It’s easy to get stuck in a rut with meals, and it’s tempting to default back to the easy (and not necessarily overly healthy) options.

So, why not try supplementing simple meals with something really healthy and nutritious? We’ve come up with some ideas to help you on your way.

Breakfast

• If a quick bowl of cereal’s your thing, why not make it more nutritious by topping it with fresh fruit and a handful of nuts and seeds? It’s quick to do and transforms the humble breakfast cereal into something altogether more healthy and nourishing.
• Banana porridge is a great way to start the day with its bags of slow-release energy. You can make a simple bowl of porridge into something really great by adding crunchy nuts and seeds, or a handful of fresh or frozen berries.

Lunch

• At this time of year, there’s nothing more warming and soothing than a bowl of hearty soup. Vegetable and lentil soups are incredibly cheap and easy to cook, and they’re wonderfully nutritious to boot. Cook up a batch and it will see you through the week. And you can make it more interesting if you’ve eaten it a few times already by throwing on some fresh herbs or some seeds for texture.
• It’s a common misconception that salads are dull, but nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, it would get boring eating undressed salad leaves on a daily basis, but you can jazz up a salad so easily with a delicious dressing (made with olive oil in order to reap its cardiovascular benefits) and some quinoa, ginger or seeds.

Dinner

• After a long day at work there’s often nothing less tempting than embarking on a complex cooking process. So imagine how comforting it is to return home to a pot of delicious food that’s been simmering away in the slow cooker since you set off for work. Bean stews work well, and you can add in all the vegetables or meat you want too.

Snacks

• We all need to snack throughout the day, and that’s no bad thing if the food we’re eating is healthy. Why not try replacing sugar-laden snacks such as biscuits and chocolate with dried fruit, nut/seed mixes or homemade popcorn (without sugar or salt)?

It’s a challenge eating healthily when you’re on the move, but we hope these ideas might have sparked some healthy eating ideas of your own. If so, we’d love to hear them. Why not join the conversation on Facebook or follow us on Twitter?