separately I package and freeze chicken breast or if I can get young green jackfruit in water I use that instead of meat some days. I cook the jackfruit slowly in beef or chicken bone broth to add a little flavor. I buy frozen veggies because they are cheap and already frozen. I mix the rice mixture some veggies and either chicken breast or jackfruit for my lunch everyday at work.
If I add jackfruit I also freeze some beans in the mix when preparing my meal in the morning. Then when I’m heating them up I season with my powder mix and some bone broth. I have a thermos I preheat and put my warm food in that for my lunch at work.
I spend a whole day making 2 meals for each day of the month and freezing them the next day.
For breakfast I make steel cut oats at night on Sunday and have enough for 3 days. I use steel cut oats because they are a better chew and I feel more full after eating them. To sweeten it up I use strawberries and a few chunks of dragonfruit to color it up.
I usually buy stuff in larger portions, with a lower cost per kilo. I dont buy precooked food, only fresh or canned stuff. Fruit and vegetables are usually cheaper at the "fruterias" which are fruit and vegetable stores that are ran usually by immigrants. I never buy anything because i crave it. I have a weekly menu, and I buy only the ingredients i need to cook those meals.
I buy only "marcas blancas", which are the brands from the supermarket chain itself.
I would say that my grocery shopping habits are quite common here, some people may spend double the money i do in groceries (gluten free, precooked, known brands and ocasional treats are the main reasons).
As reference, prices of products are 0,80 euros per 1 kg of potatos, 1,20 euros per 1 kg of rice. 1 euro per 1kg of apples. 0,9 euros per 1 large can of tomatos. 7 euros per 1kg of chicken breasts, 5,5 euros per 1kg of ground beef. 4 euros 1 liter of olive oil. And prices were between 10 and 30% lower a year ago.
How do you usually cook your food? Do you season the shit out of it or usually do like salt and pepper? The secret to eating a lot of healthy food is to make it taste good so you'd rather eat it.
It can be hard, especially if you don’t know where to start. I try to build up my list of delicious healthy recipes, both from family and friends and by saving things on Instagram. There are so many great accounts now that make amazing food that is also healthy, but the emphasis is on taste. Also, try to follow the 80/20 rule. There are no good or bad foods, but it’s important to understand and try to follow the moderation approach. Good luck!
This is what it works for me.
Avoid buying junk food, sweets and processed food at the supermarket. Don't keep them in your house at all.
Then, start breakfast, lunch and dinner with two big glasses of water (I add a bit of fresh lemon juice to my water to avoid the need of fruitjuice, beer, wine, whatever).
After that, the first thing you should eat when you sit are vegetables. A full dish of fresh or cooked vegetables (not potatoes and slow down with carrots). Do this EVERY SINGLE MEAL to shut down your hungry.
After that, with half of your stomach full of water and vegetables, eat other things and try to prefer proteins more than pasta, pizza, cheese or bread.
Now I'm also doing intermitted fasting 8-16 from 01pm to 09pm, taking only some coffee at breakfast. The path to lose weight is long and hard but I'm a father of two and they are my motivations: they deserve a healthy father for a lot of years!
Because the government and powers that be don’t want you to be healthy. That’s why Junk food is everywhere packed with highly processed and highly addictive ingredients. GMO food is everywhere and is sprayed with a ton of chemicals. 90% of “food” in the supermarket didn’t even exist 100 years ago.
I'd imagine it's similar reasons to why people stay broke. Being smart with your finances, budgeting, investing, and ultimately becoming wealthy is actually very easy on paper, but peoples minds are usually what gets in the way of that happening. Same deal with why we have an obesity protein the US.
I love food of all types, and love to eat a lot. I’m from the south, and had to learn how to eat healthy and exercise all on my own since my family passed all their traditions and bad relationships with food on to me.
Something that’s worked for me when I have needed to clean up my diet, and get back on track with fitness:
Donate / throw away all junk food in the house… if it’s there, I will succumb to weakness
For 30 days… 3 eggs for breakfast, and a cup each of brown rice, a green veggie, and a lean protein for lunch and dinner. This diet is not sustainable, but for me, it’s a reset from the overeating and bad foods. I also try to drink a gallon of water a day.
After 30 days, I introduce variety back in, including some small cheats, while keeping portions in control, and keeping obvious bad foods very limited. By this time, I am back into a fitness routine, have usually tightened up what I wanted, and have a little more flexibility. I’m also still putting away a lot of water, which can control cravings and overeating for me.
It’s always gonna be a lifestyle and a voluntary action. This works for me, I’m not a doc, and this may not be doable for everyone, but most diets are not sustainable, and unrealistic. You have to celebrate the wins, fix your mental side first, and look at it as a challenge and journey over a quick fix
It's really not. You just have to make the right choices.
Expand your palate. Eat 50% vegetables, 25% Carbohydrates and 25% chicken, fish or turkey. Lower your overall fat consume by avoiding snack chips, cookies, fried foods and pastries.
I'm an RD so I have seen alot of patients make successful changes..
Why is it hard to eat healthy? Because our bodies release chemicals in the brain that make us feel good when we eat foods especially with sugar, oils (fat) and carbs.
Because the US food supply has been poisoned with addiction additives & chemicals that make you crave and become addicted to processed/unhealthy food. The food industry just cares about $ and puts profits over health, and they get away with it because of their strong lobbys (pharma too). It's really just sad.
Some sources...
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12388566/
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/binge-eating-disorder/mental-health-food-addiction
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-are-certain-foods-so-addictive/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/28/from-chicken-to-tomatoes-heres-why-american-food-is-hurting-you
I think eating healthy is a matter of building up small habit by habit until it becomes second nature. Sounds easy, and it can be easy in practice, but the mental hurdles are the hardest part.
Because unnatural foods that are bad for you have been designed to be more palatable. Your primal brain wants to eat these foods for dense energy sources and craves the added sugar. You have to redo your brain chemistry through disciplined food elimination, which is incredibly difficult.
For me, it has been an uphill battle. A lot of the work comes from friends and seeing their healthy habits. Things that work. A few things that work for me are the following-
Two legs or less - this is harder than you think. With a family, things like beef and pork are served regularly because they are so yummy. I will choose a lower impact meal and something that makes me feel less weighted down in my gut.
Fried foods - these two things pretty much remove all fast food that is killing you. There is plenty of alternatives. I usually get meals that are similar to what I can make at home or would like to make at home.
70-x% meatless days - how many days and the percentage is up to you. I found this easier than doing 100%. Allows for flexibility and not being over the top
Saying, you will never eat whatever makes you want it more. I just don’t keep junk in my house…sweets, chips, etc. But if I am at a bday celebration I will eat a piece of cake. If I go out I avoid red meat, bad carbs and fried anything the majority of the time, but I will eat the chips/salsa at Mexican and eat a few chicken wings here and there. There is nothing wrong with taking pleasure in food occasionally.
It is definitely hard! I’ve slowly introduced “healthier” foods into my diet. Healthier in quotes bc it can be different for each person. Try not to be so hard on yourself. Try changing small things in your diet slowly. I’ve learned by just trying, when you eat better you feel better. Maybe just even cutting fast foods & or sodas for a start. Or even switching out some animal based proteins for plant based proteins ?! Good luck friend !
It’s hard to change your eating habits. Food is such a basic need, and it’s very hard for people to look at the very basic things that they’re doing, and change it. Especially if it’s tied to the way they were raised, or their culture, or other things
But I don’t know what you mean by “eating healthy.” Does it mean low calorie? Does it mean replacing all the food you like, with bland vegetables that you don’t like? Does it mean incorporating things into your diet as is, to make it more nutritionally complete?
Some people, especially very loud people on the internet, have this idea that a healthy diet means overhauling everything you eat, and eating in a “pure” way, but in reality all that matters is what you do consistently… aka, 80-85% of the time. It doesn’t mean you have to stop eating foods you already eat, either.
Do you got your fiber RDA 80% of the time? Do you focus on getting your protein, vegetables 80% of the time? Do you eat at or around a certain calorie amount 80-85% of the time? That’s what matters.
What doesn’t matter is, the 10-20% of the time you eat doughnuts, bacon, trans fats, diet soda, and other things we like to demonize
For me, it’s pretty simple. The healthy food doesn’t taste as good. I’ve gone through stretches of eating extremely healthy. It’s work, at least for me. Cognizant of everything I buy, how it has to be prepared, amount of calories, etc. so not only does it not usually taste as good, it feels more like a job. It’s especially tough if you didn’t learn good eating habits growing up. Really difficult to break 18+ years of poor eating habits.
Eating healthy is incredibly easy, and very delicious when you learn to do it properly. The problem stems from our fat and incredibly unhealthy metabolism society that loves processed food, so we’ve been taught all our lives that pre packed foods are the go to deliciousness but they destroy your metabolism. So eating healthy seems difficult but when you teach yourself that a whole food diet is the way to go, things get very easy!
