Keep your body running well in 2015! Remember, eating the right foods will help keep you healthy, ageless, and all-around fabulous.  Below, we’ve outlined some positive nutrition practices to keep in mind for the New Year.

Make Goals

Goals help measure progress. Make sure each goal is specific, attainable and timely. For example, “I will only have dessert on Saturdays.” Or, “I will prepare one new healthy recipe each week for the month of January.”

Track What You Eat

For a period of time (at least two weeks), write down everything you eat. You don’t have to do this for the rest of your life, but it’s a great habit to start and it’s an eye-opening exercise. Tracking will make you aware of each cracker you put in your mouth or that extra slice of cheese on your sandwich. Tracking will help you tweak your diet so that you can still enjoy foods you love without sabotaging your healthy eating efforts.

Eat Breakfast

Your mother was right: Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Not only does it give you energy, but breakfast is also linked to many health benefits, including weight control and improved memory and performance.

Think Before You Eat

Why are you eating? Are you really hungry or are you eating because you’re bored? Oftentimes, our bodies confuse hunger for thirst. The next time you feel hungry before dinnertime, drink a tall glass of water, which leads us to our next point:

Drink Lots of Water

Your body is composed of about 60% water. H20 helps your body digest, absorb, circulate and transport nutrients. Water can also help control your calorie intake. Click here to read the many benefits of drinking water.

Eat Plenty of Vegetables

Vegetables are filled with nutrients, water, fiber, and very few calories. Here’s a great tip to keep in mind: fill half of your plate with vegetables. You’ll be satisfied faster, and you’ll cut down on calories without feeling deprived. Give your veggies an extra kick by adding herbs and spices, and whatever you do, avoid salt and butter.

Include Healthy, Protein Rich Foods
Protein rich foods support healthy muscles and your immune system. Want to add more protein to your juices? Toss in a handful of chia seeds, hemp seeds or spirulina. Here’s a great article on different recipes that add healthy proteins to your smoothies.

Eat More Healthy Fats
Eating fat doesn’t necessarily make you fat.  Fat in our foods supplies essential fatty acids that our bodies don’t produce.  Further, fats move vitamins A,D,E and K into and around the body.  Focus on eating unsaturated fats found in avocado, olive oil, almonds, natural peanut butter and salmon.

Load Up On Fruits

Fruit is a tasty, satisfying way to fill up on fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants. Berries are cancer fighting, apples provide fiber, oranges and mangos offer vitamin C, bananas provide potassium and so on. Eat plenty of fruits, but remember: try to incorporate these early in the day; fruits do have lots of sugar.

Resolve to make these few nutritional changes to your diet, and see just how far you’ll go. For more tips like these, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

References:

• http://healthyventuracounty.org/healthy-eating/tips-for-a-healthy-diet/
• http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/top-10-diet-and-nutrition-resolutions
• http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/healthy-eating/4-secrets-to-keeping-your-new-year%E2%80%99s-resolution
• http://www.buzzfeed.com/deenashanker/chemical-free-ways-to-add-protein-to-your-smoothie