10 Tips on How to Get Rid of “Boring” from your Healthy Meals
10 Tips on How to get Rid of “Boring” from your Healthy Meals
Do you think that healthy eating is boring? If you think so, don’t worry about admitting it to yourself because you are not alone in that kind of thinking. Sometimes, PR is to be blamed for such thoughts because if you are new to healthy eating, it can bring to mind images of unappetizing food and a boring plate of veggies with bland-looking strips of chicken breasts next to some seasonal fruit. Whole grains, protein, fruits, and vegetables are all part of a balanced diet but it doesn’t mean they are all that you can eat. You also do not have to just stick with banana and plain oatmeal for breakfast.
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There are so many ways by which you can banish boring from your meals and you just gotta have the right strategy. Think about whole foods like a blank canvas where you can paint in exciting textures and flavors. You just need to target your senses and maximize the delectability of healthy meals enough that you will want to have them over and over again. Besides, eating is about the senses but not just the sense of taste but also sight, touch, smell, and sound. They all affect your eating experience and how you enjoy your food. Remember that you can have Shakeology too and it’s a very delicious and healthy way to jazz up your usual meals.
- Rewire your taste buds
Your number one motivation for choosing your favorite food over the others is how good they taste on your mouth. Taste is key to your full appreciation of healthy food. You see, you got 10,000 taste buds that give you all that pleasure. However, they are wired to like salty, sweet, and rich, fatty foods because of the calories and nutrients they contain that are compatible with your survival as a human being. Some Yale researchers were able to illustrate this better in a study they conducted on mice that were genetically bred not to have the ability to taste the sweetness in what’s served to them. As such, they did not have any preference for sugar water over water that was plain at first.
After a few days however, they have learned to prefer sugar water and it was attributed to the fact that the sugar water came with a prized reward in the form of calories. Aside from this, the sugar water prompted a release of dopamine every time they drank it as dopamine is influential in the brain’s reward-motivated behavior. While human beings are far more complex than mice, there is wisdom to be gained from this experiment and that is you can rewire your taste preferences to like healthy food over your favorites that are not that healthy. Rewire your taste buds to prefer healthy food and healthy eating will become a more pleasurable experience for you.
- Observe your sense of smell
Your sense of smell goes hand in hand with your sense of taste to create the most delicious of flavors. While you can enjoy five kinds of tastes including bitter, umami, sour, sweet, and salty, thousands of smells exist that help with recognizing what you are eating. Interestingly, your sense of smell can also be valuable in helping your brain decide whether it should be burning or storing calories. The researchers from UC Berkeley did a mice experiment and found out that those whose smelling abilities were removed had the ability to stay trim even if they were consuming a high-fat diet in comparison with those who consumed the same amount but with normal smelling abilities. While this is new science, you can observe your sense of smell and how it affects your eating habits as this experiment can be the basis for weight loss regimens in the future when applied to humans.
- Make it tasty on the touch
The sense of touch is translated to texture when it comes to eating. The texture of food is very influential in making you want to eat them. In fact, most comfort foods are comforting to you because of either their crispy or creamy textures. You know crispiness in your favorite fries, chips, or cookies. And ice cream, cheese, or avocado are what you often seek to indulge in because of their creaminess. As such, have both crispy and creamy textures translated into your healthy food and you won’t know the difference with your old, unhealthy eating habits. Must-try recipes include green tea ice cream, triple chocolate Shakeology, baked corn tortilla chips with guacamole, and oven-baked crispy chicken.
- Feast your eyes with color
One of the primary factors that make you want to eat something can be attributed to how they look. Your sense of sight definitely counts because you eat with your eyes just as much with your mouth. Dr. Brian Wansink is from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and what he found was that when people’s plates have the same color with the food they are eating, they are more likely to over-serve themselves. To make healthy eating desirable for you, add different colors to your cooking and make it more exciting.
