Daily stress and big life changes alike can steer your healthy habits off track. Whether it’s a new job, a pulled muscle, or any other curveball that life throws your way, healthy eating can quickly disappear from your priorities while bad eating habits creep up instead. This can be extremely discouraging and a recurring roadblock to meeting your health and wellness goals.

The good news is, you can hit the reset button any time you want! Instead of stressing over poor food choices or thinking you need a complete diet overhaul, consider these three ways you can get back on track. Ditch the “diet starts Monday” mentality and reset your healthy eating habits today!

What does healthy eating mean to you?

Before we jump into 3 ways to get back on track, think about what healthy eating actually means to you. There are the basics that we have all heard before — eating a wide variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes, ancient grains, nuts and seeds. But then again, some people like to stay away from grains. Some individuals choose to eat meat while others prefer a plant-based lifestyle. This is why nutrition should always take an individualized approach!

Regardless of if you follow a well-established diet (like Paleo, Keto or Vegan) or have a more relaxed approach, these tips can inspire you to get back to what healthy eating means to you.

A lot of us have been taught that healthy eating means restricting yourself. No sugar, no gluten, no dairy...no fun!! The list of NO’s continues to grow, causing overwhelm and panic over giving up your favorite foods. Restrictive eating can be really harmful to your physical and mental well-being. Frankly, we don’t want to live in a world where we can’t enjoy the foods we love!

A great way to banish the idea of restricting yourself is to focus on healthy foods you CAN include instead of focusing on what you think you need to take away. Which leads us to Tip #2.

With your focus on including healthy, nutritious foods, create a healthy food-related goal for each week. The idea behind this goal is to introduce (or re-introduce) a new healthy food into your eating routine. Here are some examples to get you started:

• Eat something green at every meal

• Include a different colored vegetable at each meal

• Try a new fruit each week for 1 month

• Try a new seasoning each week for 1 month

• Start Meatless Mondays by finding new plant-based proteins to try

After a month (or two...or three!) of trying new foods and how to cook with them, you’ll have eaten healthy ingredients every single day while maybe (probably) discovering new healthy foods you actually enjoy!

Let’s be honest, sometimes healthy eating can leave you feeling a little uninspired. You may get into a rhythm of “clean eating” but after a while, that salad doesn’t look as appealing as the burger and fries. A great way to bust through the boredom? Try new recipes!

There are so many mouth-watering recipes out there that feature wholesome ingredients and can help you create nourishing and balanced meals. Just because you want to eat healthy doesn’t mean you need to miss out on amazing taste! Enjoy the process of nurturing and caring for yourself with healthy, home cooked meals.

When it comes to YOUR healthy eating, listen to your body to figure out what works best for YOU. Stress, schedules and so much more can throw your healthy eating habits off track. If you’re looking to hit the reset button, try these 3 ways to get back to eating healthy!

What motivates you to eat healthy and what keeps you on track? Let us know in the comments below.