Eat More Fruits and Vegetables—Add 3 more servings of fruits and vegetables to your diet each day. Add diced veggies to your omelets and casseroles. Puree veggies and add to spaghetti sauce or meatloaf. Add diced fruits to muffins and pancakes or use it to top yogurt or ice cream. You can also make homemade smoothies by blending frozen fruit with low fat, plain yogurt and fruit juice. I often add more veggies than recipes call for, especially when making soups and stir fries.
Get Moving—Increase the amount of aerobic exercise you do. Once you get accustomed to the new level of exercise, after 1-2 months, add strength training to your fitness regimen at least 2 sessions per week. You don’t have to commit an hour each day to exercise, just fit it in where you can: take the stairs instead of the elevator, park farther from the store entrance, walk a whole lap around the mall, take a walk after lunch or dinner.
Add More Grains—Add 3 servings of whole grains per day. While most people have made the switch from white or wheat or whole grain bread, make the switch when purchasing baguettes and pasta too. You should also use brown rice instead of white. Or you can try a new grain, such as barley, quinoa or whole wheat couscous. Oatmeal is often overlooked, but can be used in breads, muffins, streusel topping, or even meatloaf!
Ease Up on Salt—Cut back on salt and increase your sodium awareness. You can usually decrease the sodium called for in recipes and notice almost no difference. If you aren’t already, you should be purchasing low-sodium or no-salt-added canned foods, soups and stocks. If you do use frozen or packaged foods to help you during the week, check the sodium amounts on the nutrition label and chose those with the lowest levels.
Go Vegetarian —Expand the number of all-vegetable dishes that you eat by making 1 vegetarian lunch or dinner each week. This is easiest to do with soups and stews or bean-rice combinations. Veggie burgers and veggie crumbles are an easy way to transition as you can still eat a burger, chili, spaghetti, etc. For those who want to go further, on the days you do eat meat, use it as a flavoring agent. Use ham to flavor soups, black beans and breakfast casseroles. Beef and chicken can be used in small amounts in soups, stews, and casseroles as well. When the weather warms up and you decide to grill, make veggie kabobs with a limited amount of meat and use a flavorful marinade or basting sauce to avoid blandness.
Add More Fish—Cook fish or seafood for dinner 2 times a week. Fish is high in Omega-3, a healthy fat we all need. To avoid high levels of mercury and other contaminants, eat small fish such as tilapia, catfish, pollock, cod and flounder. Some organizations are against farmed fish as they may live in crowded, polluted conditions in countries that aren’t as closely regulated. There are no official warnings or health alerts concerning farmed fish –fish farms in the US are monitored by the FDA. But if you are concerned, stick with wild-caught fish and it’s even better if it’s been frozen-at-sea. For your kids, limit their seafood servings to 2 per week and avoid shark, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel as these are the fish with the highest mercury levels.
Focus on Healthy Fats—Swap healthy fats for unhealthy fats in your diet. Use olive and canola oil in place of butter. The fats found in nuts and seeds, avocados, and vegetable oils are healthy fats. Those found in meat products and dairy are not. Before you cut out all dairy or give up meat, know that moderation is key. You can still enjoy yogurt, cheese, beef and chicken, just choose low-fat versions and remove skim and trim excess fat from your meat and poultry. Use nuts, seeds, olives, and flavorful oils as a garnish to keep fat in check.
Be Portion Aware—Cut your portion size of less-healthy or higher-calorie foods at least once per meal. Being aware of portion sizes is key when eating out. You only need 4-6 oz of meat at a meal, yet often steak places offer 10, 12 or 16 oz steaks. Many restaurants offer huge portions of pasta and desserts. Split these with a partner or divide your plate in half and plan to take half home.
Get Cooking—Cook at least 3 meals more per week than you are now, even if that means cooking breakfast or lunch. This allows you to control the sodium, fat and sugar content. It also decreases the amount of preservatives in the food you consume. For those busy folks, plan a day when you have extra time and bake a batch of muffins or double a recipe and freeze half to have later.
Eat Breakfast Daily— Eating in the morning helps you stay focused and energized through busy days. Breakfast also increases the likelihood of meeting recommended daily doses for essential vitamins and minerals that help prevent disease. A study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that individuals who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight―and more likely to exercise―than non-breakfast eaters.
Serving Sizes: Here are the guidelines provided by MyPyramid.gov. MyPyramid depicts the daily food amounts recommended by the USDA. If you click on a food group, the site lists examples and will tell you what counts as a serving (1 egg, 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1 cup veggies, 1/2 cup dried fruit, 1 1/2 oz of natural cheese). The website has separate pyramids for kids, teens and preganant/nursing moms. You can also analyze your diet, use their food/activity tracker and get a personalized plan. Fruit Group should provide 4 daily 1/2 cup servings, or 2 cups.
Vegetable Group should provide 5 daily 1/2 cup servings, or 2.5 cups.
Grain Group should provide 6 1-ounce-equivalents (1 ounce-equivalent means 1 serving), half of which should be whole grains.
Meat and Beans Group should provide 5.5 1-ounce-equivalents or servings.
Milk Group should provide 3 cups/servings.
Oils should provide 24g or 6 teaspoons.
Discretionary Calories: These are the remaining amount of calories in each calorie level after nutrient-dense foods have been chosen. Up to 267 calories can be consumed in solid fats or added sugars if the other requirements have been met.