No one way of eating will work for everyone, but there is a program of general principles and suggestions, not rigid rules. This approach has the flexibility available to fit each need, recognizing that no two people are alike and no two have the same food preferences. 

It has been proven that drastic, sudden shifts are difficult to maintain because they force people to repress their food cravings and embedded eating habits. The more habits are repressed, the more powerful they become, leading to internal stress that builds until people fall off the wagon and the diet fails. With this thought in mind, we recognize that basic changes allow people to create a larger shift without much effort or pain. 

Just following some simple steps will bring about significant changes. Most diet books recommend that you completely alter your current way of eating and follow their strict rules. A better plan would be to start with the things you most want to do and leave the hardest ones for later. As you start doing the easier ones, your body's energy will kick in and you will pick up momentum. Eventually, you will find yourself doing the hardest things more easily because you are not starting from ground zero. Let's outline a few steps to get you on the road to a successful nutrition plan. 

Cook More; Eat Out Less 

Spending more time learning to cook and plan simple meals will help you get all the nutrients you need and release you from dependency on restaurant food, fast food and other processed foods. You will eat differently when you feed yourself than when you are out and about. We all know restaurant food is usually very salty and highly flavored, as it is designed to be a taste sensation. The portions are usually very large, more than enough for the average person. By buying and preparing your own food, you eat by your body's actual needs and are less likely to overeat or consume excess salt and flavoring.

Cooking delicious, satisfying meals in a brief period of time is a skill worth learning. It is not difficult, but you must be willing to take the time and practice. For many people, the task of cooking seems overwhelming. They need clarification on how to plan this task around a busy schedule. Once you have learned, you will make meals in less time than ordering out. 

Start With Increasing Whole Grains

Whole grains have been a central part of the human diet since the dawn of civilization when we stopped hunting and gathering and settled into agricultural communities. Until recently, people living in these communities had lean, strong bodies. For generations, very few people eating grain-based diets were overweight. 

People today are gaining weight because they overeat chemicalized, artificial junk food and consume too much caffeine, sugar, nicotine and alcohol. If we were to start eating more cooked whole grains and vegetables daily instead of processed junk food, we would not be getting fat. Whole grains are some of the best sources of nutritional support, containing high levels of dietary fiber and B vitamins. Because the body absorbs them slowly, grains provide long-lasting energy. 

Whole grains can help with one of our most basic health problems, an inability to maintain a steady blood sugar level. Whole grains slowly release sugar into the bloodstream, in contrast to the sudden rush and energy crash caused by refined sugar foods and sodas. 

Vegetables, How Sweet You Are! 

Almost all of us, at some time, crave sweets. Instead of relying on synthetic sugar, you may incorporate more naturally sweet flavors into your daily diet to significantly lessen sweet cravings. When cooked, certain vegetables have a deep, sweet flavor: corn, carrots, onions, beets, winter squash (butternut, buttercup, hubbard and kabocha), sweet potatoes and yams. Some other vegetables, though not sweet, provide the same benefits. These include red radishes, green cabbage, red cabbage, and burdock. They relax the body's internal organs while energizing the mind. Because many of these veggies are root vegetables, they are energetically grounding, which helps balance out the spacey sensation you may get after eating other sweets. 

Another way to incorporate sweet vegetables into your daily diet includes eating raw carrots, baking sweet potato fries, roasting squash, making soup with corn and onions or boiling beets on top of your salad. 

Don't Ignore Your Leafy Vegetables

If vegetables are the scarcest food in some diets, leafy vegetables are lacking. Learning to cook and eat greens is essential for creating lasting health. Greens help build our internal rainforest and strengthen our circulatory and respiratory systems. The color green is associated with spring, a time of renewal, refreshment and vital energy. 

Some of the benefits gained from eating dark leafy greens are: 

Blood purification, Cancer Prevention, Improved circulation, Subtle, light and flexible energy, Lifted spirit, elimination of depression, Promotion of healthy intestinal flora, Improved liver, gallbladder and kidney function, Clearing of congestion, especially in the lungs and reduction of mucus.

Leafy vegetables do not only apply to lettuce as most people envision. You can choose from a variety of greens. Broccoli is very popular and can give you a strong, grounded energy. Once you understand the benefits of the leafy benefactors, you will want to try greens like bok choy, napa cabbage, kale, collards, rabe, dandelion and other leafy greens. One word of warning, do not eat too much Spinach, Swiss chard and beet greens as they are high in oxalic acid, which depletes calcium from your bones and teeth. To balance out the impact of oxalic acid, cook these vegetables with something rich like tofu, seeds, nuts, beans, butter, animal products or oil. 

Get into the habit of adding these green vegetables to your diet as often as possible. Nourishing yourself with greens will naturally crowd out foods that make you sick. If you try these greens for a month or two, you will feel better and have more energy. 

There is Always More

The journey to good health has no final destination. It is just that, a journey. "The Reset Method" by author Brady Godfrey will explain the importance of physical and mental health. This book will help create habits that will lead you closer to optimal health. Brady has written this book with love and passion for assisting others to become completely healthy.