How many times have you been too tired or too lazy to prepare your meal that you just toss a boxed meal into the microwave or just made the wrong decision of getting take out fast food? Sure, you know you haven’t made a healthy choice, but they’re convenient and very easy. And you have zero time to make a home cooked meal right now.

People of working age need to be more careful about their food choices. After all, we are exposed to dangers of an unhealthy sedentary lifestyle every day, what with sitting for 8 hrs or more and making unhealthy food choices. I’m sure that most of you, as part of your new year’s resolution, vow to be healthier and make healthy lifestyle changes this year.

For all of you fast food junkies out there, here’s some news for you. Eating fast food more than two times a week is linked to significantly more weight gain over time than occasional visits. It can also cause a host of other health problems like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity. A twice a week fast food habit could also triple your health care cost in 10 years. Imagine if you went out for fast food or ate junk every day? How would that impact your health in 10 years? Scary isn’t it?

It is time to make healthier choices. We have to make a conscious decision to eat healthful food and stay away from junk food. After all, most fast food advertisements are not what they’re cut out to be. According to this article by brandongaille.com “84% of the food products that have images which promote healthy eating actually didn’t meet basic nutritional standards. A 2007 study found that 50% of the food products that were advertised with fruit on the packaging contained no fruit ingredients at all.”

It looks like we can’t trust marketing ads that promote “healthy choices.” So what we can do is to prepare healthy meals at home. That way, we can be sure that only fresh and healthy ingredients go into our meals, we can control the salt and sugar added to them, we ensure that no preservatives are added into our food.

Can’t cook? Not to worry, there are a few things that you can prepare that do not need Master Chef levels of cooking skills. A simple veggie stir-fry, most salads, and some pasta and stews require the basic cooking skills. If you can heat water up and stir fry some veggies, you’re ready to go.

Here are a few sample meals that require only a few ingredients and basic cooking skills:

• Breakfast smoothies – throw in your favorite chopped fruit, some yogurt or milk, and some ice into a blender and viola!
• Eggs and Toast – fried, scrambled, sunny side up, or poached,  eggs are a perfect source of protein and protein keeps you full for a longer period.
• Salad – if you have some leftover rotisserie chicken, you should be able to make Chicken Cobb Salad and so much more! (Chicken Sandwich, Chicken Fajitas, Chicken Noodles Soup, etc.)
• Steamed Fish – Steam some fish (Dory fillets are a good idea) and add some light soy sauce and ginger. That is where it gets it flavor.
• Mac and Cheese – why get it from the box when you can make your own healthier version. Cook some macaroni, add some shredded cheese (low fat if you’re watching you weight, add less if you’re watching your dairy intake), and add some milk.
• Snacks – Celery and Carrot sticks in low-fat cheese dip, Almonds, and other nuts, Apples dipped in Crunchy Peanut Butter, Hummus, and Pita Chips, Yogurt, Fruit slices.

If you’re short on time or are doubtful of your cooking skills, these are just some of the things you can prepare quickly in a jiffy. Care to share your favorite healthy food recipe? Stay healthy! And remember to stay humble and hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. – The Help