You eat your way to true health by changing your environment before your willpower. Clear processed foods, refined grains, vegetable oils and hidden candy out of your kitchen. Bring the people you eat with along. This is because your brain takes the easiest path in front of it.
The ultimate way to good health is through changing your eating habits. You can change your eating habits with some conscious decisions, and your body will follow. Start with a clean slate. The easiest way to change is to change your environment first, and your human body will find its way through the new maze. Your brain is hardwired to solve problems in the quickest and easiest way. Remove the choices you don’t want to make. If you leave tasty bread crumbs, your body will follow them to an anticipated feast. If you don’t have it in front of you, it’s hard to eat it. Clean out your kitchen first. Eliminate all boxes of processed foods and all vegetable oils. Go through your refrigerator and freezer and all the hidden places where you might have a stash of hidden candy. Also, engage all of the people around you. Undoubtedly, if your dietary pattern is poor, it’s also poor for everybody around you. Humans are social creatures, and we use food to bond and as a shared form of communication and pleasure. If you change and they don’t, either they will sabotage you or you will outgrow the relationship. Admittedly, some people will not change, so an online community is where you can head to gain additional support. It’s about creating a new paradigm, a mindset that fits in the new environment. You are creating a new vision of yourself. Your new vision incorporates what you are and what you do. Your environment reinforces your mindset, not the other way around. You do not eat processed foods, refined grains, and vegetable oils. You are concerned about your future self. Your health determines your financial stability. You know that movement is what makes the body healthy. You know that sleep restores the body. You know that Big Food and Big Pharma have their own agenda — to increase your consumption. You know that most health care providers learn at events paid for by industry. No industry sponsors anything that gets you to eat less.
What are good eating habits to follow every day?
For the first few weeks, limit every meal to one or two kinds of food. Variety makes you eat more than you need, for no good reason. That is because it swamps your satiety (fullness) signals. Limit your seasonings, too. Even if the protein stays the same, your taste buds react when the flavor, texture, temperature, and smell change. Your goal is to eat only in a shorter part of the day and not feel hungry. When you start the day with a meal, you prime yourself to eat again in 2-4 hours. You are retraining your body to listen to true hunger and to your fullness signals. This means you need to slow down when eating. Stretch a meal to 45 minutes. That is because it takes about 20 minutes for your leptin (satiety hormone) to be made and noticed. Here is a practical tip. Have a glass of water before every meal and wait about 10 minutes before you start eating. Then have a glass of water at the end of every meal, and take a walk for 10 minutes after every meal. Tasting a food, smelling a food, picturing a food, or watching a show about food only raises your insulin. This food porn will only cause you to become more insulin resistant. Don’t watch or participate in food porn. Snacks beget more snacks. Don’t buy snacks or participate in snacking. If you must have a little something to take medication or feel that you can’t go snack-free yet, save some leftover protein from a previous meal to buffer your stomach. Don’t eat when distracted by a TV. This is called mindless eating, and you are practicing mindfulness. Have a consistent bedtime and get at least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Sleep is needed to reset your cells. True sleep, initially, is probably more important than exercise for your metabolism. Start the day off right and skip breakfast altogether. Unless you are truly hungry, or your metabolism has not yet adjusted, breakfast is a waste of calories and time. If at first you “need” breakfast, then stick to protein, like eggs, and healthy fats. Some ideas are eggs, meats, fish, nuts, or salad with olive oil dressing. Avoid these foods altogether (remember, you don’t even buy these things; they don’t exist in your new world): Oatmeal, cereal, bagels, bread, granola, breakfast bars Fruit juice, fruit smoothies Waffles, pancakes, muffins You should