New Year, New You: How to Build Healthy Eating Habits in 2025

Healthy eating habits are a critical part of weight loss and weight maintenance, and vital to our overall well-being. Here’s how to get started.

Healthy eating habits are a critical part of weight loss and weight maintenance. They are also vital to our overall well-being. Like all habits, they take time to form. Habits are automated ways of doing something — like stepping into your bathroom in the morning and seeing your toothbrush. You don’t think about brushing your teeth; rather, you automatically go through the steps of brushing your teeth without thinking about it. It can be the same with eating habits. When we get home from work after a long and taxing day, we might reach for an unhealthy snack without even thinking about it.

Habits take time to form, so it is important to start with small, sustainable changes. Rather than pursuing some idealized version of healthy eating, focus on what is manageable, realistic, and sustainable over time. Here are some strategies to consider as you work on developing healthy eating habits.

  • Start small. Instead changing every aspect of your eating plan all at once, commit to changing your eating habits for one meal per day. Incremental changes can be more effective and sustainable than big, sweeping changes because you are focused on a smaller piece of a bigger picture. Make small, sustainable changes.
    • Action: Start by swapping out a sugary morning cereal, bagel, donut or pastry for steel cut oats, overnight oats or a healthier whole grain cereal.
  • Set yourself of up for success. Look at your environment. Are chips, sweets and processed foods the most easily accessible foods in your kitchen or pantry?
    • Action: Move less healthy foods to locations that are harder to reach, like the back of an upper cabinet, a downstairs storage closet, or the back of your refrigerator. Leave healthy options where you can see them, like a bowl of fruit on the kitchen counter or at eye level in your refrigerator.
  • Plan ahead. When we are tired, we often don’t think clearly. This is when we might crave the rush we get from consuming sweet, salty, process foods.
    • Action: Start by writing a grocery list that will support one healthy meal per day each week. If you are starting with eating a healthier breakfast, put the healthier cereal option on the counter with a bowl and a spoon. Make your overnight oats each night after dinner. Pack healthy snacks the night before and put them in the front of your refrigerator or put them in your car the night before. Once this routine is established, add in a second meal and do the same.
  • Change how you think. Nutrient-rich foods can taste good! Rather than focus on what you “can’t” eat, think about all the healthy options you have available to you! Craving something sweet for breakfast? Add some fresh fruit to your steel cut oats or overnight oats!
    • Action: Make a list of all the foods you can add to your eating plan that taste good and are good for you. Think about seasonal fruits you might enjoy — apples, pears, berries, peaches, cherries — and add them to your shopping list. Do the same for vegetables and lean proteins. But be realistic, and thing long-term. Eating grilled white meat poultry with brown rice and green beans is certainly healthy, but eating that every night for dinner will quickly become dull. Be sure to add variety.
  • Add variety. Meeting daily recommend allowances for protein, fiber, fruits, and vegetables doesn’t have to be boring. Create a weekly meal plan that has variety and options. Eating the same thing for each meal can be tiresome.
    • Action: Build a healthy menu around colors, texture and taste. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans offers several options for proteins, fiber, fruits, and vegetables that could be the foundation for varied, healthy eating plan.

As you create new habits, the old ones will fade. Shifting to a healthy eating plan is as process and there will be ups and downs. And that’s OK! Celebrate your success, but don’t beat yourself up over setbacks.

Before starting any change in diet, be sure to consult with your health care provider to determine the changes that are best for you.

 

About the Author: Dr. Dawn M. Sweet has over 20 years of experience in the field of communication. Dr. Sweet has given several invited talks to and workshops for academic and private sector audiences on the role of nonverbal and verbal communication in achieving positive outcomes and mitigating bias. Her research has been published in several top ranked peer-review journals, and it has been featured on NPR’s River to River / All Things Considered, Buzzfeed, and Science Daily. Her research has also been used to inform expert testimony.

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