Change Your Diet—Change You!

Everywhere you turn, there seems to be new rules about what you should eat. Eat whole grains. No, eat only what cavemen would have eaten. Eat fewer calories. No, it’s the kind of calories you are eating. It is easy to get overwhelmed, but cutting through all the noise about what you should and shouldn’t eat isn’t as challenging as it might seem. Here are five tips to clean up your diet and make some positive changes for your health and appearance.

1. Start with Small Changes
You don’t have to completely makeover your pantry. Simply by cutting out corn oil and soda, you will be making great strides toward eating and feeling better. Once you have mastered that, try swapping refined, white flour-based grains and pastas for whole grain versions.

2. Shop the Perimeter
You’ve heard it before probably, but this little factoid is true—buying your food from the perimeter of the grocery store is a good way to keep away from processed foods, which aren’t as good for you as fresh veggies, dairy and meat.

3. Cook at Home
Again, this isn’t new advice, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Cooking in your own kitchen helps cut back on the processed food restaurants all too often rely on. Plus by focusing on simple, one-pot dishes you will not only save money, but probably feed your family for more than one meal.

4. Give Your Taste Buds Time
Rome wasn’t built in day, and if you have been eating a lot of processed, salty, fatty foods, your taste buds will need some time to adjust. Help retrain them slowly. For instance, instead of switching to brown rice completely, mix it with white rice in the beginning. Over time, your taste buds will adapt to the new tastes and flavors.

5. Allow for Slip Ups
Changing how you eat is a process, one in which you are bound to occasionally backslide. Aim to eat healthier, less processed foods 80 percent of the time, knowing there may be situations where you won’t be able to.