Happy New Year, and welcome to the Nutrition Diva podcast, a show where I do my best to debunk,

demystify, and de-stress the process of eating healthy. I'm your host, Monica Reinagle,

and as we kick off a new year together, I thought I'd share some

practical strategies for improving your diet and nutrition. After all, this is one of the

most common New Year's resolutions, and that makes sense. After all, we've just come off

a solid month of office parties and family get-togethers and comfort food and holiday celebrations.

So it's no wonder that most New Year's resolutions have to do with a healthy lifestyle.

And although, okay, we could get cynical about how long these resolutions typically last,

I'd rather make the most of this inclination

to renew our commitment to healthy habits. And so to help fuel your efforts, here are my five

best healthy eating tips. Tip number one is don't wear out your willpower. Whether you've resolved to eat less junk food or get to the

gym more, sticking to that resolution is probably going to require at least some willpower.

But according to researchers, Roy Baumeister and Kathleen Vaux, most of us have a relatively

limited supply of willpower. So when we call on our willpower to help us resist a temptation,

we actually deplete those reserves somewhat, and that leaves us less able to resist the next

temptation. And not only that, but the mental

energy that we spend when we are exercising our willpower drains our capacity to perform other

cognitive tasks. Let's say, for example, that you show up at your weekly staff meeting

to find that Linda has brought

a batch of her famous homemade chocolate chip cookies. The cookies smell delicious, and you know,

from previous experience, that they actually taste every bit as good as they look and smell.

Nonetheless, you are determined to stick to your resolution to avoid sweets.

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