5 Ways to Eat Healthier

It can be a real challenge for you to eat healthy and nutritious meals when you’re busy. There is of course the time issue – just not enough time in the day for shopping, preparation, and cooking. This means that you’re often eating ready-made meals, which are high in fat, salt and sugar content. Then there is the fact that very often, you’ll eat out more often, especially at fast food restaurants. This of course means eating foods high in fat and calories and lacking in the nutrients the body needs.

In these situations, it’s still possible for you to eat healthier. Eating healthy will actually make a person more productive at his work. So, healthy eating habits should be considered to part of a person's work schedule.

What are 5 ways that busy people can eat healthier?

Always have breakfast. 

This is often the most skipped meal in the day, but it’s the most important meal. Skipping breakfast can lead to weight problems and diabetes.

What constitutes a great, healthy breakfast? Foods rich in fiber. Fiber rich foods make the feeling for being full last much longer, therefore reducing the tendency to snack. Some foods to eat include whole grain oatmeal, whole grain cereal, fruits, and vegetables.

Protein from eggs is also a great way to nourish the body in the morning.

Foods with high sugar content and low fiber (donuts and pastries) should be avoided.

Plan ahead. 

As a busy person, you’ll be used to planning in advance to get things done. You would never think about going into an important meeting without planning. Eating healthy requires the same planning. When should this be done? Of course, everyone's schedule is different, but it should be possible to use some time in the week to plan for meals.

Weekends could be good days to use some time to prepare and plan meals. Remember to also plan your snacks, and make sure that you have healthy options. For this, plastic containers are a must.

If possible, try to shop for groceries online and have them delivered to your home or workplace. This saves a lot of time shopping. Of course, any shopping has to take into consideration healthy foods. Choose whole grains, fresh produce, and lean fresh meats.

Even the busiest people can take advantage of the many markets that sell prepared baked chicken, to save cooking time and have a source of healthy protein on hand.

Keep hydrated. 

A healthy body requires fluid. Make sure that you have plenty of water with you. Drink water frequently during the day. Don't overdo the coffee intake. Avoid sugary drinks like soda and remember that fruit juices are often high in sugars and low in fiber.

Eat healthily at restaurants. 

When at restaurants choose the healthy options. Many menus now have the calorie total for each meal and this can be a good guide. If there are no calorie guides then stick to this rule of thumb: meats should be grilled, potatoes boiled or mashed and vegetables steamed. Soups are good for entrees and for deserts choose fruits.

Be careful with alcohol. 

Many use alcohol to wind down after work and it is tempting to join with work colleagues after work. While an occasional glass of wine won't do any harm (and some studies even show that there are health benefits), you need to remember that alcohol is just empty calories. The over consumption of alcohol can also have a negative impact on health in general.

Even though you have a very hectic schedule, it doesn't mean that your health must suffer. The 5 tips for a healthier lifestyle here are very easy to implement. It just takes a bit of forethought and planning. Taking care of your health will result in a more productive day's work and a longer life!

Meal Planning with Platejoy

~SPONSORED POST~

Eating healthy can take a lot of time.  You scour Pinterest, other online recipe sources, or cookbooks, hunting for something different to make for dinner.  Which healthy meals can you make with items you have on hand or can grab on your next shopping trip?  What will be something that your whole family would enjoy and not go to waste?  It can be difficult to sort through the recipes to make sure they match your goals and don't contain ingredients you don't like or can't eat.

I've been experimenting with this new service called PlateJoy that makes that whole process take 5 minutes not 5 hours every week. They create personalized meal plans and grocery lists to help make healthy eating easier, taking your preferences into account.

The recipes I've tried so far I've enjoyed. It's great that the software remembers what you've said that you have in your fridge when creating your shopping list, which helps to reduce food waste, so you're also getting the most bang for your buck. They also show nutritional information for all meals to make it easier to track your progress.

A photo posted by Cassandra Schmigotzki (@longandwindingroadtowellness) on Sep 2, 2016 at 5:38pm PDT

PlateJoy's Skillet Cilantro & Lime Fish Tacos Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 ½ yellow onions
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro
• 1 ½ jalapeno peppers
• 3 tomatoes
• 2 ⅓ limes
• 2 ¼ lbs tilapia fillet
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 12 corn tortillas
• 1 ½ avocados
• 12 cups mixed greens 

Instructions

1. Slice onion, and finely chop cilantro and jalapeno pepper (remove seeds and membranes). Dice tomato. Squeeze lime juice. Pat tilapia dry and slice into strips. Whisk together half lime juice and half olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Set dressing aside.
2. In a nonstick skillet, heat remaining olive oil and sauté onion until translucent, about 3 min. Add garlic and jalapeno pepper and cook 30 seconds more.
3. Add tilapia and cook over medium-high heat 5 minutes, or until opaque, taking care not to break up the pieces. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then gently stir in cilantro, tomato and remaining lime juice. Cook 2 to 3 minutes more until tomato has softened.
4. Heat corn tortillas in dry skillet for few minutes per side, or cover with damp paper towel and microwave for 30 to 45 seconds. until pliable.
5. Spoon filling into tacos and top with sliced avocado and more cilantro. Toss mixed greens with dressing and serve on the side.

 How Much Should We Eat?

What I Did

You know me, I never do recipes 100% as they're listed; I'm always tweaking things.

• 1 ½ yellow onions
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro ---> mix of parsley, oregano, & basil
• 1 ½ jalapeno peppers  ---> bell peppers
• 3 tomatoes
• 2 ⅓ limes ---> bottled lime juice
• 2 ¼ lbs tilapia fillet ---> used 800-something grams
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 12 corn tortillas
• 1 ½ avocados ---> zucchini
• 12 cups mixed greens ---> skipped since they were out at Kroger

Austin didn't even want to try a bite so I had to adjust the tilapia for one less person.  Besides, when I calculated the amount of fish (2.25 lbs is over 1020 g), I didn't have enough.  I used all but one fillet from the bag of frozen tilapia from Aldi's so my fingers were numb by the time I finished cutting it into strips.  The skillet was almost overflowing so I have no idea how I could've cooked the full amount!  I tossed in the zucchini to cook with everything else.

Benny ate his two tacos but he didn't enjoy them.  I think he said something about it not having enough flavor.  That I found odd with me not tasting much I rather enjoyed the flavor.  I'd love to make this again, of course it would have to be for someone else.  The leftovers I brought to work later in the week with rice for lunch.

I plan to continue to check out the weekly recipes to see if anything pops up that I think at least Benny would be willing to eat. I like that I can go in there if an ingredient pops up that I don't want to eat (like Brussels sprouts) I can remove it from my recipe queue and get a new set of meals.  I haven't seen this option in other meal planning software I've played with.

Save $10 off the plan you choose by visiting www.platejoy.com and entering the code LAWRTWBNM.