Eating healthier doesn’t have to overtake your life. We lead such busy lives these days that making the healthy choice every single time can be difficult – and we often tend to do ourselves down after choosing a takeaway or ‘unnecessary’ dessert.

The thing is, eating healthy isn’t just about wolfing down those greens. Yes, increasing your vegetable intake will always help, and reducing the amount of alcohol you drink and fatty foods you consume will aid your physical and mental wellbeing.

But when it comes to the day-to-day, making small changes to your eating habits are often the best things you can do. These small changes can aid your diets without dramatically affecting what you eat.

And, just as importantly, they can help improve the diets of a loved one who may push back at the idea of ‘overhauling’ their eating regime.

And so, we spoke to Claire from Single Parent Pessimist about her healthy eating tips. You can also read her healthy recipes and get other lifestyle tips from her blog!

Healthy eating tips

If you’re looking to make small healthy eating changes, here are four cooking tips from Claire to get started…

• Cook with certain oils, not butter – Cooking with oil is a much healthier ingredient compared to butter and is suitable for vegans. Be mindful of which oils to use. Virgin olive oil is the best, and others include canola, sunflower and avocado oils. 
• Swap sugar for natural sweeteners – Being healthy doesn’t mean lacking sweet flavours. Swap sugar when baking for natural sweeteners like Stevia (all supermarkets have their own brands using this) or even mash up fresh fruit like overripe bananas. My son and I often make blueberry and banana pancakes using no sugar!
• Use veggie options – There are many vegetarian and vegan substitutes for meat that taste just as good, but with much less saturated fat. So, swap out things like mince, beef/chicken chunks in your stews and spaghetti bolognese for veggie/vegan alternatives. Even doing a ‘half-meat half-veg’ option is a healthier alternative to reducing your meat consumption.
• Frozen veg rules! – Frozen vegetables have the same nutrients as fresh vegetables, but can be more cost- and waste-effective, as you only use what you need and the rest remains frozen in its best quality until you next need to use them. If you do buy fresh veg and don’t use it all in one meal, freeze it and it’ll lock in its nutrients for next time.

And here are some more habit-related eating tips from take good care founder Barbara…

• Cook at home – A healthy diet is not just about how you eat but what choices you make when eating. Choosing takeaways and microwave meals may save time but they’re usually packed with unnecessary fats, salts and other nasties. So, cook more meals at home to avoid processed foods and takeaways.
• Snack smart – Snacking shouldn’t be a bad thing! It gives us energy and a positive boost when we need it most. The best way to snack is to choose something healthy like fruit or vegetables, so make sure you have a handy supply at home.
• Eat right – Try sitting up at the table when you eat. This will encourage you to eat slower and put your knife and fork down in between mouthfuls. It gives your brain a chance to recognise that you are full, so you don’t over-eat.
• Be mindful when eating – Listen to your body and eat when you’re hungry, and stop when you are satisfied. This can be difficult if we’re eating in front of the TV, for example, as we forget to pay attention to our body’s signals. Eating food can provide the perfect moment to reflect on the day, and be more in-tune with your mental wellbeing.

If you’re looking for food inspiration, see how eating the rainbow can improve your diet and wellbeing!

Win vegan food box

One healthy snack option is to do away with high-fat, high-salt nibbles and try the take good care vegan box. Our boxes are packed with 16 tasty snacks that will keep you energised throughout the day. From snack packs to bars from well-known brands, the vegan box comes packaged in Barbara’s beautiful eco-friendly box and wrapping.

And you can win one of two boxes in the Vegan Food Box Competition via the Single Parent Pessimist website! The giveaway is totally free and you can check out the terms and conditions at the bottom of the giveaway post. Simply head over to Single Parent Pessimist to enter. The deadline for entries is 29 July 2022. Good luck!

Each box contains products including:

• Oloves Natural pitted green olives basil & garlic 30g
• Urban Fruit gently baked Pineapple 35g
• Boundless Nuts and Seeds Turmeric and Smoked Paprika 30g
• Nakd Blueberry Muffin raw fruit and nut bar 35g
• Harvest Moon Tangy Tomato nut and seed clusters 50g
• Indie Bay Pretzel Thins lightly salted 24g
• I Love Snacks Roasted and Salted mixed nuts 30g
• Gourmet Sweets – Candy Kittens Tropical Mango 54g
• Love Corn crunchy corn snack smoked BBQ 20g
• Perkier protein bar nutty toffee and dark chocolate 37g
• Nakd Salted Caramel raw fruit and peanut bar 35g
• Deliciously Ella peanut butter oat bar 50gm
• Eat Real Hummus chips tomato and basil flavour 25g
• Eat Real Lentil chips chilli and lemon flavour 22g
• Eat Real Hummus chips sour cream and chive flavour 25g
• Eat Real Lentil chips sea salt flavour 22g

Gift boxes are packed and prepared in an area that handles nuts, peanuts, fish, soy, milk, celery, mustard, sesame, wheat and cereals containing gluten.

Vegan Food Box Half Price Discount

You can also buy a vegan box from take good care with 50% off today! However, there are only a few boxes left so make sure to get in quick before stocks run out.

This blog is purely for informational purposes. It does not constitute advice. If you have questions about food, diet, nutrition, natural remedies or holistic health, readers are advised to seek professional assistance for their health