When my husband and I were both working full time, our meals consisted of a lot of prepackaged foods. Canned soups, frozen pizza, hashbrowns, mac n cheese, cereal etc. I didn’t have a lot of recipes under my belt and didn’t enjoy cooking (still not my favorite thing to do) so we took a lot of shortcuts in the kitchen. Shortcuts are most definitely not how to eat healthier.
When I got pregnant, I wanted to improve my diet. So I added a lot more fruits and veggies than I used to eat but, due to my work schedule, I often had to eat supper in the vehicle. Drive-throughs were so convenient. Mmmm poutine!
Then C was born. I was still making slow improvements to my diet but it was tough since my husband wasn’t really on board. C was exclusively breastfed until 6 months old, when we first introduced him to solid foods, in the form of pureed carrots. Jarred food had too many additives for my liking so I avoided them. It wasn’t long before C moved past purees and he wanted to start sharing foods from my plate. That’s when we discovered the simplest and more beneficial tip to finding healthy foods in the grocery store:
Read labels.
There are numerous articles on how to read food labels and exactly which ingredients to avoid and which ingredients do what to your body. It’s confusing, to say the least. The “Ah Ha” moment came when my husband and I were comparing ingredients on a couple bags of hashbrowns. One had about 15 ingredients and one had about 6 ingredients. We bought the one with 6.
Typically, less ingredients is better. Also, if you can’t pronounce the ingredients, they probably aren’t good for you.
Carrots = good.
Milk = good.
Eggs = good.
Rice = good.
Eat foods in as close to their natural state as possible and your body will thank you. That’s the easiest starting point to improving what you are putting into your body.
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What is the easiest tip that you have for someone who wants to eat healthier or head toward a healthier lifestyle?
Edited to add: Yes, I do realize my photo has a spelling mistake. And no, I won’t be fixing it at this point. Too much work and I think you get the point anyway 🙂
You have great ideas. I have found that since I started working I’ve gotten sloppier about what we eat. I need to be more thoughtful.
I know what you mean. When I spent longer hours working on the farm last year, our “eating out” portion of the budget was entirely spent at McDonald’s! I have found my meal planning groove again though and it feels great 🙂
It is unreal just how simple, yet so very challenging this step is for people! It takes a little time and practice to start, but the cool part is once one really has a handle on the brands and products they use consistently (already knowing the ingredients) it becomes that much easier and faster. You’re so right, you can even stick to the healthier option of the SAME foods or recipe ingredients! Great encouragement!
And then you can progress to making them from scratch. Homemade hashbrowns are a huge hit in my house!
My kids are 10 years to 8 months old, my other 3 fall in between them. With each child I’ve moved a little farther away from main stream baby food. My littlest guy has eaten 2 boxes of baby cereal and 3 small jars of baby food. Then I came to my senses and just started steaming veggies for him. Carrots are a favorite. A potato cooked in the microwave for a few minutes makes a great starch for him. He hasn’t refused any of the real food yet so I think he’ll be a good eater just like the others. 🙂
Baby food can be so simple! My second son wouldn’t take anything off a spoon from me so we just put some steamed peas and carrot pieces on his tray and let him go nuts 🙂