How many times have you made the decision to start eating healthier, and you’ll do good for a little bit, but then it gets harder and harder to where you fall completely off? Well, if you’re like most people striving for health, it’s happened to you more often than you wished. But the real question is why does this happen to so many people.

We’ll hop on Instagram and see posts of our favorite celebs eating salads from these big glass bowls or we’ll see them guzzling down lemon water with a hashtag that reads “#haveyouhadyourwatertoday” When you see these posts, it makes you extremely motivated. So what do you do? You go out and buy a bunch of healthy foods that end up going to waste.

This is where so many people go wrong. Sure, there are foods we should be eating but aren’t. At the same time, buying foods you know you won’t eat is just wasteful. But that’s only a fraction of why eating healthy is so hard, and what it really boils down to is your frame of mind and approach towards food and the idea of “healthy eating.”

It’s actually more complicated than you think. There are many factors to take into consideration, some backed by science and some due to our own actions. But it’s nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about because even the healthiest of people had to start from an unhealthy point.

So, in order to get closer to embracing a healthier lifestyle through food, you first have to understand that it will indeed get hard and why it’s going to get hard.

The Truth Behind Why It’s So Hard to Start Eating Healthy

You Only Have One Idea of What It Means to Eat Healthy

If you’re like most people, you might have a one-sided way of thinking when it comes to eating healthy. One-sided thinking is that there is only one right way to take in all the vitamins and nutrients your body needs. In fact, this type of thinking is partly why more than half of American adults don’t consume the necessary servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

True enough, you can indeed get your appropriate daily intake from raw fruits and veggies as well as cooking them but you can also get your intake from drinking those nutrients as well. Whether you want a healthy gut or if you want to lose weight, drinking your nutrients is not only a great way to be healthy on-the-go but it’s a great way to jumpstart a healthier diet. Don’t limit yourself in how expressive you can be on your journey to eating healthier.

You’re Addicted to Bad Foods

Bad foods/fast foods are processed foods, which means that there are chemicals in them that can make you become addicted and cause cravings for those foods. In fact, studies have shown that junk food addiction can be just as addicting as drugs for some people.

But the thing to understand about any type of addiction is that it doesn’t just happen overnight… it happens over time, so you being able to kick your addiction to bad foods isn’t going to happen overnight, either. Be patient with your journey. Simple alternatives to your favorites is a great way to start.

You Don’t Eat Enough

Eating bad isn’t just about the foods you eat… it’s also about how much you eat as well. In your efforts to stop eating bad foods, you probably find yourself trying to eat less too. Monitoring how much you eat is great but you can’t jump the gun on it, either.

When you try to get ahead of yourself here, you’ll find yourself eating so much less than you’re used to that you’ll end up overeating when you finally do eat. Make sure you’re not starving yourself during this process because your body needs the proper nutrients to function.

Eating Healthy Isn’t Always Convenient

One of the biggest reasons people eat bad is because it’s so convenient. The ability to drive up to a window and pay for the food you want, already cooked, is way more convenient than standing in your kitchen and preparing the food yourself… but convenience isn’t everything.

The key here would be to cook enough food, when you are in the kitchen. If the day you normally cook is on Sundays, be sure to cook enough food that day to last you throughout the week… This will not only be convenient for you but it’ll save you money as well.

The journey to healthy eating isn’t going to be easy or convenient but keep pushing. Once you start to see changes in your health and energy levels, you’re going to be glad you started the journey. Also, remember that this is something you have to do in baby steps. It’s okay to still enjoy those bad foods you love, but in moderation, unless directed otherwise by your doctor.