As you climb the corporate ladder, the deadlines become tighter, and so does the belt around your waistline. The inner voice that prompts you to eat healthier food becomes harder to ignore. Sadly, most people procrastinate because they don’t know where to start.

Here are five tips that will help you transit from eating an unhealthy diet, to following a nutritionally rich one.

1. Healthy Vs. Tasty Debacle

“To eat salads or not to eat salads, that is the question.” – Hamlet for dieters.

I just made that up. There’s no Hamlet for dieters. Anyway, seriously, haven’t you found sometimes what’s healthy doesn’t taste good, and what’s yummy isn’t very healthy?

You might grudgingly force yourself to eat salads during the first couple of weeks to honor the New Year’s Resolution to eat healthier food.  But, soon enough, your health food choices become plain and boring.

Solution

Stars and divas use flashy clothes and fancy makeup to add dimensions to their personality. In the same manner, you can use a combination of simple ingredients such as yogurt, spices, lemon, herbs, and light sauces to transform dull, boring food into tasty and healthy munchies.

What’s In It For You?

Health benefits of eating salads, and a treat for your taste buds.

2. Less Processed Is More Nutritious

In the Hollywood classic, My Fair Lady, a flower girl from low society is refined into a charming woman by a phonetics professor. It’s a lovely story, but when it comes to food the more refined it gets, the less nutritionally charming it becomes. For instance, by the time wheat is cleaned, conditioned, grounded, broken, rolled, reduced, and sieved, a lot of the nutritional content in the grain is lost.

Solution

Substitute the foods that you eat routinely and in high quantities with their lesser-processed equivalent. Let’s say that bread is a major part of your diet. Switching from commercially prepared white bread ^[1] to commercially prepared whole wheat bread ^[2] can increase your nutrition intake by 41% for the same quantity consumed.

What’s In It For You?

You can get more nutrition out of your diet without completely changing your eating habits.

3. Monitor Your Diet

“You are what you eat [Luke],” said Obi Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker. Well, maybe not. But at least that’s the kind of thing he would have said if Luke had dietary issues.

Most of the time, we are not conscious of what we feed ourselves. Determining which food group is in balance and which is out of balance, becomes hard to do. Therefore, making nutritional tweaks in our eating habits becomes impossible.

Solution

Take a picture of everything you eat. By the end of two weeks, you will have a nice diary. Go through the diary from beginning to end in one sitting. Soon, unhealthy eating patterns will emerge. Once the harmful pattern becomes clear to you, you will automatically do what’s necessary to rectify it.

What’s In It For You?

Your life becomes more pleasant because you will make healthy alterations in your diet by your own will, and not by force from others.


4. Do Not Skip Meals

A pretty face makes the heart skip a beat, and a busy schedule makes the stomach skip a meal. Unfortunately, in business halls, we see more of the lesser-desirable situation. Skipping meals is an issue because biological processes within the body are rhythmical. That’s why the body loves consistency. Even if you are pressed for time, don’t skip meals. Try the approach below instead.

Solution

Stock some raisins, almonds, cashews, or pistachios in your desk. If a meeting or a client call interrupts your mealtime, snack on these nutritionally rich dry fruits or nuts so that your meal cycle isn’t disrupted. Consider eating six small meals instead of eating three large ones. This staggered approach will allow you to handle interruptions better.

WARNING: Keep your stock under lock and key or else it’s a guarantee that your stockpile will be raided.

What’s In It For You?

You get better at managing hunger and, therefore, will not overeat.

6. Learn To Read Labels

Remember the story about the wolf in sheep’s clothing? The world of retail food also has its share of deceitful wolves. That’s why it is important to learn how to read food labels. For instance, foods that claim to be low fat might sometimes just be one gram less in fat than the regular version. Yes, just one measly little gram. Imagine the harm it could do to you if you didn’t know this. You might consume higher quantities of it thinking that it’s low fat, however, you end up eating more than you would have otherwise.

Solution

Read labels to understand how much nutrition a product provides. Compare this across different brands for the same product and select the best one. Use measuring devices to portion the consumption. Additionally, your food diary will tell you what is deficient in your nutritional profile and labels will allow you to compensate for what’s lacking.

What’s In It For You?

Once you identify the right brand, you can buy in bulk and save money. Plus, it gives you a sense of control.

Conclusion

Your food preferences have developed over a period of time, therefore, it will take some time to change those set preferences. The shift from unintentional unhealthy eating to intentional healthy eating is a process.

Encourage yourself to integrate the above habits into your lifestyle gradually. As your eating habits evolve, your energy levels, physical appearance, and emotional wellbeing will improve as well. While you become increasingly youthful, people around you will be amazed at how all this is possible despite the pressures of corporate life!

The most comprehensive program out at the moment, that can help you manage all of the above and more is ExecFuel: a 6-week online nutrition program, and the best decision-making tool with specific skills and strategies built into its simple but comprehensive structure.

We are excited to officially present to you ExecFuel, the only 6-week online nutrition program that empowers busy individuals to feel energized, by achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle! With 24/7 access and the flexibility to start and resume the program when desired, ExecFuel teaches you how to be in charge again and regain some control at your own pace.

Visit the PureVitality Nutrition Concepts Pte Ltd page to find out more about Karen's business.