The No-Diet Diet: Your New Healthy-Eating Plan

Nearly two dozen food and nutrition experts weigh in on foods (and strategies) you need to feel healthier.

First things first: To start eating a more nutritious diet (and stay with it), you need the right mind-set. And as anyone who has abandoned a meal plan after day three can attest, that’s no easy trick. How do you get yourself to choose virtue over comfort—a side of roasted cauliflower over French fries, or a bowl of berries over cheesecake? Real Simple posed that question to the leaders in healthy eating (the scientists, the authors, and the chefs who walk the walk every day), who came up with these six smart, totally doable strategies.

Make your plate pretty. “Presentation is important,” says Alice Waters, the owner of Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California, and the author of In the Green Kitchen ($20, amazon.com). “Think of a farmers’ market: The way that vendors put produce in boxes and arrange the radishes is enticing. It’s an artistic experience.”  Waters suggests trying to create that same visual seduction when putting together your own dishes at home. That way, eating dinner will be a sensory treat in more ways than one.

Try to remember exactly how bad you felt after the last time you ordered onion rings. To thwart unfortunate cravings, Michael Pollan, author of the every-bite-you-eat-counts bible Food Rules ($11, amazon.com), summons a memory of his last foray into junk food. “When I don’t eat well, I don’t feel good, so it’s a self-reinforcing process,” he says. Case in point: “The last time I ate a highly processed meal, I was up all night, thirsty from the salt and vaguely nauseated by the fillers and additives. On the other hand, when I eat real food, I feel good and get plenty of sleep.”

Make meaningful associations with healthy food. “Training yourself to stop craving salty, sugary, and fatty foods can’t be a cognitive process alone,” says David Kessler, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the author of The End of Overeating ($16, amazon.com). “It has to be emotional, too.” That’s where your imagination comes in. Many of us connect positive, nostalgic feelings with unhealthy foods. (A corn dog might conjure a childhood memory of a summer day at a carnival.) Try to make equally affirmative connotations with good-for-you dishes. (Think of your grandmother’s legendary vegetable soup.) “Once you activate that circuitry, you’ll be able to recognize that this desire for junk is simply your brain playing a trick on you. That realization allows you to move on to better things to eat,” says Kessler.