Healthy In A Hurry

Do you find yourself overtaken by the convenience of fast food when time is short?  Well, a few ideas might help fight the urge to use the drive-thru and keep your healthy (but tasty) diet in check.

Try theses great ideas for knowing what to get at the grocery store:

• Keep a running list somewhere in the kitchen (the fridge is a great place) where you can add staples as you run out. Here's a great template to use for a grocery list.
• Plan meals for the week so you know what to purchase at the store. If you know your schedule for the upcoming week, plan accordingly.  Going to be short on time?  Find a recipe that allows you to throw a few things together and make a meal out of it.
• If you don't have one, get a slow cooker and try for at least one slow-cooker recipe a week.  This will allow you to put all ingredient in overnight or in the morning and have it ready when you wake up or come home after a long day.
• Make it a fun thing to search for recipes with your family or whomever will be sharing meals with you.  This way you have recipes everyone can enjoy and will be more prone to making this routine stick. Allrecipes.com has a great variety of recipes to browse for any meal.
• Find foods that are in season.  This will help keep meals fresh and interesting.  Plus, you'll obtain different nutrients from an assortment of food.  This link allows you to select your region and time of season to show what foods are currently fresh.
• Don't let coupons and sales make you fall off course!  Buying something that's on sale and bringing it home to just sit on the shelf means YOU DID NOT SAVE MONEY!  Stick to foods you already plan on using, if they're on sale, great!

A favorite of mine is wrapping a banana in a whole wheat tortilla with peanut butter, honey, and cinnamon, then roll it in foil and stick in freezer.  Now you have a great choice for anytime you need to grab and go.  For a protein boost, sprinkle some vanilla protein powder around before rolling.

Hope these ideas help to find fresh new ideas and stay away from the low quality food offered in fast food chains and the prepared meals section of many stores.  Always check ingredients on prepared foods and most businesses only care about taste, not quality or health.

Also, my one suggestion for ingredients on your list.......just add cayenne.