The motivations for a person to eat healthily are manifold. You might want to get healthier, or you might want to be more energetic, your parents might have told you off for always opting for unhealthy food, or you might want to start losing weight or a torrent of other reasons. And if you are like me, you would start with a strict regimen and follow it for a couple of weeks but eventually hit some wall and give in to the allure of unhealthy food.
But why? Why when there are so many reasons to eat healthily, do we end up choosing unhealthy alternatives? The answer, as one might expect, is not simple and there are many reasons for it, some of which I will try to explain below.
One of the simplest reasons for unhealthy eating is that we tend to relish those foods more. If a person is given the option to choose between eating pizza and eating a salad, you wouldn't need a lot of guesses to predict which they would choose. This, fortunately, is a circumstance you can control and train yourself to avoid. Most of the time we choose to eat unhealthily due to this reason is because of our impulses. We want it, so we have it. But as all of us know that’s not the way this world works and most of us are mature enough to recognize that. Using the techniques we use in other life instances when we are confronted with a similar problem, can make a huge difference. I usually try and rationally weigh the pros and cons of the different options I have to choose between and convince myself to go with the healthier one.
Another reason we might want to eat unhealthily is that unhealthy food is often cheaper. I have seen many debates and read many articles on how the low cost of junk food is affecting the overall health and obesity rates of the population. And how the affordability of healthy food could be a game changer for the health industry. But alas, all this remains mere conjecture and nobody is doing anything to change the situation. Nutritious food is expensive and unfortunately, that is something we can't control. The best we could do is manage our finances in a way that lets us eat as healthily as possible.
Lastly, social media. Ahh, amazing isn’t it how this one manages to slither into almost every issue under the sun? Well, there’s not much to say here. If your feed is full of mouth-watering, tasty junk food that’s what you would want to eat, right? Fortunately, a very simple solution for this is just simply unfollowing those accounts and following ones with a focus on nutritious options of tasty food and conditioning your mind to want to eat the same. Well, that has been the way for me at least.
Now, of course, it’s not as easy as I have put it here. Making the less appealing choice is always difficult but it is certainly not impossible, that much I can say with certainty. With a few tweaks in your lifestyle, a few motivational slogans, and a few cheat days, I am certain we can start the journey of eating healthy and staying en route until we reach the destination.
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