As we approach the holidays, many of us turn our minds to eating! We need to be putting more thought into what we eat year-round! There are many easy ways to eat healthy, even when you are busy! A few from various authors are listed below.
Don’t keep junk food in the house.
This is basic, but it took me years to realize. Personally, if I have a bag of chips or a pint of ice cream in the house, there ain’t no tellin’ what may happen to it. I may be able to practice portion control, or I may eat it all—on sight. For this reason, I simply can’t have these things in my home on a daily basis. It’s much easier to eat healthier if you only have healthy foods to choose from.
Make some easy, healthy snacks for the week.
The biggest misconception about packing snacks is that it’s hard to do. One thing that works for me is prepping healthy snacks for the entire week, or getting them together the night before. It literally takes five minutes and will help you eat healthier throughout the day. Here are five healthy snacks that take no time:
- Chopped apple and almond butter
- Greek yogurt fruit parfait with granola
- Popcorn (air popped at home; spritz with olive oil mister and herbs)
- Almonds (add a tablespoon of dark chocolate chips, if you’re into that)
- Broccoli and hummus
Save time by buying things pre-chopped.
Of course we’d all love to be Martha Stewart—plant all of our food, pick it from the garden, chop it up, and cook it fresh. The problem is that may not be realistic for all of us. And that’s okay. I made a soup last night and what did I use? Grocery store mix and pre-chopped butternut squash. You can easily sauté it all in a pan with some EVOO, add water, put on the lid, let it simmer, and blend when it’s done. It was absolutely delicious, and best of all, it was easy-peasy to make.
And definitely don’t skip breakfast.
Did you know that the origin of the word breakfast is break fast? This is because you haven’t been eating throughout the night (fasting) and you need to break that fast upon awakening (breakfast). Please don’t skip breakfast—ever. Your body needs to eat. Plus, eating early revs up your metabolism, which is a good thing. If you find that you don’t have time to make a five-minute green smoothie, breakfast burrito, or this delicious avocado toast in the A.M., then have no or low-prep breakfast options on hand. Need some ideas? Try:
- Fruit with plain Greek yogurt
- A slice of whole grain toast with a tablespoon of almond butter and a sliced banana on top
- Overnight oats
Plan ahead and prep in batches.
I can picture it now: you get home from work, and after an exhausting day, you’re way too tired to cook an elaborate dinner. This is me every day. The solution here is to batch prep. Batch prep means deciding on two to four dishes you will have for the week (this can work for lunch, too) and cooking them on a weekend day (or a day you have off from work). Here are two dishes I made this week:
- Roasted Sweet Potato Bowl – I boiled three sweet potatoes to soften them up, then chopped and roasted them at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour. I also sautéed spinach with garlic and cooked some black beans from scratch (note: you do NOT have to cook your beans from scratch, I happened to have them and wanted to save money). For lunch, I made a yummy sweet potato bowl with roasted sweet potatoes, black beans, sautéed spinach, and added a few chopped peppers in there for some more color.
- Easy Pesto Pasta – I made the pesto with olive oil, nuts, and basil and added it to gluten-free soy bean noodles. I topped it off with some crunchy steamed broccoli and spinach.