Tips to Change the Way You Eat

Find your motivation

There are a lot of different motivations to changing your eating habits. You might want to look a different way, feel a different way, be viewed differently by others, or to be more healthy. These different motivators are all valid, but the ones that come from within are much more likely to be successful than those external ones like what your family and friends think of you.

Identify your habits

We all have different eating habits. Some of the ones you might want to change could include eating when you’re not hungry, always eating everything on your plate, or skipping meals. Taking the time to write some of these down can let you look closely at a few of the things you might want to change.

Discover your triggers

When you’ve identified those habits you’d like to change, the next step is finding out what triggers them for you. Maybe any time you leave work late, you stop for fast food. The trigger is leaving work late. Or maybe you always eat the whole bag of potato chips as soon as you open them. The trigger is opening the bag. As soon as you identify these triggers, you can start to work with them to make positive changes in your eating habits.

Build habits that help

Eating well is much less about motivation, and much more about making habits for yourself that will help keep you on track. Maybe for days you work late, you build the habit of meal prepping the night before to have a healthy option in the fridge. Or maybe instead of opening the bag of chips when you sit down to watch TV, you pour some into a smaller bag to make it easy to relax and enjoy without eating mindlessly. Building those habits over time will make it a lot easier to eat well.

Shop for success

For many people, changing your eating habits is as easy as changing what you buy in the grocery store. If you don’t like the food choices you’re making, skip the processed foods in favor of more fresh fruits and vegetables. And give yourself healthy alternatives to the foods that don’t make you feel good.

Educate yourself on healthy eating

Reading articles like this one makes a great start as you learn more about nutrition. It’s easy to want to change your eating habits, but it can be harder to know how. If you’re struggling to find the resources that will help you learn how to eat well, talk to your primary care provider for tips and sources. At clinics that offer a sliding scale for payments, like CHP, anyone can afford access to that care and support.

Seek out cognitive behavioral therapy

If you’re unhappy with how your eating habits affect the rest of your life and you don’t know how to change them, behavioral health consultants might be able to help. You can access this support through Bozeman’s CHP clinic, where therapists can give you the tools to change your behavior to help change the way you eat.

CHP is on a mission to provide affordable medical care to the Gallatin Valley and greater Southwest Montana. Make an appointment at one of the clinics in Bozeman, Livingston, Belgrade or West Yellowstone to get the services you need.