There’s no debating the importance of eating more vegetables throughout the day.
I’ve mentioned the primary benefits of vegetables several times on this site before. They are loaded with fiber, contain important vitamins and minerals, and are low in calories. Research shows they also possess protective effects against cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, and hypertension.
Needless to say, they are crucial to improving and maintaining your overall health and fitness.
Adding more daily veggies is one of the key nutrition habits that I have each client focus on. But one reservation I often hear as they attempt this habit is it takes up a lot of time.
Last week I had a client I’ve been working with for a couple of months tell me this exact thing. So I asked him why he felt that way.
He’s a single father and has a full time job. He’s also been dealing with some medical issues over the past couple of weeks. Between work, his family, and doctor’s appointments there just weren’t enough minutes in the day to cook.
As he was telling me all this, I realized cooking vegetables wasn’t in the cards right now. But that was ok. I told him that in his specific scenario, we needed to come up with a plan which allowed him to eat several servings of vegetables each day without sacrificing a lot of his time.
That was the only way we were going to make this habit work for his life and schedule.
The easiest idea that came to mind was have him eat more vegetables that don’t need to be cooked. Things like carrots, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes.
The idea behind this was so he could package them quickly and take them with him. No cooking required.
So, I asked him what he thought.
He felt confident that he could do it handle it, and we planned to begin the following day. After a couple of days passed, he sent me this text.
It worked! And he’s been steadily improving his daily intake of veggies all because we made his environment work for him.
The title of this article was meant to show you how you can easily add more vegetables to your diet. However, the main point I want to get across is that making your environment work for you versus against you is one of the best ways to achieve any task.
At first, this particular client couldn’t accomplish the vegetable habit we set. When this happens, it’s easy to throw in the towel and give up.
But that’s not what we did. We talked about it, discovered the root of the problem, and found a solution that was easier for him to accomplish.
And you can do this with any particular habit or task.
Here’s another example. Let’s say you struggle with buying junk food when you go to the grocery store. One easy way to change your environment is to not go down the junk food aisle.
When you’re surrounded by those foods, they’ll be extremely difficult to resist. If you choose not to see them, you’ll no longer be faced with the choice to buy or not buy.
And it’s as simple as that. Nothing overly complicated about this strategy. It’s just smart.
So, if you’re struggling with any nutrition habit (not just eating more vegetables) start thinking about how you can change your environment. It shapes your behavior more than you know. Making this adjustment could be exactly what you need to accomplish any goal.
