Why Healthy Eating is Difficult

When I get talking to people about my health journey, I always hear, but I could never eat like that or it is just to hard, and it is hard. To many people end up like me, getting diabetes or some other illness that forces us to change our eating habits. But why can’t we do this before we are forced? Well sometimes the easiest things can be the hardest. If I lived a lone and was only in charge of myself, it would be easier, but there is usually a spouse, children or others living in the same home and not everyone is one the same level. Teenagers don’t want to eat like me, my wife does not have diabetes, so why does she have to eat like me. So, with this mindset and a house with things we should not eat, the easy thing becomes hard. If we only had healthy foods in the house, we could do this easier. This is exactly why an alcoholic should not hang out at a bar.

Some of the other factors we run in to is the excuses! I am on vacations, it is my birthday, it is someone else’s birthday, I have work meeting, it’s too time consuming, it’s too expensive or I just had a bad day. We can always find an excuse if we want to.

With these factors of food is available and excuses are easy, this becomes a very difficult journey to go down. This is exactly why we need to focus on a life change, rather than something temporary. As a diabetic I must count carbs and balance my insulin, I could easily eat more or eat sugary things and just take more insulin, but this is a very unhealthy path to go down. I have tried to keep my insulin amount under a certain amount, this forces me to keep my carbs under a certain amount. I also try to eat less refined foods, I never drink soda and try raw vegetables as much as possible.

I don’t want you to think I am perfect with my eating habits or that there is a perfect scenario for us to follow. This is a very hard thing to maintain, but over the years it has gotten easier. But what you have to do is find what works for you, what can you maintain and what actions will make it easier.

In my daily work, we focus on LEAN principles, which are all about continuous improvement. Think about your eating habits as a life long process you will work on and if you are continually improving, you’re making it happen. Don’t get discouraged with a bad meal here and there, just keep improving. Overtime you will find that there are recipes you like, foods you may not have given a chance and then, step by step, it becomes easier. Continuous improvement over many years is just like the tortoise and the hare story!

Become that steady determined individual that make a life changing habit!