You will eat 35 tons of food over your lifetime. And what you eat matters. Everywhere we turn there are unhealthy foods to choose from. As epidemics of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity skyrocket, most of us can look around and see that the foods we eat – the foods our children eat- are a big part of the problem. Yet, choosing home-cooked meals, eating more vegetables, and passing up the ultra-processed junk food is getting harder and harder by the day. In the United States, 67% of a child’s or teenager’s diet is ultra-processed junk food.¹ Adults aren’t much better with 57% of their diets being ultra-processed foods.² Refined sugar makes up 20% of the calories Americans eat.³ We aren’t making up for it by eating more fresh vegetables and fruits, either. Adults on average eat only 1.5 servings of vegetables per day.

So how do you start eating more fruits and vegetables (and stop eating junk food) every day?

Make time for it. Make it a priority. Plan ahead. This blog will give you my top tips for eating healthier and putting systems into place that will help you succeed. The goal is to eat a healthier diet for you and your household at least 80% of the time so you can reap the far-reaching health benefits.

 

What is Junk Food or Ultra-processed Food?

Processed foods are foods that have been changed in any way from their fundamental nature- that includes heating, freezing, dicing, juicing, etc. But junk food usually falls into the category of ultra-processed food, which includes “snacks, drinks, ready meals, and many other products created mostly or entirely from substances extracted from foods or derived from food constituents, with little if any intact food.”

These junk foods usually “have low nutritional value, typically produced in the form of packaged snacks needing little or no preparation,” according to the Oxford Dictionary.

They taste great but are low in micronutrients. We are hard-wired to like high-calorie foods that taste good. It’s what helped us survive famines and food shortages. Because they taste so good to us (hitting our sugar, fat, and salt craving centers), they are hard to resist. These food preferences can last for life. For children who have grown up on the flavors of ultra-processed junk food, it’s challenging as an adult to switch to healthier choices or get used to the flavors of whole foods that are unsweetened.

Ultra-processed junk food can contribute to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and poor brain health. It also shortens the lifespan. Refined sugar and refined carbohydrates feed pathogenic infections and throw the microbiome off balance.

Avoid these ultra-processed foods and others like them:

• Bread products
• Breakfast pastries
• Cakes
• Candy
• Cereal
• Chips
• Cookies
• Corn flour
• Corn tortillas
• Crackers
• Energy bars
• Hamburger or hotdog buns
• Ice cream
• Muffins
• Pasta
• Rice noodles
• Sandwich bread
• Sugar
• Sweeteners, especially processed sweeteners like corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup

 

Ultra-processed drinks are:

• Alcoholic beverages
• Flavored or sweetened drinks
• Fruit juices
• Soda
• Sports drinks

 

What Are the Best Foods to Eat?

Everyone has a different definition of a healthy diet, do they not? And it changes with every new fad diet. For the purposes of this article, here is what I consider a healthy diet.

A hunter-gatherer diet rich in whole foods, plants, fiber, meats and fish, eggs, healthy fats, nuts, and seeds. A healthy diet includes a rainbow of vegetables that cover 50% – 75% of your plate. Try to get at least 5- 10 servings of vegetables each day. Eat fruits in moderation.

If you can gather it from nature, cut it down, pick it off a plant, dig it up, hunt it, or fish it, then it’s probably a nourishing food for your body. These healthy whole foods are usually prepared as home-cooked meals.

Grains can be inflammatory for some people, but gluten-free oats, quinoa, and brown rice can be good options if you aren’t sensitive. Each person should avoid any food allergies or sensitivities that they have which may include wheat, dairy, corn, eggs, nuts, soy, and others. Vegetarians and vegans need to make sure they are getting enough protein every day and tracking their nutritional markers with testing.

