Eating healthy can be a challenge when so many available foods and ingredients are unhealthy. It seems particularly difficult for those of us who don't actually cook at home, as choices are limited if you are not able to create all your meals from scratch. But there are ways that single people and even families can maintain a healthy diet by using convenience foods that are healthy and by learning to read labels and shop for the right items.
Instructions
1. Keep only healthy food in your house. If you do not have easy access to junk food it will be easier to resist the temptation to eat it.
2. Learn to read labels and avoid foods containing unhealthy ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, processed white flour and white sugar, monosodium glutamate and artificial colors, flavors and preservatives.
3. Allow yourself to buy convenience foods, but choose the healthy ones with whole grains, natural sweeteners and preservatives, and no chemicals or artificial ingredients.
4. Shop at stores that carry more healthy foods and provide assistance understanding labels. Chains such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Sprouts and Sunflower Market have a wide array of healthy foods and may even exclude products with the least healthy ingredients.
5. Choose a variety of produce in different colors, so you are giving yourself a large variety of anti-oxidants, minerals and other phytonutrients. Buy organic when possible to minimize exposure to chemical pesticides.
6. Get creative with salad ingredients. Use different kinds of leafy greens such as spinach or mixed greens, and add tasty and filling ingredients such as avocado, garbanzo beans, fresh mushrooms, dried berries and flavored tofu.
7. Keep frozen fruit and vegetables in your freezer if you have trouble using produce before it goes bad. Frozen fruits and veggies are a healthy alternative and easy to use.
8. Invest in a personal blender such as a Magic Bullet blender so you can make healthy smoothies and soups without really having to cook. Just blending a few items and spices together and heating is about as simple as unpacking a convenience food and heating.
9. Use your stove, oven or a convection or toaster oven instead of a microwave for heating foods. Microwave cooking alters the molecular structure of food and reduce its nutritional value, and is not guaranteed to destroy toxins and harmful microorganisms, according to Gabriel Cousens, author or "Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine" (see link in References section below)
Tags: convenience foods, healthy foods, ingredients such, read labels