Make Your Own Healthy Meals

Learn to Conquer Your Fears: Make Your Own Healthy Meals

Making your own healthy meals can be intimidating, but it really doesn't have to be. Did you know there are more healthy meal options than eating grilled chicken and salads everyday? There are!

Tips to Make Healthy Meals

Most of us are not chefs in the kitchen. In fact, it's safe to say that very few of us actually like to cook. If that is the case, follow the tips below to create your edible masterpiece. Soon you will be a healthy cooking whiz. Good luck!

Stay away from processed ingredients. Processed ingredients are high in trans-fats, preservatives, and other chemical additives that are dangerous to humans. Instead, make sure you choose to make your meals with natural ingredients. Some examples of natural ingredients include fresh produce, whole eggs, free-range poultry and lean meats.

Organic is better. Organic foods don't have the synthetic chemicals, sewer sludge or genetically engineered materials that non-organic foods do. The toxins from non-organic food are not good for you, and will mess up your diet plan. Additionally, olive oil, real butter and coconut oil are also all organic, healthy, and add nutritional value to your meals.

Find out what you like. This is a no-brainer. Eating healthy does not mean you are limited in your meal choices. If you find something you like, feel free to experiment in your kitchen to find more delicious, healthy meals that meet your needs. Experimenting in the kitchen can also help you identify the unhealthy vs. healthy ingredients, giving you the opportunity to swap the unhealthy ingredients with healthier options.

No two individuals are the same, so what one person likes may not be what the other person likes. Keep in mind; you may create meals that you don't think taste good. That is why you should find out what you like and experiment in your kitchen. If you have a friend that is also trying to become healthier, it is a good idea to keep each other accountable, and maybe even cook together and learn from each other. There are several advantages of creating and eating healthy meals.

Advantages

Healthy meals give you more energy, help you lose weight, help you get fit, and keep your overall health at an excellent level. Making healthy meals is easier than you think. If you follow the tips above, you will be a master chef in no time.

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Preparing Healthy Meal Plans That Save Time and Money

With todays fast paced lifestyles, who has the time for healthy meal planning? You might be surprised to learn that it's not hard to get organized and plan healthy meals that are easy to prepare, inexpensive and good for you. Whether you are trying to loose weight or just eat to improve your health, read on to discover how to develop healthy meal plans that save you time and money.

Organization is Key

Before you do your grocery shopping, take note of what you have on hand and what is advertised for sale that week. Not only can this save you money, but it can help you brainstorm ideas of what to prepare for this week's meals.

Recipes are your best friend when it comes to planning healthy meals. You can print out recipes for all sorts of healthy dishes right over the internet, many of which can prepared in an hour or less. To keep organized, a three hole binder will store your recipes in order so you don't have to hunt for them later. Once you know whats for dinner, you can make a shopping list with the ingredients.

Variety Keeps It Exciting

For those that think that eating healthy has to be boring, just remember that there are so many ways to prepare all of that healthy food that you will never get bored of eating the same old thing. If you love to cook, it's an exciting opportunity to try new recipes and dishes.

When planning your meals for the week, opt for a variety of healthy choices and rotate different types of food throughout the week. Variety is also important in making your that your body is getting all of the nutrition it needs.

Healthy Cooking Methods

When planning your meals, select recipes that use healthy cooking methods like stir-frying, baking, steaming, and stewing. All of those methods of cooking preserve the nutrients in your food where as methods like frying and boiling can let vitamins and minerals escape.

To save even more time, have a look at healthy crock-pot recipes. Crock-pot cooking can be good for you and a big time saver too. Prepare your evening meal in the morning and when you are ready to eat, simply serve it.

Don't Forget Snack Time

You've done your best to eat healthy, so don't back down come snack time! The best way to avoid unhealthy snacking in between meals is by not keeping unhealthy snacks around. Instead, make sure that you have fresh fruits, veggies and other healthy snacks on hand. Including nutritious snacks as part of your healthy meal plan will make sure that you are prepared when hunger strikes.

