Get SMART Habits for Healthy Eating!

When you hear the word “habit”, you most likely think about the bad ones.. biting your nails, devouring an entire sleeve (or two) of oreos, or checking your texts/email/twitter/instagram/ Facebook every 5 minutes (yeah, I know you…). But a Get Smart Gal knows that the key to staying on track to live a healthy lifestyle is to allow your choices and actions become routines- healthy habits! The more you make good choices about being healthy, the less they will feel like “chores” and the more they will just become part of your fit-sational life!

In my last article I talked about stress eating, and honestly admitted how far I could let myself go.. eeek. But today I am going to share with you some of the “food” habits I have developed, that keep the little Energizer Bunny in me going day after day.

Habit #1 – FOODSHOP FOR YOURSELF

The only way to guarantee you are determining the foods you will eat is if you buy them yourself. If you wait to see what your parents, roommates, or spouse have brought back from the grocery store, you’re already doomed. There could be all sorts of scary items in those bags! If you shop for yourself, YOU make the choice of what gets put into your body. So get off your booty and get to the store!

Habit #2 – SHOP AROUND THE PERIMETER OF THE GROCERY STORE

I’m sure you’ve probably heard this one before. If you take a look at a map of your grocery store, you will notice that all of the fresh foods, that you should be eating, are all so conveniently located on the outer walls of the store. All you have to do is make a big square loop around the store and you’ll pick up all the foods that you’ll need for a healthy diet (fruits, veggies, meats, and dairy items). Ok, so you may have to take a dip into the middle isles for things like spices or.. spices. But 90% of the items in the center of the grocery store are processed and contain tons of preservatives that are NOT good for your body. Try to limit purchasing these items as much as possible. Your body will thank you later 😉

Habit #3 – PREPARE MEALS/SNACKS FOR THE WEEK

I’m not a huge fan of preparing all of my meals for the week on a Sunday, but I do like getting my sides and snacks ready! This summer, when I bought fresh fruit, I made it a point to cut them up the day I bought them, and divide them up into several containers so that a beautiful snack was ready for me whenever I needed it! Aren’t they so pretty?! I do this with my vegetables too! If you do this, there will be no excuse for not having a healthy snack because there will always be one waiting for you in the fridge! If you follow this tip, you are less likely to grab the bag of chips from the cabinet (if you have chips in your cabinet, we need to talk), or binge on the leftover desert from your Labor Day party… okay- you’re allowed to have one cannoli, it’s a holiday 😉

So I don’t bore you… here are 7 more quick tips that I have developed into day-to-day routines, aka fit-habits (some more than others… I ain’t perfect!).

#4 Stay away from soda! (even diet!)