Quick nutritious meals

Question
I am a busy working mom.  I am looking for easy lunches and snack ideas.  I eat fruit for breakfast but are unsure of a HEALTHY snack bar or frozen lunch.  I know salads and turkey/chicken...are great ideas for lunch but I have little time to prepare.  I know of a lot of wonderful healthy meals and snacks but cannot find time to get it all together.  I would love to eat the frozen Lean Quizean (sp?) or something but look at the LONG list of ingredients which is never good.  I have a digestion issues so I need things with little preservatives and additives.  I also know of healthy snacks but sometimes I just want to grab a bar of something.  Any ideas?  Are the frozen meals really healthy?  Is there a bar that is low in fat, healthy and something that won't leave me hungry in an hour?  Thank you so much.

Answer
Hi Tammy,

Yes, I have lots of ideas for you. Many of my clients are also busy working moms who want healthy ideas for themselves and their families.

Let抯 start with breakfast. For more nutrition, I suggest whole grain cereal, skim milk and berries. Whole grain breakfast cereals, fruits and vegetables are all important dietary sources of antioxidants. When selecting cereals, breads, and crackers, choose whole grains and you may actually increase your life span. Among 12,000 people followed by University of Minnesota researchers, those who ate three servings of whole grains a day were 23% more likely to still be alive by the end of the 11-year study than those who ate none.

Children and adults who eat whole grain breakfast cereal, are less likely to be overweight than their counterparts who skip breakfast, as eating breakfast cereal promotes the feeling of being full for longer so reducing mid-morning cravings for fatty snacks. Other evidence also suggests those who eat cereal for breakfast have a considerably lower body mass index compared to people who skip breakfast or eat other foods, such as meats or eggs.

In regards to bar ideas?I抦 not a big fan of eating 揵ars?often for a meal or snack. Once in awhile they are okay. But I抎 prefer to see you try to come up with a list of 搑eal food?meal and snack ideas. But for that rare occasion when you do want a bar here are some options. This is a list I have put together based on either taste and/or nutrition.

Barbara抯 Natural
Health Valley Bakes; Breakfast Bakes; Fruit Bars
Kashi Trail Mix Granola Bar
Health Valley Wild Berry Granola Bar
Nature Valley Peanut Butter Granola Bar
Kellogg抯 All-Bran Bar Brown Sugar Cinnamon
Nature Valley peanut-butter granola bars
Quaker Low Fat Granola Bars, Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chunk
Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Fruit & Nut
Balance Outdoor Honey Almond
Balance Bar Gold, Caramel Nut Blast
South Beach Living High Protein Peanut Butter Cereal Bar
Clif Bar Chocolate Almond Fudge; Apricot, Carrot Cake, Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch
Detour Caramel Peanut-Best Protein Bar-tastes like candy but 15 g Protein, 170 calories
EAS Myoplex Lite, Peanut Caramel Crisp
EAS Myoplex Deluxe (protein Bar)
Genisoy Nature Grains
Jenny Craig Oatmeal Raisin
Oasis bars from Balance
PowerBar chocolate
ProZone Cashew Almond Crunch
Slim-Fast Chewy Chocolate Nougat Snack Bar
Snicker抯 Marathon, Multi grain Crunch
South Beach Diet Cranberry Almond Cereal Bar
TwinLab Soy Sensations
Balance Go Mix Energy Snack Mix
Tri-O-Plex Meal Replacement Bar

For lunch and dinner, again, instead of relying mostly on pre-made food, I抎 like to see you come up with a repertoire of real foods. Occasionally the frozen healthy foods are okay, especially when paired with additional vegetables and fruit as accompaniments.

Here are some meal ideas:
Lunch:
Be sure to use whole-grain breads and low-fat spread such as mustard or fat-free mayonnaise. Here are some healthy sandwich ideas that beat a double cheeseburger any day for nutrition and taste. Add a bottle of flavored soda water and a piece of fruit:
?  Boca Burger or Garden Burger. Put the frozen burger patty on a small paper plate and put into a quart size bag. At lunchtime just pop the burger on the plate into the microwave. Accompany with a crunchy apple.
?  Tuna salad made with low fat mayo and Triscuits.
?  Red pepper hummus and lettuce on whole-wheat bread.
?  Smoked turkey breast, Provolone, lettuce and pesto on pumpernickel.
?  Low-fat cheddar cheese, honey mustard and apple slices on cinnamon raisin bread.
?  Fat-free refried black beans, avocado slices and tomatoes rolled up in a whole wheat tortilla.
?  Whole grain bread spread with mustard, topped with lean ham and lettuce.
?  Whole-grain crackers, string cheese, nectarine, pear, grapes or an apple.
?  Tofu salad (make your own or buy at local natural foods store) with veggies on whole-grain roll.
?  Herbed low-fat cheese spread, sliced cucumber and parsley on a bagel.
Dinner:
?  Make an English-muffin pizza. Spread each half with pizza sauce, top with a slice of mozzarella or Provolone from the deli, sprinkle on some Italian seasoning and broil it in the toaster oven. Accompany with a bottle of juice.
?  Heat a Bocaburger or Gardenburger  in the microwave and put it on a whole-grain bun with lettuce or sprouts and add baby carrot sticks, dried fruit and soda water
?  Fill pita bread with fat-free tuna or salmon salad (made up ahead of time) and fresh spinach or romaine lettuce; take along a soymilk or juice box and fig-filled cookies.
?  Split and toast a French baguette under a broiler. On one half of the toasted bread pile on Granny Smith apple slices, turkey slices and then sliced smoked cheddar cheese. Return to the broiler until the cheese is bubbly. Meanwhile, spread the other half of the bread with honey mustard. Pop the two halves together and eat warm.
?  Make dinner a wrap. Fill your favorite flavored wrap with low-fat cheese, deli meat and sprouts, or use a wrap to eat up your leftovers. For example, for a Mexican wrap, fill it with leftover grilled chicken and add a few fresh cilantro leaves, tomato slices and lettuce.

And take a look at my blog on Dinners for Busy People for more ideas.  http://blog.myactivenutrition.com/2010/07/dinners-for-busy-people/

And my website http://myactivenutrition.com has some recipe ideas that your whole family might enjoy, like Pizza Rice Casserole.

I hope this helps!
Maria

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