By: Maria Parker Hopkins

October was my month to eat less salt, but I will warn you: I didn’t want to! My family has a history of high blood pressure—who cares! Though, I don’t have medical issues, I could in the future—so what!

See, I told you I wasn’t happy about it. And I could think of 11 challenges that would have been much easier for me to do. However, because this particular challenge was the one with which I have the most difficulty, and because I’m competitive by nature, I set out to overcome my salty addiction.

After consulting with my challenge motivator, I began to implement some of her suggestions: I started to salt “once.” Mind you it was the most forceful shake of the salt shaker ever, but it was still only once. I also began to become more mindful of the amount of salt-ful components on my plate. And now I must admit that once my desensitized buds recovered, I really began to enjoy the natural flavors of foods.

Salt enhances a food’s flavor, but I was missing the taste that food supply on their own. I am still a work in progress, but I’m pretty proud of myself.

Read More: Top 10 Ways to Reduce Sodium

Isn’t there a song titled “Eating out is fun to do?”  Well it is, but it sure takes a toll on your waist if foods are not chosen properly.  For the past several months, I’ve worked very hard at choosing the right vegetables to go along with each meal that I enjoy outside of my own kitchen.

It’s fall and what a delight to see butternut squash, beets, apples and more on menus this season.  Just yesterday I enjoyed a beet salad at The Grand Marlin  in Pensacola, FL.  Just take a look at those beautiful colors…red, yellow, green, oh my!  And the Yellowfin Tuna entrée (pictured below); just caught that morning from the waters off Destin, FL.  Talk about fresh and sustainable!  And to my surprise, guess what came as a wonderful little goodie on the side: pumpkin seed brittle.  This is the best-tasting brittle I have ever put to my lips.  Executive Chef Gregg McCarthy—hats off to you!  

So of course I then turned to the pages of Cooking Light’s October issue and found Thai Cashew Brittle that will be a must this month. And with pumpkin on the brain, I’m sharing one favorite recipes from the past:  Pumpkin-Honey Beer Quick Bread.

I’m still a work in progress but what a challenge—and actually what fun—to study a menu and know I’m making a good choice when it comes to adding vegetables to my plate.  If you have any other ideas or suggestions, please send them my way!

By: Andrea Stillwell

Well, today was the day of reckoning. I knew this day was coming. I put it off for as long as I could. Now the deadline was fast approaching for me to eat some fish and write about my experience. I flipped through all my Cooking Light Annual Cookbooks looking for the perfect recipe. Something intriguing. Something enticing. Something to pique my curiosity about... fish. Oh, yeah. I haven't eaten fish since I left home some 24 years ago. My last memory of fish was a tuna sandwich (Bumble Bee, of course) under lots of lettuce doused in mayonnaise. Yuck.

So I made my way, with much trepidation, to the fresh fish case of the local Whole Foods. "I need some fish," I said, my voice wavering. "I'll take the smallest piece of tilapia that you have." As the man behind the counter wrapped up my experiment, I tried not to look at the whole fish laying nearby, with their beady little eyes staring blankly back at me.

I settled on Five Spice Tilapia with Citrus Ponzu Sauce from Cooking Light’s 2007 Cookbook. I followed the advice from the September issue: Use a mild fish. Check. Use bold flavors. Check. Cook outdoors. Check. (I deviated from the recipe and wrapped it in foil and grilled it outdoors.) I placed the finished product on my plate, accompanied by steamed broccoli with a squeeze of orange juice on top, to tie the flavors together. The fish wasn't going to get into my mouth by magic, so here goes…

I can report that I survived. I even ate the whole thing. Am I a convert? Well, let's take it one bite at a time. This was a huge step for me after 24 years. I might think twice about passing up a fish dish at my next luau. Maybe. The Chicken with Balsamic-Fig Sauce on the same page looks so much more inviting to me.

It takes time to change a habit.  Commit to 30 days.  You can do almost anything if you give it 30 days.  

But adopting a new habit doesn't just meaning learning a new behavior; it typically means subtracting an old habit. What habits do you need to replace? And think about what's standing in your way. What are your habit hurdles?

For each of the 12 Healthy Habits we want to know about your specific challenges. What's making it tough for you meet each goal?  

We appreciate all of you answering our habit-related questions on Facebook.  We want to shape the 12HH book in ways that will help you with those hurdles.

Here's just a sampling of what we're discovering:

Get Moving Challenge- 

#1 thing that would help people exercise more:  Friends to do it with.

Some people also talked about the lack of time and motivation, while others said they needed more support from family and friends to exercise 3 times a week :  "Understanding from family and friends that my ME time is just that!"

Whole Grains Challenge-

#1 reason why people have a hard time getting enough whole grains: They're confused about what counts as a whole grain; can't tell what they're buying.

Get Cooking Challenge-

#1 reason why people don't cook more at home:  They need more ideas for quick, easy meals.  Well, we will definitely have that covered!

So join the conversation. If you have a story to tell, email me at healthyhabits.janethelm@gmail.com. What have you done to change your habits?  Are you having some success?  Let us know how you're overcoming your habit hurdles. 

