Change is full of hope and possibility. If you’re like many people, at first you feel motivated, driven, perhaps even passionate about the “new you” that awaits.

Until, gradually or suddenly, your mojo falls flat. Kaput.

There are many reasons that good intentions can veer off course. A holiday celebration or a big work project gets in the way. Or you lose your stride a tiny bit at a time as you navigate the natural ups and downs of life. 

Usually there are multiple factors that turn an exciting health goal into a challenge that seems too great. It’s a common story, but one that you can rewrite.

Mindset & habits

Oftentimes, the healthy changes you undertake are not truly difficult. You are capable of accomplishing them.

But they require commitment and habit change. And those are tough for sure.

Our brains love predictability and ease. That’s why making healthy shifts to our nutrition or lifestyle routines can feel like too much effort. Too much discomfort.

But consider this. You’re probably experiencing discomfort already. Perhaps you’re tired or anxious, feeling inflamed or your digestion is off. Or it’s something else. Each of these symptoms is a form of discomfort, just of the familiar variety.

You get to choose. You can sit with the continued discomfort of your current symptoms, or choose the discomfort of trying new things, of committing to changes, of taking brave steps to ultimately feel better.

My clients who have embraced this mindset shift tend to be more successful in achieving their goals of eating healthier, gaining energy, sleeping better, and stabilizing their mood. They’re more at ease in their daily lives.

And if you believe that other people, the “healthy people,” have more willpower than you, or that they’re better at following through on their goals than you, think again. They likely just have better systems in place.

Here are five tips to help you ditch unhealthy habits and build new ones that nurture health. As you make changes, remember that it’s perfectly normal to feel resistance along the way.

1. Decide on your why. Maybe you want more energy, to lower your blood sugar to prevent diabetes, or you want to improve your resilience to stress and sleep more deeply. Keep your reasons, or your “whys,” in mind when the desire to bail pops up. Think about what becomes possible in your life once you accomplish your goal, or even get part of the way there. 

2. Take baby steps. Our brains get excited and ponder big and fast changes, which often backfire. Instead, commit to 1 or 2 small steps toward your larger goals. As those become routine after a few weeks, add more small steps. If your goal is to lower your blood sugar, you might want to do more home-cooking, load up your meals with fiber and protein, and take short walks after dinner. Bite off small pieces of these sub-goals. 

3. Don’t rely on motivation. It comes and goes, for everyone. If you wait to feel motivated, you’ll be hard pressed to create new healthy habits or ditch unhealthy ones. In fact, taking action often precedes motivation. You just start. This dovetails with the baby steps above. When you take action, the motivation and commitment tend to follow. 

4. Plan ahead for challenging situations: Create “if-then” plans to keep from derailing your goals when you attend a happy hour or go on vacation. If you’re invited to a party and you’re not sure what the hosts will serve, bring a dish to share that you know is both nutritious and delicious. If you’ve got a long travel day, pack a few protein-rich snacks to take with you. Anticipate surprises and prepare for them. 

5. Expect speedbumps. You are human, imperfect. Healthy habits can, and usually do, feel really challenging at some point, whether that’s during the first week or six months in. Perhaps you’re eating more sugar lately than you’d like, and you’re working out less frequently. This is normal. Nothing has gone wrong. When you form a new healthy habit, your brain creates new neural pathways. It takes time for small pathways to become well-worn trails. As a result we experience these speedbumps. When you realize that speedbumps are natural, and not a sign of failure, you can pick yourself up, dust off the setback and keep moving toward your goals.

Whether you’re already working on a health goal now or contemplating your next move, remember that you have a choice. You can stick with the discomfort of your current symptoms, or accept the discomfort of trying new things, of committing to change, of taking brave steps to ultimately feel better.

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Nope. All we need is to take one small step. Then another, and another. When we choose more whole foods, where the nutrients are, we feel better. It shows up in our energy, sleep, digestion, skin health, brain function, and mood. We start to feel nourished.

Making small, sustainable changes reassures us of what we’re capable of and inspires us to take the next step. Here are a few ideas to help you ease into whole, real food.

Up your water game. Water is important for your brain, digestion, joint health and many other functions. But it’s easy to forget, until a headache sets in or our energy crashes.

A good rule of thumb is to drink at least half your body weight in ounces each day Exercise, hot weather, caffeine, alcohol, illness, and anything else that causes you to lose fluids further increase your water needs.

You may wonder if you need to add in electrolytes. This depends. Minerals from our food, such as potassium, sodium and chloride, become electrolytes in our bodies and support fluid balance and other functions. Eating nutritious, balanced meals often provides us with enough of these minerals. But it’s helpful, and sometimes critical, to add electrolytes back when we’ve lost a lot of fluids. Avoid those with lots of sugar or artificial sweeteners.

Plan ahead, even just a little. Menu planning may sound difficult or boring. I don’t love it either. But it saves so much time, stress and money that I just do it. When we plan ahead, we tend to waste less food.

Start easy, with three days. It’s natural to focus on dinners, then spin leftovers into lunches. For recipe ideas, search the terms Mediterranean and Paleo for whole-food based meals rich in protein, vegetables and healthy fats.

Lastly, make a big one-pot meal once or twice a month, then freeze leftovers in freezer-safe mason jars. You’re treating your future self to a home-cooked meal with no effort.

Makeover one meal at a time. Perhaps you’re time crunched, so you grab fast food for breakfast or skip lunch. Here are a few quick and nutrient-dense ways to switch up your routines:

Bulk prep several days of breakfasts, such as egg & veggie cups or chia seed pudding, and you have a balanced nutritious breakfast for days.

Take a grab-and-go approach. Stock your fridge with portable proteins, veggies and healthy fats. Then get creative with combos you can assemble in a few minutes. Grab-and-go foods may include boiled eggs, shrimp, nuts & seeds, cheese, grape tomatoes, mini peppers, pre-chopped broccoli, snap peas, avocado, berries, olives, and seedy crackers.

Mix it up. Many of us eat the same foods week to week. Even if they’re nutritious, such as roasted chicken and asparagus, we miss out on certain minerals, vitamins and other nutrients when we limit variety. So, get a little curious and adventurous when you shop:

Try a protein you don’t generally prepare. Maybe you substitute ground pork for ground chicken when making meatballs, or you whip up a lentil soup for the first time.

If you always buy apples, try a pear. If you love raspberries, try blackberries.

Add leafy greens to anything and everything. Arugula pairs well with scrambled eggs, kale is delicious in soups, and red leaf lettuce adds great texture to a sandwich.

Slow your roll. Many of us eat quickly, often without realizing it. By slowing down and chewing our food well, digestion goes more smoothly and your body is better able to absorb nutrients. Slowing down also means you’re less likely to overeat.

Upgrade where it counts most. Seasonal produce is often local, and local produce makes a shorter trip from the farm to the grocery store. As a result, local broccoli is more nutritious than broccoli shipped 1,000 miles, as some nutrients degrade over time.

Buy organic when possible to avoid pesticides. For an easy guide, check the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen and Clean 15” lists. As well, note that small farms are more likely to maintain soil health and use farming methods that produce more nutrient-dense plants than large-scale farms.

When it comes to animal proteins, such as eggs, meats, poultry, fish and dairy foods, choose the highest quality in your budget for those you eat most often. They’re more likely to come from healthy animals and contain fewer additives and inflammatory compounds.

Ready, set, go. Let’s take your next step toward eating more whole, real foods.

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