Do (Not) Be Resolute This Year

By Adam Calder, Produce Manager

For the first couple of weeks every January, the produce department is deluged with customers shoving fresh produce into their carts as fast as they can get their hands on it. It really is something to see after watching people spend the month of December stocking up on chocolates, candies, and the ingredients for cookie baking. While I understand the need to balance out a season of indulgence with healthy food, this sudden interest in produce is unfortunately usually attached to a new year’s resolution.

By the end of the month, the bubbles from the champagne have popped, and the excitement from watching the ball drop has faded. After a few weeks of eating nothing but fresh produce, people get burnt out on it and start sliding back into their old habits. When one compares the sales of fresh produce for the first two weeks of January to the first two weeks of February, the drop off in sales is remarkable.

So, what is the problem? Perhaps this year we should all strive to be a little less resolute. Eating nothing but fresh produce week after week, while at the same time completely denying your favorite treats, is admirable, but also a recipe for failure. Eating fresh produce is one of those areas of life where being unwavering in your commitment might take more effort than most people can muster in today’s world. When you have to pick your battles every day, why battle yourself?

It takes time to build new habits, and energy to move ourselves out of an old rut and into a new groove. Instead of switching gears so quickly, take things slower and in smaller steps. For your first trip to the produce department in 2024, add one new produce item you have never tried. If you don’t know how to use it, ask anyone in produce and we will be happy to help you figure it out.

On your second trip this month, if you liked that first new produce item you tried, buy it again. If you didn’t like it, no problem! Buy another new piece of produce you have never tried, and keep doing this every time you shop. Leave room for a couple of your favorite treats too. I like brussels sprouts, spinach, broccoli and celery just fine, and I also save room for some of the top-shelf ice cream Wheatsfield carries too.

If you start shopping like this for a few weeks, you will eventually form a new habit. No habit, good or bad, happens overnight, so you have to stick with it. If you have a rough week, and are craving all your less-than-healthy comfort foods, that’s ok! Don’t be too hard on yourself, don’t give up, and try again next week to put one new produce item in your cart. After six months of doing this, you may find you have new favorite comfort foods that are healthy too. Another six months later, and you may find you indeed do have that year-long resolve so many of us look for on January 1st.

This year, don’t be resolute in your goals and aspirations. Take it small and slow, in fits and spurts if need be, and you may find yourself on a path where you have healthy new habits that effect your life in a positive way.