Eating Healthy – Recipes, What We Eat in A Day, + Tips!

Eating healthy can be tough – especially during the summer months. Everyone travels, kids are out of school, ice cream is rampant and the BBQs are always lit.  Emma and I decided to share some of our go-to breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and “dessert” options so that you can see what works for us from the day-to-day. We aren’t licensed nutritionists so please take everything we say with a grain of salt – many of these of things are extremely healthy though and we’re just sharing what we love!

We’ll be going through each category, sharing both of our favorites – Emma will be writing her suggestions and I’ll be writing mine separately. :)  We plan to write another post  that will go into more detail into our exact grocery lists & more but for now this is just quick advice for those who are interested.

Top Tips: 

Kristy

• Drink More Water – I always try to drink a full glass of water as soon as I wake up (Emma does this too with lemon) and several times throughout the day. Not only does it hydrate you (Dehydration can imitate hunger! Isn’t that crazy?) but it fills you up and helps you eat less.
• Eat Breakfast Every Day – Breakfast helps stimulate your brain in the morning and helps get your day started on the right foot. I find that when I eat breakfast, I don’t binge the rest of the day!
• Keep Fresh Fruits & Veggies On Hand – To help avoid snacking all day on unhealthy food, it’s easy to grab & go when you have pre-cut fruit and veggies in your fridge. I even measure mine out into individual snack Ziploc bags to help with portion control. (I love my fruits and veggies and would eat them all!!).
• Almonds Are Your Friend – I feel bad for Emma because she has a nut allergy but I am obsessed with raw almonds. The benefits of nuts are incredible but mostly they fill me up quickly! I do count how many I eat simply because they are high in fat (healthy fats, but still.. fats nonetheless) – so make sure to watch that.

Emma 

• Eat a larger breakfast – I make breakfast the biggest meal of my day and it has helped me regulate everything! I wake up hungry each morning now.. (before I started my healthy lifestyle, I never ate breakfast and as a result binged at night!) I make sure to always add a protein along with my fruits/veggies whether it’s peanut butter, eggs, etc.
• Never miss a meal – I find that my body works into overdrive and I end up binging later if I skip a meal. I recommend always bringing enough food with you if you are leaving home for the day if you don’t think you’ll time to stop & eat/go home and eat.
• Avoid Stocking the Snacks – If you’re a snackaholic like me… avoid stocking your pantry with delicious snacks. Even if the snacks are “healthy”, they aren’t as healthy if you finish the whole bag in one sitting. Lol! I find that the more snacks I have in the pantry.. the more I tend to eat so I try to keep pantry snacks at a minimum.
• Work Out & You Can Eat More!!! – This is such an obvious tip but I swear it keeps me sane. If you work out at least 3-4 days a week, you can enjoy food more.. I promise you. You can get fro-yo with your boyfriend, you can eat the extra 300 calorie snack that you want because you won’t feel guilty. Life feels so much better!

Breakfast Faves:

Photo & Recipe from Viva Woman

Kristy

• Greek Yogurt (with lower sugar) & 1/2 Cup of Blueberries with a few Nuts. Plus a cup of Coffee and 1 Glass of Water – This may not seem like a ton of food but it is so filling because of the protein & fiber involved. I use Fage Greek Yogurt because it is low-sugar and natural usually.. sometimes I go with Dannon Light & Fit because of the fun flavors. Coffee only helps to fill me up temporarily so I usually have that first thing after my glass of water…
• Avocado Toast with 1 Hard Boiled Egg Cut into  2 Halves on Top with Pepper & Splash of Lime Juice – One of my all-time favorite breakfasts because of the fun carbs I get to eat! I usually go with the Good Seed Bread or I use English Muffin thins/Bagel thins because of how easy it is. I also put a splash of tabasco on it when I’m feeling spicy.
• Egg-White Omelette with Fresh Bell Pepper, Onion, Mushroom, & Tomatoes Plus Tomato Juice or V8 – I’m obsessed with eggs so it’s no surprised that this is one of my favorite meals. I love fresh vegetables and I find that adding a little salsa & 1/4-1/2 of an avocado on top with keep me full for hours. The juice is another favorite that I crave. So yummy!
• Kashi Go-Lean Cereal with 1 Cup of Berries, & Skim Milk – Jeff and I have been eating this for years, and we love it for our lazy days. Sometimes we genuinely don’t want to cook in the morning and it’s so nice running out the door after eating this quick and easy breakfast.

