Understanding how to eat healthily is one thing, putting it into practice is quite another. For many, adopting a nutritious diet presents a considerable challenge due to numerous influencing factors. Family traditions, cultural norms, and societal pressures significantly impact our dietary preferences. Additionally, our innate cravings for calories and fats—rooted in times when food was scarce—remain influential. Lifelong habits shape not only our tastes but also the repertoire of meals we are accustomed to preparing, often becoming our default choice.
Emotional elements also play a significant role in our dietary decisions, as physical hunger is just one reason why people eat. Society often promotes eating as a way to alleviate stress, and the habit of rewarding oneself with treats begins early in life. Emotions such as anxiety, loneliness, sadness, anger, or boredom can all lead to overeating or poor nutritional choices.
Most individuals maintain a complex relationship with food, often intertwined with concerns about weight and body image. As such, embracing healthier changes starts with reassessing our personal dialogues about which foods are desirable. The goal isn’t to deceive yourself into liking foods you’ve always disliked but to discover methods to make them more appealing.
Adjusting your perceptions about food can significantly improve your dietary choices and can even influence the hunger hormones your body secretes. Researchers at Yale University explored this notion by offering volunteers a 380-calorie milkshake on two occasions. The participants were told that the shake contained either 620 calories (‘indulgent’) or 140 calories (‘sensible’). Ghrelin, a hormone associated with hunger, was measured after each shake. When participants believed they consumed the indulgent shake, their ghrelin levels decreased substantially, indicating satiety. Conversely, when they thought they drank the sensible shake, ghrelin levels showed little change, reflecting the minimal impact on hunger.
To authentically change your relationship with food, it is beneficial to engage in self-reflection to identify existing habits and patterns. Understanding these can help you tackle lifestyle changes starting from a familiar and useful standpoint. Begin by journaling your daily meals and the emotions or situations that influence your eating choices. This exercise will allow you to spot recurring themes or triggers related to unhealthy habits. Once identified, focus on small, manageable changes based on this insight. Gradually replace less beneficial habits with more positive ones, like incorporating more vegetables into meals or choosing healthier snacks. By starting with familiar activities that align with your current lifestyle, such as cooking your favourite dishes with healthier tweaks, you can cultivate sustainable changes that become part of your daily routine.
Here are a few suggestions:
- Roast Vegetables with the Main Dish: Roasting enhances the natural richness of vegetables by converting their starches into sugars, releasing a deep, nutty sweetness. Roast them at 230°C for 15 to 20 minutes until they’re lightly browned. From mushrooms to carrots, almost any vegetable can be roasted, so diversify your selection. Enjoy them as a side or add them to pasta or other dishes.
- Poach Vegetables: Use low-sodium vegetable or chicken stock with white wine, flavoured with herbs such as garlic, basil, thyme, oregano, or tarragon. Bring the liquid to a boil, add the vegetables, and simmer until they’re vibrantly coloured and tender-crisp—around five to seven minutes. Keep an eye on them to avoid overcooking and preserve nutrients.
- Add Veggies to Your Recipes: Introduce chopped or pureed vegetables into traditional meals like casseroles or mac and cheese to increase your vegetable intake. Pureed cooked vegetables can also enhance sauces, soups, spreads, and toppings.
- Swap Grains for Vegetables: Consider using cauliflower ‘rice’ or vegetable ‘pasta’ (spiralised zucchini, butternut squash, or sweet potato) as substitutes for grains.
- Select Fruit for Dessert: Whether fresh, frozen, stewed, or baked, fruit always contributes to your daily intake of produce. While dried fruits are nutritious, they are also calorie-dense and should be consumed in moderation.