6 Ways to Overcome Bad Eating Habits for Weight Loss

If you’re developing bad eating habits, learn to overcome them with these simple tools.

Bad eating habits are gradual, and you might not notice them developing, but if you’re finding it difficult to lose belly fat or manage your weight in general, it might be time to check in on your relationship with food.

Research by the South Carolina Department of Mental Health tells us that approximately 8 million people in the US alone have an eating disorder to some degree.

Our attitude to food can feel unnecessarily complicated, and maintaining a positive relationship with it is a commitment of a lifetime. But if you know yours has turned sour, there are some simple ways to help you get back on track.

First things first, just like a pair of jeans – there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to diet, but you can implement some simple changes to improve your approach.

Help yourself along the way with our product Slimmy, designed to kickstart fat burn, curb cravings, boost energy, reduce stress, and help you sleep better. We’ve carefully formulated our supplement to help women achieve a healthy lifestyle and take control over their weight, alongside a healthy diet and exercise.

Below, we look at 6 ways to knock bad eating habits on the head, once and for all.

Labeling foods ‘good’ or ‘bad’ immediately changes how you view them. It’s time to eliminate the term ‘cheat day’ from your vocabulary.

When we label foods ‘good’, we label others ‘bad’ by default.

Suggesting that food is bad makes that food suddenly look like the big red button you want to press. It’s okay to consume foods high in sugar, fat, and salt, but it’s the consistency that matters.

Research – like this study by Baylor University Medical Center – tells us that the long-term effects of over-consuming these foods aren’t good news for our health.

But allowing yourself to consume them in moderation, without the guilt or next day over restriction, allows you to stop putting food in the off-limits category and enjoy it with balance.

Not sure where to start? Try to consume the rainbow (a variety of fruit and vegetables) and plenty of protein every day. Try to include whole grains, nuts, seeds, and extra-virgin olive oil alongside omega-3 fatty acids, too.

Unlike our hunter-gatherer ancestors before us, food is now more convenient than ever, and we’re less likely to listen to our bodies and reach straight for food instead.

Some simple ways to check in with your body and ensure you’re hungry are:

1. Take a moment to perform a mental body scan. Are you stressed? Bored? Tired? Hungover?

We often resort to food to feed an emotion rather than hunger.

2. Try to drink a glass of water and then perform the scan again in 10 minutes. Try to learn the fluctuations of your body. For example, women might feel more tempted to comfort eat close to their periods. Lack of sleep and levels of activity could also play a role in your eating habits. Noticing a pattern can help you identify when you’re feeling triggered.

Keep It Simple and Sustainable.

Complicated fad diets, restrictive eating times, excessive exercise, and eliminating food groups are all common symptoms of an unhealthy relationship with your plate.

If you have a specific goal, chronic disease, or food intolerance, one (or some) of these approaches might be necessary. If you’re unsure, it’s always best to check in with a qualified health professional before you start stripping back your diet.

For most people, a calorie deficit or calorie maintenance is the answer. A gentle increase in your daily activity outside of dedicated exercise (often referred to as Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, or NEAT) and a 15-20% cut in calorie intake can help.

But weight loss should be sustainable and progressive. A yo-yo diet will only have you reaching for all things sugar in a few days.

4. CONSIDER SUPPLEMENTS

Supplements can help us to fulfill our nutritional needs, but over-supplementing is very common. We can get most of the vitamins and nutrients we need from a balanced and varied diet.

However, there may be occasions (as we get older or modify our diet or lifestyle) when we might find it harder than usual to lose weight. Belly Blaze supplements are designed to help women alongside any weight loss program. Weight loss supplements can help kickstart the journey towards fat burning alongside dedicated exercise and a varied diet.

You’ve probably seen tons of adverts on how to burn belly fat and other fat-burning techniques. While you can’t ‘spot reduce’ fat, our supplements are formulated to safely help you along the way, and our results speak for themselves!

You weren’t expecting that one, right?

Whether it’s the Atkins diet or ‘going keto’, we’ve all been told that reducing or eliminating our carb intake is the key to weight loss success.

However, carbs are our main source of energy. When we consume carbs, our body breaks them down into glucose, supplying energy to the cells in our body.

This rise in glucose stimulates insulin release, which directs glucose to be absorbed by our cells rather than sitting in our bloodstream. Carbohydrate metabolism is a natural process. The development of type 2 diabetes occurs when our body is unable to provide adequate insulin to bring sugar levels back under control, research tells us.

This happens when we consume high levels of sugar over a sustained period and is more likely to come from the type of carbs we consume.

Carbs are categorized as simple or complex – aiming for complex carbs like beans, whole grains, and veggies will break down slowly and provide us with sustainable energy.

Incorrect. There is little to no data supporting diet detoxes and their effectiveness.

Detoxes have seen a sharp rise in popularity over the years, and one of the most popular detoxes? Juice cleansing.

But are they necessary? No. Our body detoxes itself via organs such as the skin, liver, and kidneys.

research, juice cleanses can harm health because they encourage an extreme caloric deficit which can lower our body’s basal metabolic rate (BMR) in a bid to conserve energy; this means that when you resume eating solid food, weight gain is more likely.

Mindful eating, also known as ‘the non-diet approach’, allows us to become more intuitive toward food and more physically aware of our body and food behaviors.

Dieting is best used as a short-term tool and should be carefully conducted and monitored. Over time, it has become a ‘quick fix’ attached to poor body image and can become unhealthy if used long-term.

By learning your triggers, you’ll begin to understand when you feel a craving. Find other ways to fill your time, like going for a walk or ringing a friend. Often boredom is when we’re most likely to overeat, so try to make the most of the downtime. However, ensure this is not simply a distraction- we should always stay in tune with our bodies!