How To Eat Healthy

Everyone wants to eat healthy. We'd all just like to have a little fun while we're doing it, right? Eating is one of the oldest social activities on Earth. Everybody loves to eat. To my way of thinking, the modern tendency to look at time spent preparing and consuming food as wasted time is what's strange and unnatural. The tendency of some people to eat too much is completely normal – they're looking for pleasure where they can find it. A little self-control would be nice, but it's at least understandable – much more than this “soylent” craze that's now sweeping America!

There are lots of responsible, all-natural ways in which we can enjoy our food without gaining large amounts of weight. Here are a few handy tips for eating healthy, and still having a good time while you're doing it! I'll even throw in a couple of ideas regarding cleaning up and other, time-saving measures, just to be safe.

Home Cooked Meals

Home cooked meals, using ingredients purchased from the grocery store, are a great way to create wholesome, nutritious, and delicious food that will fill you up with smaller portions. A lot of the processed food that's out there on our shelves today is very low in nutritional value. This means that your body is going to crave more after you're done eating it. Biologically, you haven't gotten all of the nutrients that it wants. This is deliberate; it means that you're going to buy more of the companies' food. Home-cooked meals, even relatively simple and easy to prepare dishes, are far more nutritious and satisfying than junk food, snack items, and microwaved TV dinners.

After a satisfying meal, wait until everybody is done, then have everybody help with the cleanup. Get a rhythm going – a definable process – and the job will be done in no time.

Crock Pot Meals

The crock pot, or slow cooker, is an amazing device. You can throw an assortment of ingredients in, and a few hours later you've got a meal ready. It's moist, delicious, and nutritious food... is it time consuming? You bet, but you don't have to constantly pay attention to it. You don't even have to be home while it's cooking. Many modern slow cookers have automatic settings, smart warming capacity, and other features designed to minimize the time you have to spend hovering over the pot. Best of all, it's a cultural trend all in its own – there are hundreds of different books out there which list crock pot recipes for each and every meal, snack, or dessert!

Buy a crock pot with an earthenware or ceramic interior bowl. They're naturally non-stick, so they're completely non-toxic – without any non-stick coatings that might flake or chip. They're very easy to clean as well, and are often dishwasher safe. With a slow cooker, you don't need to worry about a separate dish, tray, or pan for every part of the meal.

Herbs, Spices, and Seasonings

People might say, “eat more slowly. Chew your food,” but I know that – at least in my case – there's only so long that I can spend chewing on something that's dull and uninteresting. Using the right herbs and spices, in just the right amounts, can lead to a meal being much more satisfying and fulfilling than it otherwise would be. This makes a smaller portion of food easier to enjoy, and – if you can slow down, just a little – it will allow you to feel more full, more quickly. This will result in the same full, satisfied feeling – minus the shame! – with less food, thus less weight gain. Over time, the difference will show up everywhere: in the mirror, on the bathroom scale, and in your grocery bill.

Use an all-natural dish detergent to scrub pots and pans which have accumulated a layer of caked-on seasonings. Most natural seasonings will come right off, if they're allowed to soak in warm water and dish soap for a few minutes. 

Other Healthy Eating Habits

There are lots of resources available online with regards to good, wholesome eating that leaves one feeling happy and satisfied. Check out this website, which is designed to provide quick and easy to prepare food for a single individual living alone – or a young couple, just getting started, with lots of responsibilities taking up most of their time during the day. From there, you can look for recipes geared towards feeding a family.

Enjoy, and happy eating!