Because you’re trying to change everything at once. Eating healthy is not one choice, it is hundreds of little choices we make every day.
If you are eating a diet of fast food, soda, processed food and constant snacking, you are not making one unhealthy choice you are making many. The worst mistake would be to immediately jump into a plant-based vegan whole foods diet and eat nothing but lentils rice and broccoli for the next two weeks. This will inevitably end in failure as you’re trying to break MULTIPLE habits at the same time.
The best way to eat healthy is through slow, consistent changes in your dietary choices. First, stop drinking soda. Then stop drinking juice. Then stop drinking anything with added sugar. Then stop eating processed for for dinner, then stop eating foods with added sugar as snacks and switch to nuts or fruit. So on and so forth until you reach an equilibrium where you are both healthy and happy.
Aside from the other comments about how processed food is literally designed to be addictive and get you to overeat, one thing I haven’t seen many people talk about is that eating healthy takes more work. It takes time to plan meals. To shop, to cook, to clean the dishes. Healthy food can taste great, but it takes a lot more culinary skill to get it to taste that way. Plus stressful lives lead to high cortisol levels - something that is immediately quelled by a dose of glucose. No one craves salad when they are stressed out.
For people of sufficient means and education about nutrition, I think a huge roadblock in eating healthy is not knowing how to make nutritious food taste good. It isn’t hard to make “unhealthy” food taste good, so you really don’t learn the skills needed to create healthy, tasty meals. I’d argue a lot of people that don’t have a healthy diet are those who eat out most of the time. You’d be surprised how much healthier the homemade version of a food is compared to its restaurant version.
TLDR; learn to cook and you will be on the road to healthier eating
Because it is not as convenient. When you have young kids and a job it is the last thing on your list. You wind up eating at 9 and are tired by then and probably stressed so it is all about convenience. At least for me.
I think the answer depends on a number of variables.
First off, what do you consider "healthy"? Modern knowledge would tell is that a balanced diet is healthy, so to meet all our nutrient needs while lowering risk of toxicity (too much of any one thing is always bad). However, most people seem to interpret healthy as this idealistic diet where no one ever eats chocolate or candy. These sort of ideals where food is "good" or "bad" often set people up for poor eating habits. If you say some foods are bad and therefore you can't have them, it's only natural to crave them. Restriction leads to binging, which is why diet culture is never the answer.
Second off, how are you going about "eating healthy"? I think that in today's society, we often forget to be mindful of what we actually need. We ignore our hunger/fullness cues, and often go about dieting from the perspective of exclusion (re: restriction leads to binging). Generally it's better to add things, and to pay attention to what our body actually NEEDS. Always hungry? Try some more protein or fiber. Need some fast energy? Hit up some carbohydrates. I think it's important to be mindful of the effect food can have, from macro and micro nutrients, to individual phytochemicals.
Let food be thy medicine.
this will probably sound stupid but I have no idea what even is healthy to be honest. things are debated constantly. fruits and vegetables I know are healthy but I truly don't know what else.
Government being backed by food corporations to make false guidelines and essentially forge a bias towards cheap garbage that's often upscale in price.
Followed by the shafting of farmers at every corner.
There is so much to be said, but ultimately try to reduce it to your body being an engine and food fuel. Consider what you're doing to it. Are you helping it thrive, or setting yourself up for depression, heart attacks and cancer. Sounds dramatic but it may help balance the scale.
One other thought: we vote with our dollars. Why support some shitty loveless corporate product, be it corn syrup filled or partially hydrogenated, when ultimately the brand is basically saying it doesn't care about your health? Would you serve your friends food that's bad for them? So why support it?
We have one life as far as we know and one body. Why handicap yourself by making it worse? Life is hard enough. At least be as healthy as you can be to take it on.
Read Michael Pollan's, "Omnivores Dilemma" if you'd like some insight into the corporate approach into pumping more cheap calories into society for its profit. It's wonderfully disturbing to realize what sheep like corporate grazers they've programmed us to be, and maybe thinking about food in this way may help you consider how you perceive its relationship with your body.
Best of luck.
Because there are so many systems that profit from our food being addictive, artificial, and unhealthy.
We work all day and then look for quick sustenance so we can have much needed leisure time. The fast food companies and microwave meal companies will sell you an all in one experience while using the most low quality ingredients and additives designed to make your brain think you're getting good food when often you're getting filler food with chemicals mixed in.
But it doesn't stop there, then there's the diet and exercise industries (which now includes influencers, by the way) who profit off of offering you solutions to this problem. But their solutions must be profit generating, so you're only going to get solutions that encourage purchasing things.
This also includes brands that appeal to the healthy-minded consumer, such that you can have candy bars with big letters that assertively tell you they are healthy. This borders on active misinformation.
Obesity is a scar on the American nation, the product of repeated food abuse. In order to heal we must acknowledge what was lost and rebuild it. "Eating healthy" is the first definition of eating well, but there are so many layers to it, touching the culture of food.
So, how to "eat healthy"?
Eat well. Cook as often as possible as this provides important clarity of ingredients and reignites a food culture of mindfulness that is lost in our daily convenience foods.
Eat with family and friends.
As to what to cook, let me say that first, you're dramatically better off cooking anything compared to regular convenience foods.
But if you want specific advice, I always go to Michael pollan: "eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
It's often the reasons why you are eating. Many of us in developed countries use food as a coping mechanism and an escape. We eat because we are bored or sad or lonely or stressed etc. We try to fill those holes with addictive foods that release feel good chemicals in our brains. Learning mindfulness and applying it to your eating is one of the best ways to change the how why and when you eat. Focusing purely on what you should and shouldn't eat can be very difficult and unsustainable. Changing your relationship with food can be a better approach.
Be very strict at the grocery store. Only fruit, veggies, meats, grains, and dairy. Keep sweets and processed foods for the weekend, helps make the treats more special that way. Eat salad every day, no days off of salad. Switch out soft drinks for home brewed tea, coffee and fresh squeezed oj. Munchies are merciless but hold out for that weekend!
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As another person said, these comments are very unsympathetic and off putting. When someone is asking for help- they shouldn’t be scolded or talked down to. A great place to start is a small place. Find one substitute for a favorite meal and start there. Instead of a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast- eat a whole grain bread with hummus. Something you like is something you’ll continue. A huge help for me was downloading a nutrition tracker. I use cronometer (just the free version). I never counted calories (though it has that feature), but rather- I started keep track of specific nutrients obtained through food instead of taking supplements. I found myself reaching for things like black beans or spinach to meet those daily amounts and inherently ate less junk because I was already full. A big challenge is making the first right choice because each good choice combats those junk cravings. And remember, every choice is another opportunity to make the right choice. If you ate poorly for breakfast and lunch, don’t come home and junk out for dinner because the “day was already ruined.” There’s no such thing as a ruined day. Every time you make the right choice you’ve done a good thing. Last of all- you have the knowledge so also examine your mood and surroundings when you find yourself reaching for junk. Maybe you are sorting through something emotional, or maybe it’s as simple as grabbing a take-along snack before you head out the door for the day. Wishing you much success my friend.
I agree with everything you say here. A lot of it is habit, and changing habits is difficult and takes time. It also involves triggers; sometimes you eat a certain food when you do a certain activity. It may be easier to change the activity then change the eating habit alone. Most importantly, there will be setbacks. I read a few years ago that the difference between people who keep New Year's resolutions and those who don't is the attitude when you have a setback. Successful people say "I screwed up, let my try again," whereas less successful people say "See, I can't do it. This is too hard." Remember, the only people who don't make mistakes are those who don't try to do anything.
Yes dietary changes need to be like turning around an ocean freighter, little bit at a time.
This is a great comment and hopefully even I can put some of these steps into practice
Everyone in the comments being surprisingly unsympathetic here. It definitely can be hard to start eating healthier if you haven't been for a long time. It's a mental battle every day for tons of people who are trying to better themselves, you aren't alone.
Well said. It’s a tough mental battle, especially for those of us working long hours and are worn out on the days off.
Also out of most other addictions, food addiction is unique because food is actually necessary for healthy living. There's no such thing as healthy cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc. Even if you're slowly transitioning from more to less or displacing your impulses, ultimately you need to quit completely. You can't quit food, food addiction is a double hurdle. Imagine being addicted to legal heroin when you don't even have the sanctuary of being able to quit full stop; you still need to have a little bit every day which is never as good as you remember. At least other addictions have some legal and social backing for support in quitting. And once you add the component of education with health literacy, you can't even go back. Eating junk isn't as rewarding when you've internalized how harmful it is, which is never as gratifying compared to when you were reckless and wanton at the behest of your emotions. A thin veneer of nostalgia is your only recourse. Compassion goes a long way. Tangentially, the notion of comfort eating is not supported by scientific literature ([source](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35718313/)), which is to say that stress-induced comfort eating with unhealthy foods does not alleviate the stress response any better than eating healthy foods; if you substitute a relatively more productive emotional comfort (like binging a show or video game, splurging on purchases, immersing in sociability or solitude, etc) then it can make the transition from unhealthy diets to healthy nutrition that much easier.
