Healthy Cooking on a Budget: The Beginnings

By Nicole St. Louis, Senior Nutrition & Health Major, Sargent College 

Every New Year, a very popular resolution is “I’m going to eat healthier” or “I’m going to lose weight”. In the beginning, it’s easy to keep to our goals, but as the year wears on and our schedules get tighter, so does making the time to go buy nutritious foods and cook healthy meals for ourselves. But, with the right information and some planning, making and eat healthy meals without blowing your budget doesn’t have to be so daunting.

Calculating your estimated daily energy requirement and knowing what foods to eat to keep to those requirements is the first step. A lot goes into how many calories a person should eat per day: first, age. The older we become, the less lean muscle we have, and so our metabolism begins to slow down, decreasing our energy requirements. Second: physical activity. Someone that walks to the bus stop, takes the bus to class or work, then takes the bus home is going to need less calories than someone that walks to class every day and goes to the gym. Finally, height and weight into account is important to take into account. The taller you are, the more cells you have in your body, which means you need more energy! Here are some additional helpful tips for healthy eating and meeting your specific energy needs:

• Once you know your estimated daily energy requirement, if you think your result from is a lot higher than what you typically see from other sources, see if positive changes come from increasing your calories. Your number is not set in stone, so feel free to experiment for a few days and see how you feel! (remember, this energy equation is an ESTIMATE)
• When you walk into a dining hall, cafeteria, or any buffet setting feeling hungry, it’s easy to go straight to the junk food, but remember, carbohydrates are a source of quick energy that generally last you about 1-2 hours, and eating lots of junk food could mess with your sleeping patterns, so try to get a good mix of whole grains, fruits, protein, healthy fats, and vegetables for each meal!
• If you can’t find whole fruits, smoothies are a good substitute! Just remember that there is less fiber in smoothies since the fruit is juiced, so it will be less filling.
• Be careful with your protein intake! We are a very protein focused country and while some protein is essential, once you go over your requirements, you will be going into your elective calorie count, which could be used for treats!
• Sadly, we can’t cut back on calories on weekdays and reserve them to go crazy on the weekend. These estimated energy requirements are per day. Be careful with alcohol consumption and monitoring your calorie intake- one beer is around 150-200 calories!

Obviously, we do not go through the same exact routine every day, so our energy requirements will vary depending on our daily schedule, but the goal is to provide a base to go off of for the future. No method is perfect for calculating your personal energy requirements, but with some simple calculations and meal planning resources, we can get on the right track to healthy eating for the long haul.

Want to learn about your own energy needs? Sign-up for our free nutrition workshops!