It’s been 10 days since 2012 started, and by now all that holiday binge eating must have begun to take a toll on your carefully preserved waistline. But getting back into the eating right and healthy cooking mode is tough, to say the very least. Especially, if you’re responsible for your own food intake. How can you start eating healthy again? Let’s look at some basics first:

What usually goes wrong during holidays and vacations? Come vacation time, we quite readily give up on…

1. Fruit intake – No one likes to munch on grapes and apples when the season begs for fried food and colas.

2. Raw and healthy preps of vegetables – Vegetables are only represented by their deep fried versions.

3. Water intake – Between all that partying, binge eating, sleeping, and drinking, our water intake goes for a toss.

4. Lean protein intake – This slippery slope starts at Christmas and continues till the very last bit of red meat and fried meat disappears from the refrigerator.

5.Our resolve to abstain from sugar-laden desserts – Cheesecakes, muffins, cupcakes, brownies, cakes, puddings…they’re fresh in our memory and we don’t want to let go of them just yet.

6. Meal timings – Erratic meal timings make us lose track of when we should or should not be eating.

7. Our resolve to control the drinking – Parties. Partying. Partied.

You get the drift. The sad truth is that no matter how much you exercise, you cannot continue this level of gastronomical abandon.

So, how can you get back to eating right and cooking healthy? The answer lies in setting stimulants and triggers for yourself. Here are our top 10 triggers that will help you get back to eating right…See which ones work for you:

1. List out your daily diet and pin it up on the refrigerator.
2. Go shopping for groceries and healthy cooking ingredients.
3. Start writing a food journal and share it with one like-minded person.
4. Sleep on time – believe it or not, this works wonders for appetite control.
5. Get rid of all the unhealthy snacks and beverages in your house.
6. Stock up on healthy flavourers, like ground pepper, whole grain mustard – whatever tastes better than mayo and cream.
7. Eat one fruit two hours before every meal. Let the fruit be a precursor to the meal you are looking forward to – bind the two.
8. Do – opt to eat healthy. Don’t – make it part of a boring routine. If you decide to eat only cabbage every day, you’ll be queuing up for a burger before the week is out.
9. It’s time to switch the unhealthy alcohol mixers off, and switch the water and ice mixers back on: Be strict.
10.Take baby steps. Allow us to explain…

When you take drastic steps toward getting back to eating right, you damage your motivation levels. Baby steps work much better. So…

1. Don’t go from fried food to salads. Go from fried food to curried or steamed food.
2. Don’t go from 1 bottle of vodka to 0. Go from 8 drinks to 4.
3. Don’t go from desserts every day to none. Go from 7 desserts a week to 1-2 desserts a week.

Between baby steps, careful reconstruction of self-discipline, and tender nurturing of motivation, you’ll be just fine. After all, getting back to eating right and cooking healthy is the best way to achieve that perfect body tone in 2012!