Many people have made it a new year’s priority to increase their health not only for themselves but for their family as well. Ayesha Curry recently sat down with EatingWell.com in order to share her ways of keeping her family healthy and more. Take note if this is one of your new year resolutions because the eatplaylearn founder shares her views on everything!
Eating Well: What are some things you do that help you feel your best when you’re in a busy season?
Ayesha Curry: For me, it’s making sure I’m drinking enough water, which is a struggle for me. But I try my best to make sure I’m staying hydrated. On the MyFitnessPal app, you’re able to track your hydration and set reminders and things like that, so that’s a really great tool. Also, I try to make simple swap-outs with my food. [I’ll eat] less white rice and more brown rice, or making sure I’m getting whole grains in or eating more vegetables. For me lately, that’s been my thing. Like how can I swap out meat today and incorporate a new vegetable? I feel better, I feel great. That’s been new for me. Coming from a food background, I’m used to heavy proteins like beef, steak, oxtail and chicken. And for me, it’s been how can I swap those out for some lighter choices. That’s been chickpeas or substituting greens or spaghetti squash or things like that. For me, it’s been those small, little swap-outs.
Eating Well: What are your tips to help families maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle during this season?
Curry: I know how busy and chaotic the weeks get and how oftentimes you’re just left to the eleventh hour where you’re like, “Let’s just get the takeout. I’m tired, I don’t want to do it.” But what I’ve found helps to not do that is to meal prep. So on Sunday I’ll get a bird’s-eye view of the week and think “OK, this day we’re going to have this, this day we’re going to have that” and make my grocery list. [I’ll think] how can I multipurpose these ingredients throughout the week. I know it sounds crazy and like, who has 30 minutes to just sit there and plan? But I promise it pays for itself because taking that 20 [to] 30 minutes to meal prep really makes a difference, and you’ll find that you’re making those healthier choices for your family.
Eating Well: What’s a typical day of eating like for you and your family?
Curry: Lately, I’ve been eating quite differently from my family, which hasn’t been easy but it is what it is. For my kids’ breakfast, I usually make scrambled eggs and whole-wheat toast, or they love pancakes, so I’ll make them pancakes a lot. But for myself, I had to set my intention to actually eat breakfast. I realized I was not actually eating breakfast. I was feeding the family, but when it came time for me to eat, I would kind of fall off and just not do it. So I make sure I have at least an avocado in the morning, and I have this seasoning called Jane’s Krazy Salt, so I’ll put a little Jane’s Krazy Salt on it. Or I’ll try to have a scrambled egg with a little Soyrizo, chopped onion and corn.
For lunch, I love anything in a lettuce cup. So some sort of protein quickly sautéed and [added to] lettuce. That’s something you can so easily meal prep and throw into the fridge and warm it up as you go.
These days, I love sheet-pan dinners. I love anything I can throw on a sheet pan, roast at a high temperature and it’s ready to go. We’ll usually do that with a mashed sweet potato, mashed potato or some type of rice. That’s usually how our days look; we try to keep it simple.
Eating Well: What are some quick and easy recipes you find yourself leaning on in particularly busy seasons?
Curry: I’m a big sweet-and-savory girl, so I love any recipe that incorporates the elements of both a sweet fruit, whether it’s a date, mango, raisins or apple, like our Grilled Chicken with Mango Corn Salsa. I feel like that’s such a high-protein, super-healthy recipe that packs so much flavor, so I love that. Any type of lean protein, like our Naked Turkey Burger with Smashed Avocado, and substituting the bread with lettuce or nothing if you choose, but all the flavor is there. So I love that. I love a good smoothie, whether it’s a holiday smoothie or our Tropical Post-Workout Smoothie that’s packed with spinach and mango and peaches, and it’s just so delicious. You put a little collagen powder in there and your skin is glowing and life’s good. But all of these are kind of put it in [the blender] and blend it up and it’s ready to go, or put it in the oven and it does the work itself. Anything like that, I’m down for.
I know I’m so late to the game, but I have been playing around with the air fryer and the slow cooker. I was so against it for so long, but now I’m realizing that was silly of me because these are really helpful tools. So I’ve been playing around with those two gadgets lately.
To read the remainder of Curry’s interview, click here. She has more to share about her partnership with the health app MyFitnessPal, and what “eating well” actually means to her overall.
Photo Credit(s): Ayesha Curry Instagram; Martin Klimek, 2016, Television Food Network
