Happy New Year!

It maybe hard to believe that we are at the start of another year, and now another decade, but in fact the month of January is six days old. As you look forward to the New Year do so with resolutions that are realistic, achievable and enjoyable – yes resolutions can be enjoyable.

Resolutions start with an assessment of what you’d like to change and then a determination of how to make those changes. If you’d like to improve your eating habits this year start first with a good understanding of healthy eating. Mypyramid.gov provides a good outline of what we need for health, how much we need for our own health needs and how to make changes to achieve these goals.

As you make changes remember to take small steps; a new goal per week is reasonable and goals can be as simple as boosting dairy intake by one cup per day.

When it comes to enjoyable, start by adding foods you like – if you need more vegetables consider boosting portions of those you already eat or maybe mix some new choices in with current favorites. If you need to add cheese or margarine to make vegetables palatable do that but try to keep the amount in balance to the vegetables – In other words this is about more vegetables.

Finally, if a resolution is harder than you expected give it more time. Remember the goal for healthy eating is a pattern for life, not another diet.