By taking a little time in advance, you can prepare healthy meal plans for a week or more in advance. Planning ahead will save you time and money in the long run, thanks to your careful organization. Eating healthy will not only help you lose weight and look your best, but it will keep you feeling your best as well.

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How to Create a Healthy Meal Plan For Your Family

Creating a healthy family meal plan may seem overwhelming at first. If you find yourself to be overwhelmed when planning your family meal plan there are a few tips that will help you get control of your dinnertime chaos. Once you realize the time, money and stress you will save by incorporating a family meal plan into your household you will be hooked.

Here are some tips that will help you get your healthy family meal plan created.

Get your family involved. Gather your family together and take the opportunity to let everyone have some say in what is for dinner. This will give your family a role in deciding what is for dinner and help them realize how much work goes into planning and preparing for dinner.
Don't plan meals that you will not have time to prepare. If you have a hectic schedule then make sure you plan quick and easy meals. If you only have 30 minutes to prepare a meal then don't plan a meal that will take more than that to prepare.
Take advantage of the "cook once, eat twice" logic. If you are making roasted chicken on Monday and know you will have extra then simply plan a meal for later in the week using the left over roasted chicken. This will cut down on some preparation time and will save money by utilizing the left over chicken.
Plan a soup and salad day on hectic days. Soups and salads are easy to prepare and will be an easy meal to serve on the days you know you will be tired.

While starting a meal plan may be overwhelming at first you will be happy once it is completed. After you get several meal plans done you can use them over and over again on rotation. It will be much easier knowing what you are making for dinner and be able to look forward to taking away the dinnertime stress that exists when there is not a healthy family meal plan. Besides saving money, time and stress you will find it so much more enjoyable to sit down around the table and eat a healthy meal with your family.

Written by: Trish Holfelder

Trish is a mother of 5. She freelances her skills as a Virtual Assistant and operates several family friendly blogs.

Meal planning saves a busy mom time and money. You can find out more about creating a healthy family meal [http://www.healthy-family-meals.info] plan at Trish's blog Healthy Family Meals [http://www.healthy-family-meals.com].

Healthy Meals 24/7

Wouldn't you feel great if you had healthy and delicious meals throughout the day, every day of the week? Of course you would, but for most of us preparing healthy meals seems too difficult, time consuming, and intimidating. Well, I'm here to tell you that the secret to having healthy meals on hand anytime and every time is planning and having healthy food staples. Let's be honest, most of us spend more time planning a night out than we do our planning our meals for the week and are more concerned about the staples in our wardrobe than the staples in our pantry. So, it's time to shift your priorities and efforts if you are serious about making healthy lifestyle changes in your diet and in your life.

Healthy Meal Planning: Groceries

Purchasing healthy foods takes not more time or effort that buying pre-package, processed, unhealthy foods, and while some healthy foods may require cooking and/or preparation time, aren't you and your family worth it? When you shop at the supermarket, or receive your grocery delivery you want to see a rainbow of colors in your produce, a variety of whole grains, and lean, healthy proteins. If you find that because of your schedule fresh fruits and vegetables go bad purchase frozen or canned. I personally love frozen greens like collards and kale and I always have canned beans and pumpkin, and marinated artichoke hearts on hand. If you and/or your family are used to having frozen processed foods, sugary, calorie laden sweets and unhealthy snacks you want to gradually replace and remove these items from your diet. For example, switch from regular chips to baked chips, regular popcorn for low-fat popcorn, regular soda for flavored seltzer, full fat ice cream for lite or reduced fat. For a quick, healthy breakfast have whole grain cereals, breads and waffles on hand. Lunches can alternate between healthy, home-made brown bag and healthier take-out options that are offered with whole grains and whole grain breads, as well as with sushi and salads (go easy on the dressing, cheeses, crispy chicken, bacon, etc.). For healthy snacks be sure to stock up on nuts, dried and fresh fruit, and yogurt. And as always, be aware of portion sizes. Eating healthier is not a green light to over eat.

