Eating better can be as simple as reminding yourself to add fruit or veggies to every meal, every snack. When it’s on your mind, it’s easier to get it on your plate. No secret algorithms, numbers, or check marks required (more on that a few paragraphs below).

In somewhat of a departure from western foodways, I like to focus my meals around plants. An awesome feature on FreshDirect.com called 1-click recipes makes it easier than easy to do this. Here’s how it goes down: I know I like arugula, so I search for that. The site recommends some recipes. I see one I like. Click –> Ingredients delivered –> Last night’s dinner.

For last night’s simple arugula salad, I rinsed and added arugula to our plates, sliced and added pears, sprinkled a small bit of gorgonzola (a little goes a long way), and finished it with a drizzle of vinaigrette (red wine vinegar, honey, salt, pepper, and olive oil. So easy – just combine and whisk). I noticed a handful of red grapes in the fridge, so I cut some in half and added them to the salad, too.

I also had Brussels sprouts around, so I trimmed and halved those, tossed them in olive oil, salt and pepper, and popped them in the oven (400F) for about half an hour. Actually, I did that first, opened the wine to let it breathe, then prepped the salad, and everything was done around the same time.

The 6 oz ramekins I used to serve the Brussels sprouts are great because they make it easy for me to see that I’m getting at least a serving of fruit or vegetables (4 oz or 1/2 cup) when I fill it up. And last but not least, I’m not one to say no to a glass of wine with dinner (there’s actually quite a bit of nice research on the benefits of enjoying *some* alcohol for heart health, just ask this smartie pants from Harvard).

[Just a quick note to say that this meal was flavorful, filling, and nutritious -- three things not everyone agrees can live together on the same plate. They can!]

When I say it’s easy to eat well, I don’t mean to dismiss all the very real hurdles that exist in getting there. What I am saying is that once someone is ready and willing to take action to eat better, a very simple change that will have a BIG impact is to work in fruits and vegetables wherever possible.

No Secret Algorithms

There’s been a lot of noise lately on an issue that I’ve been quietly following for a few years now: front-of-package and shelf-tag nutrition labeling systems. I won’t name names, but you know who you are. I’ve read about, attended lectures on, and had private sit-down meetings and conference calls with the big contenders, and some of the smaller ones. So I have a lot of thoughts on this issue. Which I’m not going to go into at the moment.

But I would like to comment on one thing I wish more people were talking about: Overall diet. Rating single foods doesn’t necessarily help people put together balanced meals.

National data indicate most Americans believe food and nutrition is important for good health. Well, that’s a start. So then it might follow that most Americans will choose foods for their health benefits. These labeling systems aim to make it easy for people to find healthier foods. Sounds reasonable enough.

As a dietitian, do I care if people can choose the cheese snack with slightly more fiber or less sodium than its competition? Sure. But I am more concerned with moving the conversation entirely — over into the produce aisle.

Here’s another gap: choosing foods for health is merely one plate in a cabinet full of ‘em. When it comes to choosing which one to pull out for dinner, it’s competing with things like taste, cost, convenience, access, culture, cooking skills, the opinion of important others, allergies, social marketing campaigns, industry advertising, and more.

These labeling/rating systems seem to have gotten stuck on early theories of behavior change where knowledge alone changed attitudes and beliefs, and thus, behavior. Even the handful of things I rattled off above show that there is a lot more to it. It’s complicated to change behavior, or as we say in the business, getting from “why to” to “how to”.

So, rather than have a superstar algorithm tell me what food is better than the next, how about we all work on eating more fruits and vegetables for a start. That’s simple advice, backed by plenty of science (and common sense), that we can all hang our hats on.