With bathing suit season coming up, you might feel the pressure to shed a few pounds fast. Going on a diet might seem like an effective way to achieve the look you desire, but is it really worth it?

What’s the deal with dieting?

Dieting consists of temporarily changing your eating habits to achieve a particular outcome, such as weight loss.

Diets have a short-term goal with a specific end date in mind. It usually involves extreme changes like reducing your caloric intake and eliminating certain food groups before returning to your old ways of eating. They can also inadvertently deprive your body of certain nutrients and can cause other negative health effects.1

While diets can help you lose an average of 5-10 percent of your body weight in a short amount of time, the change is unsustainable. According to a report by the University of California, Los Angeles, nearly 70 percent of dieters regain all the weight they lost while dieting, plus more!2

Lifestyle changes for the long haul

A similar study published in the July 2005 edition of the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" concluded that dieters who successfully maintained their weight loss long-term, did so by making lifestyle changes.3

Unlike diet which focuses solely on food, lifestyle changes can encompass all of the different factors that affect weight––including sleep, stress, and exercise––making the effects better for you and more sustainable.

Making lifestyle changes means adopting habits that promote overall health, like eating more nutritious food, exercising regularly, and getting a good night’s sleep. While your weight loss may not look as rapid as going on a diet, it will strengthen your body, mind, and spirit in the process.

Making the shift

Making lifestyle changes aren’t easy. Here are five tips to set you up for success when it comes to your health and wellness goals.

1. Find your why.

A person’s “why” behind a lifestyle change probably goes much deeper than wanting to trim fat just to look good. What’s yours? Determine the motivating force behind your actions, and hold on to it. Let your desire for a happier, healthier life encourage you in the moments of difficulty.

2. Set realistic goals and make one change at a time.

Maybe you want to exercise more regularly, adopt healthier eating habits, or drink more water; whatever you want to do, make sure you are setting realistic goals for yourself.

If you rarely exercise, deciding to go to the gym seven days a week won’t last for very long. Instead, start with 20-30 minutes of exercise a few times a week. Pietra Fitness offers well-rounded workouts for every fitness level to help you get started.

It is also important for you to make one small change at a time. If you try to do too much at once you are more likely to get overwhelmed and fail.

3. Find a partner

Having a buddy can really help keep you and your goals on track. Find a friend who is looking to make similar lifestyle changes and encourage one another. Maybe you can choose to workout together once a week, or share your favorite, healthy crockpot recipes. Don’t go on this journey alone.

4. Make necessary changes to your environment

Trying to improve your behavior is impossible without changing your environment, so create an environment that supports the healthy habits you want to build.

Trying to cut out sugar? Rid your pantry of junk foods and fill it with healthy options instead. Want a better night’s sleep? Buy some new pajamas, turn off screens an hour before bedtime, and drink some calming tea to signal to your mind and body that it is time to wind down for the evening.

5. Celebrate your success

Don’t forget to celebrate your success––big or small! Reward yourself as you reach the goals you set for yourself (just try to avoid indulging in the behavior you were trying to change). Reinforcing positive habits can help cement the changes you made into a lifestyle.

Working out in the mornings offer some incredible benefits, including feeling more energetic, more focused, and less stressed for the rest of the day. And for many people, working out in the morning is the best way to ensure that you actually get exercise into your busy schedule.

Do you want to kickstart your day with an invigorating workout but intimidated by the prospect of hitting the gym early? Check out these tips to create an effective morning workout routine that will revitalize your daily life.

Go to bed on time

The first step to creating a successful morning workout routine begins the night before. The CDC recommends 7+ hours of sleep a night for adults, so it’s really important to go to sleep on time to ensure a solid night’s rest.

Set a realistic wake up time and then, choose a bedtime that will allow you to get the amount of sleep your body needs to be healthy and function well.

Have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep? Check out these 33 tips from our blog to improve your nightly rest and start the day with more energy.

Eat a healthy breakfast

We’ve all heard the saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and that is even more true for someone who chooses to workout in the morning.

Some studies show that exercising on an empty stomach can help with weight loss, but it can also cause your body to use stored protein as energy. Protein is needed to build and repair muscles after a workout. It can also lower blood sugar levels which could cause lightheadedness, nausea, or shaky muscles.1

Whether you eat before or after your workout in the A.M, make sure you eat a protein-packed breakfast like these egg-cellent recipes to give your body energy and to help your body refuel and recover.

