If your healthy eating resolution isn’t going to plan, try this dietitian’s smart trick

It’s hard to make a change that sticks, especially when you’re trying to eat more healthily. It’s a change that’s well worth making, however.

Registered dietitian Avery Zenker explains that eating well is one of the best ways to improve your health, with dietary choices impacting the whole body, from your brain to your heart, from your gut to your skin.

Zenker shared lots of great tried-and-tested tips to help, such as identifying your why and using the SMART goal system, but there was one piece of advice that was both new to me and beautifully simple.

Make a momentum menu.

“This is a list of easy, healthy, go-to meal ideas that you can refer to on days when you’re feeling tired, unmotivated, or unsure what to cook,” says Zenker.

“Ideally, these meals include ingredients you reliably have on hand, that you know how to make and that you enjoy.

“These meals can be as simple or as elaborate as you'd like, as long as you know they're doable on days when you have low energy.”

Zenker suggests writing up a physical menu that you can see in your kitchen or by your phone. If you’re ever stuck for what to eat, run through these options before you decide to get takeout.

“The goal is to help keep the momentum of healthy habits and prevent all-or-nothing thinking that keeps us stuck,” she says. “When we feel like we can’t make an elaborate meal, all-or-nothing thinking makes us think we need to give up entirely.”

If you don’t have a set of go-to meals already, I’ve gathered some easy recipes from Fit&Well for you to consider. Bookmark your favorites (or even this whole article) so they’re always on hand.

Your momentum menu recipes

• This dietitian’s easy one-pot pasta recipe takes less than 20 minutes to make and is high in protein—a substantial 26g—and only 365 calories.
• Do your gut a favor with this dietitian's gut-friendly vegetable fried rice recipe. It has just 265 calories per portion and is bursting with veggie goodness.
• This high-protein chicken and rice recipe is ready in just 10 minutes and contains a whopping 40g of protein due to all the main ingredients—chicken, brown rice and yoghurt—being packed with the macronutrient.
• This high-protein turkey pasta recipe is a health-conscious weeknight dinner containing nearly 43g of protein. It’s also rich in a variety of healthy nutrients thanks to the spinach, mushrooms, bell peppers and broccoli.
• If you have a slow-cooker, use this dietitian's no-chop vegetarian chili recipe for a tasty protein boost. Considering there’s no meat in the dish, the 26g of protein—thanks to the variety of beans—is very impressive. The recipe is also high in fiber and iron.
• This dietitian's mini pizza recipe is under 400 calories a serving and only takes 15 minutes to make. It can be served four ways, with one of the veggie options containing a healthy 15g in protein and nearly all versions being rich in vitamin C.
• This doctor’s healthy, high-protein peanut butter chicken recipe makes a perfect weeknight dinner. Expect 34g of protein for a very low 261 calories per portion, while the veggies will up your intake of vitamins A, B and C.
• This sweet potato chili recipe takes 10 minutes to prep and 45 minutes in the oven. It’s a great post-workout meal with 38g of protein per serving, it also contains a good amount of fiber and vitamin C.

Avery Zenker

Zenker is a registered dietitian, has a Master's degree in nutrition and is passionate about wellness. Within nutrition, her areas of expertise include plant-based and vegan diets, digestive health, disordered eating, sports nutrition, intuitive eating and weight loss