The modern diet has shifted dramatically over the years, with a high percentage of overly processed food, high sugar content and unhealthy fats. This has led to alarming rates of obesity and cardiovascular disease worldwide. It is no surprise that people are obsessed with quick fixes – diets, supplements and hacks to lose weight and combat obesity. While these may offer you benefits, they most likely will be short term. Developing a mindset towards making good food choices can completely transform your food habits in the long run and in turn affect your overall physical and mental fitness. Having a poor mindset towards food will hinder your fitness goals. You may stick to making better food choices for a few weeks or even months and then find yourself returning to exactly where you started.
The World Obesity Federation’s 2023 atlas predicts that 51% of the world, or more than 4 billion people, will be obese or overweight by 2035.
Starting your journey towards a healthy eating mindset
So how do you start on this journey? It is firstly important for you to know why you want to eat healthier. Maybe you want to –
Prevent diseases?
Be self dependent when you’re older?
Have the strength and energy to perform certain tasks?
Sleep better?….
The reasons could be endless and are completely personal to you. The chances of sticking to a healthy eating habit in the long run because someone else told you so, is extremely low. When you know your reasons and the benefits they offer, chances of sticking to the habit even if you momentarily go off track is higher. Whenever you feel demotivated, reviewing your list of “why’s” and the benefits they will offer to you long term, will make it easier to get back on track.
Nearly one in 16 women and one in 25 men is obese in India, shows data published in the latest round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS).
Start thinking about healthy food differently
If you want to change your eating habits, it is first important to analyse your current mindset. A good mindset towards food has nothing to do with the quality of foods or what kind of foods you eat, but it depends on how and why you choose the foods you eat.
Here are some of the signs of an unhealthy eating mindset-
- You want a quick fix and rely on unrealistic diet fads
- You find yourself overly restricting and then binging on food
- You demonise certain food and food groups
- You deem healthy food tasteless
- You ignore your body’s natural cues
- You feel shame or stress, if you reach out for a rare unhealthy snack
- You feel stressed when eating in a social setting, due to fear of what others may think of your food choices.
- You use food as a means to cope with difficult emotions
- You deny yourself things you truly want to eat
You do not need to experience all of the above to have a bad relationship with food. Sometimes you may find yourself naturally choosing better food options with complete freedom and happiness, and other times find yourself drowning in guilt for making not-so-good choices. The goal of developing a mindset towards eating better is to have a positive experience with choosing healthier alternatives. Patience and Kindness towards yourself is extremely important.
The results of Global Burden of Disease study state age-standardized Cardiovascular disease death rate of 272 per 100000 population in India which is much higher than that of global average of 235.
Enjoying the process of nourishing your body
The only thing in this world that we truly and completely have ownership over is our own bodies. We can either nourish it or destroy it. Making the right food choices is an act of thanking our bodies for helping us achieve everything we do on a daily basis. We should think of making good food choices as a form of self care. Food is not a reward and exercise is not a punishment. Both are means to caring for your body and making you feel good.
Food is your ally
Eating emotionally, demonising certain foods and feeling guilt after eating certain foods will over a period of time create a negative food experience. It is important to think of food as a means to energise our bodies and as an ally. When we start to think of food as a means to give us energy and making us healthy, we naturally become more intuitive to what our body needs.
Practice Mindful eating
Mindful eating is the act of being fully present in the moment for the eating experience. When you eat mindfully, you are free of other distractions like the TV or your phone. You instead take time to make observations about taste and texture. When you eat mindfully you learn to slow down and savor the food. This helps you understand which foods you enjoy and can help you become more in tune with your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues.
Making small but incremental changes
Starting on the path to a healthier lifestyle can seem like a challenge initially. The thought of making a big change or trying to overhaul your entire lifestyle can be overwhelming and unrealistic. As with all new journeys, all it takes is one step. Start slow and small. It could be as small as stretching for 10 minutes a day, or going out for a leisurely walk every other day, making sure to drink one glass of water when you wake up or adding a salad to every meal. Whatever it is that you decide to start with, make one small change at a time and make it last.
You are you!
Every individual on this planet is unique. We all have different bodies and different minds. We also live vastly different lives in vastly different financial as well as environmental conditions. When we are all so different, why should our diets be the same? Healthy eating can be different for different people. You may prefer eating in smaller or bigger portions, more frequent meals or less, you could be vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian … and that’s okay! Your food should work for you! Following another person’s diet to the tee, more often than not, will make healthy eating a task. Your journey is yours alone. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
It is important to get away from the mindset that views your food choices as a temporary means, immediately going back to old habits when things get too hard. Making small and sustainable changes that can last a lifetime can contribute more than overhauling your entire diet. The end goal is to develop your mindset to think about your food choices as a lifestyle change that you can maintain longterm towards overall health and fitness.
As the research on Mindset of Health and Healthy Eating Intentions concludes ‘Believing that one can change one’s health can promote healthy eating intentions by encouraging beliefs that one will be successful at eating healthy and that healthy eating is useful and intrinsically valuable’