Benefits of Eating More Fruits and Vegetables^4-6

• Decreases inflammation
• Decreases risk of:
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Cancer
  • Death
  • Diabetes
  • Gastrointestinal diseases
  • Gum disease
  • Heart disease
  • Osteoporosis
• Fights infections
• Improves vision
• Improves brain function and mood
• Increases strength of bones and teeth
• Minimizes overweight and obesity
• Reduces joint pain
• Strengthens the oral and gut microbiomes
• Supports the immune system

Healthy Eating Can Follow the 80-20 Rule

When it comes to eating healthy, it’s a good idea to apply the 80-20 rule. If you eat healthy 80% of the time, that is really good. It’s okay to relax on the remaining 20%. You don’t have to eat healthy 100% of the time. And who wants to? It doesn’t have to be perfect. Life is busy and we are all juggling a lot. Cooking healthy isn’t a luxury everyone can afford. Cheating once in a while is lovely and you want to enjoy it when you do. If you want to be a superstar, aim for eating healthy >90% of the time. Once it becomes a habit and a way of life, it is easier and easier.

 

10 Tips to Start Eating More Vegetables and Fruits (and Stop Eating Junk Food)

 

Here are my tips for how to eat more home-cooked meals and more fruits and vegetables. These tips are especially helpful if you want to eat healthier, but have no time to cook. Maybe you don’t like to cook, but want to implement systems and habits that can help you be more effective. These tips will also help if you want to stop eating junk food and eat healthier foods every day. This article will not address people who hate vegetables and fruits, which requires a different step-by-step approach.

Tip #1. Invest time and money in home-cooked meals and healthy snacks.

This may seem obvious, but you have to really want it. You can’t just say you will try to eat healthy, you have to commit to doing it. Make it a priority. That means putting your money where your mouth is. It takes time and effort to find recipes, shop, cook, store food, and clean up – week after week. It takes money to discover healthy foods that you like. Making it a priority means you have to put other enjoyable activities to the side while you make time to cook healthy meals on a regular basis.

Sometimes you’ll make something that you don’t like and it will get wasted. Even when you’re discouraged or frustrated, you still have to pick yourself up and keep working to make healthier meals for you and your household.

Make a commitment to eat healthier every week for at least two months. This way you can develop habits and get yourself through the early, hard weeks of transitioning to a healthier diet. At two months, it gets much easier. It starts going much faster. You can tweak things to your liking. You should be feeling some benefits of a healthier diet to help motivate you to keep up the great work. Keep it going with a goal to eat healthy at least 80% of the time.

Tip #2. Prepare your environment.

If you want to eat healthier, then your home should have only healthy choices in it. That means you will need to purge refined foods and sweets from your home and don’t buy them again. If you do buy them, do so only for a special occasion, such as holidays and birthdays. Buy a small amount, eat it for a day or two max, and then throw away (or give away) the extra.

Do not expect yourself or children to self-regulate when it comes to high-calorie, tasty, ultra-processed foods. Those unhealthy foods have to be removed from the house. They are bad for everyone. Some people are tempted more than others. And don’t expect one family member to eat healthy while everyone else eats ultra-processed, packaged foods. That is unrealistic.

After you get all of the unhealthy options out of the house, then you can fill it with healthy choices. Shop in the produce department of the grocery store. Get vegetables and fruits. Choose organic when possible, or at least try to buy organic for the foods on the Dirty Dozen list. Keep a fruit bowl on your counter for snacks. Select meats from the meat department that are free-range or organic, when possible. Choose nuts and seeds and nut butters. Healthy snack examples are: avocado and tomato salad with lime, carrots and Veggie Cesar Cleveland Kitchen salad dressing, organic celery sticks with nut butter, a piece of fruit and a handful of nuts, free range jerky (chicken or beef), or a Dark Chocolate & Nut KIND bar.

Tip #3. Never go out hungry.

When you leave your house hungry, you are tempting yourself to make poor food choices. Sweets, fat, refined foods, and other harmful food ingredients call to us so much more loudly when we are hungry. We are designed to like high-calorie foods that taste good. It’s what helped us survive famines and food shortages. The temptation can be irresistible.

My top trick here is to eat healthy options that fill your belly and leave you satisfied. Then, when you leave the house, you can pass up fast food, junk food, ice cream, and other unhealthy choices. They are not so overpowering.

