9 Ways to Eat Healthier This Spring

It makes sense that March is National Nutrition Month. As the start of spring nears, you begin to think about shedding a few extra pounds along with your sweaters. Meanwhile, a new crop of fruits and veggies begins to show up at farmers markets, making it easier to stick with those eat-healthy resolutions you may have made back in January. This is also Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Day, so we asked CR’s resident nutrition experts, Maxine Siegel, R.D., and Amy Keating, R.D., to share their best tips for eating better right now. 

Veg Out in the Morning

A savory breakfast gives you an opportunity to weave in a serving of vegetables, which will help you meet your daily healthy quota of 2 to 3 cups. Try a veggie omelet or whole wheat toast topped with tomato and cucumber, tomato and mashed white beans, or mashed avocado drizzled with olive oil. Add spinach or peppers to your egg sandwich or breakfast burrito, or beets or dark leafy greens to a smoothie. Consider having a sweet potato topped with yogurt and a sprinkling of cinnamon and chopped nuts, quinoa with roasted butternut squash, or whole grains and beans. Leftovers from dinner the night before also make for a quick morning meal.  

Cook Once, Eat Healthier All Week Long

Take a few hours on a Sunday to wash, peel, and slice veggies, cook some whole grains or a pot of soup, grill some chicken breasts, or hardboil some eggs. Store these ingredients in your fridge and use them to whip up a fast, healthy dinner when you get home from work. You’ll be less tempted to order takeout. 

Grill Your Veggies

Like roasting, grilling brings out the vegetable’s sweetness, plus adds a little bit of smoky flavor. Cook some extra and eat throughout the week in salads, pasta, or sandwiches.  

Spring-Clean Your Kitchen

Reorganize your cabinets and your refrigerator so that the healthier foods are front and center and the once-in-a-while treats are stashed behind, so they aren’t the first thing you reach for when you’re hungry.  

Pick and Choose

Dining out? Decide before you get to the restaurant on one treat to have—bread from the breadbasket, glass of wine, or dessert. If you indulge in all three you can easily eat as many, and maybe more, calories than in your main meal.  

Wait 5 Minutes

If you’re tempted to grab a cookie as you walk by a bakery or a handful of jelly beans from a coworker’s desk, tell yourself you can have it in 5 minutes. Then distract yourself by doing something else. Much of the time, the craving will go away on its own.  

Document Your Diet

Take a picture of everything you put in your mouth for a day or two to create a visual food diary. Then scroll through the images to assess what you eat and when, and see where you might be able to make changes that will help you eat healthier. 

Make One Dinner

Kids are mini adults and should eat that way. Instead of making an adult meal and serving your offspring kid food—like hot dogs, chicken nuggets, boxed mac and cheese, or plain pasta—give them smaller portions of what you’re eating. 

Savor the Flavor

It’s not only ice cream and cheeseburgers that can make you swoon with pleasure. Healthy foods can taste pretty amazing too—think perfectly ripe strawberries, fresh-picked asparagus, a crisp, sweet juicy apple, or fresh corn on the cob. Taking the time to notice the flavors and enjoy healthy foods will help you feel more satisfied.  

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