Most people don’t need another diet. They need habits that will stand the test of the blur of busy weeks, restaurants and the odd birthday cake. Food matters for everything we care about: energy, sleep, mood, weight, and our lifetime risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. The good news is that the most well-supported habits aren’t fancy or earth-shattering. They are small, easy to replicate and adaptable.
The best place to start is right there on the plate. The best way to get used to it is to eat meals based on vegetables, whole fruit, whole grains, beans and peas, nuts and seeds and modest amounts of lean protein and avoid convenience foods which provide the body with vital nutrients and healthy fats. Fiber deserves more attention than we give it. It slows down digestion, stabilizes blood sugar, maintains healthy gut bacteria and makes us feel full and satisfied. (For starters, eat more whole grains, or lentils and chickpeas in your curry or salad, or put your fruit on the counter and in eyesight.)
And equally important is to find out what subtly displaces these foods. Ultra-processed snack foods, sodas, and ready-to-eat convenience foods are more likely to be rich in added sugar, refined starch, and salt, and poor in the nutrients that serve the body. A good place to start is sodas, the calories in liquids don’t usually fill us up. One of the lowest-hanging “nutrition fruit” in diet makeovers is simply substituting a daily soda or sweetened tea with plain water, club soda or unsweetened tea. We’re not trying to get rid of favorite foods that seldom works just make them occasional.
Mindful Portioning There’s an art to eating that’s not all about what goes into your mouth. Take your time eating so that your body and brain have a chance to match the food in your stomach with the sensation of fullness. Put the phone down, switch off the television or step away from the computer so you can concentrate on how you are feeling. Use a small plate. Have dinner in the kitchen. Fill your plate and then stop yourself before you have a second helping.
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Another unintended habit is habitual water. We often mistake thirst for hunger, and may not realize that even mild dehydration can cause fatigue or fuzziness. Water needs differ with climate, activity and mainly body size but rigid targets can be replaced by gut sips. If your urine is light yellow and you’re not always thirsty, you’re probably in good shape — as a rule of thumb. Have a bottle of water next to you and refill your water glass after each meal.
Meal times matter too, but the ideal pattern differs from one person to another. Some do better on three fairly substantial, balanced meals, others on smaller snacks more often. The problem for most people is the roller coaster of skipping meals and then being starving and binging on whatever is at arm’s length. Eating a bit of protein and fiber at every meal can help keep hunger at bay and make it easier to make intelligent choices with your willpower. Planning is the unheralded secret of almost every healthy eater. Take a few minutes on a Sunday to plan a week of meals, update the grocery list, and prep a few staples (cooked grains, chopped veggies, a batch of lentil soup) and the “what shall I eat?” question goes from a daily challenge to a default. With nourishing food in the fridge it’s less tempting to order take away. Cooking food at home also allows you to cut down on the salt, oil and sugar.
And remember, food is cultural, it’s social and it’s emotional too. Traditional national cuisines, from the Mediterranean to the Indian to the Japanese, often rely on plants, diversity, and communal eating; there’s a lot to be said for copying them. A good approach to eating should include ‘joy’, a time and place for shared dinner parties, festival desserts and a go-to comfort food and it’s better to indulge that with enthusiasm than waste energy feeling bad about it. What you do one day is much less important than what you do most of the time.
Finally, your situation is important. If you have a medical condition, are pregnant, are allergic to any foods, or have a history of disordered eating, check with your doctor or registered dietitian before following any advice here. For the rest of us, the good news is that the trip is modest. This week, try to add one new habit to your routine, such as adding a vegetable to your dinner plate or drinking water instead of a sugary drink.” Let it settle before you add the next one. The health you create this way isn’t revolutionary, but it’s solid, and over the long term it’s the simple, ordinary decisions we make that determine how we feel and how well we live.
