A habit is a behaviour we do automatically. Without thinking. They just happen.
Habits can be good. And Habits can be bad. The overall idea of The Beach Diet is to develop more good habits and reduce the number of bad habits.
Good habits
- Eat when I’m hungry.
- Don’t snack very often.
- Eat 5+ fresh fruit and vegetables per day.
- Eat enough but not too much.
- Think about what I eat.
Bad habits
- Snack between meals.
- Drink sugary drinks.
- Don’t eat much fresh vegetables or fruit.
- Eat lots of take-away foods.
- Eat lots of ready meals from the supermarket.
- Eat treats at least once a day.
- Don’t really think about what I eat.
What to do about your habits
Take a look at your behaviours to do with eating and see what habits you can see. Once you see them clearly you will probably know what to do.
Changing a habit takes time
Some research says that changing a habit can take up to 20 days. The point is that it takes time. If you want to change something that you have been doing for a long time, it will take time. So we need to set our expectations. Expect that it will feel difficult, or strange, or abnormal, or awkward. But that if we stick with it, eventually it will feel normal. That’s the real reward, eventually your new behaviour will feel like normal. And the old behaviour will feel weird.