Never Heard of Habit Stacking? Here’s Why We Love It - Ask a Nutritionist

Transcript:

Teresa: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition's midweek segment , “Ask a Nutritionist”. I am Teresa Wagner, Registered and Licensed Dietitian, and today we will be discussing a favorite topic of mine, habit stacking. How many times have you heard or even said, I know what to do, I just can't get myself to do it.

I hear it all the time from clients, from friends, from family. We all know the basics. Move our bodies regularly. Eat plenty of veggies and protein, manage stress, stay hydrated and get a solid eight hours of sleep at night. But let's be real. Knowing isn't the problem. Turning that knowledge into daily habits is what feels overwhelming.

Start with small changes done consistently

We think we need to overhaul everything at once to see progress, but so often those changes, they just don't stick and we end up back at square one. What if instead, we focused on the smallest changes, the ones we could actually do consistently. Imagine starting with one pushup two to three times a day.

Over time, that simple action could evolve into strength and confidence that you didn't have before, or picture adding just 10 grams of fiber to your breakfast every day. By the end of the year, that's 3,650 grams of fiber nourishing your body, supporting your digestion and your microbiome. And this happened without a total diet overhaul.

Small steady changes can lead to big lasting results, and for many of us. That's a whole lot easier to commit to. That's where the idea of habit stacking comes in, and that's what we're diving into today. Never heard of habit stacking? Well, today I'm going to talk about why I love it and why we love it. And when I say why we love it, I mean the dietitians and nutritionists and even some of our support staff at Nutritional Weight & Wellness, they're going to chime in with some of their favorite habit stacks.

These small habits make a big difference, especially when it comes to nutrition, movement, hydration, and more. So if you're feeling overwhelmed or stuck in over routines, stick around. I've got some great tips from real women who are stacking their way to real health. So let's start with the basics.

What is habit stacking?

Habits, they are little routines we do so regularly that they become second nature. Think brushing your teeth or turning on the coffee pot before your brain's even fully awake. Our brains love habits. They make us more efficient, but the real magic is when we intentionally build habits that aligned with our goals, and that's how we move from being stuck to feeling like we're making progress.

If you've ever read Atomic Habits by James Clear, you know about the concept of habit stacking. It's all about linking a new habit to something that you already do, like brushing your teeth or making coffee. Take Brandy for example. Every morning before she sips her coffee, she stirs in L-glutamine into her glass of water and drinks it before the coffee's brewed.

And then while it's happening, she lines up her supplements for the rest of the day. It's simple, sustainable, and automatic. Habit stacking makes behavior change feel less like a complete lifestyle overhaul and more like a simple addition to your current routine.

Habit stacking tips

Now before we stack all the good things, let's talk about some things that we shouldn't do. And I’ll use some examples of correcting it so that we know what we should do with great habit stacks, because yes, even good habits can hit a snag if we don't set them up correctly. So mistake number one is stacking a habit onto an unstable habit.

Let's say you want to add a calming habit before bed, say winding down with a five minute meditation or reading a few pages of a book to improve your sleep quality. A common mistake would be that you decide to stack this new habit onto something like turn off the TV by 10:00 PM, but here's the issue.

Sometimes you stay up late watching a movie. Sometimes you scroll on your phone. Other nights you don't turn on the TV at all. That means your anchor habit is unpredictable and your new sleep habit never really finds footing.

Habit stack with something that happens no matter what

A better approach would be to anchor your sleep habit to something that happens every single night. For example, after I wash my face, I'll do five minutes of meditation or after I plug in my phone to charge it up, I will open a book and read a chapter. These anchors work because they're a part of your non-negotiable bedtime routine. They happen whether it's a weekend or a weeknight, whether you're tired or whether you're wiring.

The best habit stacks are anchored to something that happens no matter what, like cooking, showering, locking the front door, driving to work, or even going to the bathroom. These are the habits that happen even when you're tired, when you're stressed, when you're distracted. It's the kind of consistency your new habit needs to latch onto.

Start with 1 tiny shift

Another mistake, and I see this one happens so often, is going too big too soon. We're all excited about making changes. Ambition is inspiring, but stacking five new habits onto your morning routine is a recipe for burnout. Start with one tiny shift, master it, and then add on.

Be specific 

Another mistake is being too vague with your habit. I'll move more. I'll eat healthier. This is too fuzzy. Try being more specific, like I'll do 10 squats while the shower water is warming up, or I'll eat vegetables every day at lunch. Specificity helps you know exactly what your habit is and if you've accomplished it.

Another habit I see is weak or inconsistent cues. The magic of stacking is in the trigger. A cue like sometime in the afternoon, it just won't cut it. Tie your habit to something specific, consistent, that already happens like clockwork. For example, I'll go grocery shopping sometime on the weekend. That new habit of trying to consistently grocery shop, you're trying to make it without having anything for it specific for it to stick to.

The cue needs to be something you do consistently, not just when life is calm or convenient. So instead, you may create a habit stack more specific, like after church on Sunday, I will go directly to the grocery store.

Give yourself a reward

And lastly, another mistake I see: skipping the reward. Our brains love closure. Give yourself a check mark, a fist bump in the mirror, whatever keeps the momentum going. And if you skip a day, forgive yourself. Reset. And remember, we're building consistency, not perfection. Okay.

