Eating healthy. The idea is one that weighs on your mind from time to time, whether you like it or not. There are times in your life when you think, "Wow I probably shouldn't be shoving this Big Mac down my throat," but continue to eat it anyways as visions of salads dance across your mind.

The action of eating healthy in our society today can sure be a controversial one. There are people who strictly only put raw food in there bodies and claim that it's the only way to live. There are people who simply say that eating healthy shouldn't matter because you only get one life to live. And when it comes to putting your opinion out there for the world to see, will sometimes come with criticism and negative out-lashes from others.

Eating healthy is not something that I pour my heart in soul into, nor am I anywhere near a nutritionist. But I have developed some what of an interest in the recent years about eating healthy. It fascinates me. It's so interesting to see how your body reacts when you change your diet. The better the food you put into your body, the better your body reacts and the better you feel.

But trying to change your habits is hard. People try to do change their habits in a harsh matter. An example of this would be directly removing foods that they have been eating for years from their diet. Then they become crabby and moody. Most importantly, they lose track of the true meaning in why they started eating healthy in the first place. The key to changing habits, is to be patient. Some people say it takes 30 days to make or break a habit. It's not an overnight occurrence.

I cannot stress this enough when I say that it's important to change your eating habits for the right reasons. Change your eating habits in a healthy way. Do it because you love your body and want to show it you care. Have a clear mental mindset from the beginning to end. Keeping that in mind, I have a couple of tricks that I've implemented in my life, to help you start on the right foot this new year!

1. Become Informed

One of the best ways to create a habit, is to become informed about it. It's important to understand the journey you are about to embark on. Use the internet as a guide and research why it's important to eat healthy. There are so many people out there with amazing stories about their lifestyle change. Not only are those stories truly inspiring, but they are unbelievably motivating. Plus researching this topic will increase your knowledge as well. Becoming informed is highly important and is a crucial starting point in changing your eating habits.

2. Pin down what you're trying to change

In my opinion, it's incredibly unrealistic to drop all your normal eating habits and implement a brand new diet overnight. Your body will most likely respond in a negative way to the drastic change you are pushing on your body. Try and pin down exactly what you want to remove or add to your diet. If you're lacking fruit in your diet, figure out what fruit you like and make a quick trip to the store. If you eat too much processed food, try to implement more raw food into your diet and replace that with the processed food. Be realistic and don't try and change everything at once.

3. Drink a LOT of water

Drink water. I know you're probably thinking that you drink enough water, but odds are you probably aren't...So drink MORE. Drinking water not only keeps you hydrated but it continually flushes out all the toxins from your body. The first thing I do every morning is try to drink a full water bottle before I do anything else. Before I eat breakfast, before I drink coffee; I try to rehydrate my body after a long nights rest. Plus it wakes you up and gets you ready to start your day!

4. Try to remove high levels of sodium from your diet

Salt. Everyone loves it, especially me. I love potato chips. I love french fries. I love salt. I always have and I always will. One of the hardest things I have to do when it comes to trying to eat healthy is remove unneeded sodium from my diet. I still struggle with this more than I would like to admit. But as much as I love my buffalo wild wings, when I don't eat that kind of food (aka food with an extreme amount of sodium in it) I feel better. I feel almost lighter, not as heavy and for sure not as bloated all the time. You obviously can't completely cut salt from your diet, but just read the nutrition facts on the back of whatever you're eating, you would be surprised how much salt it actually contains.

5. Drink Green Tea

Green tea...what a snazzy creation. Several nights throughout the week, I try to implement green tea into my diet. I usually drink a decaffeinated cup 2 hours before I go to bed. I know its a small task to implement, but it's truly worth it. Green tea has amazing health benefits, including boosting your metabolism and providing great antioxidants for your body. Plus it's a great way to relax before bed. Drink a cup of green tea and throw on your favorite tv show and you're in for a great night.

6. Choose your snacks wisely

Snacking. Everyone does it, don't lie. I love snacking. In fact there are some days where all I do is snack. If snacking is your thing, it's easy to lose track of what you're putting into your body. Try switching out some healthy alternatives for your normal go to snacks. Try apples and peanut butter rather than Cheez-its. Try carrots and humus rather than potato chips. There are so many healthy snacks out there, especially on Pinterest. So head there for a ton of healthy snack recipies!

7. Balance is everything

I'm such a strong believer that balance is everything. Trying to change your eating habits is hard. It's a long journey that can sometimes take alternate routes, (like to your closest McDonalds) but it's important to remember not to beat yourself up about it when you go off course. It's human nature to make mistakes, but it's within those mistakes that you learn and try not to make them the next time. Always encourage and never criticize yourself. It's important to keep balance in your diet. You don't have to be hardcore all the time. So if you're really REALLY craving a slice of pizza than eat it! (...with ranch of course)

So there you have it! 6 tips to change your eating habits! Good luck!