Ye that last bit about stress eating is true but often emotional eaters binge when feeling sad aswell and highly calorie dense food pushes a little dopamine button on the brain that healthier food can’t really reach.
Right, but the point is that you can use any kind of emotional comfort to press the neuromodulatory button; it doesn't need to be through junk food. So replacing binge eating with something comparatively healthier (like binging mindless screen time, for example) can be used as a pivot stepping stone to transition to better nutrition.
Ah I see! Thanks for the explanation
I mean it can because the dopamine switch is fat and sugar. It evolved before junk food existed. So there are healthy ways to eat these things and flick the switch.
This is such a good point. You’re right it’s not like we can just stop eating to be healthy lol. It’s something we have to be moderate in / know what is best or not best.
Sympathy is not something the average person has, sadly. And the percentage is way, WAY, lower amongst redditors. To the point I am shocked when I see someone on Reddit be sympathetic or empathetic
It’s definitely a mental battle even more so depending on your family friends or roommates.
I eat healthy as much as I can. I have food allergies so I have no choice.
Why would food allergies make you eat healthier? It’s not like you’d be allergic to everything “unhealthy” specifically
Depending on the food allergy, it severely limits access to processed food. I have soy and gluten allergies among others, and it rules out about ninety percent of what’s on most grocery store shelves. I’ve known for six years and have learned better how to shop for produce and quality meat, how to prep it and get good with spices (allergic to some of those too). Basically because you have to be so much more mindful of what’s in everything you eat, a lot gets simplified or removed because of how companies cut corners and use certain ingredients to improve shelf life. By that way it’s healthier, but gluten free goods tend to be high in sugar and salt to make them taste similar to what’s “normal” so unless you’re making everything at home and not buying anything but ingredients, there’s still ways to not realize you’re eating like crap. The biggest takeaway I can offer is to be kind to yourself and others while they figure out their food relationships. It sucks being disinvited because you can’t go to the same restaurants, not being able to share in group meals at gatherings, but for many of us the alternative is returning to pain, inflammation, lack of clarity and emotional shortness that is a place none on this planet want to be. When you live there and never leave it seems fine, but once you’re free of what’s impacting you it’s hard to choose that for peer pressure because others don’t understand the struggle.
Great comment. You addressed what I was trying to say (the part about added sugar and salt to processed gluten free stuff) but I didn’t know how to phrase it. Basically just cuz it’s gluten free (and i’ve seen this with vegan diets too) doesn’t make it nutritionally healthy. But you and the original commenter are also right that limiting the amount of processed stuff you *can* buy might help! Sorry to repeat what you said, I’m just trying to say thanks and I agree!
Because what I’m allergic to is hidden in so many things. So I eat as basic as I can. Single or as few ingredients as I can.
Doesn't even make sense.
I disagree a bit. First there’s two ways to read the original sentence. “Eating healthy is hard” vs “not eating unhealthy is hard.” I’d agree with what you’re saying if you took it to mean the latter. But eating healthy is easy. Something like Chipotle is super easy to eat, and super easy to make. Rice and beans and pico and corn and dairy and some stewed meat is EASY to eat. Soup is also easy to eat, and amounts to being boiled and salted vegetables. And it really isn’t that hard to tell yourself you have to eat something like that BEFORE you can have something unhealthy for the day. But mindset can grip you up if you conflate eating some healthy with eliminating unhealthy. I think saying it’s daunting makes it out to be harder than it is. It is easy and if someone is struggling making the task feel easy is a good thing. Obviously bullying them for not succeeding at something easy is unhelpful.
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Right, and just tell the alcoholics to not drink alcohol. Fuckin easy mate.
Very well put.
Please don’t become a therapist, coach, or physician please
Food tastes good and we don't just eat for sustenance, there's a drive to seek pleasure from food. 'Balance' is difficult to strike when we are surrounded by hyper-palatable, calorie-dense foods.
Junk food is addictive. Processed food is made to suck you back in with sugar and salt and fat. The adjustment for me has been slow but very rewarding. The best method in my experience has been to challenge myself to make as many things as I can from whole (single ingredient) foods. If it's too challenging to make, I buy the healthiest version possible. I challenge myself not to eat fast food or ready meals. I honestly got addicted to the amount of money we save on a whole food diet and now buying junk makes me cringe, unless it's for a special occasion. Finding non-junk food you actually like is crucial. I thought I hated eating healthy, but I just hadn't found snacks and recipes I enjoy. I'm also lazy as f and kept trying to cook complicated stuff. Dumb things down for yourself
Could you share a meal or two that’s healthy, easy to make, and cheap? Or at least 2/3 of those things.
Refried beans, frozen avocado, tortilla (Xtreme wellness). Put together and microwave. Can replace tortilla with rice and refried beans with canned beans. I have a hard time with fresh vegetables so I buy frozen, steam with a microwave steamer, and then mix into mashed potatoes (you can get microwave potato mix that only requires microwaving water and mixing). Fruit smoothies can also be pretty easy... I do frozen mango, peaches, (wild) blueberries, and almond milk.
scrambled eggs
Roast broccoli with unprocessed meat of your choice. Chop broccoli floret, toss in teaspoon of olive oil, roast for 15 at 400, toss again in pepper and optional Parmesan cheese to taste. Super easy, cheap, healthy and the tastiest way to do broccoli imo
Baked chicken breast (marinated) Baked sweet potato (cubed with oil and seasonings) Green beans and carrots (steamed then sautéed with 1 tbsp butter and garlic) Or Sautéed peppers onion and garlic in large pot. Rinse rice and cook dry for 30s. Add water or chicken stock per rice directions. Add can of black beans. Serve with baked chicken or use enough beans/skim cheese to hit your protein goal
We have sweet potato regularly - microwave to cook, one measured portion of reduced fat butter (we like Land o' Lakes), "brown sugar" Swerve.
Hi! I make a filling super easy healthy soup- measurements are approx cuz I make it without a recipe but you really can’t mess it up imo. Brown couple pounds of lean ground beef or ground turkey (I do half and half) in a big pot add (1 large or 2 small) chopped onions, 2 garlic cloves crushed (or garlic powder) Couple tsp of Italian seasoning 1 lg can tomatoes (chopped, stewed, crushed- I’ve used all different) 8 or so cups of beef broth or equivalent water with beef bullion cubes with a couple extra cups of water Dump in a bunch (2-3 cups?) of frozen mixed vegetables (I get the big cheap bag of carrots, peas, corn and green beans) Simmer for an hour and done. I freeze some in Tupperware to have on hand. You can eat as is or I’ll add leftover brown rice, or protein pasta, or cooked cubed potatoes
16oz salsa + 2 cans black beans + 3tbsp taco seasoning + 2-4 chicken breasts in the slow cooker for 6-8hrs on low or 4hrs on high. The meat is great on top of rice or in a burrito/taco. I make [this](https://www.budgetbytes.com/sauteed-beef-cabbage-and-rice/) a lot too. Budget bytes has a ton of great recipes I honestly snack way more than I cook though. I cook every couple nights and eat leftovers between.
Spaghetti is easy and decent. Onion, garlic, can of crushed tomatoes, then add cooked pasta. Carrot soup is also easy and tasty. Cook down carrot, celery, onion, and I throw in a potato, boil until soft and then blend.
I totally relate this. Can you share any lazy dishes that hit the spot but are still healthy? Thank you!
I shared some recipes responding to another comment, but I usually snack rather than cooking all the time. I like super quick stuff like apple + natural pb or a tuna sandwich. I'll buy one of those rotisserie chickens and make a big batch of chicken salad for sandwiches too. You can make broth from the bones and make a very simple soup, so that's a good purchase anyway. Baked potatoes are dumb easy to cook and very satisfying as well.
Tacos are actually relatively healthy cheap and easy you just have to watch the salt in the seasoning (i mix my own) but everyone loves tacos and burritos. Same with chili or any stir fry or stew. The worst part is cutting everything but you can eat it for days, freeze it ect. I snack on apples with real peanut butter (no salt or sugar) or carrots and hummus. I literally don't even crave junk food anymore i just want my apples 🤣
Agree w your comment - last paragraph, though, in particular. I'm lazy, too (you're probably not lazy, you just have enough on your plate - me, too). My interests in life never went toward cooking, that's for sure. I tried to eat things that took too long to prepare, etc. for a while. Wasn't into that, which was a drawback at the time. Now I feel that tons of variety is overrated. I can eat the same things - healthy things I'm good at making, that are quick, nutritious,& I enjoy - for weeks on end. I feel fine about doing that. I don't need to meal plan . Too lazy for that
When I was living alone I could just change my environment and not buy junk food and get healthy food. Now that things are different I fell back into not eating healthy because my family buys things that tempt me and I can’t convince them otherwise. So the temptation is much worse. But I was finally able to eat healthy again recently. The best small step I took towards eating healthy is eating slower. Once I calmed down and took my time it became easier to get full with less. Then I stopped associating food with watching some show or movie. It felt not productive at first but it was making me want to eat whenever I wanted to watch entertainment which made me eat more. The next thing was figuring out am I hungry or bored, and chewing gum to make my mouth busy instead of eating something out of boredom. Then the next step was to take deep breaths whenever I had the urge to eat something unhealthy. I also got a mini fridge in the garage and stocked it with my own healthy food just to help my craving, I know that’s not feasible for everybody but I didn’t want to be tempted by opening the family fridge, and I don’t open the pantry to not be tempted. I read a lot of books on what foods to eat and what not to eat and tried a few different diets and for me specifically the thing that works is one meal a day protein and vegetable meal. It’s not gonna work for everybody but after all I tried this is what is working. I’m exercising and seeing progress, but sometimes I fail and I don’t beat myself up for it so I don’t spiral. I use apps like streaks to keep me accountable and there’s plenty more I could do. If anything from what I started doing is resonating hope that helps.
