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- Healthy Eating: Getting Support When Changing Your Eating Habits
Content Map Terms
Healthy Eating & Physical Activity Categories
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Active for Health
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Age and Stage
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Infants, Children and Youth
- Child Who Is Overweight: Evaluating Nutrition and Activity Patterns
- Child Who Is Overweight: Medical Evaluation
- Eczema and Food Allergy in Babies and Young Children
- Food Allergy Testing
- HealthLink BC Eating and Activity Program for Kids
- Healthy Eating for Children
- Helping Your Child Who Is Overweight
- Interactive Tool: What Is Your Child's BMI?
- Mealtime and Your Toddler
- Reducing Risk of Food Allergy in Your Baby
- Snack Ideas for Preschoolers
- Your Toddler: Nutritious Meals for Picky Eaters
- Physical Activity for Infants, Children and Youth
- Older Adults
- Living well during your pregnancy
- Menopause and Perimenopause
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Infants, Children and Youth
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Being Active
- Health Benefits of Physical Activity
- SMART Goal Setting
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Getting Started
- Getting Started: Adding More Physical Activity to Your Life
- Quick Tips: Fitting Physical Activity Into Your Day
- Quick Tips: Getting Active as a Family
- Fitness: Adding More Activity To Your Life
- Getting Started With Flexibility and Exercise
- Fitness Machines
- Fitness Clothing and Gear
- The Three Types of Physical Activity
- Overcoming Barriers: Adding More Physical Activity to your Life
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Choosing Your Activity
- How to Choose Safe Equipment
- Exercising While Sitting Down
- Fitness DVDs and Videos
- Tips for Picking the Right Activities
- Quick Tips: Getting in Shape Without Spending Money
- Fitness: Walking for Wellness
- Walk Your Way To Health
- Tai Chi and Qi Gong
- Water Exercise
- Yoga
- Bob's Story: Biking for Health
- Exercise and Physical Activity Ideas
- Fitness: Choosing Activities That Are Right for You
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Staying Active
- Fitness: Getting and Staying Active
- Fitness: Making It a Habit
- Quick Tips: Having Enough Energy to Stay Active
- Quick Tips: Staying Active at Home
- Quick Tips: Staying Active When You Travel
- Physical Activity in Winter
- Quick Tips: Staying Active in Cold Weather
- Quick Tips: Staying Active in Hot Weather
- Injury Prevention and Recovery
- Fitness and Exercise Learning Centre
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Conditions
- Diabetes and Hypoglycemia
- Eating Disorders
- Eating Right When You Have More Than One Health Problem
- Being Active When You Have Health Problems
- Physical Activity and Disease Prevention
- Anemia
- Arthritis and Osteoporosis
- Physiotherapy for Low Back Pain
- Low Back Pain: Exercises to Reduce Pain
- Cancer
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Digestive
- Managing Constipation in Adults
- Healthy Eating Guidelines for People with Diverticular Disease
- Fibre and Your Health
- Lower Fibre Food Choices
- Eating Guidelines For Gallbladder Disease
- Healthy Eating Guidelines for Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Lactose Intolerance
- Healthy Eating Guidelines for People with Peptic Ulcers
- Bowel Disease: Changing Your Diet
- Celiac Disease: Eating a Gluten-Free Diet
- GERD: Controlling Heartburn by Changing Your Habits
- Food Allergies
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Heart
- Cardiac Rehabilitation
- Coronary Artery Disease: Exercising for a Healthy Heart
- DASH Diet Sample Menu
- Healthy Eating Guidelines for People Taking Warfarin Anticoagulants
- Healthy Eating to Lower High Blood Pressure
- Healthy Diet Guidelines for a Healthy Heart
- Heart Arrhythmias and Exercise
- Heart Failure: Eating a Healthy Diet
- Heart Failure: Track Your Weight, Food and Sodium
- Heart-Healthy Eating
- Heart-Healthy Eating: Fish and Fish Oil
- Heart-Healthy Lifestyle
- High Blood Pressure: Nutrition Tips
- High Cholesterol: How a Dietitian Can Help
- Modify Recipes for a Heart-Healthy Diet
- Peripheral Arterial Disease and Exercise
- Physical Activity Helps Prevent a Heart Attack and Stroke
- High Blood Pressure: Using the DASH Diet
- Healthy Eating: Eating Heart-Healthy Foods
- Heart Health: Walking for a Healthy Heart
- Exercise and Fibromyalgia
- Kidney and Liver
- Lupus: Healthy Eating
- Mutiple Sclerosis
- Parkinson's Disease and Exercise
- Spinal Cord
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Food and Nutrition
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Eating Habits
- Developing a Plan for Healthy Eating
- Drinking Enough Water
- Eating Journal
- Emotional Eating
- Food Journaling: How to Keep Track of What You Eat
- Healthy Eating: Changing Your Eating Habits
- Healthy Eating: Getting Support When Changing Your Eating Habits
- Healthy Eating: Making Healthy Choices When You Eat Out
- Healthy Eating: Making Healthy Choices When You Shop
- Healthy Eating: Overcoming Barriers to Change
- Healthy Eating: Starting a Plan for Change
- Healthy Eating: Staying With Your Plan
- Healthy Eating to Decrease Stress
- Jaci's Story: Changing her Life With Small Steps
- Jeremy's Story: Focusing on Eating Habits
- Loralie's Story: It's Never Too Late
