Let's talk about healthy eating.
First of all, caveat, I’m not going to tell you what healthy eating is in this blog.
I’m not going to tell you what counts as healthy or what’s healthy for you or what diet you should follow or any of that…
You get to establish your own definition of healthy eating.
What I’m going to do is take the behavior change perspective and help you actually implement the healthy changes that you want to make with 3 tips for healthy eating.
Prefer to learn on video? Watch here:
If you’re new here, hi! My name is Dr. Karin Nordin and I’m a PhD level expert in behavior change and mindset.
Tons of the behavior change literature out there is around healthy eating. How do we get the general population to eat more fruits and vegetables, drink more water, engage in these basic healthy behaviors? And what the research says hopefully is going to make you feel good because the research says it’s freaking hard…
I know out there on social media, people make it seem like healthy eating is effortless and it’s always going to be easy… But the truth is, if the way you want to eat and the way you currently eat are different, that is a difficult switch to make.
And there are a whole host of other reasons why healthy eating, especially in our society, can be really hard.
But in this blog, like I said, we’re going to go over 3 tips to make healthy eating easier. So let’s dive in.
Healthy Eating Tip #1: Practice Increasing Friction
For each of these points, I’m going to tell you a little story about me and how I’m using this exact tactic. I am trying to eat healthier, and by that I mean I’m trying to order less food on UberEats.
That’s my go-to.
It’s something that I do more frequently than I would like, and sometimes it ends up with me making choices that are less healthy for me.
One way that I plan to increase friction is I plan to delete the Uber Eats app off of my phone. Sure, can I re-download it again? If I really wanted to order something or if I was traveling and I needed to order something, yes.
But the simple act of having to download the app, get my credit card out, put the credit card numbers in, and then order the food increases friction. It increases the difficulty of engaging in my current style of eating.
So I want you to think about what are the behaviors that you're doing now that you want to increase friction around?
For example, let’s say that you want to start your day with water instead of coffee. Maybe that looks like putting your water in front of your coffee machine so that you actually would have to remove the cup before putting a coffee cup there.
Research shows that even tiny changes like this (called behavioral design) to make your environment different and increase the friction of certain behaviors can be extremely beneficial if you’re trying to eat in a different way than you are now.
Healthy Eating Tip #2:
Start Identifying With Your Choices
This is a tiny shift that’s going to make a BIG difference. For example, if you order a salad to get more plants into your diet, I want you to start telling yourself, “I am the type of person who orders salads!”
This means you are NOT telling yourself, “I’m eating healthy right now, so I’m going to order a salad.”
Your language matters.
There is a psychological effect called the “saying is believing effect.” This means that when you say things to other people, or when you give other people advice around a specific topic, you are more likely to believe it.
So if you say to your friends, “I’m really into salads right now, or I’ve become a person who really loves salads.”
Rather than saying, “Yeah, I’m going to eat this salad because I’m trying to eat healthy. “
This tiny shift in your language alone is going to make a huge difference.
Identity shifts are more stable and are likely to be more consistent in the future than simply choosing a behavioral shift.
So start thinking about the way your future self eats and start identifying and embodying those choices on a regular basis.
Healthy Eating Tip #3:
Start With What Is Desirable & Relatively Easy
I had a client once who wanted to eat more fruits and vegetables. So the first week she went out and she got a huge veggie tray and she brought it home and was like, “You know what, Karin, it just really didn’t appeal to me at all.” This is because she didn’t really like vegetables.
There weren’t many veggies on that tray that she even enjoyed at all. However, what she really did enjoy was eating fruit.
And so I told her, “Why don’t you just try to increase the amount of fruit that you’re eating next week and then we’ll dive into vegetables later on?”
That was exponentially helpful for her because she got to start and gain momentum with something that felt easy to her.
Now, this is not as immediately gratifying as starting with something that’s really difficult and nailing it, but it is likely more sustainable and it actually builds your self confidence when you’re doing these things that are easy over and over again.
How I’ve Implemented This For Myself:
Way back when I started my health and fitness journey, one of the first things that I focused on was simply eating protein at breakfast. So I bought protein bars that I thought tasted really good.
I put them on my counter, and that was the only change I made. I didn’t worry about anything else… Just adding that simple habit of protein at breakfast.
After I did that for a couple of days, I felt like I was eating healthier.
It was easier to do that second step to identify myself as a healthy eater, and that translated into changes that sort of cascaded across my life.
Now, don’t get me wrong, your habits do NOT have to be tiny in order for you to do them. I cover that in one of my YouTube videos HERE.
However, starting with smaller changes can be really helpful and it can give you the momentum you need to actually continue the habit long-term.
Join The Discussion:
In the comments section below, tell me one healthy change you’re hoping to make to the way you eat right now.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I want you to write your comment as if it’s an identification. So if you’re hoping to eat more vegetables; I want you to write this sentence for example: “I am a person who loves eating salads for lunch!”
I want you to try on that identity in the comments. It’ll be fine. We can all see each other’s new identities, and it’s something that will help you practice.
In Conclusion:
In this blog, we’ve explored the concept of healthy eating without imposing a rigid definition, recognizing that it’s a personal journey. Instead, we’ve taken a behavior change perspective and offered three practical tips to simplify the path to healthier eating.
First, increase friction around less healthy behaviors through environmental changes. Second, shift your mindset by identifying with your healthy choices as part of your identity. Lastly, start with what’s both desirable and relatively easy, allowing you to build momentum gradually.
Small, deliberate changes can lead to long-term success on your journey towards healthier eating, and we invite you to share your healthy change in the comments, embodying it as an identity statement, such as “I am a person who loves eating salads for lunch!” This practice reinforces your commitment to a healthier you.
Stay Connected:
For More Healthy Eating Tips, Follow Our Expert Coaches on Instagram:
Both of them have a lot of content on healthy eating and help a lot of their clients with healthy eating. So you might want to follow along just so you can get their extra tips too. See you next week!