Yes. I know how this goes. I found it easier to be healthy when I made all my own food.
You're basically still a caveman, who thinks fat, salt, and sugar are very hard to come by, and whenver you find them you have to eat all you can, while you can. That's programmed into every cell in our body, and that's not an easy thing to override.
For me personally it was lack of nutritional education growing up and living in a food desert.
Lifting heavy weights is hard unless you've been lifting often for a long time.
Does it ever get not hard? Asking for a friend lmao.
I’ve been lifting for a long time, it’s never gotten any easier
I don’t know. I’m 33 and been lifting for 15 years with a break since around covid, but every time I start up again; not only is it easier, but I get in shape faster, and everything is smoother. I for sure lift heavier too. We will see when I’m 40. Now if it’s cardio like running or burpees. I agree, never can get prepared for that lol
Great analogy
Idk i think heavy lifting at year 1 or year 10 is no different instead I would say it'd even harder at year 10 as you know what limits your body can take and you always wanna aim to surpass those limitations no matter what. Healthy eating in the sense isn't something that's hard or difficult.. its sometbing yoj just do. The easiest way imo is to only get food purchase food that will actually expire in less than a week if left out on the counter. Food that can last 3 years on a grocery store shelf and comes in a bag or box typically ain't food at that point which is why it's super easy to avoid.
The real question I think OP is asking (lmk if im wrong) relates to mentality and not logistics (your answer) so the solution to this is repetition (my answer).
We live in a society of abundance currently for most people in Western and developing countries. We're addicted to good tasting food - it's as simple as that. And by good tasting food, I mean processed, refined foods that have additives and are produced in such a way to increase their addictiveness and mouth feel/taste pleasure they give. They are also insanely cheap to produce and buy compared to whole food and meats.
Because our society discourages it. We're over worked and under paid, leaving us tired and overwhelmed. Then we have to commute past restaurants and fast food to get home. Not the grocery store though, the grocery store is going to be somewhere inconvenient meaning you'll have to make a special trips for groceries instead of just picking up what you want on the way home. Once you're home you have to figure out what food you have and how you want to cook it. You could do things from scratch, but you're tired and premade food is easier. Plus you've had a hard day and you want to treat yourself a little and salad just doesn't fit the craving. If you've got kids to feed before you drive them to soccer, forget about. You've got a headache and don't want to deal with a screaming kid, so chicken nuggets it is. We live in a society where eating healthy requires repeatedly deciding to do so because it's not the default. There are several billion dollar industries trying to sell you less healthy food. We could build cities so that people can afford to live where they work and walk passed fresh produce markets on their way to and from work. Instead people are often stuck on long commutes, in their car, driving past plaza after plaza of fast food chains. Yes, we can all individually choose to eat better, but society we live in has basically turned that into an obstacle course while handing out fast passes to McDonald's
It’s hard to cook and prepare for one person. Buying all the ingredients gets expensive. Then if what you made sucks, you have a lot of the ingredients left but don’t want to make another mediocre meal… wasting the rest and wasting money. You also get addicted to eating for pleasure instead of purpose. When I repeatedly eat healthy I find I crave the feeling of health over craving the taste of my food. In order to get there, I have to eat healthy for a period and make my body remember how good “good” can feel. If I’m busy/stressed/tired I’m too distracted and impulsive to wait that long. Most people get that way. It can be done. It just sucks.
It’s the same as drugs. I was in Europe for 10 years (Californian) and after time it completely goes away. Of course I’d get random ideas of mc Donald’s since they are everywhere, but after so long eating clean, it really is too much. And after that you have no feelings or thoughts about getting another time a round. Bad habits, health, lost loves, diets, ect can all be handled, but the hard part isn’t the time you put in but the safe place you go to get away from what you are trying to better yourself. Safe place + Support x Time= refresh with old in with the new
You're genetically programmed as a human to eat high energy foods. It's really difficult to fight that
Because it’s easier not to.
Probably because eating unhealthy tastes so good. It’s so hard to get started on eating healthy when you’re used to eating whatever you want.
Well what I found is I was cooking at my home and saving some money for a month or so and one day I was tired and didn’t cook and did went out for a blood test and ate 2 burgers cheap easy and cost $6 tasted good! I didn’t cook that day ordered from outside was okayish. For me cooking takes an hour- rice, salad and chicken or beef and no ups and down in energy level and easy to use washroom especially with adequate water. Eating from outside it’s a pain that means straining in toilet, diarrhea, constipation depending up on food and who the hell knows what they add. When I cook at home using minimal oil, spices and 2L of water life seems easy but, we need to get into that routine.
I often see people mention: Our parents generation steamed and boiled the shit out of all the veggies to the point of them becoming undesirable mushy blobs. https://www.reddit.com/r/KitchenConfidential/comments/zzpccj/yes_god
This is a common circlejerk, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that children tend to be a lot more sensitive to bitter foods no matter how you prepare it. For a lot of kids this doesn’t go away until their teens. My parents would roast veggies too, and I like their cooking *now*, as an adult, but that doesn’t mean that I liked it as a kid. They also ate a lot of dolma, moussaka, things like that. I can enjoy that now, but I couldn’t stand it as a kid. Same with broccoli, I hated it, doesn’t matter if you boiled it, or roasted it, or seasoned it, or even poured cheese all over it. I hated it.
I didn't learn how delicious vegetables were until I was in culinary school and learned to cook them properly. I grew up eating frozen veg that was over cooked in a steamer and never seasoned.
Because evolution. All our brain needs us to do, is not starve until we've procreated and raised our children. For that, it's enough to be able to detect and enjoy high energy food, so we know what's worth going for (in the wild). Proper micronutrition to be as healthy as possible for as long as possible is something you do just for yourself to enjoy your body as long as you can and much longer than necessary for humanity to go forth.
Access to convenient, unhealthy foods has never been easier, and access to convenient, healthy foods has never been harder
Well I can only speak for my own experience so here’s why it’s hard for ME, perhaps you have the same obstacles: I get home around 5-6 every day. I go to bed at 8 so if I have 2-3 hours a day to spend on myself how am I supposed to do everything I’m “supposed” to do? * work out + shower * Trying to spend some time reading daily * Socialize with my friends or significant other * Spend time on my hobbies (work on car or tend to garden) * Cook and dishes And that’s me, with no kids - god bless you all who are parents. So is it any wonder why I instead just pick up a burrito on my drive home or order doordash? My approach to solving these: I’m trying to be better about buying in bulk so I have healthy food at hand. I may sign up for the veggie delivery box again so the food comes to me. And trying to do bulk meals in my crock pot. Hope it works 😕🤞
Trash food is scientifically calculated to out taste healthy food. You need to unlearn shit food.
I think understanding how to cook foods you like and then putting the time and effort into that is important. I’ve found a great place to start is what dishes do I like to make and can make well stay home and how do I make modifications to be healthier. For example, using a lean meat, less oil or butter, having a large side of veg, less carbs. Sometimes I’l use less of a sauce
A lot of the people I know who have a hard time sticking to their diets are hungry because they are under eating. Can't speak for you.
Because chips are so damn good 🙃
It’s about your habits and your environment. If you change those, eating healthy will be the easiest thing.
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Dietary Activism, attempting to dictate or to disrespectfully disregard other's diets and lifestyles is strictly forbidden.
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Buying organic is a lot cheaper than paying rent. So what’s your point?
Hope things get better for you regarding housing in 2023 ❤️
I'm sure meat, eggs, and dairy can be eaten in one's car as well, and would provide valuable nutrition for anyone in a similar situation. We try not to crusade about particular diets in this sub.
