Making Good Nutrition Easier

Sometimes it is hard to prioritise eating well when life is so busy and time is limited. However, there are some things you can do to make good nutrition easier and more achievable on a regular basis.

Plan your meals weekly

If you can plan what you are going to be eating for the week and shop accordingly it takes the out the decision-making process at the end of the day when you are tired, short of time and lacking inspiration. If this seems too big a task just plan a couple to start with a see how that goes. I also find it helps if you have a couple of set meals per week and just change them up a bit each time, for example homemade pizza Friday – changing the toppings regularly to keep it interesting.

Have the basic whole food ingredients available

Store cupboard basics like tinned tomatoes, a couple of choices of beans, coconut milk, tuna etc are a ideal foods to have to hand and can be made in to tasty, quick meals with whatever vegetables you have in the fridge. Frozen vegetables are also great to have in the freezer as an addition to fresh. See below for a great recipe that demonstrates this.

Have a couple of recipes to hand

Have a couple of recipes to hand that are quick, tasty and easy to make to use at those times when you are tired, short of time, energy and motivation. Some meals are quicker to make than a takeaway and leave you feeling a lot better afterwards.

Batch cooking

This can be a great way to ensure you always have a healthy meal to hand. Making double the amount of your favourite, healthy meal often doesn’t take any more time than if you were just making it for that night. The extra can then be frozen and ready to take out of the freezer on those days when you know you haven’t got time to cook from scratch and stops you from nipping to the shops for the ready meal.

Keep it simple

Not every meal, or in fact any meal, needs to be a Masterchef entry. Often the simplest meal is the most popular. A chicken breast, some new potatoes and a couple of different types of veg is a perfectly balanced meal, and generally goes down as a favourite in our house.

A useful recipe...

Store cupboard Lentil Dahl, recipe adapted from The Happy Pear, Recipes for Happiness, David and Stephan Flynn.

1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 400g tin of beans, drained (I like to use black beans but any will work, including chick peas)
1 400g cooked lentils
10-15 cherry tomatoes (or a tin of chopped tomatoes if unavailable)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Handful of baby spinach (or frozen spinach)
1 400ml tin of coconut milk
2 tablespoons c
urry powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Heat oil in the pan and cook the onion and garlic for a couple of minutes over a medium heat. Add the tomatoes and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Can be served with toasted wholemeal pittas, rice etc, or cook some chicken to serve alongside. This can be adapted to whatever you have in the fridge, is made from mainly store cupboard/freezer ingredients and is quick it make. Best of all it tastes amazing and could replace that Indian takeaway!

So what next?

Meal planning and help with finding practical ways to start eating well is one of the ways that a Health Coach can help you.

If you would like more information on our Health Coaching service, or any other of the services that we offer, please get in touch:

Call us on: 0161 676 0341
Email us at: info@wellbeing-rehab.co.uk