Assumptions:
I am writing for someone who would like to eat healthier. Here are some rules of thumb: what to eat and what to buy (gather).
You might be interested in what works for me. Conversation is welcome.
Lately I've been thinking how lucky I am that I don't need to work, being retired from a full time job. I also feel fortunate to have been health-conscious for, probably, the last 30 years of my life. But to be honest, it is only in the last 10 years that the pieces of what healthy living looks like have started coming together.
As I get better at taking care of myself I also become aware of how different my lifestyle is from most other people that I know. Just so you appreciate my position, it seems like every time I go into the supermarket the number of food items I am willing to buy is shrinking to the equivalent of a tiny store, except that I get to walk hundreds of feet up and down aisles gathering organic kefir and yogurt, and organic eggs, (organic) sourdough bread, to the cooler where the fermented sauerkraut is kept and all the way to the organic produce section.
Another difference between the current me and how it used to be is I'm not tempted to buy anything that isn't good for me. It's not hard to eliminate unhealthy food from my diet, but it is a bit challenging to buy (gather) the healthy food that I want in my body.
Living with hypoglycemia and cravings: I used to be in denial that I had hypoglycemia which could actually shut me down when driving or walking in a woods or city,. Hypoglycemia can be triggered by hunger and stress. Passing lights on the highway at night can create a strobe-effect that also triggered my hypoglycemia, cluing me in to the neurological aspect of hypoglycemia.
One time I even resorted to walking up to a stranger's door to ask for some fruit! (Something I would never do now with so many trigger-happy paranoid gun-lovers out there.) I seem to have turned a corner in terms of living with hypoglycemia by anticipating my body's requirement for a sugar boost, always traveling / hiking with a couple of apples or some other fruit or an all-fruit organic drink. The more typical problem of experiencing a wave of hunger (a craving) when passing a tantalizing smell, like pizza, is (for me) not really a problem anymore either, as I am in the habit of bringing a healthy snack that will switch off the craving.
The truth is, my body still really wants food that isn't good for me. When I am alone, I can control my cravings. When I am with others, such as when a friend comes over to share a meal and brings desert, I will eat a small portion of the desert to be polite and sociable. But I think we all need to deal with the problem of cravings for ourselves, but here is acknowledging it is a problem for those of us who are trying to eat healthier!
The supermarket is set up like someone is trying to hide the inventory of a health-food store within a giant cornucopia of junk-food.
Now I have to define "junk-food". Junk food = processed food: food with additives like colors and flavor enhancers and salt and preservatives and starch like chips and pizza. Some preservatives are pesticides which, like antibiotics, kill the good bugs in your gut. Packaging is also a problem, but some healthy food comes in plastic packages. Plastic pollutes the environment and leeches into food. (Plastic = bad, but sometimes it is unavoidable. Plastic = a necessary evil.)
Some healthy food is not in the supermarket, but you might find these harder to find items at Aldis or trader Joe's or Whole Foods, which was just bought by Amazon. (If your town has a co-op, great, but sometimes the co-op mark-up is beyond my budget.) I won't go into the drawbacks of shopping at Aldis and Whole Foods. I want to get back to the main topic I am addressing, which is how to eat healthily when cooking or preparing food is not one of your skill sets and you aren't home for huge chunks of time.
The gist of my solution is: become a smoothie master, prepare soups, buy (bulk) healthy snacks like nuts and dried fruit) and keep them visible, such as in canning jars.
Purchase a smoothie blender. Hamilton Beach makes them and Magic Bullet.
Purchase a hot / cold thermos (stainless steel) with a wide mouth that includes a lid that serves as a cup. Buy a bottle brush for cleaning the therms and the mug.
Purchase an Instantpot (or similar technology), the next generation of the ceramic crock pot, for unattended (safe) cooking. Make soups! (Throw a bunch of organic veggies and herbs and an organic veggie bullion (optional) into water and slow-cook.)
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