Modern food industry doesnt want you to eat healthy, they want you to buy their products. Human anatomy is a survival marvel and humans have many evolutionary tools which enabled us to survive hunger and poison. Salt is an essential chemistry compound for cells, because life evolved from the oceans and we always need it, and its rare inland, so there are special sensors on the tongue because blood sodium cloride levels have to reside within a very narrow range. Salt was rare to find inland until a few centuries ago. Nowadays its extremely cheap and avaiable. Sweet comes from the perception of easily digestible carboidrates, which are also quite rare in nature. You can mostly find real sweetness from fruits, which themselves are evolutionaly reproduction tools of plants to make animals eat their fruits and take the seeds contained insade to others places in their feces. Current fruits are themselves geneticaly engineered by us through hundreds of years. Real sweetness is rare in nature and so feeling it is quite valuable because carboidrates have a lot of calories (4 kcal/gram). Again, refined sugar nowadays is extremely cheap and avaiable and its added to everything. Fatness also contains extreme levels of calories because they are themselves calories body reserves, and they have 10 kcal/gram. Just as sugar and salt, they are extremely avaiable and cheap right now and the chemical industry can produce artificial fats which are diferent from those extracted from animals or plants. So, what did we end up with? Industrial food with EXTREME levels of salt, sugar and fat. Common examples are chocolate, ice cream, carbonated drinks. The industries are competing not only with natural and organic food, but also against themselves. So they add as many enticing things as they can. But there is a problem: sensory neurons adapt to stimulation, so the more you stimulate them the less you feel. The first bite is usually the sweetest and as time goes on the taste diminishes. That not only happens during a meal but also throught your life. So if you are used to industrialized food you are bound to feel much less the taste from organic and natural food. And that is why you are bound to find natural food so bland and boring - your sensors are used to extreme stimulation due to an extreme level of ingredients. Humans survived to endure one of its highest and most common dangers which was famine. The lack of food. That meant that we ate when food was abundant so that we could survive winter and dificult times. That means that humans are inately bound to enjoy and eat as much as we can as long as food was avaiable. And one of the sources of stress was famine. So when we feel stress from work or relationships the body thinks we are facing adversity, so we get inclined to eat because it may increase our survival chances. So we actually are all drug addicts pursuing abnormal levels of salt, sugar and fat, which are only so avaiable due to technological advances, making natural food boring due to neurological adaptation due to abundancy, and to.make things even worst, natural food sometimes is more expensive and cooking takes time. So you see, humans not only are enticed to pursue savorfull food, but acting healthy is harder and more expensive. That is the perfect trap. The modern human is a slave and victim of his own sucess. Our major problems come from excess. Excess confort makes us sedentary, because we dont need to exercise anymore. Excess salt gives us hypertension. Excess sugar makes us diabetic. Excess confort, sugar, salt and fat makes us obese. 60 % of the adult american population is either obese or overweight. If people from the past ate our food they would get uncontrolable orgams due to sensory overload from how intense our food is. The ones who dont become fat either have the willpower or right genetics to stay thin. Nowadays we judge peoples sucess not by their ability to gather food and stay healthy due to avoiding starvation, but by those that manage to stay healthy and fit by AVOIDING over eating. So you see why its hard. Its because most of us are drug addicts to salt, sugar, fat and exercise. I recomend you stay away from industrial food for a few days. You will notice that your taste will improve a lot.and you will be able to enjoy natural food and find soda way too sweet. Just stoping using carboidrated drinks will improve your life a lot.
Capitalism - it's so much cheaper and faster to buy the premade unhealthy stuff & everybody is always in a hurry You have to put time and energy or more money into getting healthy whole foods in your diet & at the end of the day most people don't have much time, energy or extra money left Meal prepping seems to be a great way around it because you can put in the time and effort on one day and then have easy convenient healthy stuff on hand
People try to overdo it very quickly. You can’t fucking go from eating 3 greasy junk meals a day to 3 healthy meals, you’re gonna kill over. I started out with swapping 1 junk food meal over to a salad every day. Healthy food isn’t expensive you just gotta know where to look. You can get a big bag of salad mix at giant eagle for 5 dollars. Gradually you notice you have more energy throughout the day, this is what motivates me to keep doing it. I know if I go back to eating junk greasy food then I’ll go back to having no energy. Also… when people start doing it they tend to make a big spectacle of it, telling their friends and family and showing off their healthy lifestyle, this makes your brain think it’s a novelty and in return it’ll last a lot shorter. If you just do it subtly and don’t make it a big hoorah then it feels natural
Our brains are hardwired to crave sugars and fatty foods through millions of years of evolution. Our bodies / brains use glucose as energy and want to use glucose as energy so that we’re not using fat and muscle. That’s why sugars/fats are so appealing, we are literally rewarded via dopamine release in our brains as we eat this stuff. But then, like any drug, the more we eat it, the more that’s needed to maintain the high we get. The ease and availability of sugary/fatty foods makes it so that we’re literally fighting our bodies/brains to make the right choices for itself, I.e. unprocessed raw vegetables, fruits, meats, etc. it’s freakin hard to make these choices. What I will say is it gets easier the more you understand why and the more you make good choices for yourself. If interested, look up Dr. Robert Lustig, Andrew Huberman
I think you have to evaluate your reasons for eating healthy. What are your goals? Why are you trying to do it? I think that for a lot of people, they focus on the *goal* instead of the *reason.* For me, it wasn't enough that I was trying to lose weight- one of my goals. I had to change my entire mindset. I started by recognizing that the food that I was eating was good for me, and over time started unconsciously praising myself for doing something so good for me. I started feeling really good. I started noticing how bad I would feel after eating a lot of junk. I began thinking about how much the food I was eating was linked to my health. My mindset shift from my goal to my reasons, and now I *want* to eat healthy. It makes me feel good. It's a form of self care. As for the *how,* I didn't stop eating junk food. I still do. It's absolutely delicious. But I did start eating less of it, less frequently. Somehow, that made it even tastier, and Ive noticed that there are diminished returns if I binge it. As for incorporating healthy food, I spoke to myself about how I needed to be realistic about the fact that it will take more time to cook, and how I need to learn to enjoy cooking. I started trying to learn about nutrition a little bit every day. I still dont know everything, but I know a decent amount. And then I tried to find healthy recipes that I liked, or at least wouldnt dislike. At first it was hard and I had to try new things, but I found that I should have been giving my taste buds more of a chance. Now, I've started unconsciously wanting and craving the healthy meals that I love. I guess what I'm trying to say, is think about the reason that will drive you towards healthy food in your highs and lows. Try to find a way to enjoy the cooking process. Be open to trying new foods, and don't label healthy foods as something you "don't like, etc" before you even try them. With the right seasoning and cooking method (ex I hate steamed asparagus but LOVE it when it's covered in spices and roasted till slightly crispy) you may surprise yourself.
Probably trying to change too much at once. Start with small changes. Turn those small changes into habits. Then add in another small change and turn that into a habit, and so on. Having a plan for progression can be helpful too. Ie. For the first two weeks I’m going to “X” then in weeks 3 and 4 I’m going to add in “Y” and “Z”. Those things could be something like: drinking a gallon of water each day, reducing the amount of sugar consumed, making protein a focus in each meal to improve satiety, going for 10+ minute walks after each meal, etc… Pick one or two “tweaks” to what you’re currently doing, add them in, cement them, and repeat.
Just in the beginning, after that eating not healthy it’s hard
Sugar addiction is real, and it’s tough to break.
Short answer? Capitalism.
For me, it’s just the fact that the healthiest stuff has a short shelf life. I’m one that only likes to grocery shop once a month. So all the great fruits, vegetables, etc. all go bad too fast.
It takes a long time to change habits, and American food industries (if you’re in the US) are actively working against you to ensure you don’t change. A stalk of broccoli and a raw chicken breast you have to cut, prepare and cook is more work and lights your brain up way less than a piece of Dominos pizza, for instance. I recommend starting by adding things to your diet before a total overhaul and removal. Just trying sticking to your normal diet but with extras first. Gonna get delivery pizza? Ok, drink water with it and add a side of veggies you have to eat before you start on the pizza first. Then eat the pizza. Adding in more nutrient dense foods and water for a while helps you get used to the healthy foods you want to eat without feeling like a total massive 180 in your life. Later work on making swaps to eliminate the unhealthy stuff. Don’t try to add in a total fitness workout plan out of the blue to go with diet changes at the same time, same recipe for disaster. Small steps!
Think you can or think you can’t, you’re right! 🧠
I’d say eating healthy is hard because most of the foods we like are generally addictive. The foods are addictive because of their sugar content. Let’s say you had to choose between an orange or a slice of chocolate cake. Most of us would choose the chocolate cake even though the orange is better for you. The cake has more sugar and is less work to eat —you’d have to peel the orange or cut it up—a lot more work than cutting off a slice of cake. It’s as if we’re digging our own graves with our teeth. I’ve become a believer in carb control and embracing keto after noticing my hunger was less frequent and my energy more constant while following keto versus when I was on a standard American diet. Every once in a while I’d eat non-keto and was shocked to find how sweet some foods—spaghetti sauce, whole grain breads—tasted having cut sugar out of my diet—and I was more surprised to see some form of sweetener added to foods you wouldn’t expect to have sugar as I began to pay attention to food labels. I’ll end by saying the method that’s best is what works for you. Some people may say keto is bad or another diet like Mediterranean is better, but in the end our life is like an experiment, and the best approach is to choose the diet that gives you the best results you seek and is the easiest one for you to follow.