Make sure you also drink a glass of water to replenish and rehydrate your body. (Bonus! Studies have found that drinking water first thing in the morning increases your metabolic rate by 30%).2

Have a plan + be prepared

Having a plan and being prepared can set you for success in creating your daily workout routine.Knowing what workout program or exercise you plan to do each morning helps you jump right in instead of wasting time trying to get it all together.

Pietra Fitness offers classes for all skill levels including gentle morning workout routines in their online studio.

We all encounter rough mornings from time to time. You know the ones where nothing seems to be going right. Having a backup workout plan to turn to on those mornings can ensure you get your exercise in and help turn your whole day around.

Also, make sure you have your workout clothes, (and if you’re going to the gym, your bag and keys) ready to go the night before. This will save you time and the hassle in the morning, making way for a smooth start to your workout.

Find what motivates you

Of course it is important to know why you exercise, but sometimes you need a bit extra help to avoid hitting that dreaded snooze button. External motivators can really help you get up and get active.

Place your alarm across the room to make sure you get up when it goes off. Create a playlist to listen to while you get ready. Look to the saints for encouragement. Write your why on a sticky note and leave it on your mirror; read it aloud.

Find what makes you excited for your morning workout routine.

Don’t skip the stretching!

You might be tempted to jump right into your workout or abruptly end a workout, but stretching before and after you exercise is vital to create an effective fitness routine and avoid injuries.

Stretching keeps the muscles flexible and strong; and stretching early in the morning helps to truly wake your body up.

Every Pietra Fitness class begins with this necessary step to set you up for achieving your fitness goals.

With Pietra Fitness’ unique combination of exercise and prayer, you will not only prioritize your physical health but your spiritual health as well––a surefire way to start your day on the right foot.

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We just celebrated the most important (and beautiful) mass of the entire year––the Easter Vigil.

After the hard work of Lent, the Church finally enters into the jubilant season of Easter, often referred to as Eastertide.

Beginning with the Easter Octave and ending on Pentecost, Eastertide is a time of feasting and celebration, a time to drink fully of the joy of the Resurrection.

But how can we embrace the spirit of this new liturgical season for the next fifty days? Keep reading for unique ways to celebrate the Easter Season.

1. Go to Mass

When we attend mass, we celebrate and enter into the Paschal Mystery––the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Pope Francis on his catechesis on the Mass said: “Every celebration of the Eucharist is a ray of that never setting sun that is the Risen Jesus. Taking part in the Mass, particularly on Sunday, means entering the victory of the Risen One, being illuminated by his light, warmed by his compassion.”

Adding another Mass to your week or perhaps even going daily is the best way you can enter into the Easter Season.

2. Pray the Liturgy of the Hours

If daily Mass isn’t an option for you the Liturgy of the Hours might be a more accessible form of prayer for you to add to your daily routine. The Liturgy of the Hours, or the Divine Office, extends the Mass throughout the day and allows the Paschal Mystery to permeate our ordinary lives.

Consider adding Morning Prayer, Evening, and/or Night prayer into your daily routine as a reminder of the mercy and faithfulness of the Lord.

3. Light a candle

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Remember the light of Christ triumphing over darkness, sin, and death through his Resurrection by lighting a candle before dinner or before you pray.

4. Pray the Glorious Mysteries

The Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary offer thoughtful meditation on the events in Christ’s life that we remember and celebrate during this holy time including the Resurrection, Ascension, and Descent of the Holy Spirit.

Pray one rosary (or one decade) daily to keep the mystery of our salvation on your mind and heart throughout this liturgical season.

5. Pray the Regina Caeli

Regina Coeli (or “Queen of Heaven”) honors both the Resurrection and the Blessed Mother. Traditionally, it is prayed or sung at noon in place of the Angelus during Eastertide.

Pausing to pray this short prayer midday reorients your actions towards Christ and is a simple but powerful way to observe the Easter season.

6. Listen to joyful music

Sing a new song to the Lord, for he has done marvelous deeds His right hand and holy arm have won the victory.

For the next fifty days, listen to music that brings joy to your soul, or make a playlist of your favorite hymns/worship music to fill your home with song. You can even sing a simple “Alleluia” before mealtimes.

7. Meditate on Scripture

God reveals Himself through Sacred Scripture, and we can go there to encounter Him, especially during Eastertide.

