Hands and mouths stained dark from fresh-picked berries, the taste of sun-warmed tomatoes plucked straight from the garden — these are the parts of summer we dream about all winter long — especially if you’re cooped up in an office, building your dream business. Unfortunately, reality doesn’t always line up with our plans. When everyone is busy doing their own thing, it’s easy to turn to fast food and highly processed groceries.
Your family’s diet affects more than your waistlines. Wholesome, nutrient-rich foods are essential for children and adults alike. Diet plays a key role in mental and behavioral health. For kids, a healthy diet improves cognition, concentration, and behavior. Adults also enjoy healthier, glowing skin, more balanced moods, improved cognition, and higher energy levels when they’re getting the right nutrition.
That’s why it’s so important to still eat well when life gets chaotic. Even if you don’t have time to sit down for family dinners, it’s possible to get your family the nutrition they need to thrive. This summer, keep your family’s eating on track no matter how busy life gets with these tips from Shirley Conlon Organics.
Keep Mealtime Simple
There’s no need to cook three-course dinners in the dead of summer when everyone would rather be splashing in the pool. Not to mention, cooking and cleaning in a hot kitchen is hardly a pleasant experience. Keep dinners simple, like tacos with a corn and black bean salad, grilled chicken with roasted summer vegetables, some yogurt-avocado guacamole, or one of Self.com’s healthy summer recipes.
Create Variety with Seasonal Produce
If you’re bored of eating the same meals over and over, look to seasonal fruits and vegetables for inspiration. Whether sourced from your backyard garden or the local farmers market, summer offers a bounty of tomatoes, squash, sweet corn, green beans, okra, melons, and other hot weather favorites. When you eat seasonally and locally, your food doesn’t just taste better; as the University of Washington explains, fruits and vegetables start losing nutrients soon after they’re picked. That means the fresher your food, the better it is for you.
Snack Out of the Garden
When your kids are hungry, do they reach for a bag of chips, or do they bite into a strawberry fresh from the garden? While kids aren’t always enthusiastic about store-bought produce, kids who garden tend to eat more fruits and vegetables than their peers. While you might not meet all of your family’s produce needs with a backyard garden, growing a small garden is a wonderful way to provide kids with a colorful assortment of healthy snacks.
Eat Outside
To a kid, heading indoors for dinner is an unwanted interruption from play. But take that same meal outside and kids are less likely to feel like they’re being ripped away from the fun. If you struggle to get your kids to cooperate at dinnertime, try serving the meal outside. Set up a picnic table with a shade umbrella and use The Kitchn’s tips to keep pesky flies away from your plate.
Supplement with Vitamins
Despite your best efforts, keeping your whole family well-fed with high-quality foods doesn’t always happen. There will be days where you eat too much pasta and pizza and not enough vegetables, especially if you’re traveling or on vacation. However, you shouldn’t let off days impact your family’s overall nutrition. Use supplements to close the gap when diet alone isn’t meeting your nutritional needs.
Go for Extra
Beyond a healthy diet, busy families still need to work on drinking plenty of water and getting plenty of exercise. These elements are crucial for health inside and out. Find easy ways to incorporate extra physical activity into your daily life, whether it’s evening walks or short, daily workouts. And if everyone has a favorite reusable water bottle to tote around, they’ll always have water on hand.
The importance of a good diet can’t be overstated, especially for busy parents who are entrepreneurs. Eating well is key for developing strong and balanced minds. While your family’s meal routine might relax a bit over the hot summer months, choosing healthy, nutritious foods is just as important in the summer as the rest of the year.
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