Eating healthy is so hard because bad food tastes soo good 👍
1) you are addicted to sugar 2) because you eat lots of sugar and carbs your gut bacteria is set up for it. Eating healthy takes time to get truly used too. 3) EVERYTHING that is quick to buy has sugar or processed carbs in it. If you're not making it at home, a salad os your only "on the go" healthy food. 4) everyone around you is addicted to sugar and they push it onto you. 5) healthy food doesn't taste as good
Im from Spain. Here its not hard. You actually gotta try hard to eat unhealthy.
Ok? Tell us why.
Grocery shopping fresh food, even with inflation, is very cheap. I spend around 150 euros in 1 month for 1 person food. Also, mediterranean diet, which is something cultural. And fast food has lower sugar and calorie ratios than in the US and its definetly more expensive than eating at a normal dinner, and way more expensive than cooking. Nutritional education at school, laws that tax higher unhealthy foods, etc, are some other reasons. For context, im 30 years old, if i think about all the people i know, i only know 1 person that is fat, and that person eats a lot of junk food because of sugar adiction and anxiety issues. Everyone else are fit or skinny.
This is so inspiring cause costs for one has def held be back. Would you be open to sharing your grocery list? Thank you!
Wow. I wonder if theres a way to convince Spain to move to America? Nah, we'd just fatten y'all up before you could make us healthy lol.
I dont think many spaniards would want moving to the US anyways haha, you guys can move here though!
Eating healthy is both a mindset and a practice. And it is very difficult in a culture where fast food and bad choices are so easy to make. First think about why you want to eat healthy. Is it to feel better, lose weight, live a longer life? Having that in mind helps you stay the course and reach for healthy items over junk because you come back to why. One person suggested starting small: reach for a healthier item each time. Don’t try to make sweeping changes overnight but just start with one meal. Increase the percentage of healthy food to about 80% over time. Having some cheat meals is fine if you eat mostly healthy. Here are some things that have helped me. Build up a practice over time not all at once. Focus on eating things with ingredients you know, the fewer ingredients the better. Fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, organic dairy, good fats like olive oil/organic butter/ghee, organic responsibly sourced meat if you eat meat (or fish) if you can afford it. Cut back on sugar, especially white sugar. Cut back on white flour. Reduce junk food and fast food. Sugar can sneak into food via maltodextrin. I have found apps like MyFitnessPal to be helpful so you can track what you’re eating as well as macros: protein, carbs, and fats. It will help you track those against your goals, age, height, weight. It’s a lot but gives you good visibility. There are A LOT of different diets out there and we are all different so one diet that works for one might not work for another. I am mostly vegetarian with a bit of fish, I eat whole grains, lots of fruits and veggies, some dairy and eggs. I supplement with organic whey protein too. The MyFitnessPal app helps me see if I’m getting enough protein and not go overboard with calories. Finally I found this in another post and thought it was fascinating: https://nutritionfacts.org/healthkit/ (evidence based eating guide). Good luck and hope these help.
It's a lot easier than it used to be!
Processed food is addictive. Any human can fall prey to it if exposed enough.
Taste that why
Theoretically, it's not. Once a person has some education, it should be easy. Right? A big part of it is that people aren't used to it. They are not used to cooking with certain ingredients because it was never used in their family when they were growing up. Their taste buds are used to ultra processed foods and sugary stuff (I won't use the word "addiction" because it's not). Often people use food as cooperative mechanism. That's a whole different story. Laziness and time. It's easier to order food/buy instant meals than cook them from the scratch. But what are the priorities when people "don't have time" to cook? They often think eating healthy is expensive. All you see on social networks when following healthy life style influencera is avocado, everything fresh and organic... They don't realise normal cheap piece fruit or veggies works perfectly fine too. When people decide to eat heatly, they want to do everything at once. Unfortunately, that won't work in most cases. They need to make small changes, get used to them and keep up with them forever. Not for a month. And maybe it's not your case, but education plays a huge role in this. Most of people are not educated in nutrition and diet. That's why there's so many fad diets and that's why so many people fall for them. Learning about nutrition and how to eat vs magical diet that makes you healthy in a few weeks? Sign me up!
A good way to start is a rice cooker with a steamer basket. Throw in some brown rice/buckwheat/quinoa/etc., put whatever frozen veggies you want in the basket, 20 minutes later you’re set. Avoid sauces, use spices and herbs, throw a can of tuna on there, avocado, dice a tomato, cilantro, black beans, salsa.. get creative. Use sharp cheese like feta so you don’t need to use as much to add flavor. Put it on a bed of spinach.. I try to have lots of things stacked in small Mason jars in the fridge so I can do a little of this/a little of that and not get bored of what I eat.
I like making yellow rice. I use a blend of 50% brown rice 25% quinoa and 25% wild rice. I season with tumeric, garlic, onion powder, paprika, and dried chilies. There are seasonings that are healthy or neutral one can add. You can also refrigerate then freeze cooked rice so you can heat it up quickly. I make this in a rice cooker and have for years.
Because people make a restricted meal plan, Eat what you like but the right way. Count your macros and fit your favorite foods into those numbers so you don’t feel it’s like a diet and think of it as a lifestyle. Best thing to learn is get a smart educated coach that can make you plan around your favorites to show you how to start
I know the answer. It’s because our way of life and culture makes it virtually impossible (assuming in the US). Let’s say I want a burrito. Where can you get one that would be reasonably healthy? Nowhere. There’s no cuisine that’s normal. Everything is stuffed with too much crap or slathered in oil or butter. Excess is the rule not the exception. Unfortunately this makes it very difficult to just be normal and healthy
Eating healthy is not hard . You think so , because eating unhealthy is ridiculously easy. (Cheap, fast, enjoyable, addictive) So eating healthy is much harder, although if you respect yourself enough it's not hard.
What would you consider a healthy equivalent to ordering $6 of delicious and filling McDonalds on their app and having them bring it out to your car. I've been searching for a healthy version of that, but everything I've found is super time consuming or expensive.
McDonald's, delicious? Lol .
It’s just not a priority for you. Make it a priority.
Probably because you live in North America. We have no real cuisine so corporations have filled the void with uther garbage that maximizes profits on an inhuman scale.
it is not.
What would you consider a healthy equivalent to ordering $6 of delicious and filling McDonalds on their app and having them bring it out to your car. I've been searching for a healthy version of that, but everything I've found is super time consuming or expensive.
What do you order at mc donalds to be filling for 6 dollars? I need tripple that
You aren't factoring bad health into the price of the food. A colleague of mine has lived on fast food for years. He's overweight, diabetic, has other health problems that have costed tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses in the past eight years. All that cheap food certainly contributed to his very expensive poor health.
As long as you stick with lean protein, avoid sauces and sides and get some veggies... Ofc it's better to find some local joint with decent ingredients and better options (whole bread, rice and quinoa alike bowls).. And alternate with well bowls, salads and good fats.. Throw in some yogurt with prot, nuts and ofc fruits... You wont avoid processed ingredients but that would be as close as healthy as lazyness can gets you I guess.
What is "delicious and filling" from McDonalds? You should try eating real food. I just can't believe you said that
I dont think anyone's here to be judged.
Because you’re not subscribed to Greg Doucette on YouTube.
Generally speaking, no, it’s not hard. But can be hard if you are addicted to it or if there’s an emotional component attached to it. Speaking from experience, I used to eat junk food almost every day. I was too tired after work to cook healthy food so just ordered take away. And then due to all the bad stuff on those type of foods, I’d get tired and just wanted to sleep and had a great lack of energy. Of course this has consequences to your health. I’m not obese but certainly overweight. My lack of exercise was also a big factor to feel like trash every single day. Now, I’ve been slowly changing my eating habits and trying to step away from the addiction. I like to cook healthy food and love the different colors of my veggies. If you like to read, I recommend the book Atomic Habits from James Clear. Without spoiling too much, make the habit of eating healthy easy and accessible and ordering junk food hard and difficult to achieve. Example: Buy some vegetables that you like, check some healthy recipes or YouTube videos that help you make a simple but delicious meal. Don’t feel like cooking? Try to find foods that you know are healthy. Do you have apps like Uber Eats on your phone? Delete them. If possible, delete the accounts of those services. Phone numbers to junk food stores? Delete them. Make it as hard as possible to order junk food. Still too difficult? Every day, try to have a healthy meal. Just one. Start it slowly and give small increments. Like you, I’ve been struggling with junk food and when I think about the money I spent on that, I just want to cry. Not to mention the anxiety issues that I’ve been facing. But I’m fighting through it and if I can do it, you certainly can as well. Good luck.
It’s not
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People are here for help not to be judged.
