Are you making a healthy change in 2014? Before you do, here are some helpful tips that will make those healthy changes even easier.

Ditch the detox or 12 week plan

These products and programs are extremely popular due to their fast results and big hype, but do you really want to just go hard core for three months only to gradually put the weight back on afterwards? Wouldn’t you rather make healthy eating who you are and what you do, always?

If you’re over the diets and keen for a permanent change, start this year with a long term mindset and become a healthy eater forever. Embrace the change long term. You’ll be happy you did.

Throw out unhelpful food

This is a thoroughly therapeutic exercise. There’s nothing quite like a good clean out to make you feel good. Throw out unhelpful leftovers, packaged food that isn’t appropriate for your new healthy lifestyle and any out of date jars, cans and packets.

If you tend to be a person who hates waste, this is part of the change you need to make. Consider this: excess food is either wasted in the bin or wasted on your bottom. Either way it’s wasted and I know where I’d rather it be.

I know many, many people who needlessly eat things because they can’t bare to throw them away. If throwing food in the bin goes against everything you believe in, then use this as a motivator to change the way you shop. Write a weekly meal plan, only buy what you need, shop online to avoid impulse buying. There are lots of great ways you can minimise food waste in your household, mostly by planning well and only buying what you need. It’s good for the environment and your waistline.

Re-organise and clean out your kitchen

A clean kitchen is very motivating. No one likes cooking in a messy or dirty kitchen, not even me.

Wipe down the shelves in your fridge and pantry, reorganise you cooking utensil draw so things are easy to access, neaten up your plastics cupboard (preaching to the choir here) so you have containers ready for bulk cooking, clean out your oven and microwave and wipe down your stove top. If you can afford it, pay someone else to do it for you!

Write a meal plan

This is the number one recommendation that I give my clients. Sometimes I even spend a whole appointment teaching them how to write one effectively.

A meal plan is how busy people eat well everyday, rather than just the odd meal every now and then when their lifestyle allows it. Our culture relies heavily on convenience food, often at the expense of health.

Healthy food is mostly fresh and often requires preparation. So if you’re not organised, it’s very difficult to consistently eat well because you wont have healthy food available. A meal plan helps you stay organised and shop well, ensuring that your kitchen is always well stocked with fresh, healthy food. You can download a meal planner template HERE if you’d like to know where to start.

Have a family meeting

Is your partner, although well-meaning, often sabotaging your attempts to eat well? Do you keep unhelpful food in the house because of the kids? If you’re feeling like its time to eat well, then more than likely it’s time for the whole family to eat well.

Call a family meeting and talk about it. Get everyone on board. It’ll be so much easier to make good choices consistently if you do it together, as a team. I offer family consultations for improving the whole households eating habits if you find that your loved ones will listen to a nutritionist but not to you!

Try a new way to shop

Habits are behaviours that we do automatically. If you’re constantly finding yourself buying unhelpful foods (even when you do’t want to), how about changing the way you shop?

Shopping online is a great way to stay on budget because you can see your checkout tally while you shop. It also can reduce impulse buying because you’re not walking up and down isles. Lasting, shopping online means that you need a shopping list – a great way to ensure you’ve got everything you need for your weekly meal plan!

I love buying my fruit, vegetables, milk, yoghurt and bread online from Vegies to Your Door. They’re a local Canberra family that pride themselves in offering a quality product and delivery service. I do the rest of my shopping using Woolworth’s Home Shop once a fortnight for the rest of my groceries.

Other great places to shop is at the Epic Farmer’s Market or the Fyshwick and Belconnen fresh food markets. These all have a great vibe and walking through the masses of fresh produce available always makes me feel motivated to eat well. I love taking my kids to the markets, giving them $10 each and letting them buy their own fruit and vegetables. It’s been a great way to get them to try new foods and feel more confident with eating fresh produce. Good shopping habits is great skill to teach your kids.