Healthy Meal Planning: Staples

In order to able to toss together a quick healthy meal anytime, you must have essential staples on hand. First are the fresh groceries that you have already stocked your refrigerator with, second are the staples that you should have in your pantry and/or cabinets. Some essential pantry staples are:

Canned fish and vegetables- Canned fishes like salmon and tuna provide omega-3 fatty acids and add a protein punch to sandwiches, salads, and pasta. Canned and marinated vegetables like canned tomatoes, pumpkin and marinated mushrooms and artichokes help transform an ordinary grain, soup, or sauce into a more flavorful, exciting meal, plus they're chock-full of nutrients.

Whole Grains- Experiment with different grains like barley, bulgur wheat, quinoa, millet, and brown rice, which is also available in long and short grain, and basmati. Whole wheat and quinoa pastas are great for a quick, healthy and filling dinner. Mix things up and use assorted shapes and sizes of pasta with a varied combination of vegetables and lean proteins.

Broths, bouillon cubes and powders, which are also available in healthier versions like fat-free, low sodium, all natural and vegetarian add guilt free depth of flavor to meats, grains, soups, casseroles, and sauces.

Nuts- Pine nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, and walnuts contribute heart-healthy fats, as well as adding texture, flavor, and substance to salads, grains, and hot vegetables dishes.

Oils, Vinegars, and Spices- Explore the spice aisles and ethic food sections of your market. You will find an endless variety of oils like olive, canola, safflower, truffle, and coconut-vinegars like fig, rice, apple cider, red vine and balsamic-spices like cardamom, turmeric, cumin, paprika, and cinnamon along with spice blends like lemon-pepper, Italian and steak seasoning, sazón, adobo, and curries add tons of flavor without adding sodium and fat.

Healthy Meal Planning: Cooking

You can enjoy healthy meals every day without having to cook every day, really, once again planning is key. One day a week, whichever day your schedule allows, cook enough grains/carbohydrates, proteins and vegetables for 4-6 days, this is what I call your healthy meals base. For example, as my base, I like to bake two sheet trays of tofu, cook about 4 cups of quinoa and steam or bake a massive amount of vegetables for the week. Throughout the week, you can then vary and modify your healthy meals base with your healthy staples and groceries. Add sautéed, colorful peppers and savory onion and garlic to your protein to make a fajita or stir fry, add dried fruits and nuts to your grain to make a delicious pilaf and dress your vegetables with one of your many flavorful spices, oils and vinegars.

Once healthy meal planning is established as part of your healthy lifestyle routine, you'll find that it becomes second nature and effortless. Gradually, you'll build up a delicious, varied range of home-made meals that you can prepare quickly and easily, and which are much better for your health than ready-made, pre-packaged meals and fast food. As you can see, with really no more time, effort, and stress than you are currently excreting now over what is healthy to buy, eat, and cook you can plan week's worth of nutritious, well balanced meals that will improve your health and overall wellness.

Maripili Rodriguez, NCCA-CPT, AADP-HC is a National Strength and Conditioning Association-Certified Personal Trainer, a certified holistic health counselor, and professionally trained natural foods chef. Using her own unique and comprehensive Healthy Life System, which she is a product and success story of, Ms. Rodriguez works with serial dieters who have struggled for years, even decades to attain and maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle.

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Healthy Meal Plans - Helping Your Family Lose Weight

In many countries world over, especially in the United States, the rate of obesity is rapidly increasing. It has led to many people and families in general to look for healthy meal plans to help stay healthy and lose weight.

A sudden change in the routine of a family, especially the diet may seem overwhelming. However, simple changes in the planning of the meals and the meal itself can make a great difference and ultimately lead to weight loss for the family.

