A healthful lifestyle is easier than you might think. The path to good health isn’t the same for everyone and yours may change over time. To travel down your personal path, take small steps that are right for you, one at a time. Every step adds up, so you’ll reach your health goals before you know it.

Below are some guideposts to help you along your personal path to good health

Make Realistic Changes

Making small changes over time in your food and exercise will usually work better and longer lasting results the large changes that you cannot maintain easily.

Use Your Imagination

Open yourself to new experiences in food and exercise. Tell yourself you’ll try it once and see if you like it.

Use Flexibility in Your Choices

Let yourself experiment over several days has you try to balance your food and your exercise don’t overly worry about one meal or one activity.

Take a Sensible Approach to Your Choices

Enjoy the foods you eat just don’t overdo any of them.

Enjoy Being Active

Become involved in some activity don’t simply watch others do things.

Make Informed Choices from All the Food Groups

• Grains: Make Half Your Grains Whole
  • What’s in the Grains group: Any food made from wheat, rice, oats, cornmeal, barley or another cereal grain. “Whole grains” include whole-wheat flour, bulgur (cracked wheat), oatmeal, whole cornmeal and brown rice.
    • Get a whole grain head start with oatmeal or whole grain cereal.
    • Use whole grains in mixed dishes such as barley in vegetable soup or stews, bulgur in casseroles or brown rice in stir fries. • Change it up. Make your sandwich on 100% wholewheat or oatmeal bread. Snack on popcorn or whole grain crackers.
• Vegetables: Vary Your Veggies
  • What’s in the Vegetables group: Any vegetable or 100% vegetable juice. Vegetables may be raw or cooked; fresh, frozen, canned or dried/dehydrated.
    • It’s easy going dark green. Add frozen chopped spinach, collard greens or turnip greens into a pot of soup.
    • Swap your usual sandwich side for crunchy broccoli florettes or red pepper strips.
    • Microwave a sweet potato for a delicious side dish.
• Fruits: Focus on Fruits
  • What’s in the Fruits group: Any fruit or 100% fruit juice. Fruits may be fresh, canned, frozen or dried; and may be whole, cut-up, pureed, raw or cooked.
    • Bag some fruit for your morning commute. Toss in an apple to munch with lunch and some raisins to satisfy you at snacktime.
    • Buy fresh fruits in season when they taste best and cost less.
    • Never be fruitless! Stock up on peaches, pears and apricots canned in fruit juice or frozen so they’re always on hand.
• Milk: Get Your Calcium-Rich Foods
  • What’s in the Milk group: All fluid milk products and many foods made from milk. Examples include cheese and yogurt. Make your Milk group choices fat-free or low-fat.
    • Use fat-free or low-fat milk instead of water when you make oatmeal, hot cereals or condensed cream soups, such as cream of tomato.
    • Snack on low-fat or fat-free yogurt. Try it as a dip for fruits and veggies and a topper for baked potatoes.
    • Order your latte or hot chocolate with fat-free (skim) milk.
    • Special Tip: Although cream cheese, cream and butter are made from milk, they don’t count in the Milk group because they contain little or no calcium. Instead, if you eat these foods, count them as “extra” calories from solid fats.
• Meat & Beans: Go Lean with Protein
  • What’s in the Meat & Beans group: All foods made from beef, pork, poultry, fish, dry beans or peas, eggs, nuts and seeds. Make your meat and poultry choices lean or low-fat.
    • Trim visible fat from meat and remove skin from poultry.
    • Broil, grill, roast or poach meat, poultry or fish instead of frying.
    • Enjoy pinto or kidney beans on a salad or a hearty split pea or lentil soup for extra protein.
• Oils—Know Your Fats:
  • Oils are fats that are liquid at room temperature such as canola, corn and olive oils. Mayonnaise and certain salad dressings are made with oils. Nuts, olives, avocados and some fish such as salmon are naturally rich in oils.
    • Use some vegetable oil instead of butter for cooking and baking.
    • Toss salad with salad oil and flavored vinegar.
    • Try thin slices of avocado on a sandwich or sprinkle some nuts on a salad.
    • Special Tip: Solid fats are different from oils because they are higher in saturated and/or trans fats so they are considered extras. Solid fats are found in whole milk, cheese, higher-fat meats and other foods such as butter, lard, chicken skin and shortening. Some oils such as palm, palm kernel and coconut are also higher in saturated fats.

Any one of these suggestions is a beginning step toward better nutrition. Take that first step when you’re comfortable take a second and a third and so on.