Whether your fitness goals center on building muscle, burning fat, or maintaining your current weight, what you eat can have just as much of an effect as your workout routine does. In fact, if you don’t adopt healthy eating habits, you may continue to struggle to meet your objectives. Find out how to give your refrigerator a healthy makeover and ensure that it helps you achieve your fitness goals.
Keep Energy-Packed Snacks on Hand
If you’re prone to snacking, you know how quickly a quick bite to eat can turn into the caloric equivalent of an entire meal. Whether you only snack when you’re hungry, you tend to fill up when you’re bored, or you reach for the junk food for a range of other reasons, over-snacking can be an especially big problem if you’re loading up on empty calories.
Rather than letting your snacking habit get out of hand, reach for energy-boosting foods that will help you feel better instead of worse. Try a banana for a burst of vitamins, a handful of plain roasted nuts that can fuel a muscle-building workout, or fiber-rich foods like apples with peanut butter that offer a slow release of energy.
Eliminate Junk Food and Trigger Foods
As you stock up on nutritious snacks that give you that extra burst of energy, take the time to eliminate the foods that tend to prompt you to over-snack. Known as trigger foods, these goodies tend to be high in calories and particularly satisfying to eat, often encouraging you to overindulge.
Some common trigger foods include ice cream, cookies, potato chips, and snacks that have an irresistible mix of sweet and savory aspects. Find yourself automatically reaching for common trigger foods during a typical grocery run? Remind yourself to put the ice cream back in the freezer and opt for whole foods or energy-packed snacks instead. Try replacing pasta with spiralized vegetables, soda with kombucha or seltzer, and frozen pizza with cauliflower crust topped with roasted veggies.
Stock Your Fridge With Prepared Meals
One of the most effective ways to give your fridge a much-needed makeover is to fill it with healthy meals and snacks you’ve prepared. Cooking nutritious meals every night can take a ton of time, but if you plan out your meals for the week and cook large batches, you can save time and money while making it easy to eat healthy.
Start by creating a meal plan for the upcoming week, accounting for three meals a day plus snacks. After you finish shopping, set aside a few hours over the weekend or a single weeknight to prepare meals for the week. Portion meals into reusable containers so you can grab lunch on your way out the door or heat up dinner once your crew gets home. A meal planning app can work wonders with balancing macronutrients and keeping you inspired with delicious ideas.
No matter what fitness goals you want to achieve, you’ll need a combination of a healthy diet and an effective workout routine to make them happen. Keep these three tips in mind to make sure your fridge helps rather than hinders your healthy lifestyle.