Tips for Healthy Meals on a Busy Schedule

March is Nation­al Nutri­tion Month. This year’s theme is ​“Per­son­al­ize Your Plate.” Ang­ie Zanger-Geisel­man, Nutri­tion Ser­vices Coor­di­na­tor and Reg­is­tered Dietit­ian with Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG), offers some tips to help you keep nutri­tion a priority.

“I sug­gest meal plan­ning on the week­ends. Make up a list of five to six meal ideas that you can have for the fol­low­ing week and write them down some­where, so you can uti­lize them when you are busy and not sure what to cook,” she shared.

Once you have your meal ideas, Zanger-Geisel­man said you can do your gro­cery shop­ping and have the food prepped and ready to go when Mon­day comes around. To help on those busy nights, she sug­gests always hav­ing two to three pro­tein items thaw­ing in the refrig­er­a­tor, and uti­liz­ing an InstaPot or Crock­pot to cut down on prep time.

When plan­ning meals, Zanger-Geisel­man rec­om­mends hav­ing three dif­fer­ent items at each meal with one being a pro­tein source and one item being an item of col­or, mean­ing a fruit or vegetable.

“Be sure to include foods that you pre­fer from each food group. A vari­ety of foods can help you get all of the nutri­ents that are need­ed for good health,” she said.

She offers the fol­low­ing tips to get you started:

• Fill half your plate with fruits and veggies.
• Exper­i­ment with dif­fer­ent grains. Try sub­sti­tut­ing whole grains for refined grains in recipes.
• Choose lean pro­tein foods. Vary your choic­es to include seafood, beans, peas and lentils, as well as eggs, lean cuts of meat, and poul­try that are pre­pared in a health­ful way, such as baked or grilled instead of fried.
• Com­plete your meal with dairy. Include low-fat or fat-free options like milk, yogurt, cheese, or cal­ci­um-for­ti­fied soymilk.

A reg­is­tered dietit­ian can help you and your fam­i­ly with your nutri­tion goals. QMG has two reg­is­tered dieti­tians as part of its Nutri­tion Ser­vices team who are here to help you with yours.

“Whether you want to lose weight, low­er your health-risks or man­age a chron­ic dis­ease, we’re here for you. Reg­is­tered dietit­ian nutri­tion­ists can help you by pro­vid­ing sound, easy-to-fol­low per­son­al­ized nutri­tion advice,” Zanger-Geisel­man stated.

At QMG, ser­vices offered include med­ical nutri­tion ther­a­py and weight loss or gain education.

“We see peo­ple for a lot of dif­fer­ent con­di­tions includ­ing, but not lim­it­ed to, dia­betes, heart health, kid­ney dis­ease, food aller­gies, eat­ing dis­or­ders, enter­al feed­ings, weight loss, and weight gain,” she explained.

For more infor­ma­tion or to sched­ule an appoint­ment, call (217) 222‑6550, ext. 3481 or vis­it https://​quin​cymed​group​.com/med….