So you're thinking of making changes to your diet; where do you start? Here are a few strategies I use with clients who are considering implementing short or long term dietary changes into their routines.
Set simple and realistic health goals. Be clear on your intentions for making dietary changes and what you want to achieve. Do you want to fuel your body for marathon training, lower your cholesterol, have healthier hair, skin and nails, or have more energy? Taking the time to jot down your goals will help put things in perspective and determine what is achievable and realistic based on your current lifestyle and situation. Writing down your goals also helps you look back and reflect on progress that you have made, and determine what was effective, and perhaps what needs some fine tuning.
Understand how your goals and your individual dietary needs could impact your family or household routine. Dietary changes usually require some sort of restriction or removal of certain foods for a period of time. Depending on various cultural and social beliefs, this can be very challenging to maneuver in a household setting. We do not exist in isolation! Let’s take the example of starting an intermittent fasting regimen, where there can be long stretches of time before meals, and even skipped meals during the day. While there are numerous benefits to incorporating this kind of dietary approach, and the research around this is becoming more and more robust, it is often not conducive to a household with small children or teenagers. Primarily because it can allow for modeling of behavior that can set them up for disordered eating or nutrient inadequacies. So what is the approach? Instead of sitting down for that meal that you had planned to skip as part of your fasting routine, be physically present in the same room of that ongoing meal, but focus on another task that needs completing (like emptying the dishwasher or preparing snacks for school). It makes your absence at the table less noticeable or awkward, and allows you to participate in the social and cultural aspects of sitting down to a meal. When it comes to removing certain foods or groups of foods from your diet, for example when incorporating an elimination diet, a common practice when trying to identify foods that trigger allergy or intolerance with clients, it is key to coordinate with the person responsible for meal prepping and planning to eliminate additional burden or stress for that family or household member. Support them by preparing a weekly list or consider taking over the task of daily or weekly shopping to ensure that the fridge is stocked with foods specific to your needs, as well as foods for the rest of the household. Consider having certain recipes on rotation that can be easily incorporated into the household meal plan, with the ingredients readily stocked in your pantry, so that meals can be created quickly on busy weeknights without the stress of “what do we eat? But mom can’t eat pasta!” types of discussions.
Rethink how you prepare meals and portion food at mealtimes. Do you often eat one main dish and a salad on the same plate? Do you serve your meals over a few courses? Or do you serve food family-style? One of the most impactful changes I have made in my household is to prepare multiple, small dishes at every meal. Don’t be shocked! It is really quite simple once you get used to it. This ensures that there is plenty of variety at the table (which means more nutrients as well!) while meeting the individual tastes, needs or restrictions of family members. For example, at dinnertime I will always offer a protein, such as organic beef, chicken, fish, beans, legumes, or cheese. Because protein tends to be the most expensive part of the meal, I typically only prepare this as a single dish. Then I serve two other small, plant-based dishes as well; one cooked and one raw. A good example of this could be sautéed zucchini and aubergine with olive oil AND a quick salad of fresh greens like arugula, olive oil, lemon juice and parmesan. Additionally, I offer sliced tomatoes or cucumbers with olive oil and perhaps some bread or a quick cooked grain like couscous or quinoa. With this approach, I have given members of my household choices; those who dislike salad can have the cooked vegetable; those who cannot eat carbohydrates due to the gluten content can have the quinoa, and so on. I haven’t called out anyone for their specific dietary needs, and the meal becomes routine and individual dietary choices become accepted. This also provides a sense of control of one’s health by giving options and does not force anyone to feel as if they need to eat everything on the table. With more severe restrictions like gluten intolerance or even strict vegetarian or vegan diets, it is important that all family or household members understand that restricting or omitting foods can result in nutrient deficiencies, and that in some cases where the restriction is warranted, it is due to a physiological or medical need to remove the food for that person to feel well.
Remember, any dietary change like restriction or omission of food groups requires close monitoring by a healthcare professional to avoid nutritional deficiencies or inadequacies. Be sure to talk to a healthcare professional and your doctor before implementing any changes to your diet that could affect your overall nutritional status.
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