I’m back for part 2 of this quick series on how to get more nutrition into your day – real-world, practical tips that I use daily to have the most energy, recover from my workouts (and training y’all) effortlessly, and make it easy, like autopilot easy, to eat the “superfoods” that do our nutritional heavy lifting. Last week I covered breakfast, and I’m back to handle lunch and dinner! (Next week will be snacks.)
My hope with this series is to nudge you toward incorporating more nutrient-dense fruits and veggies, helpful seeds, and other supercharged add-ons to give you all the health benefits you deserve from your meals. I’m keeping this simple like last week’s post!
If you’re starting from takeout:
- consider using a meal prep service like Snap Kitchen or H-E-B readymeals instead of restaurant delivery – you know what’s in your food and how it was cooked, and the ingredients are A+ (Snap) to A- (H-E-B – for oil quality) in my book. Plus, you can stash some in your freezer for the next time you want takeout
- consider upgrading to a restaurant that focuses on food quality (Bellagreen and Local Foods are the local best, in my opinion, again largely based on oil quality and cooking methods)
- consider a salad, with a hefty protein serving, without croutons or a ton of cheese, and a dressing made with expeller-pressed oil (if the oil is organic, it has to be expeller pressed. If the ingredients just say “oil”, it’s chemically refined – not the devil’s work, but we’re trying to enhance health here, not keep scraping by)
- consider a frozen meal – an organic frozen pizza topped with some bonus veggies only takes about 20 minutes, max, and it comes with leftovers for your next meal
If you’re cooking (or plating) at home:
- start with a plate that is at least half veggies. You knew I would say it! But how?
- salad (buy the boxed greens – they’ll last at least a week – and some toppings that you enjoy, including an organic or other high quality dressing)
- snack plate! baby carrots are a vegetable, and if that’s what you can handle, it works for me
- use vegetables as a base instead of rice or pasta (you can still include the rice or pasta, but fill the plate with veggies first and add the starchy carb in the serving size that is right for your energy needs). My favorites are all frozen and I get so much pushback about using frozen vegetables that I’m giving them their own bullet point…
- frozen vegetables. They are more nutritionally-dense than the ones that have been languishing in your refrigerator for weeks, they last unharmed in your freezer for months, they’re already prepped, and most of them are already blanched, so they just have to be lightly reheated and you’re good to go! I am so picky about the ones I get, though – I am not an ogre who likes mushy food, but years of trial and error have helped me create a list of veggies worth enjoying. Frozen veggies I like as a base for my dinner creations:
- shelled edamame (so much bonus protein, any brand works)
- Whole Foods peas and carrots blend
- Whole Foods chopped spinach (HEB and Trader Joe’s have too many stringy stems)
- Trader Joe’s Frozen asparagus
- Trader Joe’s Frozen organic broccoli (HEB has too many stems)
- Cubed butternut squash (all brands have worked for me so far)
- Whole Foods french cut green beans
- try adding a second color – if you have green from your veggie base, can you add a few cherry tomatoes for a bit of red? some bell peppers or squash? get wild with purple cauliflower?
- consider beans – even eating them once or twice a week is beneficial for your gut bacteria
- add at least one of the following when you are seasoning your meal: ginger, garlic, seaweed, high quality olive oil, walnuts, something fermented
What does this look like, in practical terms? You’re the chef here, but some of my go-to combos include (with easy meal prep noted!):
- A sweet potato or baked potato wedges, topped with lots of cooked spinach (as-is, or blended with coconut milk, ginger, coriander, and a touch of onion) and my protein of the day – can be made ahead
- A rice bowl using 1/2 cup rice and 1 1/2 cups of a mixture of edamame, pea & carrot blend, and diced bell peppers, topped with torn, seasoned seaweed, a soft boiled egg (ramen style), homemade pickles (sliced cucumbers marinated in acv and seasonings) and some cubed tofu seasoned with coconut aminos – can be made ahead
- A salad, topped with hemp seeds, plenty of avocado, my protein of the day, lemon vinaigrette, and a side of cheese toast if I need the carbs
- A snack plate, including some mini cheeses (mine are dairy-free but do you!!), carrot, cucumber, and pepper sticks, my protein of the day, crackers, olives, walnuts, and some berries or apple slices
- Fried rice, with a base of 1/2 cup rice and 1 1/2 cups veggies – anything goes! – , tossed in high quality oil, a splash of tamari or coconut aminos, ginger, garlic, and my protein of the day – can be made ahead
- Chicken soup with star noodles, made with chicken bone broth, diced chicken or tofu, and – you guessed it – lots of veggies (keeping that same 1:3 ratio of noodles to veggies from the other ideas), maybe topped with some shredded cheese and definitely with a small splash of olive oil – can be made ahead
- Taco rice, with – you know it now – a 1:3 ratio of rice to veggies (the peas and carrots + bell peppers go great here, and the tomato paste or puree counts toward your veggies, too!), some shredded cheese, and the protein du jour – can be made ahead
In short:
- Aim for 1-2 servings of leafy greens every day, with at least one of those coming from a dark leafy green (kale, chard, cooked spinach)
- Eat the rainbow over the course of your week – those colors are your nutritional powerhouses!
- Include some bonus health enhancers when you season your food
- Give in, join my cult, and try some frozen vegetables. I promise the ones I recommend aren’t gross!
Did I miss something? Is there a recipe you just can’t live without? Let me know – I am covering just the tip of the iceberg in this series, and I am already considering what to cover in my next nutrition roundup!
You know what else supercharges your day…cardio! Join us!
- Sunday 9am Zumba (free, meets at Levy Park – 3801 Eastside)
- Monday 6:30pm Zumba (free, meets at Levy Park – 3801 Eastside)
- Wednesday 7pm Zumba at Jerabeck Athletic Center (free; second floor dance studio, street parking)
- Saturday 9:30am Zumba at Montrose Collective (free; 888 Westheimer, street/garage parking, stay for brunch if you want)
