I am Maria, and I am hungry most of the time. It is like a superpower. The worst part is that I want to be skinny and healthy; my superpower makes it very difficult. That is bad, right? At least, I have learned how to live with this eternal appetite.
To avoid eating junk food or delicious food full of calories, you must plan each one of your meals. We can work hard to follow a diet, but at the moment, when you are hungry or anxious, you will run to buy inappropriate food. For example, if you have too much stress in your work or many exams at the same time at school, your first instinct would be to eat a big chocolate cake, but if you know this is going to happen, you can have healthy snacks and herbal tea close by.
Here are five meals easy to plan.
1. Green juices.
Green juices are perfect to start the day because they help to detoxify your body and as snacks because they help to keep you satisfied and to reduce anxiety. I drink them every morning. What I do is every Saturday I cut the vegetables and fruit, separate them in daily portions and save them to the freezer. Then, each morning, I only have to take them and put some water in the blender. It does not take me five minutes.
Tip: you should fruit for every three vegetables.
2. Salads.
If you love salad, you can be prepared to have them any time. You only need to use an hour of your time. Cut your proteins and vegetables, separate chickpeas, lentils, beans, quinoa, couscous or rice in small portions and keep them in the refrigerator. Then, anytime you want to make a salad, you only need to put all the ingredients together.
Tip: Make your dressings. It is the only way you can control calories.
3. Soup.
Soup is not only perfect when you are sick or sad; it is the ideal dinner. Soup is light, healthy, hot and you feel satisfied after eating it.
Tip: you should make your soup. The soup can is not helping you because it has too much sodium and fat.
4. Oatmeal.
Oatmeal is the perfect breakfast. It is an excellent carbohydrate with some protein. It will be even better if you add some fruit or seeds. You can make a bunch of oatmeal at once to have breakfast for the whole week. Do not buy ready-to-eat oatmeal. They have too much sugar and additives. Please cook the old fashioned style by yourself.
Tip: you can make oat pancakes instead. Use banana or stevia to make them sweet.
5. Snacks.
The elephant in the room. Probably, it is the hardest meal to replace. It is natural to fall into temptation with full-calorie-chocolate milk, cake or French fries. What I can suggest is to have healthy snacks all the time. Literally, you must have some in your bag, office, room, kitchen or car.
We are talking about unsalted almonds, fruit, protein bars, datils, herbal tea, yogurt, green juice or a protein shake. And yes, over 70% cocoa dark chocolate; I know we need it.
Tip: be careful with the calories, sodium and sugar of the protein bars and shakes.
The key here is to use one or two hours of your time and make your weekly meals. I do; it is the first thing I do every Sunday. It sucks, but I am so happy when I finish, and each time I eat the next few days.
