5 Healthy Convenience Foods You Should Add to Your Diet

More and more people are trying to eat healthy. More and more people are also looking for quick food options. In response, supermarkets are stocking more and more healthy foods that are as easy on your waistline as they are on the clock. Here are five of them.

Healthy and Quick Food # 1: Quick-Cooking Oatmeal

Quick cooking oatmeal is now available in the same cannisters that traditional rolled oats are packaged in. Oatmeal is full of fiber, helps lower cholesterol, has none of the sugar usually found in instant oatmeal, and tastes great topped with fruit. If your morning is too rushed even to boil water for oatmeal on your stove-top, microwave cooking instructions are listed right on the cannister.

Healthy and Quick Food # 2: Whole Grain Pasta

Today's whole grain pasta is nothing like the gritty, gummy products of yesteryear. This pasta is tasty, which an intense but not overwhelming wheat flavor. It's full of fiber, low in fat, and can be on the table in 20 minutes. Look for pastas made entirely of semolina flour (no strange grains like spelt or millet). Ronzoni Healthy Harvest is a particularly good brand.

Healthy and Quick Food # 3: "Instant" Brown Rice

For years people believed they couldn't eat brown rice on a regular basis because of the 60+ plus minutes required to prepare it. Not anymore. Instant brown rices (rices which have been partially cooked and then dried) is now available, either boxed or "boil-in-the-bag." This rice takes 10 minutes to cook on the stove-top, can be made in the microwave, and is perfect for adding bulk to vegetarian dishes.

Healthy and Quick Food # 4: Canned Tomatoes

While foodies tend to think fresh is best, canned tomatoes are actually better than fresh during the 9 months of the year when tomatoes are not available at local farmers' markets. Supermarket tomatoes are picked while still green, then exposed to ethylene gas to turn them red. Canned tomatoes, by contrast, are picked at the peak of ripeness. Canned tomatoes are perfect for making a quick tomato sauce for pasta or to put on a whole-grain pizza crust. Choose organic canned tomatoes, as these tend to taste best.

Healthy and Quick Food # 5: Canned Beans

Beans are a rich source of fiber and vegetable protein, are as good canned as they are fresh or dried, and can be eaten with no more than a quick rinse or brief stay in the microwave. Canned beans are great for topping salads, adding to pasta, or making vegetarian chili. Choose beans that are packaged whole, without any added fat.

Need More Information?

Check out the American Dietetic Associations' dietary guidelines at www.eatright.org