Examples of habit stacks from our staff

Are you ready for some inspiration? These are the habits stacks that our Nutritional Weight & Wellness staff actually use, and they, they really work. So if you're trying to get in the habit of drinking more water throughout the day, try Oralee’s, one of our favorite teachers, try her trick. Every time she uses the bathroom she drinks a glass of water. And then she refills that glass of water right away, so it's ready for the next time. It's brilliant in its simplicity.

Amy, she also has a hydration strategy. She fills up a big bottle of water before she takes her kids to school and finishes it before returning home, trying to squeeze in something healthy while she's just sitting in the car for so long. And speaking of sitting in the car, why not use that time at the stoplight for a little stress or cortisol lowering activity?

While the light is red, take diaphragmatic breaths while waiting for your turn to go. Simply breathe in through your nose for four seconds, expanding your belly. Then breathe out of your mouth for eight seconds, contracting the muscles of the abdomen as you let that air go.

If you have a hard time, remember taking your supplements, Cassie's husband has a trick he uses. He puts his vitamin D bottle by the bathroom sink. Every morning when he wakes up to brush his teeth, he sees that bottle and takes the vitamin D first thing. Now he always remembers to take it.

I have clients who struggle to remember to take their magnesium at bedtime. They crawl into bed, realize they forgot to take their magnesium, and rather than get out of their warm comfy bed, they skip it. And generally this isn't a big deal, but if it becomes consistent, their sleep quality, it starts to suffer. Insert habit stacking. Now they keep their bottle of magnesium bedside. In both these cases, that visual cue keeps them consistent.

Alright, on to food prep. Leah, she packs grab and go lunches with dinner leftovers while cleaning up dinner. We've probably all done this. We put all our leftover food away in large containers only to have to take it all out again the next morning to pack it into smaller containers to take to work the next day. Leah's habit stacks saves time and reduces stress of that morning rush. She makes the healthy choice the easy choice by making her lunch just a reach into the fridge away.

Britni preps veggies on Sunday while cooking dinner, chopping and storing them in a big container to snack on packing the kids' lunches or have on the side with dinner that week. She notices that her whole family eats more vegetables since she started doing this habit stack. For her, it just seems easier to do when the kitchen is dirty and she's already in cooking mode.

When roasting vegetables on a sheet pan double up. Use two sheet pans. You'll have roasted vegetables for now and roasted vegetables for later. Goes great with eggs in the morning and a salad at lunch. I mean, yum. Cold roasted beets and a salad. Ugh, it's a favorite. Or it can take care of that age old question. What's for dinner? Just add a protein. Your future self will thank you for this habit stack.

With a family of five, unloading a week's worth of grocery takes a while. So while I'm putting all those groceries away, I'll either make hard boiled eggs in the instant pot, or cook several chicken breasts on the stove top to have some quick protein options on hand for the week. I'm working in the kitchen anyway. I might as well put some of my appliances to work too.

And if you're a breakfast skipper, try this. Add a scoop of collagen protein powder and some cream or some coconut milk to your coffee. A little protein, a little fat with your caffeine kick can fuel you until your appetite wakes up. Perfect if you're not into eating right away in the morning or need just a little something before a workout.

And since I brought up working out, if you're looking to increase how much you move throughout the day, here's some ideas. Cassie follows up her gym sessions with the stretches her chiropractor prescribed. It's her post-workout ritual and her body feels amazing for it.

One of our front desk colleagues turns her library trip into a weighted walk. She loads her backpack with the books she's read and walks home with a new set. Great for her bones, for her muscles, and not to mention her brain. At the office, Mel fits in 10 to 20 air squats between clients. Brandy walks laps around the lower level after every trip to the bathroom, Terri keeps a set of weights in the back and sneaks in bicep curls and tricep kickbacks during breaks between tasks. Efficiency at its finest. Tiny changes in daily flow can bring big wins.

Alyssa sets out her workout clothes, her water bottle. She makes sure her AirPods are charged and picks up podcasts out the night before an early morning workout. Getting out of bed to workout can be hard enough. This habit stack helps remove as many obstacles as possible. And Amy's strategy: no second cup of coffee until after her workout. It's her favorite motivator. And guess what? The workout gets done.

The takeaway is you don't need more willpower. You need better systems. Start small. Choose one habit and link it to something that you already do. Maybe it's prepping your kids' school lunches while dinner's on the stove. Maybe it's eating vegetables first at your meals or stretching during your favorite show.

Keep it simple, keep it consistent, and watch 'em grow. Here's the thing. You don't need to follow someone else's routine. These stories weren't shared as prescriptions, but as possibilities; real habit stacks from real people who found what fit for them. Your routines, your rhythms, they're your own. And what makes habit stacking so powerful is that it flexes with your life.

So instead of asking, how do I do what Brandy, Amy or Leah does, ask what do I already do every day without fail? Start there. Use those everyday habits as your anchors. Let this conversation spark ideas that feel like you, because the question isn't how do I fit into somebody else's plan? It's how do I build a rhythm that feels natural in my own?

One tiny habit linked to what you're already doing can lead to impactful lasting change. So what will your stack be? Let us know on our Dishing Up Nutrition Facebook page. Thanks for listening to Dishing Up Nutrition’s “Ask a Nutritionist”. If you found this episode to be helpful, be sure to leave us a rating or review on your favorite podcast app.

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