Habit Changing
July 31st 2023 By Carin Clegg, APD
With Spring just around the corner, August is a great time to start planning and start up or start back at those healthy habits. Being healthy, eating well and staying fit is something we all continue to work on.
A habit is something we do regularly almost without thinking. Changing habits and making a new habit stick is actually really difficult.
As Dietitians, we work with people to change one of the most complex habits of all- our eating. We eat multiple times a day every day of our lives in various locations, with different people. Our eating is not only 1 habit but many, many, many habits which have been created and interwoven in our lifestyle through each day, week, month and year of our lives. So, our eating habits can be the most difficult thing to change and help is almost always certainly needed.
Habit changing is a journey. Which is why all the quick fixes, diet books, pills and shakes do not work long term as there are often a great myriad of issues to address when it comes to eating habits and how to change them. As Dietitians we work with you and use some of the following strategies.
Awareness
The first thing to do is to become more aware of your habits. Keeping a diary can be a big help. The next thing to do is to reflect on your diary and learn more about why you do what you do. There are often lots of reasons why you make one food choice. In many cases I believe the incredible power of marketing over the last few generations has played a big role in why we want to eat certain foods at certain times and why so many discretionary foods are so available in our community and are placed on a pedestal over fresh healthy nutritious foods in our minds. It is a beach day so it is an ice-cream day, we go for fish and chips. I need a drink aka soft drink.
I make sure I am prepared so there is an excuse not to buy food when out. I take frozen oranges or berries to the beach and always have water bottles. I take sandwiches or picnic snacks like cheese and crackers, fruit and veggie sticks with dips, nuts or chickpea snacks.
Perhaps you have some limiting beliefs or you put labels on yourself: ‘I am not a breakfast person’, ‘I love chocolate.’ Again there are often may reasons for believing these and replacing these thoughts with more helpful thoughts is required: ‘I can retrain my body to feel hungry for breakfast again so I do not overeat at night’ ‘ I enjoy eating chocolate, but I can also enjoy nutritious foods that my body needs.’
Planning
We make over 200 subconscious decisions every day about what we eat. If most of these decisions were not automatic, that would be an incredibly exhausting amount of brain power needed. This is why it can be so difficult to cook dinner if you do not already know what you are going to cook and why the meal planning and preparation delivery companies like Hello Fresh are so popular these days. The planning required to make an action and start a new habit can be the biggest thing that stops us.
Just sitting down and thinking about how you will implement your new habit, making a checklist of what you need to do can make the biggest difference.
One example is getting up earlier to have breakfast or get that walk in. You many feel you need to get your breakfast or walking clothes ready the night before. Plan your bedtime routine to be earlier, work on your bedtime routine to feel relaxed enough to fall asleep easily and allow yourself time to get used to this routine. Set your alarm earlier and figure out how to get out of bed. You could put some music on, do some stretching, think about what you are going to achieve that day, who are you looking forward to seeing, say something that motivates you like ‘It is time to start my day and I will make it a great one’.
Get inspired by others
When I started Park Run I was amazed at how many people were up and out at 7.30am on a Saturday morning- walking their dog, bike riding, running, race walking, doing yoga/Tai Chi/Qi Gong and fitness sessions in the park, kayaking, fishing and even roller skating!
People of all walks of life are at Park Run- young and old, people training for bigger events, people just starting walking or running, dog walkers, people with vision impairment or other abilities, parents with prams and of course the volunteers. It does really feel great to be part of the community and see what other people can achieve and think we I can try to be like them too. One of my goals is to be fit and feel comfortable running. I love the feeling of flying towards the finish line with the magical surge of energy you get.
Whatever you do want to achieve, doing it with people who are supportive is a great way to start and continue your new habits.
See a Dietitian, not Dr Google!
Seeing a Dietitian can make the world of difference in ensuring you get the results you desire and ensure your body is getting all the nutrients it needs for optimal health. We help you assess your eating habits and advise what are the biggest changes you can make to improve your health. We help you work through barriers, particularly the mind barriers, help you with planning, motivation and implementing changes, helping you through any habit regressions and teach you about healthy eating, portion control, hunger regulation, label reading and menu planning.