2 Key Ways to Simplify Healthy Eating

We tend to overcomplicate everything in life when many things are actually fairly simple. Today, I have a guest sharing with us how to simplify healthy eating. With all of the diets and conflicting advice out there, it’s nice to be shown how to get back to the basics.

Today’s post is written by Chrissy of SimplyMade Coaching. Chrissy has great advice for us today, and I have to say she has never steered me wrong! Anytime I put her tips into practice, I see the results I was seeking, plus more benefits I hadn’t even thought about trying to receive. You can even check out my review of her first meal guide on Practigal Blog.

In today’s guest post, Chrissy shows us the two key ways to simplify healthy eating. Keep reading to find out what they are and receive practical advice that you can put into practice today. And, she doesn’t leave you hanging. If you need more information or personalized assistance, she has some amazing resources for you!

I am all about simplifying everything you can so that you can live life to the full…whatever that means for you. I don’t write about healthy eating on the blog, as I am not an expert. However, you can check out my meal planning post for more information on how you can simplify meal planning.

Be sure to leave a comment below to let Chrissy and me know what you think of her post!

Hey! I’m Chrissy, a health coach and personal trainer from SimplyMade Coaching, and I am so honored to know Sheila and to be featured on her amazing blog!

What I love the most about her message of minimalism is that life can be simple in all aspects. And simple to me results in less stress, less stuff, less waste, less effort, and MORE time doing what I love!

One thing that I love the most is my kids. I’m a stay-at-home mom juggling a typical mom life with my coaching business on the side. With two little ones running around I have had to learn the art of simplifying just about every aspect of my life, seeing that I hardly have time to brush my teeth without an audience these days.

Even more, having kids has forced me to get in the habit of feeding my family right. But it has to be kept simple if I’m going to continue to make healthy eating doable in my life of toddler chaos.

Creating Healthy Eating Habits

Establishing a healthy routine for us as moms will translate over to our children and they, too, will reap the huge benefits of eating healthy. Something I’ve learned during my short time as a mom so far is that I see myself in my kids, my good qualities, and my bad qualities. It’s a humbling thing! And I want all of my healthy habits to rub off on them so that they can avoid all of my mistakes and live their life doing more of what they love!

My main goal for the moms I work with is to give them the knowledge, the tools and the support around how to simplify healthy eating in a health/fitness industry that is full of unnecessary noise.

I aim to calm the noise from the low-carb, the low-fat, the vegan, the Paleo, the plant-based, the low-calorie, the macro counting, the detoxes, and the everything-in-moderation diets, among many other diets that are out there.

I mean, when did eating food become so dang complicated?!

Instead, I aim to simplify healthy eating, especially for us busy mamas who simply don’t have time to count food or fuss over all of the technicalities.

2 Key Ways to Simplify Healthy Eating

So here are 2 key ways to simplify healthy eating. These are the biggest steps to take for you to achieve long-term healthy habits that will lead to all of the fun stuff like fat loss, balanced blood sugars, less chronic illnesses, balanced hormones, and so, so much more!

This is what my coaching program guides mamas through, step by step, to leave them feeling confident in what to eat and what to feed themselves and their families.

1. Eat Real Food

Over the years, I’ve tried to do many different types of diets – low calorie, low fat, low carb, and even carb cycling, and you probably have too. Some of these diets I had good success with and some I didn’t. Through all of my own experiments, reading, learning and studying nutrition, it always seems to come back to one main [simple] thing:

Eat quality, real food.

Focusing on quality food is truly what makes healthy eating simple again! No more counting and no more restricting. Eating healthy is all about taking steps towards eating quality food most, if not all, of the time!

What this means is to eat food that mainly comes from nature instead of from a factory. Cutting out processed foods that come in a box and focusing on food that doesn’t have a label.

To simplify healthy eating, you need to eat quality protein, fat, and carbohydrates at each and every meal or snack.

Protein

Protein is best when it comes from an animal source – think eggs, meat, fish, chicken, yogurt, or cheese. Yes, there is protein in plant foods but to make a long story short, plant proteins are not absorbed very well in our body whereas animal products are.

Fats

Fats should always come from a natural source, from nature – think butter, lard, nuts, seeds, avocado, or coconut oil. Bad fats are anything made or processed in a factory like canola, soybean, or peanut oils.

Carbohydrates

Carbs are somewhat of a tricky beast that I can’t help but love. The best carbs are veggies, followed by fruit, then rice, oats, quinoa and legumes like lentils or beans.

Wheat is a tricky one, only because most of us tend to see good results in how we look and feel when we remove it. Experimenting with which type of grains are good for you will take some trial and error.

But if we keep the focus on veggies and fruit we will always be in a good place. I love to guide this process of figuring out which carbs work for my clients and how to incorporate the best carbs into their daily routine.

Healthy Food Swaps

You can start to simplify healthy eating by making some simple healthy food swaps.

Start to make simple swaps like switching to plain yogurt with a touch of real maple syrup instead of flavored, sugary yogurts; switch to dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate; try veggie noodles instead of wheat noodles; or snacking on nuts instead of chips or crackers.

The first swap I made was removing my beloved cereal from my cupboards. I started eating eggs or bacon in the morning which resulted in me feeling fuller for longer and snacking less on junk food! Then I replaced pasta dishes with more veggie and meat-based meals. I saw fat loss and fewer sugar cravings, which just kept me motivated to keep the progress going!

Removing the processed sugars and refined flours in your diet will be progress towards more energy, less fat, more manageable PMS symptoms, and even a better sex drive – yes I said it! Which all makes us better mamas!

And it’s not that we need to remove these things forever, necessarily, but to take them out of our daily routine and only eat these types of things occasionally.

Eating real food instead of worrying about calories and macros has become my new normal and it has improved my relationship with food and with my body. I don’t look at food as something that I need to manage anymore, but instead, I appreciate food for how it keeps me looking and feeling my best!

2. Cook at Home

The second key way to simplify healthy eating is to cook at home because the biggest way to eat healthy on a consistent basis is to be in control over what you eat.

Cooking at home, avoiding fast food, and even just the event of eating together as a family promotes so many aspects of a healthy life!

Home cooking doesn’t have to be hard or even result in a Pinterest-worthy masterpiece of a meal to be effective. I have Seasonal Meal Guides to help you plan simple meals every week full of real food recipes.

To cook at home will require one important skill to tackle: Meal Planning!

Meal Planning

You can simplify healthy eating by meal planning. Meal planning has saved me so many times. For one, it saves my budget because when I grocery shop I have direction and I have a purpose in what I’m buying and how everything will get used during the week – there’s no wasted food!

Also, meal planning allows me to run on autopilot when it comes to my meals. If I’m ever wondering what to have for lunch or what to make for dinner all I have to do is check my meal plan, which is usually right on my phone. For a done-for-you meal plan and grocery list, every Seasonal Meal Guide I offer comes with a 4-week plan to save you even more time!

Free Resources

Meal planning is the most important skill to conquer in order to stay focused on healthy, quality food. This is why coming soon I will be hosting free online workshops on how to perfect this skill and use it to create a healthy food plan that will simplify your life. I couldn’t be more excited to offer this to you!

For now, go snag my free Meal Planning Template that outlines all of the important factors to plan out before the week begins. This template is designed with busy mamas in mind!

Healthy eating doesn’t have to involve getting your degree in nutrition just for you to understand what to feed yourself and your family. You can simplify healthy eating for you and your family. Food is to be enjoyed and is meant to keep us energized, healthy, and strong so we can keep doing what we love to do.

Cheers to simple food!