Preparing to Start the New Year With Healthy Foods
By Brandi Swieter
A new year means another chance to get it right. Start throwing out those leftover Christmas cookies, pies, and desserts and start making room for the healthy foods that should be enjoyed after the new year starts. People can prepare to start their new year healthy by meal prepping and focusing on the positives that the year will bring.
Toss Out the Junk
The first step is to toss out any junk foods in the home. Immediately after the new year starts, residents should go through their refrigerators, cupboards, and secret stashes to throw away any snacks, desserts, and high-calorie goodies they find. These stockpiles should be replaced with low-calorie, healthy food options.
Meal Prep
It can be difficult to continue eating healthy when people have limited time to make a meal. Meal prep helps ensure people have healthy meals ready to cook when it’s time, no prep necessary in the moment. Many preppers choose one day out of the week, often Sunday, when they have the most availability to prepare their food for the entire week.
Replace Recipes
It’s easy to fall back into old habits when there are fattening recipes sitting in the cook book. It’s best to replace these recipes with healthy ones so unhealthy foods do not get made. Those who truly enjoy a particular meal and do not want to part with it from their menu can look for substitutions instead to ensure they can still have it but in a healthy way. If a recipe calls for butter, for example, it can get replaced with olive oil. For baking purposes, half the amount of butter should get used, replacing the other half with applesauce.
Find Healthy Snacks to Enjoy
Part of the problem many people face is when it comes to snack time. They want their chocolates and desserts only to be eating carrot sticks and celery. While vegetables should be part of the daily diet, they don’t have to be every snack. Find some healthy snacks to enjoy that resemble previous treats that were liked. There are low-calorie dessert options, smoothie and shake recipes, and healthier alternatives that will be enjoyable.
A healthy body makes a healthy mind as well. With the right foods consumed, people can improve in more ways than one. The “new year, new me” saying can hold true as long as healthy foods get incorporated into the menu more often than not.
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Baytown, Tex.