This week I wanted to talk about how I’ve been working on changing my eating habits. Working towards cleaner and healthier eating habits has been especially challenging me because I’m a really picky eater and always have been. I’ve never been a huge fan of meat and I have issues with tastes textures. I used to be much worse than I am now. If I felt a strange texture on my tongue I would be nauseous for hours.
Because I was so picky I decided to break healthy eating down and slowly integrate it into my life. I started by eating more of the healthy foods I already knew I liked. Then I worked on integrating new foods or foods I once disliked into my diet one at a time.
One thing at a time is definitely the best way to make changes because not only to you get time to adjust and work the bad foods out of your life (which I find isn’t hard when you are finding new foods that you love), but you also get time to figure out how different ways to enjoy the new food you integrate.
The first food I really put an effort into learning to love was yogurt. I hated yogurt for so long but I knew that it would be a much healthier daily breakfast than the fried eggs and tator tots that I was making every morning. I knew that the healthiest way to do yogurt was fat free, plain, and spruced up on your own so that’s wear I started. I spent a couple weeks trying out the yogurt with different amounts of honey, fruit, nuts, and granola mixes until I found a few options I really liked. It look time and a few disgusting concoctions, but I love yogurt now.
More recently I’ve worked bananas into my diet. I also hated bananas for years. To get used to the tastes of bananas I started by adding them to my smoothies. I graduated bananas to being sliced up in my yogurt which is my favorite way to eat them. Now I could totally eat a plain banana if I needed to, which is not something I would have been able to do just three weeks ago.
I know it might sounds silly to some people, but it really has been a challenge learning to love new foods. It’s still an ongoing process for me and I’m really happy with how energized I feel already from eating well. The next foods I’m hoping to tackle are cottage cheese and oatmeal.
My fitness journey is just beginning and its something that will never end so it’s very important to make changes that are permanent and long lasting. As the saying goes “put one foot in front of the other.” The best way for me to transform my diet and my life is to do it slowly, making long lasting, permanent changes that I can life with for the rest of my life.
If anyone reading is on a fitness journey I would love to hear your story and know what keeps you motivated.