(photo courtesy of beenbair on flickr)

With our 12HH, we’re focusing on one healthy habit at a time.  But when you string together all 12 of our healthy habits - it truly has the potential to change your life. (Keep in mind, however, that there are other habits that can work against your good intentions. It’s also vital not to smoke, to get adequate sleep each night, and to find ways to manage stress.)

Have you been following the 12HH?  Do you want to tell us about your struggles and triumphs?  Did you feel like you’ve really nailed one of our challenges?  Send me an email at healthyhabits.janethelm@gmail.com.  We want to tell your stories in the book!

Habits are all about behaviors that become automatic in our lives.  It doesn’t happen overnight.  So give it 30 days.  You can do a lot to change your life in 30 days.  I previously wrote about some ways that you can make new habits stick.  Here are some additional tips to help you adopt healthier habits:

Change your environment. Make sure your fridge and pantry help support your healthy habits. Get rid of tempting foods, snacks, and drinks that trigger regretted behavior. Keep fresh fruit in bowls on the counter, and wash and cut fresh veggies ahead of time and keep at eye-level in the fridge for easy snacking. Make the healthy choice the convenient choice.

See for yourself. Create your action plan and visualize yourself carrying it out. Researchers have found that visualization techniques—or mentally rehearsing buying, preparing, and eating healthy food—helps people actually change their eating habits.

Get inspired. Find someone who succeeded in making the positive changes you want to mirror. Use these successful role models to keep you motivated.

Celebrate victories. Pat yourself on the back for making some new, positive changes—no matter how small. When you begin to succeed, you gain self-confidence, which leads to greater success. As behavioral experts say, “nothing succeeds like success.”

Give it time. Don’t get impatient. It takes time to establish a new habit. One recent study found that it takes an average of 66 days before a new habit becomes automatic. So commit to 30 days, then the next month will be much easier to sustain.

What has helped you stay on track?  Tell us the ways you are successfully changing your life. 

(photo courtesy of michalfabik on flickr)

Though I’m not vegetarian, I consider myself a meatless master. I rarely cook meat at home—with the exception of browning some ground beef or turkey for soups or throwing some salmon into a grill pan—and I only order it at restaurants when I know the source is local and/or humanely-raised, so this month’s challenge to go meatless was pretty easy for me. I decided my personal challenge would be to expand my repertoire into different protein sources.

My goal: To make friends with tofu. I had (perhaps unfairly) prejudged tofu as a squishy sponge of a thing that just sat on my plate and quivered at me. And it involves many decisions: What type do I buy—silken, firm, extra firm? Do I have to drain or press it? Why are you so high maintenance, tofu? Silly, maybe, but I think it stemmed from one hippy potluck dinner in college too many.

It was time to make peace. So I searched for a recipe that incorporated lots of flavor and got away from the slap a brick on a plate method. Here’s an oldie but goodie, Sesame Tofu Stir-Fry Over Rice. The “meaty” mushrooms and nutty, crunchy sesame seeds balanced out the tofu’s texture and served as training wheels for my tofu-phobic self. It’s going into rotation. And here’s an option for a tofu-riffic brunch or breakfast-as-dinner, Hash Browns (ed note: you had me at Hash Browns) with Italian-Seasoned Tofu. So have I been reborn as a tofu lover? Honestly, I’d still rather reach for a grain or something else, but I now view it as a well-meaning acquaintance vs a tasteless enemy.

What are your tofu secrets? Do you have a go-to brand? Here are our tofu taste test award winners.

See More: Our full collection of Healthy Vegetarian Recipes

By: Jane Boutelle 

It turns out that summer is a really good time to experiment with vegetarian meals. Today, for example, I picked up my bi-weekly box of produce that I get through a share in a local farm CSA  (Community Supported Agriculture). Between sweet corn, fat red tomatoes, fresh herbs, and greens, I have a great start. I’m starting to get the hang of how to round out the rest of a meal without relying on meat. I found a simple recipe for fresh salsa, which was just the topping my cheese omelet needed. Add in some sweet corn and a salad, you have a very satisfying meal.

I’m also enjoying experimenting more with beans. Black beans, cannellini beans, pinto beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans—you get the idea. I’ve tried them in salads, chili, pasta, and more. The texture is pretty satisfying, too. 

Now don’t get me wrong—I’m still enjoying seafood, chicken, and occasional red meat. But at least one day a week (and lots of meals in-between), I’m feeling good about going meatless. 

I haven’t convinced my husband, although he’s supportive of whatever I do. But the kids seem okay with going along for the ride, and I think they’ll expand their food horizons as a result. We’re on a good path. I just need to keep collecting recipes.

We are almost in month 9 of the 12 Healthy Habits.  Have you been inspired to make changes?  Have you had some success?  Tell us about your journey and what has helped you to adopt new healthier habits.  We want to put your solutions in the book:  The Food Lover’s Healthy Habits Cookbook.

