Eating healthy on a consistent basis is tough enough by itself. If you’re eating the same thing over and over again you’re going to get tired of it really fast which can lead to cheating. Eating healthy doesn’t mean that you have to eat the same bland thing every day if you know how to properly prepare your food.
Most people don’t think of doing so for one major reason: they think it is going to require too much effort on their part to where it isn’t worth the hassle. The truth is that with a little know how you can easily make your meals more interesting without too much extra effort on your part.
What Can You Do to Make Prepared Foods Different?
Prepare Ahead of Time
The first step to success in varying up your prepared foods is to know what to buy before you head to the grocery store. You don’t necessarily need to have all your meals planned out for the week ahead of time, however you want to make sure to get the right breakdown of macros.
Make sure you are stocking up on plenty of foods high in protein, as this is tends to be the macronutrient most of us are lacking. Also make sure to pick up plenty of vegetables, seeds, nuts and fruits which will provide you with all the micronutrients you need including vitamins and minerals.
It is all about variation here, in the meats or proteins you choose, the vegetables, fruits and grains as well. Eating different types of foods is going to provide your body with a greater range of nutrients, so make sure to do so.
Use Plenty of Seasonings
Learning how to properly season one’s food is a skill that many of us are really lacking in. Seasoning your food properly can make all the difference when it comes to taste, and there are so many different types of combinations that work together.
Seasonings are a great way to add variety to a dish, and they do so with little if any caloric cost at all, so feel free to add plenty of them to your meals.
Cinnamon, basil, ginger, mustard, chili powder and cilantro are just a few examples of common seasonings which you can add to various dishes. Seasonings are found in every cuisine in every culture, so they can accommodate any type of palate.
Prepare Your Meals in Different Ways
While one style of preparation may be healthier than another, you should be able to add enough variety to your diet by using this method as well. Chicken is a great example here, as people tend to get tired of eating plain grilled chicken after awhile if they’re on a diet.
If you’re watching your weight and don’t want to start deep frying or breading your chicken, you can add different types of marinades to it to give it additional flavor as well.
Using different types of cooking oils is another easy way to get around this if you are someone who likes to get all of your prep work out of the way in one shot. You can just set up multiple cooking stations, in this example you can have say a pan with canola oil, one with sesame, and a grilling station for some variety.
You can apply the same idea when it comes to other foods as well, and vegetables in particular can be very flexible.
If you are in a rush or on the go you can eat many of these foods raw, or you can steam them to soften them up for a lighter texture. Some vegetables taste great when they’re stewed, some you can even grill.
