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How to incorporate balanced eating habits into your new year

Kate Sayre from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health shares tips for how to approach healthy and balanced eating in the new year.

A person cooks at a stove.
Woman cooking stir fried vegetables

If you’re like the nearly 50% of Americans who make New Year’s resolutions each year, you might be looking for ways to improve your eating habits in 2023.

Kate Sayre is here to help.

Sayre is an instructor at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, where she teaches a course on nutrition communication and motivational interviewing and coordinates the nutrition department’s continuing education. She is also a practicing registered dietitian and helps her clients modify and balance their diets to meet their individual needs.

Here, she shares tips for how to approach healthy and balanced eating in the new year.

Focus on balance

With various fad diets floating around the internet, “healthy” can be a pretty ambiguous and confusing term. It’s a better idea to focus on eating a balanced diet, Sayre said.

“I actually don’t use the term ‘healthy’ all that much because it can have this dichotomy of good foods and bad foods, when actually, all foods can fit [into a balanced meal plan],” Sayre said.

When planning your meals, try to incorporate each of the macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Then, fill in the rest with fruits and vegetables, which provide micronutrients and vitamins and help keep you full.

Dig deep to find your motivation

An essential step to any goal is finding your “why.”

While you might go into the New Year wanting to change your eating habits as a way to lose weight or simply feel better about yourself, the true motivation is likely much deeper.

“A lot of the times, it doesn’t have anything to do with weight,” Sayre said. “It has to do with their relationship with food and healing that.”

Don’t focus on a number on the scale, Sayre said. Instead, think about your values and what’s important to you, and consider how a balanced diet can help you live up to those ideals.

Incorporate foods you enjoy

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all diet or eating plan that Sayre recommends. Instead, she encourages her patients to incorporate foods that they already like, such as comfort foods. 

“There are healthy foods in every single culture. Food is not just about food, it’s about where you’re from and who you are and what you ate growing up and what brings you comfort,” Sayre said. “If you’re not eating things that you enjoy, it’s not going to be sustainable.”

If you have a favorite food or meal, try making a more balanced version of it, with all of the macronutrients represented and some micronutrients to round it out.

Think about when you eat and make sure you get enough

Eating consistently throughout the day is key to making sure you get enough nutrients to fuel your body.

Sayre said that it takes your body about four hours to fully digest a meal and all of its nutrients, so you most likely need a snack or two throughout the day to keep you going.

Try planning a balanced snack between meals that incorporates a carbohydrate and a protein, such as a piece of fruit and a tablespoon of nut butter or vegetables with hummus. It will give you the energy you need and keep you from overeating at your next meal.

Cut yourself some slack

Be flexible and willing to try new things, but don’t be too hard on yourself when things don’t go as you planned.

If you set a goal that doesn’t work out, such as meal-prepping on the weekends, or have a day where your meals aren’t fully balanced, don’t be discouraged. Instead, go back to the drawing board and see what you can improve going forward.

“I encourage people to not do this black-and-white thinking of, ‘Either I’m on the wagon, or I’m off it.’ You’re human,” Sayre said. “We all look forward to the day when we can eat together again, and you might eat out of your norm, but then the next day, you just get back to that pattern that works well for you — balanced eating, eating throughout the day and eating for your body.”