Balanced Nutrition in Action
Building a healthy plate is the ultimate goal for each meal: appropriate portions, a range of colors, balanced food types, and great flavor. The monthly topics shared throughout this year supports your daily nutrition in action by empowering choice in what you consume and in how those foods are prepared. Let's pull it all together and offer a simple and sustainable way to continue a positive relationship with food that works with your dietary lifestyle and nutrition needs.
Important Education Takeaways
This past year we have reviewed popular fad diets and debunked common food myths. We learned how to make sense of our food labels, reduce our sodium and added sugar intakes, while also upping our fiber intake. We have delved into the core macronutrients and learned how to choose healthy fats, complex carbs, and both plant and animal proteins. We have discussed portion control, dietary variety, and nutritional balance to help you establish an individualized eating plan that works for you.
Our goal in breaking down each topic: expand your understanding of healthy eating, increase your confidence around the foods you choose, and aid you in developing the necessary tools for a sustainable approach and a healthier you.
Access the 2025 topics by following this link.
Here are a few tips to carry forward as we close out our year:
Keep it simple. Healthy eating doesn’t have to be complicated; instead think of small but feasible changes you can put into place that will help you build and grow lasting healthy habits.
It can all feel overwhelming at first, but remember, perfection is not the goal when creating a healthy eating plan.
Be honest with yourself and try making a few SMART goals to move you forward in your health journey.
Specific: Clearly define your goal and what you will need to put it into action. Think of this as the who, what, when, and where step of goal setting.
Measurable: Ensure that the goal is quantifiable, so you are easily able to track your progress and hold yourself accountable.
Achievable: Keep it reasonable and realistic to promote motivation instead of defeat.
Relevant: Identify what makes it important and why it matters to you.
Timely: Establish a timeline for when you’d like to achieve your goal. Periodically check in on your progress and adjust along the way as needed.
All foods fit. Balance and moderation are key to a healthy and sustainable way of eating.
Instead of thinking about good food vs bad food, challenge yourself to make all foods fit without deprivation or guilt.
By not villainizing specific foods, restricting ourselves to only the “healthiest” foods, or eliminating entire food groups, we give ourselves permission to enjoy eating. This shift in thinking supports autonomy, satisfaction, and long-term sustainability for the way we eat.
Try the 80/20 rule, where 80% of the time you are choosing quality foods that benefit your health and make you feel good. The other 20% of the time choose foods simply because you enjoy them.
Think of building a healthy diet foundation comprised of mostly whole, minimally processed foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, lean proteins, and heart-friendly fats.
Make simple cooking a priority in your busy schedule and share meals with family or friends.
Consume heavily processed foods less often and in smaller amounts; this includes foods with higher added sodium, sugar, and fat.
Make dining out at restaurants a special treat instead of relying on the convenience of frequent fast food or take-out meals.
Find your own way. Optimal nutrition is not one-size-fits-all; it should be individualized and unique to each person.
Feel empowered by what you have learned from reliable sources like our In the Kitchen classes and use what you learn to build an eating plan that works for you.
Eat foods available to you, cook as much as possible (it won’t always be perfect), and savor the flavors that you enjoy.
Practice balance and flexibility by incorporating a variety of foods, trying new recipes, and sampling new cuisines.
When building healthy eating into your day-to-day life, remember that small but consistent changes lead to big benefits in the long run.
Recipes
Recipe of the month: Lemon Mint Tabouli with Pan-Seared Salmon
As always, this recipe is the showcase of our live taught, virtual cooking class. Our chef and registered dietitian bring the recipe to life as they walk you through food prep, swaps to meet dietary or taste preferences, plus tips and tools to support you being your own healthy chef at home.
Bonus recipe: Jamie’s Beef Stew
From Jamie’s kitchen to yours, our monthly bonus recipes are published on our website and social media the 4th Wednesday of each month. We invite you to browse our recipe collection and come back often to find more flavorful and heart-healthy recipes.
We invite you to join us for the live taught, virtual nutrition classes each month to gather more information on our nutrition topics. This is also an opportunity to ask topic-related questions of our experts as well as connect socially with attendees for idea sharing. As a registered participant for our In the Kitchen program, you receive a few reminders ahead of each scheduled monthly classes, but here’s an easy to remember schedule: Nutrition Education (30-minutes, 2nd Wednesday, 12pm), Cooking Class (up to 60-minutes, 3rd Monday, 12pm).
Contributing authors: Jamie Libera, RD, LD, CCTD, registered dietitian, Providence.