Towards a better food habit: It is not rocket science

It is not rocket science. Most people have enough understanding to make healthy food choices. Eat more green leafy vegetables and complex carbohydrates, dairy and animal products in moderation, cut down on sugar and salt, eat organic and stop processed, refined foods: How hard can it be? Yet most people are dissatisfied with the food habits that they make. In this post I am going to talk about strategies that may help you to make good food habits and stick to them.

1. What you see is what you eat: Whenever we see a high calorie food our natural drive is to eat it. We inherited this drive from the prehistoric man who did not know when his next meal is going to be available. In present era this strategy is ineffective because more people die out of obesity than hunger in today’s world. To hack this system, you need to keep healthy food choices close by. As an example, instead of a packet of chips keep a bowl full of fruits on your table.

2. Stay away from fashionable diet unless advised by a dietitian. Whether it is keto or Atkins or any other fad diet, do not try them on your own. In most cases after the initial novelty wears off, we bounce back to our old diet while giving unpleasant surprises to our body. It is much more sensible eat a natural wholesome diet daily. Don’t get me wrong, a tailored diet prescribed by expert has its own importance, but just like the medicine prescription, it has to be written by an expert. If you don’t have one, stick to the common sense.

3. If you want to lose weight: diet goes in tandem with exercise. Without exercise in the long term you will end up losing muscle mass instead of fat.

4. Plan your diet in advance: Many times, we fill our stomach like we fill a garbage bag, whatever we want whenever we want. Our body functions best when there is a routinely timed food intake. Planning the diet ahead of time also helps one from giving into temptation.

5. Eat tasty food. Diet watchers often eat bland, tasteless food for days together. Only a few can continue for a long enough duration. Others soon end up rebounding to high calorie unhealthy foods. Aim should be to eat (and feed) simple balance food that is also tasty.

Finally, if you have drifted away from your dietary commitments, return back as soon as possible.

What’s your take on healthy food habits? Do you have a diet tip to share? Do let us know in the comments section.

About the author

Dr Subhanjan Das (PT)

BPT, MPT (MSk & Sports), CMP(NZ), Diploma in football medicine (FIFA)

Consultant Physiotherapist of Apollo & Reliva Clinic, HSR Layout, Bangalore

Contact: +91 8967549104

Dr Subhanjan Das (PT) has over 14 years of clinical and 12 years of academic experience.  A friendly professional with lots of patience and skilful hands, Dr Subhanjan has worked with thousands of his patients for instant relief of pain and rapid return to activities.  He has treated elite athletes for recovery, injury prevention and performance enhancement.

Dr Das is specialized in Orthopaedic and sports physiotherapy and has keeps himself updated with the latest advancements in the field of physiotherapy. He has undergone training on advanced orthopaedic techniques such as Dry Needling, Mulligan Concept, McKenzie method, Pilates, Cupping therapy, McConnel and kinesio  taping from the best faculties around the world.

Dr Das has taught in 5 universities across India and has trained physiotherapists in 50+ workshops within and outside India.