HOW TO SUCCEED AT

IMPROVING YOUR DAILY MEALS!

You may wish to eat healthier daily meals, but like many of us, you may also feel that improving your current eating patterns is a challenging thing to do. I've created this webpage to help you to make improving your daily meals as easy as possible. This section offers ideas that you might want to try for yourself, and you also might want to share some of them with others who are also trying to improve their daily meals as well.

Challenge: I'm afraid that if I eat healthier meals, my daily life will be less pleasurable.

Solution: Whenever possible, change your lifestyle in ways that are just as pleasurable, or more pleasurable, than the ways that you are presently living.

Example: Try incorporating new healthy foods into your daily meals that are equally as pleasurable, or more pleasurable to eat, than the unhealthy foods and drinks that you presently have. For example, a person may enjoy drinking freshly squeezed orange juice more than drinking soda, or the person may enjoy eating a fresh fruit salad (with fresh pineapple, strawberries, kiwifruit, and watermelon) even more than eating a candybar. When you go food shopping, try to buy healthy foods that you find especially enjoyable.

Challenge: I like a number of things about my present eating habits. I want to continue to have certain foods and drinks, even though they are somewhat unhealthy.

Solution: Continue doing what you would like to keep doing, in the healthiest ways possible.

Example: Substitute healthier versions of foods that are presently a part of your daily meals. For example, a person could substitute eating organic whole grain pastas for the unhealthy bleached flour pastas that are usually sold in grocery stores and restaurants. Or a person could substitute organically grown fruits and vegetables for the industrially grown ones that often contain toxic pesticides. Even candy bars that are made with organic chocolate and all natural ingredients are available at many health food stores, natural food stores, and even many regular supermarkets!

Challenge: It seems too hard to just switch from eating unhealthy meals to eating healthy ones.

Solution: Add new thoughts, feelings, and behaviors into your present lifestyle that encourage you to eat healthy meals, at a pace that is comfortable for you. You certainly don't need to do it overnight. Take your time, so it's as comfortable as possible.

Example: Add new healthy foods and drinks into your daily meals at a pleasant pace. You can continue to eat the foods that you eat daily, as well as adding some new healthier foods to your daily meals periodically. Be patient and understanding with yourself whenever you eat or drink something that's unhealthy. It has been my observation that over time, people who improve their daily meals generally find that they desire unhealthy foods less and less, and desire healthy foods more and more. This appears to happen quite naturally and comfortably.

Challenge: Sometimes I'm with friends or family who want to eat at restaurants together, but they like to eat unhealthy meals. These people are very important to me, and I want to be with them.

Solution: Eat the healthiest meals you can, while still being a part of the social experience.

Example: When you go to a restaurant with other people, try to eat at one that serves healthy foods that you find pleasurable. If you are eating at one that serves nothing healthy that you will enjoy, then try ordering something that seems like the healthiest of your available options, like a grilled chicken sandwich, a fresh salad, and a glass of orange juice, for example.

Challenge: The idea of "never again" having certain unhealthy foods that I enjoy, upsets me a lot.

Solution: Have them occasionally.

Example: Have some of your favorite "junk" foods and drinks on occasion, like some soda, a candybar, or some cake.

Challenge: Over time I lose my motivation to eat healthy meals.

Solution: Every day or two, remind yourself of why you want to live a healthier lifestyle in the first place. What is most important to you? What do you most value? How will you living a healthier lifestyle help you experience what is most important to you and what you most value?

Example: Read a little bit each day about the consequences of eating unhealthy foods, and the exciting benefits of eating healthy foods. If you are a parent, focus your motivation onto having healthy foods in the house, out of love for your children, as well as yourself. Ask yourself what your life dreams are, and be aware of how eating healthy daily meals will increase your likelihood of living them now, and throughout your future.

Challenge: I can't seem to keep a clear focus on what my specific goals are, regarding improving my daily meals.

Solution: Imagine your daily life being how you would ideally like it to be. Write down what you imagined. Look at this piece of paper daily, to keep yourself in clear focus of specifically what you would like to achieve and maintain. As time goes on, you might notice that your ideal image of your daily life changes. That is perfectly natural and it's a healthy part of personal growth! Write down the new ideal vision that you have imagined, whenever that naturally occurs, and read it every day.

Example: Envision a clear picture of how you ideally would like your daily meals to be. To do this, you can write a list of what foods you would like to eat less often, and what foods you would like to eat more often. Look at this list every day.

Challenge: Improving my daily meals seems like it will be too hard for me to do. I don't think I'm a strong enough person to be capable of successfully improving my daily meals.

