- Restrictive diets often fail long-term and can negatively impact mental and emotional health.
- Sustainable healthy eating focuses on small, personalized changes that nourish and energize.
- A holistic approach, including sleep, stress management and movement, supports overall well-being.
What if eating healthy didn’t mean cutting out everything you love? This reset can help you feel better—minus the rules, guilt or overwhelm. Not to mention, strict diets just don’t work for most people over the long haul. While they may lead to short-term weight loss, the weight usually comes back when the restriction stops. Instead of focusing on restriction, our healthy reset centers on simple habits that aren’t overwhelming and on easy ways to make your meals more nutritious. No all-or-nothing approach—just small, supportive tweaks to help you feel your best.
Topping Sheet-Pan Chicken Fajita Bowls with Lime-Yogurt Dressing.
Ali Redmond
This reset isn’t one-size-fits-all—our health just doesn’t work like that. Everyone has different challenges and motivators: You may want to prevent disease to help you live a long and healthy life. You may need more structure to succeed in meeting your goals. Or perhaps you just want some realistic tips to help you stay on track when life throws you curveballs.
Sustainable changes take time. If you’re ready to prioritize your health this year, here are expert-backed tips to help you get started.
Why Restrictive Diets Don’t Work—and What to Do Instead
Many people view diets as a sort of necessary evil for getting healthier, but plenty of experts beg to differ. “Diets really aren’t helpful or health-promoting in the long run,” says Kimmie Singh, M.S., RD.
Research backs this up: Restrictive diets rarely result in long-term weight loss or lasting health benefits. One meta-analysis of 121 clinical trials found that while most popular diets (such as low-carb or low-fat) led to short-term weight loss, participants typically regained weight within a year. And while some other health benefits, such as lower blood pressure and LDL (known as “bad”) cholesterol levels, showed up early, they often faded after 12 months.
Diets can have mental and emotional impacts that often go unmeasured. Even when someone starts with the intention of improving their health, strict calorie restriction often backfires. In fact, studies show that strict diets can increase the risk of eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors, such as ignoring hunger cues, bingeing or purging. Charlotte Markey, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Rutgers University, adds, “Patients who are stuck in a cycle deserve to know what the evidence confirms: Dieting very rarely produces the desired result. Instead, it can lead to an obsession with food, crankiness, low energy and a waste of mental and material resources.”
“In general, diets ignore the fact that everyone’s relationship with food is complex,” Singh says. Diets often treat humans like simple math equations: Eat these foods in these amounts, and you’ll lose X pounds. But humans aren’t machines—our needs fluctuate from day to day. Although they promise better health and lasting behavior change, restrictive diets often lead to feelings of guilt and anxiety around food, which can negatively impact your quality of life.
Healthy Eating That Actually Feels Good
Many people who have tried rigid diets or wellness plans know the cycle of stress, guilt and shame that comes with “falling off the wagon,” so to speak. The beauty of a sustainable approach is that there’s no wagon to fall off.
“People often assume that not dieting means eating whatever you want, whenever you want, with no structure at all,” shares Jenna Werner, RD. “While freedom from rigid rules is an important part of a healthy relationship with food, it doesn’t mean nutrition or health no longer matter.”
One key element of taking a gentler approach is remembering that food is more than fuel. Yes, what you eat impacts your health, but it should enrich your life in other ways, too, such as connecting with others or honoring your cultural background. Healthy eating will look different for everyone, which is another reason prescriptive eating plans don’t usually work. Not everyone has the same access to food. People have different preferences, cooking skills and schedules. Your health journey should also reflect that.
Food isn’t “good” or “bad,” it’s not that simple. Instead of strict rules, pay attention to how certain foods make you feel. For example, instead of avoiding starchy carbs altogether, include them in meals alongside protein, fiber and healthy fat to help you feel satisfied and energized. Rather than tracking every calorie, eat more slowly and mindfully to tune into your fullness cues.
Learning to trust and nourish your body may take a little time, but it can lay the foundation for lasting healthy habits. “Allowing yourself to divest from diet culture often means allowing yourself to enjoy food in an entirely new way—without guilt or shame,” adds Markey.
This Spinach-Avocado smoothie is rich in fiber, thanks to spinach, avocado and banana.
Ali Redmond
How to Ditch Diets for Good
Sometimes giving yourself more flexibility can actually help you feel your best. Research has linked intuitive eating, a popular non-diet approach to healthy eating, with better body image and body acceptance, higher self-esteem and improved overall well-being.
“You can move away from dieting while still layering in nutrition guidance by focusing on patterns instead of perfection,” says Werner. “That might look like prioritizing protein at meals to support strength and energy, adding fiber-rich foods to help digestion and blood sugar, or paying attention to how meals make you feel physically and mentally (not just emotionally) satisfied.”
Healthy eating can be creative and delicious—no restriction required. Focus on finding foods and meals you enjoy that nourish you. Maybe that means having your favorite sweetened breakfast cereal paired with a higher-protein milk (like soy or cow’s milk) and fiber-rich berries for a more balanced morning meal that keeps you full longer. Focus on what adds nutrition to your meals, not on what to remove.
How to Eat to Feel Your Best
With consistency and time, you might be surprised at how simple changes can add up. To make it easier to get started, here are some easy expert-backed tips.
1. Include All Your Favorite Foods (Even Dessert!)
Even during a reset, don’t cut out the foods you love. Give yourself permission to eat what you want without guilt, and be intentional about including foods you love.
