Healthy Eating Tips from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Ensuring that you get all the nutrients you need from snacks, drinks, and meals throughout the day can be a challenge. What we put into out bodies has an effect on our emotions, energy, and digestion. Whether you are interested in a lifestyle change, or are looking for some healthy snack or meal alternatives, Eat Right Pro has advice and suggestions for you:

Enjoy More Fruit & Vegetables

Incorporate more fruits and vegetables through adding some to meals and snacks. You could add extra toppings to your pizza (like tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, peppers, etc.), stuff an omelet with lots of additional components, or add these extras to a pasta sauce. You could eat extra fruit and vegetables by adding them into salads, kabobs, or smoothies. Visit Eat Right Pro’s worksheet 20 Ways to Enjoy More Fruits & Vegetables for more information.

Smart Snacking

Eat Right Pro suggests to create a habit of only snacking when you’re hungry, and to have snacks planned and portioned ahead of time. This could mean creating a list of your favourite snacks and what a standard portion should be (such as choosing a small container for your snack of popcorn). If you do not like the taste of a lot of healthy food, you can always lessen your intake of processed or sugary foods while trying out healthier snacks. Refer to this Smart Snacking Tips for Adults and Teens worksheet for healthy snack ideas.

Energize with Breakfast

You can prepare quick and delicious breakfast foods for your mornings so that you don’t skip one of your most important meals. Giving you energy for the day, breakfast should consist of dairy, grains, protein, and fruits and vegetables. For example, make oatmeal with milk and add dried fruits and seeds like cranberries and walnuts. Make an omelet with spinach, tomatoes, and cheese, or eat a leftover veggie pizza. Check out the worksheet Smart Tips to Power Up with Breakfast to learn more about quick and easy breakfast ideas.

When we give our bodies the right nutrients it needs to keep us energized throughout the day, we can hopefully improve motivation, lower stress, and reduce some pain and inflammation. The food we consume has an effect on the chemicals in our bodies, which is why it’s important to make sure you’re eating food that fuels you. Visit Eat Right Pro’s contents of nutrition tips and handouts here.

*Strategies in this post were sourced from Eat Right Pro. For more details or information about the strategies mentioned please visit https://www.eatrightpro.org/. Note that this should not be considered as medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment and should not be used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment.