Tips for Saving Time and Eating Healthy
In a nation where pizza is a vegetable, it is becoming increasingly difficult to make healthy meal choices. As a parent, it is easy to get caught up in the back-to-school morning scramble; you send your kids out the door with a Lunchable while grabbing a couple dollars for your lunch at McDonalds. At EFR, we urge you to take 15 minutes out of your day to make healthy eating choices for yourself and your family. Try these tips for saving time and eating healthy
Pack lunches the night before.
By packing your lunches the night before, you will save precious time in the morning! A sack lunch will also save money compared to cafeteria prices. Additionally, sack lunches make it easier for yourself and your kids to make healthy choices. Remember, a sack lunch is only as healthy as you pack it! Take time the night before to thoroughly plan out a balanced and nutritious lunch for your family to enjoy at the workplace or at school. Keep the food fresh by storing it in your refrigerator.
Educate your kids on healthy choices and restraint before sending them to school with lunch money. At the office, follow the same advice you gave them.
Depending on how your children’s cafeteria is set up, there is probably a mix of healthy and unhealthy options he or she has to choose from. Why wait in line for peas and carrots when curly fries and bread sticks taste so much better? Your child may not be so naive that they are completely unaware of what is healthy and what isn’t, however making the actual decision to go with the healthier option takes willpower, even as adults!
Take time to look at the school menu, and advise what your children should buy in the cafeteria. Create several healthy meal options for them out of what the school has available. Remember your advice while buying your own lunch at the office cafeteria. Follow restraint and good judgement, your body will thank you later!
Schedule healthy dinners every week, and prepare as much as you can the night before.
We’ve all been there: Driving home from a long day of work, dreading the thought of having to take the time to cook, so instead you swing by the closest fast food joint out of convenience. Alleviate the effort it takes to cook a healthy dinner by planning this week’s meals over the weekend, grocery shop for the needed ingredients, and prepare as much as you can beforehand. It’s easier to throw together meals when your veggies are already chopped and your meat is thawed in the fridge when you get home.
Slow cookers are also great to use when you want to save time on dinner after work. Slow cooker meals are easy to prepare ahead of time and freeze until you’re ready to use it! Your meal can be cooking throughout the workday and ready for your family when you get home.
By following these tips, healthy eating will soon become a habit. Make small, time saving changes in your daily routine will add up in health benefits.
Listen to Related Podcast: Understanding Food and Mood: Did you know you make over 200 food choices each day? While many people associate making food choices with their physical health and appearance, food choices affect emotional well-being, too. In this episode, Nutrition Services Director Susie answers the many questions floating around regarding those choices, diet fads, and explains the difference between eating disorders and disordered eating. In addition, Susie shares which diet fad she believes people need to be very cautious about trying.