How to Eat Healthy....Even if You Don't Like to Cook

Learn how to eat healthy meals all the time even if you don't enjoy cooking (or don't know how!)

Lots of people don't like - or don't even know how - to cook. Personally I can't stand it. Plus, the few things I actually know how to cook - an egg and cheese omelette for example - aren't sufficiently exciting to make me want to do it more than once or twice per week.

Like many people, I depend on local restaurants and take-out for many of my meals. Especially at night - when I'm exhausted and have absolutely no desire to prepare food (or clean up afterward) - I usually head on over to one of my favorite burger or Mexican joints. The food is good and, obviously, very convenient. But it's also usually more than a little fattening.

The problem with not cooking your own meals, of course, is that it's much harder to control what you're eating. The fast food industry preys on the millions of people who just want a tasty meal quickly and with a minimum of inconvenience.

But, as we all know by now, fast food is not very good for you at all. Even many of the 'healthier' options now offered have hidden diet dangers. Example: Most fast-food salads contain more total fat than the average cheeseburger.

Fortunately, there are several good, healthy options for those of us who don't like or don't know how to cook. Here are some of the best:

1. The 'Fitness Model's Secret': Every Sunday night cook a week's worth of chicken breasts, lean steak, low-fat tuna salad, frozen vegetables, brown rice, etc. Create mini-meals by combining the ingredients into 21 small Tupperware containers (3 per day). Put a few in the refrigerator and the rest in the freezer. Use spices and healthy dressings for better taste. Voila.....a week's worth of super-healthy 'instant' take-with-you re-heatable meals. Yes, this requires some cooking and preparing, but only once per week!

For more good fitness model 'secrets' take a look at Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat ebook

2. 'Really' Healthy Fast Food: Because of the recent low-carb explosion, it actually is possible to find relatively-healthy options at most restaurants, even fast food joints. Currently my favorite option is the 'naked' burrito at my local taco shop. It's basically a burrito with pinto beans, grilled chicken, lots of tomato, onions, and salsa, a little avocado/guacamole.....and no tortilla. Since I leave out the rice and tortilla it's actually a very healthy, weight loss-friendly 'low carb' convenience meal.

Even McDonald's and Burger King now offer bun-less hamburgers, although the benefits of eating high-fat, low-grade beef -- with or without a bun -- are questionable at best. No matter what, with a little bit of research (and a willingness to relentlessly question the people working at the restaurant regarding nutritional info) you can usually find healthy food options just about anywhere these days.

3. NutriSystem: Even though I'd heard about several success stories from people who've used the NutriSystem weight loss program, I never suggested it before because I just didn't 'agree' with the way they made their pre-packaged meals.

Basically, many of their meals contained a good amount of high glycemic carbs (as do most of the popular pre-packaged 'weight loss' meals, shakes, and bars). I've always felt that - even though it is possible to lose weight with them - the effect high-glycemic, sugar-based foods have on your overall health makes them something to avoid.

Well, NutriSystem has not only stopped using high-glycemic ingredients but, now, their entire program is based on 'good carbs'. I predict that their new healthier meals are going to catch on big time with people who don't like to cook.