Today we continue our new year's series on establishing order in your environment. This week, we're focusing on health.

Eating right is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. You wouldn't pour sour beer in the gas tank of a Porsche and expect it to run well. Why would you think your body can run on poor quality fuel?

Now, we all know the basics of eating right. Michael Pollan laid them out quite simply in The Omnivore's Dilemma. Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much. An article in the Washington Post offered their take on the same basic rules.

But what practical steps can you take at home to eat the way you need to eat. Here are my suggestions:

• Focus on eating at least 80% of your meals at home. Working from 3 meals a day, that still lets you eat out up to 4 times a week. When you eat at home, you are likely to eat better food in smaller portions. Plus, cooking helps you appreciate food more than having it handed to you through a window does.
• Abandon the old protein, starch, veggie pattern for a dinner plate. It's completely ok to have an entirely plant based meal. Beans and nuts are full of protein.
• Don't confuse meatless eating with healthy eating. Fettucini alfredo, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a mushroom stuffed crust pizza are all meatless, but they aren't healthier than eating a small portion of meat.
• Make it easier to avoid temptation. Know the foods you tend to overeat and don't bring them into the house. Then you only need to avoid them once — at the grocery store — instead of every day on your counter. that's why I rarely buy potato chips. I know if I eat one, the bag's life expectancy is short. If I want potato chips enough to put on shoes and walk the half mile to the grocery store and the half mile back, I can have them.
• On the other hand, make it easy to eat well. Peel and chop some veggies and wash and display fruit as soon as you get it home from the store. When you want a quick snack, you don't want to have to peel and chop carrots or cauliflower. You want to eat. So have carrot sticks or apples or grapes or melon at hand.

The biggest issue for most people I know isn't what they eat, it's how much of it they eat. This is one of the things that makes eating out so dangerous. The bulk of a restaurant's costs are in salaries, rent, and equipment depreciation, not food. So, to justify charging more, it makes sense for them to bulk up the portions. Even some restaurant's "light" menus feature portion sizes more than 3 times what your body needs. When you do eat out, make it a practice to divide your plate in half and have the server box the other half for you to take home. Look, Mom! Two meals for the price of one!

When you serve at home, plate the food in the kitchen rather than serving family style. You can even go one step further and package up the leftovers before you start eating. If you are still hungry after eating a proper portion, you can always reheat more — though the effort involved may make you think twice about how hungry you really are!

Avoid any diet or eating plan that puts any food or food group completely off-limits. Barring an allergy, there's nothing you can't eat on occasion or in moderation. And, while I preach celebrating life, that doesn't mean every day is an occasion.

To feel less deprived, focus on variety and flavor, not quantity. Anyone would get bored eating tilapia and green beans every day. Try new fruits and veggies (ethnic markets are a great resource.) Add low calorie flavor enhancers to your food — things like whole grain mustard, siracha, fresh herbs, good vinegar.

And while you eat, actually pay attention to what you are eating. Look at it. Smell it. Taste it. Chew it. Swallow it. Then start again. The more you really appreciate your food, the less you are likely to eat!