Excellent nutrition is one category of personal growth where you can run smack into a stark realization:  The more you learn, the more confusing it becomes.  You find yourself asking, "Just how far down this rabbit hole do I really want to go?"

As lifestyle counselors, we can help make good nutrition a bit easier for you.  Here's our guiding philosophy:  Stick with the basics.  At least 80% of the time.

Fad diets come and go.  But the basic principles of healthy nutrition really don't change much at all.  Here's a few of our basics.  See if you can live by them too.

- Get your natural antioxidant protection by eating lots of fruits and vegetables. 
- Eat foods as close as possible to their natural state.
- Balance your meals with reasonable amounts of the macronutrients:
   Lean Protein, Healthy Fat, and Low Glycemic Carbohydrates
- Control portion size.
- Watch your intake of sodium, sugar, chemicals, animal fats and other less healthy fats.
- Depending on how active your lifestyle is, drink approximately one half your body weight in
  pure water every day.
- Replace most of your sugary and carbonated beverages with water or healthful teas.
- Get a nutritional wingman; a daily multi vitamin/mineral to help with any deficiencies.
- Manage your daily energy balance (calories in as food versus calories out as physical
   activity) to maintain a healthy weight for your frame.
- Save the savory stuff you love like chocolate and truffles for occasional indulgences!

See?  Easy!  If you go way, way back into the annals of good nutrition, the basic advice hasn't really changed all that much in more than 50 years.

Eat well.  Live well.  When you start traveling down that rabbit hole, you realize it's really pretty basic.