7 Biggest Diet Problems

The healthier you are, the better the position you are in to do the things you truly want to. This is true, not only for the things you like to do, but is also true for carrying out rudimentary tasks such as going to the grocery store or doing chores around the house.

What is one of the main factors that impacts the quality of your life? You guessed right, your diet! A poor diet that is loaded with processed foods, will eventually lead to a myriad of health issues, and those issues will arrive a lot quicker if you aren’t doing some form of regular exercise.

When you have a combination of poor diet and minimal exercise, the immediate side effect is weight gain. This can snowball quickly, and before you know it, you are 30lbs overweight. Carrying this excess weight isn’t much fun and will impact every aspect of your life, from your clothes not fitting right, to finding it more difficult to perform basic tasks.

The underlying problem is the poor dietary choices which are consistently made. Look at a person who doesn't really lift weights, does some cardio, and eats healthy the majority of the time. Will they be overweight by 30lbs? No! They might be 5 to 10 pounds overweight in the worst case scenario, but will look good in general.

These people will also live normal, functioning lives as there are no side effects with a clean diet.

This is a place where we should all strive to get to. At the very least, looking well and moving well, not getting gassed by climbing a flight of stairs. You can take it to the next level with resistance training for a killer look, but that isn’t necessarily needed. Anyway, it starts with diet and lets’ get into the 7 biggest problems.

1. Emotional/Stress Eating

People handle stress differently. Some people lose their appetite, while some people will be reaching for the cookie jar. Both are not ideal situations, either way your body isn’t getting the essential nutrients it needs, and you’re not going to feel great.

If this sounds familiar, you need to take a step back and figure out what is triggering these unwanted states, and how you can better deal with them. It’s not fixed overnight, and you will need to spend time working on it. But what you can do is cut back on the cookies that make you feel better for a short period of time, and get some essential nutrients, such as fruit, into your body.

No prep required with fruit, superior option than processed treats.

2. Lack of Meal Planning

You’re too busy, right? Well, that is an excuse you can keep telling yourself. You see, you need to make time! It’s a non-negotiable when your health is on the line, I’m not necessarily talking about your health changing drastically in the next week. I’m talking about the months and years ahead. They creep up fast, you know that, like I do.

Even with a couple of months of bad eating habits, you are going to gain weight of the fat variety. It adds up real fast. Spending an hour or even less, every couple of days or whatever works best in your schedule, will make a significant difference to your overall health.

Put in some thought in the grocery store, pick up whole, nutrient dense foods. Keep away from the pre-packed processed foods, that you throw in the microwave to ‘save’ time.

I’m not buying any excuse about having no time to prep!

3. Eating Too Quickly

You’re in that much of a rush that you can’t spend an extra five minutes enjoying your meal? Eating on the go is another option that is a head scratcher, you guys know who you are!

Take a little time out, chew slowly and enjoy every bite. You give your digestive system a better chance to digest the food as compared to wolfing down the food too quickly, which can also have some gnarly side effects.

Also, with eating at a slower pace, you may be inclined to eat less. You give your body a little time to send signals that you are starting to feel full. It doesn't get this same chance if you are stuffing your face.

4. Sweet Tooth

That dreaded sweet tooth has a lot to answer for. An affliction for most of us, I sometimes think of Pringles and the slogan, “once you pop, you can’t stop”. Crushing a box of Pringles in 1 sitting is no problem for me. I know I’m not alone when I say that.

Seems like a good idea when you get on a roll, but almost instantaneously feel like crap once they are finished.

You may have your own weakness, and you know what I’m talking about. The key is to stop it, before you start it, because all control goes out the window when you do start. Don’t pick up treats in the grocery store, cut it off at the source, that way you don’t have easy access when you feel cravings!

5. Eating Out Frequently

It’s nice to be sociable, meet up with friends, go out with family, whatever the case may be. Saves you from cooking, and you can sit back and enjoy the food. No doubt it’s a fantastic option, and is something to look forward to, the key is not to overdo it.

It’s hard to gauge the exact caloric intake with meals, total cals is usually more than stated/estimated. If you can’t avoid eating out often, there are also things you can do to ensure you eat less.

Drink a lot of water, be well hydrated, have a healthy snack before arriving. Slow down while eating, chew more. Consider healthier options from the menu. Stop eating when 80% full.

6. Eating Larger Portions Than You Need

No specific answer to this. First up, your calorie intake should be in line with your weight goal, and your target is to stick to this cal total based off the goal. Sounds like a simple concept.

However, there is a glaring problem, a lot of people don’t have any goals, no macro breakdowns or how many cals they should eat daily. Eat until full and that’s it!

Using big plates is an understated problem when this is the case. Reason being, people will fill the plate with food and think nothing of it. If this sounds like you, think about implementing changes. It starts with figuring out how many cals you need daily and taking it from there.

Even buying smaller plates can help! It can imprint into your mind that you need less food.

Remember 3 concepts:

1. What’s the weight goal?
2. Total calories needed to meet the goal
3. Macro breakdown percentages

7. Drinking Too Much

Again, there is no right answer, some people can drink nightly and function okay, while others binge hard on the weekends. You can start making bad choices on the dietary front when alcohol is involved, the cravings for processed foods can easily be ignited.

Highly processed foods and alcohol are a bad combo. Do this often, and you can expect high levels of excess fat storage to accumulate in various parts of your body.

You need to try to get to the root cause of your relationship with alcohol, why drink so often? To relieve stress? You need to think about what you can start doing differently to relieve stress, and ways you can start cutting back. Do this, and you will start to live a happier and healthier life.

Recap

Don’t be that person who’s eating patterns are based around a busy and stressful life. It can lead to a life of struggle, where basic tasks transform into burdens. A cycle like this can severely impact the quality of your life.

Your goal should be to live a happy and fulfilling life. Your health plays a major role in accomplishing these goals.

The foundation of health is diet and there is no way to get around that. You feed your body nutrient dense foods the majority of the time? At the very least, you will be functioning at a high level.

When you aren’t eating healthy, you need to take a deep dive into you, and figure out why this is the case. Become aware of the issues, begin to make small, incremental changes. You don’t transform overnight, but when you are consistent with your changes, you be confident you are doing the right things to manifest a better quality of life.