New Zealand is choosing a more sustainable and healthier lifestyle. The demand for organic products has increased by over 28%. It has a market value of over $500 million! In 2015, at least 10% of the population was a vegetarian. If you want to eat healthily and embrace this movement, here are four tips that can help you:

1. Build a Greenhouse

Natural produce tends to be expensive for many reasons. The demand is high, but the supply is low. The methods to create them are more time-consuming and costlier than the mainstream ones. You can go big with produce and less on spending when you grow your food. One smart idea is to make a small greenhouse in NZ.

You can buy a frame kit, so all you need to do is to assemble it. It can come with glass panels, which can be long-lasting and create a visual appeal to the space. It can also have vents for proper ventilation and mesh curtains to keep away pests. Creating a greenhouse allows you to not only grow food but plant a variety of greens all year round. This is because you have more control over the plant conditions.

2. Join the Meatless Monday Club

Do you know many vegetarians backslide? A study by Humane Research Council in 2017 revealed that a whopping 84% would likely go back to eating meat. No more than one in every five vegans was able to maintain the lifestyle.

The reason is understandable, especially in the New Zealand setting. One, the diet can be restrictive. Second, most of the people are meat eaters. If you want to stick with it, it will be best to make healthy eating a habit. You can begin with Meatless Monday.

The premise is simple: don’t eat meat at the start of the week! Doing this can take the pressure off going vegetarian, and you can try out some recipes and decide which ones you like best. If you hate Mondays, then go for the other days of the week. Then once you get used to it, challenge yourself to extend it to two to three days until you can say bye-bye to meat officially.

3. Consider Substitution

What if you can’t just quit on the meat yet? An excellent way to ease yourself to a healthier lifestyle is to do a substitution. Here are a few ideas:

• 3:1 ratio of olive oil and anything acidic such as apple cider vinegar or half a lemon instead of pre-made ranch or other salad dressing
• Whole-wheat products instead of those with processed white flour
• Lean or white meats such as turkey or chicken breast instead of pork
• Nuts or dried fruits instead of chips

4. Make a Reason

You are more than likely to stick to your goals if you have something that motivates you to do it. There are 1,001 reasons to become a vegetarian or eat organic. From trying to be healthy to saving the planet, all you need to do is to take a pick.

These ideas should make it much easier for you to transition to healthy eating. However, take note that you don’t need to be harsh on yourself if you go back to your old ways once in a while. It’s part of the process. What is more important is that you’re taking the best steps to reach your objective. Eventually, you will create a healthier version of yourself.