A habit is defined as a behavior that is repeated regularly. A bad habit is a habit that has a negative affect on you, your values and the person you want to be.

Changing habits, creating good habits and breaking bad habits, is not easy and takes focused effort and consistency. Here are three strategies that can help you break a bad habit….

1. REDUCE IT’S EXPOSURE

2. MAKE IT LESS ATTRACTIVE

3. MAKE IT DIFFICULT

To explain these further lets use the bad habit of snacking late at night.

First identify what is triggering this habit so you know what you need to change. Let’s say for this example that your snacking late at night is due to stress, triggered by a tough day at work.

To reduce your exposure you can introduce new habits to help reduce stress, such as meditation and regular exercise. Working on healthy ways to manage this stress would be a priority and go a long way to reducing the late night snacking.

Making it less attractive would include ensuring you are eating enough throughout the day, especially foods that have greater satiety eg. proteins & healthy fats. Start meal planning at the start of the week and prep healthy nutritious meals to have throughout the day so you are not skipping meals. A good, substantial dinner 2-3 hours before going to bed is also a good idea.

Lastly you want to make it difficult. Adding friction/steps between you and your unhealthy late night food cravings like removing the them from your kitchen all together will help make it more difficult. Removing or placing your go-to late night snack options somewhere out of reach means you will generally not bother and have a glass of water instead. You may also get an accountability buddy who you can contact whenever you are triggered to snack late at night. Having to message someone is a great tool to get you to stop and think and in most cases avoid giving in to the habit.

As with forming positive habits, breaking negative habits takes consistency. Start with your trigger and go from there.