We all eventually reach a point in life when we realise that our health is our most valuable asset. Starting on a journey to work on our health can feel a bit daunting, especially at first, with so much conflicting information on what you should and shouldn’t do.
One of the best places to start is with your diet. Rather than treating this as a chore, you should treat it as an opportunity to start finding delicious meals you didn’t even know about. Finding those recipes can be hard at first, but here’s how you can start.
Start with a favourite foods
A nice place to start is with one or two of your favourite individual ingredients or foods. Whether that’s a can of John West tuna or a roasted potato, you can then google healthy recipes that include that ingredient in them.
Even if the ingredient you choose isn’t quite the healthiest (processed meat, for example) you can always turn it into a nutritious meal overall by including other ingredients. To mitigate the negative health effects of that specific ingredient, unless they’re truly dreadful, you can just reduce the portion size!
Go through your favourite cuisines
Another good place to start is to think of a cuisine that you love, and then look for healthy recipes with those flavours and ingredients. For example, if you love Italian food, you can make delicious tricolore salads that capture the Italian taste while providing you with heaps of healthy fats, proteins and vitamins.
There are shortcuts that will provide you with access to loads of perfect options, like buying cookbooks that focus on healthy recipes from a specific cuisine. A single book can keep you inspired for months or even years, while really helping you to up your cooking game.
Think simple
While there’s nothing wrong with cooking complicated meals with tons of preparation and a bunch of ingredients, it isn’t sustainable to cook like that every single day. Even if you have a lot of time on your hands, unless you really love cooking, eventually you’ll get tired of it and potentially revert to less healthy eating habits.
Instead, think simple. You can make a delicious and nutritious meal in just a few minutes – think steak, sweet potato fries and salad. Don’t overcomplicate things, and you’ll likely find that your healthy eating habits last much longer than they would otherwise.
Switch things up
No recipe will remain delicious forever, and it’s important to remember that. Keep on building up your repertoire, compiling a recipe book or folder with everything that you find, and switch flavours and culinary styles as you go along. Remaining interested in your food is key, and it requires an adaptive approach!
Healthy living is accessible to literally everyone – all it takes is a bit of effort. By following these basic pointers, you should be able to start to increase the number of easy meals you know how to cook, coming back to the classics year in year out.
