Dealing With Barriers to Healthy Eating

Barriers are things that get in the way of making a change and staying with it. Changing your eating habits takes time and practice. It's normal to feel like you've slipped a little on your goals once in a while. But it's important to stay on track and keep trying.

There are many things, such as emotional eating or easy access to fast food, that can make it hard to change how you eat.

Finding your barriers and learning how to get around them can help you reach your healthy-eating goals.

For more information, see:

Healthy Eating: Overcoming Barriers to Change.

What Influences How You Eat?

Emotional eating

Emotional eating means that you eat too much or too often for reasons other than hunger. You may eat because you're sad, depressed, stressed, or lonely. Or you may use food as a reward. Food can be soothing and distract you from what's really bothering you.

If you are an emotional eater, you may not listen to your body's natural signals. You may eat more than you need or want.

Healthy Eating: Recognizing Your Hunger Signals

To find out what causes you to eat this way, keep an eating journal for a week or two. Write down everything you eat, plus the time of day and what you were feeling right before you ate. This will help you identify things that trigger emotional eating.

You may want to talk to a counselor for more help in understanding your emotions and eating habits.

Get more tips on dealing with emotions and eating.

Easy access to less healthy food

It can be hard to eat healthy foods when fast food, vending-machine snacks, and processed foods are so easy to find. The good news is that there usually are healthy choices, even at fast-food restaurants.

Here are a few tips:

• Learn which restaurants offer healthier choices. For example, choose fast-food restaurants that allow you to order a side salad instead of fries with your meal.
• Have healthy snacks ready for when you get hungry. Keep healthy snacks with you at work or school, in your car, and at home. If you have a healthy snack easily available, you'll be less likely to pick a candy bar or bag of chips from a vending machine instead.

For more information, see:

Healthy Eating: Making Healthy Choices When You Eat Out.

Quick Tips: Making Healthy Snacks.

Quick Tips: Adding Fruits and Vegetables to Your Diet.

Healthy Eating: Cutting Unhealthy Fats From Your Diet.

Lack of time

Lack of time is a common barrier to healthy eating. You may tell yourself that you're too busy or that you have more important things to do than shop for and make healthy meals.

But healthy eating doesn't have to take a lot of time. You can make a healthy meal just as quickly as an unhealthy one. You just need to plan, have the right foods on hand, and learn how to cook some quick and healthy meals.

• Ask friends or coworkers who eat healthfully how they find time.
• Get family members to help you chop vegetables or make a salad.
• Find a cookbook or recipes for quick, healthy meals.
• Take a cooking class with a friend or loved one.

For more information, see:

Quick Tips: Making Fast, Healthy Meals.

Healthy Eating: Making Healthy Choices When You Shop.

Stress Management: Managing Your Time.

Confusing information

Sometimes a food that seems like a good choice may not be so healthy. A "low-fat" cookie may have less fat, but it may have as much sugar and as many calories as a regular cookie. Potato chips that are "cholesterol free" may still have a lot of fat, calories, and salt.

Use the Nutrition Facts label on packaged, canned, and frozen foods to help you make healthy choices. The label lists the nutrients, including the fat, salt, and sugar in each serving, and it tells you how many servings are in the package.

Find out more about health claims on food labels.

If you want to learn more, talk with your doctor or meet with a registered dietitian.