When we talk of habits, mostly we mean bad ones – not quite so bad as the excessive consumption of narcotics, more the as a one-off harmless, but done every day pretty harmful type, so engrained in your behaviour you barely notice it.

A few food-related (as befits this blog) bad habits? Sugar absent-mindedly stirred into your morning coffee, a croissant on your way to work, the crisps you don’t need but free with your sandwich at lunch, a Twix dipped into a mid-afternoon cup of PG Tips, that splurge of ketchup next to your sausages and mash, or the two glasses of wine you don’t mean to but will inevitably drink in front of the telly.  

Despite my mask of near-saintly nutritional perfection, I have plenty of bad food habits – let me bare all. Too often, in a bored moment, I stand in front of the fridge and eat a slice of cheese. Another? In the calm that descends after the children’s bedtime, I gorge on nuts, seeds and dried fruit, despite an earlier, substantial evening meal. Oh, and whilst my pre-meal self-control (it’s rare to find me nibbling when preparing dinner) is good, post-meal it’s exceedingly bad. I don’t think my mind understands the expression, “right then, that’s it for now” and so, though my stomach has long been full, I pick at the leftover fish, reach for another bit of bread, slice off yet more cheese.

Seeing bad food habits for what they are is quite easy. Breaking them is harder – but not impossible, and, if successful, the sense of liberation is tremendous. Before I elaborate with a few helpful ideas on how, a quick word on rituals …

Yes, rituals. Whether grand and ceremonial, or small and private, a ritual sounds  wonderfully precious and comforting – the sort of thing that without which you wouldn’t feel quite complete. As parents of young children, we are told to create a bedtime ritual which makes them feel warm, safe and calm. As adults, wolfing down meals, gulping back coffee and surfing the internet until our eyelids fall, iPad still in hand, we forget about creating rituals for ourselves.

So perhaps we should try rebranding any good habit – we all have a few alongside the bad – as a ritual. In doing so, we may afford this good habit the time and space in the day for it to become a behaviour which defines us – an island of quiet in our day which we fight to preserve. The body is a temple, after all (or not, but rather nice to treat it as one, all the same).

Breaking bad habits … 

1) Write a list of everything you consider to be a bad food habit and why. Which ones cost you too much money, make you sluggish the next day, give you tummy ache, add an extra ring of flesh to your midriff?

2) Choose one or two worst offenders, and determinedly set yourself the task of stopping them.

3) Now simply remove yourself from the situation in which they would usually occur – e.g. if you always buy a croissant from a particular cafe, take a different route to work.

4) Replace the habit(s) with something even lovelier (and better for you). Drink posh herbal tea in place of PG Tips, ditch the ketchup and scatter a few sun-dried tomatoes over the top of your mash, take a friend to the theatre instead of the pub.

5) Remember: it is never the wrong time to start and your will is not made of iron. Drinking sugary coffee in the morning does not condemn you to drinking sugary tea in the afternoon. The inevitable morning when you just can’t resist croissant does not spell despair. Recognise such moments as anomalies – not the norm – and get back to it for the rest of the day. 

Creating rituals … 

1) Write a list of the food or drinks you most enjoy, and what makes them so pleasurable.

2) Then write down the things you think you’d like to eat, but never find time or motivation to do so.

3) Choose two – from the tried-and-tested and/or new list, and give them each at least five minutes of your time every day. Five minutes of focused time, where you don’t do much else other than think about enjoying the taste, sensation, act of consuming that thing.

4) Create a ritual from a bad habit by exchanging it for an improved, healthier version at another time in the day. A cheap chocolate bar in the afternoon becomes a square of luxurious dark chocolate just after breakfast. Then tell yourself firmly you’ve already done that, and it won’t be indulged again today.

5) Tell one friend your plan, and ask him or her to gently encourage you on a near daily basis. A kindly email or text message when you’re just about to stray works wonders.