2020 RESOLUTIONS? CHOOSE TO EAT HEALTHIER

Your 2020 resolutions should be much more well-thought-out than usual since this year is not just the start of a new year but the start of a new decade.

You expect the typical “I will drink less alcohol, I will spend less money and I will go to the gym more”, but 2020 resolutions seem to be a lot more meaningful than any new year resolutions and goals seen in previous years.

We are all about setting attainable but challenging goals for 2020, but if you could choose only one 2020 resolution, we recommend that you choose to eat healthier.

What is healthy eating?

Healthy means different things to different people; whilst one may believe that a balanced meal of grilled chicken, steamed rice and vegetables is a very healthy meal, others may not agree that carbs, or even meat, is good for you.

We’re not suggesting you conform to someone else’s definition, but instead to do right by yourself. If you are eating better foods and exercising more regularly, by definition, you are being healthier! That’s all we’re suggesting… be health-ier.

How to keep your 2020 resolutions by eating healthier

If you’ve taken the plunge and made one of your goals for 2020 to eat healthier, you’re going to need a bit of a plan. It’s very easy to get swept back into your old routines and be out on the go and grab some fast food or come back late after work and pop a ready meal in the microwave.

In order to stick to this 2020 resolution, you are going to need a bit of a strategy.

We’ve put together a few tips and tricks to help you stick to this new year’s resolution and smash your 2020 goals:

1. Create small goals with a short-term strategy

By creating yourself a long-term strategy right from the offset can be somewhat intimidating.

If your 2020 resolution was to run a marathon, are you going to get up on January 1 st (probably still hungover from the night before!) and try to run 26 miles? Absolutely not! You start off with a reasonable distance that is comfortable, although slightly challenging for you, and work your way up from there.

So, start off with perhaps adding fruit to your breakfast a few days a week, and ensuring you have vegetables with your dinner. Gradually, eating fruit for breakfast will become the norm, and you will want vegetables for dinner!

2. Focus on adding foods, rather than taking them away

Just as we mentioned above, focus on adding healthy food into your diet rather than banning yourself having indulgent meals.

By forbidding certain foods, it will feel like you’re being punished! If you add healthy food into your diet, you are merely expanding on what you normally eat.

3. Use a smaller plate

If your problem is the amount of food you eat, this simple trick will help you achieve your 2020 resolution much more easily.

By switching to a smaller salad plate, rather than a dinner plate, you can control the portion size and therefore intake fewer calories whilst your brain tells your body you’ve completed an entire plate of food!

4. Drink lots of water

Increasing your water intake will generally boost your overall health, as well as keep you hydrated in this summer heat.

Sometimes your body can think you’re hungry, but in fact, you’re just thirsty! So, drinking water will help quench this thirst, and your “hunger symptoms” will go away.

Drinking lots of water also helps your immune system. When we get ill, the toxins in our body need to be flushed away, which can be done by drinking copious amounts of water. Something as simple as drinking more water each day will lead to a healthier lifestyle.

5. Make healthy meals attractive

Many people turn to social media (especially Instagram) to get inspiration for healthy meals.

This is because the dishes look so colourful and appetising! Try to do the same when you’re preparing your meals! At least you may feel better putting all that effort into your meal preparations if you’re going to get a great Instagram post out of it! This is perfect if one of your 2020 goals is to be more active on social media!

6. Write a shopping list before you go to the grocery store

If you make an effort to write out a shopping list before you go food shopping, this will reduce the chance of you casually browsing all the aisles of the grocery store and picking up unhealthy foods.

Also, if you make a list with the majority of food being healthy, you will have at least added this to your diet, even if you do pick up a load of chocolate along the way too!

7. Take a cooking class

What a great way to combine your new 2020 resolution with a social activity!

Grab a few friends or a loved one and learn how to cook some healthy meals properly. Many people are afraid to eat healthily because they think healthy food is boring. If you learn from a professional, you will be able to prepare some delicious healthy meals that you may start to prefer over the unhealthy ones!

8. Track your progress

Whatever strategy you choose to try and achieve your 2020 goals, we recommend tracking your progress to see how you’re getting on.

If you start to see the benefits of your healthy eating, you’re more likely to stick to it.

9. Forget about “weight”

Too many people calorie count as they are obsessed with losing weight. But this doesn’t necessarily mean you’re healthy.

We want your 2020 resolution to be about being healthy, not necessarily reaching a goal weight.

However, they should go hand-in-hand, as your healthier lifestyle should aid weight loss. With a healthier diet and more exercise, your body will be in a much better condition than that of someone who is thin but eats badly. So, focus on being healthy as your 2020 resolution and forget about shed the pounds.

We hope these tips have helped – best of luck with your 2020 resolutions and goals.