Eating on the run. Some healthy tips.

Improve your diet and reduce stress

Getting stuck in the fast lane seems to be a way of life for many of us these days. Too much to do in not enough time means little time for preparing and cleaning up after meals, with meal time often leaving us feeling rushed and hassled. Here are a few tips to reduce stress and improve your diet when eating on the run.
Make good nutrition a priority.

Just as you make time for exercise, you can make time for improving your diet. Good nutrition and exercise go hand-in-hand when it comes to preventing and treating chronic disease and improving the way you look and feel. For some people, a few small changes will dramatically improve their diets. Others may need to learn more about nutrition. If you don't know the difference between ice cream and sherbet (the latter is lower in fat), you need to master a few nutrition basics. Talk to a nutrition counselor or ask your instructor for some good reading for beginners.

Eat balanced meals.

Use the food pyramid. Each meal, not just dinner, should contain produce (fruits and/or vegetables), a protein choice (from the dairy, meat or meat-substitute groups) and a grain or grain product. Half of your "plate" for each meal should contain produce, one-fourth protein and one-fourth grain. Make low-fat food choices within these categories as much as possible. Read labels and learn which foods tend to be lower in fat.

 

Make healthful eating convenient.

At home, eating convenience means a well-stocked kitchen, so that the ingredients you need are always on hand. At work this may mean bringing leftovers from last night's dinner to microwave for lunch. People who live alone should keep it simple. If you buy meat, freeze it in single portions. If fresh vegetables end up rotting in your refrigerator, buy in small quantities and keep extra portions frozen. Cooking for a family? One meal should be adaptable to all food preferences with minor manipulations. Growing teens can eat larger portions, vegetarians can microwave a meat substitute that is always on hand. Make two or three times as much as you'll need, and use leftovers for meals later in the week.