Healthy Diet Secrets from Leading Nutrition Experts

Do you ever wonder what America’s leading nutrition experts eat? Would you give anything just to peek into their refrigerators or snoop through their cabinets? Are you dying to know the secrets to preparing tasty and healthy meals that will satisfy you, yet keep you slim? We spoke with some of the best dietitians in the industry, and are sharing their secrets with you. Check out this behind-the-scenes look at how successful registered dietitians eat healthy and feel great.

Stock These Easy Kitchen Staples

One of the keys to healthy eating is a well-stocked kitchen. We asked several nutrition experts to name 5 key ingredients they always keep on hand, and how they use them to create quick and easy meals. Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN, author of The Greek Yogurt Kitchen: 130 Delicious, Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Day, always keeps Greek yogurt on hand to use when baking. It makes an excellent substitute for cream, mayonnaise, and sour cream and can make baked goods healthier by adding protein and reducing calories. Peanut butter is another one of her staples, which she uses in sandwiches and sauces. She also keeps avocados on hand as a healthy fat source. She loves to add them to sandwiches and salads. Lastly, her kitchen is always stocked with eggs, a versatile protein source. Amidor uses raw eggs for cooking and baking and keeps hard-boiled eggs for snacks. Rosanne Rust, MS, RDN, LDN, author of TheDash Diet for Dummies® and Calorie Counter Journal For Dummies®. always has olive oil, assorted pasta, salad greens, skinless chicken, and garlic, on hand. Having these items stocked in her kitchen ensures that she can always throw together a quick healthy meal. Think about the healthy items you can keep stocked that will help you prepare a number of quick healthy meals.

Plan Ahead For Success

We all know that weeknights can be busy with family commitments, so we asked the experts for their meal-planning strategies that get them through the week. Erica Julson, MS, RDN, a private practice dietitian, plans ahead. She always has a fridge full of healthy, easy dinner options. Each weekend she selects five recipes to make the following week (leaving one day for leftovers, and one day for eating out). She then creates a shopping list and buys all her dinner ingredients for the week. By having all the ingredients ready at home, she can come home from work & start dinner right away without any last-minute trips to the store. “You’ll be amazed at how much time you’ll save and how much more relaxing dinner will be!” Amidor also plans her meals ahead on the weekend. Like Erica, she also plans and shops on Sundays. She uses dinner leftovers to make healthy lunches for her kids the following day. Hope Warshaw, MMSc, RD, CDE, BC-ADM, author of many best-selling books published by the American Diabetes Association, including Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy and The Guide to Healthy Restaurant Eating, agrees. “Planning, or pre-planning actually, is the MOST important action step”, she says. She believes that planning starts with having a well-stocked refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. Visit her blog for more excellent kitchen-stocking tips. She also recommends planning your meals for the week, adding both new and necessary staple items to your shopping list, then heading to the market. “These actions set you up for healthy eating, preparing more meals at home, and fewer trips to the market during the week.” Rust likes to plan simple meals with minimal ingredients for busy weeknights. Some of her staples are pasta with pesto & shrimp with a tossed green salad, grilled chicken with fresh garden peas, baked fish with rice and mixed vegetables, and one-pot meals such as chili or jambalaya.

Nutrition experts agree, planning ahead and stocking your kitchen with healthy weeknight staples can help make eating right a habit. Try these tips in your household and watch the stress of healthy eating melt away. By making the healthy choice the easy choice, reaching your health and wellness goals will become much easier.