Plan to be away from your kitchen all day? That means you have to pack healthy meals and snacks. To do this, you may need to pack a lunch and snacks the night before. I always keep healthy snacks around: in my office and in my purse. You can store some snacks in the glove compartment of the car. Pack extra, just in case you are hungrier than you expect. Restock regularly.

Tip #4. Find your best time to cook, then prioritize it.

Remember that time you whipped up a quick meal and it was so easy and fast? You had everything you needed and you had the energy to cook. You ate a delicious meal and there were leftovers for later. We want to recreate that scenario on a regular basis so you are more inclined to cook at home.

When is the best time for you to cook? Whether you work from home, are a homemaker, or a professional that works outside home, sit down and think about a time when you have the most energy and interest in cooking. When does your schedule allow it? If you hate cooking, it might need to happen first thing in the morning, when your energy for undesirable tasks is higher.

When you figure out your best times of the week and day to cook, it should be a #1 PRIORITY to get it done. Don’t procrastinate or let it slide. Otherwise, you will sabotage your efforts to eat healthier.

For me, the weekends are the best time. I can block out a few hours for food prep and cooking on weekends. I can also cook weekday nights once a week or so. But usually, there is too much going on at my home weeknights and I need to prepare for the next day. I’m tired after my work day.

When are the best times of day? For me, I like to do food prep in the mornings on the weekends (after breakfast). That way I can clean the kitchen all at one time. I also plan extra time for meal prep and cooking around dinnertime. That way I can cook a large meal for dinner and have leftovers for later in the week. I can do cleanup all at the same time, too.

Your week may look different. You may want to cook meals at mid-day so that your evening meal is quick and requires little cleanup. Think about your schedule, your energy levels, when you’ll be cleaning up the kitchen anyway, and experiment with what works smoothly for you.

Tip #5. Plan your menu and groceries ahead of time.

You’ll need to devote some time to your menu and grocery list. I usually spend 30 – 60 minutes taking stock of groceries I have in the house and getting my grocery list written. I also plan the dishes I will prepare and ingredients needed.

Once you know your prime time to cook, make sure your groceries are in the house already so you can GO. I cook primarily on the weekends. So, I have learned over the years, that I need to have fresh groceries in my house Saturday morning for a smooth workflow. If my groceries arrive after my window of availability to cook, it throws me off. I might go into the week on Monday without any food prepared. And staying up late on weeknights to cook (after working all day) is unkind to myself.

If I know I have activities planned on the weekend (my ideal time for cooking), then I need to choose quick recipes. If I am free, I have more time to cook, I can cook things that I love but that take a longer amount of time. Plan for long recipes and short recipes based on your free time for cooking.

Tip #6. Build a list of vegetables that you like.

I have a list of all the vegetables I like and can cook. That way, every week I go to that list and can pick vegetables from it. I can rotate the vegetables so I don’t eat the same ones repeatedly. You don’t want to get sick of a vegetable because you’re overdoing it. If you don’t like many vegetables, try to be adventurous and buy a new one once every two weeks. You can find a recipe online or mimic a recipe you have eaten at a restaurant. See if you can pick any of the vegetables or legumes from this list.

• Acorn squash
• Beets
• Black eye peas
• Bok choy
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Butternut squash
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Chard
• Chopped mixed vegetables (carrots, corn, peas, limas)
• Collard greens
• Eggplant
• Fennel
• Green beans
• Kale
• Lentils
• Lettuce
• Okra
• Parsnips
• Spaghetti squash
• Spinach
• Stir fry vegetable mix
• Turnip greens
• Yellow squash
• Zucchini squash

 

Tip #7. Cook in bulk.

The system that has worked well for me for decades is to cook in bulk on the weekends and eat leftovers throughout the week. So, I put time in on the weekends to cook, and then I save time on the weekdays when I am more limited for time. I usually make at least one meat dish and two vegetable dishes on a weekend. I may triple, or quadruple a recipe because my goal is to eat leftovers Monday through Friday without having to do lots of cooking.

