Try Something New: A Simple Healthy Eating Habit

Let’s discuss the nutrition advice nobody wants to hear but desperately needs.

Completely overhauling your entire nutrition plan is a recipe for disaster.

When you change everything on January 1st, it shouldn’t come as a shock that you’ve crashed and burned in less than 2 weeks.

The truth is when you change everything at once, you’re essentially conducting a science experiment with too many variables.

Any good scientist will tell you that’s a terrible approach and it won’t produce any useful data.

This is why we advise our clients to try something new.

Not 37 things…just one. This allows you to see if your change was effective and sustainable.

This simple healthy eating habit can work absolute wonders when applied consistently.

The Problem With All-Or-Nothing Nutrition

Far too often, people treat healthy eating like a light switch…it’s either ON or OFF.

They’re meal prepping, tracking their macros and following their plan to the letter…

Or they’re hitting every drive-through in a 5 mile radius while swearing to get back on track at some point in the future.

This is where a more intelligent approach proves beneficial because it keeps you from pinging between the two extremes.

The “Try Something New” Strategy

Instead of a complete restructuring of your nutrition plan, simply add one new thing for the week.

That’s it…just one thing.

This could be as simple as:

• A new fruit you’ve never tried
• A vegetable you’ve been avoiding since childhood
• A different way to prepare your favorite protein
• A new healthy snack option
• A healthier breakfast
• A different cooking method you’ve never used

Why does this strategy work so brilliantly?

Because you’re changing your approach and adding something instead of trying to restrict. You’re building on what you’re already doing instead of demolishing your foundation and rebuilding from a new blueprint.

The Science Behind Simplicity

When you change everything simultaneously, you create what we refer to as “nutritional chaos”.

If you begin to feel better or worse within the next 2 weeks, you’ll have absolutely no idea as to the root cause of your change.

If you decided to eat kale, it’s probably that. But if you’re also consuming too many protein bars or protein shakes, those can quickly lead to bloating and digestive issues.

Should you eliminate gluten? Lactose? Whey protein?

You’ll never know.

But when you try one new vegetable, like brussel sprouts, into to your dinner rotation you might find that this works well for you.

This is the same line of thinking we recommend with an elimination diet where you would only change one variable at a time.

You can then make an educated decision as to whether or not you’d like to keep this change (brussel sprouts) in your regular routine.

Real World Application

Here’s how this plays out with actual clients.

Sarah, a busy engineer, wasn’t eating enough vegetables.

Instead of forcing her to completely change the composition of every meal, we simply asked her to try one vegetable for the week.

There weren’t any requirements to have this 3, 5, or 7 times…that was entirely up to Sarah.

The first week she added zucchini to one meal and found that she enjoyed it.

The next week, Sarah ate zucchini at 3 different meals. In week 3, she found that having zucchini twice per week felt manageable and she could sustain this healthy eating habit.

With this new addition into her meals, Sarah was now again ready to try something new.

This time, she decided to add a fruit to her afternoon snack.

Six months later, Sarah has lost more than 20 pounds due to the improvements to her nutrition.

But this wasn’t some due to a single massive change made during a point of maximum frustration.

Her results came from the compound effect of small, sustainable changes.

Keeping It Simple

This week, let’s try something new.

But only pick ONE thing…not seven.

You’re free to choose whatever food or healthy eating habit that feels right for you.

Even if it’s that weird looking vegetable you saw at the farmer’s market last weekend.

Give this change at least a week. See how you feel and decide if this change is a keeper for you.

Then, and not before, consider adding another variable (food or habit).

The Bottom Line

Sustainable nutrition changes aren’t built on radical transformations.

They’re built from intelligent experimentation and a gradual expansion of what is working.

You don’t need to change everything. You just need to try something new.

Your body (and your sanity) will thank you for it.

So what’s it going to be? What one thing will you try this week?