4 tips to keep your eating routine healthy

If you’re struggling with where to start, here are some tips from HBF dietitian Kate Kenny to take an objective look at your habits, set achievable goals and get back on track.

1. Get back to basics

While changing nutrition trends might regularly make the headlines, remember the fundamental nutrition recommendations have not significantly changed for many years. There’s no single magic food or nutrient when it comes to dietary recommendations, instead focus on eating a variety of foods from each of the core food groups:

• Vegetables
• Fruit
• Wholegrains
• Milk, yoghurt & cheese (or milk alternatives)
• Lean meat, fish, chicken, tofu, legumes & nuts

Building eating habits on these core food groups will help you naturally achieve a balanced diet which is high in protective nutrients and low in saturated fats, trans fats, salt and sugar (and that’s a good thing).

2. Make goals to break bad habits

We’re all prone to making bad food habits from time to time – whether it’s overeating, snacking or binging a few too many pieces of chocolate on a Friday night. The key to breaking these habits is to focus on one or two goals at a time. Try to focus on what “to do” rather than what “not to do”. Keep in mind it’s about progress, not perfection.

For example, if you’re in the habit of grazing on biscuits late afternoon, your goal could be “I’m going to have an apple mid-afternoon”, not “I’m not going to eat a biscuit this afternoon”.

Tip: If you’re feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, there are online dietary quizzes you can use for guidance. Try the CSIRO Healthy Diet Score or this Healthy Eating Quiz developed by the University of Newcastle.

After a period of time you may wish to revisit the dietary quizzes and evaluate the success of your changes and either introduce another goal or adjust your current goals to make further progress.

3. Plan ahead

When your routine has been disrupted there are a lot of things that can be impacted, meal planning and preparation being one of them. This can sometimes lead to less healthy, albeit convenient, choices. Below are a couple of ideas to make healthy eating more achievable

• Plan at least a few meals for the week ahead, this can save you the hassle of last-minute trips to the shop
• Make larger batches of well-balanced meals and freeze the leftovers. 
• Stock the pantry and freezer with some staples that can be combined to make a quick meal. Items such as frozen vegetables, canned beans, canned tomatoes, canned tuna/salmon, microwavable rice are great.

4. Tune in

We are constantly making choices about food, what to eat, when to eat, how to eat and how much to eat. Some choices we’re aware of and others we’re not. Stay on top of this by trying to remain aware of your eating habits. It’s amazing what you can discover by simply tuning in.

You might find yourself halfway through your third chocolate biscuit and realise you’re not even enjoying it. Or you might find yourself halfway through the day wondering why your energy is fading and realise you haven’t eaten at all. A few tips:

• Keep the nutritious foods like fruit, unsalted nuts and yoghurt within reach - on the bench in a bowl or eye level in the pantry or fridge
• Keep the treat foods like chips, chocolate and lollies further from reach - perhaps top shelf of the pantry
• Divide adequate portions of meals or snacks ahead of time (perhaps when not hungry so your logical brain does more thinking than your hungry brain)
• Check that your routine allows you enough time to stop and eat regularly

There will always be some change in our lives that we’ll have to cope with, but no matter what challenges life throws at us we will always need to eat. Building nutritious eating habits can be of great comfort and keep you well during a stressful time.

Above all, be kind to yourself. If you’re not so happy with the food choices you made one day, tomorrow is a new day to make better choices.