Therefore, being able to keep up the willpower to eat healthy is an integral factor in powering through those moments when throwing a frozen pizza into the oven seems so much more convenient than chopping veggies.
When you’re just getting started and the novelty is still there, it’s usually pretty easy to keep up your willpower to eat healthy. However, when you’ve been doing it for a little while and you have a few long, rough days, your motivation can take a beating.
Fortunately, there are certain things you can do to make sure you’re not standing in your own way. Consider the following motivation busting bad habits and, if you’re guilty of any of them, it’s time for a change. You’ll love the difference it makes:
1. Not Making Sleep a Priority
When you aren’t getting a good sleep during most nights, you are naturally low on energy. As a result, your body makes you crave fatty and sugary foods to help provide you with the energy it feels you are lacking through the lost sleep. Moreover, because your energy is so low, you don’t feel like putting any effort into prepping food. This means that you’re more likely to opt for take-out, delivery or a processed, ready-made meal. None of those options will align with your effort to eat more healthfully.
2. A Sedentary Lifestyle
Believe it or not, exercising gives you energy. It seems counter-intuitive, but it’s true. A good workout in the morning will give you more energy for the rest of the day. An afternoon or early evening (after work) workout will recharge your batteries and bring the drive back into your day. Moreover, exercising causes your brain to produce chemicals that will make you feel naturally happier. If that’s not a motivation booster, nothing is!
3. Letting Yourself Get too Hungry
Hunger is one of the most detrimental factors to motivation for eating healthfully. When you’re starving, all you want is something quick and easy – particularly something sugary or fatty because your hunger also makes you tired. Keep nutritious snacks on hand to keep hunger at bay and to make it easier to make smart eating choices.
4. Cutting too Many Carbs (or eating the wrong ones)
Your body wants carbohydrates because it needs them. Many people mistake an effort to reduce carbs in the form of added sugars and low-fiber refined flour with a need to slash all carbohydrates. The truth is that certain carbohydrates are integral to your mental health, your skin health, your regularity of bowel function, and your weight maintenance. Whole grains contain B vitamins, vitamin E and a lot of healthy fiber. They are integral to a balanced, healthy diet.