Eating food, preparing food, and thinking about food takes up a significant portion of our day. Multiple meals a day and snacks in between calls for a lot of thought about food. We absolutely should put a lot of thought into the food we put into our bodies. A balanced diet is our fuel for good health and deserves our attention. Here are a few tips to get you on a healthy eating plan.
Small Portions and Frequent Meals
If you live a fast paced life on the go, this is a great option for you. Eating more frequently allows your body to digest food in a more balanced manner as opposed to only eating once or twice a day and overindulging.
Plan Your Lunch
It’s the one meal typically eaten out of the home each day and as a result can be the easiest one to be forgotten in food planning. If you aren’t much for brown bagging it for your lunch, try seeking out light healthy delicious options at a local salad bar. If you have a desk job, or sedentary in nature, it is especially important that you seek out lighter foods to eat at lunch time.
Plan Meals on the Weekends
Take the time to thoughtfully shop for food that you can be excited to eat and portion everything ahead of time. Work weeks are so fast paced that finding time to meal plan is often set aside for a quick drive through or dine out meal. Spend some time on the weekends to ensure you have all necessary ingredients to make healthy meals throughout the week.
Have Healthy Snacks Within Arm’s Reach
We all get peckish during the day. Try having a bag of raw almonds and some dried cranberries stashed in your desk for that quick nibble fix. Or have some yogurt and berries already prepared and ready to eat sitting in the break room fridge. Trail mix with some dark chocolate mixed in satisfies the sweet and salty cravings. The options for simple healthy snack foods are easy, the important and harder part is always having them accessible so in a time of snacking need you don’t turn to the vending machine for a bag of chips.
Choose Smoothies
Smoothies are great because you can pack a super healthy punch into a quick and easy to make delicious drink. By combining all the sweet things we love like, yogurt, orange juice, and strawberries with other things that we may not love such as kale, spinach or Swiss chard, we can fill our bodies with a burst of vitamins and nutrients needed for healthy living.
The key to healthy eating is planning. If you take the time to plan out your meals and snacks in advance it will be much easier to achieve healthy eating goals. Have fun with the food you eat and enjoy the positive effects of healthy eating!
