According to psychology research, almost half of our daily actions are based on habit – about 40 percent, to be more precise.
This would suggest that nearly half of our daily actions happen more or less automatically.
Today, we’ll go over the critical importance of our eating habits and how to go about sustainably improving them.
The Impact of Our Eating Habits
You’ve probably come across the term ‘mindless eating.’ It refers to our tendency to overeat without thinking about it or paying attention to our hunger levels.
Prevailing wisdom suggests that mindless eating is, well, mindless. But, the truth is, it probably stems from our habits.
For example, mindless eating is characterized by behaviors such as:
• Eating while watching TV or working
• Picking the largest package size possible
• Filling large plates and bowls up
• Eating a wide variety of (often processed) foods
• Eating fast
While it may seem ‘mindless,’ we could argue that each of these is an eating habit. For example, picking the largest package size of various snacks is a habit. Eating fast is also a habit. Having your meals in front of Netflix also happens because you’ve created a pattern of it.
The truth is, our eating habits go far beyond mindless eating. As you repeat a behavior enough times, it eventually becomes automatic. So, it’s in our best interest to repeat better actions and adopt them as habits.
Improve Your Kitchen Behaviors for Optimal Fitness and Health
If you aspire to be fitter, healthier, happier, and more energetic, the first thing you need to do is start taking better care of your nutrition – this is going to have the greatest effect on your body.
But, for you to establish better habits, you need to start small:
• Don’t change your nutrition entirely from day one; start with just one healthy meal every day.
• Don’t cut out all of your favorite foods; start by reducing their quantities.
• Don’t cut out alcohol and soda immediately; start by slowly reducing your intakes and instead replace that with water, tea, and coffee.
Then, as you gain some momentum, scale these habits further:
• Eat two healthy meals instead of one.
• Reduce your intake of processed foods even further and replace them with fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and such.
• Reduce your soda and alcohol intake even further.
Sure, your initial progress won’t be as quick, but you’ll build better habits that will have a much more significant impact in the long run.