5 Tips to Simplify Healthy Eating

Living a healthy lifestyle is important to me–but so is celebrating life and enjoying what I eat. The longer I live, the more I appreciate a shared appetizer with a best friend, the slow art of baking a wholesome goodie for my family (muffins are a favorite around here), and whipping up a tasty dip or side dish for a BBQ. I never want prioritizing my health to feel like a chore or one more thing on my do list (How is it Sunday already, didn’t I just get groceries?!), but if I’m honest, it 100% can. I’ve come to realize that in order to make pursuing a lifestyle that makes me feel my best sustainable, I have to keep it fun, simple, and fuss free.

Here are a few of my top tips to simplify healthy eating and make eating intentionally a joy and not a drudgery.

1 | Make Healthy Food Accessible

Ensuring that healthy food is ready to go when you or your crew are hungry is essential to eating well. If you have to find and wash a head of lettuce, trim all your green beans, cook your chicken and assemble a dressing before you can eat, you are way less likely to actually follow through, or if you do, you might very well be snacking on crackers or chips while you work!

The day after I pick up groceries, I try to spend a few minutes washing and decanting my veggies into lidded pyrex glassware. It’s super easy and takes no time at all. They are my favorite for storing everything from fresh vegetables to berries to lentil chili because they stack well and the glass allows you to see everything at a glance. (The rectangular version is the best for space saving.) Having produce washed and ready to go makes it so much easier to throw together a healthy veggie platter when the kids are starving, rather than handing them a packaged snack.

My favorite veggies to wash and prep include:

  • Cucumbers (washed and cut into rounds or spears)
  • Snap Peas
  • Radishes
  • Bell Pepper (I chop up enough for a day or two)
  • Whole carrots (peeled and cut into sticks or baby carrots)
  • Baby tomatoes

2 | Buy Healthy Foods You Enjoy.

Don’t buy foods you don’t like just because they’re healthy (unless you don’t like any produce, in which case we definitely have some work to do ;)) Back when cottage cheese, rice cakes and celery were go-to healthy foods (glad those days are over!), I would buy them and then they would sit in the fridge until I would throw them out. I finally realized I needed to stop with the cottage cheese. Just stop. Now, I’m all for variety when it comes to healthy eating, but if there’s something you really despise–leave it at the store. Your wallet will thank you! If you think you are supposed to eat almond butter because of all the benefits, but don’t really like it, stop buying it. Life is too short for bad snacks. You should enjoy what you eat, so finding meals and snacks you love that fuel and nourish you for your day is important.

3 | Make it Easy.

Regularly fitting lots of produce into your day takes intention. Unlike chips and crackers, nutrient-dense food, like fruits and vegetables, are more perishable and require extra steps to prep (darn!). As a busy mom of three kids, who doesn’t love to spend more time in the kitchen than I already do, I love me some convenience! Pre-washed and bagged kale? Yes please. Organic ready to eat spinach? Most definitely. I am all about the baby carrots, Persian cucumbers, and mini bell peppers ready to wash and eat and perfect for dipping in hummus to stave off hungry monkeys waiting for dinner. Figure out what quick options work well for you that you will actually use and enjoy and make those a regular part of your routine. It will make eating well that much more attainable.

4 | Make it Fun.

I love my smoothie cups. I always have a couple fun Starbucks tumblers in rotation; they have the cutest seasonal colors and patterns that I love to use to drink my morning smoothie. I also love the Contigo or Yeti Stainless steel tumblers that keep your drinks or water cold and fresh for hours. These little things bring a lot of joy on a daily basis.

5 | Make your splurges count!

This past weekend at a college reunion, we treated ourselves to all kinds of deliciousness! From homemade flourless chocolate cake to gluten free almond flour brownies to quality dark chocolate bars (there is definitely a theme here ;)) We splurged on high-quality treats, sweetened with real fats (coconut oil, avocado oil) and better for you sugars (coconut sugar, maple syrup, raw honey). When you do this, it supports the building blocks of your body creating a healthier you and the almond flour in the brownies helped balance our blood sugar to prevent a spike and crash. Now, don’t get me wrong–these are still a splurge and not a daily habit, but I think these kinds of healthy treats can go a long way in supporting your health and letting you enjoy some of your favorite foods on a weekly basis!

It’s a process to figure out what works and what doesn’t for your lifestyle, but don’t give up! It’s so important to eat well and worth the time and effort.