Make a Weekly Menu You should make time to plan meals and the menu for every week. It is important that menus be part of all family meals of the week. It should also be important to keep in mind your time schedule so that you can tell how much time you have to prepare a meal each day.

Make Extra Dishes For those days that you are not as busy, prepare extra dishes to compensate for the days when you do not have enough time. This will cut out the need to make fast and unhealthy last minute solutions. Having a schedule allows the family to control the meals.

Have Balanced Ingredients When making healthy meal plans, make sure you go for balanced ingredients. Avoid eating foods such as red meat on a daily basis. Other foods that you should cut out are fried and processed foods as these contribute greatly to weight gain. Be sure that every meal contains vegetables and proteins. Dessert should be fruits instead of ice cream or cake.

Use Healthy Ingredients Oils such as olive oil are the best for cooking vegetables and meat. These oils contain high levels of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats that help to lower cholesterol. You can also use other substitutes that contain olive oil and fish oil.

Avoid These Ingredients Avoid items that rely on partially hydrogenated oils such as margarine as these oils increase the harmful LDL cholesterol counts. They also account for overall weight gain. Others are white rice, white bread, refined sugar and white pasta, as these refined ingredients will clutter your diet with empty calories that do not provide nutrition.

Use Lean Meats Trying to eat healthy does not mean you get rid of all meat products. While making burgers, use low fat meats and whole-wheat buns. The types of meat preferred are reduced fat ground beef or ground turkey breast and even bison that tastes like beef and provides all the protein but contains less fat and caloric content.

The best-known fish that contain low levels of harmful fat and provide the body with healthy omega-3 fatty acids are tilapia and salmon. Omega-3 fatty acids help the body by increasing metabolism and they fight heart disease as well.

For those families that prefer poultry, them you should choose the part of the bird that contain low fat. The best part with low fat is the breast. The parts of the poultry that are dark contain more fat and calories. In addition, remove the skin of the chicken before you cook to lower the overall amount of fat.

Enjoy Your Family Meals These tips should help you get started on your journey to create healthy meal plans. Your family will be eating better and losing weight at the same time.

Betty Fellows is an internet marketer with a passion for helping others.

Health Meal Plans

Simple Rules Health Meal Plans

Healthy Meal Plans For Those on the Go

Most people try to eat healthy. No one intentionally starts their day with a list of bad foods they are going to try to eat before they collapse into bed at night. The problem with healthy eating is that many people don't take the time necessary to create healthy meal plans for those on the go that will fit their lifestyles or habits.

The first step for planning a healthy meal involves knowing what, and when a person is eating. It is important to spend a week writing down everything that one eats. Some people drink three or four cups of coffee in the morning, have a donut at work for breakfast, and eat a granola bar or three before lunch. They don't have a lot of time, so most grab a quick burger and fries for lunch. After eating the rest of the box of granola bars in the afternoon, around three they'll eat a candy bar or two so they will have the energy to go home and eat something that they either have picked up or can cook in less than thirty minutes. After dinner, they may have to go to a meeting where they will drink more coffee, have cake or cookies, then go home and go to bed after a relaxing bowl of ice cream.

When this person jumps on the healthy eating wagon, two things are going to happen immediately. First, they will start experiencing an excruciating headache because they will be cutting out an enormous amount of sugar that their body has become addicted to. Secondly, they will experience withdrawal symptoms from the chemicals that they have become addicted to that are contained in all of the fast and junk food they've been eating.

For these reasons, and the fact that the term "healthy meals" is associated with a lot of time intensive work, most people don't eat healthy. Effective healthy meal plans must begin with the assumption that the person planning the meals has been eating for awhile. They must include a "plan" that includes ways to avoid the cravings, withdrawal, and headaches that follow getting off bad foods "cold turkey".

The key to healthy meal plans for those on the go is to start simply. Some people find that planning one part of their meals at a time and following the plan for a week or two, then gradually expanding to include more meals, is much more successful than creating a structured meal plan. This is totally a matter of personal style.

