If you’re struggling to sustain healthy eating habits throughout the day we have some great tricks and ideas to keep you on track!

1. Start planning meals.

Meal prepping is a great starting point for everybody, it’s both simple yet calculated and can help you enormously with your lifestyle change. I know what you’re probably all thinking meal prep ‘BORING’ but you're wrong. Forget about the stigma of meal prep and the infinite memes of chicken and rice recipes because you can meal prep almost anything and make it as exciting as you want!. DUAL have some great recipes intertwined amongst their fitness blog or try recipe giants like BBC Good Food to find more exciting meal prep recipes. 

2. Buy a recipe book.

 You’ll be surprised at how a recipe book can ignite a passion/ interest in cooking. It can make cooking more exciting and interesting and a lot less like a chore. Not sure what recipe book to start with? We’ve listed some of our favourites below:

 - ‘Pinch of Nom’

 - Joe Wicks ‘Joe’s Family Food’

 -‘The Quick Roasting Tin’

3. Don’t skip meals.

Did you know that skipping or delaying your meal can have a negative impact on your eating habits? A hormone called ghrelin, produced in the intestine is realised in response to absences of food and can lead to an increase of appetite, food intake and subsequently fat storage. Have you ever heard of the expression ‘eyes bigger than our bellies?’ This sums up the ghrelin hormone where individuals overeat as a result of underrating/ skipping meals.

 4. Better alternatives.

 It is equally as important to focus on incorporating more healthy foods into your diet rather than just removing unhealthy foods. Think of it as like finding better alternatives. Instead of eating calorie-dense, high saturated fat snacks which will only temporarily fill you up opt for a healthy daytime snack such as; fruit or low-fat yoghurt. This methodology also applies to drinks! Hidden calories found in drinks and food can sometimes be responsible for the reason you aren’t seeing a change in your fitness goals. Water is key to a healthy diet. Try swapping out your favourite fizzy drink for a bottle of cold water next time you're In the shops!

5. Change your mindset. 

We’re all guilty of a naughty craving throughout the day, and some days we give in but THAT'S OKAY. Too often people think that a slip up means that’s it for the rest of the day. It’s important that you know not all food are bad and you need certain foods for daily function. EVERYTHING is good in moderation.

6. Know your triggers.

Most importantly the best way to improve your eating habits is to know your triggers. We each know what sets us off track. Whether that be a temptation from friends, not being organised to plan our meals or our persistent sweet tooth. Knowing what our triggers are will help us identify a potential slip up in real-life situations.