With just 3 ingredients, you can make a delicious and refreshing dessert with no added sugar.
Ali Redmond
“When dessert is normalized, and morality is taken out of food, you may find you feel less stressed or out of control around it,” says Werner. “Enjoying dessert without guilt can actually support a healthier relationship with food, reduce feelings of deprivation and prevent the cycle of restricting then overeating.”
How does that work in real life? You crave doughnuts, but you know you’d feel better eating a veggie-and-egg scramble with whole-grain toast. “My biggest tip is to shift the focus from rules to guidelines and behaviors to focus on,” suggests Werner. “Instead of asking ‘What should I cut out?’ ask ‘What can I add in that helps me feel more energized, satisfied and comfortable?’” That might mean having that egg scramble with a doughnut on the side.
2. Learn to Listen to Your Body
Think of each meal as a learning opportunity. Pay attention to what you eat (and how much) and notice how it makes you feel both in the moment and as the day goes on. If you finish a meal feeling stuffed, don’t beat yourself up. Instead, think about what you might do differently next time to feel more comfortable. That could mean slowing down a bit or pausing every few minutes to check in with how your stomach feels. Keep in mind that it can take some time for your brain to register fullness, so try to eat mindfully and enjoy each bite rather than rushing through your meal. On the flip side, it’s important to make sure you’re eating enough at each meal.
“Take a look at a typical meal for you and try to see what food groups you have and what you are missing,” shares Werner. “A balanced plate ideally has a minimum of three food groups and a combination of protein, carbohydrates (preferably with fiber) and fats.” This will give your meals extra staying power. Meals should also be colorful, she adds. If you’re noticing your plate is a little monochromatic, that’s an easy place to start. “Add one new color each day or week,” she suggests, aiming for 2 to 3 colors per meal.
It’s also important not to let yourself get too hungry between meals, as that can make it harder to eat mindfully. Keeping a few nutritious snacks on hand, like cheese sticks, fruit or nuts, can help. Eating well-rounded meals and snacks throughout the day supports more stable energy and appetite, and helps prevent hunger swings.
“Unlike restrictive diets, which tell everyone to follow the same set of rules, a good relationship with food looks different for everyone,” says Amee Severson, RD. Do certain meals leave you feeling energized, while others make you a little sluggish? Do some foods sit better in your stomach than others? Are certain recipes really satisfying, or do they leave you wanting something more? These are all clues that can help guide your choices.
Checking in your body might look like asking yourself questions like:
- Does this food make me feel good?
- Does packing a high-protein lunch help me stay satisfied in the afternoon?
- Do a few bites of dessert give me pleasure without making me feel stuffed?
These are the kinds of insights that can support a more personalized—and sustainable—approach to healthy eating.
3. Appreciate Your Body
Another key part of feeling your best is learning to accept and appreciate your body rather than constantly trying to change it.
Given our culture’s obsession with thinness, body acceptance may feel like a big ask. But cultivating appreciation for what your body can do is a powerful step in that direction. Acknowledge the little things it accomplishes every day: how your heart pumps blood, how your digestive system turns food into energy and how your arms let you cuddle a pet or loved one. Our bodies perform countless impressive things every single day without us even thinking about it! That’s pretty incredible, and supporting your body should make you feel proud, not ashamed.
How to Make Mindful Eating Work For You, According to Dietitians
Shifting your focus to health outcomes can help take the focus off the scale. Maybe that’s walking a bit further than last week, or seeing improvement in your blood sugar levels at your next doctor’s visit. These markers can keep you feeling positive and motivated, even when progress feels subtle. Slow and steady is the recipe for sustainable change.
That shift to paying attention to what you can do really takes the focus off a scale and helps you stay motivated even when there aren’t super noticeable changes. Slow and steady is the way to go for sustainable change.
4. Think Outside Your Plate
Though what you eat matters, “I encourage people to zoom out. How you sleep, how you move, how stressed you are and how supported you feel all influence how food works in your body,” notes Werner.
Nutrition is very important, but these other habits are also crucial for overall health and well-being. “A sustainable way of eating should make your life easier, not add more stress. If an approach creates fear, guilt or rigidity, it’s probably not supporting your health long term,” says Werner.
You don’t have to focus on everything all at once. Start with one change. Maybe that’s a daily walk, putting your devices away earlier for better sleep or trying a breathing exercise before meals. Health is holistic. Small steps count.
Our Expert Take
Without extreme goals like losing “X” number of pounds, eating “Y” calories per day or cutting all sugar, it can be hard to quantify whether you’re making progress. But eating well isn’t about checking certain boxes or following arbitrary rules, especially if you can’t keep up for the long haul. It’s about learning what works best for you. “The goal is to have a different, more free relationship with food and your body,” Severson says.
And the best way to do that is to eat in a way that nourishes and energizes you—not one that adds more stress. Little steps, taken consistently, can add up to lasting change.
Credits
Editor: Jessica Ball, M.S., RD
Recipes, Photography & Visuals: Cassie Basford; Maria Emmighausen; Alex Loh; Ali Redmond
Special Thanks: Maria Laura Haddad-Garcia; Penelope Wall; Carolyn Malcoun; Megan Ginsberg; Sophie Johnson; Alysia Bebel; Allison Little; Taylor Boeser; Linda Frahm; Beth Stewart; Lily Menk; Nick Blackmer; and the entire staff of EatingWell.