Emma

• Berry & Greek Yogurt Smoothie – I love this because it’s super easy for me.. plus I can take it on the go! I add bananas & berries to the blender, and a little greek yogurt, a small amount of peanut butter + coconut water. Done.
• Healthy Breakfast Bowl – This includes so many different options that I had to add this here. I usually have an Acai bowl with fruit, coconut, and granola (I get my Acai bowl mix from Trader Joe’s!), or a Coconut-Chia Pudding breakfast bowl with added fruit and a few peanuts. Delicious. (I marinate normal chia seeds overnight with coconut milk which plumps them up  – make sure to add stevia as well if you crave the sweet factor)
• Oatmeal with Fruit & Granola – This isn’t the most exciting… but I love this simple meal. I make old-fashion oats on the stove top and then add a small portion of KIND granola. I usually add fruit – like bananas & strawberries on top along with a tiny bit of Peanut Butter. yum!
• Avocado Toast with Scrambled Egg and a Banana – Like my mom, I love avocado toast and I also put the avocado on Good Seed bread (Delicious!!! Definite must-buy). I put tons of Sriracha on top of the scrambled eggs to spice things up then place all on top of the avocado. I also usually have a banana on the side. Delicious.

Lunch Faves:

Photo & Recipe from The Awesome Green

Kristy 

• Salads – I’m obsessed with salads during lunch hour. I love greek salads, pre-made salads from Trader Joe’s/Whole Foods, then I always make sure to add a large portion of protein (chicken is a go-to along with salmon). I avoid cheese/wontons like the plague and pick it off if my salad comes with it.  I also make sure the dressing is healthy & on the side. If not.. I like to add my own healthy dressing from home. Paul Newman Lite, Ken’s Lite Caesar Dressing, and Balsamic is great.
• Lean Microwaveable Bowls – I work from home, and take a lot of work calls during the day. I don’t love to spend time cooking during this time so I usually buy certain brands of healthy frozen meals to get me through the lunch hour. Stouffer’s Fit Bowls, Healthy Choice, and Amy’s Lite are all 3 great options depending on the calorie count. Make sure to read the nutrition facts even if it says “Lite or Healthy” because it could have a huge amount of carbs/sodium.
• Leftovers – I eat a lot of leftovers from our previous night’s dinner.. they are always delicious because Jeff prepares them for me! They usually consist of grilled chicken/meat and then I’ll grab some veggies from the fridge (carrots, tomatoes, bell peppers, etc.)

Emma

• Healthy Harvest Bowl – I feel like millennials love everything in a bowl. We love to see things together, I guess. ;) I make my bowls pretty simple with lettuce, quinoa or brown rice, (Microwaveable brown rice is the way to go people – Trader Joe’s, squash/sweet potato, fresh veggies.. It may seem complicated but it really isn’t! There are so many delicious combinations of harvest bowls out there, a quick google search will help find you hundreds of options.
• Pre-made Salad from Trader Joe’s With Added Lettuce – This is a trick that my Aunt Betsy taught me not too long ago. I used to buy the pre-made salads and eat only that.. and I found myself not quite full enough. Now, I grab a huge bowl and add tons of extra lettuce to it – then add the TJ salad on top. I then use a healthy favorite dressing from home. (I love the low-calorie dressings.. delicious!) It always fills me up.
• Flatbread Chicken “Sandwich” – I love carbs.. I really do. But it’s not worth it for me to eat tons of bread. I instead settle for healthier options and not quite as much to help me maintain my healthy direction. I now settle for an open-face flatbread (1 piece of bread), then add baked chicken on top with tons of veggies, balsamic, and spinach. Yummm!

Dinner Faves:

Jeff’s Greek Salad Recipe

Kristy

• Lean Meat (Chicken, Fish, or Steak) with Veggies – Many of you already know how my dinners look if you follow my Instagram stories. I’m lucky to have a husband who loves to cook for me.. not only beautifully but always healthy meals. Our veggies usually include a mix of asparagus, baked broccoli with added herbs, red/green/yellow bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, zucchini.. pretty much anything or everything. It always depends on what’s in the fridge. ;) We are trying to not eat a ton of meat (especially red meat) so we try to keep the size of our meat the size of our palm. (portion-controlled!) Jeff helps us even more by cutting  the meat thinly so that it’s easier to cook and it looks like more.
• Greek Salad with Chicken – Another meal we eat constantly is Jeff’s colorful Greek Salad with chicken.. I added Jeff’s recipe to the blog for those interested – click here for the recipe.

