The new year offers us an opportunity to start fresh and take another step toward better health. For many folks, that step may be losing weight, eating healthier, exercising or a combination of all the above. A worthy cause to be sure, but as Time Magazine pointed out earlier this year, dieting is one of the most commonly broken New Year’s resolutions! We’re here to share some advice to help keep you on the healthy track in 2012.
Plan for Success
It’s been said before, but one of the best ways to improve your diet is to incorporate more fruits and vegetables every day. Without putting pressure on yourself, assess a typical weekly eating plan. How many fruits and vegetables do you eat for each meal? If fresh produce doesn’t make up half of your plate for every meal, then you’re skimping on your health. (USDA’s My Plate program and Super Tracker service are a great help!) It also could be helpful to develop a daily eating plan that gradually increases the amount of fruits and veggies in your diet (two extra servings/day for first week, three extra servings/day for the second week, etc.) until you’ve reached your goal.
Know Yourself
Part of the problem with maintaining a healthy diet resolution (in our opinion) is the amount of pressure people put on themselves to make as quick and dramatic a change as possible. It’s OK to allow yourself a treat from time to time (you’ll earn it!) so long as you develop and grow healthy habits and consistently include more fruits and vegetables in your diet. Just because you indulge in a soda or enjoy a piece of cake at work (it would be rude to refuse, right?) doesn’t mean your diet is shot and you should revert back to your 2011 ways. While discipline is certainly important, it’s more important to be mindful of what works for you or else this New Year’s resolution could be resolved by Groundhog Day.
(See our New Year’s 2011 post for five simple guidelines to maintain a resolution for a healthier diet. The Hoppin’ John recipe is a Southern favorite and could bring you good fortune!)
Another common issue we hear is that it’s too time consuming to shop for and prepare healthy, home-cooked meals. It doesn’t have to be this way! As with anything, careful planning goes a long way.
- View “What’s in Season?” – a chart of locally available produce – to make a shopping list of items you can get fresh and easy from the farmers market.
- Get the whole family on board to increase your odds of success. Watch our video on 10 Tips for Getting Children to Eat Fresh Produce and take along the Farmers Market Treasure Hunt to introduce the children to fruits and vegetables.
- Prepare dishes that are quick, simple and nutritious – not to mention tasty – like the ones on our Recipes page.
- Browse our collection of short, informative Videos to find tips for selecting, storing, preparing and preserving a wide variety of fresh produce.
Take control, be strong and have a happy, healthy New Year! Be sure to check out the January 2012 newsletter to see our program’s “Year in Review.”
