Your habits can make or break your wellness routine. It can take weeks, months and sometimes years of patience and consistency to cultivate good habits, both of which are easy to abandon when life gets busy. But seemingly overnight, that morning lie-in becomes a longed-for sunrise run.

The cult classic book Atomic Habits sums it up best: “The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. The task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.” page 22.

Habits impact every single aspect of our lives, from daily living to our long-term goals. To build healthy habits that stick, you’ll first need to break a few unhealthy ones. One of the best places to hit reset on your wellness journey is your diet

Why do we need healthy eating habits?

All the energy and nourishment you need to navigate life’s wins and losses starts on your plate. To feel your best every day, you must build the habit of fueling your body well. A great diet goes even deeper still, as feeding the good bacteria in your gut can impact the production of neurotransmitters and overall mood.

Think of the people in your life who have healthy eating habits. You might have noticed that they have shiny hair, are particularly bubbly, or seem to get sick less often. Their focus on building great nutrition habits plays a big role in all of those things.

Wanting to create healthy eating habits is one thing; doing it and sticking with it is another. Here’s how to move the dial on your diet from fad to forever:

1. Start small and be consistent

Remember, you've spent a lifetime building your eating habits. It's going to take time to break and reshape them. Be patient with yourself, as the most important part of habit building is that it's manageable for you long-term. Even a small step towards better nutrition is one towards a healthier you.

First up, spend a week or two analysing your patterns. Do you struggle to cook during the week because you need ingredients? Are you constantly ordering a takeaway? Do you eat late in the evenings, so you snack a lot before dinner? Like it or not, all of these things result from your habits. It's overwhelming to be honest with yourself, but there's good news - once you know your common hurdles, you can change them!

All of these habits can now become your healthy eating goals. Choose one, and break it down into manageable steps. If you're a late eater, set a goal to eat at 6 pm every night during the week. Make a note of how you snack with this in the mix, as it's likely this will kill your cravings. Once you've aced this habit, celebrate your win and pick the next thing you want to tackle.   

2. Plan your meals 

At the end of a long workday, the last thing you want to do is rustle around for a healthy meal. Instead, you look towards a quick win like a takeaway. Making healthy eating a habit is really all in the planning.

Meal prep is your secret weapon. It takes the guesswork out of your evening dinner, adding all the important conveniences you’re hunting for on takeaway apps. Instead, create the habit of spending an hour planning out your grocery list for the week ahead. If you love a plan, using themes might be a great habit for you to start with (hello, taco Tuesdays!). Add a few nutritious snacks to your list, like hummus or grainy crackers, and the new healthy eating you is in business.

If you’re especially time-poor, an afternoon of meal prepping might be your thing. Batch cooking gives you back time to relax after work. You can also prep delicious treats so you have a protein ball in reach next time you get a late-night pang for chocolate. Planning ahead is all about doing more with less.  

3. Find healthy alternatives

Shame or guilt has no place in a healthy lifestyle, including our food choices. Instead, add on to your existing routine. It could be as simple as consistently looking for healthy versions of your favourite foods or pairing them with nutrient-dense items. Habits need to be sustainable, and going cold turkey on your favourites isn’t going to help you go the distance.

Do you have an uncontrollable sweet tooth? Food is fun, so get creative! Look for your favourite desserts in nutrient-sense forms: Avocados blended with dark chocolate make for an incredible mousse. A simple apple crumble with oats, maple syrup and served with yoghurt might be your next dessert staple. Look beyond its natural form at all of the sweet, sweet possibilities.

If salty snacks are more your style, try swapping out potato chips and aioli for something like carrot fries and hummus. From Instagram chefs to blog bakers, there’s no shortage of healthy eating inspiration out there. You might even build the habit of trying a new recipe every week to keep things interesting!

4. Practice mindful eating

Once you’ve sorted your approach to the meal itself, it’s time to switch your focus to building healthy mealtime habits. It’s easy to get distracted while you’re eating. That’s where mindfulness steps in. By eliminating distractions and tuning in to your body, you can better listen to your hunger cues.

Build the habit of eating without external pressure. We spend all day surrounded by people, electronics and information. A stress-free meal environment helps your body and brain better focus on the task at hand. With the phone down and the TV off, you limit the chance of overeating. It’ll also help make that prepped meal taste all the more delicious.

5. Reward yourself

Celebrating yourself when you’ve formed and achieved a new habit is important. It’s a great tool to motivate you to keep working hard towards your goals. With that in mind, the final habit to create is actually around the reward itself.

You’ve likely just spent weeks shifting your eating habits. To complement this, move away from food-centred rewards towards ones that support other parts of your wellness journey. You might treat yourself to a shiny new appliance, buy yourself a new gym set or head out for a massage. All of these things reinforce the habits you’ve built and give you that all-important dopamine rush.

Every new habit built is a move towards a healthier you. You deserve to be proud of yourself, and positive reinforcement is a great way to keep up the momentum in your wellness journey. You're building lifelong habits, and you should celebrate your wins little and often to stay on track.

You won't completely transform your eating habits overnight. It's neither achievable nor sustainable to expect that of yourself. Instead, it takes real self-reflection, hard work, and consistency to achieve a lifelong balanced lifestyle.

It's easy to get overwhelmed by what's ahead when you're standing at the bottom of the mountain. But each step is a new recipe you've tried out, a meal prepped, or a nutritious food you've swapped into your diet. Slowly but surely, you'll reach the summit, and healthy eating habits will become second nature.

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