One very common challenge I hear often from my clients is "how can I be healthy with my busy lifestyle?" I don't have time to cook a healthy meal when I get home, or to eat during the day with my schedule, and how do I stay healthy while on the road? I get it, I was a busy corporate professional too and understand the importance of prepping for all these situations to stay healthy and energized.
When you're doing your best to balance all of your responsibilities, it can be really daunting to sit down after an intense day and dig into meal planning. Trying to come up with new ideas that fall in line with the guidelines of clean eating can take some time, so it might be a lot easier to find a good starting point and go from there. Check out these great ideas for clean eating.
Spaghetti Squash Topped with Meatballs
Have you ever tried spaghetti squash? There never seem to be enough people who know about this amazing plant and how you can use it to substitute noodles in a lot of interesting dishes. For this particular dish, the squash will be replacing the spaghetti noodles. With a small amount of prep, you can have some delicious sauce pouring over a plate full of the cooked spaghetti squash.
If you are feeling up to paying for the specialty meats, then you can pick up some locally raised meats that you can have ground. If you're looking for a more vegetable based option then it would be pretty nice to replace the meatballs with seared broccoli or mushrooms. If you should decide to make a large batch, having it with the veggie option will make it last longer and remove the hassle of having to find local meats.
Fancy Veggie Burger
It is pretty easy to find a good batter recipe online for a veggie burger, but a big deal there is the ingredients. If you're planning to eat clean, then you're going to have to be sure that what you get is good for you. To give this staple a major upgrade, just be sure to get some great mushrooms, quinoa, locally sourced carrot, some pecans, and mix it with some of your favorite herbs. If you can get some organically produced cheese, then you will have one of the best veggie burgers that you can ask for. You get extra points for using avocado as the spread to bring your fixings together. If you want to spice the veggie burger up a bit, it would be easy to add some jalapeno slices to the batter before you cook it solid.
Chickpea or Lentil Pasta & Sautéed Spinach
Chickpea pasta like Banza brand is an easy high fiber food that you can enjoy any time. You can cook the pasta until it's soft, then toss it with virgin olive oil, garlic, minced olives, freshly minced basil, and a few pinches of red pepper. That makes the perfect compliment for a sautéed spinach. If you wanted to add meat to this recipe, the suggestion would be for some kind of lean chicken breast that has been sealed until the outer edges have become crispy. Sprinkle the chicken breast with a pinch of salt, a few squirts of lemon juice, and some freshly minced basil and oregano.
Vegetable Stir-Fry
This is probably the easiest and fastest on this list. All you have to do, is choose a good vegetable mixture that suits your tastes and lightly saute it with coconut or olive oil, and season to taste with some organically made sauces. If you are looking for some way to replace noodles, then spaghetti squash has another use here for you. If you have bone broth, then that might be a good option for a side dish for soup, or for flavoring the squash.
Fish Tacos Lettuce Wraps with Avocado Cream
If you're going to make fish tacos, then it would be a good idea to get some wild fish to make them. Grill, saute, or lightly batter your fish (you can dip in egg and almond flour). Once the fish is done, you can take it and drop each piece into a large romaine leaf to make a delicious wrap. The final touch can be a tablespoon of greek or coconut yogurt and avocado mixture on each of the wraps.
With a little preparation, you will see how simple it can be to manage your busy lifestyle and stay healthy while achieving and maintaining your health goals!
To your health & happiness,
Amy