New Food, New Me

Looking for a New Year’s resolution that can be good for you and fun? Challenge yourself to try new foods! Regardless of how old you are, it is possible to discover new foods or discover a new liking for a food you thought you didn’t enjoy.

Mix it up
Foods often take on very different flavors depending on how they were prepared. This is especially true for vegetables, which most of us should be resolving to eat more of. Raw spinach in a salad has a very different flavor than sautéed spinach. Texture can also change with preparation and can be a big factor in whether or not we like a food. Some people enjoy the crunch of a raw carrot, but do not enjoy the soft feel of a cooked carrot. Flavor combinations will also impact whether or not we like a given food. Give different herbs, spices and sauces a try on any food you are trying.

Try, try and try again
You have probably heard the idea of exposing children to food multiple times before deciding that they do or don’t like it. This same approach may work with adults as well. Don’t give up on a food the first time you try it. Simply becoming more familiar with a food may increase the chances that you will like it. It is also important to remember that factors beyond flavor can impact your reaction to a food. The setting, the way the food is presented and even who you are with when you try it could influence your preferences.

Make it social
Achieving a goal is often more fun and attainable if you do it with friends. Gather a group and start a tasting club. Challenge yourselves to try at least a certain number of new foods each month. Meet for lunch and share a new dish in addition to your regular meal. If it doesn’t become your new favorite, you haven’t wasted a full portion. Find something you like? Share your new discovery on social media with #NewFoodNewMe. Search the same hashtag to see what new foods other people are discovering.

January 2018

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New Year’s Resolutions Worth Keeping

While any time is a good time to start a new healthy habit, the start of the New Year seems to be one of the most popular. If one of your goals for 2015 is to become a healthier version of yourself, some well-planned resolutions can help you get there.

Top Healthy Habits

Changing our habits can seem like a big undertaking, but there are many small things that

together can add up to big results. Some of the most popular strategies to improve overall

health include getting enough sleep, starting off the day with breakfast and eating foods that

have been prepared from fresh, whole ingredients. If we look at strategies used by those who

have successfully improved their health, these trends may be headed in the right direction. Of

people who have successfully lost and kept weight off, almost all made changes in both their

eating and exercise habits, with eating breakfast, daily exercise and minimizing television

viewing being among the most popular habits adopted.

How to choose?

When it comes to resolutions, less is often more. Picking one or two changes that you can

stick with long term is a better strategy than making a long list that you give up on before

the end of January. Taking a close look at your current habits is a good place to start when

deciding on the best goals for you. Online tools like Supertracker and apps like MyFitnessPal

or Lose it can give you a quick idea of where you stand with both your food and exercise

behaviors and will give you a way to track how you do with your resolutions. If you need more

personalized advice, speaking to a Registered Dietitian can be very helpful.

How to make your resolution last

Change can be difficult, which is why so many of us give up on our resolutions as quickly

as we make them. Set yourself up for success by making your resolutions easy to keep. If one

of your goals is to eat more vegetables, make sure you have them around you whenever you

are eating. Keep them on hand at home for snacking and cooking, choose to eat at places

that you know offer a variety of delicious vegetable dishes and ask friends for their favorite

veggie recipes.

REFERENCES:

1. “Culture of Wellness 2013” report, The Hartman Group. Available at http://www.hartman-group.com.

2. The National Weight Control Registry. Available at http://www.nwcr.ws/.

Written by Jennifer M. Ignacio, MS, RD.

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Sticking to Your New Year’s Resolutions

With assistance from Northeastern graduate student Melissa Pryputniewicz

A new year brings the hope and promise of new starts. This makes it the perfect time for people to make resolutions to change certain behaviors. But even with good intentions many people don’t succeed in keeping their resolutions. A study in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that only half of the people who made a resolution stuck with it after six months. So you may be asking, what are the keys to success?

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A Healthy Recipe for a Healthy New Year

Well here we are almost a month into the new year and generally this is the time when a lot of people have already begun to "fall off the wagon" from some of their primary New Year’s resolutions. If eating better and healthier was one of your resolutions here is a recipe that is both healthy and easy to prepare.

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Keeping Your Healthy Resolutions for 2012

Each year people make New Year's resolutions. The more common resolutions seem to be related to health -- weight loss, getting in shape, and eating better. Despite our best effort, many times these resolutions are not kept. The best way to keep a resolution is to make it realistic and keep it simple.

Here are some strategies that may help you keep your goals for 2012!

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