Buzz
We all know we should eat healthier (I’m guilty too, especially after looking back at how many times Nutella has featured in my meals this week), but we often go about it the wrong way. If you’re feeling constantly hungry, drained, or falling off track, it might be time to reassess the common mistakes you’re making.
I won’t dive into the biggest mistake here, as it’s already been thoroughly covered: confusing healthy eating with dieting. Whether you gain or lose weight comes down to the quantity of food you’re consuming, but no matter where your weight is, it’s crucial to get a balanced, nutrient-rich diet. Now that we’ve established that, let’s explore the next two key mistakes:
Not consuming enough protein
Getting enough food to stay healthy is crucial, and protein intake plays a key role. A well-balanced diet should provide enough protein to help your body repair and maintain its cells. If you’re working out—which you definitely should!—protein aids muscle recovery and growth. For reference, a 200-pound individual should consume at least 72 grams of protein daily just to sustain basic bodily functions, 108 grams or more if involved in endurance activities, and 120 grams or more if lifting weights. (You can find the calculations, along with additional examples, here.)
However, when we focus on eating healthy, protein often takes a backseat. While vegetables and whole grains contain some protein, they often fall short on their own. If you're following a plant-based diet and not closely tracking protein intake, you might easily miss out on adequate protein. Similarly, if you’re cutting down portions and eliminating protein-rich foods from your meals, like swapping a burger for a salad, you might be drastically reducing the protein content of your meal.
Insufficient protein intake can leave you feeling weak and tired. You might also experience increased hunger, problems with hair and nails, and a higher risk of certain health issues. In the gym, muscle growth could be hindered, and if you're not active, you may start to lose muscle mass. This is particularly concerning for older adults, as muscle loss can be a significant health concern. So, protein is not just for bodybuilders.
Setting rigid rules (that you constantly break)
Eating healthy often begins with a carefully crafted plan... and ends when we fail to follow through. No amount of recipe research or meal prepping can change the fact that you’re a human being with tastes, cravings, and needs.
Perhaps you envision yourself as the perfect, god-like figure who’s perfectly satisfied with chickpeas and quinoa, never tempted by a bottle of beer or a hot fudge sundae. But that’s your ideal, not your reality. If you impose restrictions without reason, you’re setting yourself up to fall off track, feel guilty, and then try again. This cycle can, in extreme cases, exacerbate tendencies toward eating disorders.
The truth is that our results are shaped by the whole picture of what we eat and do—not just from our wins or losses. The more rigid the rules we try to follow, the shorter the period we can actually stick to them. You might feel accomplished completing something like 75Hard or Whole30, but these restrictive challenges usually only last a few days—hence the numbers in their names. The reality of “maintaining a pretty good routine for the next 50 years” may not sound as catchy, but it's ultimately what healthy eating truly means.
