Changing up you’re eating and getting a fresh start with your health is a noble and important decision. When your current eating isn’t ideal, it can seem like punishment letting go of the things you are accustomed to and enjoy. It might feel like you are losing some of your best friends along the way.

The best changes are small and incremental and happen over time with consistency. Making sweeping changes can be too much too soon – especially when family is involved. ‘Slow and steady wins the race’ is a great phrase to consider when making lifelong changes.

One tactic that works well for lasting change is simple:

Introduce one good habit and delete one bad habit every two weeks.
Let’s look at that again.

Start one good thing and stop one bad thing every two weeks.
That’s pretty easy!

By starting one good habit and stopping one bad habit, you are doing two good things that add up over time to some really big changes. Not only that but waiting two weeks before adding or taking something else away allows for the adjustment needed to make the lasting change.

Let’s look at some ideas:
Don’t- Stop eating all sugar at one time.

Do- Cut out drinking one soda per day.

Do- Start walking around the block with your dogs every day.

Don’t- Go strict Keto, Vegan, or other diet plan.

Do- have one vegetarian night or one dairy-free dinner per week.

Do- Explore cooking a different vegetable a new way each night.

Don’t- Give up eating lunch every day.

Do- Make one modification to your lunch – delete mayo but keep the cheese.

Do- Try an alternative side dish for three out of five days – fruit instead of potato chips.

Making simple shifts and replacing some poor habits with better ones has a compounding effect. Soon the changes aren’t that big of a deal. The more confident you become and leaner you look, the easier the motivation comes.