4 Tips for Choosing Convenience Foods
Sometimes life can get very hectic, and home-cooked meals just aren’t really on the table (literally and figuratively). Some packaged foods can be a decent alternative when there’s little time to prep or cook. They can help you get through a hectic period without totally altering your dietary protocol. These four tips can help you navigate choosing healthy convenience food options:
1. Only use packaged foods to fill in the gaps.
While packaged foods have come a long way as far as better ingredients, they still aren’t an optimal choice. Whole, unprocessed foods are going to be a more ideal option especially if you have a chronic condition such as uterine fibroids. However, carefully selected convenience foods can help fill in the gaps for when preparing a meal isn’t really an option. During hectic periods, I typically order 6 meals from the Freshly meal delivery service because it allows me to fill in for lunch and dinner when things get hectic.
2. Look for allergens and inflammatory ingredients.
Inflammatory ingredients such as soy, dairy, and gluten are on my avoid list. They tend to feed fibroids and make symptoms worse. Even when I buy packaged foods, I try to avoid these ingredients. One of the things that I like about Freshly is that it allows you to filter the meal options to avoid these ingredients.
3. Watch the sugar.
Most protein bars will have sugar. It’s almost always unavoidable, however, a few of them don’t have added sugars. Processed sugar is not your friend when it comes to minimizing fibroid symptoms. Look for “added sugars” on the label which is typically located below “Total sugars”.
4. Consider nature’s convenience foods.
Nature has given us convenience foods. They’re called raw fruits and veggies. These are whole foods that you don’t have to worry about deciphering cryptic labels. When you think about it, they’re actually the most convenient of them all.
Check out my Meal Planning Monday post to hear some of my thoughts about pre-packaged foods.
