Eating Healthy

I have found the key to eating healthy is planning your meals. If you do not have any food in the house, you will resort to going out or what is easiest. If you have fruit and yogurt available, a healthy meal planned and all the ingredients are there, it keeps it simple.
I start with a menu for the week, taking into consideration what we have going on in our lives. Also, I always make extra dinner and we eat leftovers for lunch. If you are not going to eat leftovers, freeze extra for a second quick meal. For example:
Monday- Grilled chicken salads
Tuesday- Enchiladas
Wednesday- Pizza
Thursday- Pasta
Friday- Taco Salads

Today, I made a pork roast for dinner. I slow cooked it in the oven with potatoes, onions, red peppers and mushrooms. I bought a large pork roast and with the remaining meat, I will shred it and use it in the enchiladas on Tuesday. Buy extra chicken and grill all of it on Monday, then use the extra meat for the pasta dish on Thursday. Another great leftover meat meal is shepard's pie or bbq sandwiches. Pizza is a staple we have every week. I used to make the dough and freeze it. Now as a time saver I buy Trader Joe's pizza dough and freeze it. Just pull it out the morning you want to make your pizza (open the bag), it will be ready to go by the early afternoon, evening.

I try to only keep healthy snacks around. I look for whole grain, high protein or fruits and vegetables. A great cookbook if you have kids is Deceptively Delicious, by Jerry Seinfeld's wife. Her theory is kids will go through phases of picky eating, you just have to work around it. For example, putting pureed butternut squash in buttered noodles or pureed spinach in pizza sauce. Toddlers, especially, are all about textures. You sometimes just have to change your presentation. Her other theory is she makes "healthy" dips with raw vegetables or fruits before dinner. If the kids snack on only raw fruits and veggies and eat no dinner...they will be just fine.

I cut up a couple bowls of fruit during the week and we serve the boys this three times a day. Other snacks we serve are string cheese, yogurt smoothies, whole grain crackers and pretzels. If you do not have kids or for yourself, adding granola to your yogurt will stay with you throughout the day. Granola bars, trail mix or even just a handful of spiced almonds are great snacks. I eat 3 small meals and have two snacks a day. I always eat breakfast. Try the waffles or pancakes and freeze them, or egg cups. All recent studies have shown eggs are good for you and you should eat breakfast.

It definitely is harder to eat healthier but planning is the key to make it doable.