Four ways to foster healthy eating habits

Feel like your default mode is “busy”? You’re not alone. The results of a 2021 study¹ show that one in two Australians respond that they’re busy every time, or most times, they’re asked how they are.

As well as having knock-on effects for everything from sleep quality to mental health², research³ has also identified being busy as a key barrier to healthy eating.

Luckily there are some simple but effective things you can do to counteract the effect.

Enlist an app to help

Research⁴ shows that planning your meals ahead of time and creating a shopping list based on that plan is a simple way to keep your healthy-eating goals on track – and there are apps that can streamline the process. Check out Paprika, Mealime and Prepear.

Barcode-scanner apps like FoodSwitch can help you quickly compare and choose foods based on their nutritional properties. And don’t discount the power of Instagram! A 2021 study⁵ found that following social media accounts that regularly post and get likes for healthy food images positively influences the viewer (that’s you!) to make healthy food choices.

Rethink the way you shop for food

As well as making a list and taking it with you, there are three other food-shopping tricks that can make it easier to eat well when you’re busy.

Shop for food online

Research⁴ shows this significantly reduces the volume of less-healthy foods that land in your kitchen, because – when those foods are on your screen, rather than right in front of you in a store – it’s much easier to resist temptation⁶.

Use a meal-kit delivery service.

A 2020 study⁷ confirms that home-cooked meals are linked to higher diet quality, but research⁸ also shows that being time poor is one of the main reasons we’re cooking fewer of them. Services that deliver recipes and pre-measured ingredients to your place might be the solution. To get the most out of them for your health, research dietitians suggest choosing vegetable-heavy recipes⁹.

Snack on an apple

Before you hit the grocery store in person, eat an apple. It’s always wise to avoid food shopping on an empty stomach, but a US study¹⁰ shows that people buy 25 per cent more fruit and vegetables after they’ve eaten an apple because it encourages a healthy-food-buying mindset.

Organise your fridge and pantry strategically

Research¹¹ shows you’ll eat two times as much of the food you’ve bought the most of simply because volume equals visibility. So, by planning meals packed with healthy ingredients and buying more fruit and vegetables, you’re already on the right track – but you can boost the benefit by being clever about where you store that food.

Stock the eye-level shelves in your fridge and your pantry with the healthiest foods and move less-healthy options to higher or lower shelves, with research¹² confirming it’s the food that’s in your line of sight that’s the variety you’ll eat the most of. Double-down on the effect by positioning specific, healthier foods in the middle of those eye-level shelves, with other research¹³ showing the brain favours that central spot whenever it’s asked to make a choice.

Reframe your ‘eating identity’

According to research¹⁴ conducted in the US, thinking about yourself more proactively in relation to a healthy eating behaviour you’d like to encourage, really works.

For example, to make eating the recommended five daily serves of vegetables more achievable – a target only seven per cent¹⁵ of Australian adults currently hit – mentally label yourself as a ‘veggie eater’. When study participants did that and reminded themselves of their new identity when choosing what to eat, they were naturally inclined to eat more vegetables. It’s due to a neat psychological trick: framing yourself as a ‘doer’ means you’re more likely to actually do that thing without having to think too much about it.

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¹ Mind your own busy-ness: productivity lull hits Australian workforce as pandemic fatigue sets in | myob.com

² Is your busy schedule affecting your health? Time might not be the problem | sciencedaily.com

³ Exploring the relationship between perceived barriers to healthy eating and dietary behaviours in European adults | link.springer.com

⁴ Shopping to a list aids weight loss | monash.edu

⁵ Social media ‘likes’ found to positively influence healthy food choices – new research | aston.ac.uk

⁶ Home grocery delivery improves the household food environments of behavioral weight loss participants: Results of an 8-week pilot study | ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

⁷ Home-Cooked Meals Linked to Higher Diet Quality but Lower-Income Americans Still Fall Behind | sph.umich.edu

⁸ Busy Lifestyles versus Health and Wellness | njaes.rutgers.edu

⁹ How healthy is your meal kit meal? | sydney.edu.au

¹⁰ An Apple a Day Brings More Apples Your Way: Healthy Samples Prime Healthier Choices | onlinelibrary.wiley.com

¹¹ Environmental factors that increase the food intake and consumption volume of unknowing consumers | pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

¹² A 2-Phase Labeling and Choice Architecture Intervention to Improve Healthy Food and Beverage Choices | ajph.aphapublications.org

¹³ Location, location, location: Study shows the middle is the place to be | sciencedaily.com

¹⁴ You eat what you are? Changing identity to motivate healthy eating | sciencedaily.com

¹⁵ Fruit and vegetable intake | aihw.gov.au

Insurance issued by AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807 trading as GIO. This advice has been prepared without taking into account your particular objectives, financial situations or needs, so you should consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on it.