5 Things: Ways To Eat Better.
This isn’t ‘how to get a bikini bod in time for summer’ or even ‘how to cut out all of your favourite foods’, but rather a little rundown of some quick changes you can make if you’re still stuck in that post-Christmas food rut!
Somehow over Christmas and well in to January, I got myself a real nice sugar addiction – I’ve always liked cake and other sugary, processed junk, but lately I just felt like I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I often crave chocolate when I’m low on iron, but suddenly it was all I wanted to eat – so I knew I had to kick the habit. I’ve also been thinking about going vegetarian, or even vegan, but I don’t really like the labels and feeling restricted, so instead I’ve just cut down so much – I’m not huge on meat anyway, so I try to just eat fish and occasionally chicken. It’s working well and I feel like I’m being way more inventive with my meal planning.
Anyway, here’s some tips to help you eat a little better!
Plan Meals
I really recommend Pinterest for this, it’s such a great way to keep all your healthy meals in one place. This way you can search “paleo recipes” “low carb meals” “vegan delights” “clean eating” or whatever, and it brings up thousands of pretty results that you can then Pin to your boards and save for later.
You could set up some really organised boards and do healthy snacks, breakfast ideas, meat-free meals, sugar-free treats… there’s just so many ways to plan! ORGANISING IS SO FUN.
I usually search for Deliciously Ella or Move, Nourish, Believe – both sites have SO many great recipes.
Make Use of Printables
Okay, I’m a bit of a loser… but I just love having some sort of organised plan when it comes to eating well! Pinterest is amazing for this; I print out ‘clean eating’ shopping lists so I never buy any rubbish, and also have loads of meal planners on hand so I always know what to buy and what I’m making. Preparation is key – sometimes when I’m hangry I’ll grab anything, so it’s important to never let yourself get to that stage. Eat well, snack if needed (on good things!), and always stick to the plan.
Be Realistic
I know in the past I’ve tried to cut out sugar, dairy and meat in one go and it hasn’t ended well! I think it’s important to understand where you’re going wrong – if you’re cutting out meat, make sure you’re not leaning on starchy foods, the same with dairy. I always read labels and choose “full fat” products, as often the low-fat alternatives are pumped with weird shit and loads of sugar. Naaat good.
Cut down on certain items (such as bread, cow’s milk, sugar, meat or whatever) first and see how you get on – I consider myself a ‘second-day vegetarian’, I’m not restricting myself too much while I’m trying to ditch the sugar (which, by the way, is rather difficult!) but I’m still making small changes that work for me in the long run.
Eat A Balanced Meal
When I make meals, it’s like tapas everyday – I just make maybe five or six small dishes that we can tuck in to. There’s a bit of meat (usually for Jo), a big bowl of salad (I throw everything in there – lettuce, cucumber, good tomatoes, grapes, spring onion, grated carrot, a splash of good oil and loads of seasoning), some quinoa that I cook in bulk at the start of the week and flavour with whatever we have, maybe some cabbage fried in a little butter and black pepper, avocado with some hot sauce, some soft boiled eggs, grilled halloumi – just loads of everything so we’re mostly eating veg but in interesting ways. Variety is key, don’t you think?
Concentrate on Being Nourished
It’s so easy to be put off when you’ve eaten salad for lunch and still haven’t got abs or dropped a few lbs within the hour – I tend to scrap the scales and just go by how I feel. These things take time, but if you’re eating well then you’ll feel better and you’ll soon see changes – at first, you’ll just feel more energised, then you’ll notice your skin is glowing, and soon you’ll be sleeping better, and within time you won’t even be craving rubbish. Takes a lot of patience, but we’ll get there!
I hope this helps you ditch the bad tings and head over to Pinterest!
