Posted on March 20, 2014 by Jenny Cromack

Many people are daunted by changing their eating habits and making the lifestyle change to eat healthier however once you’re in a routine it is easy to adapt to and becomes part and parcel of your daily routine.

In this blog I want to explain my top accessories for healthy eating, and they don’t cost the earth either. Simple, easy ideas to keep you sticking to your healthy eating plan.

The biggest perceived challenge a lot of personal training clients are faced with is lack of time but these accessories will help you plan more effectively and ensure that you are always prepared, and guess what that leads to…..achieving your goals!

 

1)    A  Events Diary /Planner

Having a diary allows you to see when you have meetings, appointments and when you have to pick the kids up late from their swimming lesson. Being able to visually see where you’re going to be and at what time will allow you to plan meals , snacks and your training.

There should never be a moment when you say “I didn’t have time to eat” you should always make time, without food in your body your work productivity drops dramatically.

2)    A Food Diary

A food diary is a must to help you keep track of what you are eating. By logging what you eat and looking back over it will allow you to ensure that you are eating correctly to achieve your goal. By logging the time and quantity will allow you to monitor if you are eating enough, or too much. My personal training clients who keep food diaries have greater success as they can maintain the good food and any bad eating habits can be identified.

3)    Meal Plan

Planning your meals ensures that you are organized and in control of what you are eating. If you spend time each week planning and preparing meals it will ensure you are eating the best food available rather than relying on shop bought last minute decisions. Having the meal plan pinned to your fridge will remind you what you’re eating and allow you to be organized and prepared.

4)    Shopping List

After you have planned your shopping write everything needed on  a  list, be strict and only buy what you have on your list, better still buy your meat from a butchers, veg and fruit from a green grocers to avoid the temptation of the supermarket or order your other items online and be very strict about sticking to the list. Research shows that people ruin their healthy eating when unhealthy food is in the house and these can only be bought at the supermarket!

5)    Tupperware Boxes

Are the golden essential item to freeze food, carry your snacks and store your lunches and dinners. Everyone should own numerous different size tubberware boxes. Once you have prepared your lunches, dinners and snacks they can be stored in the freezer, fridge, handbag, sports bag or desk draw. There should be no excuse of not having food available so popping to the vending machine for a ‘lifesaving’ chocolate bar you should always have an emergency pot of nuts or banana on standby.

6)    Slow Cooker

Is a critical aspect of any busy individual’s kitchen. In a morning you can throw in some vegetables, chopped tomatoes with some herbs and spices and at the end of the day I’m greeted with a fantastic smell and a stew ready to eat. Slow cooker recipes are easy to follow and will banish the days of getting home being starving and too tired to cook so opting for a unhealthy quick fix. They are unavailable for as little as £20!

7)    Motive8 North Healthy Recipes

The last helpful accessory is this http://www.m8north.co.uk/blog/category/recipes/ link to the motive8 north healthy recipes. With recipes for meat, vegetarian and specific dishes you have a library of healthy recipes that we recommend.

Hopefully these top accessories for healthy eating will help you stick to your nutritional plans and optimise your goals!

 

LH