As humans, we tend to love routines and to be creatures of habit. Given the abundance of convenient, less-healthy foods that are readily available in today’s world, it’s easy to grab fast food instead of cooking dinner, or to watch the latest Netflix hit instead of hitting the gym.

Sometimes changing our eating habits can feel overwhelming, especially if some of our current habits have been engrained for years and years. 

Let’s be real, too – the thought of exchanging that delicious burger and fries at a local restaurant for a salad with chicken and veggies might not sound exciting to you. Here’s the great news though: You don’t have to completely eliminate all of your favorite foods in order to successfully change your eating habits and become healthier! Instead, you need to build healthy habits that seamlessly fit into your life and feel do-able to you!

In today’s article, we will dive into how to start creating healthy eating habits from a psychological standpoint, as well as practice steps – like the staples needed for grocery shopping and meal planning. We’ll also chat about emotional eating, which is a common struggle for many of us (myself included 🙋🏻‍♀️ at times.)

Let’s go – it’s time to start building healthier habits right now! 

Understanding the Psychology of Habit Formation

Changing your eating habits isn’t just about having more willpower – it comes down to re-wiring your brain and thinking in a new way so that healthier choices begin to feel more natural and on “autopilot.” Understanding how we as humans create habits (both good and bad) can make it easier for you to change the habits that might feel overwhelming to change. Let’s dive into a bit of psychology!

Psychologists have identified a 3-step process that drives all habits we create: 

1. Cue (Trigger) – The cue or trigger refers to the reminder, thought, event, feeling, etc., that initiates or reminds you to take action. For example, feeling stressed at work might trigger a craving for a sugary snack. Or, laying out your workout clothes the night before might remind you to exercise first thing in the morning. 

2. Routine (Behavior) – The routine or behavior refers to the action you take in response to the cue. For the two examples I provided respectively, that would mean eating a candy bar when stressed at work and doing a 20-minute HIIT workout first thing in the morning. 

3. Reward (Positive Reinforcement) – The reward or positive reinforcement refers to the benefit that your brain associates with completing the new habit. For the two examples we have discussed, the sugar from the candy bar provides a quick “feel good” dopamine boost,” and the morning workout releases endorphins that help to relieve stress and set up your day for success. 

🚀 Let’s Implement and Take Action: Start to notice the cues and triggers for your current habits. If you notice a habit that isn’t helping you reach your goals, how can you respond differently to the trigger that initiates the habit?

How to Start Healthy Eating Habits: Practical First Steps

It’s common to feel overwhelmed with where to begin if you’re trying to eat healthier. Here’s the great news – there are no “wrong ways” to start eating healthier! What matters most is that you make small changes to your current eating habits that you can do consistently over time. 

If you’re looking for some easy ways to get started, I’ve got you covered! Check out some of my favorite ways to start eating healthier: 

✅ Set Realistic, Action-Based Goals

Instead of trying to make 100 changes at once, or instead of “biting off more than you can chew” by trying to make drastic changes to your current eating habits, choose one action-based goal that feels realistic for you to do. Here are some examples: 

• Drink 100 ounces of water 5 days per week 

• Eat one serving of fruit or veggies at dinner every night for a week

• Practice only eating when hungry (instead of when stressed or bored) every day for the next two weeks 

• Complete two 20-minute walks over the next 7 days

Notice how all of these goals are specific enough to quickly know if you completed them or not. Also notice that these goals are actions, which are 100% in our control. 

🚀 Let’s get to work – What action-based goals are you hoping to change in terms of eating healthier? Are they specific enough and realistic for you to achieve right now?

✅ Create a Healthy Grocery List

Before you head to the grocery store, choose the meals you want to make for the next few days. Create a list of foods and ingredients that you need to make those meals. Once you get to the grocery store, try to only buy the foods on your list!

🚀 Let’s implement and take action: Most healthy foods at the grocery store are found on the perimeter of the store, and most processed, higher-calorie foods are found near the middle of the store. Challenge yourself to do 80-90% of your shopping near the perimeter of the store where the healthy foods are located!

✅ Meal Prep and Meal Plan for Success

When it comes to changing our eating habits, “winging it” doesn’t usually work for any of us! Meal prep doesn’t need to mean spending 5 hours in the kitchen on a Sunday cooking every meal you plan to eat over the course of the next week, but it does mean devoting some time to proactively planning and preparing so that it’s easier to implement the new eating habits that you’re trying to create. 

For some people, meal prepping means cooking five chicken breasts for all meals for the week instead of just one for a single night’s dinner. For other people, it might mean planning to purchase fresh ingredients to prepare simple and nutritious meals throughout the week.

