Eating healthy wouldn’t be so hard if you didn’t have food offered to you constantly.
The kind of food we’re talking about is not lean meat, steamed veggies, or a baked sweet potato. The problem is cake, cookies, sugary drinks, and anything lacking significant nutritional value that people shove towards you when you’re trying to eat right.
But, why is it so hard to refuse? Whether you cite cultural reasons, personal etiquette, or lack of willpower, just saying no is anything but easy. However, if you’re going to be successful making healthy food choices day after day, you must set boundaries, not only for yourself, but for people who’ll try to feed you.No Explanation Needed
Unless someone else is affected by the food you purchase, i.e. a roommate, spouse, or family member, you do not need to explain your diet changes to them. More often than not, the person offering the food is thinking about maintaining order and their image as a host or hostess, not your diet. When food you don’t want to eat is served, just leave it untouched while you eat the rest of your food. If it’s a single serve dish, simply tell the host you won’t be having any, and give thanks. Don’t say you’re on a diet. You are the only one who is in control of what you eat, so don’t give others food excuses like ‘I can’t or ‘I’m sorry.’ Own your healthy food conviction by not making it an issue.
Bite or Flight?
Some temptation is better left unmet. If there's a company buffet of unhealthy food, have your healthy lunch before it arrives. If you have to be at a meeting, show your face, but leave sooner than you would if you were eating.
The longer you sit and watch other people eat, the harder fighting temptation will become. If it’s a business lunch you have to endure in its entirety, eat something beforehand and order light so you can focus on the business, rather than the lunch. If someone notices you and asks why you’re not eating this or that, say you just are not interested and have already eaten. If it’s someone who may be continually offering food to you, tell them you don’t have a taste for that type of food lately. Usually this will make someone with no concern for you back off. A good host or hostess may ask what you’d like in the future. That’s when you can suggest healthier options.Won’t Take No for an Answer
To the person who insists you eat something you clearly don’t want to, they are no longer being charitable, but rude, and should be treated as such. After reassuring them you’ve made up your mind and don’t want any, give thanks, and your job is done. Continue your meal, change the conversation, or revert your attention to someone or something else. If they leave the food near you, throw it away or offer it to someone else at the end of the meal. The worst thing you can do is give in to consistent badgering. The look on your face from being forced to do something you do not want to do, or worst, sabotaging your healthy lifestyle at someone else’s urging, is not an experience you should ever have to endure.
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