- Maggie Morries: Plan Ahead When You Eat Out
- Plant-based Foods
- Sugary Drinks and Other Beverages
- Sodium
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Nutrients
- Added Sugars
- Antioxidants
- Antioxidants and Your Diet
- Carbohydrate Foods
- Carbohydrate, Proteins, Fats and Blood Sugar
- Choosing a Vitamin and Mineral Supplements
- Cholesterol and Triglycerides: Eating Fish and Fish Oil
- Comparing Sugar Substitute
- Dietary Fats and Your Health
- Dietary Guidelines for Good Health
- Dietary Reference Intake
- Eating Protein
- Calcium and Your Health
- Food Sources of Vitamin K
- Getting Enough Calcium and Vitamin D
- Getting Enough Fibre
- Getting Enough Folic Acid
- Getting Enough Iron
- Getting Enough Potassium
- Healthy Eating: Cutting Unhealthy Fats From Your Diet
- Healthy Eating: Taking Calcium and Vitamin D
- High Potassium Eating
- High Potassium Foods
- Iron and Your Health
- Iron in Foods
- Low-Potassium Foods
- Major Nutrients in Food
- Minerals: Their Functions and Sources
- Non-Milk Sources of Calcium
- Quick Nutrition Check for Protein
- Quick Nutrition Check for Protein: Sample Menus
- Quick Nutrition Check for Vitamin B12
- Types of Fats
- Vitamins: Their Functions and Sources
- Food Labels
- Plan, Shop and Prepare
- Food, Water and Beverage Safety
- Canada's Food Guide FAQs
- Food Security
- Vegetarian Diets
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Eating Habits
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Healthy Weights
- About Healthy Weights
- Genetic Influences on Weight
- Screening for Weight Problems
- Unplanned Weight Loss
- Quick Tips: Cutting Calories
- Physical Activity for Weight Loss
- Weight Loss by Limiting Calories
- Tips for Maintaining Weight Loss
- Choosing a Weight-Loss Program
- Boosting Your Metabolism
- Exercise Helps Maggie Stay at a Healthy Weight
- Healthy Eating: Recognizing Your Hunger Signals
- Hunger, Fullness, and Appetite Signals
- Weight Management
- Weight Management: Stop Negative Thoughts
- Maggie's Strategies for Eating Healthy
- Maggie: Making Room for Worth-It Foods
- Maggie's Story: Making Changes for Her Health
- Weight Management Centre
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Policies and Guidelines
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Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in BC Schools
- Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales: Making Bake Sales Delicious and Nutritious
- Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales: Boosting the Sales of Nutritious Food in Schools
- Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales: Food Fundraiser Ideas for Schools
- Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales: Involving Everyone in Implementing the Guidelines
- Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales: Selling Food and Beverages at School Sporting Events
- Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales: Planning Healthy Cafeteria Menus
- Healthier Choices in Vending Machines
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Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in BC Schools
- Provincial Nutrition Resource Inventory
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Forms and Tools
- Walking Log
- Exercise Planning Form
- Physical Activity Log
- Par-Q+ and ePARmed-X+
- Target Heart Rate
- Interactive Tool: What is Your Target Heart Rate
- Borg-Rating of Perceived Exertion Scale
- Overview of BC Provincial and Federal Nutrition Benefits Programs
- Body Mass Index (BMI)
- Body Mass Index (BMI) for Adults
- Interactive Tool: Do Your BMI and Waist Size Increase Your Health Risks?
- Measuring Your Waist
- Body Fat Testing
- Fitness: Using a Pedometer, Step Counter, or Wearable Device
- Email a HealthLinkBC Dietitian
- Email a Qualified Exercise Professional
British Columbia Specific Information
Every day, we make choices about the food we eat and our lifestyles. We can make choices for ourselves and our families that make a real difference to our ability to remain healthy and active now, and enjoy life to its fullest in the future. To learn more about healthy eating, including managing a condition, food safety, and food security, visit the Healthy Eating section of our website.
You may also call 8-1-1 to speak to a registered dietitian, Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or you can Email a HealthLinkBC Dietitian.
For additional information about healthy living visit Canada's Food Guide and Physical Activity web page.
Overview
So you've decided to change your eating habits. Great!
Have you thought about getting support in making this change?
Having the support of people close to you is an important part of change. It doesn't matter if you're changing a job, a routine, or how you eat—support gives you a better chance of making the change work.
- Support can come from lots of people. Your family and friends can help you change how you eat, but you also can get help from others.
- Support comes in many forms. It can be positive words and actions or gentle reminders to stay on track.
- Support works. Research shows that getting support from spouses, family members, and friends is important in making behaviour changes that affect health.footnote 1
- Some people that you may expect to support you may not help you and may even make it harder for you to succeed.
- You can decide who you want to share your plans for change with.
How can your family and friends help you?