When you need to change it up, you can sprinkle in one more vegetable or meat even when you don’t have time to cook. Here’s an example. Over the weekend, I made a pan of allergen-free meatloaf, which is a family favorite. I also cut up cabbage for cole slaw (fast recipe) and made jicama salad with carrots and apples (long recipe). However, it doesn’t take long to get tired of eating meatloaf, cole slaw, and jicama salad during the work week.

We can change it up by adding a salad. I can take some of the cabbage and cook it another way to add variety. I can thaw out a frozen leftover or a frozen vegetable for something different and quick. I also have chicken in the fridge as a second protein option that I can cook in the crockpot (quick recipe).

Use technology to your advantage. I use a crockpot for certain recipes, often meat dishes. I find that crockpot recipes can get old. So it’s a great tool, but not for every week. Use the crock pot for your quick recipes, especially when you know you are short on time. But you’ll need to sprinkle in recipes that take longer as well. My friends rave about cooking with the Instant Pot.

Tip #8. Get help.

If you have a household to feed, then they should pitch in prepping, cooking, and cleaning. My mentor says, “everyone who eats, cleans up.” You can teach others what to do. Kids can chop with a kid-safe knife. Even teenagers and adults who don’t know how to cook can put a dish in the oven with your specific instructions. They can clean pots and pans. If you have a spouse in the home, ask him/her/they to prep and cook a meal that they know how to make.

Even better, if you have the resources to pay for domestic help, you can have domestic helpers, even babysitters, prep vegetables or cook meals. I have been lucky over the years to find child caretakers (usually grandmothers) who were stellar cooks. We made an agreement that they come to my house to cook for a full day for a fee once a month. I provide all the groceries; they cook and clean up. Then my family can eat those meals fresh and we freeze the rest, making sure to thaw and use them during the week when time is tight.

Tip #9. Have a rescue plan in place.

Sometimes, things come up and you won’t be able to prepare healthy meals ahead of time. But you can still keep up your momentum. Find a few healthy restaurants in your area for these urgent scenarios. Or if you’re travelling, figure out some options you can have at fast food places.

I normally just pick restaurants that have a selection of prepared vegetables and meats. It may be a deli line at the grocery store. Examples that I use are Publix, Cracker Barrel, or a local soul food restaurant. I’ll pick a meat main course and two or three vegetables in large quantities that you can eat throughout the week. You can easily add salads from home to the spread. Eating out is always expensive, but if you buy larger quantities of food at one time, you can get some savings.

For a quick fix in a pinch, I will choose a salad from a fast-food restaurant like Chick-Fil-A, a lettuce wrap burger from Hardee’s, a steak or chicken bowl from Taco Bell (contains rice, beans, lettuce, tomato, guacamole). You can also buy healthy frozen meals for occasions like this. I like Trifecta’s organic, free-range delivery meals.

Tip #10. Cheat with gusto.

It’s okay to have a treat and you deserve it! Unless you are on a hard-core diet and then you may have to be very creative to find a treat. Look for healthy “cheat” foods to have around when you have cravings or want to break your commitments. There are many recipes online. Dark chocolate, xylitol-sweetened gum or candy, carob chips, in-season fruit with a whipped topping, plantain chips, sugar-free coconut ice cream, etc.

 

Bonus Tip #11. Reflect and Celebrate Your Accomplishments!

After you have followed Tips 1-10, look back and recognize all that you did. Congratulate yourself for putting the time and effort into eating healthier. It benefits you and all those around you.

Pay attention to how you feel. Do you have more energy, or more sustained energy throughout the day? Do you think more clearly? Do you have fewer cravings? Do you feel lighter and healthier? Do you have fewer sugar crashes? Do you feel stronger? What else is different?

Celebrate your healthy eating accomplishments, no matter how small!

 

Can’t stop eating junk food or fast food?

Some people ask, “Why is it so hard to stop eating sugar?” Others want to know how to stop eating junk food or fast food. If you’re having a hard time quitting junk food or sugar, you aren’t the only one! Whether someone eats healthy or eats junk food depends on a lot of factors. Your upbringing and what your parents or caretakers fed you. Even schools and government-subsidized meals are high in ultra-processed foods. If you ate ultra-processed foods your whole life, of course that is what you like best now.

