How do you eat fun foods and still create a healthy lifestyle? We get this question in a couple of different forms regularly so we thought it would be a great idea to address it here! While there’s no one-size fits all answer there are a few ideas we want to help you think through.

1. Create mental flexibility
   1. Flex that mental muscle by creating a list of your favorite fun, more indulgent foods. From this list, have a conversation with yourself to start changing the way you talk about these foods. Strip away what you might use to have called them and create space for the new outlook you’re creating. This flexibility method will take time, but practice will start shifting flexibility
2. Have a positive food attitude
   1. Food is neither good or bad, it’s just food. It’s a choice we get to make a few times a day based on hunger cues, cravings, social, cultural, environmental, and many other factors. If you can start by looking at food in a nourishing light you will have a more positive outlook on the choice you are making.
3. Eat Food
   1. Now that you’ve started flexing your methods and creating a more positive attitude towards fun foods, put it into practice. Add it in when you want, and don’t when you want something else to fill your plate. 

These ideas go back to our 80/20 in 2020 idea. 80% of the time choosing nutrient dense foods while the other part is finding the fun foods you love the most can help create your balance. Each of us has a unique outlook on what these foods are and feelings and memories they elicit.