When it comes to healthy eating tips, you’ll mostly come upon extremes.

No sweets!
No meat!
No eating after 7pm!

If you’ve been trying this but failing miserably, it’s probably because it’s not good advice on how to eat healthy easily.

I once read something along the lines of – if you have abs, it means you never eat anything sweet or high in calories; and if you don’t do that, then what good are these abs to you? Now, while there is a way to make healthy food tasty and abs are awesome, they kinda have a point. Just because you want to know how to eat healthy food everyday does not mean you should never, ever eat popcorn, grab a beer, or have a cheat meal at 10pm.

The secret lies in moderation – and that comes from a person who constantly gets “how can you eat that bird food” and “you’re so skinny!”, despite loving meat and beer.

Forming Healthy Eating Habits

Starting to eat healthy is the hardest thing. It takes roughly 21 days to break an old habit and for a new one. Here are 8 tips for eating healthy to get you started.

How to Easily Eat Healthy Food Everyday

1. Surround yourself with healthy food, but stay reasonable.

If you buy five kilos of fruit, three pre-made salads, and throw out all other food, it’s likely that this will happen:

• You get hungry
• You eat that first salad and feel great
• You get hungry again after two hours
• You eat a small piece of fruit
• You’re hungry after half an hour
• Since there’s nothing but extra healthy food, you get the car keys, go to the grocery store, and buy a whole chicken for dinner.

Why does this happen? Because eating healthy tips that tell you to only have healthy food around you disregard the fact that your body is used to a certain caloric intake, and certain foods. You won’t force it to miraculously change all that over night. Instead, buy a couple of healthy things and start by mixing and matching. Make that lasagna, but make it vegetarian. Eat those chicken nuggets, but complement it with a salad. As the time passes, try to eat more of one and less of the other, but give it time.

2. Drop the fast food, sugars, and Coke… mostly.

Once again, you have certain habits. And let’s be clear on this: one burger a week doesn’t mean you’re not eating healthy. However, prohibiting yourself from ever indulging in calories will make you despise healthy food, rather than enjoy it. For example, if you’re trying to learn how to eat healthy in college, sure, you can make your eating plan mostly healthy. But when tests come and you start pulling all-nighters, you’re allowed to resort to an energy drink here and there.

3. Know why you’re doing it.

The best way to form a new habit is to have a clear goal in front of yourself, or at least a reason for doing something. Do you want to learn how to eat healthy everyday for health reasons? Are you contemplating eating healthy foods so you can lose weight? Picture your end goal and you’ll find it much easier to get used to your new routine. Simply eating healthy for the sake of eating healthy is hardly a good driving force.

4. Make a daily healthy eating plan.

Plenty of blogs will tell you to create a healthy eating plan for a whole week! But if you’re anything like me, you don’t know when you’ll be able to catch a breath, let alone what you’ll be eating on Thursday. And what if you suddenly feel like eating a veggie burger instead of a Caesar salad? Plans are a great thing, but once more, you should take it slow, be moderate, and stay reasonable. Having a plan for every coming day is enough to keep you accountable, and it will make the whole experience more approachable and less hate-inducing.

5. Know your other habits.

If you’re not much of a cook, discover how to eat healthy without cooking. You can do that with a lot of seeds, fruits, and plenty of meal delivery services. Changing individual habits is hard enough – suddenly deciding to be healthy and become the next Jamie Oliver will get you nowhere. Know what you can and can’t do. If you think you need to cook in order to eat healthy, think again! Oh, and check out some of these recipes.

6. Know what healthy food really is.

People often go into eating healthy without understanding what healthy food means. They often use it as a way to lose weight, so they resort to seeds, nuts, whole grain foods, beans… After all, it’s all natural stuff, right? No meat, so it must be healthy. Those learning how to eat healthy without dieting will tell you that you couldn’t be more wrong. While most fruits and vegetables are low in calories, that’s not true for them all. So make sure you do enough research on how best to reach your own personal goal, lest you are left disappointed.

7. Make it fun.

Those who love cooking should look for some fun eating healthy recipes – and trust me, there are plenty of them out there! You can make sweets out of cornflakes and fruit, and turn most things you love into a healthier version of themselves. Don’t look at it as a huge thing, something to be conquered or powered through. Look at it as a welcome change.

8. Eat small meals more often.

Another thing people who start eating healthy think is – the healthiest way to live is to have breakfast, lunch, and an early dinner. But that’s not true! One of the simplest answers to the question “How to eat healthy food everyday” is – have enough variety for plenty of meals. I usually eat oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, have a sesame bar to snack on while I work, then prepare something easy for lunch – ravioli with vegetables for example – and cook spaghetti, beans, or something else for dinner. So I eat healthy the entire day, but then let off some steam during dinner. And since I’ve been eating mostly healthy, and I’m not overeating, I know that’s okay. After all, I’m still fit and healthy as a horse, and that has to count for something!

Oh, and 8 months after giving birth, I was only a pound over my pre-pregnancy weight, so that’s quite a success!

Food For Thought

And there you have it! Whether you want to start eating healthy on a budget, hate cooking, or are pulling all nighters, there’s a way to stay healthy and still sneak in something caloric from time to time.  

So the answer to “How to eat healthy food everyday”? Be moderate, go day by day, have a goal, and don’t be afraid of throwing in a snack or two!