Simple, Sustainable Strategy
“Healthy people generally follow four dietary habits, such as keeping their meals basic and choosing some foods for their healthfulness rather than taste, writes registered dietitian nutritionist Christine Stirparo. These people are open-minded in trying new foods, and they choose long-term healthy diet strategies, Stirparo says.”- Food & Nutrition Magazine online (8/20/18)
Rather than attempting a total dietary overhaul, keep things simple by improving just a few dietary habits at a time. Let’s start with the four listed above:
Keep meals basic. I am a big proponent of embracing the area between our ideal world and reality. In an ideal world, we would love to have a homemade, cooked-from-scratch, 100% healthy dish for every meal. In reality, that could not be farther from feasible for most of us. I recommend on focusing on just a few recipes per week. Make a big batch of each recipes so you can eat that dish for every meal. Aside from that, keep easy-to-make meals on-hand. One of my favorites is a bagged salad kit (I usually split each into 2 portions, but this depends on the size of the bag) topped with either a packet of tuna or frozen chicken strips quickly heated on the skillet. Delicious, nutritious and takes 5 minutes!
Choose some foods for their healthfulness rather than taste. Hate to break it to ya, but you’re not likely to savor everyyy meal. Though taste should be taken into consideration, it shouldn’t always be the #1 criteria we aim to satisfy. If your taste preference doesn’t differ drastically between too dishes, opt for the healthier dish- even if it doesn’t suit your taste buds to the fullest extent.
Be open-minded in trying new foods. Let’s walk through an example here. In undergrad, I thought I hated brussel sprouts. I never ate them growing up (they weren’t served in our house), so my first exposure to these little bulbs was my roommate heating up a frozen bag of them. If you’ve ever smelled microwaved brussel sprouts, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you definitely have NOT encountered this foul odor. Anyways, I tried them for the first time several years late when one of my grad school roommates roasted them in the oven. Not only did they not reek of a potent fart smell (sorry, but that’s just the reality!), but they were DELICIOUS! My point here is this: try different foods, try the same foods prepared via different methods, try different seasonings with the same foods, and try different food pairings. You never know what combo(s) might strike your fancy!
Choose long-term healthy diet strategies. Let’s go with another example here. I love sweets- this is not news! It’s not realistic for me to limit added sugar to the extent that is recommended (<25 g/week). Rather than trying to minimize added sugar to this amount, which would eventually lead to backlash and me binging on all the sweet things, I aim to consume such treats either pre- or post-workout so that these fast-acting carbs are used to fuel my workouts or to open my muscle cells afterwards to absorb my post-workout protein and healthier carbs. For me, this is a much more sustainable strategy!
If you need help finding strategies that allow you to maintain the dietary habits listed above, please let me know and I would love to conduct a consultation together!
