It isn’t always easy to eat healthy all the time, especially as a student. With readings, assignments, meetings, and homework piling up, it can seem impossible to prepare healthy meals every day. This is something that I have personally struggled with, but I feel as though I finally have a better hold on trying to eat well. Whether you want to improve your eating to lose weight, gain weight, or to simply feel happy and healthy, here are some tips that have helped me stay away from junk food!
1. Don’t buy the foods you are trying to avoid!
This may seem like a no-brainer when it comes to changing your eating habits, but it has truly worked well for me. If it’s not there, I can’t eat it. I try to avoid buying treats or junk food, like pop, chips, cookies, etc. and that way I can’t just grab them when I crave them. This forces me to eat the healthier foods I have and to drink more water.
2. Stock up on healthy and easy meal ingredients.
Again, this may seem obvious, but if you stick to buying good foods and making meals that are quick and easy, you’ll probably feel more motivated to cook. I especially try to do this with dinner. I sometimes struggle to come up with ideas that don’t take too much time and then I feel lazy and tempted to eat out instead. I tend to stock up on chicken, veggies, rice, pasta, and salad, then I have easy and healthy meal options to make for dinner each night!
3. Buy healthier treats/snacks
Although I find it effective to avoid buying treats in tip # 1, you shouldn’t deny yourself all the time! In fact, if you completely cut out all treats, you may feel tempted to eat something even junkier! Buying healthier snacks and treats, like popcorn, fruits, lower calorie or dairy-free ice cream, allows you to indulge occasionally but in a healthier way. Some of my favourite snacks are Boom Chicka Pop Popcorn and Halo Top Ice Cream!
4. Stop drinking sugary drinks
Luckily, I have never really liked pop and juice, but lots of people find themselves somewhat addicted to high sugar drinks. Not only are they high in sugar, but they just make me feel thirstier. I have started drinking flavoured water or adding fruit to my water instead. It’s perfect because it satisfies my urge for something more flavourful than water, but still quenches my thirst! I rarely drink cola drinks, but when I do, I opt for the diet variety. While many people go back and forth about whether aspartame or sugar is worse for you, I rarely drink it and would rather spare the sugar and empty calories. Lately, I have loved the PC Peach Sparkling Water! They have other flavours too like lemon, cherry and strawberry.
5. DRINK MORE WATER!!!
Again, this is something we all know and hear time and time again, but I think it’s so important. Not only does it make you less hungry, since we often mistake feeling hungry for being thirsty, but your body needs water! Try to have a water bottle with you at all times, and try to drink some water before and after each meal.
6. Keep track of what you eat / count your calories
While I am not, in any way, an expert on nutrition, and I know that many people disagree about counting calories, I think it’s a simple and understandable way to keep track of what you are eating. This doesn’t have to mean getting caught up in the numbers. I think that listening to your body and eating healthy is what’s important, but keeping track of what kind of food you are eating and how much energy you take in / burn is helpful. I use the Fitbit app!
7. Use smaller plates
Okay, this tip is more of a psychological one and may sound silly at first, but it has helped me realize how much I am eating and has helped me avoid overeating. I find that I tend to fill up the plate or bowl that I use during meals. If I have room on the plate, I feel like I can, and should, eat more. When I use a smaller plate, it fills up quicker with less food, so I feel like I am eating more. This also helps me to portion out how much of each food group I should be eating.
8. Don’t eat after 8 p.m.
This is something that my mom has always told me and I try my best to stick by it. It makes sense to me that a few hours before you go to sleep, your body starts to go into ‘sleeping mode.” That means you’re not burning calories or digesting as much as you are during the day. Thus, you should avoid eating a lot before you go to sleep. Also, I have heard that you should wake up feeling hungry, so I try to avoid eating late at night, and drink water instead.