How to Motivate Yourself to Eat Well

It’s a new season! As we gladly welcome summer at Orr’s, we know that this is perhaps the best time of year to start truly motivating ourselves to eat healthy because there are a ton of local crops and produce available during peak season. It’s easy to think about eating well, but it’s more difficult to actually do it.

But why is adopting a nutritious lifestyle so difficult?

The truth is, it’s easy to associate healthy living with exercise, but we tend to forget the importance of healthy eating to balance the equation.

When it comes to the decisions we make at meal time, what if we told you there are tricks to staying motivated and committed to a new lifestyle? With our fresh farm products and the tips below, we’ll put you on the path to eating healthy year round.

1. Find Your “Why”

First things first: you should ask yourself what the reason behind altering your eating habits is. If you have a laser focus on your reasons, you can use it to your advantage as you set goals.

2. Talk to Your Doctor

If you are unsure where to begin or are new to the whole eating healthy thing, your doctor can be your number one source for information. He or she can help you identify the health areas to set your sights on improving. Plus, your doctor has access to your detailed health records and can suggest specific foods that could benefit your health.

3. Start Journaling

Writing down what you want to see and do for your healthy lifestyle gives you hard evidence to review during the peaks and valleys of this transformation. It can help reinforce why you are doing something, or set a picture in your mind as to where you want to be later on. Plus, a journal serves as a permanent record of our progress, which helps us recognize our strengths and weaknesses along the way. And even better: a journal helps us articulate the next steps in our healthy eating journey.

4. Pay Close Attention to How You Feel

Before you go on a binge-eating bender, remember exactly what it feels like when you’re eating healthy. We promise it will feel drastically different from an unbalanced diet. When we commit to nourishing our bodies with healthy choices, we get more energy and are less likely to come down with the sniffles.

5. Start Small and Find a Partner

People say to adopt a healthy habit it takes about a month of commitment. Instead of thinking of it as simply eating healthy, the key is to think of it as adopting a healthy lifestyle. Starting small and working your way up into a more intense routine can help you build repetition. Once you’ve committed to this way of life, make sure you have someone in your life that can help motivate you to make the change.

6. Reward Yourself

 You get rewarded when you do things right. So reward yourself along the way. These rewards can serve as benchmarks that propel you into the next cycle. Just because you are working toward a new and improved you, doesn’t mean you can’t indulge every once in a while. Many food companies offer low-fat or lean versions of your favorite dishes. So instead of reaching for what you use to, reach the lean options to keep you on track.

No matter what it is, if you have the willpower to succeed, you will. Visit us down at the farm this summer to pick from the freshest farm products around that can help kick-start a healthy lifestyle!