Starting Fresh: How to Create Diet Habits That Last All Year

A new year often brings a new commitment to better health and well-being for many individuals. A change in diet is often considered when striving for better health. Sometimes, change can be difficult to navigate. The uncertainty of doing things differently can be scary, but it’s also exciting to explore new possibilities.

Diet is founded by habits. Habit change requires patience, consistency and anticipating barriers that may present along the journey. Whether you are changing your diet to achieve weight loss, for improved health and wellness or to manage a medical condition, having a plan in place to overcome barriers will set you up for a successful transition. Let’s review some common barriers to diet change and how to overcome them to meet your goals.

How to Stick to a Diet? Overcome These 5 Barriers.

1. An “all or nothing” mindset

It’s natural to want to overhaul your whole diet when you are motivated to make changes. However, motivation will ebb and flow. Aiming for perfection with no room for missteps along the way often leads to feelings of failure, especially when motivation is lacking. When feelings of failure take over, giving up seems like the only option. A perfect diet doesn’t exist!

Rather than aiming for perfection, strive for progress, no matter how small it may seem. Small, sustainable changes over time add up to big results!  Keep an open mindset that allows you to accept a missed opportunity, learn from it, and quickly move on without feeling like your plan for change is ruined.

2. Broad goals

As a dietitian, I hear many patients state the goal they are trying to achieve is to “eat healthier.” This general statement could mean different things to different individuals. You are more likely to be successful in reaching your goals if you know exactly what is expected of you. What are you going to do and how are you going to do it?  Before making specific goals, identify your pain points or habits that need to change to achieve your overall objective (examples: fast food, lack of time/schedule, or lack of food and nutrition knowledge).  Then, create SMART goals that address your pain points and support your overall objective. SMART goals should be:

• Specific: What specific actions will you take to meet your goal? The more specific, the better!
• Measurable: How will you know you are making progress towards your goal? Rather than stating, “I will eat more vegetables,” try “I will include a vegetable serving in at least one meal three times this week.”
• Achievable: Be realistic about what you can do. Choose something that is attainable but challenging.
• Relevant: Does this goal support your overall objective?
• Time-based: When will you meet this goal?

An example of a SMART goal that would support the objective to eat healthier for someone who lacks produce in their diet would look like this:

“I will eat a serving of a fruit or vegetable with my dinner meal three times per week for the next month.”

Be flexible with your goals. They may need to be changed throughout the process. If you need guidance on creating SMART goals, a Registered Dietitian is trained to help.

3. Lack of planning

Change requires planning and planning requires time. Make sure you consider time in your calendar for new tasks like meal planning, grocery shopping and accountability check-ins. Planning for things that can save you time later sets you up for success.

Meal planning and prepping, using convenient options like pre-chopped produce or bagged salad mixes, planning an online grocery order, and making extra meals to freeze all allow you to have foods on hand that support your goals and objective.  These tasks will take more time when you are learning how to navigate them. Once they become a habit, the time it takes to do these things will decrease.

4. Lack of accountability

How are you holding yourself accountable to make diet changes? Having a friend, family member and/or registered dietitian to check in with throughout your journey is essential to change. Being accountable to someone is necessary for talking through missed opportunities, celebrating wins, evaluating progress of goals and objectives and adjusting the plan as needed. We all need support when we are making changes, and changes to your diet are no different.

5. Diet confusion

There is an abundance of conflicting nutrition information available at our fingertips today. This can cause confusion and frustration when you aren’t sure what changes you should make to meet your goals. When seeking advice on diet changes, look for credentialed resources like registered dietitians, nurse practitioners or physicians who provide evidence-based information to feel confident in your plan for diet change. Avoid fad diets, quick fixes and other extreme advice.

Change is hard, but it can be easier with the right tools in place to help you along the way. Overcoming barriers to change makes success that much sweeter! Approach changes with a positive and flexible attitude, make time to create a plan that works for you that includes accountability, and use trusted resources to guide you in the process. Schedule an appointment with our trusted nutrition experts, the Kroger Health registered dietitians, to help with diet changes.