Nine Simple Ways to Eat Healthy
by Connie Jo Holmes
- Plan ahead. Create a menu for the week, including all meals and snacks.
- Make a list. Write a grocery list for #1 above, adding to it only household essentials such as napkins, laundry detergent, etc.
- Stay disciplined. Grocery shop for only what is on your list.
- Pay cash for your groceries. When you do this, you will not be inclined to pick up random items that you do not need just because they are on sale. No one wants to not have enough money at the cash register when you pay, so picking up the case of soda that is on sale is not an option if you are paying cash.
- Do not delay! As soon as you get home, wash and cut up the fruit that you purchased. How many times have grapes gone bad in your refrigerator because they never were removed from the bag? When you take them off the stems immediately, wash them, and place them in an easily accessible bowl, they will be eaten.
- Prepare. Do as much meal preparation for the week on Sunday as possible. Make an afternoon of it with music playing in the background or having your favorite Podcast playing so you are learning while you are cooking.
- Prepare some more! Consider making a large batch of scrambled eggs with vegetables added to them on Sunday night and place them in five small containers (one for every day of the work week) so they are easy to grab and eat for breakfast. I do this regularly, and they are just as good on day one as on day five. Quick, easy, healthy and filling breakfast!
- Create a weekly menu. Knowing what you will be having for dinner every night of the week also allows you to cut up the vegetables you need for specific recipes, or grilling the chicken or cooking different meats in advance. This saves you tons of time when making dinner and helps to ensure that you eat at home rather than ordering a pizza or grabbing something on your way home.
- Do it the night before. The same is true for lunch preparation. Whether you are having leftovers from dinner the night before, you are making a salad, or taking a sandwich, the point is to know what you will be eating when so you have the right food when you need it and preparing it the night before. When you have food prepared, you are more inclined to eat that rather than going out and spending money unnecessarily and probably eating less healthy.
The benefits of this routine are amazing!:
- You will thoroughly come to enjoy the Sunday routine, creating “you” time, especially if you use it as a time to listen to an educational Podcast, or your own personal dance floor in your kitchen.
- The money you save from making a weekly menu is mind-blowing!
- The reduction of food waste will make you feel great.
- If you are making healthy meals, your body will thank you for eating healthy regularly.
- The time you save from thinking about what to make for dinner, then needing to defrost things, then having to prepare all the ingredients, will probably add up to hours at the end of each week.
- The money and health issues from not desperately and randomly ordering a pizza or hitting a fast-food drive-thru should be evident almost immediately.
Cheers to a healthy and vibrant 2018 and beginning a life-long habit of good health!
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