5 tips for healthier eating
written by Jasmine Irven
Let’s chat about healthy eating. There’s a lot of information (and misinformation) out there about nutrition: fad diets promising to finally give you the results you’ve been looking for, foods to eat, foods not to eat, claims that diet can solve all your ailments, claims that diet is irrelevant, etc. It’s overwhelming, even for someone in the field.
And so, as I continue to navigate my own health journey, and help others along theirs, I’m focused on creating an approach that’s sustainable to uphold, rather than overwhelming.
My approach is holistic, involving the mind, body, and soul, and looking at how we can better nourish all areas of our life. Within that I do believe that nutrition is a key element, however, in a space that seems crowded with people trying to convince you how complicated being healthy is, I want to reassure you that eating clean does not need to be hard.
The reality is that we just need to focus on getting back to the basics. Our bodies crave nourishment. Our cells need the nutrients from REAL food to be truly fulfilled and sustained, and to keep us feeling GOOD. This doesn’t mean you have to shift to a diet completely of fruits + veggies, it means making small shifts in your everyday life, and weekly grocery shop, that allow you to start feeling better.
Here are a few of the staple practices I’ve implemented in my life that I’ve found most impactful in shifting to healthier eating.
create a weekly meal plan
I truly believe in the power of intentional planning. Not that you need to have every single thing you consume planned in advance and recorded, but it does mean having an idea of the meals you’d like to make and the foods you’d like to incorporate into your week, so that you’re not left with “nothing to eat” even though you just went grocery shopping the day before. Trust me, I’ve been there.
For me, meal planning involves me and my boyfriend sitting down at the beginning of every week (generally Sunday morning) to figure out what our lunches and dinners will look like before we grocery shop.
Here's the general process:
Base your meals off of what what you already have in the fridge to reduce costs and food waste.
Plan meals for Monday to Friday and then use the weekend to get creative with whatever is left in the fridge!
Plan for approximately 4-5 meals and then ensure you make at least 2 servings, 1 for dinner and 1 for lunch another day of the week (multiply this by however many people in your household you are feeding).
For breakfast I generally run through a rotation of my favourites with about 2 options per week.
Plan for a few snack staples you can rotate throughout the week! I generally make one baked good, and then grab some fruits, veggies, hummus, and trail mix.
Prep what you can in advance! I don’t do meal prepping in the sense of spending 5+ hours in the kitchen every Sunday. I really enjoy the act of cooking (minimally) the night of and having fresh meals and variety. But what is really helpful is any cutting of vegetables, bulk roasting, and any baking that needs to be done to speed up the process on the night of.
Note that this is just my process! Use a timeline and schedule that works for you. If you love going out for a date night each week, incorporate that! Make the plan unique, and ensure it’s sustainable rather than overwhelming.
shop on the outside of the grocery store
If you create a meal plan and follow it, you really should only need to go shopping once per week. Avoiding random trips to the grocery store for 1-2 items means you’ll also be tempted less often by the atmosphere of the grocery store.
When you do get to the grocery store, stick to the outside aisles (i.e. the perimeter of the store). Grocery stores are laid out very strategically, with the staple ingredients laid out around the outside, and mostly packaged ingredients on the inside aisles. These packaged items are often filled with preservatives, sugar, and other additives you don’t want (regularly at least) in your body. Instead, focus on buying whole, plant based foods.
If you do need a few things from the inner aisles, be prepared with your list in hand and shop only with that! If you didn’t plan to get it, don’t. You don’t need it.
choose local + seasonal foods
A big part of my approach involves encouraging seasonal eating, because it truly is transformational in your health. A lot of the time we get stuck in routines of eating the same foods over and over again, because it's often easier to stick with what we're comfortable with, rather than try something new.
While I always encourage getting comfortable with certain foods in the kitchen (so you find more ease here), we also need to be willing to change with the seasons of age, weather, and availability.
Buying in season, locally produced foods is an awesome practice to get into, for your health and the planet:
When we eat a variety of foods and shift our eating patterns each season, we're less likely to experience nutritional deficiencies, because each food has its own nutrient profile (meaning it’s high in certain minerals and vitamins and low in others). If we continue to eat the same foods week in and week out, we may have an abundance of some nutrients and a lack of others.
Local, seasonal foods have less chemicals and pesticides because they don’t need to endure the time and transportation of overseas foods.
Eating foods that are available seasonally and grown locally keeps us attuned to Earth and the cycles of Nature.
Local and in-season foods are the most nutrient dense; the more time that passes between harvest and eating, the more likely the loss of water-soluble vitamins.
Helps support local small businesses and farmers (vote positively with your dollar!).
start small
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I advocate strongly for simple, sustainable changes.
I’ve been there before:
Trying to follow diets that seem super restrictive and unsustainable
Getting “on track” with a healthy lifestyle for a few days or a couple weeks but then reverting back to old patterns because they’re easier
Feeling like you need to “reset” your “diet” each time you “cheat” with “junk food”
I only truly started making change when I stopped trying to do all the things at once and instead focused on the small changes and lifestyle shifts I could make each day.
Instead of falling so easily into a state of overwhelm, I was able to see each shift as a win, which meant the habits were easier to keep up.
begin to uncover your why
This one is a simple concept, but maybe one of the most challenging to actually unpack. Simply ask yourself: why do you want to make these changes? Why do you want to start eating healthier?
As a holistic health coach, my goal is to create a supportive environment that will help you to make gradual, lifelong changes that will enable you to reach your health goals, but so often if we don’t truly know why we want to make changes, they’re not going to stick.
On the surface your answer might look something like: “to have more energy”, or “to lose weight”, but if you dig a little deeper, your true why will reveal itself. Why do you want to have more energy? Is it so that you can start that business you’ve always wanted without burning out? Or to be able to play and keep up with your kids? Similarly, why do you want to lose weight? Is it to live a long and healthy life, so you can have a healthy, vibrant family?
Recognizing what’s underneath the surface, and what’s driving your wish for change can be extremely helpful in motivating you to truly work on making change. (p.s. part of my coaching process is helping you uncover what’s truly important to you and what might be holding you back!).
final thoughts
There’s so much more I could share on this topic but I hope these 5 tips help you begin to recognize that shifting your lifestyle doesn’t need to be overwhelming! I’d love to know which concept resonates most with you, or which one you’ll be working on implementing. Let me know below!
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about the author
Hey there! I’m Jasmine, founder of the Sustainable Bliss Collective, a Certified Meditation Teacher, and lover of all things self-care, slow-living, and personal development.
I believe that ambition and self-care can coexist, and as such I hope to encourage and inspire you to take care of yourself, breathe deeply, connect with who you are, manifest your dreams, enjoy the blissful moments of each day, and make an impact in this beautiful world we call home.
Connect with me on Instagram here!
