Our lives have become busier and busier. We work hard so we can play hard— and there’s so much great stuff to do that we jam our schedules full of activities.
Unfortunately, that sometimes means that good things like exercise or eating healthier get pushed to the bottom of the priority list. The good news is that you can make a few small changes and eat healthier, without having to invest a lot of extra time!
Check out my 7 tips to eat healthier without dramatically changing your lifestyle.
Cook at Home
The food at restaurants is often higher in sodium, fat, and calories than the dishes you would cook at home. This isn’t always true, of course; but when you cook at home, you regain control over exactly what is included in the meal.
You can substitute healthier cooking oils, use leaner meats, and limit portion sizes. You can whip up a healthy, delicious meal in 20 minutes or less, the same amount of time that it would take you to visit a drive-thru and much less time than it takes to dine in at a restaurant.
Make More Servings
When you’re cooking at home, make extra servings of whatever dish you’re creating. That way, you’ll have healthy leftovers to take with you for lunch at work, and you won’t be tempted to visit a restaurant or take-out joint for a high-calorie, high-fat meal.
You can also freeze extra servings for those nights when you really don’t feel like cooking.
Sneak in Some Spinach
Spinach is so incredibly good for you. It’s low in fat, low in cholesterol, and high in great stuff like protein, fiber, niacin, and zinc. As if that weren’t enough, it’s also chock full of calcium, iron, folate, vitamins A, B, C, E, and K.
If you don’t like it by itself, slip some into your smoothies. You’ll never know the difference! You can also sauté it and add it to pasta, omelettes, casseroles, soups, and other tasty dishes.
Buy Frozen Veggies
Canned vegetables have lots of extra sodium, so skip the canned versions and buy fresh or frozen instead. The same rule applies to soups— pass on the canned varieties and make your own in big batches so you can use some and freeze some for later.
Stock Up on Frozen Fruit
Do you find yourself going to the freezer for a late-night snack? Instead of buying cartons of ice cream or bars of chocolate, stock up on frozen fruit.
Frozen berries and frozen bananas taste delicious in smoothies, and they have natural sugars and flavor. Plus, you’ll get lots of vitamins and nutrients from them as well.
If you really need a creamy dessert, make a fruit sorbet with your frozen fruit. Or try a low-fat frozen yogurt.
Use a Meal Delivery Service
Do you have trouble finding the time to go grocery shopping? Is cooking and cleaning up too much effort?
If you really want to eat healthier at home, but you don’t have time to shop or cook, a meal delivery service may be the way to go. Many of these services offer a free trial first, so you can see if the process works for you.
There are lots of them available now, so do a google search and try them out!
Reduce Processed Foods
The best thing you can do to eat healthier is reduce the amount of processed foods you are eating.
What are processed foods? Basically, they are any kind of food that have had a lot of things done to them in order to end up in their current state. In fact, many of the ingredients in processed foods are chemicals or substances with unrecognizable names. Skip most of the foods that sit on open store shelves in cardboard boxes or plastic packages. Try to stick to fresh foods instead!
There are plenty of other ways to incorporate healthy change into your diet, like getting flavored water instead of juice or soda, shopping the perimeter of the grocery store, eating more slowly, and choosing smaller portions. I’ve just discussed some of the main ones!
What small habit changes have helped you eat healthier? I would love to hear any other tips! :) xx
It’s FREE