Healthy meal plans often do not take into consideration that for many people snacks are a meal. By planning for snacks just as one would for a meal, they will be more successful in implementing an effective plan. So, start creating a healthy meal plan with some basic changes that are going to help the body be prepared for additional healthy meals.

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Do You Want Some Inexpensive Healthy Meal Options For Your Family?

Here are some inexpensive healthy meals for you and your family. They are quick and easy meal options that are also very cost effective. In fact these meals will cost less than $5.00 per person and will take less than 30 minutes to make!

The fact is, healthy meal planning is an essential part of any weight loss plan. Meal preparation is also referred to as The Secret of Weight Loss in another article on this site.

Even though it may not have been referenced in any scientific journal or studied at any university, it still stands to reason that any weight loss plan or program requires careful and consistent preparation of inexpensive healthy meals in order to be successful.

Without this one factor, weight loss success is highly unlikely!

Of course, all of the meals must fulfill all the essential criteria of of a suitable weight loss meal. Here are the top nutritional principles for meal preparation:

1. Control the Source of Carbohydrates

2. Ensure the Meal Contains Protein

3. Control the Portion Size of the Meal

As a broad guideline, all easy healthy meals should contain the following macronutrient profile:

Carbohydrates 10-20 grams

Protein 10-30 grams

Fat 5-10 grams

In order to achieve maximum weight loss, ensure your meals only fall outside these macronutrients guidelines occasionally. For example, a breakfast meal may contain 30 grams of carbohydrates instead of the maximum 20 grams as suggested.

However, stick to the recommendations 80% of the time.

Here are some examples of inexpensive healthy meals (there are 2 options for each meals):

BREAKFAST:

20 grams of cereal (it must contain less than 15 grams of sugar per 100 grams)

2 teaspoons of LSA

2 teaspoon of psyllium husks

150mls of low-fat milk

Omelette:

2 whole eggs

50g diced tomato

50g diced onion

50g low-fat ham (if desired)

A dash of milk

Mix all ingredients well and cook in a pre-heated frypan with a teaspoon of oil. Then place on 1 slice of toast (no spread)

MID-MORNING:

1 tin of flavoured tuna

1 piece of fruit

15 almonds

LUNCH:

150g sliced chicken breast

100g sweet potato

50g peas

50g corn

30mls sauce (any)

Sandwich made with the following ingredients:

100g tuna

2 slices of bread

lettuce

tomato

*Try and limit this option as much as possible because it contains 2 serves of a high density carbohydrate (2 slices of bread)

MID-AFTERNOON:

100g yoghurt

100g low fat cottage cheese

1 Scoop of protein powder

mixed in 100mls of low fat milk and 150mls of cold, filtered water

DINNER:

Green Chicken Curry (serves 5)

500g sliced chicken breast

400 mls of coconut milk

2 tablespoons of green curry paste

2 tablespoons of fish sauce

2 large carrots sliced

1 large head of broccoli

2 large potatoes (diced)

1 tablespoon of oil

1 green capsicum sliced

1 tin of bamboo slices

Pre-heat the oil in a large frypan or wok. Add the green curry paste and fry for 1 minute. Then add the chicken and lightly fry until it starts to change colour. Then add the coconut milk and stir. Simmer for 3-4 minutes then add carrots, broccoli and potatoes. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, check regularly and stir. Once the potatoes may be easily pierced with a fork and the remaining vegetables and fish sauce. Simmer for another 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and serve.

150g lean red meal

100g pumpkin

100g broccoli

100g squash

30mls sauce (any)

There you have it! Several inexpensive healthy meal options for you and your family to enjoy.

Stephen Smith is the part-owner of Body Concepts, an Australian supplement company, and Focus On, a health and lifestyle magazine. Stephen has been involved in the health and fitness industry for over 18 years and after completing a science degree from the University of Western Australia, spent many years researching the most effective ways to help people lose weight quickly.

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