Many of us wish we could, or would, eat healthier, but one thing seems to often get in the way–we like what we already eat. Kimberly Funk, a registered dietitian, nutritionist and an instructor for the Way to Wellness program at Intermountain Health, has heard all the “wishes” and excuses before, and she said there are ways to develop healthier eating habits while still enjoying much of our regular favorites.

“As a dietitian, I’m working with both groups of people and with individuals, and the way a dietitian works is that we try to find things that work for the individual,” said Funk, a West Jordan resident. “I tell people to find foods they have fun eating. All foods fit in a balanced diet, so don’t try adding foods that you dread and eliminating the ones you like. There’s not a prescription on how to do that. It really takes experimenting and playing around.”

Funk said it starts “where you are, and by taking small steps,” not a drastic overhaul of our diets.

“It would be something along the lines for people looking for more nutrient dense foods. What we eat doesn’t make us a good or bad person. There’s no moral judgment. We’re looking for nutrient dense foods without labeling something good or bad.” 

“Nutrient dense to me are those foods that are high in other nutrients and more than just calories,” Funk said. “They have vitamins and minerals, all that stuff that gives us energy. A calorie is a nutrient that provides our body with fuel to move and function, but they don’t have the other nutrients. So we look for nutrient dense food. Traditionally, we hear these are foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.”

She said it’s a small step process–taken one at a time.

“A lot of people find that if they are going to change every vegetable that they eat and don’t like them, it becomes very overwhelming. And then people stop doing it. They develop a negative relationship with these energy dense foods because they’re forcing themselves to eat something that they don’t like.”

She said healthier eating is not a goal, but an experiment. Try different things, adding a food of your choice maybe once or twice a week, and focus on enjoyable nutrient dense foods that you like.

And there comes a satisfaction factor in what she called “intuitive eating. This is the enjoyment level of our food. What we find is, if we eat things that have a low satisfaction factor, maybe something we rate as a 3 on a 1-10 scale, we’re not going to eat it. So I recommend to those I work with something that is higher on that scale. Forget about squash for now if it’s not right for you. Find something on the vegetable scale that is closer to a 7 or an 8.”

Funk said we need to be kind to ourselves as we strive for healthier eating habits. It helps us “find ways around obstacles and continue moving forward in a way that works.”

She’s part of a program at Intermountain called Way to Wellness Bites classes, free 90-minute sessions taught in person or virtually that cover topics such as principles of healthy eating and intuitive eating.

“Everybody wants me to tell them exactly how to do things, and that is the really hard part about this, because there are barriers in our minds,” she said. “They think, ‘I want to include this food with this nutrient in it,’ or, hey, ‘it’s recommended to do this, and I want to be a little healthier. So I want to fuel my body with different foods that provide different nutrients.’ It can be really challenging, because there’s no one way that works for everyone. There’s no one size at all, and what works for someone does not work for the others.”

She continued by saying, “So if you choose to come to these Bite classes or our full program, we work to help people figure out how to explore these food options and explore what they enjoy, what’s satisfying. We try to get them to change their mentality, so they’re not restricting food, so they’re not creating a negative relationship with the food that they do enjoy by saying, ‘I can’t have it. I shouldn’t have it.’ We’re going to give you some basic information on nutrition, and then we can help show you how to do it. It just takes being okay, and that self-compassion is saying ‘hang in there if this one didn’t work out this time. So, what’s my
next step.’”

You can learn more about the Way to Wellness Bites classes at intermountainhealth.org. λ