5 Nutritionist Approved Tips – National Nutrition Month

March is National Nutrition Month, a time to reflect back on what has and has not been working with your health and lifestyle goals.

Did you set some resolutions in January but have “fallen off the wagon”? If so, assess why. Was it too hard? Too restrictive? Did life get in the way?

Health doesn’t have to be an on then off again thing. It’s the little things you do every day that amount to a healthy lifestyle, it’s not whether you cut out gluten, or went on a juice cleanse. It’s how you treat your body every day.

Here are 5 Nutritionist (that’s me!) approved tips to get you back on track:

1. Latest trends – It’s fine for someone to hop on a trend if it gets them to eat healthy (ier). If you don’t eat any vegetables, but decided to give vegetarianism a try – good for you! However, if you are choosing a trend that is so far opposite from where you are now, realize that it may not have the sticking power you expect. It’s a challenge learning new recipes, exploring new vegetables, and omitting foods you once (and still do) love. My suggestion is to take elements of the trend you’re interested in and try it out for size. If you want to go vegetarian because you want to feel healthy or lose weight, well, you can still do those things while keeping in meat in your diet. It’s all about portion and crowding out stuff. Add in more veggies to your every day. Explore one new veg a week and continue to layer. That way it becomes part of your life, and not “that time I became a vegan”.
2. Include some sort of movement in your day – a lot of people sit for hours and hours each day. People sit in cars going to work,then  sit all day at work, then sit on the sofa at night. All this sitting is very bad for our body. Make a commitment to yourself right now that you will move your body somehow 2 times this week. Go, schedule it in right now. I don’t care what it is, so long as you’re moving.
3. Evaluate your mindset – a big part of getting healthy is mindset. Are you using food to provide you with love? Do you have a all or nothing mentality? Really dig deep and see where you may be sabotaging your success. For some people the all or nothing mentality does it for them – they go all gung ho, but then stop mid-way through because it’s simply too much.
4. Evaluate your stress levels – the more research I do on stress, the more I’m convinced it’s at the root cause of so many of our health conditions. It’s everywhere! It is very hard to avoid in modern society. Kids, phones, email, work, activities, eat right, eat this, don’t eat that, aaaah! Most of stress comes from perception. How are you perceiving the world? How can you take a step back in your everyday life and see where you can cut stuff out, remove things that no longer serve you, invite more fun into your life?
5. Combat cravings and fatigue – by balancing blood sugars! Eating fibre rich and protein filled meals throughout the day will help keep your blood sugars stable and reduce the amount of cravings and fatigue you have. Starting your day right with proper breakfasts is key towards not derailing your day and avoiding that 3pm slump.

So, tell me in the comments, which of these 5 things will you start this week?