You are what you eat so if you want to serve your body better in 2020 try embracing a few dietary changes. Eat at least five servings of vegetables every day and limit fruit intake to just twice. With every meal, try to have protein because it keeps you full and satisfied for longer. Up your intake of fibre to keep your bowels regular and eat only one sweet treat a day.

With any diet, it’s important to start with a healthy attitude to food. Don’t set yourself up for failure with too many rules and regulations. It’s probably not realistic to cut treats such as lollies or chocolate out of your diet altogether. It’s better to identify the triggers and cues that make us reach for those types of foods in the first place. Is it when you get stressed? Is it when you get tired?

Keeping a food diary can help you to identify the times that you eating more than you intend to. For example, many of us will pick at food as we are cooking dinner, finish off the kids’ leftovers or raid the work biscuit tin without really thinking about it. These are all times that you’re consuming unnecessary calories.

Use your smartphone to keep a photo diary of what you eat. US researchers found people who kept a record of everything they ate lost about 6kg in a six-month period. “The more food records people kept, the more weight they lost. Those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records,” says Dr Jack Hollis from Kaiser Permanente’s Centre for Health Research.

High-tech bathroom scales work by sending a low electrical current through your body via your feet. The current passes through muscle quickly but fat is more resistant so the scales measure the amount of resistance and calculate your body fat percentage. As you see the numbers on the scales gradually decrease, this can serve as encouragement to stick with your weight-loss efforts.

Don’t go on a “diet”, instead just pick a couple of things you want to change and work on that. Start with simple changes like swapping ice cream for fruit and yogurt, or biscuits for nuts. Make sure that you substitute something that is still appealing to you. Don’t swap cookies for celery sticks if you’re not going to enjoy them.

Use your fist as a guide for how much your protein and carbohydrate portion size should be. Your fist is relative to your body size so serves as a good indicator of the food portions you should be eating. Additionally, don’t calorie count – paying attention to portion size is better. Try and make half your meal a salad or vegetables, a quarter protein and a quarter carbohydrate.

If you feel like you need a bit more support with losing weight it is a good idea to ask your doctor to refer you to an accredited practising dietitian. Or if you want to go a cheaper route, find an online buddy that will keep you accountable for with texts or regular emails – and talk you out of stuffing down that piece of cake when you feel tempted. The key is finding a buddy who is readily available!

Text: bauersyndication.com.au