If you think you have to give up enjoying your food and splurging on your favorite meals when you start eating healthy food, you are wrong! Eating healthy can be fun and delicious. Instead of dreading your next healthy meal, get excited with these perks of eating clean.
1. Taste Buds Change
With time, your taste buds and food preferences will change. You may be surprised when you start to enjoy foods that you once disliked. The key to transforming your taste buds to your healthy diet is just eating everything. Even if you do not like it at first, you may come to enjoy it with time. Try to incorporate healthy foods that you do not like as much, but “hide” them from yourself at first. For example, if you do not like mushrooms, cut them up into small pieces before mixing them with other vegetables.2
2. Discover New Foods
One of the best aspects of beginning the journey of eating healthy food is the opportunity to discover new foods. Not all foods that are considered to be “healthy” are any less delicious or flavorful than your usual favorites. As your taste buds adjust to your healthy eating, you will get to try new foods and learn to find new, healthy favorites.
3. Enjoy Your Favorite Foods With Substitutions
You do not have to give up your favorite foods entirely. Instead, make substitutions. For your favorite pasta dish, swap vegetable noodles, such as zucchini, carrot, or spaghetti squash instead of traditional noodles. For a sandwich or wrap, use lettuce instead of bread. These are just a few easy swaps that allow you to enjoy your favorite foods with a healthy twist.
4. Feel Great
Though this is not a surprising benefit of eating healthy, it can be undervalued. Even without any weight loss or persistant healthy eating, you will begin feeling great after each meal right away. Eating lots of dairy, for example, will leave you feeling bloated. When you start reducing your dairy intake and eating healthy foods instead, you will feel the positive effects right away.
5. Get Closer to Your Goal
Enjoy eating healthy foods simply because they are helping you get closer to your goal. All of the benefits discussed above are great, but it is exciting to know that the foods you are eating are helping you achieve the goals you are working towards. Seeing progress can take some time, but keep in mind your long term goals each time you eat for a little extra healthy eating motivation.