We do not eat “badly” for lack of information or lack of willpower. We commonly eat like this for one (s) of the 6 reasons that I share with you here. You want to eat healthy, but for some reason, you have a hard time doing it consistently. Why?
It is known that our modern environment, in which we have easy and almost unlimited access to ultra-processed foods rich in calories and poor in nutrients, leads us to eat “badly”, misaligned with our physiological needs. We all share this environment. Why can some people eat healthy and other people struggle to achieve it?
Yes, there are people who are genetically more susceptible to the influences of the modern environment than others.
Genetic differences that are not under our control aside , what factors that are under our control could lead us to eat “wrong” or make it difficult for us to eat healthy consistently?
It’s not for lack of willpower or lack of information (virtually everyone knows that we need to eat more vegetables and less junk food). So what could be the reasons?
Let’s explore 6 of them.
1. Eating automatically and unconsciously
It is common to think that eating is 100% conscious and deliberate behavior… but it is not.
Eating is a habit, that is, it is something we do day after day more or less automatically, with little effort and sometimes unintentionally. two
The problem: it is common for us to habitually eat “badly”.
We rarely realize what, how, how much and/or why we eat.
You’ve probably noticed this: you satisfy a craving in larger amounts than you needed (or wanted) and only realized it after you’ve done it (or until you’re already uncomfortably full).
The solution: pay attention.
Pay close attention to your behaviors around food at the time they are occurring. In particular, pay attention to how you decide when, what, and how much to eat.
2. Lack of emotional regulation tools
Whether we recognize it or not, emotions guide most of our decisions and actions .
The neuroscientist Antonio Damasio even argues that practically all behavior is made to modify our emotional state.
And one of the ways we use food is to (consciously or unconsciously) change our emotions, particularly those that are difficult and uncomfortable, such as boredom, stress, restlessness, anxiety, or sadness.
Now, it is normal and expected that we sometimes eat as a form of emotional comfort. However, this becomes a problem when it is the only or the main strategy at our disposal.
The solution: develop emotional regulation skills.
By regulating our emotions we are indirectly regulating our behavior, including our diet.
Not surprisingly, people with higher emotional regulation skills tend to eat healthier than those with less skill.
3. Low interoceptive ability (or difficulty “listening to the body”)
Listening to your body is being able to feel and perceive its internal signals (such as hunger, satiety, muscle tension, heart rate, etc.) and knowing how to interpret them correctly – in scientific terms this is known as interoception.
The problem is that we rarely hear it.
We eat, not because we feel physically hungry, but because “it’s time”, we have a craving or there is food in front of us.
And we finish eating, not when we are physically satisfied, but until all the food on our plate is gone, until everyone else has finished eating, or until we are uncomfortably full.
This inability to listen to the body tends to make it difficult to eat in line with our physiological needs.
Instead, by listening to it better we can more adequately regulate when and how much to eat.
Fun fact: people with greater interoceptive capacity are also usually better at regulating their emotions. Why? Because emotions are felt in the body, and by properly perceiving and interpreting them, they can be regulated more effectively.
4. Low motivational quality
When we think of the word “motivation” we tend to think of its quantity : either you are motivated or you are not motivated, or you have a lot of it or you have little motivation. However, this is only one of its aspects.
The other aspect of motivation is its quality . And this is much more important.
Simply put, motivational quality refers to the why behind our goals and actions. It is that reason, conscious or unconscious, that moves us to act.
Why do we really want to eat healthy?
According to self-determination theory, people vary in the degree to which they feel autonomy in their lives. That is, they vary in how much they feel “owners” of their goals and decisions, in whether what they pursue reflects who they really are and what they really want, or if what they seek is controlled by external pressures or internal insecurities.
When a person feels free and “owner” of their goals and decisions, it is said that they have autonomous motivation .
When a person feels controlled by external pressures or internal insecurities, they are said to have controlled motivation .
Why does this matter?
Because the greater the motivational quality to eat healthy, the greater the probability of doing so consistently throughout the years.
For example, if the main reason someone seeks to eat better is because they feel pressured to lose weight in order to gain approval from others or themselves (motivation controlled by internal pressure), how likely is it that this type of motivation sustain your efforts for years?
On the other hand, if someone else seeks to eat healthy because it aligns with their deepest personal values and if it is also something they are learning to enjoy (autonomous motivation), it is almost a given that they will do it for the rest of their lives.
5. Negative or unproductive self-talk
Our self- talk – the conversation we have with ourselves every day – is useful: it helps us make decisions, solve problems, plan, regulate emotions and motivate ourselves.
But when our self-talk is negative or unproductive, it becomes an obstacle.
On the one hand, it reduces our well-being.
On the other, it paralyzes us. It is difficult to consistently put into practice the actions that improve our diet when we frequently punish ourselves, criticize ourselves, recriminate ourselves; when we are “hard” with ourselves; or when we doubt and worry excessively.
On the other hand, a productive self-dialogue, one that does not ignore that it recognizes our mistakes, failures and areas for improvement and that at the same time is understanding, kind and compassionate, drives us to improve and also provides us with well-being.
6. Lack of habit change strategies
Sometimes, we can struggle to improve some of our eating habits despite having developed awareness in our behaviors, emotional regulation skills, a greater interoceptive capacity, a high motivational quality and a productive self-talk.
We think that simply telling ourselves “I’m going to eat healthy” or “I’m not going to eat junk anymore” will do it, but this rarely works.
What we sometimes lack are strategies to effectively change habits.
One of the most common mistakes: changing too many things too quickly. When we realize we can’t keep it (as usually happens) we don’t feel incompetent and give up.
An alternative approach: make one small change at a time.
Take what you currently do and make a small improvement. Let’s say, eat an extra serving of vegetables. And practice this action for 2 weeks. When you’ve achieved that, make another small change and practice it for another 2 weeks. Then another. And then another and so on.
It’s a cliché, but it’s true: small changes add up to big results.