Read The Acts of the Apostles or try praying Lectio Divina or doing Ignatian Meditation (imaginative prayer) with one of the Resurrection accounts in the Gospel. Place yourself into the story and ask God what He wants to speak to you through it. Let your life be changed through the great story of Salvation.

8. Open your heart to the movements of the Holy Spirit

After His resurrection and before He ascended to heaven, Jesus’ promised to send His Holy Spirit upon his disciples. The Holy Spirit communicates Christ’s glory to believers and allows them to share God’s light with others.

Pietra Fitness’ Morning Glory workout includes meditations on the Holy Spirit still moving in us the way He moved in the disciples present at Pentecost and is a unique way to open your heart to the Spirit.

9. Live as a Missionary Disciple

Before Jesus’ ascended into heaven, He left His disciples with the command to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:19). Through our baptism, God charges all believers with the same duty.

If we truly believe that Jesus suffered, died, and rose again for our salvation, we should desire for others to know Him too. In the spirit of Easter and Pentecost, live as a missionary disciple.

Intentionally invest in your community, invite others to join you in prayer, or share your testimony with a stranger. Don’t be afraid to boldly proclaim the Good News to others.

10. Feast!

Whereas Lent was a time for fasting, Easter (especially the Octave) is a time for feasting.

Make a special meal or your favorite dessert as a way to celebrate. Host a family brunch or make cookies for your parish priest. Allow yourself to enjoy (in moderation) the sweet things of the world.

Now that doesn’t mean you should stuff your face for fifty whole days. Rather, Easter is an invitation to see food and drink as a gift from God. And like all gifts, it can point us to the Giver.

Strength training, especially of the upper body, has a place in every well-rounded fitness routine. Not only does it help you achieve a desired physique but it also enhances so much of your everyday movement.

Think about how many tasks you perform in a day that rely on your upper body strength––lifting groceries, carrying a baby, reaching for an item in your kitchen cabinets or closet.
Your ability to execute these, and other necessary and life-giving activities depends on you taking the time to workout this area of your body.

Upper body strength training exercises, both with or without weights, target five major parts of the upper body: chest, shoulders, upper arm, lower arm, and the back, enhancing the following muscle groups:

• Deltoids
• Pectoralis Major
• Pectoralis Minor
• the Rotator Cuff
• Biceps
• Triceps
• Latissium Dorsi

These muscles are responsible for everyday movements like pushing, pulling, lifting, carrying, bending.

Weakness in these areas can negatively affect your ability to perform these movements but can also impact the efficiency of your workouts and your bodily health as a whole.

Benefits of Upper Body Workouts

Working the upper body not only tones the arms and helps you perform basic tasks, but it also offers other amazing benefits1:

• Improves your posture
• Increased strength of bones, muscles and connective tissues
• Boost metabolic rate
• Improves your flexibility, mobility and range of motion.
• Improves overall health
• Reduces your risk of injury
• Helps prevent and relieve upper back, neck and shoulder pain.
• Furthers your fitness goals.

Walking is a low-impact form of exercise that is often overlooked yet offers many health benefits to people of all ages and fitness levels.

It’s easy to fit into your day; and even just walking 30 minutes a day can greatly improve the overall health and wellbeing of your body.

1. Improves Circulation

Get moving and get the blood pumping! Walking at any pace causes the muscles in your legs to contract and relax, a movement that squeezes around large veins encouraging healthy circulation especially in areas of the body where flow may be more stagnant.

2. Support your Joints

Because walking is a low-impact form of exercise, less stress is placed on your weight-bearing joints, especially in your knees and hips. Not only that, but walking can actively help protect the joints by strengthening muscles and by helping the cartilage that cushions joints to stay healthy.

3. Lower Blood Sugar

Over time, high blood sugar (glucose) levels can permanently wear away at your pancreas’s ability to make insulin and can damage blood vessels in your body which can cause long-term, serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney problems.

Walking, especially after meals, can help your muscles use more of your body’s glucose therefore lowering your blood sugar levels.

4. Burn Calories

Even adding 30 minutes of brisk walking to your day can help you burn about 150 more calories a day. And the longer (and faster) you walk, the more you can burn.

5. Reduce Risk of Chronic Illness

Walking is an easy way to prevent chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, and even some cancers.1 It can also help you manage symptoms if you already suffer from illness.

