How to Eat Outside Your Box

One way to combat the boredom many people complain accompanies eating healthy is to “eat outside your box,” by experimenting with new foods and cuisines and by challenging your notions about what to eat and when. Iceberg is not the only kind of lettuce, apples and oranges aren’t the only fruits and there is no law that says you can’t eat mushroom lasagne for breakfast and a southwestern omelete for dinner. And just because your parents always eat turkey on Thanksgiving, fish on Friday and meatloaf on Mondays doesn’t mean you have to. Dare to step outside your comfort zone and put an end to your eating rut, by accepting one (or more) of the following challenges to eat and live more healthily and creatively.

1. Make a list of the 10 foods that you eat on a regular basis. Over the course of the next month, eat outside your box by passing on these foods.

2. Try a new food every day. Have you knocked eating soy, tofu, sushi or kiwi without ever giving it a try. Don’t allow the opinions of others to inhibit your pallet, give your taste buds an opportunity to decide.

3. Try not to eat any of the same meals you ate last month. Use your imagination and cookbooks like Trim & Terrific by Holly Clegg to invigorate your mundane menus.

4. Do not visit any of the same restaurants you tried last month. If you eat out it must be somewhere new. Order something new and nutritious off the menu.

5. Use a cookbook to explore ways you can make the foods you usually eat more nutritious.

6. Ask people from different race, regions, religious and cultural backgrounds to share their favorites foods and recipes. Incorporate at least 2 into your menu.

7. Buy a new cookbook with recipes from a cuisine you have never experienced. Prepare at least one meal a week from the cookbook.

8. Sit down with a healthy cookbook like The Ultimate Healthy Eating Cookbook edited by Anne Sheasby. Make a list of 30 recipes that look appealing. You don’t have to use them – but they will be there when you need them.

9. Make a special trip to the grocery store or specialty food store to shop for herbs and spices. Buy at least 5 of them and experiment with them at least 1 each week.

10. Take a cooking class. Check you local YMCA or community
for course offerings.

11. Flip the script. Make a list of the meals you usually eat for breakfast, a list of meals you usually eat for lunch and a list for dinner. Then eat what you normally eat for lunch for dinner, dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner.

12. Each time you go grocery shopping buy at least 5 different brands than you usually do. You may be surprised to learn that different brands offer better taste, nutrition and price.

Jacqueline D. Stanley: Author, Speaker, Chief Encouragement Officer at Lettuce Is Not Enough University: The Place to Learn How to Live Well and Lose Weight. lettuceisnotenough.com