3 Bad Eating Habits and How to Break Them

Keeping a healthy eating habit should become an important part of your daily routine. Cut down on junk food. Prioritize your breakfast. Practice mindful eating. 

Let’s start with late-night snacking!

Eating at night is not recommendable, especially if you’re trying your best to lose weight. It’s not only what you eat but also when you eat that matters.

If you’re are a regular night eater like me, you should stop to avoid health problems and a better night sleep. Common effects of eating at night include:

• Heart disease
• Increase in blood sugar levels
• Obesity and acidity

The later you eat, the less your body is prepared to sleep, hence why sometimes after eating you cant find that comfortable position in bed. Eating late can also affect your memory and your efficiency the following day. You may feel sluggish and full of gas.

So what’s the Solution?

Brush your teeth after dinner and before your sleep to discourage yourself from eating. If you’re still craving food, wait for 10 minutes and see if the craving vanishes. If you must, eat some fruit, crackers with cottage cheese, or some string cheese.

Skipping Breakfast is a no-no.

Skipping breakfast is common with parents, people who work, or students who leave home early to catch the bus or train. By skipping breakfast, you decelerate your metabolism, reduce your energy, focus, and productivity levels. Also, skipping breakfast could result in huge cravings that could make you overeat later in the day – you might end up snacking more or eating larger meals at dinner before bed time.

So what’s the Solution?

If you’re skipping breakfast, try to wake up early so you can prepare, eat, and still catch up. Try not to rush breakfast, make it the most important meal of the day. To help boost your metabolism, try to eat a low GI, protein-containing breakfast to help you overeat throughout the day. These include bananas, eggs, peanut butter, berry blast smoothies, and oatmeal which is a slow-release.

Don’t eat too many snacks

Eating too many snacks is an unhealthy eating habit that needs to be checked. Healthy snacks are a great light meal option but too many healthy snacks can still make you unhealthy and give you issues like;

• Tooth decay
• Unwanted weight gain
• Increased risk of heart disease

If you often feel the urge to eat even when full, it may be a result of an eating disorder. 

What’s the solution

Cut down on your snacks. Also, ensure you buy only healthy snacks, why not try hummus, cottage cheese, carrots, cucumber slices, air-popped popcorn, yogurt, nuts etc. Stop buying unhealthy snacks.

Main image – Jaqueline Pelzer, Unsplash