So New Year, new you? Thinking of quitting sugar, quitting processed food, eating more real food, trying gluten-free, grain-free, or going Paleo? I’ve done all of those, and while I’ve landed on a real foods, mostly-veggies-and-meat formula, I’ve collected quite a few tips that work for a wide variety of healthy diets.

Making the switch from convenience food — whether from restaurants or frozen meals — to a whole-foods/real food/homecooked lifestyle does have a learning curve, but once you learn a few tricks and practice them until they become habits, it’ll be a breeze!

Set yourself up for success by trying a few kitchen stocking and ingredient tricks. Here are all my best “tips for eating healthier” and “meal plan” posts:

Stock the kitchen. 30 things I always have in my kitchen for easy, healthy meals.

Stock the freezer. More details on how I stock my freezer with ready-to-go ingredients for easy meals.

Ingredient prep. And why I like it better than meal prep. A list of what to prep, plus some helpful links.

Salads. Part 1 is my formula for tasty salads, and links to several recipes. Part 2 is your assignment to experiment, and some tips on packing salads. Salads, Part 1. Salads, Part 2.

Soup. One of the easiest, most fool-proof, comfort foods out there. Here’s an introduction to what I call “The Soup Method.”

Hash. Easy breakfast, lunch or dinner! I’ve written two posts on this: Five things to stock for a healthy breakfast. And The Hash Method.

Breakfast. Had enough hash? Here are 9 no-brainer breakfast options.

Lunch. Whether you eat out or in, plan your lunch strategy.

Dinner. Meal planning for people who hate meal planning — like me! Here’s my sort-of, flexible meal plan. For a more detailed plan, with notes about ingredient prep and links to more than 30 recipes, subscribe to my mailing list to get the 12-page download for free.

Make healthy meals easy. No measuring, no weighing, no points, no counting. Well, no counting higher than five. My 5-star formula for healthy, real-food meals.

Tips for success. Here are 15 tips for making eating Paleo easier — but most of them could apply to any real-food plan.

Try putting one of these simpler items into practice for one week, then add another the next week. Small steps mean quick success — and sustainable success.

You can do this! 🙂

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