Eating healthy is often at the top of everyone’s new year’s resolutions. So, after binging on anything and everything during the holidays, it is only logical to wish for more healthy eating habits. 

However, starting and maintaining a healthier diet sometimes feels like a series of hits or misses. Before you get used to the routine, you may find yourself wanting to give up already. Thus, we created this simple guide to help you achieve your health and wellness goal for this year 2022. 

This year, we want to help you set yourself up for success. So, whether you’re looking to boost your immune system with the foods you eat or take control of your gut health, their advice will help you head into the new year on solid footing. 

Start Small 

The best piece of advice we can give to those whose New Year’s resolutions include plans to eat healthier, lose weight, exercise more, or stress less is to eliminate the all-or-nothing attitude. Instead, learn to set smaller interim goals or milestones on the path to a larger goal. 

Setbacks are part of the process and encountering some should not deter or distract you from your goals. However, you must remember that small, consistent acts eventually roll over to big results. 

Changing your diet is a life-long process, and it shouldn’t happen abruptly. Instead, one should take it one step at a time. Changing it overnight is counterproductive and might only push you to embrace your old, unhealthy habit. 

Learn to Have Beans and Leafy Greens 

If you haven’t tried it yet, you should learn to eat more beans and leafy greens. Instead of embracing some weird concoction or meat substitute, you might be better off with the good ole green leafy vegetables. Unfortunately, most Irish don’t eat nearly enough of these super healthful, nutrient-dense foods that can improve your health and may help you live a longer, healthier life. 

Beans are a very good source of plant-based protein that can support heart health—especially if they replace red meat. They are also an excellent source of fiber, which supports healthy cholesterol, and they can help everything from your blood sugar levels to gut health to appetite control. They are even a good source of magnesium, which supports healthy blood pressure and blood sugar, and they provide disease-fighting phytonutrients and antioxidants. 

On the other hand, leafy greens are super low in calories, and eating them regularly may help reduce the risk of acquiring diabetes by up to 14% and improve brain function, making it younger. They are also loaded with immunity-supporting beta carotene, vitamin K and magnesium, along with other phytonutrients and antioxidants. 

Maintain a Balanced Diet 

A rainbow diet or having a plate with a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, lean meats, and fish should still be your goal. You can sauté your vegetables in garlic and vegetable oil (canola and soybean oil have a lower saturated fat content than most other oils). Increase your consumption of lean proteins and flavour up your dish with various spices, such as cumin or rosemary, instead of salt. The more colour, the better! 

For the meat part, you can try experimenting with other forms of meat, such as this Chili Turkey Burger, or you can go with classic options such as Chicken Breasts. If you’re feeling a bit fancy, you can choose beef such as this wonderful piece of striploin. Broiling or grilling remains one of the healthiest cooking methods for meat. They involve less oil, yet the finished product remains appealing to the taste buds. 

As for the drinks? Give up your usual soda and choose other healthy alternatives like carbonated water or kombucha. 

Focus on Food That is Beneficial to Your Immune System 

By eating healthy, you don’t just improve your gut health; you also have a chance to boost your immune system. 

If your immune system is healthy, it’s easier to fight bacteria, viruses, or anything else trying to make you sick. Unfortunately, in a time when a global pandemic has shaken the way we view our health and that of our families, it’s easy to feel like the odds are stacked against us. That’s why keeping your family’s immune systems strong and resilient is your first line of defense for safeguarding their health. 

Aside from healthy eating, it’s more important now than at any other point in our lives to make sure our immune systems are operating at peak efficiency. Although that sounds complicated, both of these are intertwined. A healthy diet keeps your immune system in optimum shape. If you have a poor diet, improving what you eat can also help improve your immunity. Unfortunately, during times of high stress, it’s easy to forget how much we benefit from eating well. 

Conclusion 

The food you eat and the vitamins and other medications you ingest can alter your body in more ways than you can imagine. They change your immune responses to many things, including vaccines. 

The phrase “you are what you eat” has some truth to it. What you eat has major effects on you, something the originator of the phrase—the renowned nineteenth-century French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin in Physiology of Taste—understood when he wrote, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” 

Since we already know the impact of food on our bodies, it is crucial that we guard our gut. 

Healthy digestion is the foundation of good health. As we find ourselves in the middle of the cold and flu season, it’s especially important to eat warming foods, drink bone broth, wear a scarf and get acupuncture! Limiting raw foods, processed sugars, and overconsumption of dairy will keep you in tip-top shape this winter. If you find yourself looking for quality meats and delectable deli finds, Arthur Mallon’s offers ready meals from their deli, dry-aged meats from their butchery, and have their own fully cooked breaded chicken products. You can check out their shop here.