6. Improve Your Energy

When you’re tired, going for a walk may be more effective in improving your energy than grabbing a cup of coffee. Walking helps you feel more awake by increasing oxygen flow and hormones like cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine that elevate energy levels.2

7. Improve Mental Health

Walking also releases endorphins, a chemical in our brain that can help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression and improve your overall mood. Even in the colder months, walking, especially outside, can help you fight off seasonal affective disorder.

8. Improve Sleep

Catch some more ZZZs with the help of a daily walk. A good night’s sleep is vital for your body to function well but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one-third of American adults do not get the recommended amount of sleep every night.

Researchers have found that people who walked regularly fell asleep more quickly, slept longer, and had better quality sleep than those who did more vigorous exercise.3

9. Improve Creativity

Nothing can get you out of a creative rut like a nice walk. Just ask powerhouses like Nikola Tesla, Ernest Hemingway, and Steve Jobs who all believed the act of walking to help with the flow of ideas.<sup41

According to researchers, going for a walk can boost creativity by giving your mind a chance to wander. In a 2014 study, creative-thinking tests were administered to subjects both while sitting and while walking and found that the walkers thought more creatively than the sitters.5

10. Live a longer life

Because of all the amazing benefits associated with walking making it a part of your daily routine can help you live a longer, healthier life. Research has shown that brisk walking can even increase your life expectancy by 15 to 20 years on average. It’s amazing that a seemingly small and easy change to your day can positively impact your life in such a significant way!

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Lent is the forty-day penitential season of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving in preparation for Easter. Beginning Ash Wednesday, this new liturgical season offers the faithful a chance to more intentionally enter into the Paschal Mystery so we may more joyfully celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

Still not sure what to do over these next forty days to make them as fruitful as possible? Here are 12 ideas for Lent that will fill your body, mind, and soul and help ready you for encountering the Resurrected Christ.

Body

Fasting

The Church observes the discipline of fasting, particularly during Lent, as a way for the faithful to atone for their sins. Fasting fosters self-control by bringing your body’s appetite under your volition.

On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, the faithful (with some exceptions for age or health issues) are asked to eat only one large meal and two smaller meals.

You may also choose to fast from something else throughout the whole season. Is there a part of your diet you’ve been wanting to improve? Giving up something like sugar, alcohol, or processed foods for Lent can actually benefit your bodily health.

Abstinence

Catholics are called to practice abstinence by not eating meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays during Lent. But the benefits of a few meatless days goes beyond spiritual health. Eating plant-based meals, which emphasizes fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, legumes, and nuts, also offers many health benefits.1

Daily workout

Commit to glorifying God with your body during these next forty days through daily exercise. Similar to fasting, exercising can help order your bodily passions and develop discipline, which will help with your pursuit of virtue. Pietra Fitness even offers a Lenten-specific workout series to accompany you during this season.

Mind

Read a spiritual book

The Catholic Church has a vast treasury of wisdom and reflection from the writings of great philosophers, theologians, and saints. Reading these books will help you intellectually know God in a deeper way, strengthening your faith.

Pick a book on an aspect of the spiritual life that the Holy Spirit has put on your heart, or pick a book about this particular liturgical season like Pope Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth or The Fourth Cup by Dr. Scott Hahn to accompany you during these forty days.

Meditation

The act of Daily Meditation offers many benefits. For Catholics, meditation isn’t about finding escape from the stresses of the world, but finding meaning and purpose in our sufferings and our joy in Christ alone.

Spend some time meditating on the mysteries and love of God. You can use an app like Hallow to guide you in this form of prayer or you can say meditative prayers like the Rosary on your own or with a friend and Holy Family School of Faith.

Give up technology

Lent is a time to delve deeper into prayer, a task that is often made more difficult by the amount of content we consume and the constant noise in our lives. You can make room for more silence and contemplation by putting down your phone, logging off your social media, or giving up your favorite shows for forty days.

Listen to good music

What we listen to when we are cleaning the house or driving in the car may seem like an inconsequential decision; however, what we listen to can deeply affect us. Plato even said that music “is an art imbued with the power to penetrate into the very depths of the soul.”

For the next forty days, try to be intentional with the content coming from your speakers. Listen only to music that raises your mind to God. This doesn’t mean you can only listen to Praise and Worship (though there are many seasonally-appropriate hymns that would work) but choose music that emphasizes the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.

Don’t complain

With all the difficulties in the world today, it’s easy to fall into the consuming trap of negativity. This mindset can be difficult to overcome, especially if we regularly find ourselves complaining.

