Changing your diet is an important step towards a healthier lifestyle. Often it fails not because of the initial motivation, but because of perseverance.
Why should we change our diet?
Diet makes a big contribution to physical and mental health. Changing harmful eating habits is then a first step in the right direction.
Especially finished products often contain a lot of refined ones sugar, unhealthy fats and chemical additives like flavor enhancers. Avoiding these is not always easy, because often we don’t even know how much of it is in the products without meticulously checking them ingredient list to study. In addition, it is often difficult to resist treats and only eat foods that are good for the body. We’ll give you a few tips to make it easier for you.
Changing your diet: motivation and goals
At the beginning, ask yourself a few questions. If necessary, write them down so you can remember them later:
- Why do you want to change your diet?
- When do you want to start
- What are your goals?
- As do you want to achieve the goals and the transition?
1. Why?
Be aware of why you want to change your diet. Is it physical, environmental, ethical, or health concerns that have convinced you?
Don’t go with one bad conscience to the matter. Otherwise you may feel right from the start that you have to do without something or even punish yourself for wrongdoing. This can mean that you quickly lose interest in the change. Your new diet should do you good. Include this in your goals as well.
2. When?
For example, you can use the Turn of the year use it to begin the transition. But actually every day is suitable for this: the earlier you start to change your diet, the better.
3. What?
Perhaps you’ve eaten a lot of candy lately and want to change your diet to shed a few pounds. However, based on this motivation, experience shows that it is difficult to change one’s diet in the long term.
It is more promising if you change your diet in order to feel more comfortable in your body. If so, you will quickly see the positive effects of one healthy diet notice. After that you can probably no longer imagine going back to your old eating habits.
4. How?
Get active! Plan what your diet should look like specifically. Do not follow any trends, but listen to your individual feelings and well-being. There are no right and wrongas long as the diet is balanced and all necessary Micronutrients– and Macronutrients contains.
So what concrete steps do you have to take? Here are ideas to get you started:
- Plan your meals for the week Meal prep.
- Write shopping lists.
- Look for weekly markets and health food stores in your area.
- Take your time to eat.
- Have cooking evenings with friends, for example on topics such as season, country, color. It also works digitally.
- Get yourself one Seasonal calendar.
When you have changed your diet, you should watch your body closely for a few days.
- Do you feel yourself fitter?
- Did you more energy?
- Is your Skin texture better?
- Did you less desire for sweets and fast food? This often happens automatically when your body is adequately supplied with vitamins and nutrients.
If you don’t feel better, make a change. You should soon find a form of nutrition that is good for you.
Change your diet without being forced
A change in diet is no diet. In other words, it is not about achieving any goals as quickly as possible. Instead, you change your diet in order to maintain a good relationship with food over the long term. These tips can help you:
- Don’t get compulsive in your behavior. If you want to eat less sugar, then you should avoid sugary foods. However, your grandma is celebrating her eightieth birthday and you’re feeling like some cake, then grab it! After that you don’t need to blame yourself, you can continue your diet. All is not lost because you are not 100 percent pursuing a concept. 80 percent are good enough and only without strict prohibitions can you stay healthy in the long term. Because sometimes mental needs also have to be satisfied. This is completely normal.
- Find the right one for you personally Balance of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. You need all of the macronutrients, that’s for sure. However, your body decides the ratio itself. Try what is good for you. There are many different trends and forms, such as “Low carb“,” Low-Fat “and so on. All have their place and none is wrong or right.
- There are many forms of nutrition that promise “health”. Find the suitable for you – Changing your diet shouldn’t be a pain. Don’t try to obsessively pursue an avoidably healthy diet that makes you feel weak and drained, but rather eat intuitively. That won’t work in the long run.
- Buy yourself one Cookbook with full recipesthat speak to you. This will help you to find new motivation and inspiration for your dishes.
- Choose one Nutrition you like. There is no point in forcing yourself to eat.
Changing your diet: avoiding these mistakes
- Don’t go shopping hungry. When we are hungry, we want a lot of calories quickly and therefore increasingly resort to sugary and fatty products.
- Avoid calorie deficits! Eat enough calories. A big mistake is that people often change their diet in order to lose weight. They try to reduce their calories and end up in a vicious circle of diets and Cravings. However, if your body has enough micro-, macronutrients and calories, it will automatically find a healthy body weight.
- Also pursue cravings. Treat yourself to what you need again and again. If you fancy a piece of chocolate, just eat it. If you don’t eat it and instead think about it all the time, the chocolate will become more and more present and at some point you may get cravings. But don’t overdo it with the cravings either. Better to build again and again healthy snacks into your day: How about an apple instead of a piece of chocolate, for example?
Examples of diets
There are many Forms of nutritionall of which have their advantages and disadvantages. Here are a few examples you can try if you want to change your diet. Find what feels right for you. Often times it’s a combination of different things.
A generally healthy diet:
- much fruit and vegetables
- little to no animal products and if in good quality for example with Bioland, Naturland or Demeter-Seal.
- wholesome whole grain cereals (Rye, spelled, wheat, oats and many more) and Pseudograins (Millet, buckwheat, Amaranth)
- good fats (for example nuts and oil seeds)
- legumes instead of animal protein: Legumes contain many nutrients, keep you full for a long time and are very digestible when properly prepared.
- Buy organically produced food, these do not contain any chemical-synthetic Pesticides.
Examples of diets:
- vegan
- vegetarian
- Ayurvedic
- basic
- Raw food
- intuitive eating
- TCM nutrition
- Low carb
- Paleo
Read more on Techzle.com:
- Balanced diet: 10 rules for everyday life
- Healthy Eating: 10 Foods We Shouldn’t Eat anymore
- Cooking healthily: How to prepare your food optimally