5 Tips for Eating Healthier in the New Year

Thanks so much to SunRype for sponsoring this post, Eating Healthier in the New Year, with a box full of delicious and healthy products to try.  All opinions are mine but I have to say I love these yummy snack bars!  Click here for my disclosure page.

Can you believe it is already December?!

I can’t believe it either!  I am not quite at my weight loss goal I set at the beginning of 2016 but am close.  I’ve lost 20 pounds this year!  Woot woot!  Are you planning on making a New Year’s resolution?

Eating healthier is top on my list along with losing the infamous 15 pounds.  As much as I LOVE fried foods, they are really rough on my tummy and thighs the older I get.  Plus, I want my kids to grow up eating and loving good foods and for them to learn eating healthier they have to have a good roll model.

Here are 5 tips to make it easier to eat healthier in the New Year:

1. Get all unhealthy food out of your home.  When my pantry is full of unhealthy food, I’m like a moth to the flame.  There’s no stopping my appetite for carbs!  So I’ve learned just to not have kryptonite foods in my pantry.  For me, those include chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, candy bars, my favorite chips, and more and chocolate.  Think of the foods that you have trouble overeating with, and get rid of them!  Kick them out of your kitchen and don’t look back!

2. Fill your kitchen with healthy foods. It’s so important to include vegetables and fruits in your healthy eating diet.  Recommended daily servings for a 2000 calorie diet generally are 5 servings a day for vegetables and 4 servings for fruit.  It’s not always easy to squeeze in all of these nutrient rich foods each day.  Having things to grab and go with are super handy.  SunRype fruit snacks are a great way to make sure you get your servings of fruit each day.  They make 100% fruit snacks either in bar form or bites.  I was so thankful that SunRype sent me a box of delicious snack bars to try!  I’ve been using the energy bars and fruit source bars for my between meals treats.  I don’t feel so much like I’m deprived from my sweets and know that I’m eating good stuff with only ingredients that I can pronounce.  Plus, some of the bars include little bits of dark chocolate – yep, these are going first! LOL

3. Make a weekly meal plan. Not only will this save you in calories, but it can save you in dollars too by not eating out as much.  Write out a chart with days of the week and Breakfast, snack, Lunch, snack, and Dinner for each day.  This will help you to grocery shop too.  Having a meal strategy will help you to stay on track and not swerve into the local Krispy Kreme drive through.  (Oooo, Krispy Kreme you diet temptress!)   So a meal plan is essential to eating healthy.

4. Find an accountability partner or group. Something that has helped me so much this year in my weight loss journey is having someone I knew I would have to fess up to.  About once a week, my sister and I would talk with each other about whether or not we were eating healthy or not.  I also joined a facebook group and signed up for various 30 day email courses for eating well.  It helps knowing that I am not alone in the temptations of food and that everyone struggles with different things.  It also helps because these groups are usually really encouraging but will call you out if they know you need it!

5. Drink more water. My Achille’s hill is Dr. Pepper.  Aaaaa, sweet nectar of the gods.  I have a problem with using food and drink for comfort, and Dr. Pepper is like a big fluffy blanket.  If you are hooked on caffeine, quitting cold turkey can be hard and possibly give you headaches.  Considering step down from say one 2 liter a day to one.  Do that for a couple days and then drink just a 16 ounce soda for several days and then switch completely to water.  Caffeinated drinks are one of the hardest habits to break.

These are just some of the tips to eating healthier in the new year.  To have healthy foods readily available means it’s less like to make bad choices.  With a meal and snack plan, money and calories will be saved.  Drinking water instead of caffeinated drinks will make a world of difference not just in your waist but overall health.

What are your plans for eating healthier in the new year?

Thanks again so much to SunRype for sponsoring this post!  SunRype is a great alternative to junk food.  SunRype products are gluten free, nut free and vegan.  All sugars come naturally from fruit and fruit juices and all ingredients are easily pronounced words!  Learn more about SunRype here.  See what stores in your area carry SunRype.  Or order from SunRype’s Amazon storefront.