Fruit, vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, proper macronutrients. This is what I think about every time I go to have a meal or a snack or consume anything in my daily life.
Eating healthy is not a "fad". Eating healthy is not a "diet". Eating healthy is not a "call for attention".
To me, eating healthy is a lifestyle choice.
Why did I make this lifestyle choice? To feel good about myself. To feel healthy. To feel that I am making conscious choices to respect my body. To take care of myself. To have more energy. To benefit from all the nutrients and the vitamins and the minerals that these foods have to offer. Though sometimes unhealthy food is tempting, it is so easy to just say no. When you start to make it a habit, it becomes second nature to make these healthy choices. If you stick through the first month of ignoring temptations of unhealthy food, it makes the rest come so easily. There were times in my life where I thought I could not help it if someone offered me pizza or ice cream or chicken cutlets. Now, however, I genuinely prefer the healthy foods that I am so used to eating.
The problem with today's society in regards to eating healthily is that people view it as a chore. "Ugh I have to eat healthily if I want to lose weight", "Ugh, I hate broccoli", "Ugh salad is so boring". That is never going to be the way you successfully achieve eating healthily. You have to want to eat this way for yourself, and not to please or to meet the demands of anyone else. If you want to, then great! However, if you don't want to, you don't have to! Your lifestyle is your lifestyle and there is no one else that should be able to tell you what it should be.
I choose to eat wholesome, nutritious foods for myself. I know people that eat some things that are not as healthy, because they truly enjoy these foods & that's perfectly okay too! It all depends on what makes you feel good and what makes you happy. Eating some foods doesn't make me happy and some foods do. The same goes for everyone. If eating broccoli or brussel sprouts doesn't make you happy, don't put yourself through it! If eating burgers and fried chicken does make you happy, then go for it!
After writing this article, I realized that eating healthily can be interpreted in a few different ways. Eating healthily can follow the perceptions of society and magazines and instagrams and all of those platforms, where it focuses on giving you the proper nutrients, vitamins, minerals, etc. However, eating healthily can also be interpreted by looking at your mental health. If you are happy with your diet the way it is and you don't believe that you should change it, then don't! Even though I may eat a different diet than you do, that doesn't mean anything! If you are happy and you are in relative good health, physically, then you should continue doing what you're doing and continue to be happy about it! Food is such a blessing and we should not restrict ourselves or allow it to make us unhappy!
