*Sharing a collaborative post on how to make healthy eating easier, that we hope is helpful*
Eating healthy and focusing on cutting out unhealthy foods like saturated fats and sugars does need an investment from you, but if you do it right, it’s not going to take any more time than it does standing in the queue at your local fast-food restaurant. The basic premise is to make it more difficult not to eat healthy by always having healthy meals ready to go. Here are 5 ways you can make healthy eating easier for yourself.
Be Prepared
The most effective way to make healthy eating easier is to never have to scramble to find something healthy. This means always being prepared, particularly when you’re going to be eating a meal outside of the house. It doesn’t have to be as extreme as scouring the menu before you go to a restaurant, but you should know what sorts of foods you can look for on a menu. If the outing suits it, the best thing you can do is to simply take your meal with you.
Use Smaller Plates
This is a well-known psychological trick, but it works. Simply using a smaller plate to eat from means your portions look bigger. It also means you’re eating less between helpings, so your stomach has time to catch up and let you know you’re full before you have time to eat more. Often feeling satiated starts with our eyes, and that’s why using smaller plates works.
Prep Meals in Advance
Prepping meals in advance is great for two reasons. The first is that it means there’s always a good, healthy meal ready for you and if you aren’t in the mood or don’t have time to cook, you don’t have an excuse to buy fast food. The other is that it can be much cheaper to eat in this way. Start by buying a few reusable containers and making a meal plan. Then, buy the ingredients you’ll need and make enough meals to last you about 10 days. Discount codes help stretch your budget, particularly when you’re buying in bulk. Simply pop all your prepared meals into the freezer and you’re ready to go with pre-prepared meals.
Keep Healthy Snacks Handy
The downfall of even the most well-intentioned healthy eating plan is the humble snack. It’s one of the easiest ways to derail a good healthy diet because snacks contain surprising amounts of hidden calories and sugars, so avoiding them altogether is often the best strategy. That said, there’s nothing wrong with a snack between meals because it’ll likely mean you’ll eat less when your main mealtime arrives, so just keep a bag of nuts or some fruit on hand so that if you’re feeling peckish, your snack is a healthy one. Just make sure your snacks are something you like!
Learn to Read Labels
The labels on food hold all the secrets to a healthy diet because they’ll expose the products that are high in hidden sugars and the wrong kinds of fats so you can avoid them. Reading labels does require a bit of a developed skill set, so learning to read them is a good way to keep yourself on the straight and narrow. For example, the ingredients are listed in the order on the label from the largest ingredient by volume to the least, so if an ingredient list starts with sugar, it’s best avoided.
With a little knowledge and awareness about what is in your food and ingredients, eating healthy is not difficult at all. By realizing that it’s easy to make healthy eating easier and as convenient as any other eating plan, you’re giving yourself the best chance of success.