The other day, a customer told me that she must have told herself 100 times that she actually wants to eat healthier. There are actually enough good arguments for healthy eating, she said.

And yet she doesn't do it! Why can't she do it?

Here are the top 10 reasons why we think most people don't manage to eat healthily.

Healthy eating to lose weight: 10 reasons why it doesn't work (yet)

1. you don't want it for yourself

Eating healthily is associated with bad feelings or a guilty conscience for you. Someone around you has "told" you to eat healthier. Maybe your mother, your doctor, your boss or your partner. Somehow you feel that they might be right, but somehow your "inner rebel" is also stirring inside you.

If the motivation doesn't come from yourself or you are dependent on others to achieve your goal, then it can't be successful in the end.

So first think about whether YOU want it at all. Or rather someone else. And if you really only want to eat healthy because someone else is pushing you and you don't see the need for it yourself, then the time is probably just not right for you yet.

That it will come one day - we never lose hope ;)

2. your why is not strong enough

Perhaps no one has urged you to eat healthily. You just think it would be better for you. Because... why actually? Because you'll lose weight? Because "you" should just eat healthy as a matter of principle? Because it would make you feel more attractive?

If you want to eat healthily, then ask yourself why you want to do so. And don't just ask yourself this once, but several times! Because the first reason that comes to mind is usually not the real, deep, motivating reason.

And once you have found this deep-seated why, if you really feel it in your heart and it all makes sense, then motivation and sticking with it is actually a piece of cake.

That's why we believe that clarifying this why is part of every dietary change right at the beginning.

3. you don't know where to start

This may sound a little strange, but could it be that you don't know exactly what is healthy and what is not? It's strange because we've probably never known as much about healthy eating as we do today! There are tons of books, magazines, films, blogs, online courses and podcasts (such as our Darmglück podcast) on the subject of health and nutrition.

When we still had a practice, we still saw time and again that the most basic things were misunderstood or not implemented correctly. Or even that "experts" were telling us the wrong things.

Who are you supposed to believe? Are eggs healthy or not? Are artificially sweetened foods better than those sweetened with sugar? How do I manage to avoid sugar? And so on and so forth.

People often dwell on details like whether they should use sugar or sweetener or whether low-fat yogurt might be better than normal yogurt. And they forget to look at the big picture.

Because if you only eat natural foods that your body recognizes as food, then the question of sweeteners or skimmed dairy products doesn't even arise!

4. your environment is not pulling in the same direction

This could be one, if not THE most underestimated reason why you don't manage to eat healthily in the long term.

Because no matter how motivated you are, if everyone in your circle of friends and family makes fun of your healthy diet or constantly tries to persuade you to feast and make exceptions, then at some point you will no longer have the strength to keep swimming against the tide.

They say: you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. This also applies to a healthy lifestyle. So you need at least one ally!

And that's the beauty of having like-minded people around you in a course or seminar. The power of the group. You are not alone.

5. you don't have the money or time

This is probably the most frequently cited reason: lack of resources. No time to cook, no money for high-quality food and no time for healthy eating.

This may sound provocative, especially if you're in a difficult situation. But you don't have to be rich or retired to eat well and look after yourself. For example, ask yourself how much money you spend every day on sweet drinks, take-away coffee, snacks, chewing gum, cigarettes, alcohol, ready meals and baked goods.

Healthy eating doesn't cost more time and money than unhealthy fast food if you do the math right and especially if you know how to save time and money on cooking and shopping. Because if the cost of an unhealthy lifestyle is your health in the end, then everything else is no longer worth much.

What definitely saves you time, by the way, is if you are given instructions on how best to organize your diet and you don't have to gather all the information yourself.

6. you are addicted to sugar

You actually eat healthily. But you "need" your daily dessert. Or a snack between meals. And just the thought of not being "allowed" to eat anything sweet makes you panic and rebel.

Sugar addiction sabotages your plans to eat healthily, because it leads to the cycle of cravings-sugar-boost-energy-high-low-cravings.

If you've been reading here for a while, you'll know what sugar does and why it's so important to reduce it. And then you also know how important the topic of "sugar" and its conscious use is to us.

Not because sweetness has a lot of calories, but because the information it provides to the body makes us fat or sick.

7. you don't like to cook

In our opinion, it's almost impossible to eat healthily if you don't like cooking. Unless you have someone who cooks healthy food for you.

The fact that you don't like cooking could have something to do with the fact that you don't know how to prepare something tasty quickly and easily. Cooking doesn't have to be time-consuming and complicated. As with many things, the fun comes with practice, because if you're good at something, it's usually easy for you.

That's why we like to give our customers suitable recipes and suggestions.

This is also where your why (see point 2) comes into play again, because if your why is big and important enough, you'll accept that cooking is simply a means to achieve your goal and won't struggle with it. We have also put together a good selection of delicious healthy eating recipes for you on our blog. So you'll never be short of inspiration ;)

8. the fear of the change paralyzes you

We have often heard from customers that they feel like they are about to take a test before changing their diet. Nervous about whether they will make it. Afraid of giving up and also afraid of failure. And the solution they have found for themselves? Simply not to start, then nothing can go wrong!

We would like to give you a little encouragement: If you have positively mastered all the points we have listed so far and incorporated them into your plan, then the changeover will be much easier for you than you think.

And before you think long and hard about whether and how you should change your diet: just get into action. Because nothing in your life will change from thinking about it alone, from hesitating and procrastinating.

9. you've already tried it once and it didn't work

"Once?" you might be thinking. Tens of times! In the beginning it actually sounded like a good idea and even worked quite well. But disillusionment always came at some point. And if you've already made several attempts at healthy eating and have always fallen back into old patterns, then we can well understand that a new attempt simply takes courage!

But hand on heart: it probably wasn't your fault that it didn't work!

A teacher of mine once said: "A good nutrition program has three components. It's like a three-legged stool: if just one component is missing, the stool tips over.

These 3 components are: 1. the system must work (i.e. one-sided crash diets, for example, cannot work in the long term!). 2. the program must be constructive and motivating 3. you need a certain amount of monitoring/accountability.

Maybe now is simply the time to stop trying it on your own.

10. you've forgotten that diet is only part of the whole

We have saved this seemingly harmless point for last. Because this point is actually the one that makes the big difference.

It's not just food that nourishes us. First and foremost, everything that surrounds us and makes up our lives nourishes us.

Researchers say that the main component of a successful change in diet is "happiness". If you are happy in life, you make better decisions. Also - or especially - when it comes to your health.

And these influences of all the things that surround us are not only present in a figurative sense, but also in a physical sense. There are plenty of studies that have investigated the influence of singing on the immune system, for example, or the effect of meditation on chronic illnesses such as chronic pain.

That's why there is also plenty of room for lifestyle and lifestyle-related topics in our consultations.