You are busy. You are earning loads of money. Your life is exciting. Your life is fun. But, is your life healthy? Is your life taking a toll on your body? These are important questions you must answer because life in the first lane will come to a screeching halt if you don’t take care of your health.
Here’s a statistic that highlights the need for a healthy lifestyle – typically the first heart attack strikes men at the age of 65, comparatively women experience their first heart attack at an average age of 72.
Your diet can be the difference between a healthy yet fast lifestyle and a disease impacted life.
If these figures have you worried, you should be, but there is a hack – it is the food you eat.
Let’s take a look at six foods that will help you crack the fast lane code. Live your life and eat healthily – that should be your motto:
1. Eat Fish – Nutritious and Tasty
Your body needs a substantial protein intake, which helps you build muscles. Protein also helps build immunity. In your quest to eat protein, fish will be a worthy friend. Salmon, mackerel (specifically Atlantic mackerel) and trout should be on your food list.
High on Omega-3 fats and rich in protein, these are foods that will help you stay ‘lean and mean’. If you get bored you can mix these up with their crustacean counterparts such as crabs, lobster, and shrimp.
There are plenty of delicious, easy to make recipes out there that you can make in a jiffy, which means this food doesn’t eat into your ‘me time’.
2. Chicken and Turkey – Protein Champion
Do you know what’s the easiest healthy dish to put on your table? Grilled chicken or turkey breast with some grilled veggies.
These aren’t too expensive and they are lean meats. Also, you don’t have to be a great cook, to prepare a healthy chicken or turkey dish. Again the idea here is to pair chicken or turkey with some veggies like green vegetables, carrots, and potato.
A word of caution here – stay away from fried chicken or turkey. There is no doubt that you will crave a bit of a juicy fried chicken leg at some point of time in the week, but the trick to good health is to ignore such craving.
3. Assorted Nuts – Munch and Stay Healthy
A normal day for you would be being super busy, so much so that you don’t get enough time to take care of your diet. What do you do in that case?
Well, the easiest option is to snack on assorted nuts, not fried mind you, but roasted (unsalted) or just as is. Nuts give your body the energy it so desperately needs and they are high on fat (the good sort of fat), fiber and protein content.
But remember, too much of a good thing can result in health issues, so eat nuts but try out different healthy snacks as well; e.g. eat nuts on Monday, pack some dried fruit to the office on Tuesday and fresh fruits on Wednesday.
You get the drift.
4. Milk – A No Brainer isn’t It?
We know milk is an amazing source of calcium, which is an essential requirement for healthy bones, but how many of us actually make an effort to drink a glass of milk every day.
“Oh but I add milk to my cuppa coffee”, isn’t going to cut it.
Milk is also an excellent source of potassium, which can reduce blood pressure and risk of heart disease.
Milk is an ideal breakfast item and can be paired with corn flakes or just drunk on its own. There is no substitute for fresh milk and there isn’t really the right time to drink a glass of milk. You could have it in the morning, or just before you go to bed, or sometime in the afternoon or evening.
Take your pick.
5. Broccoli – No Don’t Turn Up Your Nose
We know there aren’t too many takers for broccoli, but it is great food and if you give it a chance, you might just like it. The great thing about broccoli is that they pair well with just about any food whether chicken, turkey, fish or even other veggies.
You can toss them in a salad, add them to your pasta sauce or can make them a part of a sautéed vegetable recipe.
This vegetable is packed to the brim with a range of vitamins, minerals, and other bioactive compounds that together impact your body in wonderful healthy ways. Ignore this vegetable at your own risk.
6. Fruits
Nothing beats the health benefits of fruit, any fruit for that matter.
What’s more, there isn’t any cooking involved with fruit, you just buy them and eat them; it’s hassle-free, tasty, healthy, what more do you need? These are packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that keep your body in shipshape.
If you really want to experiment (an easy experiment), you can prepare a fruit salad or a salad with fruits and veggies; or if you want to go the whole experimental hog, use fruits in your chicken or turkey dishes. The options are practically infinite.
Fast Lane Mean Fast Food – The Healthy Kind
One reason why you might be giving up on food that is good for you is that you don’t have time to rustle up some grub. You are looking for food on the go and which you can eat quickly; but the foods listed here, won’t take up much of your time and therein lies the charm.
So, you are eating healthy food, without really putting too much pressure on yourself. The only effort required will be to buy this food and cook it. And cooking these food options won’t talk up a lot of your time.
At the end of the day, you need to make a choice – eat healthily and stay fit or eat a quick fix unhealthy meal and face the consequences. Choosing the former makes a great deal of sense.
Author Bio –
Siddhi Panchal is a food blogger at CookingwithSiddhi and food aficionado who loves to cook. Her cooking skills cover a range of Indian and international cuisines. Her aim is to enable other food enthusiasts to explore their love for food by helping them cook delectable dishes from India and around the world. Follow her on YouTube.
