Making small changes in our eating habits results in a big differences over time. Slow and steady wins the race, and is the best way to assure permanent healthy eating.

Change is a process, so why would anyone expect overnight success?
Tara Parker-Pope wrote in the New York Times, Science Times about her decision to go vegan,
inspired by former President Clinton’s vegan diet. “...if a man with a penchant for fast-food burgers and Southern cooking could go vegan, surely I could too.” She bought vegan food and tried to change overnight. Tara couldn’t, and neither did Bill Clinton. He didn’t go from eating greasy hamburgers to
vegan meals in one bite.

It is too scary and disruptive to our lives to make a huge change at once. What we eat is a reflection
of our family history.
My parents brought their family food traditions with them from Europe. As a young child I ate lots of fatty foods and canned vegetables. We lived across the street from New York City’s Henry Street Settlement House where there were nutrition classes for immigrant families. It was in those classes that my mother learned about nutrition and changed how she cooked. Her children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren eat salads daily and snack on fresh fruits and raw vegetables.
If good eating habits are important to you, pick a snack or a meal to begin making a change. You are more likely to actualize it if you share your commitment with others, or if you write it down.

If you share your healthy food goal with the family maybe other members of the family will join you.
It’s always easier to make a change if you have a buddy.

Make a plan to have the new nutritious food on hand.

If you have children have them shop with you. It will help them buy into the change. Pick a snack or meal that they can help prepare. In the process your family will be developing new nutritious habits. Make new family meal rituals and your children will develop traditions that encourage a healthy lifestyle for generations to come. Start easy, and gradually increase the number of meals that are healthy.

There are lots of delicious examples in our books, “Funny Food Made Easy” and “Funny Food”.

Weight Watchers reports that if you keep track of what you eat 70% of the time, you will lose weight. Improving eating habits doesn’t require 100% perfection. To change, just bite off what you can chew.