🚀 Action time: Look at your calendar for this week – Can you carve out a 15-20 minute time slot to plan some healthy meals ahead of time? Even better – Can you find two-time slots – one to plan ahead and the other to DO the grocery shopping or some cooking? Commit to these actions by scheduling them into your calendar.

✅ Habit Stack for Long-term Success

Habit stacking is one of my favorite ways to build new habits. It’s also easy to implement, which is another perk! Here’s how habit stacking works:

🎯 Choose one action habit that you currently do on a regular basis, and pair your current habit with a new, healthier habit that you want to create. 

Here are some examples: 

• Complete 5 squats every time you use the restroom

• Pack your lunch to take to work every morning while your cup of coffee is brewing

• Drink one glass of water before you sit down to eat each meal

As you can see, each of these action statements contains a current habit (using the restroom, brewing coffee, eating meals) that is paired with a new habit (5 squats for added movement, packing lunch, drinking more water.)

🚀 Time to DO: How can you habit stack in your own life? Choose one action that you do on a consistent basis and pair it with a new, healthy action that you want to implement.

How to Change Eating Habits by Managing Emotional Eating

If you’re someone who struggles with emotional or mindless eating, know that you’re not alone. It’s easy to want to turn to sweets, salty foods, or other yummy temptations when we’re feeling down in the dumps. However, the truth is that no food ever “fixes” the root cause of why we are feeling upset, emotional, or bored.

Managing and overcoming emotional eating is an important step in changing your eating habits. That’s often easier said than done, though. The first step in overcoming emotional eating is to start to learn your own triggers. Start to notice the times that you’re eating throughout the day when you’re not feeling physical hunger. Are you eating because you’re stressed at work or because you put the kids to bed after a long day and “deserve” a glass of wine with chocolate?

3 Effective Strategies to Overcome Emotional Eating

Unless you are doing something that harms yourself or others, there are no “wrong ways” to overcome emotional eating! Some people learn to effectively manage emotions through journaling, while others play games or listen to music. 

If you’re feeling stuck as to how you can change your eating habits when feeling emotional, I’m your girl! Here are some of my favorite strategies to overcome emotional eating:

• Pause before eating and ask yourself: “Am I really hungry, or am I looking for comfort?”

• Replace food or alcohol with a different action that can help you process your feelings. Some options include deep breathing, journaling, texting a friend, or taking a quick walk. 

• Keep healthier snack options (like fruits, vegetables, or hard-boiled eggs) on hand and in the most convenient areas of your kitchen. Believe me, it’s much harder to emotionally eat broccoli than it is to eat cookies. 😉

Real-Life Success Stories: How to Create Healthy Eating Habits That Stick

I’d love to share the story of one of our successful coaching clients, Amy*. Amy came to Strong with Sarah after trying to lose weight on her own for years. Then, the pandemic struck, and she gained even more weight. A few years into the pandemic, she became pregnant with her third child, which was a complete blessing! However, along with her pregnancy came even more weight gain. 

After delivering a beautiful, healthy baby, she reached out to the Strong with Sarah team to help her lose weight. 

One thing that Amy was clear about was that she did not want to count calories in order to lose weight – she only wanted to focus on creating healthier habits! As a mom to 3 young children who worked full-time, the healthy habits that Amy had a few years ago had fallen to the wayside. It became easier for her to grab convenience, less nutritious foods for herself during her busy days working. Although she got plenty of movement keeping up with her kids, Amy hadn’t formally exercised in years.

At Strong with Sarah, our healthy habits program was a perfect fit for Amy. During our journey together, we helped Amy incorporate more protein, fruits and vegetables into her eating plan. We helped her learn more about her own hunger and fullness levels, which increased Amy’s self-trust around food. We helped Amy implement shorter workouts into her day that she enjoyed doing! Ultimately, we helped Amy overcome mindless eating and lose weight without ever counting a single calorie!

*Name has been changed to respect the client’s anonymity

Final Thoughts: How Can I Start Changing My Eating Habits Today?

To wrap things up, I want to remind you that changing your eating habits doesn’t require drastic changes that feel overwhelming. Small, sustainable changes – like habit stacking, meal prepping and planning, and becoming aware of emotional eating – lead to long-term success. 

When it comes time to start implementing your new eating habits, remember to follow the 3-step process we discussed so that it’s easier to implement new habits:

1. Cue (Trigger)

2. Routine (Behavior)

3. Reward (Positive Reinforcement) 

Lastly, focus on making progress with your new habits instead of aiming to be perfect. NO ONE is perfect with their eating 24/7 – that’s just not realistic. You might “fall off the wagon” or slip back into your old eating habits while practicing your new ones, and that’s okay! Setbacks are a normal part of habit change. What matters most is that you pay attention to any takeaways from the setback (if there are any,) and that you get back to consistency with your new habits.