Eating healthy is a challenging task especially if you are busy, alone with no domestic help.
Daily cooking unnerves many and it leads to eating outside often or having unhealthy easy to cook foods such as noodles, sandwiches, burgers etc. And if one wants to slim down with this, it would be next to impossible. So how to lose weight with minimal efforts?
Eating healthy and weight loss
Weight loss is shedding of the excessive fat in the body. This requires a proper diet that is balanced and at the same time low in calories and sugars and fats.
But this diet should not be restrictive and should contain all the nutrients. Eating outside in restaurants and having fatty snacks would counteract any attempts to lose weight.
One needs to cook at home. But if one is a busy person and single at home with no domestic help, things could get really difficult. And upon that to cook daily makes a person nervous.
In such cases what is the solution to eating healthy, losing weight, and all this with the least efforts?
Frozen foods (Source: Pinterest)James Collier, co-founder of Sustainable Nutrition, Huel in the UK, states that preparing in advance is the key to having healthy foods and losing weight.
He gives tips on how to save time and efforts and also money without foregoing on the nutrition aspect of the weight-losing diet.
Tips to lose weight healthily with minimal efforts and money
Often, people neglect using the freezer compartment of the refrigerator except for ice creams. They also strongly believe that freezer foods are of low quality. James corrects:
“This couldn’t be further from the truth,”
Further, he advises:
“Freezing can be great for prepping meals in bulk. A home cooked ready meal is just a quick defrost away.
“If you’re planning on freezing leftovers, slightly undercook your meals so when you defrost and reheat them, they are cooked to perfection.”
Tins of certain foods can be cupboard staples (Source: Fun cheap or free)James also requests people to allot specific times of the week for the meal preparation. He says:
“This allocated time might be a weekday evening, part of your Sunday life admin or even over lunch when working from home,”
“Once you get into a routine, you’ll find you can prep meals quicker and the whole process becomes easier and less of a chore.”
Have a handy shopping list and adhere to it. Make meals as per the schedule. This will minimize the impulsive act to buy unhealthy foods when hungry. James explains:
“It’s also useful to plan a week’s meals in advance so you know what ingredients to buy.”
James also asks people to not shop on an empty stomach. Do it after you had a meal so that you avoid any purchasing of unhealthy food stuffs.
More tips on healthy eating while losing weight
Do have some cupboard staples such as cans of tomatoes or kidney beans and salmon. Explaining on this, James said:
“Whether it’s tinned tomatoes, beans or spices we always have them in our house.
“If we forget an ingredient or something isn’t available, then there’s always enough ingredients to put together a meal on the fly.
“Spices help to make an entirely different meal from the same ingredients.”
Huel powder (Source: Huel)Certain days might be more busy. You might have finished some ingredients and not had time to buy them. In such situations, meal replacements come handy.
“Sometimes I don’t have anything available or I’m super-rushed,”
He continues:
“This is where Huel comes in. Huel Ready-to-drink is nutritionally complete and is ready with a shake and a twist of a cap.
“I know I’m getting a healthy meal that tastes good and if I’m rushing off somewhere I can have it on the go.”
Read more: What are functional beverages? A word of caution on them!
But use them occasionally and they are not substitutes for healthy meals. But they are better than the pricey and unhealthy petrol pump junk foods.