I’ve been asked a lot lately where to start.
When you know your diet is out of whack and changes need to be made, where do you attack first?
I believe first, you take stock.
After that, you start adding in.
And the biggest difference I think we can all easily enact in our diets is simple:
Eat more vegetables.
I believe it’s why I’ve had friends that follow paleo diets, primal diets, vegan diets and raw diets all see major health gains – far more than anything else associated with the ways they eat.
We all know we need to.
Our mothers have spent years cajoling and begging us to eat just one more bite of broccoli. It wasn’t in vain.
We all know they’re packed full of nutrients and micronutrients that our bodies need to flourish and fight off disease.
And yet, if we don’t count potatoes, the average American only gets about 3 servings a day (according to Harvard’s School of Public Health).
Three.
I don’t know about you, but I know quite a few people who don’t even come close to that.
Baby step #2: eat a green thing every day (and mad bonus points to you if you know where that quote comes from!).
They don’t have to be just green, though, and they shouldn’t be. And you can eat more than one. Take a look at how many servings of vegetables you ate yesterday and eat one more today. Add one more serving every few days until you’re at five or six…or more.
Try something new, as often as you can. I love Brussels sprouts – who knew? Baby bok choy is amazing. And dill roasted carrots are a few favorite that I’ll be making for a long time.
Frozen vegetables are often just as nutrient filled as fresh. Don’t be afraid to hit the freezer section.
Try new methods of cooking. Properly cooked fresh vegetables are a whole new world if you grew up eating them out of the can with the big green guy or perpetually steamed to gray blandness.
If all else fails, roast them. Roasted cauliflower is a wonderful thing. So are parsnips, eggplant, Brussels sprouts and green beans (the *only* way I’ll go near those nasty buggers).
Looking to sneak in a few more servings? Spinach and kale are easy to mask in smoothies.
And if those extra servings of vegetables are making you too hungry for Cheeto’s…well, I do believe you just made the world a slightly better place.
If you’re just starting on the road to better eating, don’t worry about organic or local or non-GMO. You probably will at some point, but even the regular old broccoli at the grocery store is going to have some benefit.
Imperfect progress is still progress.
Baby steps.
