HEALTH & FITNESS DEALBREAKER #5: Eating Healthy Takes Too Much Planning and Too Much Time

There's a perception that eating healthy takes too much time and planning.  Here are 6 tips for making healthy eating more convenient.

1. MAKE A SHOPPING LIST. I know you’ve heard this one a hundred times before and there’s a reason for it: IT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE.  It saves you a ton of time in the long run.  You get a huge return on your investment as making a list for the week’s meals takes 10-15 minutes whereas stopping at the store several times during the week takes you a minimum of 15 minutes each time.  With a list there’s no running to the store “for a couple of things” several times during the week.  You go once, get everything you need, and dinner prep is a breeze for the rest of the week.  No stress, no running around, no wondering what to make. You’re also being more mindful about how you want to eat during the week instead of impulse buying when you’re starving.
2. EACH NIGHT HAS A THEME. Maybe you’re good with sitting down to make a weekly meal list, but you have no idea what to put on it.  An idea is to designate each night of the week a certain type of food to help you narrow things down.  Maybe Monday nights are Italian night, Tuesdays nights are Asian, Wednesdays are Mexican, Thursdays are Indian, and Fridays are American.
3. THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT! You’re at the store and forgot your shopping list or never made one….hop on your mobile device and access recipes and shopping lists on the spot.  There are apps that provide recipes, tell you the time needed to prepare it, give you the ingredient list, as well as the nutritional data.  There are even apps that provide randomized recipes by a shake of your device.  There are a lot of apps to choose from…a few good freebies I’ve found are Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner, Bigoven.com, Food Network and Epicurious.
4. SNACKS ARE AN EASY PLACE TO START. There are so many choices when it comes to easy, convenient, healthy snacks.  All of the follwoing things take little to no prep time:  fresh fruit, string cheese, nuts, seeds, yogurt, whole grain crackers, peanut butter, nutrition bars, dried fruit, cottage cheese, or hummus.  Here are a few good snack food combinations: raisins & peanuts, banana & Nutella, celery & peanut butter, lunch meat or tuna & crackers, bread & cheese, cottage cheese & fruit, yogurt & berries, yogurt & granola, whole grain cereal & milk, and pita & hummus.
5. SIMPLE SMOOTHIE. Here’s a quick and easy smoothie to kick your day off to a good start.  Shopping list: frozen fruit, yogurt.  Tools needed: immersion or regular blender.  Directions: put a handful of frozen fruit into the blender, put in a few spoonfuls of yogurt, add a little bit of water.  Blend.  Drink.  Done!
6. BUY CONVENIENCE. There are a lot of options where the food prep has been done for you.  You can buy bags of cut fresh vegetables, containers of cut fresh fruit, salad mix or bags of frozen fruit that make great snacks or healthy additions to meals.