Lessons I Learned Eating Healthy Choice for Lunch for 3 Months

Yes, I ate a Healthy Choice frozen meal for lunch for the last 3 months while participating in the Better for BlogHer challenge. (disclosure: I was given free coupons from Healthy Choice to purchase the meals). I was worried at first that I would get bored and crave something else. But, instead I found that I really liked knowing what I was going to eat for lunch. Before I started this, I would often skip lunch because I was working and I didn’t know what to make so it was easier to just grab some pretzels and keep working. But, now I stop around Noon and make a Healthy Choice meal which takes just about as long as it does to get the pretzels and Deit Coke out.

Eating a Good Lunch

In the past, my afternoons were often very unproductive. I was tired, drinking way too many Diet Cokes to try to keep my energy up. I found that when I ate a good lunch, I had more energy and I drank less Diet Coke. Who woulda thunk that all the experts were right!!

During the challenge, I had the opportunity to talk with the Healthy Choice nutri­tion expert, Tara Gidus. Here are some of her tips for me:

• Eat light and eat often.
• Eat within an hour of getting up.
• Expose kids to different foods (even if they don’t eat it, offer it)
• Grazing (for kids) is not a bad thing because they are eating light and often keeping levels even throughout the day
• Fruits are a good sweet alternative

Grazing is NOT a Bad Habit

I had asked her about my kids eating all day long which I always saw as a bad thing. She pointed out that eating a little bit of food every few hours (as long as it’s good food) is not a bad thing. That was a critical point for me. I realized then that my kids were naturally following what I was trying to teach myself to do, yet I was scolding them for it. That has made a big difference in my house. I have instead tried to be sure we have healthy options ONLY in the house so that when they are eating every few hours, they are making good choices. I don’t worry so much anymore about how much they are eating at dinner. I want them to learn to eat when they are hungry, NOT when I tell them we are eating. It’s a hard lesson for me.

Positive Changes

Overall, the challenge was very positive for me. I learned some very valuable lessons about how much eating affects our moods every day. I had read it and I sorta believed it, but this challenge had me taking a really close look at how my eating habits changed after I started eating  a better lunch. I also learned that planning meals in advance means you will eat healthier. You don’t stand in front of the pantry trying to find anything that you can prepare quickly because you are starved. I usually end up eating chips and dip.

I urge you try this challenge even if it’s just for a week. Replace one meal with a Healthy Choice meal and see how it changes your day.

disclosure: I was given free coupons from Healthy Choice to purchase the meals. All opinions are my own!

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• Healthy Choice Steaming Entrees: Yum, Yum, Yum! (susanheim.blogspot.com)
• “Blog Tour: Healthy Choice Steaming Entrées” and related posts (confessions-of-a-psychotic-housewife.blogspot.com)
• Healthy Choice Coupon On Facebook – The More You Share, The Higher The Coupon! (consumerqueen.com)
• Healthy Choice (lisacooking.com)