Sticking To New Year Healthy Eating Objectives

Sticking To New Year Healthy Eating Objectives. Hello everyone, I hope you are well. In today’s post, I will be sharing a guest post from Dr Bunmi. Dr Bunmi Aboaba is a Food Addiction Coach and Author of Craving Freedom. Dr Bunmi will be sharing five things to do to set New Year eating goals that you can stick to. This includes developing your intention, Smart goals, Discovering your triggers and much more if you know anyone looking to start a new healthy eating plan this new year and needs some support. Two of the most common New Year goals are losing weight (44%) and improving diet (41%) (Source: Statista 2020), but around 25% (Source: YouGov 2021) of us fail to keep our resolutions. So, what can you do to ensure you stick to your New Year eating goals?

Sticking To New Year Healthy Eating Objectives

In 2019, a general study found that losing weight and improving fitness were the most popular resolutions.^[1] The top three solutions of that year were based on health and included:

• Exercising more – 47%
• Losing weight – 44%
• Improving diet – 41%

After a challenging two years of lockdowns, illness, and uncertainty, I expect these results to be the same, if not more heightened, as we seek to improve our health and sense of well-being.

So, bearing in mind nearly 25% of us fail to keep our resolutions^[2], what actions can we take to make them stick?

Set Your Intention

To progress and reach your goals, you must start understanding where you are now. You can then set your intention of where you want to be.

Create a clear picture of where you are going and what you want to achieve. Intentions and beliefs are powerful – they will make all the difference to your journey.

It’s all about bringing your goals, hopes, and aspirations into conscious thought and connecting them to your why, which will empower, motivate, and inspire you to keep going.

You must understand that you are not hopeless or the victim of uncontrollable urges and circumstances. Instead, remember that you can change direction and transform yourself into whatever you wish to be. This, however, requires time, honesty, and commitment.

When setting your intentions, answer the following:

• What are your goals?
• What will you look like?
• Where do you want to be at the end of your weight loss journey?
• What will you feel like?
• What will you be able to achieve?

Set SMART Goals

As a food addiction coach, I recommend that all my clients set themselves SMART goals. This acronym is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-specific. An example of how this could be applied to a new year goal, such as exercising more, could include:

• Specific – Setting a particular purpose, such as achieving couch to 5k.
• Measurable – Logging progress each week.
• Attainable – Understanding personal limitations which could prevent this goal from being reached.
• Realistic – Altering the challenge accordingly and following through on a new basis rather than giving up.
• Time-specific – Setting a date that this will be achieved, such as six

Those who do not set SMART goals are the ones who are unlikely to achieve their preferred outcome. They are more likely to become disheartened, frustrated, and impatient. As a result, they lose sight of their goal and its intention.

Discover Your Triggers

Do certain situations, feelings, moods or times of day prompt you to overeat? If so, you are likely being triggered. Triggers are habitual and operate unconsciously and will have you reach for food to satisfy an unmet need even when you’re not hungry.

Therefore, it’s critical to identify your triggers and how they contribute to your negative behaviours towards food and eating.

Ask yourself:

• What are your trigger foods?
• What foods can you never resist?

They’re likely to be highly refined carbohydrates as these are particularly addictive and satisfying due to high sugar, salt, and fat concentrations. These types of foods release feel-good hormones, which keep you wanting more!

Take some time to outline the specific foods you find hard to resist so that you can become more aware of your food triggers.

Additionally, try to understand what emotions and environments trigger you to self-sabotage.

• Do you crave certain foods when stressed, sad, or happy?
• Do you find it hard to resist foods in certain situations or with particular people?

By acknowledging your triggers, you take the first step in gaining control of your eating habits.

Practice Mindful Eating

How you eat and where you eat are also crucial to your fulfilment. Consider the atmosphere in which you consume your meals. To maintain healthy eating habits, you must actively consider your mind-body connection.

How can you encourage a more mindful way of eating?

• Remove as many distractions as possible – Turn off the TV and remove all bright/screen devices from your mealtimes.
• Eat-in a positive space – Try to ensure it’s a clutter-free dining space, lay the table, use your favourite pottery, and perhaps light a candle. This will encourage you to be mindful and enjoy the moment.
• Practice gratitude – Mindfully express thanks before and during your meal. This could be saying a blessing over your food or expressing thanks to yourself or the person who has prepared the meal.
• Share your meals – Where possible, do not eat alone. Instead, share food with loved ones. Try and choose people with a positive attitude who will encourage and support you with your eating goals.

These practices will strengthen positive messages to your body to nurture your mind-body connection. You will begin to find fulfilment and satisfaction from being present and aware at mealtimes.

Plan Your Meals

Meal planning involves thinking ahead and planning the foods you will consume. This helps ensure that you have healthy food choices and are less likely to return to old habits and pick up unhealthy foods.

Focusing on bringing joy and excitement into your meals is vital rather than thinking about what you miss out on. Changing what you eat requires dedication and forethought, so try and plan a week.

Consider commitments, responsibilities, and who you will eat with daily. Pay particular attention to those days when you might be tired or stressed and plan an easy option to avoid falling into detrimental stress eating habits.

Select foods that will nourish both mind and body. Think about colour, texture, flavour, and variety. This will help ensure you do not get bored with your new eating routine.

Every meal you plan and eat should bring you health, emotional well-being, energy and pleasure.

Conclusion

Recognising your success and achievements is vital for your recovery and long-term health. Remember, achieving your new year goals is not a test of willpower. Instead, breaking habits is a journey. There will be times when you feel inclined to give up or make a wrong choice. However, be kind to yourself, acknowledge how far you have come, and celebrate the path you are on!

To discover an alternative method to weight loss, healthy eating, and long-term food serenity, try my Craving Freedom course—a gentle approach to beating food cravings and developing a healthy relationship with food.

I hope you enjoyed that.

Talk Soon

References

1 “Most Popular New Year’s Resolutions In Britain 2019 | Statista”. Statista, 2020, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1085562/gb-popular-new-year-resolutions/.

2 “How Many People Kept Their 2020 New Year’s Resolutions? | Yougov”. Yougov.Co.Uk, 2021, https://yougov.co.uk/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2020/12/30/new-years-resolutions-2020-and-2021.

^[1] “Most Popular New Year’s Resolutions In Britain 2019 | Statista”. Statista, 2020, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1085562/gb-popular-new-year-resolutions/.

^[2] “How Many People Kept Their 2020 New Year’s Resolutions? | Yougov”. Yougov.Co.Uk, 2021, https://yougov.co.uk/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2020/12/30/new-years-resolutions-2020-and-2021.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr Bunmi Aboaba is a Food Addiction Coach and leading authority on food addiction, helping clients achieve a healthy relationship with food to meet long-term health. Her work covers the full spectrum of disordered eating, including overeating, compulsive eating, emotional eating, and other associated patterns. Dr Bunmi is the creator of the R4 Method, a Food Addiction Certification to support nutritionists, nurses, teachers, health and fitness professionals, dieticians and medical clinicians to help their clients achieve long-lasting results. Dr Bunmi will be running 7-day self-care retreats for clients suffering from food addiction in 2022 and is the author of Craving Freedom, a new book for those wanting to build a healthy relationship with food (published 1^st Dec).

Web: www.thefoodaddictioncoach.co.uk

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bunmiaboaba/

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Twitter: @FoodAddicti2

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