Solution: Remember the things you've successfully done in your past. Be aware of the things you are especially good at in the present. And focus on gathering ideas and skills that will help you to be even more successful at whatever you want to do in your future.

Example: Each day, remember one or more past experiences in which you were successful at achieving your desired goals. Notice when you do successful things on a daily basis, and remind yourself at those times that if you can do those things successfully, you can ultimately improve your daily meals successfully too! Read true stories about how other people successfully improved their daily meals, and the health benefits that they have come to enjoy as a result of their healthier eating habits. Talk to people who eat healthy foods about how they successfully improved their daily eating habits.

Challenge: When I'm around unhealthy foods and drinks that I've enjoyed in my past, I want to have them again.

Solution: Drench yourself in the things you ideally would like to do, and avoid being by the things you don't want to do.

Example: Surround yourself with healthy foods. Spend plenty of time with people who eat healthy meals. Eat at restaurants that serve healthy foods. Whenever possible, do your food shopping at natural food supermarkets.

Challenge: When I get depressed, I want to revert back to having unhealthy foods and drinks that I find fun and pleasurable.

Solution: We're all imperfect human beings, and sometimes it's okay to prioritize short-term pleasure over long-term pleasure, especially at times when we are incredibly depressed. Doing something that is both self-nurturing and less destructive might be one possibility (such as going to the movies or buying yourself something that makes you feel good, like a new shirt or some flowers). Another possibility is to do the unhealthy thing a whole bunch and have the full experience of it. In other words, get it out of your system! Remember, it's a challenging world to live in, and it's okay to be depressed sometimes. That's part of being human!

Example: Instead of eating a box of donuts and drinking a bottle of soda, go to the movies and see a movie that will get your mind off of your troubles for a little while. Another possibility is to eat the box of donuts and drink the bottle of soda, and enjoy every minute of it!

Challenge: Eating healthy meals sometimes feels boring and lonely to me.

Solution: Make it as pleasurable an experience as possible. Share healthy activities with others who you like to be with (such as special people and pets in your life).

Example: Make eating healthy meals a pleasurable experience. Prepare healthy meals that look and taste great! Eat healthy meals in pleasurable environments (such as at a location you enjoy, or while listening to your favorite music, or while watching your favorite television show). Eat a healthy meal with people or pets that you love!

Challenge: I don't care about myself enough to want to improve my daily meals!

Solution: At least once each day, think about how others will benefit from you living a healthier lifestyle (and improving your health).

Example: Eat healthy foods, so that you will be healthier, because then you may be able to be more loving and helpful to others. By you being healthy, you are a positive, and inspirational role model to others. If people see you eating healthy meals, they might try eating healthier meals too, and their lives may be much more happy and fulfilled as a result. Another example would be to buy and eat organically grown foods, to support farmers who grow foods using no toxic, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and instead use only natural ones that are healthier for the Earth's environment!

Challenge: I don't have the time to eat healthy meals.

Solution: Do what you can do with the time you presently have. Free up some more time, if it seems like the best thing to do in the big picture of things.

Example: Since you eat meals each day anyway, switch to eating healthier meals that are already prepared or don't take much time to prepare. Bring healthy foods to work to eat on your breaks, instead of spending time going out to eat at a restaurant. Watch a half hour less of television each day, and use that time to prepare a good meal for yourself and your family. Keep healthy foods with you (such as in your car, in your purse, or simply to carry with you), that you can eat throughout the day, whenever you have a moment of free time. Raw nuts, and fresh and dried fruits are especially good for this.

Challenge: Over the years I've built up a number of unhealthy daily eating habits. Old habits are hard to change.

Solution: Approach them one by one in a gentle manner, so you don't feel too overwhelmed by trying to change too many of them too quickly. Then change one habit thoroughly before moving on to the next one. Start with the easiest habits to change, and work your way up to the more difficult ones. Use creative techniques to help you to achieve and maintain the new healthier habit you desire. It generally takes about three weeks to successfully create a new habit, so if you can maintain a new lifestyle change every day for three weeks, you might notice it's far easier from that point forward.

Example: For one month, eat one or more of your favorite types of fruits with breakfast. After you've successfully developed this new habit, then for the next month, only buy and eat organic fruits for you to eat with breakfast each morning. After you've successfully developed that new habit, for the next month have drinks that you like and are healthy (such as spring water, juices, or herbal teas) with your lunch each day. Continue developing these new healthy eating habits into your daily life at a pace that feels comfortable for you.