3 healthy eating tips for a healthier you

Maintaining a balanced diet is essential to preventing ongoing diseases, building a strong immune system, and maintaining physical and mental health. And of course, food is often delicious. But when social media and pop culture are full of sometimes conflicting information, it’s difficult to know what a healthy diet is.

Reem Farra, a registered dietitian at Kaiser Permanente in Colorado, says 3 key nutrition tips can help you achieve your health goals.

Tip 1: Skip the fad diet; focus on variety and mindful eating

Many fad diets focus on cutting certain nutrients, like carbs, or maximizing other nutrients, like proteins.

However, focusing on variety and practicing mindful eating can be better strategies to achieving optimum health and well-being.

“Because our bodies need different nutrients, making sure you have variety in your foods will help with meeting your goals,” she said.

When it comes to variety, most foods can fit into a healthy diet, Farra said. Your diet should include fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, and fiber.

Unless there’s a medical reason, Farra does not recommend restricting certain foods from your diet. Restrictive diets can sometimes lead to nutrient deficiencies.

She also recommends mindful eating, which means taking time to be aware of everything involved in a meal. Mindful eating includes eating food that is pleasing to you and nourishing to your body. It also means using all of your senses to explore, savor, and taste your food; learning to be aware of physical hunger; and recognizing the cues that urge us to start and stop eating.

Tip 2: There’s no one-size-fits-all approach

While general nutrition concepts apply to everyone, it’s important to recognize that everyone has individual needs.

“We don’t really want to put ourselves into a box when it comes to our nutrition,” Farra said.

Knowing your health-related goals and current health status is essential, Farra said. You should modify food and drink choices to meet those goals.

For instance, increased consumption of red meat has been linked to cardiovascular disease. But people who want to prevent heart disease don’t have to give up red meat entirely, Farra said. They can still include lean red meat in moderation to get essential nutrients like vitamin B12 and iron.

Many popular diet regimens may not be appropriate for everyone, Farra said.

She cited the ketogenic diet, or keto diet, as an example. It was originally intended to reduce seizures in people with epilepsy, according to Farra, but it isn’t appropriate for people trying to prevent heart disease or diabetes, because it’s high in fat.

Tip 3: Small, consistent habits lead to long-lasting changes

Whatever your reason for changing your diet, a major key to success is to focus on small, consistent habits instead of extreme changes, said Farra.

“Whenever we’re engaging in any kind of change, it’s extremely difficult,” Farra said. “It’s the daily habits that have the long-lasting effect on our health.”

If a person wants to drink more water and fewer sugary drinks, for example, Farra recommends starting small. If you normally drink 2 glasses of water a day, increase to 3 and maintain that for a couple weeks before adding another.

Jumping straight into a very restrictive diet can lead to overindulgence, food aversion, or a negative body image, hindering progress toward your health goals.

When individuals are overly restrictive, they often do not achieve their health goals, according to Farra.

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