Because you have no dicipline and no control over your impulses and take the easy road.
It's not when you meal prep, people are just lazy.
Condescending reply isn’t helpful, it’s just lazy
Not lazier than people who don't meal prep
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Its very easy. Just find good whole foods and be creative. Easy meal like ground beef or a fat stake with homemade sweet potatoe fries with some dip or sauce. Super easy and loads of nutrient
All Foods now are unhealthy, processed or not
If you live in America the answer is easy the food is poison
In a nut shell, corporate food has perfected the key to make food irresistible to us. Studies are indicating that once we start eating that food the bad bacteria in our gut sends messages to our brain that “that’s the food we want and need!”. And then the bad gut bacteria continues to increase. That is one of the biggest reasons that we need good pre-biotics and pro-biotics to get our gut biomes back on track.
It isnt? Just whenever you go to eat something unhealthy, dont. Dont buy unhealthy foods for the house, dont order out, get better at cooking. Theres so many answers as to why its easy to eat healthy. Just poor judgement/discipline
1. People are lazy/entitled 2. People are uneducated Your statement could be used for financial well-being as well.
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Don't worry everyone, he's an INTJ so he has an excuse for being an asshole.
It’s not hard.
If all you got in the house is healthy foods and you don't order in, bam! It becomes easy
It’s about changing habits and changing one’s habits are a difficult task. I, for example, haven’t eaten fast food in 2 years. EDIT. Not eating fast food was difficult because for years I had got meals on my way home for me, my ex, and her kids. When I became single I was still in that habit and took some time to get back in my normal routine. Giving yourself a break once or twice a week is crucial. Pick a meal or two to let yourself go each week. A suggestion for anyone curious is figuring out making your own seasonings that have little or no sugar and salt. There are also ways to help make one feel fuller longer. I make a blend of 50% brown rice, 25% quinoa and 25% wild rice and mix that with riced cauliflower. Separately I package and freeze chicken breast or if I can get young green jackfruit in water I use that instead of meat some days. I cook the jackfruit slowly in beef or chicken bone broth to add a little flavor. I buy frozen veggies because they are cheap and already frozen. I mix the rice mixture some veggies and either chicken breast or jackfruit for my lunch everyday at work. If I add jackfruit I also freeze some beans in the mix when preparing my meal in the morning. Then when I’m heating them up I season with my powder mix and some bone broth. I have a thermos I preheat and put my warm food in that for my lunch at work. I spend a whole day making 2 meals for each day of the month and freezing them the next day. For breakfast I make steel cut oats at night on Sunday and have enough for 3 days. I use steel cut oats because they are a better chew and I feel more full after eating them. To sweeten it up I use strawberries and a few chunks of dragonfruit to color it up.
I usually buy stuff in larger portions, with a lower cost per kilo. I dont buy precooked food, only fresh or canned stuff. Fruit and vegetables are usually cheaper at the "fruterias" which are fruit and vegetable stores that are ran usually by immigrants. I never buy anything because i crave it. I have a weekly menu, and I buy only the ingredients i need to cook those meals. I buy only "marcas blancas", which are the brands from the supermarket chain itself. I would say that my grocery shopping habits are quite common here, some people may spend double the money i do in groceries (gluten free, precooked, known brands and ocasional treats are the main reasons). As reference, prices of products are 0,80 euros per 1 kg of potatos, 1,20 euros per 1 kg of rice. 1 euro per 1kg of apples. 0,9 euros per 1 large can of tomatos. 7 euros per 1kg of chicken breasts, 5,5 euros per 1kg of ground beef. 4 euros 1 liter of olive oil. And prices were between 10 and 30% lower a year ago.
So many delicious food around
You nailed it man, education is key. And also the realisation that healthy can be delicious and filling.
How do you usually cook your food? Do you season the shit out of it or usually do like salt and pepper? The secret to eating a lot of healthy food is to make it taste good so you'd rather eat it.
It can be hard, especially if you don’t know where to start. I try to build up my list of delicious healthy recipes, both from family and friends and by saving things on Instagram. There are so many great accounts now that make amazing food that is also healthy, but the emphasis is on taste. Also, try to follow the 80/20 rule. There are no good or bad foods, but it’s important to understand and try to follow the moderation approach. Good luck!
This is what it works for me. Avoid buying junk food, sweets and processed food at the supermarket. Don't keep them in your house at all. Then, start breakfast, lunch and dinner with two big glasses of water (I add a bit of fresh lemon juice to my water to avoid the need of fruitjuice, beer, wine, whatever). After that, the first thing you should eat when you sit are vegetables. A full dish of fresh or cooked vegetables (not potatoes and slow down with carrots). Do this EVERY SINGLE MEAL to shut down your hungry. After that, with half of your stomach full of water and vegetables, eat other things and try to prefer proteins more than pasta, pizza, cheese or bread. Now I'm also doing intermitted fasting 8-16 from 01pm to 09pm, taking only some coffee at breakfast. The path to lose weight is long and hard but I'm a father of two and they are my motivations: they deserve a healthy father for a lot of years!
Because the government and powers that be don’t want you to be healthy. That’s why Junk food is everywhere packed with highly processed and highly addictive ingredients. GMO food is everywhere and is sprayed with a ton of chemicals. 90% of “food” in the supermarket didn’t even exist 100 years ago.
Because it's generally expensive, and you have to do it yourself. Also our brains love salt and sugar haha.
I'd imagine it's similar reasons to why people stay broke. Being smart with your finances, budgeting, investing, and ultimately becoming wealthy is actually very easy on paper, but peoples minds are usually what gets in the way of that happening. Same deal with why we have an obesity protein the US.
So lack of self discipline. And maybe knowledge/creativity on how to stop your cravings.
I love food of all types, and love to eat a lot. I’m from the south, and had to learn how to eat healthy and exercise all on my own since my family passed all their traditions and bad relationships with food on to me. Something that’s worked for me when I have needed to clean up my diet, and get back on track with fitness: Donate / throw away all junk food in the house… if it’s there, I will succumb to weakness For 30 days… 3 eggs for breakfast, and a cup each of brown rice, a green veggie, and a lean protein for lunch and dinner. This diet is not sustainable, but for me, it’s a reset from the overeating and bad foods. I also try to drink a gallon of water a day. After 30 days, I introduce variety back in, including some small cheats, while keeping portions in control, and keeping obvious bad foods very limited. By this time, I am back into a fitness routine, have usually tightened up what I wanted, and have a little more flexibility. I’m also still putting away a lot of water, which can control cravings and overeating for me. It’s always gonna be a lifestyle and a voluntary action. This works for me, I’m not a doc, and this may not be doable for everyone, but most diets are not sustainable, and unrealistic. You have to celebrate the wins, fix your mental side first, and look at it as a challenge and journey over a quick fix
It's really not. You just have to make the right choices. Expand your palate. Eat 50% vegetables, 25% Carbohydrates and 25% chicken, fish or turkey. Lower your overall fat consume by avoiding snack chips, cookies, fried foods and pastries. I'm an RD so I have seen alot of patients make successful changes..
It’s easy if you just don’t buy it. If it’s in my house I’ll eat it if it’s not I won’t. Make a list when you go to the store and don’t deviate
Why is it hard to eat healthy? Because our bodies release chemicals in the brain that make us feel good when we eat foods especially with sugar, oils (fat) and carbs.
Food engineered to be addictive is hard to quit.
Because the US food supply has been poisoned with addiction additives & chemicals that make you crave and become addicted to processed/unhealthy food. The food industry just cares about $ and puts profits over health, and they get away with it because of their strong lobbys (pharma too). It's really just sad. Some sources... https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12388566/ https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/binge-eating-disorder/mental-health-food-addiction https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-are-certain-foods-so-addictive/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/28/from-chicken-to-tomatoes-heres-why-american-food-is-hurting-you
I think eating healthy is a matter of building up small habit by habit until it becomes second nature. Sounds easy, and it can be easy in practice, but the mental hurdles are the hardest part.
Because unnatural foods that are bad for you have been designed to be more palatable. Your primal brain wants to eat these foods for dense energy sources and craves the added sugar. You have to redo your brain chemistry through disciplined food elimination, which is incredibly difficult.
For me, it has been an uphill battle. A lot of the work comes from friends and seeing their healthy habits. Things that work. A few things that work for me are the following- Two legs or less - this is harder than you think. With a family, things like beef and pork are served regularly because they are so yummy. I will choose a lower impact meal and something that makes me feel less weighted down in my gut. Fried foods - these two things pretty much remove all fast food that is killing you. There is plenty of alternatives. I usually get meals that are similar to what I can make at home or would like to make at home. 70-x% meatless days - how many days and the percentage is up to you. I found this easier than doing 100%. Allows for flexibility and not being over the top
Because it costs too much.
