Stop and Rethink Your Meal Ideas

Do you ever stop and give any thought to why people find it so hard to get healthy? It's simple. It is because they have practiced unhealthy habits for most of their lives, which makes any change seem like hard work. How many adults do you know who don't eat vegetables? That is going to make getting healthy pretty difficult! The recommendation for fruits and vegetables is 8 or more servings per day, and as I tell my husband, french fries don't count! Sadly, for most people, cleaning up your diet and getting all of the nutrients that you need will require some serious changes. However, if you give it a little thought, it can be very delicious and not as hard as you might think.

We waste so much of our daily caloric intake on things we don't need, that it seems like you would need to eat too much to get that many servings in. Obviously, we need to rethink our whole food structure. Boxed cereal is not a great breakfast, even with milk on it. Orange juice is OK, but you would be better off eating the orange. At less than $.50 per pound, bananas are a great breakfast food. I am also a big fan of egg dishes prepared with 1 egg and 3-4 whites. You can make omelets with tomatoes, spinach, onions, green peppers or just top the eggs with salsa. That gives you a bigger bang for your buck in the nutrition department and it will keep you full longer. You can buy presliced/diced onions and green peppers and deli ham with one slice of 2% cheese and have a "Denver" omelet in about 5 minutes. If you skip the traditional toast that you would normally eat with eggs, you are OK to have the cheese and meat, and you get the benefit of protein and dairy. The egg recipes also make for a quick and easy dinner on nights when you get home late. While I am on the egg idea- turkey, sliced tomatoes and diced onions with a piece of Swiss is another great choice, as is chopped spinach, garlic, diced onion and feta cheese. You can add a small amount of bagged bacon pieces if you like. SO good!

Now, how about lunch? Sandwich anyone? The main issue I have with sandwiches are that the bread is really a waste of time. Looking for fiber? Eat a salad or some celery. Bread, in reasonable amounts, is not the evil that it is often made out to be, but it is a non essential food. You are going to be a lot better off with soup and a salad or a low fat stir fry.

If you normally eat out for lunch, I can almost guarantee that you will be healthier and thinner if you start packing your lunch. Once again, it helps to think outside of the box with this one. Don't fall into the typical "brown bag lunch" routine or you will get sick of packing within a week. Try intentionally making too much dinner and then taking left-overs. You can even change them up a bit for variety. For example, if you make tacos or fajitas for dinner, use the extra meat for a salad topping the following day. You can rev up your dressing's nutritional content and cut fat by mixing salsa with light ranch. In the winter, try making soup on a Sunday and freezing it in small portions to pull out on those days when you don't have something else to eat. Lunch is easy if you keep the right items around. I am also a big fan of making 2 meals at once. Last night, while I was making pork chops and salad for dinner, I threw together a stir fry for today's lunch. I used tofu and prepackaged stir fry veggies that came with their own sauce. I had both meals ready in less than 30 minutes. Baked potatoes also make a quick and easy lunch starter. Top one with broccoli and cheese and have a side of raw almonds for a very easy and filling lunch.

Afternoon snacks can also help keep you satisfied until dinner time, but they also need to be GOOD snacks. I don't get home until almost 8 pm most nights, so an afternoon snack is essential or I will spoil my dinner with half a bag of chips while I am cooking (no body's perfect!). Raw almonds are a great snack. I get big bags at Sam's Club and use a 1/2 cup container to pack them in. It is amazing how filling a few handfuls of almonds are. I am also a big fan of applesauce as a snack. I will put about 1-1 1/2 cups in a bowl to snack on. You can use a piece of fruit and a string cheese too. Yogurt is also good. Make sure it has nutritional value and is REAL food.

I will save dinner thoughts for a later date. There is just so much that can be said on this topic.
Key points to leave with:
1. Eat real food that you need. Focus on fruits and vegetables first and go from there.
2. Pack your lunch.
3. Stay away from prepackaged foods whenever possible.
4. Plan ahead and use left-overs to your advantage. Cooking doesn't have to take a long time, you just have to put a little thought into it ahead of time!