- Take control of the sound
Your eating experience can also be highly influenced by your sense of hearing and the sounds you hear with your food and the sounds around you as you eat. You have probably noticed how you don’t like eating limp bacon or soggy fries and much of it can be attributed to sound. Soggy and limp means that there is no more of the crunchiness and crispiness nor the sound they make with each bite you take so they become less appealing to you. Over time, people have associated crunchiness with freshness and this is why the sound that you make when you eat something fresh and crunchy has become important to you. Even food manufacturers have taken advantage of this appeal as they sell more chips, pretzels, chocolate chip cookies and pretzels that also tickle your sense of hearing. In your case, you can capitalize on the attractiveness of healthy food by making them appeal to your sense of hearing – think baked zucchini fries with a lot of crispy crunch. Likewise, it is important to take control of the sound around you when you are gorging on healthy food. Lessen the noise around you that can depress or distract your enjoyment over your healthier meals.
- Go full-flavored
Salad or cheese burger? Now that you are determined to eat healthy, then you will want to choose the salad over the burger. The trick is to go full-flavored on your salad to make you want to enjoy them. You see a full-flavored salad may have 500 calories in it but then again, cheese burgers typically have 800 calories in them so it is still a much better choice in favor of healthy eating. Go ahead and toss in tons of vegetables, light dressing, flavorful toppings, and protein to satisfy your senses and provide you with all the essential nutrients.
At first, it can look like it’s counterintuitive as you are simply adding calories just to have your veggies but you are actually jazzing it up without forgetting about your weight loss goals. You just need to be smart about all the things that you toss in there and skip those calorie bombs including candied nuts. Watch your portion sizes closely and use spices for depth and flavor. Go for a creamy dill dressing to jazz up your leafy greens or try healthier versions of the ranch.
- Try new cooking techniques
There are so many ways to cook eggs and certainly, you can try different cooking techniques to make your usual meals excitingly different. If you’ve always had broiled fish, baked chicken, or hard-boiled eggs, then it’s time to experiment with new recipes. Switch things up and concoct mouthwatering meals with different flavors and smell that enhance the tastes of your healthy food. Instead of your usual broiled fish, try a Hawaiian Salmon and oven-poach fish to keep it moist and flavorful. You can keep nuking broccoli in your microwave but you can also steam it in your stove. Do some slow-cooker mushroom and herbs or roast your broccoli with some peanuts. Grill some corn with lime and chili and cheese. Whatever you do, do it differently then, enjoy.
- Experiment with flavor
Your pantry is your best friend when it comes to eating healthy and banishing boring from it. Salt and pepper are not the only flavorings your pantry can contain. You can learn to flavor with other spices and herbs to whip up tastier and healthier meals. Such flavor agents make your usual ingredients and meals seem like a different cuisine. You might even enjoy it as you let your taste buds experience varying flavors. For instance, your Plain Jane chicken can be turned into an Italian exotic meal with oregano and rosemary or make it Asian with ginger and soy sauce. If you are a beginner, it can be a bit overwhelming, so start with some of the basics. If you want to make it extra savory, try adding paprika, thyme, cayenne pepper, chili powder, rosemary, oregano and curry powder. To make it sweet, go for cinnamon, vanilla extract, nutmeg, and cocoa powder. Have fun!
- Zest it up
Healthy eating can be so much fun when you know how to zest up your usual dishes. Forget about your usual extra salt and squeeze some lemon juice or lime juice over your dishes to brighten it up as well as enhance its flavors. You will find that it becomes more appetizing to eat and you won’t get tired of having your healthy recipes over again. You can also replace your usual vinegar with lemon for your marinades or salad dressings. A good trick would be to invest in a zester and try working lemon peel into your meat dishes or desserts. You will certainly enjoy the lemony smell too. And what about some garlic lemon chicken thighs?
- Learn to plate like a pro
You don’t have to be a chef to perfect the art of plating. You can just be a health buff who is determined at banishing boring from your meals. Plate it up and pretty it up and you will be motivated to enjoy your meals more. Toss different veggies, fruits, or whole grains and arrange them like a pro. You will not only add color to your food but increase its nutritional value as well. Let your creative powers out and concoct your very own sweet potato egg cups. Have you ever placed your salad in a mason jar or wrapped around turkey with some lettuce? Well, what are you waiting for?
Are you ready to lose weight, build muscle, or feel more fit? Join Beachbody On Demand, and get unlimited access to Beachbody’s world-famous programs, including 80 Day Obsession, 21 Day FIX®, Insanity, P90X® and 100’s more. Don’t miss out on your chance for amazing results. Sign up today!
