September is the time for new routines. The kids are back to school. The seasons are changing. It’s time to turn over a new leaf. That also makes it a natural time for many of us to make positive changes for our health.
Luckily, getting into a new routine is a great way to improve your health. In fact, a new study from Tufts University found that you can actually train your brain to prefer healthy foods over junk food.
Many of us have long considered it an innate and inevitable truth that we prefer sugary treats or salty fried foods to fruits and vegetables, but when researchers had subjects eat a high-fibre, low-glycemic diet for six months, they found that their brains began to identify those healthy foods as rewards. In brain scans, researchers could see that the brains’ reward centres would light up in response to the low-calorie food and would show less response to junk food, in comparison to the control group.
It’s pretty powerful to think that, by changing your eating habits for six months, you could actually change the way you want to eat, minimizing cravings for sugary or calorie-laden foods and increasing your desire for vegetables and whole grains.
Six months may seem like a long time. Some people believe you can form a new habit in 21 days, while others insist it takes longer. But the most important things to know when you’re trying to make a change for your health are:
1. Changing your behaviours and habits is possible.
2. Like any goal, all you can do is take it one day at a time.
3. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll reap the rewards.
Make a healthy change in your life this week. Whether you want to eat more vegetables or exercise every day, change is possible. Motivate yourself to eat better using non-food-related rewards, get a pedometer to help work towards a10,000-steps-a-day goal, or download the Couch-to-5K app to finally start running.
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