healthful eating,
How to combine a sensible diet with a busy family life
Who has time to eat right? With the demands of a career in which a 40-hour week is considered a slow week, along with the activities of the kids, which vary from doctor’s appointments to music lessons, from soccer practice to homework, it seems like the easiest approach might be to live in a fast-food drive-thru.
Karen Szelinski, a clinical dietitian at White County Medical Center in Searcy, said eating healthy foods is possible, even with a hectic lifestyle. It just takes planning ahead and conditioning the mind.
“The first step is to make that a priority,” Szelinski said, “and it really boils down to putting the time and effort into planning what you are going to eat. There is no magic wand or quick fix.”
Making use of what time is available is key in the planning and preparation of healthy meals. Szelinski said taking time during the weekend to shop, cook and store food is critical to the success of maintaining a healthy diet. Szelinski said times have changed, and the process could be a family endeavor, not just a task for one person.
“We don’t have mom to cook for us anymore,” Szelinski said. “It used to be, when I grew up, there was somebody that could prepare all the meals, and you walk in, and it’s there.” Shopping for the right food is the first step. “Now we can get pre-washed salad greens and pre-cut carrots,” Szelinski said, “so you can use a lot of those pre-prepared healthy things to make it easier.”
But ideally, Szelinski said, buying fresh food that is not prepackaged and not processed is the best option.
Cooking for a week at a time is a good habit as well. Szelinski suggests making sandwiches using an entire loaf of whole-wheat bread, individually wrapping each sandwich in sandwich bags before putting them back into the empty bread bag and storing in the freezer.
Another example of cooking in bulk in prep for the week ahead, Szelinski said, is to buy chicken breasts and bake them on a cookie sheet, then freeze into individual freezer bags.
“You can do that also with pork chops, hamburgers and turkey burgers,” Szelinski said.
Investing in small containers such as a bento box is good to tote lunch or a snack during a busy day at work or when the evening schedule is hectic. Bento boxes are compartmentalized to make portion control easier.
Szelinski also advised that frozen vegetables are a good choice for healthy eating.
“If you buy just plain frozen [vegetables], they don’t have any salt or fat added to them,” Szelinski said, “and they probably have more nutrients than the fresh ones because they freeze them right away.”
As with any family meal planning, no matter what type of food is used, preparation is key.