Break the cycle by giving up complaining this Lent. Or even better, take some time everyday to cultivate gratitude.

Spirit

Mass

The Mass is the memorial of the Paschal Mystery. It helps us call to mind the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and helps reorient our hearts toward God. Consider adding another mass each week (maybe even daily) to help open yourself up to receive God’s love and mercy during this upcoming Easter Season.

Confession

Ash Wednesday, with its focus on turning away from our sins and preparing ourselves for heaven, reminds us of the necessity to frequent the sacrament of Confession. If you haven’t been to confession in a while (or even if you have), check your parish’s schedule and make time to ask God for forgiveness.

Pray the Surrender Novena

In the days leading up to His Passion, Jesus showed us what true surrender looks like. In the same way we remember His forty days in the desert, let us also remember and follow His example of abandonment to the will of God with the Surrender Novena.

The Surrender Novena is a 9-day prayer that helps you let go of whatever you are holding on to and entrusting it to the Lord’s loving care. This easy-to-say novena will transform your spiritual life, especially during Lent. You can find the full prayer here.

You may want to pray the novena with us in the online studio using the Surrender Novena Series.

Stations of the Cross

The well-loved Lenten tradition of Stations of the Cross provides you with a meaningful way of meditating on the Passion of Christ. Praying in this way allows you to follow the footsteps of Christ and unite yourself to Him in his sufferings. The Stations of the Cross will help draw your soul closer to God and help you experience in a real way His immense love for you.

By combining Christian meditation and exercises proven to strengthen your body, Pietra Fitness’ classes help you nourish your Body, Mind, and Spirit during your Lenten journey and throughout the whole year.

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One of the tragic effects of original sin is that we tend to hide from God. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned, they felt both naked and ashamed. They covered themselves with fig leaves and hid behind the trees. The more I grow in my relationship with God, the more I have become aware of my own tendency to cover myself with figurative fig leaves and hide. And I venture to say that you, as a person living with the effects of Adam and Eve’s sin, may, with a bit of introspection, find that you have a similar tendency.

Our way of hiding is often much more subtle than putting on extra clothing and ducking behind a tree. We have become masters of it so much so that we can even hide from ourselves the fact that we are hiding!

I’ll give you a couple examples of what my sort of hiding looks like. I discovered a tendency in myself to pray only when I felt “worthy.” I may realize that I am struggling in a certain area and so I don’t feel fit to appear before God. Perhaps I have angry feelings toward a family member or thoughts of pride. Rather than opening my heart as it is to God, I would try to prepare for prayer by fixing my problem on my own–I don’t like the idea of God seeing that anger or pride in my heart so I try shoving those thoughts away with my own strength and then begin my prayer. The trouble is, of course, that without Jesus we can do nothing (John 15:5). He alone is the Divine Physician. My thinking I can fix myself and then appear perfect before the Lord is nothing short of ludicrous!

Another way I find myself hiding is in the vague way in which I apologize to someone I hurt and/or confess my sins. Say, for example, I lost my temper. When I apologize, I may simply say, “I’m sorry I lost my temper,” which is a rather vague statement that can actually serve to hide the ugly things I did during that loss of temper. If I were to say, “I am sorry that I threw something across the room and screamed at the top of my lungs,” I would be revealing the truth about what I did. This same vagueness or honesty can be brought to the confessional. I have learned that the more honestly and fully I expose my sickness to the Divine Physician, the more quickly and easily He heals me.

This one simple word has recently transformed my spiritual life: expose. When I expose everything in me to the Father, He sends His Holy Spirit to heal. When I notice something (e.g. stress, anger, pride, fear) disturbing my heart, I simply turn to Him, and say, “Look, Father, this is what is in my heart right now. I open it up to You.” When I first began this practice, I was almost surprised at the way God worked in me. I had, for example, been hiding my thoughts of pride because I was ashamed of them and afraid of what God would think of them. But when I began exposing them to Him, they just melted away, as an ice cube would on being exposed to the hot summer sun. I also realized that God is not at all shocked by my sinfulness: “For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). I even sense that we are both laughing a bit as He melts away the disturbances of my heart that I thought I had to fight without end with my own (very weak) power.

