Healthy habits - Decision Fatigue
Whether we were aware of it or not I can guarantee we have all experienced ‘Decision Fatigue’ to some extent.
I was inspired to write about this particular topic after watching a you tube video from Matt D'Avella’s, but in this article I am talking about it in relevance to nutrition and our eating habits. In there he highlights that; on average we make around 35,000 decisions a day! Plus these days we are inundated with decisions more than ever due to the increased choices that are widely available - for example the coffee menu in cafe’s, the food and drink products of very similar items, the various labels, marketing tag lines/selling points, what diet we should be following, and so on!
What do we mean by decision fatigue?
In psychology the term decision fatigue refers to the decline in our ability to make good quality decisions as the day goes on or as the quantity of decisions we have to make increases. You can think of good quality decisions as those that are well thought out, logical, in line with our values or our goals, often ones that take at least some self control and discipline. However this self discipline or will power is not an unlimited resource, think of it as a battery - the more we use it the more drained it becomes, and when you combine this with general tiredness over the day our decision making ability declines.
I think most of us can relate to finding it easier to make good food choices earlier on in the day, then come the evening impulsive decisions, snacking on processed foods are harder to avoid. Of course this can be due to other factors such as being too restrictive/under eating during the day,
This concept is understood in supermarkets and food marketing - Impulse buys like chocolate bars/snacks, are located by the tills when you have already made a whole bunch of decisions throughout the shop, so you are less likely to refrain from throwing them into the basket come the end.
Analysis paralysis;
Occasionally too many decisions to make can also turn into decision avoidance, where no action is taken at all = a.k.a analysis paralysis. For example someone trying to change eating habits to loose weight might feel overwhelmed by the number of diets options, approaches, or steps being marketed towards them that they end up not making a start at all.
How can we use this in forming positive habits?
So with that being said, what can we actually do about it? Firstly being aware of the WHY behind eating patterns is always useful, so congratulations you can tick that off already ;)
Next have a think about what decisions you actually HAVE to make at the time during your day - What can you eliminate, delegate, automate? Can you prioritise decisions and make those that are most important or most challenging early on in the day?
Points and actions that may help;
Meal Prep - if you’ve already batch cooked for a few meals then no need to decide whats for lunch everyday!
Meal Plan on rotation - if you are not the meal prep type, that’s cool. But creating some kind of meal plan for the week, perhaps on a weekend morning, will help take out some of the tired weeknight dinner decisions later on.
Shopping lists to stick to - don’t let the supermarkets win with their dirty tackticks ;) Go armed with a shopping list that you have decided ahead of time you will stick to! And aim to do a bigger weekly shop rather than lots of smaller ones throughout the week where possible.
Only stock up on foods that make your goal/healthy lifestyle easier NOT more challenging. Make the hard decision ONCE in the shop instead of having to choose the fruit over the crisps/sweets again and again while relaxing at home.
Online shopping - If the above is still a little challenging do your weekly shop online or get a regular veg box delivery for example. We are far less likely to browse if we take our list and search for individual ingredients. Once you do this a few times your regular items will be saved making life even easier.
Start your day right! For example; prioritise a nutrient rich brekkie such as eggs with veg, overnight oats with mixed seeds, yogurt and berries, or a veg packed smoothie, or it could mean planning and packing some healthy snacks or lunch for the day ahead.
Here is the link if you want to check out the video 😃 Matt’s channel offers some great content on habit change and self development, he does have quite a big focus on minimalism but provides educational and practical tips for everyone.
