Overcome Healthy Diet Hurdles

What we eat plays a critical role in our overall health. If you want to improve your diet but don’t want your meals to be boring, expensive or complicated, here are some solutions to common challenges people face when attempting to change their eating habits.

1. Tired of the Same Foods?

Solution: Add variety to your diet

Eating the same fruits, vegetables, whole grains and protein sources can lead to diet fatigue, increasing the chances of abandoning your healthy eating efforts.

Introducing new foods to your regular rotation can keep things interesting while potentially bringing new nutrients into your diet. Set a goal to pick up one or two new foods each time that you go grocery shopping to make eating healthy more exciting and delicious.

2. Eating on a Budget?

Solution: Cook at home more.

Takeout, dine-in restaurants and fast food can quickly use up your food budget. By simply preparing more meals at home, you can save money and have more control over what you eat.

You can find recipes for many favorite meals and treats, like pumpkin spice lattes, so you won’t have to give up the foods and beverages you love to make the switch to at-home dining.

3. Short on Time?

Solution: Prep ahead.

If you have trouble fitting cooking into your hectic daily schedule, try meal prepping. Choose one day each week to go grocery shopping. Chop, slice, grate and cut as much as you can when you get home, so you have ready-to-go ingredients to grab throughout the week. Use your crock pot to prepare large batches of favorite recipes that you can quickly reheat at lunchtime and after work.

Another way to save time in the kitchen is to sign up for a meal kit service that has healthy options. These kits usually arrive with ingredients pre-measured and prepped and come with step-by-step instructions that allow you to get dinner on the table in less than an hour.

4. Limited Appetite?

Solution: Get moving.

Aging, some physical and mental health conditions and certain medications can reduce your appetite, and when you’re not feeling hungry, eating a balanced mix of healthy foods can be challenging. Exercising regularly is one way to improve your appetite.

Physical activity can take many forms, from walking around your neighborhood to hitting the golf course without a cart to swimming to cycling to playing a racquet sport. If you’re new to exercise, talk to your healthcare provider about what activities are right for you and start slowly, increasing the length and frequency of your workouts over time.

5. Confused About What’s Healthy?

Solution: Talk to your primary care provider.

The Internet makes it easy to find new recipes and meal ideas, but unfortunately, it also contains a lot of conflicting and confusing information about what healthy eating means. If you have Celiac disease, food allergies, type 2 diabetes or another condition that requires a specialty diet, the guidelines of your eating plan may feel overwhelming.

A simple way to find an eating plan that’s best for you is to ask your primary care provider. They can give you trustworthy, personalized advice about how to make healthier choices at every meal.

Support for Your Healthy Diet

Whatever hurdles you need to overcome to eat healthy, a primary care provider can help. Your primary care provider can be your partner on your healthy eating journey by answering your questions, assisting you with goal setting, connecting you with registered dietitians and other specialists and more. Find a Broward Health primary care provider near you and schedule an appointment to get the support you need for your healthy diet.