Assume you are on a diet. Maybe you are not trying to slim, but you may be attempting to avoid the junk food, spend less on food, or build up better nutritional habits. Whatever it is, you know you need a plan ahead and make conscious decisions on what to eat. But it still keeps going wrong.
There are several flash-points in the day when it is easy to screw up your diet. Everybody will most likely fall into one of these categories of failure. The key is to identify your weak point and plan for it. You need to put in a bit of effort to start with, but after get these sorted out, you will be set for success.
So what is ruining your healthy eating habit in a day?
1. Waking up: You can begin your day badly even before you get up, just by hitting “snooze” repeatedly on your alarm. Of course, you had good intentions the previous night when you set it for 6 am, but now you want an extra hour’s sleep. And suddenly you find you are late.
Why is getting up early good for your diet and eating habits? You begin the day in a relaxed, unrushed state of mind. So you have time for some exercise, reading newspapers or books, and most importantly, you will be able to prepare a healthy breakfast and even lunch.
2. Breakfast: There is no need to tell you that you should eat breakfast if you want to succeed in losing weight. It is one piece of advice that diet gurus seem to agree on. If you are really not hungry when you awake, try to eat less at supper time the day before.
Don’t just grab a doughnut on the way to class or work. Filling in your body with sugar first thing will lead to an energy crash well before lunch. And spending a couple of dollars on coffee and a snack each morning just because you can’t wake up earlier is bad for your health and also, your wallet. The healthiest breakfast is what you cook yourself. There is nothing complicated. Just a bowl of cereal with skimmed milk, or a few slices of whole grain toast with baked beans are perfect enough. If you really cannot have breakfast before you leave your house, you should keep cereal and milk at your workplace and arrive ten minutes ahead of time to eat.
3. Mid-morning: When 11 o’ clock comes around, you may feel hungry. Maybe you are tempted by the tray of brownies in the cafeteria, or if you are at home, you may feel you deserve a treat after working hard for hours.
You don’t need me to tell you that a giant cookie is not likely to fit well into your diet plan. If you are hungry, you should have some fruit. If you are not sure if you are hungry or not, ask yourself "Would an apple satisfy me?" If only a big chocolate bar tempts you, you are not hungry, you are craving. It is a must to keep healthy snacks on hand. It is easy to do at home, but harder if you are at work or school. Your bag, desk drawer and locker are all good places for some fruit, granola bars or plain popcorn.
4. Lunch: You have made it through the morning successfully. But that is the easy bit. Lunch is where it entirely goes wrong. Whether it is a pizza with friends, or something deep fried from the canteen, an unhealthy lunch can destroy the rest of the day. It will leave you inactive in the afternoon, thinking “if I should give up.”
As with breakfast, you should prepare your own lunch yourself. Whether that means heating leftovers from the night before, or taking 5 minutes to make a sandwich in the morning, you will have complete control of what is included in it. Whole grains, lean sources of protein, a great deal of vegetables and fruit work well. And also if you are not buying lunch out each day, you will save a lot of money.
5. Mid-afternoon: Many people, who have managed a healthy breakfast and lunch, are only tripped up by the 4 o’ clock energy slump. Late afternoon is just not your best time of the day. You are a little tired and cranky, lacking in energy and motivation. If at work, you may be tempted by the office cookie tin, feeling you “merit” something fat and sugar laden. And if you have just come home from school, marauding the cupboards can be nearly automatic.
If you have eaten a healthy lunch, you may well be feeling a bit hungry again by 4 o’ clock. That’s fine and there is no point waiting until 7 o’ clock to eat if you will be so hungry that you will scoff down triple helpings. You just need a healthy snack.
6. Dinner: Don’t fall back to get takeout or microwave a frozen ready-meal each night. Not only will you deny your body decent nutrition, you will also waste a lot of money. Plan ahead and make sure you will have easy-to-cook foods in the cupboards. Simple ingredients like rice, alimentary paste, chopped tomatoes, and some skinless chicken breasts can be thrown together for a variety of meals.
If you still don’t know how to cook yourself at this time, you must get your parents to teach you. Preparing healthy tasty meals is an essential skill for you. You just need offer to help out in the kitchen with your parents once in a while. But if you are not at home, don’t eat in the canteen each night.
7. Evening: Now you have an almost perfect day, with a healthy breakfast and lunch, nice dinner, and fruit for snacks. You can’t spoil it all right at the end. It is easy to slump in front of the TV after dinner, perhaps with a sweet treat for dessert. Then you have an ice cream, followed by a cookie, a handful of chocolates, and finally the inevitable feelings of guilt.
Don’t do this to yourself. You must brush your teeth as soon as you have finished your dinner, and don’t have anything else until the next breakfast time. It is helpful to do some activity involves your hands, such as knitting, writing, and painting; or with your mouth, like chatting. That will make you not feel the constant temptation to grab a snack.
You must decide yourself which is the worst time of day for your diet and plan to cope with it ahead. Share with us your tips and experiences in the comments below.
