With a New Year come New Year’s resolutions, and a lot of resolutions center around eating healthier and losing weight. In the beginning of January, it’s exciting to create that heathy eating plan, but by the 20th, the hopefulness usually starts to fade. Don’t lose your motivation this year! Here are a few healthy eating tips to help you stick with your goals.
1. Replace, replace, replace. When we remove things from our diet, we feel deprived. Instead of eliminating “bad” foods, focus on replacing them with healthier foods. As an alternative to regular pasta, I’ll choose whole wheat pasta. Think of it as enhancing your diet as opposed to punishing yourself with deprivation. Recipes like Zucchini Noodle Carbonara, Cauliflower Fried “Rice”, and Baked Avocado Tacos give you the flavor of the original recipe, but with more nutritional benefits.
3. Focus on small and simple changes that add up. Drinking more water can have a big impact on your overall health, and it helps promote fullness and trim calorie intake. And did you know that many people confuse thirst with hunger? Making infused water is a great way to keep up with your water intake and prevent boredom.
- Start a meatless Monday tradition. Meatless Mondays is an initiative set by the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health, and is becoming a global movement. The goal is to reduce your meat consumption by 15%. A couple of my absolute favorite meatless recipes are Spicy Sesame Cauliflower and Roasted Vegetable Toasts.
- Try ancient grains instead of the standard brown rice. Ancient grains offer a variety of tastes, textures, and nutrients, and some are even gluten-free. Add quinoa, millet, barley, sorghum, spelt, or amaranth to your grocery list this year. And don’t feel like you have to prepare grains as a standard boiled or steamed side dish. Get creative with recipes like Mexican Quinoa Bowl.
Sandy Wolner, Pampered Chef Food & Trend Innovator. Sandy is a registered dietitian nutritionist and loves coming up with creative and healthy recipes to bring families around the table.
No comments yet.