With the New Year comes healthier eating habits. My family does this whole “no sugar” thing which I think is a little ridiculous. Mostly because I can’t do it. The self-control just isn’t there! So here are a few great ideas I’ve found on Pinterest that are going to help me stay healthy this year.
Smoothie Packs. This lady freezes yogurt in ice cube trays, bananas and a whole bunch of other fruit. Once everything is frozen, she puts 3-4 yogurt cubes and 1 1/2 cups of fruit in individual baggies. I am going to use bananas, peaches (frozen from summer), strawberry and plain yogurt. You stick it all in a blender and add milk or water and I’m going to add some vanilla protein powder. Great breakfast/snack yeah? What I love about this is that when I go to make smoothies, we’re always out of yogurt and bananas. Plus it’s going to save a BUNCH of prep time by having everything ready. So important to eating healthy. Because once you’ve gotten to the point of hunger- no one wants to spend half an hour cooking up or steaming vegetables! You’ll go for that bowl of cereal every time!
Website found here
Salad in a jar. So here’s the thing. I NEVER eat salads because they take too long to prepare. Plus they don’t fill me up. Notice the quinoa in that jar? Yes, quinoa. Oh it’s so tasty when you make it right! On Saturdays, wash and tear a bunch of lettuce. Make some quinoa, cut up some vegetables and stuff it all in a jar. I’m not going to put the dressing on the bottom- mostly because I stay at home for lunch so there’s really no need for me. Eating healthy is all about preparing in advanced and staying organized. At noon, if someone were to put a bunch of broccoli in front of me I would eat it. But no one will put a bowl of steamed fresh broccoli in front of me at lunch time. And at lunch time I’m too hungry to wait 20 minutes for broccoli to steam! PREPARE IN ADVANCE people. It’s the only way to stay on the band wagon. Eating healthy is only hard because it takes time.
Healthy Snack Options. Have healthy snacks in the fridge at all times is huge. And I’m not talking about grapes, apples and broccoli. I’m talking about washed grapes, washed apples and steamed broccoli. When I am starving I find myself not having “time” to wash my fruits. Ha ha I’m so lazy. Keep snacks in the fridge that are ready to go.
Here’s a great “pin” that shows you healthy vs traditional snack options.
Pinned here
Project Lunch Box. Doesn’t that look yummy? This lady has started a challenge over on her blog to come up with 30 healthy lunch box ideas. For the kids or the husband, this is definitely a website worth looking at. Once again, it’s all about preparing in advance. I’m seeing a trend here…
Website found here
The great thing about Pinterest is it causes you to be inspired. The last few weeks I’ve been working on printing all my recipes from all my random recipe books. This is a recipe card I typed up from the Bill Phillips recipe book for healthy lunch ideas. Good to just have on hand.
I will be adding all my recipes to my
recipe blog. I literally haven’t touched it for… um, a long time! My goal is to spruce it up soon!
Crockpot. When it doubt, use the crockpot. For those working moms I am sure getting a healthy meal on the table every night is a challenge. I stay at home and can barely do it! Try out the crockpot- it could be your best friend. I’ve never tried these recipes but they do look yummy.
There are some great ideas floating around Pinterest that will help motivate you to stick to your goals. Also NASTY pictures of DISGUSTING COOKIES AND PIES. But don’t look at those. You don’t need them!
So what’s the way to eating healthy? For me, it’s being organized and having healthy things in my fridge. If it’s not ready to eat, I’ll reach for that bowl of cereal every time. Steam broccoli, make a healthy soup to keep in the fridge for lunches, freeze some all-grain pancakes, wash your fruit and veggies and stick them in portion sized bags. Have it all ready so it’s easy. Because that’s really why we eat poorly these days. It’s easy. Let’s help ourselves and make healthy eating easy too!
What are some healthy habits you have that have worked for you?
just came across your blog… i’m pretty sure i’ve seen it somewhere before! and i’m pretty sure we went to high school together- good ole’ LHS if i’m not mistaken. this is a great post. it is definitely about being prepared!!
I love these posts! The salad in a Jar is such a good idea 🙂 and I completely agree with you, eating healthy is easier when everything is ready! But when your tummy is calling a pb&j is way easier than a healthy salad….
The salad in a jar recipie is SO yummy! Honestly I sisnt think I likes mushrooms but this has changed my mind! Also great that you only need one container instead of two! (now if I only had an extra long fork ap it wasn’t so hard to get to the bottom!)
Being prepared really is the big thing. I am so lazy that in the past, on the nights my husband works late I would eat potato chips instead of cooking.
I’m (trying) to follow the Paleo diet lifestyle (15 pounds lost!), so having “emergency protein” available is a big thing. I cook up batches of mini burgers, bacon, chicken, anything that I can snack on right away and will get me past that desire to eat a cookie just because it’s faster. Plus it’s nice to have something already cooked if you’re too tired to make dinner.
I also buy frozen vegetables because you can cook them super-fast in the microwave. I use a glass container with a lid and it’s just like steaming them!
I’ve been trying to do this lately. Still highly unsuccessful, but that’s mostly because grocery shopping always takes longer than I plan and then I convince myself I don’t have time to get all my snack packs, lunch stuff, etc. ready for the week. So I don’t. But the times I have…it works wonderfully! I just gotta motivate myself to fix it all at once to begin with! Another good one is to boil up eggs once a week/every other week. Good healthy snack that fills you up!
You’re not the only “lazy” one here…I love to eat healthy, but don’t have a lot of time to prepare food, especially lunch while I’m at school. I’ve pinned a couple of these ideas, and will keep the rest of them in mind too. Thanks! 🙂
That idea for smoothies is so smart, I love smoothies, and having all the bits ready and frozen will make life so much easier!
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