The very first step I use to help anyone with nutrition is to get them to write down everything they eat (all meals, all snacks, all drinks) for one week. Tag each of them with: Home Cooked, Take Away (or Take Out for Americans), Social and Snacks.
This helps immensely with their awareness of what they are actually eating vs what they think they're eating. It also tells them right away what they need to change first (i.e the low-hanging fruits). For example, if they snack on calorie-dense foods a lot, snacks should not be available in the house. Or if Take Away is a huge percentage of weekly meals, they need to cook more.
Then I make gradual small changes from there until all the good habits are in place.
I find that big changes right from the start never stick. I also find that people who don't have the discipline to do this never make any long lasting change to their diets.
This helps immensely with their awareness of what they are actually eating vs what they think they're eating. It also tells them right away what they need to change first (i.e the low-hanging fruits). For example, if they snack on calorie-dense foods a lot, snacks should not be available in the house. Or if Take Away is a huge percentage of weekly meals, they need to cook more.
Then I make gradual small changes from there until all the good habits are in place.
I find that big changes right from the start never stick. I also find that people who don't have the discipline to do this never make any long lasting change to their diets.