Make your nutrition resolutions stick

Do you make the same “I’m going to eat healthier” resolution every year only to have fallen off the wagon by mid-January? Us too. But incorporating healthy eating doesn’t have to be an impossible task. We asked nutrition expert Kara Landau, The Travelling Dietitian, for her tips on sticking to your clean eating goals.

Instead of trying to shift the scales, reset your strategy
“Start the new year by setting goals around finding ways to include healthy foods that you currently either don't get enough of in your diet or are yet to try,” says Landau. “There are so many different ways to prepare an ingredient that you could find that a food you once didn't enjoy could actually be a new favourite! For example some people can't stand boiled brussel sprouts, but as soon as you oven roast and sauté them they are a taste sensation.” So add a new nutritious meal to your 2016 cooking repertoire.

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Limit temptation, especially straight after Christmas.
“Make sure you don't have left overs floating around the kitchen for days,” suggests Landau. “This could be by giving food away to your guests as they leave on the big day, or by having some friends or family over to share the remaining food.” Do a big shop and restock your pantry. “Replenish your kitchen with both fresh healthy ingredients that you are confident using, as well as some new healthy ingredients you are intrigued by. This balance between the old and the new will hopefully provide a level of confidence along with some excitement to test out some new flavours and potentially find some great new healthy options to bring into your diet for the new year.”

Try this healthy summer drink
“Instead of a detox juice I make ultra nourishing, hydrating and antioxidant packed blended ice drinks,” says Landau. Try her go-to recipe: mix an all natural green and reds powder, a green tea infusion powder, cacao, some unsweetened almond milk, a chocolate natural plant based protein powder, a prebiotic sweetener and a whole lot of ice. “This mix will both nourish our bodies and hydrate our cells, boost our gut health, energise us, whilst also satisfying our appetites.”

More: Why you should start snacking on seaweed

Pick the right snacks
Landau’s pick? “Air-fried spiced broccoli or carrot chips with fresh guacamole, sliced crisp apple with natural mixed nut butters on top, or a plain greek yoghurt mixed with a prebiotic fibre sweetener, cacao, and vanilla essence, which is topped with sacha inchi seeds, hemp seeds and berries.”

Cook more, eat out less
“Bring in more fresh whole foods as a way of instantly cutting down on salt or added sugars in your diet,” says Landau. And use fresh herbs and spices for flavouring, instead of salt. “The desire for salt rich or sugar filled ingredients as flavour enhancers will be able to subside. Focus on filling your diet with foods that are rich in dietary fibre, protein and healthy fats, and naturally we will feel more satisfied and will not have as many spikes in our blood sugar levels that lead to cravings for sugar filled products.”

Incorporate some new superfoods
Landau suggests, “seaweed and algae based foods that are rich in highly absorbable healthy omega 3'; sacha inchi seeds which are rich in a complete plant based protein, hemp seeds to prevent inflammation in our bodies, prebiotic fibre sweeteners which help boost the good bacteria in our gut.” And try legume-based pastas, “they’re rich in fibre and protein and help regulate our blood sugar levels.”

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