8 EASY WAY TO STICK TO A HEALTHY DIET

Eating healthy is easy, but it can be extremely difficult in the long run. One of the most important obstacles is all the work required to plan and cook healthy meals. Periodic fasting can make things easier, because you do not have to plan, cook or plan as many meals as before.

For this reason, intermittent fasting 16/8 is very popular because it improves your health while simplifying your life at the same time. Here are some additional ways to stick to a healthy lifestyle during intermittent fasting.

1. Start with realistic expectations

Eating a nutritious diet has many benefits, but it is important to set realistic expectations. For example, if you put pressure on yourself to lose weight too fast, your plan to achieve better health may fail. Setting a more realistic and achievable goal can increase your chances of success and may even lead to greater weight loss.

2. Think about what really motivates you

Remembering why you are making healthy choices can help you stay the course. Making a list of specific reasons why you want to be healthier and lose weight can be helpful. Keep the list handy and refer to it when you feel you need a reminder.

3. Do not store junk food and sweets at home

It is difficult to eat healthy if you are surrounded by junk food. If other family members want these foods, you can try to keep them hidden rather than where you can see them. The proverb out of sight, without thought, definitely applies here. Having food on display in different parts of the house has been linked to obesity and increased consumption of unhealthy foods.

4. Do not have an "all or nothing" strategy

An important part of getting a healthy diet for lifestyle is not to think that everything is "black or white". A common scenario is that you may have eaten a piece of chocolate that was not part of your diet, instead of stopping at the piece of chocolate, you eat the whole chocolate cake because you have still "ruined" this day. (In this I recognize myself). Instead, of course, you should stop there where we that piece of chocolate, put it behind you and back on the field again. This little piece of chocolate makes no major difference, but eating the whole chocolate cake makes a huge difference in the long run.

5. Exercise and change your diet at the same time

You may have heard that you should not change too many things at once when trying to improve your health and lose weight. In general, this is good advice. Nevertheless, research shows that when you make both changes in diet and physical activity at the same time, the results tend to reinforce each other. One study found that people who started eating a healthy diet and exercising at the same time found it easier to maintain these behaviors than those who started with either just diet or just exercise. That sounds sensible I think. If I have exercised, I myself think that it is easier to be motivated to want to eat healthy.

6. Do not let travel complicate your diet

Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, you are out of your usual routines, it can make it difficult to stick to a healthy lifestyle. Here are some tips:

- Google healthy restaurants in advance.

- Pack some healthy foods that are not easily destroyed.

- Challenge yourself to stay on track for most of the journey.

7. Get a partner to do it with you

Sticking to healthy foods and an exercise plan can be difficult to do on your own. Having a diet or exercise buddy can be helpful, especially if that person is your partner or spouse. Research shows that in couples, when one person made a positive lifestyle change, such as increasing physical activity, the other partner was more willing to hang on.

8. Understand that it takes time to change your habits

Do not be discouraged if it takes longer than you expect to adapt to your new healthy way of life. Researchers have found that it takes an average of 66 days to make a new behavior a habit. Eventually, it becomes healthy to eat and exercise regularly automatically.

The Kickstart team