Health practitioners, web articles, and magazines aplenty flood us with diet changes we should make and nutrition options we should implement into our daily lifestyles. And truly, there’s a lot of good information available. Many of those suggestions will indeed help you and your family become healthier and feel better now and in the long run. The problem can be that it all seems so overwhelming? Where do you begin? What’s more important—switching to low-fat options, eating organic products, learning how to complement proteins, choosing only whole wheat options, cooking at home more often, consuming probiotics, blending flax seeds for optimal health benefits, introducing extended periods of daily physical exertion.

Whoa. Take a deep breath. The list goes on. But you don’t have to do it all at once. Change is difficult for humans. We’re adaptive, but we tend to get stressed when we’re overloaded with newness, even when it’s good. And stress isn’t good for your health. Keep in mind that all of these healthy lifestyle changes will be just as good for you and your family tomorrow as they are today. We could argue all day about which is most important. Start with whatever suits you best. It generally takes around twenty-five days to form a habit.

So before you start individualizing each of your family member’s daily nutrient intake needs, try out one new healthy lifestyle change for a month at a time. Change the dinner soda to water or fruit juice. Focus on breakfast—eat only oats or enriched whole grain cereals, fruits, and yogurt five times a week. If the change takes well, add a new one next month. Soon, without even realizing it, you and the whole family will be the epitome of healthy living, with habits you won’t want to lose.