Fruits and Nuts for Fuel
Image by Iana Knak
Hello dear readers! My name is Iana Knak and I have been living a healthy lifestyle for quite a long time. I love sports and eating well. Now I’m here to share some of my experience with you.
So, let’s start talking about “food,” “eating,” and “healthy options” as a lifestyle. We’ll start with the ingredients we have available at home and a simple healthy recipe. What do you normally have in stock at your home? During the week, I work full-time, train almost every evening during weekdays. Over the weekends, along with taking care of my house and other personal matters, I also manage long trainings and organize life for the week to come. Getting organized means planning what I’m going to eat too. In order to eat well during the week, it’s imperative that every Saturday I reserve one hour to do my grocery shopping.
My favorite stop is the Farmer’s Market that’s open in my town every Thursday and Saturday. Don’t worry if your town offers one or not; today, most grocery stores, globally speaking, offer an incredible variety of colourful and healthy products.
At the market, I usually prefer what’s in season. For example, now that warmer days are coming, I buy asparagus, strawberries, bananas, sweet grape tomatoes, oranges, melon, apples, bananas, kiwi, pineapples, nice green lettuce, and more.
When you do your grocery shopping, choose fresh and easy ingredients that can last a week. Wash your fresh produce as soon as you get at home and store it correctly. Calculate what you need for one week to prevent extra trips to the store and, most importantly, to not waste nutritious food by having to throw it out because it went bad.
Once I have everything cleaned and properly stored, I plan the week’s meals, from breakfast to dinner. I don’t choose anything too demanding or time consuming.
For easy breakfast, snacks or pre-training, it’s good to have yogurt, grains (like quinoa flakes, chia seed, and amaranth), and all sort of nuts, like Brazil nuts, walnuts, and almonds. These ingredients combine quite well with fruits for a tasty and nutritious small meal.
One of my favorite combinations for warmer days is this easy and fresh “level 1” recipe, combining the fruits from my Farmer’s Market, yogurt, seeds and nuts. It’s a true energy boost for your day. Here’s how to prepare:
In a bowl, mix:
- 1 chopped banana
- 5 chopped strawberries
- 1 chopped kiwi
Add:
- 1 small yogurt of your choice (in this recipe, I used a strawberry lactose-free yogurt)
- 1 tbsp. of black chia seed
- 4 whole walnuts
This simple and quick combination brings you nutrition and is a great source of energy for your day. The protein contained in the yogurt, combined with nuts, reduces the glycemic index from the fruits, making you to feel satiated longer. Give it a try! Even those of us who are not diabetic can benefit from keeping our morning blood sugar levels down. Certain morning rituals can help us do that.
It may be a cliché, but it’s very true: there are no miracles or magic pills. Health is where you find equilibrium between work, exercising, and eating well regularly.
Keep following us here and we’ll continue to share easy and healthy recipes. We’ll also be happy to read your comments and ideas about living a healthy lifestyle.
