1. Sub brown rice pasta / whole wheat pasta for regular pasta. This may seem like a no-brainer, but if you stock up on healthier pasta options when they go on sale at Whole Foods, you are automatically prepared for success. My favorite brand of brown rice pasta is from the brand Tinkyada, which is available at Whole Foods and online (and is pretty cheap if you buy it in bulk!)

2. Add in greens whenever possible. My favorite way to add in some veggies? Steamed broccoli in a bowl of pasta with Parmesan and marinara, sautéed spinach or kale in otherwise starchy/carby dishes - does not change the flavor, OR spirulina powder in smoothies of all kinds.

You can find spirulina powder here: http://www.amazon.com/Source-Naturals-Organic-Spir...

3. Add a side of veggies to your dinner. Feel like having mac and cheese for dinner? Just add a side of veggies to make it a more complete meal. It could be anything from Brussels sprouts to stovetop grilled peppers :)

4. Make extras of healthy meals for later on. You will have an easy meal that you just have to heat up for work, etc. My favorite leftovers involve a sweet potato / kale / red pepper hash. I make it in a huge skillet and then can cook up as many eggs as I want for an easy, healthy, and delicious breakfast! You can also freeze almost anything and reheat it for coming months as well.

5. Prepare your snacks ahead of time. I used to bring a large bag of nuts or multigrain chips to work and then be shocked when I went though an entire bag in like two days. An easy fix is to use an appropriate measuring cup to divide the nuts into better (and healthier) serving sizes! I also love putting a huge spoonful of hummus in a mason jar, filling it up with veggies, and then taking it to work with me. Or, whip up a batch of healthy, gluten-free muffins to pack for work or studying.

Recipe: http://www.midwesteastcoastgirl.com/#!Easy-Peanut-...

6. Browse Pinterest for recipe ideas, tricks for how to store different veggies, and everything in-between. I LOVE PINTEREST. It is where I get 80% of my recipe ideas from, and most of the time, you cannot go wrong with the "popular" recipes that are posted. It is also great for using up produce that is going to go bad soon (you just put the veggie or fruit into the search bar and a ton of recipes come up!)

**All pictures are mine**