Junk food and fast food are very tasty. As mentioned earlier, we are hard-wired to intensely enjoy high-calorie, sugary, fatty, or salty foods. It helped us survive when food was scarce. But now it makes us choose unhealthy foods and overeat. You may have cravings for refined flour, sugar, and unhealthy fats. Everywhere we go, most of our choices are packaged convenience foods. And there’s pressure to buy them. There are financial incentives for companies to get you to buy their cookies, chips, sugared cereal, and more. Our busy culture doesn’t value home-cooked nutritious meals because they slow us down. Even a person’s education and economic status influences what kind of foods they will eat. Ultra-processed foods are more affordable, so lower income people tend to eat them more.

When Eating Healthier Seems Impossible, Seek Help

Eating healthier and eating more fruits and vegetables doesn’t happen overnight. It can be extremely challenging, especially if you’ve never eaten this way in your life. Some people may feel despair and depression when their favorite junk foods are taken away. They may even feel a temporary worsening of illness symptoms (like joint pain, migraine headaches, fatigue, etc.) The body sometimes can go into withdrawal when problem foods are removed from the diet. However, it’s short-lived and within 4-10 days, you should be feeling much better.

But if you can’t get through even a few weeks of eating more vegetables or making healthier food choices, it may be time to figure out if there’s a deeper issue. Consider finding an integrative and functional medicine provider or a functional medicine nutritionist. They can do testing to figure out if you have hormonal, neurotransmitter, gut, or nutrient imbalances. Having a nutritionist or health coach trained in integrative and functional medicine can give support, encouragement, and practical tips to eating healthier. There may be underlying issues undermining your efforts to make these diet changes. In that case, you’ll want to identify those with your practitioner and address them so that you can conquer your cravings and successfully transition from eating junk food to eating more vegetables and healthy foods every day.

Say “Goodbye” to Fast Food and “Hello” to Home-cooked Meals

It’s possible to eat healthier. It takes time, patience, resources, and creativity. You’ll need to develop some habits that will set you up for success. Aim for eating healthy meals at least 80% of the time and allowing yourself to cheat sometimes. Not everyone likes to cook. Some people are so busy they don’t have time to cook. But everyone has to eat. The question is: do you eat healthy, home-cooked meals with plenty of vegetables or do you eat ultra-processed junk food? If you choose the latter, it is unfortunately a path to inflammation, pain, obesity, many chronic diseases, and a shorter lifespan. In a world that is increasingly focused on convenience and speed, building a system for cooking healthy foods may be the most important thing you can do to ensure a long, quality life for you and your loved ones.

References

1. Wang L, Martinez Steele E, Du M, et al. Trends in Consumption of Ultraprocessed Foods Among US Youths Aged 2-19 Years, 1999-2018. JAMA. Aug 10 2021;326(6):519-530. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.10238
2. Juul F, Parekh N, Martinez-Steele E, Monteiro CA, Chang VW. Ultra-processed food consumption among US adults from 2001 to 2018. Am J Clin Nutr. Jan 11 2022;115(1):211-221. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqab305
3. Sedghi L, DiMassa V, Harrington A, Lynch SV, Kapila YL. The oral microbiome: Role of key organisms and complex networks in oral health and disease. Periodontology 2000. Oct 2021;87(1):107-131. doi:10.1111/prd.12393
4. Del Rio-Celestino M, Font R. The Health Benefits of Fruits and Vegetables. Foods. Mar 23 2020;9(3)doi:10.3390/foods9030369
5. Adebawo O, Salau B, Ezima E, et al. Fruits and vegetables moderate lipid cardiovascular risk factor in hypertensive patients. Lipids in health and disease. Jun 5 2006;5:14. doi:10.1186/1476-511X-5-14
6. Payne ME, Steck SE, George RR, Steffens DC. Fruit, vegetable, and antioxidant intakes are lower in older adults with depression. J Acad Nutr Diet. Dec 2012;112(12):2022-7. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2012.08.026

Tell us YOUR tips and tricks to eating healthier every day in the comments below!