As someone that is always on the go, I can’t tell you how hard it’s been to consistently eat healthy. My schedule is pretty erratic (I balance full-time retail work, blogging, photography + blog consulting clients, in addition to seeing friends/family), so I’m always trying to fit a meal in when I can. What this means is, more times than not I grab something quick + easy (aka unhealthy), and then I spend the rest of the day regretting what I ate (it was sooo good but sooo bad) and vowing to clean up my act.

Earlier in the summer I unintentionally went on a health kick, though, and for that month that I paid more attention to what I ate I absolutely loved how I felt. While I fell off the wagon for a bit, there were a few benefits that came from it that I’m still reaping so I’m easing back into cleaner eating before it’s too late.

Clean eating isn’t a diet, it’s moreso a lifestyle change, so IMO, it’s much easier to maintain. You can still enjoy delicious food, but you eat smaller portions throughout the day, avoid process/refined foods as much as you can, drink more water, and do meal prep when time permits. I actually love fruits and veggies, but it’s been harder for me to prepare my own meals because of the time periods I’m at home (sorry, but I’m not cooking dinner at 2 a.m.), so I took a realistic look at the foods that I can eat at any given moment, my schedule, and decided to (reasonably) stock my fridge + pantry with those items instead of trying to do a complete overhaul and waste my money and food.

One meal that I can always eat is organic Greek yogurt, granola, and berries. Greek yogurt is filled with vitamins, protein (which personally keeps me from getting hangry), and probiotics, so that coupled with fresh berries (which satiates my sweet tooth) and granola (fiber) keeps me full without feeling sluggish.

It’s a meal that can also double as a snack when needed, so a lot of times, I’ll sub this in over something heavier and still be good to go. Instead of buying the smaller, individual packs, I decided to buy the bigger tub and found that I actually consume that one quicker. Maybe because it forces to me stop just for a moment to prepare the bowl, but I prefer it now and save money.

I also stopped trying to buy 50/11 types of fruit (which went to waste) and stick with what I’ll actually consume unless I have a craving for it: blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, bananas, pineapples, and the occasional orange, apple, or grapes. The berries + citrus fruits all work well in salads too, so I can dump all of those in a bowl of spinach, grape tomatoes, and chicken with a vinaigrette dressing if I want a different meal. There are other foods that I buy as well (I’ll share more of those later), but I’ve found that this one meal/snack replacement during that month inadvertently helped me lose weight and controlled my cravings for sweets, so I’m putting it back into rotation as we head into the holiday season and I have more downtime to actually cook at home. I’ll still grab food on the go, but something about this small meal change made a huge impact on my choices.

What’s your favorite healthy snack? Do you even like healthy food? How often do you do meal prep? Comment below!

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