For most of us our busy lives and hectic evening rountines make preparing healthy meals every day a challenge.  That means that quite often it’s easier to pick up dinner at a fast food restaurant on the way home from work or to eat the same thing over and over.  However, these eating patterns can lead to meals that are not nutritionally balanced or that contain loads of calories -- not to mention how quickly they can add up to big expenses in your monthly food budget. 

Although healthier options at fast food restaurants are becoming more common, there is still the temptation to choose items which may not be healthy at all.  What’s worse is that studies have shown that children who eat fast food on a regular basis tend to continue to eat fast food as they grow older, which can lead to obesity and health concerns later in life.  Changing eating habits to healthier options and portions consisting of fruits, vegetables, dairy and lean meats can take some planning but it's well worth the effort.

With little time to prepare healthy, nutritious meals for ourselves and our families, it's best to have a strategy that matches the foods you are likely to eat with the amount of time you are realistically going to spend preparing your meals.  The Food Personality Quiz on Meals Matter can help!   

Meals Matter’s Food Personality Quiz is an online tool that helps you solve the predicament of what to cook or ways to prepare meals that mesh with your lifestyle.  Each of us has a different Food Personality which affects how we prepare foods and the types of foods that we eat.  Do you prefer to only cook meals that contain less than 6 ingredients? Or, do you look forward to the days when you can spend plenty of time preparing a delicious meal for your family? The key to healthy eating is to know what your Food Personality is and to have ideas of nutritious and tasty meals that coincide with your cooking preferences. 

Your Food Personality is unique to you and the quiz is certain to provide you with ideas to use right away.  Take our Food Personality Quiztoday to get you and your family on the right track to healthy, nutritious eating!

Even a well-defined health goal can be fraught with barriers. For example, you get home from work and your intent is to take a 30 minute walk in the neighborhood. However, when you get home the house is so cold that you don’t want to change into your walking clothes. While you are waiting for the house to warm up, you sit down at the computer or TV and by the time your house or apartment has warmed up too much time as elapsed to take the walk and you now need to start preparing dinner.

How might you overcome this barrier? Have your walking clothes and shoes laid out on your bed before you leave for work. Have a space heater in your room that you can turn on while you change. Make sure your walking shoes are also nearby. This simple plan could be enough to get you walking after work more often.

Many of us want to cook healthy meals more often yet for a variety of reasons fall short of this goal. The first step is to examine the barriers that are holding you back. Is your kitchen usually messy and the prospect of cleaning it before you begin cooking a barrier? Or, is your dining room table piled high with clutter so you end up eating in front of the TV in spite of your desire to turn the TV off and eat at the table? Or, is the problem that you rarely have enough food in your pantry and you don’t have enough time to both shop and cook dinner? These are common issues.

A good place to start is conducting a family meeting to brainstorm solutions. Behaviors that could increase success include:

• Emptying the dishwasher before you go to work
• Having your children clean the kitchen before you get home
• Finding another place to store the incoming mail or recycle junk mail before lands in a pile on the kitchen counter. The public library has books on how to reduce clutter and organize your home. Treat yourself to a night at the library to research ideas that might work for you.
• Plan a few menus for the coming week and shop on the weekend. This will eliminate trips to the store. The time spent menu planning helps save time later in the week.

Achieving a healthier lifestyle is a worthy goal. Begin the New Year exploring ways to achieve your health goals. Planning small achievable goals, while anticipating and planning solutions for possible barriers, will help you achieve the results you desire.

Maureen Bligh, M.A., R.D.
Dairy Council of California

New Year's resolutions are easy to make, but so much harder to stick to. This year like most years, millions of Americans set a goal to improve their health in 2010. However, after new goals are set, motivation tends to dwindle after a couple of weeks. 

As we all are aware, exercise is good for many different reasons and is part of many New Year’s resolutions.  Regular physical activity can improve your immune system which will help fight off colds, reduce the risk of some diseases and cancers, boost your energy level, and even slow aging.  Staying active also has shown to assist in maintaining a healthy weight, decreasing stress and anxiety levels, and improving your mood.  With all of these benefits, why wouldn’t you want to work out more?

Exercise for weight loss in particular is not something that is easy and is certainly not going to happen overnight.  It’s a goal that must start small and increase over time.  Be sure that you take this into consideration with your own New Year’s resolution.  If your goal is to run a half-marathon, start small.  If you have not run at all in the last few months or even years, it will be best for your body (and your motivation) for you to start small and gradually increase the distance that you run. If your goal is to lose weight, one pound a week is realistic, whereas losing 10-15 in a few months is unrealistic and unhealthy. Having clear but incremental goals that lead to a larger end result can help encourage you and keep you focused.

