Sep 12

Streamline Your Eating In 5 Easy Ways

Complicated recipes, overflowing grocery carts, and nightly cooking can be roadblocks to healthy eating. As a busy working mum I totally get it. To add further complication, confusing messages in the media can take up a whole lot of your mental bandwidth with worrying about getting nutrition 'right'.

I know from experience that simplifying your nutrition-related tasks can help improve your dietary intake and ease your stress.

Try my easy, personal tips below for streamlining your eating today.

1. Give your kitchen a makeover

I'm not kidding! Messy kitchen, messy mind. I love to take a seasonal approach, giving my kitchen a thorough clean and getting rid of out of date, unhealthy options and anything that simply isn't going to get used.

Taking inventory frees up space to restock the cupboards with vibrant, healthful foods to make speedy, nutritious meals from such as dried grains and legumes, beans, tinned goods and pickles.

Don't forget to give the freezer a once-over too... you'll need it for tip 2!

2. Bulk cook

Starting with ingredients you already have that need using up, plan tasty meals you enjoy and cook once or twice a week instead of every night to save time.

This can be as simple as when you are making dinner one night, double or triple the ingredients so you have extra portions to keep in the fridge and freezer. Do this frequently enough and you'll have a variety of tasty meals on rotation to ping in the microwave when you get in from a long day at work.

In terms of nutritional balance, you can make life so much easier by streamlining your eating through prepping 'macros' for the week. For example, tray bake your protein (think chicken breasts) with some veg that you can simply serve with different carbs (rice, potato etc) and a healthy fat (avocado, houmous etc).

To keep meals well balanced aim to include a protein, carb, fat and plenty of veggies. Check out my high protein batch cook recipes to keep you fuelled and firing on all cylinders!

3. Outsource

Yep. No need to be overly virtuous here. If you're unlikely to batch prep healthy meals, simply stock up on high protein supermarket options that will save you calories and money on takeaways. if not 'X' then 'Y'.

Ultimately, it will be better for you to eat a healthy ready meal than picking up a deep fried dinner on the way home. Brands like The Gym Kitchen (available in most UK supermarkets) have tasty, high protein, balanced meals at reasonable prices. Give them a go!

4. Snack smart

Many people feel they fall short when it comes to snacking, but rather than cut snacks out I say, simply stock up on prepared foods that give you the nutrients you need to thrive.

I always keep a vibrant fruit bowl in view at home but equally, individually-packed snack packs of nuts are great, or a protein bar to stay on top of that all-important daily protein goal.

5. Make better choices when eating out

Let me be clear here, 'better' does not always mean lower calorie.

Think about the quality and colours of a meal; If you're in a bind and need something on the go, supermarket meal deal options are so much more varied now (bye bye beige sandwich and crisps) with options for high protein salads or wholegrain wraps as a main, boiled egg pots or colourful fruit as a side and water to drink.

If you're in a restaurant seek out meals featuring quality protein and abundant veg, and never be afraid to ask to swap sides for something that will boost your energy rather than drain it.

When it comes to takeaways, a grilled meat kebab with pitta bread and salad is a delicious, whole food choice. While even the 'golden arches' do offer better variety these days if you look at the menu close enough!