3 barriers to healthy eating (and what to do)
Maintaining a healthy diet is important for overall wellbeing. While it may seem simple to make healthy food choices, there are lots of reasons why you might find it difficult to do so.
Barriers to healthy eating look different for everybody and can include financial constraints, lack of time, limited access to healthy food options, and personal preferences. These barriers can often lead to unhealthy eating habits, which can have negative impacts on physical and mental health.
Let’s take a deeper look at three most common barriers to healthy eating and how you can overcome these barriers to improve your diet.
Financial constraints
Many people believe that eating healthy is expensive, and this can prevent them from making healthy food choices. Although some healthy foods can be expensive, there are lots of affordable ways to eat a healthy and nutritious diet.
To overcome financial constraints to eat healthily, plan your meals ahead so that you can create dishes with the same ingredients and buy them in bulk. You can also choose the budget or ‘own brand’ items that cost less than branded health foods. You can also shop in season to make fruits and vegetables more affordable.
Lack of time
We’re all busy, and this can make it difficult to stick with your healthy eating journey. With some planning and preparation, it is possible to overcome this barrier and adopt a healthy diet in the long term.
Meal prop is a great way to do this. Each Sunday, you can create lunches and dinners for the upcoming week. When you prepare in advance, you don’t need to cook separate meals every day, and this can save time.
You can also use meal delivery services, so you don’t need to spend time driving to the store and walking around to choose your groceries.
Easy access to unhealthy food
It can be challenging to resist the temptation of fast food restaurants, vending machines, and pre-packaged snacks when they are so accessible. It seems that these unhealthy foods are everywhere!
To overcome this barrier and make healthier food choices, try the following. Stock your fridge and cupboards with nutritious food options. Review menus before you go out to eat so that you know in advance what to order. Bring your own lunch/snacks if you’re heading out of the house all day.