Nutrition- Quick Tips

Improving your nutrition does NOT need to be complicated. Here are some simple quick tips to follow:

1. Think "Veggie forward". You don't have to become a vegetarian to get more veggies into your diet. I call it being "veggie forward", which just means that there is always some sort of veg on my plate for every meal and they are abundant. Yes...normalize adding a veg to your breakfast or as snacks

2. Try to consume foods in a form closest to their natural state. Basically, try to reduce the foods that have gone through a lot of processing. What had to happen to a veggie product to make it look and taste like a meat product?

3. Read the labels....if you are buying prepared/packaged foods, try to pick the options with the shorter ingredient list and with items you recognize

4. Clean up your pantry and fridge. Honestly, if the junk isn't there you are less likely to eat it. Are you really going to go to the store just to seek out the junk food? You may think twice if you have to put in the extra effort to go get it. You also want to add healthier items to your pantry and fridge so that when you are ready to cook or bake you have what you need

5. This leads me to my next tip...start cooking. Find recipes online or in books and just begin. If you are a novice, try one of those food delivery boxes that come with the ingredients and the instructions. They often have healthy options and options that are simple to make. If you can, set aside one day a week to do your meal prep. It makes it infinitely easier to stay on track when the food is there

6. When you go to the grocery store...I'm sure you have heard "shop the outer perimeter" before. This doesn't mean you will never shop the centre aisles but it does mean you will likely have fresher items in your shopping cart...like items that will expire soon rather than in a year. Also, the in season items tend to be in the fresh sections arounds the perimeter and you should try to eat seasonally as often as you can.

7. Keep it fresh and EAT THE RAINBOW. A colourful plate is an appetizing plate and it usually means you have an assortment of vitamins and minerals on your plate. Normally the colourful stuff is the good stuff...and i dont mean the marshmallows in lucky charms or gummy bears....I mean the assortment of veg, fruit and healthy carbs along with an appropriate serving of protein and healthy fats.

8. Keep your portions reasonable. No one needs 2 cups of pasta in a meal or a cowboy steak and yes even a massive serving of veg is too much. Eat to fuel your body...not overstuff it. Whether you are overeating healthy items or not, you are still overeating.

9. Look out for imposters. What do I mean by imposters? Here are some examples. It's the items that say "gluten free" but had no business having gluten anyway. Or gluten free items with an ingredient list of words you can' t pronounce and all the corn based additives. "Salt free" often means they have added something else in to make it taste good...maybe some sort of sugar. There may be fillers and additives to make these healthier options bind or taste good. Remember tip #3

10. Pay attention to your body. When you eat certain things, do you become gassy or bloated or tired? Do you develop blemishes? Are your seasonal allergies worse? Are you having multiple good bowel movements a day and now you aren't? These may be signs that you should eliminate these items from your diet.

11. Last but not least....drink alllll the water. Yes you will have to go to the bathroom. But guess what? that's a good thing. Have some water when your first wake up; we do dehydrate a bit while we sleep. Sometimes when you think you are hungry or tired...drink some water and wait a moment. Maybe you find water boring. Add some lemon, fruit or mint, or try sugar free flavours or can of one of the many sparkling water drinks on the market (bubly, st.croix etc)