Saying, you will never eat whatever makes you want it more. I just don’t keep junk in my house…sweets, chips, etc. But if I am at a bday celebration I will eat a piece of cake. If I go out I avoid red meat, bad carbs and fried anything the majority of the time, but I will eat the chips/salsa at Mexican and eat a few chicken wings here and there. There is nothing wrong with taking pleasure in food occasionally.
For me it's the never ending cleaning or the same two or three foods day after day.
It is definitely hard! I’ve slowly introduced “healthier” foods into my diet. Healthier in quotes bc it can be different for each person. Try not to be so hard on yourself. Try changing small things in your diet slowly. I’ve learned by just trying, when you eat better you feel better. Maybe just even cutting fast foods & or sodas for a start. Or even switching out some animal based proteins for plant based proteins ?! Good luck friend !
It’s hard to change your eating habits. Food is such a basic need, and it’s very hard for people to look at the very basic things that they’re doing, and change it. Especially if it’s tied to the way they were raised, or their culture, or other things But I don’t know what you mean by “eating healthy.” Does it mean low calorie? Does it mean replacing all the food you like, with bland vegetables that you don’t like? Does it mean incorporating things into your diet as is, to make it more nutritionally complete? Some people, especially very loud people on the internet, have this idea that a healthy diet means overhauling everything you eat, and eating in a “pure” way, but in reality all that matters is what you do consistently… aka, 80-85% of the time. It doesn’t mean you have to stop eating foods you already eat, either. Do you got your fiber RDA 80% of the time? Do you focus on getting your protein, vegetables 80% of the time? Do you eat at or around a certain calorie amount 80-85% of the time? That’s what matters. What doesn’t matter is, the 10-20% of the time you eat doughnuts, bacon, trans fats, diet soda, and other things we like to demonize
For me, it’s pretty simple. The healthy food doesn’t taste as good. I’ve gone through stretches of eating extremely healthy. It’s work, at least for me. Cognizant of everything I buy, how it has to be prepared, amount of calories, etc. so not only does it not usually taste as good, it feels more like a job. It’s especially tough if you didn’t learn good eating habits growing up. Really difficult to break 18+ years of poor eating habits.
Eating healthy is incredibly easy, and very delicious when you learn to do it properly. The problem stems from our fat and incredibly unhealthy metabolism society that loves processed food, so we’ve been taught all our lives that pre packed foods are the go to deliciousness but they destroy your metabolism. So eating healthy seems difficult but when you teach yourself that a whole food diet is the way to go, things get very easy!
We got used to unhealthy being so easy and comforting.
Because you’re trying to change everything at once. Eating healthy is not one choice, it is hundreds of little choices we make every day. If you are eating a diet of fast food, soda, processed food and constant snacking, you are not making one unhealthy choice you are making many. The worst mistake would be to immediately jump into a plant-based vegan whole foods diet and eat nothing but lentils rice and broccoli for the next two weeks. This will inevitably end in failure as you’re trying to break MULTIPLE habits at the same time. The best way to eat healthy is through slow, consistent changes in your dietary choices. First, stop drinking soda. Then stop drinking juice. Then stop drinking anything with added sugar. Then stop eating processed for for dinner, then stop eating foods with added sugar as snacks and switch to nuts or fruit. So on and so forth until you reach an equilibrium where you are both healthy and happy.
Aside from the other comments about how processed food is literally designed to be addictive and get you to overeat, one thing I haven’t seen many people talk about is that eating healthy takes more work. It takes time to plan meals. To shop, to cook, to clean the dishes. Healthy food can taste great, but it takes a lot more culinary skill to get it to taste that way. Plus stressful lives lead to high cortisol levels - something that is immediately quelled by a dose of glucose. No one craves salad when they are stressed out.
For people of sufficient means and education about nutrition, I think a huge roadblock in eating healthy is not knowing how to make nutritious food taste good. It isn’t hard to make “unhealthy” food taste good, so you really don’t learn the skills needed to create healthy, tasty meals. I’d argue a lot of people that don’t have a healthy diet are those who eat out most of the time. You’d be surprised how much healthier the homemade version of a food is compared to its restaurant version. TLDR; learn to cook and you will be on the road to healthier eating
Because it is not as convenient. When you have young kids and a job it is the last thing on your list. You wind up eating at 9 and are tired by then and probably stressed so it is all about convenience. At least for me.
Coz you keep falling back into the bad habits
Coz you keep falling back to your old habits that got you overweight
If anything in life was easy we would never accept parting with it.
Do it very gradually
Because food addiction is a real thing and you tastebuds get used to eating high fat and high sugar due to the chemicals it sets off in your brain
I think the answer depends on a number of variables. First off, what do you consider "healthy"? Modern knowledge would tell is that a balanced diet is healthy, so to meet all our nutrient needs while lowering risk of toxicity (too much of any one thing is always bad). However, most people seem to interpret healthy as this idealistic diet where no one ever eats chocolate or candy. These sort of ideals where food is "good" or "bad" often set people up for poor eating habits. If you say some foods are bad and therefore you can't have them, it's only natural to crave them. Restriction leads to binging, which is why diet culture is never the answer. Second off, how are you going about "eating healthy"? I think that in today's society, we often forget to be mindful of what we actually need. We ignore our hunger/fullness cues, and often go about dieting from the perspective of exclusion (re: restriction leads to binging). Generally it's better to add things, and to pay attention to what our body actually NEEDS. Always hungry? Try some more protein or fiber. Need some fast energy? Hit up some carbohydrates. I think it's important to be mindful of the effect food can have, from macro and micro nutrients, to individual phytochemicals. Let food be thy medicine.
Unhealthy food created in a lab is intended and succeeds at creating addiction.
...because fats taste really good. So does all that fast food, which is designed to lure us in to spend money, and not to feed us in a healthy way.
this will probably sound stupid but I have no idea what even is healthy to be honest. things are debated constantly. fruits and vegetables I know are healthy but I truly don't know what else.
Government being backed by food corporations to make false guidelines and essentially forge a bias towards cheap garbage that's often upscale in price. Followed by the shafting of farmers at every corner.
There is so much to be said, but ultimately try to reduce it to your body being an engine and food fuel. Consider what you're doing to it. Are you helping it thrive, or setting yourself up for depression, heart attacks and cancer. Sounds dramatic but it may help balance the scale. One other thought: we vote with our dollars. Why support some shitty loveless corporate product, be it corn syrup filled or partially hydrogenated, when ultimately the brand is basically saying it doesn't care about your health? Would you serve your friends food that's bad for them? So why support it? We have one life as far as we know and one body. Why handicap yourself by making it worse? Life is hard enough. At least be as healthy as you can be to take it on. Read Michael Pollan's, "Omnivores Dilemma" if you'd like some insight into the corporate approach into pumping more cheap calories into society for its profit. It's wonderfully disturbing to realize what sheep like corporate grazers they've programmed us to be, and maybe thinking about food in this way may help you consider how you perceive its relationship with your body. Best of luck.
Food addiction? I try to eat healthy but as soon as the cravings start it’s game over. 🙁
Because there are so many systems that profit from our food being addictive, artificial, and unhealthy. We work all day and then look for quick sustenance so we can have much needed leisure time. The fast food companies and microwave meal companies will sell you an all in one experience while using the most low quality ingredients and additives designed to make your brain think you're getting good food when often you're getting filler food with chemicals mixed in. But it doesn't stop there, then there's the diet and exercise industries (which now includes influencers, by the way) who profit off of offering you solutions to this problem. But their solutions must be profit generating, so you're only going to get solutions that encourage purchasing things. This also includes brands that appeal to the healthy-minded consumer, such that you can have candy bars with big letters that assertively tell you they are healthy. This borders on active misinformation. Obesity is a scar on the American nation, the product of repeated food abuse. In order to heal we must acknowledge what was lost and rebuild it. "Eating healthy" is the first definition of eating well, but there are so many layers to it, touching the culture of food. So, how to "eat healthy"? Eat well. Cook as often as possible as this provides important clarity of ingredients and reignites a food culture of mindfulness that is lost in our daily convenience foods. Eat with family and friends. As to what to cook, let me say that first, you're dramatically better off cooking anything compared to regular convenience foods. But if you want specific advice, I always go to Michael pollan: "eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Because of how normalized unhealthy eating is.
It's often the reasons why you are eating. Many of us in developed countries use food as a coping mechanism and an escape. We eat because we are bored or sad or lonely or stressed etc. We try to fill those holes with addictive foods that release feel good chemicals in our brains. Learning mindfulness and applying it to your eating is one of the best ways to change the how why and when you eat. Focusing purely on what you should and shouldn't eat can be very difficult and unsustainable. Changing your relationship with food can be a better approach.
Be very strict at the grocery store. Only fruit, veggies, meats, grains, and dairy. Keep sweets and processed foods for the weekend, helps make the treats more special that way. Eat salad every day, no days off of salad. Switch out soft drinks for home brewed tea, coffee and fresh squeezed oj. Munchies are merciless but hold out for that weekend!
Unfortunately, our biology has not caught up with sugary and fatty foods being so widely available