FIT FOR LIFE

Certain healthy eating tweaks can help you succeed when focusing on your overall well-being. Here are 8 evidence-based tips to implement.

To make implementing healthy eating habit changes more sustainable, I generally recommend that people choose two or three tips to kick-start their healthy eating journey. Once you master a few tips, you can add more.

1. Limit Drinks with Added Sugars 

Added sugars are lurking in many seemingly healthy drinks, like fruit punch and sports drinks. Unfortunately, taking in too many added sugars has been linked to adverse outcomes including chronic inflammation, obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and even depression according to a 2024 review article in BMC Psychiatry.

The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that people limit their added sugar intake to less than 10% of their total calories. For a 2,000-calorie diet, that means around 12 teaspoons of the sweet stuff. Yet, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average intake of added sugars among U.S. adults is about 17 teaspoons, far exceeding the suggested quota.

Swapping out beverages with added sugars—think regular soda, sweet tea, sports drinks, fruit punch, lemonade and fruit “drinks”—for no-sugar-added choices like water, seltzer water, unsweetened coffee or tea and even 100% fruit juice in moderation can give your body the hydration it needs without any added sugars.

2. Add Fermented Food in Your Diet 

To give your body a boost of probiotics, start your day with plain yogurt, enjoy a miso soup at dinnertime or sip on a kombucha midday for some fermented goodness.

3. Add Fruit to Your Diet

In the U.S., only about 12% of the population eat the recommended amount of fruit and 10% get the suggested servings of vegetables every day, per the CDC. And since a lower intake of fruit is linked to outcomes like increased risk of certain cancers, heart disease and stroke, sneaking in some fruit every day is a smart move.

Here’s a quick trick when the 3 p.m. slump strikes, instead of reaching for sugary candy or caffeine-laden drinks, enjoying fruit as a part of your balanced snack can give you sustained energy along with some energy-supporting nutrients. Combining a serving of fruit with protein can help give your snack some staying power, so you will feel satisfied and avoid a potential sugar crash shortly after eating.

4. Add More Vegetables to Your Dishes 

Vegetables are one of the best sources of fiber, a nutrient that can help keep your body healthy by supporting gut health and possibly reducing the risk of developing certain cancers. Plus, many veggies are low in calories and can help make dishes a bit more satisfying and flavorful.

Adding vegetables to your dishes doesn’t mean living off of salad every day of the week. Adding extra broccoli to your stir-fry, a handful of spinach in your soup or diced bell pepper to your scrambled eggs can give your dishes a healthy boost in a simple way.

5. Limit Diet Soda 

Drinking diet soda isn’t as healthy a choice as we once thought—or what some advertisements would lead you to believe.

For example, a 2019 study in Circulation suggests that sipping on the bubbly sweet-tasting stuff is associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. And a 2023 review in Cureus found connections between frequent diet soda consumption and a host of conditions, including poor mental health, delays in child nerve development, worsening retinopathy in people with diabetes, incidental end-stage kidney disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma in men, rheumatoid arthritis in women, hip fractures, dental erosion, increases in breath alcohol concentration when used in alcoholic beverages, and accelerated cell aging.

6. Limit Fried Foods 

Eating crispy French fry or piece of fried chicken sounds like a lot fun, But eating too many fried foods is linked to a slew of unsavory health outcomes. It might even impact your mental health. According to a 2023 study in PNAS, frequently noshing on fried foods was linked to a 12% increased risk of anxiety and a 7% increased risk of depression.

And a 2021 study in BMJ Heart suggests that regularly eating fried foods increases the risk of cardiovascular disease—and the relationship is linear, meaning, your risk of disease goes up the more you eat fried foods.

To get that satisfying crunch without the added calories and fat, opt for air-fryingor baking your dishes instead.

7. Choose Leaner Cuts of Beef 

Beef lovers can rejoice when they learn that beef can be a part of a healthy diet. It’s a natural source of iron, protein, zinc and many other important nutrients. And although some cuts of beef are on the higher side when it comes to saturated fat, leaner cuts, like flank steak, are perfectly appropriate to include in a wholesome diet.

8. Supplements

Although it’s good if you can get most of your vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients from food, this isn’t always possible. Busy caregivers may not have the time to make healthy meals or may be caring for someone with little or no appetite. 

Supplements or fortified foods can help provide nutrients that you or your loved one might be missing, especially if you have:

• Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, or irritable bowel syndrome
• Osteoporosis
• Age-related macular degeneration

To find out if someone might benefit from supplements or fortified foods, ask yourself or your loved one these questions:

• Do you eat fewer than two meals a day?
• Is your diet restricted? For example, do you not eat meat or dairy, or do you eat fewer than five servings of fruit and vegetables every day?
• Do you eat most of your meals alone?
• Have you gained or lost more than 10 pounds in the last 6 months without trying to?
• Do you have three or more alcoholic drinks a day?
• Are you in menopause or postmenopausal?

If you answered “yes” to any of the questions, then supplements might help you maintain a healthy diet.

Follow for more healthy Tips.