In exposing ourselves constantly to God, He sends His healing and peace. The healing may be immediate, as in my example of my pride melting like an ice cube before His gaze, or it may take some time. But the healing certainly begins when we open our hearts as they are to Him. This is a truth that the Evil One tries very hard to hide from us. The Evil One will whisper any lie he can to keep you from exposing your heart to your Father. The lies may sound like this: “You’re not good enough to talk to God;” “You’re so weak, no one can help you;” “You got yourself into this mess, you better figure out how to get yourself out;” “If anyone knew what you were really like, nobody would love you. So you need to just put on a good face.” When you hear these things in your heart, expose them to God! He will reveal them as the lies they are. He may lead you to renounce in Jesus’ name whichever lie is keeping you from Him. And then I pray that, with confidence in God’s great love for you, you will be free to expose your heart to Him continually and receive His healing continually.

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Clare Schiller is a daughter of the Merciful Father, wife, and mother. She is passionate about discovering the truth and living in it. Clare enjoys the outdoors (particularly when the sun is shining), reading aloud with her children, playing the piano, and any sort of good conversation with a cup of tea. She contributes to a blog at flourishyourfaith.com and writes meditations for Pietra Fitness classes. Clare graduated from Ave Maria University in 2012 with a BA in Literature and received her Pietra Fitness Foundations 2 certification in 2019.

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A new year always offers a fresh start, and for many of us, that means re-evaluating our food choices. While we can make positive change any time of year, the turning over of the calendar offers a special boost of motivation. But, truth be told, you may not get very far trying to overhaul your diet with a vague mission statement (like “This year I’ll eat better” or “This year I’ll cut back on sugar”). Trust me, as a nutritionist, I’ve seen enough to know that these nebulous intentions rarely pan out. Instead, it’s usually best to set measurable, attainable goals you can actually reach.

Here are six smaller changes to set you on the path toward healthier eating in 2021.

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1. Add fruits and veggies at breakfast

If you’re going to get to the recommended target of five fruits and veggies per day, you’ve gotta start early! Breakfast isn’t where most of us think to load up on produce, but it’s not all that difficult to add fruits and vegetables to many traditional (and nontraditional) breakfasts.

Try a smoothie or oatmeal chock full of berries, sliced banana on peanut butter toast, or a handful of spinach tossed into your morning eggs.

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2. Choose whole grains over refined

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourage making at least half our grains whole. Whole grains contain more fiber, B vitamins, and other nutrients than their refined counterparts. Plus, they’re simply more filling!

One idea: Make it a practice to purchase whole grain products for home cooking, and save refined (or “white”) grains for dining out.

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3. Eat more fermented foods

Fermented foods may not sound all that appealing, but they can be surprisingly tasty. Sauerkraut adds a salty tang to sandwiches, kimchi spices up plain Asian noodles, and yogurt, of course, provides a creamy touch to sauces, tacos, or parfaits. These foods are all rich in probiotics, the beneficial bacteria that promote a healthy gut. Including them regularly in your diet will help create a thriving microbiome—which research shows can boost weight loss, reduce risk of diabetes, and even lower rates of depression.

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4. Go meatless one day a week

Eating meat isn’t necessarily bad for your health. It’s eating too much meat that can be a problem. Red meats are high in saturated fat, and both red and processed meats (like hot dogs and deli meats) have been linked to colon cancer. Meanwhile, large-scale cattle farming has a reputation for poor environmental practices. Cut down on your carbon footprint and do your health a favor by opting out of meat one day a week.

Try substituting tofu, beans, or veggies for the meat in casseroles, Mexican dishes, or soups. With the right flavor blend, you may not even miss the meat.

5. Cook with healthier oils

Better eating begins in your home kitchen. When basting, grilling, or firing up a skillet, it’s up to you to choose oils that will help, not harm, your health. You’ve probably heard olive oil touted as a heart-healthy component of a Mediterranean diet—and for good reason. This veggie oil contains high amounts of the monounsaturated oils associated with cardiovascular health.

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Whenever possible, choose olive (or canola, peanut, safflower, or corn) oils in your cooking.

6. Base desserts around fruit

Don’t get me wrong. As a sweets lover, I believe there’s definitely a time and place for rich desserts. But for an everyday ending to a meal, it’s smart to train our taste buds to be content with nature’s candy: fruit! To get more out of fruit as dessert, minimize distractions and give a dish of juicy strawberries or cool melon bites your full attention. Doing so will create a mindful experience of savoring, which leads to increased satisfaction.

Here’s to a happy, healthy 2021!