Inevitably as we welcome in the New Year people will be considering making resolutions, or personal goals, for 2023. Goal setting is a great practice when done properly – in fact, you can’t achieve the goals you never set! Just as there is a risk of failure when setting clear goals, there are also real consequences of inaction. It is a healthy practice to set goals in many areas of your life, including your physical health.
One of the most common resolutions made each New Year is to lose weight. Unfortunately, this alone is not a great resolution because weight loss is not a behavior, it’s an outcome. You cannot wake up each morning and say, “I am going to lose weight today” because it is not an action that you can check off your list. Weight loss is an outcome-oriented goal, rather than an action-oriented goal.
What does this have to do with servings of fruits and vegetables?
I would like to offer an example of an action-oriented goal that has proven benefits for everyone’s health! It is a resolution that would benefit numerous people, given that less than 10% of Americans eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables each day.
The resolution: consume 2 servings of fruits and 3 servings of vegetables each day.
Incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your diet has numerous health benefits and can even contribute to weight loss.
If this resolution appears unrealistic (5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day!?), consider what a serving size of a fruit and a vegetable actually looks like.
Serving size of fruit:
½ cup fresh/frozen/canned fruit, 1 piece of fruit (small/medium), 1 ounce dried fruit.
Serving size of vegetable:
½ cup fresh/frozen/canned vegetable, ¼ cup vegetable sauce, 1 cup leafy greens.
This means that 1 ounce of dried cranberries added to oatmeal in the morning counts as 1 serving of fruit. And the ¼ cup of tomato sauce added to your spaghetti counts as 1 serving of vegetables. In some cases, you may even end up eating 2 servings of vegetables in one sitting, such as 2 cups of a spinach salad! This is do-able!
Consider making a resolution to eat more fruits and vegetables this year – I guarantee that it would be beneficial for you.
And for whatever goals you decide to make for yourself, be sure that they are specific, action-oriented, and written-out, since people who write-out their goals and regularly assess their progress are much more likely to actually achieve them!
Happy New Year!
Working with a dietitian is a great way to practice dietary goal setting. If you would like to work with me, schedule a FREE discovery call here.
I would love a post that included some of the best books for a layman dietician. I find so much contradictory information in publications.