Looking for great New Year Resolutions? Why not start by pledging to eat better this year? Eating better doesn’t just mean watching the calories, although that can be part of it. You can pledge to eat more vegetables, less sugar, and less pop. Great goals. But resolving to eat better could also mean choosing some goals you haven’t considered. Consider pledging to make some of the changes suggested here for a truly healthy New Year.
Eat local, eat seasonal
First resolve to eat local and seasonal foods. By law retailers are required to post where produce and meat come from by the product for sale. Some produce has stickers on it with the country or state that it is grown in on it. Eating foods grown within 100 miles of your home gives you better tasting and more nutritious food as well as keeping local dollars in the community. In Michigan we have a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables available in season. Fresh food tastes better than food shipped hundreds of miles and it will have more nutrients. It will have less of a chance to pick up disease organisms that cause food borne illness than shipped foods.
If you buy more local foods you should resolve to learn to preserve your own food so you can have locally grown fruits and vegetables when they are not in season. It’s really easy to freeze food and canning and drying food are skills anyone can learn with a little practice. There are many good articles about canning and freezing food on this website.
While eating organically is a wonderful goal, just resolving to eat foods you grow yourself or buy locally is a good goal too. If you can’t find organic foods or can’t afford them don’t feel bad about purchasing conventionally grown local foods. Given the choice between locally grown non-organic food and supposedly organic food from far away, chose the non-organic food.
Eat less lettuce
Resolve to eat less lettuce. Iceburg or head lettuce is one of the most nutritionally useless foods there is. Eating a big salad of head lettuce is like eating water tinted green. It does nothing but act as a filler and it won’t keep you from feeling hungry for long. It doesn’t even have much taste. Instead choose dark leafy greens like kale, spinach and beet greens along with a little leaf lettuce. Cabbage is a good choice too.
Head lettuce grown in western states or other countries and then shipped to places like Michigan is a big waste of agricultural land, water, and fossil fuels used to cultivate and ship it. Do your part to stop producers from wasting time, energy and valuable resources on growing head lettuce by not eating it.
Eat butter and eggs
Butter is better for your body than hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats or trans fats. Many margarines and shortenings that are supposed to be good for you are filled with these bad fats and chemicals to make you think you are eating the real thing- butter. Butter is a natural way to get fats, and fats are essential for good health. You will use less butter in most cases than margarine because of the rich, satisfying taste. Butter is produced in Michigan and buying butter supports the Michigan dairy industry.
Everything in moderation of course, no one needs too much fat, but recent research is suggesting people should go back to more natural foods, not highly processed and chemically altered foods. Look at a package of diet margarine for the ingredients- UGH!
And eggs have been cleared of raising the cholesterol levels of healthy people. Eggs are low calorie, high protein foods that contain vital nutrients like choline. See this article; http://www.examiner.com/country-living-in-detroit/why-pregnant-and-nursing-women-should-eat-an-egg-a-day
Eggs are easy to digest, low cost and can be served in dozens of ways. Eat the whole egg- most of the nutrients are in the yolk. Two whole eggs are about 150 calories before added ingredients and satisfy your body’s need for protein and healthy fat.
Eggs are a food that even city people can produce themselves with a few hens in the backyard. Fresh local eggs from hens that get outside and are treated humanely are also fairly easy to find in Michigan.
Eat breakfast, dine with the family
Research shows that one of the best healthy eating habits you can develop is to eat a good breakfast. People who took the time to eat a good breakfast felt better all day and usually ate less calories throughout the day than those who skip breakfast or who just eat a high carb food like a doughnut for breakfast. Some research shows that people who eat breakfast that includes good protein sources like eggs or meat and a reasonable amount of carbs actually lost weight. Fruits and juices are good accessories to breakfast but should never make up the whole meal because they are high in sugar.
Also try to make the evening meal a family meal. Yes times are busy and schedules crazy but the family who eats together at least several times a week tends to be healthier, the children do better in school and the family has fewer conflicts. If some one cooks the shared meal at home, then the results are even better. Insist that everyone take at least 15 minutes at the dinner table, a half hour is better. No TV, no headphones or cell phones or other electronic devices should be allowed at the table. The focus, the communication, should be on and between those at the table.
“Breaking bread” together is one of the essentials of building trust, showing respect and promoting mutual interests. Eating a meal together is a tool used by businesses and diplomatic agencies to break down barriers. The most important people in your life should be your family and eating a meal with them is a way to show how much you value them. Maybe your kids or significant other won’t get this at first but persevere and you’ll find it’s a thing they will come to cherish. Its one resolution you’ll never regret.
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