There is tremendous media coverage and discussion about healthier living, reducing food related diseases, and adequate exercise. The largest factor fueling your body and driving your health is centered around what you eat. Every time you raise your hand to your mouth with a bite of food, you are making a decision about how your body works for you. Make the wrong choices and your body will be so busy trying to process and deal with what you’ve forced in that the results may eventually lead to a breakdown in the system.

How can you make better choices? What really is good for you? Considering your time, how can this shift in food choice really work out? Here’s where CONSISTENCY and VARIETY take center stage. It will take time for you to learn what foods you and your family like. How to prepare them will take experimentation. And shopping for them will require a new set of skills as well. But let’s face it; you can invest time now in order to gain momentum and build a change in lifestyle or you can spend time later dealing with the consequences of poor choices.

Food behavior direction needs to be consistent. This doesn’t mean you’ll never eat another cookie, that you’ll mourn the adult beverage scene, or that you’ll lose the word bread from your vocabulary. It does mean it is time to get an education. Learn to choose healthy ingredients, learn to make foods differently (style of cooking/prep), learn to experiment with spices, and opt for fresh and local given the chance.

None of these are overwhelming. You can start small to get the consistency ball rolling. Any excuse you lay out is only to yourself. It’s a way to duck the fear of learning something new or not being one of the crowd (the hotdog, donut, soda-eating crowd, that is). It’s not too hard; you do have the time and yes, your quality of life really will be tremendously affected.

There are thousands of combinations of foods that you’ve probably never even considered. There may be foods that left a bad taste in your mouth (ha!)…perhaps due to preparation style or maybe because you just didn’t want to like it. Now is the time to clear your mind, invest a bit of time to find a recipe with a style you know you’ll like, and add new-to-you ingredient/food.

Try it, your way! We’ve heard that one before. Then try it again another way. Let’s discuss this. Strawberries – consider the ways: fresh raw, frozen in ice cream/smoothie, added to yogurt, added to baked goods, in a salad, top of waffles…and the list goes on. Or lentils: baked, boiled, added to breads, added to wraps, in soups, as a burger…again on and on. One basic ingredient or food can bring variety with changes to preparation and seasoning techniques.

The first step is the hardest. Decide what you want and why. Then decide you are worth the effort and that you have this life to live. It’s important to live it fully. Eating is absolutely one aspect of your life that you totally control.