Easy Tips to Eating Healthier

I’m trying. I am REALLY trying to eat healthier for a number of reasons. Losing a few pounds and being able to breathe are my top two. But it’s tough being an emotional eater…and the other day was a week from hell. (Yes,I said day) And then that tub of Cookies & Cream ice cream that calls my name from the kitchen, if I happen to buy a carton in a moment of weakness. It’s been a challenge, but we are slowly making changes and switching over to eating a little healthier. Old habits die hard…..

Pin to read later!

What’s really bad is I KNOW what I should be doing as far as eating. So you would think it wouldn’t be that hard. We have lots of frozen vegetables, both home-grown and store-bought, plus I keep some fresh salad vegetables in the fridge most of the time. My problem is that I plan ahead for the main dish, but it seems vegetables are usually an afterthought.

My blogging friend Georgia, over at My Food Farmacy, wrote a nice post on Just How Many Fruits & Vegetables Should You Be Eating. She shares a lot of good ideas on her blog and I follow a lot of her food tips. After reading her post, I went out the next day and bought a bunch of fruit and now keep a filled bowl of fruit on the counter. I buy small oranges and bananas, and I cut grapes apart in portion size clumps just to make everything easy for a grab and go snack.

When it comes to meat and vegetables, it’s not difficult to eat more chicken and fish, or more vegetables. The difficulty is changing old eating habits and food preparation ideas. I’m learning to enjoy the real taste of steamed vegetables. At first I felt the need to add some butter, but now I love the fresh taste of plain vegetables.

Sauces, gravies and condiments are loaded with not-so-healthy ingredients, or extra fats or sugars. For example, BBQ sauce would seem to be healthy with it being tomato-based. Not so much. I’ve seen calorie counts on bottles of 30 – 70 per tablespoon. Chicken dripping with BBQ is my favorite and way more calories than I need! But serving a measured amount of a lower calorie BBQ sauce on the side of roasted chicken would still give me the flavor, without the extra calories.

Cheese and crackers are still my go-to snacks when I’m hungry, tired, bored or frustrated, but I’ve gotten away from the heavily laden cheese sauces. Ricotta, cottage cheese, Parmesan, Swiss, fresh mozzarella and cheddar are a few protein-filled kinds of cheese that are good for healthier eating. The key is to eat it in moderation and maintaining the proper serving size.

Here are some of my healthier recipes that have a lot of vegetables or fruits:

• Roasted Parmesan Broccoli
• Oven Baked “Fried” Zucchini
• Easy Fermented Carrots
• Parmesan Roasted Green Beans
• Chicken, Spinach & Tomato Skillet
• BBQ Chicken & Sweet Potatoes Sheet Pan Meal
• Baked Fajita-style Chicken with Peppers & Onions
• Homemade Granola with Dried Fruit
• 2 Ingredient Breakfast Cookies
• Roasted Parmesan Broccoli
• Oven Baked “Fried” Zucchini
• Chicken, Spinach & Tomato Skillet
• BBQ Chicken & Sweet Potatoes Sheet Pan Meal
• Baked Fajita-style Chicken with Peppers & Onions
• Homemade Granola with Dried Fruit
• 2 Ingredient Breakfast Cookies

Even my slow cooker spaghetti sauce (already rich with homegrown tomatoes) can be loaded up with even more vegetables by adding onions, bell peppers and mushrooms while preparing for dinner. Serve with a side salad and the spaghetti dinner can easily include 3 to 4 servings of vegetables.

For a simple healthy treat, I like to have a dish of my Slow Cooker Greek Yogurt with a little fresh fruit, or a fruit smoothie.

For something sweet, I do have a couple of healthier-option cakes on the blog. As well as a few decadent cream pies and delicious cakes that I have enough sense to not make unless we’re having company or I can share.

Pin this for easy reference to healthy meal & snack ideas!

Plan easy meals with lots of vegetables, keep plenty of fresh fruit handy (or fruit cups packed in 100% juice) and cut up vegetables in the fridge to make it super easy to get plenty of servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

Robin