Changing your habits is all about making one small change at a time.  All of those small tweaks to your day can add up to something big.  What have you done that’s made a big difference for you?

Keep this in mind to help your habits stick:

• Start small.  Do not completely overhaul your current routine in one day.  It’s easy to get over-motivated and try to tackle too much, which can backfire. Focus on making a series of small steps, each of which is attainable, rather than attempting to change all at once.
• Write it down. Writing helps to solidify your commitment and focuses you on your end result. Write down what you want to achieve this month. Leave reminders on your calendar or day planner. Scribble daily goals and motivating messages on sticky notes.
• Be specific. Studies show that goals are easier to reach if they’re action-oriented. That means being specific, such as “I’ll get up 30 minutes earlier so I can walk in the morning before work,” instead of “I’ll get more exercise.”
• Be positive.  The belief that you can make a change is a powerful force. Behavioral scientists call this self-efficacy. You’re much more likely to reach a goal if you have confidence in yourself. Have faith in your ability to change.   
• Keep track. Self-monitoring is a powerful tool to help instill new habits and achieve success. That could be writing down what you eat in a food diary, using a mobile app to calculate calories, checking off vegetable servings, logging your daily activity or tracking the steps you take with a pedometer.
•  Find a buddy. Making changes are easier and more enjoyable when you have someone who will join you and keep you motivated. Seek out a friend, co-worker, or family member who will adopt these healthy habits with you.

And of course, it also helps to gain support from a group.  So share your story with us here, on our Facebook page, tweet with the hashtag #healthyhabits, or email me at healthyhabits.janethelm@gmail.com to get support and trade tips with other readers.  Tell us what you think should be in the book.

By: Yael Drinkle

As a former fat-avoidance fanatic, the biggest change I've made since trying to add more healthy fats into my diet is looking less at nutritional information and more at the ingredients listed when I’m grocery shopping. Not only am I eating more healthy fats as a result, but I've also stopped eating processed foods and eliminated almost all artificial sugars. (Though, I sometimes still have the occasional diet soda.) 

When I go grocery shopping, I look at the ingredients on the label, and as soon as I get into things I can't pronounce, I put the product away. I'm not afraid of ingredients that add a bit of extra fat, as long as the products is healthy—and it's now very obvious to me just how unhealthy low-fat and fat-free products can be.

I'm looking at fats differently and recognizing the good fats versus the bad ones. Basically, I've realized that natural is good and artificial is bad.  I feel like a whole extra section of the grocery store has been opened to me, and I'm enjoying eating new things that I had been staying away from. 

Hummus is my best friend right now. I make it at home and experiment with different ingredients. Roasted garlic and red pepper hummus is my favorite.  I'm also eating a lot more nuts and avocado. My lunch bag looks completely different these days, and I always get comments from my office mates about how healthy and delicious my lunches look.

Since participating in 12HH, the conversation of fats comes up a lot with friends. Hearing healthy friends talk about the amounts and types of fats they eat has given me the confidence to get over my fear of fats. I've learned from other people what fats they eat and which ones they avoid and why. I’ve learned to embrace fats because not only are they delicious but they can be good for you, too. And I feel good! I never thought I could feel this healthy from eating the foods I'm eating now.

By: Jackie Parmeley

Getting the Parmeley boys to eat healthier has certainly been a challenge, but I believe that we have made some progress.

The first suggestion I put in place has been to add healthy fish to our meal plans. My goal has been to add fish once a week. There have been some successes and some failures. I prepared Skillet Filets with Cilantro Butter that got four thumbs up. Wooo hooo! The favorites file is now one recipe bigger.

The next week, I tried Citrus Salmon with Garlicky Greens. Instead of making the salmon in the oven, I used the grill. Personally, I thought it was yummy, but the boys? Three thumbs down. Lesson learned: keep the fish very mild! My goal is to continue serving fish at least once a week and keep looking for recipes to add to the favorites.

Another suggestion by Cooking Light was to stretch meat further by using more veggies. I made Vegetable and Steak Fajitas with “Killed” Jalapenos (minus the jalapenos—too hot for our palate). I brought the fajitas to the table with the intent of letting the boys put their own together. I didn’t realize how adept they are at eating around the vegetables! The meat was gone and all that was left was veggies. Lesson learned: if I want the veggies to make it to the plate, I better put them there! I plan to keep adding in meals with more of a stir-fry feel, replacing some of the meat with more veggies.

This leads to another one of Cooking Light's suggestions: Go meatless. This is HUGE step for the Parmeley boys. If there is no meat, that makes it a side dish! What I would like to do is continue cutting down the amount of meat for a while longer before I take the meatless leap. But we’ll get there!

All in all, this has been a great experience. Finding healthy alternatives to the high saturated fat meals in our diet has been a challenge made so much easier with the help of Cooking Light. With their simple-to-implement advice and wonderful recipes, I have already put some small changes in place without upsetting the apple cart too badly. Overall, I know that I am going to continue looking for healthier recipes and meal plans for my boys. Thanks Cooking Light!