Saturday, February 18, 2017

Good Dietary Habits


I am having a really hard time controlling my diet. I eat good during the day but when I get home I seem to eat non stop. Do you have any suggestions on how I can control this bad habit?

Bad habits can be hard to break but certainly not impossible. With a little work and discipline you should be back on track with your eating habits in no time.

First I would suggest mapping out a daily eating schedule and split up bigger meals into smaller frequent meals throughout the day.

Next, to make yourself more accountable for sticking to your nutrition plan, log everything you eat each day. Compare what you actually ate to the amounts you were supposed to eat. You may be surprised how much better your food choices will be be once you start writing things down. Plus, seeing how those extra calories from snacks can really add up will make you think twice before grabbing that bag of Trail Mix.

This does not mean you can never eat anything that is not on your menu again, it just means you need to be smarter with your food choices and with your portions. Make daily and weekly goals to stick to your eating schedule and factor in a couple "treat" meals each week to satisfy your cravings for certain foods.

The important thing to remember is when you treat yourself this is not a license to eat everything in sight. It is a chance to have a reasonable portion of some foods you enjoy. Having a couple scheduled treat meals each week will give you something to look forward to and help you stay on track the rest of the time.

Clearly defining your health and fitness goals, mapping out your daily food intake, and recording everything you eat should all be useful tools to help you avoid bingeing at night. The next time you have the urge to eat until you are stuffed ask yourself what is more important to you, eating a bunch of junk or looking and feeling great?