Eating Healthy Doesn’t Have to Be a Full-Time Job
Let’s be real. If eating healthy required a degree in culinary arts and a personal assistant named Karen to handle all the prep, most of us would be living off chips and queso. (No judgment if that’s your current situation. Queso is a lifestyle.) But here’s the truth: eating healthy doesn’t have to be a full-time job. You can have your kale and eat it too, without spending every night sobbing over a cutting board.
Chop It Like It’s Hot
The second you haul that bag of vegetables home, act like a ninja and start chopping. Don’t shove them in the fridge to die a slow, wilted death while you “wait for inspiration.” You’re not waiting for inspiration; you’re procrastinating. Chop them. Toss them in containers, like these airtight veggie storage containers. Boom. You just shaved 20 minutes off your next meal prep. And future you is going to feel like an absolute boss when dinner or lunch takes five minutes to throw together.
Stop Overcomplicating It
Listen, you don’t have to be the next Top Chef to feed your family. Nobody is handing out Michelin stars in your kitchen. Pick a few staples that you like and rock those babies on repeat. Grilled chicken, roasted veggies, rice. Done. Taco Tuesday? Keep it simple with some seasoned ground meat, chopped veggies, and tortillas. The next day? Nachos from the leftovers. You can even have a “Snack Plate Dinner” where you toss random things on a plate—like cheese, nuts, fruit, sausage, and whatever else isn’t expired—and call it a day. Fancy? No. Effective? Hell yes.
Want some go-to staples to make your life easier? Here’s a no-nonsense list to keep stocked:
- Proteins: Ground beef, steak, fish, turkey, chicken, pork. Keep it rotating so you don’t feel like you’re living in a grilled chicken loop.
- Veggies: Frozen green beans, white rice, Brussels sprouts, black beans, chickpeas, asparagus, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and always the ingredients for a solid side salad. And side note? Sometimes frozen veggies are actually fresher than the “fresh” ones. They’re frozen at peak ripeness, while the “fresh” ones might have been hanging out in a truck for days. So don’t sleep on the freezer aisle.
With these staples on hand, dinner becomes as easy as tossing some meat on the grill (like this handy Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill and Smoker) adding a small starch, and piling on the veggies. Keep it simple and ditch the casseroles—because basic doesn’t mean boring, it means done, delicious, and most of all – healthy.
Variety is Great, But You Gotta Chill
Do you need to be a culinary Picasso every night? No. Stick to your basics until you’re bored, and THEN toss in a new recipe. Variety is awesome, but consistency keeps you sane. It’s okay if you rotate the same meals for a few weeks. Your kids probably won’t even notice as long as they’re fed and it doesn’t taste like sadness.
Prep When You Can, Not When You Should
If Sunday meal prep is your love language, go for it. But don’t force yourself into this box. Do small things when you can. I DO NOT MEAL PREP ON SUNDAYS! Sundays are for sweatpants, not sweatshops! I personally grocery shop and chop on Mondays, because let’s face it, they already suck. I also try to make sure to cook enough for leftovers for lunches. Side note, I used to be disgusted by leftovers until earning a serve safe certificate realizing restaurants are ALL LEFTOVERS. Yep, most restaurant food is prepared and kept for up to 6 days!
How I define “Healthy” as a Nutritionist
Eat Real Food. It’s that simple. Real Food to me is food that comes from plants, animals, or the sea – not created in a lab. I also don’t consider it to be “real” if I cannot pronounce it. If you must do Packaged food, look for labels with fewer than 5 ingredients. If you are using whole food to fuel your body instead of counting calories on the side of packaged lab food, you are on the right track! Once you are used to making meals out of whole ingredients, you can start to cut or add carbs, protein, etc.
Final Thoughts: You’re Not on a Cooking Show
You don’t need to perform culinary gymnastics to be healthy. You just need to make small, smart choices that work for you. And hey, you might enjoy spending hours in the kitchen prepping a meal that your family underappreciates. Pin a rose on your nose, Mother of the Year. The rest of us are just out here trying to survive and maybe look decent in swimwear this summer.
If anyone judges you for keeping it simple, hand them a knife and let them do the cooking. Bet they’ll shut up real quick.
So, cheers to eating healthy without losing your mind. Because the only thing that should be full-time is your paycheck, not your kitchen schedule.