The #2 most important food related goal.

Happy New Years! Photo from wix.com

The #1 most important new years resolution you can make around health is to sit down and eat family meals together.

Why?

Because it's very difficult to eat well if you aren't in the habit of sitting down at regular intervals to feed yourself and your child.

Once you have the meal habit down, the #2 most important thing you can do for your health has nothing to do with eliminating sugar or fat. It's not a carb diet plan; it's not a diet plan at all.

Fresh Fruit like strawberries are like magic for your health.

The #2 most important thing you can do for your health is to eat a fruit or vegetable at every meal or snack, every day.

Eating fruits and vegetables is something everyone can do, it's gluten free, dairy free, kosher, vegan and diabetes friendly. All healthy diets (Mediterranean, blue zone, diabetic, etc etc) focus on eating more fruits and vegetables. You may be allergic to some fruits or vegetables, but probably not ALL of them.

Research shows that eating at least 5 fruits and vegetables a day can:

• prevent heart disease

• reduce blood pressure

• help prevent diabetes

• prevent certain types of cancer

• prevent excess weight gain

• prevent constipation

• prevent gastrointestinal diseases

• reduce risk of cataracts

And my personal opinion is that they simply make you FEEL better.

Are you convinced yet?

Often times, the barriers to eating more fruits and vegetables are

1. cost

2. lack of convenience

3. dislike of fruit/veg taste

Cost

• One way to balance out the cost of produce is to stop buying other things (like fruit snacks, soda, chips, cookies) and to spend that money on fresh fruits and vegetables instead.

• Buy frozen fruits + veggies. I rarely buy fresh berries, broccoli, cauliflower or green beans.

• I almost never buy organic produce. It's better to buy MORE fruits and veggies than to spend a ton of money on organics

Convenience

• Start with veggies that require NO prep, like bananas, oranges and baby carrots.

• Canned vegetables and fruits are so easy and also still good for you.

• Buy frozen whenever possible.

• Try bagged salads that include dressing and toppings.

Dislike of Fruits and Vegetables?

• Buy fruits and vegetables that you DO like. Slowly try new ones until you find a few different types that you like.

• Try things cooked different ways. I do not like canned brussel sprouts, but I could eat cups of roasted brussel sprouts!

Here's a sample of how I will often eat 9 servings of fruits and vegetables in one day:

Breakfast

Add fruit to breakfast!

blueberries (#1)

cereal

milk

Snack:

Apple (#2)

peanut butter

Lunch:

tuna salad

bread

baby carrots (#3)

cutie orange (#4)

Snack:

green smoothie

1 banana (#5)

1 cup spinach (#6)

Dinner:

mac and cheese

steamed cauliflower - from a frozen package (#7)

canned peaches (#8)

Snack:

yogurt

frozen berries (#9)

Here's another example for EASY ways to add in more veggies:

Cottage Cheese and Pears

Breakfast:

eggs

toast

avocado (#1)

snack:

crackers

cottage cheese

canned pears (#2)

lunch:

hot dog

bun

broccoli with cheese (microwavable frozen pouch) (#3)

banana (#4)

snack

popcorn

fruit smoothie (#5)

dinner

spaghetti

tomato sauce (#6)

canned green beans (#7)

applesauce (#8)

Of course this requires some work.

All good things require work.

New years goals surrounding nutrition can be confusing and tricky. It's hard to know where to start. While I can't promise that eating fruits and vegetables will change you life, I know that it is the first step in eating well. I hope you've found something in here to motivate you to eat more!

Looking for healthy recipes that include veggies? Check out our recipe page: https://www.ddinutrition.com/recipes

thanks for reading!

Nicole