Social media has been an amazing addition to our lives; we are connecting with old friends we lost touch with, seeing current events unfold in real time and connecting with various information sources that can often times be a bit overwhelming.  So if you’re searching for some help to make some small lifestyle changes without feeling overwhelmed by the mass amounts of information online, I’ve put together some quick tips for you. These small changes will make a big impact on your health!

Here are some quick steps to help make a fresh start; you can apply these at any time and don’t need to coordinate with a challenge, or lifestyle/special diet change. These will simply help you achieve a healthier approach to food choices, and to get on track for a healthier you. 

1. Commit these to memory and live them daily: 

  • Eat whole, unprocessed foods
  • Eat a colorful variety of plants
  • Get healthy fats from sources like nuts, seeds and avocados
  • Choose nutrient dense foods

2. Add a big, colorful salad to your lunch and dinner – starting with a salad ensures you’re eating your greens, and prevents eating too many carbs or other nutrient-lacking foods.

3. Stock a healthy pantry – think non GM foods, gluten-free (but not sugary type replacement foods) and avoid processed foods as much as possible.

4. Choose lean, grass-fed protein sources when possible

5. Adapt your plate to focus on veggies first, then protein, with nuts & seeds as highlights for flavor.

6. Get healthy fats from whole foods – think nuts, seeds and avocados

7. Choose while grains over refined (if you’re still eating grains)

8. Avoid processed & refined sweeteners – think of fresh, frozen and dried fruits to sweeten meals instead.

9. Add nutrient dense oils to your routine – think Coconut and Olive Oil instead of vegetable, cottonseed or corn based oils.

10. Remember GIGO:  garbage in = garbage out. You are what you eat, so make sure you’re eating nutrient dense, whole foods whenever possible!

 

 

Just another reason to love Whole Foods! 

To commemorate its new location on 57th Street in Manhattan, Whole Foods has donated 57 salad bars to public elementary schools in NYC. The supermarket giant teamed up with Mayor Bloomberg on his never-ending quest to bring healthy foods to New York City schools, and the new lunch stations will make it even easier for kids to indulge in salads and veggies every school day. Together, Whole Foods and the city have already installed 1,000 salad bars in schools citywide. 

 

Whole Foods donates 57 salad bars to elementary schools

 

The 57 new salad bars donated by Whole Foods are valued at over $300,000, an expense that the schools’ budgets would normally not allow. With these new facilities, Mayor Bloomberg hopes to encourage students to choose healthier foods by making fresh veggies more appealing.

What’s even better is how they targeted the schools which are included in this program.  Many of them are in neighborhoods with little or no fresh vegetables available. By providing these salad bars, Mayor Bloomberg is helping to expose children to healthy foods, and create an opportunity for healthy choices and habits. 

According to NYC.gov, The Salad Bar initiative is just one of the Mayor’s programs to help fight childhood obesity and Type II Diabetes in New York City. The program’s goal is to have salad bars in each of the city’s public schools by 2015.

I wonder which city is next on Whole Foods’ urban improvement plans?