Healthy Hacks
by Sidney Fry
Nutrition expert and recipe developer Sidney Fry has been creating some delish and healthy food content for JOY magazine, so we asked her for a few of her favorite tricks and tips for eating better every day. Here’s what she shared:
- Double up on your vegetables. If it's a pasta dish, load up on tomatoes or eggplant or mushrooms and onions. On pizza, double the veggies and cut cheese in half.
- Cut sugar by 1/3 to 1/2 in sweet dishes, especially in things like muffins and pancakes and quick breads. Use fruits — shredded apple, mashed banana, or dates — to sweeten them instead.
- Eat a savory breakfast. Most of us intuitively reach for a sugary breakfast without giving it a thought, the obvious items like donuts and honey-sweetened cereal flakes and pastries, but the not-so-obvious too, like yogurt parfaits and instant oatmeal and vanilla lattes. The most unfavorable way to kick off your day (and your gut!) after a 12-hour fast is with sugar. Opt for something savory like avocado on toast, eggs or steel-cut oatmeal with a spoonful of peanut butter instead.
- Buy a sheet pan. Sheet pan dinners are some of my favorites because they only take a few minutes of prep and basically force you to keep dinner simple, healthy and based on whole foods! Plus, all of your cooking is done at once on a single pan. Minimal cleanup!
- Swap whole grains for refined. Ordering takeout? Ask the restaurant if they have whole grain bread or brown rice or quinoa to sub for refined. Most of them do!
- Take time to prep. Taking an hour or so on a Sunday to meal prep is a healthy-living game-changer. Roast a sheet pan of vegetables and cook a pot of quinoa. That alone (with your favorite vinaigrette) can get you through several days of lunches!
Sidney Fry is a two-time James-Beard-Award-winning food and nutrition writer who loves creating simple, healthy recipes and thoughtful, actionable content for the hungry consumer. A healthy living proactivist, Sidney is also a registered dietitian nutritionist, recipe developer and mama of three based in Birmingham, Alabama.