So you have decided to eat healthier – great job! That is the first step toward making an amazingly positive life change. Now, where to go from there. How exactly can you eat healthy and how can you eat healthier without making it a chore? There are plenty of easy dietary switches you can make to eat healthier right away. Let’s get started!

Drinks

An easy way to instantly eat healthier is to actually drink healthier. Take a look at the label on that can of soda or bottle of lemonade you like to drink. You may be shocked at how many grams of sugar and carbs can be loaded into one small bottle. Is that one little drink really worth it? Instead of reaching for that can, just try drinking water or seltzer. Not only does drinking water mean you aren’t guzzling down sugar, but it also will help boost your immunity, improve your complexion, increase your brain power and prevent headaches. Sounds like water is the way to go!

Switch your Focus

Many diets tend to focus on the things that you cannot eat. Try putting a positive twist on your diet and think of all the great things that you can eat. Centering your attention on all of the unhealthy foods that you cannot have is a surefire way to hate your diet and quickly give up eating healthier. You are much more likely to reach your goals when you keep an encouraging attitude toward your food. Think of all the great fruit you can eat or how many ways you can prepare your favorite veggies. Enjoy the healthy things and just forget about the unhealthy, you don’t need them anyway!

Plan

Making a meal plan for the week is a great way to stay on track with your healthy eating goals. Sit down at the beginning of the week and plan what you will have each day. You don’t necessarily have to plan every single snack but deciding on breakfast, lunch, and dinner in advance will assure that you make healthy choices. When you have a solid, nutritious plan, you will find that you deviate from healthy eating a lot less.

Find Friends

It has been proven time and time again that setting diet goals with a group of people is more effective than if you made this lifestyle change alone. Your friends and family can hold you accountable and make sure that you eat healthy by helping monitor your diet. Also, if everyone is trying to eat healthier, then everyone is on the same page making meal planning a whole lot easier! The family that eats healthily together is definitely a happier family.

Portion Control

Even the most beneficial foods should not be eaten in excess. While you may want to load your plate up with a tower for fruit, keep in mind that even the healthiest of foods have calories, sugars, fats, and carbs. Only take the portion size that you should be having. You should also keep in mind that you do not necessarily need to eat everything. If you have one portion of steak nut are too full to finish, don’t force yourself! Stop eating when you are full.

Mindless Eating

Many people fall into the trap of mindlessly reaching for a bag of chips or a candy bar. You may not even really be thinking about it until you hear the crunch of potato chips in your mouth. Many people eat mindlessly especially when they are tired or stressed. To eat healthier, say bye bye to stress eating or boredom eating- that is not part of the healthy plan!

While there are many ways to eat healthily, these few tips are a great place to get started on your journey. Eating healthier can be fun, exciting and quite delicious if you allow it to be. So, don’t stress out about what to eat and if it fits into your new healthy lifestyle. Stay calm, stay positive and plan your attack- you will make eating healthy a habit in no time!