Sometimes it can be hard to eat right because you just don’t know where to begin, or you run out of new and interesting ways to make the same foods taste good. Also, when you’re trying to eat more healthily you’ll need to figure out how to cook a meal without using ingredients that contribute to a higher fat gram or calorie count per serving. Not only that, but you’ll want to learn what makes good substitutes for notoriously fattening foods, and give them a healthy spin. Not only you will be eating healthily, you will also develop better decision making skills.
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By Meal
Depending on the time of day you may need a specific recipe that suits your taste buds, as well as the size of the meal you’re having. These recipes are grouped according to the traditional three square meals, with desserts added for good measure.
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The breakfast recipes we’ve found for you will not only propel you through your morning, but will also help contribute to healthy choices for the rest of the day. If you start the day off eating right you’re more inclined to keep the trend going. If you skip breakfast, or get an unhealthy start with a fast food breakfast sandwich, there can be a tendency to write off the rest of the day food-wise, and continue eating junk. So start things off right and enjoy the benefits.[/column]
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These lunchtime recipes are great when you’re on the go, or need something you can pack yourself for lunch that will still taste good hours later. The nice part about them is that they don’t include ingredients that will give you the afternoon blahs, and they’ll provide you with balanced energy that easily sustains you to dinner. So don’t overlook lunch, it’s a vital meal of the day, and can make or break your performance during the crucial middle part of the day.[/column]
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For many Americans this is the main meal of the day, and gets the most attention. It can also lead to some of the biggest weight gain because a big heavy meal at night will be largely undigested by the time you’re trying to get to sleep. The best way to get around that happening is to prepare light meals with wholesome ingredients and keep the portion sizes reasonable. These recipes definitely help.[/column]
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Cheap and Healthy Dinner Ideas
You want to feed your family and yourself right, but you also want to stick to your budget. The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive, and here we’ve delivered some healthy recipes that also keep things reasonable in regards to price. Use these as a guide to create entire meals that clock in at only a few dollars per serving, or less in some instances.[/column]
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When you’re trying to lose weight, desserts often get the torches and pitchforks treatment and are the first to go. But this doesn’t have to be the case. You can make desserts that use nutritious foods like antioxidant-rich fruits, and avoid the things that make typical desserts a no-go, items like cream, butter, and chocolate. Many times it’s enough just to make things from scratch so you’re not getting the additives that come from store bought desserts.[/column]
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By Type
Here are recipe lists broken down by the type of meal you’ll be creating, so if you already have in mind what kind of meal you want, but need the step-by-step directions, you’ll be good to go.
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Dropping some uncooked foods into a slow cooker, going about your day, and returning to a home filled with the smells of dinner is reason enough to start incorporating more crock-pot meals to your repertoire. The bonus is that these foods actually taste good, avoid ingredients that are bad for you, and provide complete meals you can serve and eat.[/column]
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If you enjoy coming home to the smells of a meal that’s ready to serve, you’ll love our healthy chicken crock pot recipes. Each one is hand-picked for flavor, without sacrificing nutritional value. This means that you can feel good about serving it to your family, and to yourself. We’ve featured easy-to-prepare recipes as well as tastes from all over the world so you’ll never get bored.[/column]
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Vegetarian meals are often a stumper for meat-eaters and vegetarians alike. Even with all of the foods that are available to use, it seems somehow limiting not to be able to add meat-based products to a meal. But there are plenty of vegetarian meals to make, and often it just take a bit of creativity to turn a popular meat-filled dish into a vegetarian sensation. You just have to start thinking outside the box.[/column]
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Soups are fantastic foods to get good at because they’re easy to make in a healthy way, and they hit the spot whether you’re just needing something to hold you over until a bigger meal, using it as a meal starter, or rounding it out so the soup provides all of the essentials for its own meal. These recipes focus on keeping things healthy, keeping you within your caloric limits and accounting for your nutritional needs.[/column]
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Chicken is often used as a meat when eating healthy because if you use the skinless and boneless variety you’re packing in plenty of protein without adding much to the bottom line in regards to fat and calories. It’s also a very versatile food, soaking up the flavors of the other ingredients, and picking up herbs and seasoning quite easily. There’s also a high margin of error, since it will still taste good if you cook it a little too much. Just be sure not to under cook it.[/column]
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Pasta took a hit when the low-carb and no-carb diets were all the rage, but it can form the foundation for a well-rounded meal. It’s a good idea to use whole wheat pasta instead of the regular kind. There are still many diets that won’t get into pasta, like the Paleo diet, or gluten-free diets, but for others it can provide a healthy carb to balance out a protein like chicken, beef, or seafood.[/column]
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Smoothie & Protein Shake Recipes
If you need a quick meal but can’t be bothered to cook smoothies and protein shakes can do wonders for you. They provide the essentials in an easy-to-consume format that’s also highly portable. After drinking them down you’ll typically feel satiated for a few hours, or more depending on the protein content. This is often just enough to get you to your next meal without being so ravenous that you start snacking or binging.[/column]
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Superfoods
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Wondering what to do what all of that kale you just bought because you heard it was healthy? No sweat. We’ve got you covered with an expansive list of recipes that will turn you into a kale pro and make it so you enjoy eating this superfood and are never short on things to do with it. It can be used in plenty of ways than just salads and as a side, so be sure to check it out.[/column]
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How to Cook & Eat Clean
What exactly is “clean” food? It depends on who you ask. You’ll have to formulate your own working definition so you can buy and eat foods that live up to your standards.
The first step is phasing out foods that are obviously not clean, ones that are prepackaged and contain a lot of additives in order to extend their shelf life or make them easy to prepare.
Cooking Clean
Cooking clean means following recipes that don’t include ingredients that contain unnatural chemicals, additives, and foods that were invented in the modern era. It may involve learning new ways of cooking, and breaking away from traditional recipes that our parents and grandparents taught us how to cook. The foods they ate were likely cleaner than the ones we find now, because even in the last century there has been a major change to the way food companies make their products.
Eating Clean
Eating clean involves avoiding all of the unclean foods that are abundant in the world. This includes not only obvious offenders like fast food and junk food, but also sneaky foods like most boxed-up entrees that you find on store shelves. It might involve spending fewer nights eating out, and more nights at home trying a new recipe. You’re going to want to be always on the alert for foods that don’t make the grade, as they can pop up at inconvenient times, cake for someone’s birthday at the office for example.
The Caveman Test
One way to see if something is clean or not is to ask whether cavemen would have been able to eat what you’re about to eat. While we may not think of cavemen as being tidy, they definitely didn’t have access to the majority of the food that presents itself in modern society. Their food is considered clean because the fruits and vegetables were found growing wild in nature, and the meat was freshly killed and eaten.
While it may not be feasible to eat entirely like a caveman – no one expects you to hunt and gather to survive – taking as many tips from them as possible seems to work in our favor.
Cleaning Up Your Act
It’s important to remain diligent when it comes to adopting a new, cleaner way of eating and cooking. It may seem akin to starting a revolution from your kitchen, breaking away from allowing major corporations to feed you. But the health benefits that typically follow are worth the effort, and you’ll likely start noticing short term successes in the way you look and feel. Stay focused, and make it your mission to eat as cleanly as you can.