Yes, reading food labels can be confusing and overwhelming, but it is an important practice in understand what nutrients and additives you and your family are consuming. To help make this easier, check out this interactive tool from Healthy Canadians which helps to educate consumers on how to properly read these important labels so you can make informed food choices.
A Little Planning Goes A Long Way!
When it comes to eating well, taking time to plan your meals is the number one way to ensure you eat healthy. It prevents reactive eating, and ensures you consume fewer calories.
The following from Eat Right Ontario helps you get on the right track with planning your meals. Check it out and start planning a healthier diet today!
Spread Some Holiday Cheer With Homemade Gifts
The Holiday Season is quickly approaching and it’s time to get serious about your gift planning. Nothing makes a more thoughtful gift than something you’ve made yourself! The following from Eating Well provides over 40 delicious and delightful homemade gift ideas complete with recipes. Check them out and create something special for someone on your list today.
Healthy Fall Harvest Meals
Fall is here and the harvest has begun. It’s a wonderful time to enjoy all the delicious vegetables the season has to offer. The following from the Cooking Channel offers some of the most enjoyable, healthy and easy to make fall recipes. Try one today!
Back to…Healthy Meals
The “lazy days” of summer are over, vacations are done, the kids are back to school, and it’s time to get back to routine. As a mom of four, believe me that I understand the stress of September and how parents can easily lose themselves with the focus on getting the kids back to a manageable routine. So, this September, we wanted to provide a series of ideas and strategies to make sure you are going “back to school” while also getting “back to you!”
We’ve shown you ways to get “Back to” both fitness and a healthier mind. Now, in the third week of our series, we will focus on getting back to a healthy diet! Summertime can be a time of indulgence, filled with barbeques, parties and eating out. Now that fall has come, it’s time to refocus on healthy meals and we know these are most likely to happen at home. With proper planning and preparation, creating healthy home cooked meals can be simple every day. Check out our top 5 ways to save you time and to boost your nutrition at dinner time!
1. Plan Ahead: Planning and posting your weekly meal plan in advance each week will save you time and keep your organized! From this, create your list and hit the grocery store for all you need for the week. Post clearly on your fridge so you remember to pull what you need out of the freezer each day.
2. Shop Only Once: Going to the grocery store multiple times per week eats away at your time and your pocket book. Although you may have only gone in for a bag of milk, often you come out with things you don’t really need. With proper meal planning you should be able to shop for the entire week.
3. Make Ahead: Once you have your meals planned, your ingredients purchased, and your fridge stocked, start cooking! Prepare your vegetables and meats for your next meal ahead of time or, better yet, create some of the many healthy make-ahead meals you can freeze to eat later in the week.
4. Make Friends With Your Slow Cooker: A slow cooker or crock pot can become a busy cooks’ best friend! Simply toss in your pre-prepped ingredients before you leave in the morning and come home to a delicious healthy meal ready and waiting for you when you walk through the door!
5. Eat As a Family: Although schedules are busy and time is tight, make an effort to sit down and eat together as a family. Doing so is beneficial for your mental and physical health and helps to maintain that family togetherness. If this just can’t work during the week, make an effort to connect as a family over meals on the weekends. Check out our previous post, “Make Time for Family Dinner Time.”
Good, Better, and Best Healthy Meals
Ensuring you and your family are consuming a “rainbow” of foods and eating enough fruit and vegetables each day is important. But do you know if what you are serving is providing yourself and your children with the nutrients they need? The following, from Parenting, invites the Author of the “Sneaky Chef” to show you the good, better, and best you can be serving at each meal of the day. Check it out!
Healthy Home Cooked Meals In A Hurry
New schedules bring an adjustment to eating and food preparation routines. With less time available to put together a proper meal, people tend to rely on fast food or ready-made options that lack essential nutrients, or that are packed with preservatives and empty calories. The following from Greatist.com provides you with 52 different meals from breakfast to dinner that you can prepare in 12 minutes or less! Bon appetite!
Greatist.com: 52 Healthy Meals in 12 Minutes or Less
Check out more great healthy eating tips and recipes in our “Food For Thought” section.
Healthy School Lunches
School starts next week and although many welcome the return of routine, packing a healthy lunch that won’t come home uneaten remains an ongoing parental challenge. It’s true–packing your child’s lunch can seem like a daunting, never ending task, but it doesn’t have to be. The following from Eat Right Ontario provides all the information you need know to ensure your kids are eating healthy foods every day.
Eat Right Ontario: Packing Healthy School Lunches and Snacks
The “Death by Sugar” Dilemma
Recently Maclean’s published an article “Death by Sugar” about how sugar consumption is one of the leading causes of the obesity issues in North America, and may also have links to rising numbers of diabetes, heart conditions and alzheimers disease. Statistics Canada indicates that on average Canadian adults consume 88 pounds of sugar each year. Many of us are good at avoiding high sugar sources such as chocolate bars, candy and pop, however, due to lack of information on nutritional labels we are not fully aware of the sugar consumption in everyday foods. Foods such as bread, cereals, spreads and pastas are all high in sugar content and it’s time Health Canada made the average consumer better aware of this.
Check out the full “Death by Sugar” article from Maclean’s here.
Fire Up The Grill
Nothing says summer like food straight from the grill! Barbequing can be a healthy way to prepare food, however, many precautions need to be taken. Safetyinfo.ca has prepared a section on barbeque safety including BBQ basics, keeping safe while grilling, and propane tank handling. Check it out here and safely enjoy your barbeque all summer long.