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I’ve recently been making a huge effort to eat more healthily – not a simple thing to do in this city where take-out is just a click away and starchy delicious treats rule! Some of the things I’ve found helpful in changing my food habits are:
1. Always having the fridge stocked with cartons of Innocent Smoothie (available from Oliver’s) – Strawberry & Banana flavour is my absolute favourite, and keeping a supply of cereal bars in the cupboard. Just making sure to always have what I need for a healthy and filling breakfast has been huge in making sure I start my day off right. I hope those days of grabbing a cold slice of pizza from the fridge because I can never resist my morning hunger pangs are behind me!
2. I’ve changed my attitude to carbs – brown bread and wholewheat pasta are now a big part of my diet again, having been avoided for years out of some post-Atkins brainwashing. Filling up on these good carbs means I’m less likely to reach for a packet of crisps or piece of cake out of desperation.
3. Food Assembly – before I moved to Hong Kong I used to love to cook, but since arriving here two years ago, the urge kind of just left me, and my husband now jokes that I’ve “retired”! I still don’t have any particular longing to spend time lugging home bags of groceries, or standing over a hot stove, but I’m starting to do “food assembly” type meals instead which involve just throwing a bunch of ingredients together. A bag of spinach or salad, some tomatoes, roast chicken (picked up from the supermarket) and some goats cheese or feta make a great weekday meal and mean I don’t even need to turn the oven on.
4. One of my favourite cook books is now available as an iPhone app – Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything”, which in book form must weigh about 5 kilos, can now be accessed from my phone, so I can search for recipes when I’m out and about, and never need to write out a shopping list. I can decide what to make once I’m already in the supermarket, rather than needing to find the time to plan in advance (which I’m incapable of doing).
I still have a HUGE way to go to improve (my vegetable consumption is low and I’m a total sugar junkie), but I’m happy to have found some little things that help to improve my diet. What things do you find help you to eat healthily? Do you have any tips to share?