Another thing to take into consideration when you are striving to reach your goal is that you can easily burn yourself out by doing the same activity everyday.  Try to alternate your activities, incorporate friends and enjoy the things that you do to be healthy and fit.  If you typically run or walk alone, ask friends to join you or try going to a fitness class.

Although we envision our resolutions coming to reality, there are often obstacles along the way, such as not having access to a gym or being too busy.  Our Fitness Planner takes this into consideration and will help you to identify whether or not you’re getting the ideal amount and type of physical activity for you, recommend activities that will help you to better reach your goals, and allow you to establish personal achievements for yourself.  Whether your goal this year is to get in better shape or simply live a healthier lifestyle, Meals Matter has resources that can help you along the way, so try out our Fitness Planner today.

Are you feeling stuck? You are not alone. As a dietitian and nutrition counselor, I talk daily with clients who want to improve their health but are frozen by frustration and disappointment with their perceived failures. These failures, however small, chip away at self-confidence and become a burden over time.

I have good news: it’s not you -- it’s your goal that’s the problem! A haphazardly created goal is a recipe for disaster. A thoughtfully crafted plan, on the other hand, provides positive reinforcement and sets one up for success. Consider the three steps below for creating long-lasting, meaningful change.

Step 1: Have an attitude of gratitude. If negative reinforcement hasn’t worked for you in the past, consider a more compassionate approach. Though it may seem counterintuitive, developing a sense of appreciation can help break down barriers to change. To get started, think of a healthful habit you’ve established or challenges you’ve overcome—and give yourself a hearty pat on the back. Change is difficult! Incorporate gratitude into your daily routine: Start or end your day by thinking of things you are thankful for. Give thanks before meals. List the physical activities you enjoy and plan to do one each week.

Step 2: Clarify your intention. Unimportant goals will weigh you down. For example, do you feel you should lose weight because all your friends are dieting? Rate the importance of the change on a scale of one to ten. If it’s not a ten, keep digging through the "shoulds" until you find what’s truly important to you.

Step 3: Develop an action plan. A goal is a desired outcome, and an action plan will help you achieve it. A vague or overambitious plan sets you up for failure. Make your plan as specific and realistic as possible. Rather than "lose weight," you could aim to eat more low-calorie fruits and vegetables by “adding one serving of fruit or vegetable to lunch for the next week.”

Reevaluate and adjust your plan often, making sure to give yourself credit each step of the way.

Toby Morris, MS, RD is the owner of Intent Nutrition, http://www.intentnutrition.com/, a nutrition counseling and consulting company.

We may have all heard this riddle: "How do you eat an Elephant?" The answer is: "One bite at a time." How does this apply to taking small steps toward being healthy? When making changes to your diet and health, it is better to take small, manageable steps for lasting success.

Health experts agree that making changes in small steps leads to a greater chance of making those changes stick and achieving your overall goal. When goals are too vague or too broad they become difficult to achieve, often leading to disappointment.

Small steps can be simple too. It can be as easy as choosing a nutritious snack to get through an afternoon slump rather than a candy bar, or walking around the block after work. Over time, you can increase those changes to bigger ones and incorporate other changes along the way. All of these small steps will add up to a lifestyle change that can have big results. Here are some small changes you can make right now to help get you started.

• Eat breakfast in the morning. This will help you to avoid over eating later in the day.
• Walk around the block on your lunch break.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Eat half of your dessert. Sharing with a friend can help you to achieve this.
• Schedule exercise two days a week - walk with a friend, use a DVD or take a class at a gym.
• Pack a healthy lunch instead of going out to eat.
• Bring a portion-controlled snack to work - yogurt, string cheese, baby carrots, raisins.

No matter what your small step is you must choose something that is meaningful to you. You must also be realistic about what you can commit to. If working out five nights a week isn't realistic, you will be frustrated and give up quickly. Make your goal realistic -- for example, I will decrease my stress level by walking for 15 minutes after work every Monday. You can increase the number of days you walk after you've established the habit.

Then, commit to your goal. If you are not determined to meet your goal, obstacles will be very difficult to overcome. Setting realistic and achievable goals is the first step to making changes.

The Personal Nutrition Planner can help you plan your nutrition goals. Good luck -- now start working on creating your goals!