Your family and friends can do a lot to help you change how you eat, but you need to talk to them about it.
- Tell your family and friends why you're making this change. Give them your reasons, and explain why they are important to you.
- Tell them that you would like their help, but that you don't expect them to change their lives for you. If they're willing to make some of the same eating changes as you are, then that's great. But they can support you even without changing how they eat.
Support from your family
Here are some ways that you and your family can team up.
- Keep to a regular family meal schedule. Families that regularly eat meals together tend to eat healthier foods and be closer to a healthy weight than those who don't.
- You may be able to talk with your family about making some of the same eating changes you are. This may take compromise on everyone's part. It may mean eating less of some foods and more of others.
- If what you eat is different from what your family eats, ask them to eat a meal from your food plan once a week. If they see that this is as tasty as the food they're eating, they may choose to eat more of what you're eating.
- Set up "no food" zones in the house. Make one room food-free. You can use this room to do things that you may have done in the kitchen while eating, such as paying bills or helping the kids with homework. Staying out of the kitchen may help you stay with your eating plan.
- Put away foods that you don't want to eat so that they are out of sight. Ask family members not to leave food on the table when they are finished eating.
- Set up a kitchen or refrigerator shelf that is just for healthy foods that you want to eat. When you're hungry, you'll have several healthy choices.
- Discuss your family routines. If you take the kids out for pizza once a week, could you make a healthier pizza at home instead? Or you could go out to eat but order a salad and other healthy foods with the pizza. This way you can fill up on other foods and eat fewer slices of pizza. See if you can find something you can all agree on.
Support from your friends or family
Here are some ways that your friends or family can help you. Ask them to:
- Not say negative things about you or what you eat.
- Be positive about your desire to change. Let your family and friends know that you'd like to hear encouraging words from time to time, and that their words and actions mean a lot. Hearing how well you are doing with your new eating habits helps you stay with your plan.
- Celebrate with you when you reach your goals. Take a cooking class or go to the movies together. Remind yourself and others that you're successful.
- Help you make healthy food choices. Ask them to encourage you to eat more fruits and vegetables, for example.
- Encourage you when you slip away from your eating plan. A reminder of how well you've done will help you get back on track.
- Respect your new eating habits and not urge you to eat foods that you don't want to eat.
Many people find that having a partner or "food buddy" makes the change easier. A food buddy is someone who is also making changes in his or her eating habits.
It's motivating to know that someone is sharing the same goals. Your food buddy can remind you how far you've come and support you when you're having a hard time following your eating plan. You and your buddy can talk about healthy recipes, ways to plan regular meals, and how to fit small amounts of your favourite foods into your food plan, for example.
You may find that some friends or family members say or do things that make you feel bad. They seem not to want you to succeed. They may urge you to eat more than you want, make negative comments about your new eating habits, or point out how many times you may have slipped up.
If this happens, it's important to talk to these people. They may not even be aware that they are doing it or that it bothers you. If you need to, ask them to stop doing this. You also can ask them why they are behaving this way. You might find that they are worried that your change is leaving them out or that you are making them look bad. They may not like the attention your change is getting you.
If this is the case, ask them what you can do to help them. Often, an honest talk is all that is needed.
Other types of support
You also can look for support outside of your family and friends.
- Join a healthy-eating class or support group. People in these groups often have some of the same barriers that you have.
- The Internet has many online forums and chat rooms for people who are trying to make changes in food choices. You can read and leave messages and chat online with others for support.
- A local hospital or other health facility may have a wellness centre or support groups.
- If part of your plan is to become more active, see if anyone in your exercise class or neighbourhood wants to change how they eat.
References
Citations
- Thompson WG, et al. (2007). Treatment of obesity. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 82(1): 93–102. Available online: http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(11)60971-3/fulltext.
Credits
Current as of: March 1, 2023
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
Kathleen Romito MD - Family Medicine
Anne C. Poinier MD - Internal Medicine
Rhonda O'Brien MS, RD, CDE - Certified Diabetes Educator
Colleen O'Connor PhD, RD - Registered Dietitian
Current as of: March 1, 2023
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:Kathleen Romito MD - Family Medicine & Anne C. Poinier MD - Internal Medicine & Rhonda O'Brien MS, RD, CDE - Certified Diabetes Educator & Colleen O'Connor PhD, RD - Registered Dietitian
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Learn how we develop our content.
Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.
Contact Physical Activity Services
If you have questions about physical activity or exercise, call 8-1-1 (or 7-1-1 for the deaf and hard of hearing) toll-free in B.C. Our qualified exercise professionals are available Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm Pacific Time. You can also leave a message after hours.
Translation services are available in more than 130 languages.
HealthLinkBC’s qualified exercise professionals can also answer your questions by email.
Contact a Dietitian
If you have any questions about healthy eating, food, or nutrition, call 8-1-1 (or 7-1-1 for the deaf and hard of hearing) toll-free in B.C. You can speak to a health service navigator who can connect you with one of our registered dietitians, who are available 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. You can also leave a message after hours.
Translations services are available in more than 130 languages.
HealthLinkBC Dietitians can also answer your questions by email.