re-think lunch and dinner. Eat only real food, nothing processed. Forget about foods that never fill you up. Always avoid food variety inside a meal. Limit yourself to one food type per meal. For now, avoid food variety between meals until you can retrain your brain for real hunger and satiety signals. Focus on protein and healthy fats. Focus on getting meals that are rich in protein and healthy fats. Eat all types of meat like beef, fish, chicken, lamb and seafood. Yogurt & cheeses are also nutritious and filling, but increasing variety will make your brain overeat. Fill up on olives, peppers, cucumbers, and avocado, and eat as many green leafy vegetables as you please. About drinks: Sweet drinks will only drive up your hunger. Whether they have sugar in them or just artificial sweeteners, both will spike your insulin and make you overeat later. Avoid:
- Juice
- Soda
- Smoothies
- Shakes
- Protein supplements
- Energy drinks
- Sweetened coffee/tea
Instead drink:
- Water
- Seltzer
- Unsweetened iced tea
- Unsweetened coffee
Snacks are unnecessary when your body habituates to real food. If you must snack, pick from a variety of nuts: macadamias, Brazil nuts, pecans, almonds, and walnuts. Leftover protein from the previous meal is also good. Desserts: If you are going to eat dessert, what are your best options? Stay away from ice cream, cookies, and cakes that are all full of sugar. They only increase your appetite and your blood glucose levels. Instead, eat delicious & convenient low carb desserts. Consider Halo Top or another low-sugar ice cream. The perfect keto almond butter brownie bar can be an amazing rescue for a desperate sweet tooth. Remember dessert is a special occasion, not a routine.
Frequently asked questions
How do I start changing my eating habits?
Change your environment first. Clear every box of processed food and all vegetable oils out of your kitchen, then check the refrigerator, freezer and hidden places for stashed candy. Your brain solves problems the quickest and easiest way, so if the food is not in front of you, it is hard to eat it. Bring the people you eat with along, or find support in an online community.
What foods should I avoid?
Avoid processed foods, refined grains and vegetable oils altogether. At breakfast, that means oatmeal, cereal, bagels, bread, granola, breakfast bars, waffles, pancakes, muffins, fruit juice and smoothies. Skip sweet drinks made with sugar or artificial sweeteners. Skip protein supplements, energy drinks and sweetened coffee or tea. Stay away from ice cream, cookies and cakes.
What should I eat instead?
Focus on protein and healthy fats: beef, fish, chicken, lamb, seafood and eggs. Fill up on olives, peppers, cucumbers, avocado and as many green leafy vegetables as you like. Keep each meal to one or two kinds of food. That is because variety swamps your fullness signals and makes your brain overeat. Drink water, seltzer, unsweetened iced tea or unsweetened coffee.
Should I skip breakfast?
Yes, unless you are truly hungry or your metabolism has not adjusted yet. Starting the day with a meal primes you to eat again in 2 to 4 hours, and the goal is a shorter feeding window without feeling hungry. If you need breakfast at first, keep it to protein and healthy fats such as eggs, meats, fish or nuts.
How long should a meal take?
Stretch each meal to about 45 minutes. That is because it takes about 20 minutes for leptin, your fullness hormone, to be made and noticed. Drink a glass of water and wait about 10 minutes before you start eating. Drink another glass at the end, and take a 10-minute walk afterward. Never eat distracted in front of the TV.
Related reading
- Is the Carnivore Diet a Threat to Conventional Medicine?
- Time-restricted feeding: 4 steps
- Carnivore diet: falling off the wagon
- What Is Ultra-Processed Food, and Who Profits From It
Sources
- Hall KD, Ayuketah A, Brychta R, et al. Ultra-processed diets cause excess calorie intake and weight gain: an inpatient randomized controlled trial of ad libitum food intake. Cell Metabolism. 2019. PMID 31105044
- Swaminathan S, Dehghan M, Raj JM, et al. Associations of cereal grains intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality across 21 countries in Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study: prospective cohort study. BMJ. 2021. PMID 33536317
Medically reviewed by Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP
Interventional pain physician, addiction medicine specialist and obesity medicine diplomate.
Licensed in Missouri and Illinois.
Last reviewed June 17, 2026
