   For all of my food lovers whether you are a healthy food enthusiast or a sweet tooth junky, food is truly the one thing that can bring everyone together, hence Thanksgiving. There are a variety of foods to try and it’s important to keep an open mind while considering them. Texture, taste, and smell are some of the factors that attract us to foods so it can be easy to politely decline new “mystery dishes”. However, you may miss out on mouth-watering recipes so instead of turning down new food, step out of your comfort zone and try something new. It may become your new favorite food addiction.
   Personally, I am attracted to all types of foods, especially fruits and vegetables. I try to maintain a nutritious and well-balanced diet by incorporating fruits and vegetables into the majority of it. Think about when you were younger and Mom always tried to force-feed you celery sticks or cut up pieces of an apple as a snack. If you were like me and cringed at the thought of vegetables and fruits, then developing a habit of eating fruits and vegetables on a daily basis now can be challenging. But here is where Mom messed up, instead of serving fruits and vegetables as is, she could’ve spiced things up a little by blending them together, adding toppings, etc. This is where most people give up trying to make their diet cleaner and healthier – they don’t know how to make “healthy food” delicious and alluring to them. Some of my favorite snacks are fruit smoothies, peanut butter or cream cheese-filled fruit platters, and sweet potatoes. Why spend money at Smoothie King when you can make your own smoothie at home for less?Â
   Grab your favorite fruits, three tablespoons of low fat vanilla Greek yogurt (or your preferred type of yogurt), a ¼ cup of milk (I use unsweetened or vanilla-flavored almond milk), and a blender. Homemade smoothies are the easiest and simplest form of meeting your fruits and dairy intake and is fulfilling. My favorite smoothie combinations are strawberry and bananas and bananas and peanut butter. May I also note for my gym lovers, banana and peanut butter smoothies make an excellent post-workout snack and are a great source of protein? Aside from fruits, vegetables can make an appetizing snack as well. Sweet potatoes are naturally sweet foods but with a small additional amount of brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter, it becomes a heavenly snack or even side item for a dish. For more ways to transform healthy foods into a more pleasing and enjoyable snack, Youtube and the website, “Taste of Home”, offers an array of enticing suggestions.
   Now that snacks have been covered, let’s move on to meals. Have you ordered take out so much you began to crave a taste for something different… something healthier and fresher? When most people think of a “healthy meal”, more and likely they think of leaves and berries on a salad with a glass of water on the side. That is not a balanced healthy meal. A healthy meal concludes a balanced amount of protein, vegetables, and grains. An ideal balanced meal would be baked fish (protein), grilled or baked asparagus, or steamed broccoli with peppers (vegetables) with white rice (grains). The prep time takes about 20 minutes if you are serving only yourself and the cooking time takes about 30-45 minutes. I would take this dish over take out any day. There are so many recipes that incorporate a sufficient amount of vegetables, protein, and grains to help make your diet cleaner. If you haven’t already, take a trip to the healthy side of the food world. Once you go, it’ll change your diet and outlook on the foods you consume.
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