Hello, I'm Monica Reinagle, and you are listening to the Nutrition Deva

podcast, Welcome. Today's topic was prompted by an email from Stephanie who wrote,

if you need to overhaul your diet, are there some things that are more of a priority than others?

What's the best order to tackle the changes needed to rebuild a healthy diet?

I love this question because it shows that

even if her diet does need a total overhaul,

Stephanie understands three very important things. Number one,

building a healthy diet is an ongoing process, not just a single decision or resolution.

Number two, trying to change everything at once

is likely to backfire.

And number three, some things are more important than others.

So this is a great topic for us to explore.

Of course it's a little hard to know what sorts of changes Stephanie should make without

knowing what her current diet is like.

But if it looks anything like the typical American diet,

then the very first thing I'd suggest would be to eliminate or drastically reduce sodas, flavored waters, juice, and sports drinks.

Why? You know, I try to avoid focusing on individual foods, food groups, or nutrients as the problem or the solution.

On the other hand, this one just feels like low-hanging fruit.

Most Americans are consuming about twice the maximum recommended amount of added

sugars, and about half of that is coming from sweetened beverages. In other words, eliminate

this one category of foods and we would take care of our sugar

problem in a single swipe. Moreover, you lose nothing by eliminating them. These drinks don't make you feel any fuller than

...