To adopt a healthier lifestyle, forget dieting. After all, virtually any diet is strictly a temporary fix. Try adopting healthier eating habits that you can maintain for life. I have rounded up ten effective examples collected from the blogosphere. Introduce them gradually and you will slowly but surely become a newer, healthier you with these healthy eating hacks!

1. Processed foods are not your friend: avoid or replace them: Limit the consumption of boxed, canned or frozen foods. Stick to natural and whole foods as much as possible. The way to do this successfully is by knowing the alternatives to your favorite processed foods. Cutting out processed foods will not suffice if you don’t have alternatives to replace those foods you enjoy so often. For example, I love sweets, so I grab a bag of dates to enjoy rather than a piece of cake or pastry. If you keep close to the food source, meaning as little development and chemical altering in the chain as possible, you will be forming one of the healthiest eating habits of your life.  Always go for foods high on the alkaline scale. Check out Becoming a pH Gangsta for more info here
2. Plan ahead and change it up: Being organized, creating lists and prepping in advance sets us up to win the healthy habits battle.
3. Re-evaluate your liquid intake: Around 20 percent of all calories in the U.S. diet come from beverages. It’s amazingly easy to consume way too many calories through sodas, fancy coffee drinks, alcoholic beverages and even juice, so make your liquid of choice water which hydrates you at “0” calories!
4. Refine your life, not your food: Refined grains, sugar and refined carbohydrates are largely stripped of their nutrients and contain little or no fiber. This is why they are said to give you “empty calories.” Avoid foods that contain excessive amounts of refined flours and steer clear of candy, soda and sugary snacks. Instead, stock up on protein-packed snacks loaded in protein. There are tons of veg-friendly protein options that will help those sugar cravings!
   
5. Detox from unhealthy friends: When you start out on your healthy lifestyle journey, avoid falling into temptation. Set a time period where you detox from people who love their late-night Taco Bell runs. Once you are past the detox phase, you will be much less tempted and it will be easier for you to say no while you’re at that burger-and-fries joint with a group. You might even inspire your besties with a few healthy eating changes!
6. Portions and Plates: Know your servings – When eating high-calorie and restaurant foods, keep portion sizes under control. Smaller is better! Teach yourself what healthy portion sizes look like and stick to them as closely as possible. Accept that the amount of food you are typically served at a restaurant is too much. And the more there is on a place, the more we eat – even when the food’s not appealing. When dining out, stick with appetizers which tend to be smaller or split dishes with others. Drink lots of water while eating and train yourself to be okay with less. Sometimes we eat from an emotional space and less from a space of what the body needs.
7. Pet your meat, don’t eat it: If you’re a Modern Monk Life follower you likely keep a plant-based diet but if not, dial down the animal foods. I once got this great tip: be a vegetarian after 4pm. If you start with something do-able like no meat for half of the day, it will eventually become easier and easier to eat less animals for more parts of the day.
   
8. Be okay with setbacks- Life happens: When we accept that we may have a few failures or hiccups along the healthy eating pathway, we avoid the pressure and stress. Start over every day if you must, but keep moving forward.
9. Whole grains for a whole life – Because they retain germ and bran, whole grains have lots of nutrients and healthy fiber. Studies have suggested that your body burns more calories when digesting whole grains, so there’s that too. At least half of the grains that you consume should be whole grain. Adhere to this rule as closely as possible for best results.
10. Too hungry or too full? Avoid both: Don’t wait until you are ravenously hungry (makes for very bad food choices) to eat and, once having a meal, don’t eat until you are ‘stuffed’. You stuff a Thanksgiving Turkey, not a human stomach. Plan ahead and don’t eat in a rush. I sometimes eat before going to a heavy dinner outing. This helps me avoid over eating foods that will not be the best options for me.

Bonus Tip:

Variety is the spice of life and the key to a healthy diet. As easy as it is to get stuck in a food rut, remember that the more varied your diet is, the likelier you are to take in all of the minerals and nutrients your body requires. By trying different foods, you open your horizon to new and potentially healthy options.
You don’t have to adopt all of these habits at once. Start by implementing the ones easiest for you to follow. Once they have become habits, move on to incorporating others. Before long, you will have made healthy eating a part of your life. You will be healthy and happy without the stress of “trying”!

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