Re-Set Your Goals: 20 Tiny Steps for Better Nutrition

In this article:

• Major resolutions can fail, but small steps can be more sustainable and effective.
• Here’s a list of 20 tiny, manageable steps to improve eating habits for health and weight loss.
• Lark can help you establish healthy habits for long-term change with 24/7 coaching to support your health and weight loss goals.

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If 2026 is going to be your year for health and weight loss, you may have made some resolutions or set some goals in early January. But if New Year’s resolutions feel like they’re in the distant past, it’s okay. It’s easy to get discouraged if goals are too big, but smaller changes can be just as effective in helping you make progress towards your goals. 

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Smaller changes can be easier to make, more sustainable, and easier to turn into habits. Here are 20 small changes in eating habits you can make to achieve your goals this year. Find out why they’re helpful and how simple it can be to incorporate them into your daily routine.

Nourish Your Body: Tiny Steps for Healthier Eating

1. Drink a glass of water before each meal. It’ll keep you hydrated to improve energy and prevent dehydration headaches. It also helps fill you up and helps you eat less at the meal.
2. Eat a colorful vegetable with lunch. Vegetables are low in calories and high in fiber and water, making them ideal for weight maintenance. Choose colorful ones for a variety of nutrients. Consider red peppers and tomatoes, orange bell peppers and carrots, green beans and spinach, cauliflower, and purple beets, cabbage, and eggplant, for starters. Enjoy them either cooked or raw. 
3. Pack your lunch instead of buying it. Packing your lunch lets you keep portions in check to avoid overeating, and empowers you to choose more nutritious components. Taking a healthy lunch can be as simple as packing up leftovers from dinner, adding protein to a whole-grain sandwich or a bed of greens, or making a bean or lentil salad. Here are lunch ideas to make at home, lose weight, or mimic fast food
4. Purchase food storage containers with tight-fitting lids. This change can encourage you to pack extra food after meals instead of trying to eat everything you prepared
5. Replace a processed snack with a nutrient-dense, less processed snack. Processed snacks like chips, cookies, and snack cakes can be high in calories, sugar, and fat, and low in essential nutrients. More nutritious snack components can include fresh fruit or vegetables, lean protein like a hard-boiled egg, string cheese stick, and low-fat cottage cheese, nuts, peanut butter, and hummus.
6. Add a serving of greens to one meal. They’re low in calories and filling, and they can have nutrients like fiber, vitamins A, C, and K, and potassium. Try mixed greens, lettuce, kale, arugula, or spinach in salads or sandwiches, or cooked with eggs, in casseroles or soups, or as side dishes.
7. Make a peanut butter and fruit sandwich on whole-grain bread instead of white bread. Instead of jam or jelly, sliced banana, strawberries, blueberries, or diced apple or pear can add sweetness without added sugars. Whole grain consumption is linked to a lower risk of obesity and diabetes. Try sliced whole-grain bread, a whole-grain tortilla or wrap, or a whole-grain English muffin for fiber.
8. Wait five minutes after cleaning your plate before serving a second helping, and start with vegetables. While waiting, you may realize that you’re more full than you think. Also, taking second helpings of vegetables first encourages you to get more nutrients.
9. Chew each bite of food 20 times. This simple change can help you eat more slowly, which can help you feel more satisfied with less food. It can also let you enjoy your meals more.
10. Replace a refined grain with a whole grain. Whole grains lower the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Try oatmeal or whole-grain cereal like shredded wheat or oat O’s for refined cereal like cornflakes, brown rice instead of white rice, or whole-wheat pasta instead of white pasta. Sliced bread, tortillas, English muffins, wraps, and bagels come in whole-grain varieties.
11. Add a serving of fruit to breakfast. Start the day off strong with fruit for fiber, potassium, and antioxidants. Try peach slices, berries, or banana in cereal and oatmeal, a side of grapes or grapefruit with eggs and whole-grain toast, or cantaloupe with cottage cheese.
12. Replace a fatty protein with a lean source. Try lean ground turkey instead of ground beef, skinless chicken or fish instead of steak, turkey breast instead of luncheon meat, and turkey bacon instead of regular bacon. You’ll cut calories and artery-clogging saturated fat.
13. Make a big batch of a healthy recipe each week. Freeze single-meal portions of a healthy dish so that you have a nutritious meal available when you need one. This reduces the chance that you’ll opt for less healthy packaged meals, fast food, or takeout. Try vegetarian or turkey chili, soup with vegetables and beans, peas, lentils, or chicken, casseroles with ground turkey, tuna, or chicken, or chicken or garbanzo bean and vegetable stews for high-fiber, high-protein options
14. Swap half your pasta for vegetables. You can still get whole-grain goodness from whole-wheat or brown rice pasta, but you’ll get fewer calories and carbohydrates, and a more filling and antioxidant-rich meal.
15. Drink water instead of soda. Switch just one 12-ounce can per day of sugar-sweetened soda for water, and you’ll save 150 calories. Over the course of a year, that adds up to about 10 lb of weight loss! Ice water and sparkling water can be satisfying choices.
16. Use less dressing. Try a lighter dressing or a smaller amount to save calories and fat. For additional creaminess and flavor, try a squeeze of dijon mustard, herbs, and lemon juice.
17. Choose mustard instead of mayonnaise. Each tablespoon of mayonnaise has 100 calories, while a teaspoon of yellow, dijon, deli, or spicy brown mustard has 10 calories. For a creamy option, try 1 tablespoon of hummus with 30 calories.
18. Use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream as a topping for tacos and burritos. You’ll save 30 calories per 2-tablespoon serving.
19. Try a bowl of air-popped popcorn instead of potato chips. It’s a whole-grain choice that has 30 calories per cup, compared to 150 calories per cup for chips. Pop your own kernels in a microwave popcorn popper, the stovetop, or a countertop popper. Light microwave popcorn is a good alternative. 
20. Cut dessert in half and have fresh fruit with it. You’ll still get sweet satisfaction, but also get nutrients with fewer calories.

How Lark Can Help

Lark can help you make tiny changes that lead to lasting habits and visible results. Your Lark coach is available 24/7 for encouragement, nutrition and physical activity coaching, and habit tracking. Lark can help you make healthy choices and establish habits that fit into your lifestyle so you can lose weight and keep it off with or without GLP-1 medications. 

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Click here to see if you may be eligible to join Lark today!

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