Emma

• Lettuce-Wrapped Tacos – I love tacos. Trying to keep them healthier I make them with lean turkey instead of beef. (I really don’t eat red meat) I like to make a little taco bar for fun using Romaine lettuce leaves for the lettuce wraps, 1/2 of an avocado sliced, tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, cilantro and more! Sometimes we also make these with spicy shrimp instead of lean turkey, and it’s delicious (marinate them with paprika and spices!!)
• Teriyaki Stir Fry – Zach and I love asian food, and if we could.. we’d eat asian food every single night. (Japanese is our ultimate fave and Ramen is the bomb!) An easy way to find that similar flavor at home is to make a fresh stir fry in a Wok using chicken, snap peas, peppers, and oranges.
• Riced Cauliflower Bowl with Veggies – Once again I LOVE bowls.. lol. But the Frozen Riced Cauliflower from Trader Joe’s is a cult fave for me.. I will never not buy it. I heat the frozen bowl in a sauce pan for a few minutes, add fresh veggies like bell peppers, etc. and throw it all together for a yummy bowl.

Fave Snacks:

Kristy

• Delicious Edamame – We buy our packs of fresh edamame at Costco. I prefer edamame in the shell, and warm. I then love dipping it in Veri Veri Teryaki Sauce.. seriously so good.
• Protein Bar  – I love them all.. Cliff, KIND, Luna – they are all great and I switch up the flavors constantly. I try to choose the bars with low-sugar & high protein whenever possible.
• Daily Harvest Smoothies or Bowls – Emma has gotten me hooked on these DELICIOUS bowls & smoothies. They have a mix of amazing ingredients which I love. Some of the ingredients I even had to look up. ;) Daily Harvest is a subscription service that sends all the goodies straight to your door 1x per month or weekly. You can use Emma’s code to get 3 bowls for free if you’d like to try it for yourself: Click here.
• Veggies Sliced –  I love eating bell peppers.. and I think they are great snacks when dipped in low-fat ranch! One thing we always have in our fridge is a ton of bell peppers in a variety of colors. I try to eat one every day.

Emma 

• Carrots and Pickles – Okay.. I am so addicted to both carrots and pickles. They are the best snack because I get lots of flavor without all the insane amounts of calories. I definitely try to portion this snack out and put them in a bowl beforehand to help me not overeat!
• Boiled Eggs – I love this snack because eggs are so easy to make and I find them delicious. Add a little pepper on top for added flavor.
• String Cheese – I try not to eat tons of dairy because my body isn’t in love with it.. but I really like the occasional string cheese for a snack. Already portioned out, and easy to grab.. plus it’s full of protein.
• Apple Slices with Peanut Butter – Pretty self-explanatory.. I love eating apples with PB. Justin’s Peanut Butter is my favorite to top my apples. So good!
• Daily Harvest Bowls, Soups, Smoothies – Like my mom, I’m basically addicted to these suckers. The subscription box format is SO easy for me to just receive them in the mail each month, and I can pick and choose from so many options. If I don’t like something, I can simply switch it out with something different the next month, which I really like. If you want to try it.. you can get 3 bowls for free! Click here to check them out.

Delicious bowls/smoothies from Daily Harvest. So yum! 

Fave “Desserts”:

We both say this with a grain of salt, because if you’re really trying to lose weight then you shouldn’t eat much dessert however… from time to time, it’s perfectly fine to have a few bites of something. Everything in moderation. We love Halo Top ice cream, (especially Oatmeal Cookie.. seriously so good) and the Enlightened Sea Salt & Caramel Ice Cream Bars – because they are only 80 calories per bar and it has high-protein like halo top!

This post was so fun to write.. I don’t think we ever realized all of the different things we like to eat in a day that are easy to make, delicious and healthy.  We may even steal some ideas from one other. ;)

xo,
Kristy and Emma