Nutrition doesn’t have to be complicated.

As we go through the holidays, it’s easy to fall into the cycle of guilt, frustration and overwhelm when trying to get back to healthier eating as the new year comes around. We all know that short term fixes don’t work or last, so what’s the secret to eating healthier and creating a routine that sticks around long term.

It’s not as complicated as you might think. Some of my best and easiest tips to help with healthier eating are as simple as putting vegetables on your plate first and anchoring healthy habits to ones that are already in your routine. The seatbelt rule sounds too simple to make a difference but it does. Getting in the habit of putting vegetables on your plate first before anything else helps you increase your portion of them and naturally displaces the rest of the food on your plate. This helps you crowd out the foods that aren’t helping you move towards your health goals while increasing your fiber intake at the same time. It’s easy enough to stick to long term and once it becomes a habit it will stick with you wherever you go.

My second tip is to anchor your healthy habits to other activities that are in your typical routine. One of my favourite suggestions is to anchor the habit of creating a “veggie bucket” as soon as you get home from grocery shopping. It’s normal to come home from shopping and immediately put your groceries away. This is an easy way to add on one more action step that will help you eat more vegetables throughout your week and not have them go to waste. All you have to do is take 5-10 minutes to chop up your favourite vegetables and place them in an easy to grab container for the week for meals and snacks. You can put on your favourite song and challenge yourself to get it done before the song ends. Quick, easy and very helpful especially throughout the busy holidays.

Healthy eating doesn’t have to be complicated or perfect but it does have to be consistent. This is an easy solution to begin to implement small habits that can make a huge difference long term.

Coach Ash.

If you want to build better habits this year book a FREE nutrition call HERE to see how we can help you!