Enhance Your Fitness Program With Healthy Convenience Foods
If you think about it, getting in shape and eating healthy convenience foods go hand in hand for creating healthy bodies. In fact, designing sensible fitness programs would require making this association for best results. And, healthy living is increasingly including convenience foods well-suited for generating healthy diet habits. In this article, we introduce three meal categories that can include convenience food choices for better overall fitness.
Snacks
Most people now realize that eating small snacks in between meals keeps your body’s metabolism running more efficiently. Modern diets and exercise programs are designed to take this fact into consideration. Choosing sensible snacks low in calories and high in nutrients increases the value of the calories you consume every day.
Fortunately, there are many foods that deliver these types of promises. For a real power boost, consider eating a half cup of raw walnuts or almonds. Some celery sticks dipped in hummus is another quick meal that adds nutrition, hydration, and energy to your body’s daily routine. You can even make your own hummus by roasting some garbanzo beans in a little olive oil and adding a little salt for a crunchy snack that's ready when you are.
Sensible snack foods also include low fat yogurt, which provides calcium, protein, and healthy bacteria to your diet, and also aids in digestion. You can add a touch of sweetness to the yogurt by adding some dried fruit instead of refined sugar. Combine healthy granola mix with fresh and frozen fruit to perk up that cup of yogurt with more nutritional value.
Snack bars and ready-made trail mix offer a quick bit of nutrition as well. As always, you should read food labels to be sure what you’re eating is in your best health interests. Different snacks are designed for different purposes, and can significantly help those who are trying to accomplish specific fitness goals.
Drinks
Water is the purest, most beneficial drink you can consume. Water helps flush out extra fat from your system, so drinking lots of water throughout the day can have a dramatic effect on your health. If you engage in extreme sports or heavy exercise like weight lifting, long walks, or running, you could add a few bottles of vitamin-enhanced water with electrolytes for an extra nutrition boost.
Here’s another option for adding more nutrition to your diet – fruit and vegetable smoothies. This type of drink doesn’t require fancy equipment, only a standard blender to combine the ingredients in a new, delicious way. For example, combine milk, a little honey, banana, and flax seed together for a rich, tasty drink that very healthy.
Fitness authorities consider fruits and berries like papaya and blueberries as super-foods for their fabulous nutrients and antioxidants. Experiment with a variety of drinks with whole, natural foods to come up with your own favorites.
If you’re working out regularly, you can purchase a number of different drinks to supplement your daily fitness plan. Protein shakes are available at most health food stores or can be purchased online. These types of supplements, however, are generally meant for serious athletes who do lots of training. Weight lifters, runners, and marathon athletes obviously require more nutrition than the average active person, so choose from these sources wisely. It is always important to supplement these high-protein drinks with plenty of water and natural foods.
Meals
There’s really no such thing as a large convenience meal, is there? Not healthy ones, anywayyou’re you’re trying to improve your health, stopping at the nearest burger joint and super-sizing your appetite with a big meal is a dangerous way to go. Keep your meals small, and you’ll be much better off in retaining your goals while enjoying the convenience factor of healthier meals.
Thinking of salads as a first choice for a low-calorie, nutritious meals is a wise decision. Buy baggerd or pre-cut vegetables to add more convenience to your meal, or cut up your vegetables in advance and store them in the fridge for easy access. Include a variety of greens in your salads, with healthy choices like tuna or rotisserie chicken as toppings.
You’ll also want a healthy mix of ingredients in your salads, like veggies, nuts, and sliced hard-boiled eggs, which makes these more filling and complete meals. Add some homemade vinaigrette dressing instead of creamy dressings like Ranch, Thousand Island, or Bleu Cheese, since these include unwanted calories, salt, sugar, and fat.
Beans are another salad topping that adds powerful proteins and carbs. Whether it’s black beans, garbanzo beans, pinto beans, navy beans, or your own favorite bean, these are convenient staples you can quickly add to salad to boost its nutritional value.
You can even take a bunch of beans and mix them together, add onion and a vinaigrette dressing for a filling meal that satisfies. Or, cook some brown rice and keep them on hand for quick dinners, heating two or three varieties of beans together with garlic, onion, and tomatoes for a quick, hearty rice and bean casserole.
Another option is to throw a couple cans of beans in vegetable or chicken broth for a healthy soup that’s ready in minutes. After a grueling workout, staying home with a nice home-cooked nutritious meal satisfies our craving for comfort much better than a meal from a drive-through window can.
Convenience foods are increasingly healthy options for better health and nutrition, a plus for developing a fitness program that suits your busy schedule. With a little planning and attention to detail, you can create and enjoy healthy meals and snacks that are quick to make, good to eat, and good for you and your body.
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