When Food is Healthy Enough

Fresh off my Arbonne conference, I found myself thinking again about how often we make food harder than it needs to be. After 21 years with a health and wellness company, I have seen plenty of trends come and go, but practical habits still seem to help people the most.

Healthy eating can feel complicated.

Somewhere along the line, food stopped being something we simply ate and enjoyed and turned into something we evaluate from every angle.

Is it organic? High in protein? Low in sugar? Whole grain? Homemade? Anti-inflammatory? Approved by someone on Instagram with a refrigerator full of glass jars?

It is a lot.

And for many people, it makes eating well feel harder than it needs to be. 

The truth is, not every food has to be perfect to be a good choice.

Think good, better, best.

Sometimes a meal falls short of expected health standards. It is not beautifully plated, made from scratch, or nutritionally flawless. It is just healthy enough. And in real life, healthy enough can go a long way.

Take flavored yogurt. Is plain Greek yogurt with berries and nuts a great option? Sure. But if flavored yogurt is what you enjoy and what you will eat, that is still a whole lot better than skipping breakfast and then prowling around for pastries by 10:30.

The same goes for canned soup. Homemade soup is wonderful, but opening a can, heating it up, and having it with a sandwich, fruit, or a few crackers does not mean you have failed at lunch. It means you fed yourself. You have energy to sustain you for the afternoon.

Rotisserie chicken, frozen vegetables, bagged salad, canned beans, instant oatmeal, peanut butter toast, eggs, and even the occasional freezer meal can all help support real-life healthy eating. They may not be exciting. They may not be trendy. They may not look like something from a wellness retreat menu.

But they can still do the job.

I think one of the biggest problems with healthy eating is that people imagine the “right” choice must be the best choice every single time. It has to check every box. It must be fresh, balanced, colorful, full of nutrients, and preferably made in a peaceful kitchen while no one is asking where their soccer shoes are.

Meanwhile, actual life looks a little different.

Sometimes it is 6:15 and everyone is hungry. Sometimes you are tired. Sometimes your day got away from you. Sometimes the healthy choice is not the perfect meal. It is the good-enough meal that keeps you from eating chips over the sink while wondering what happened.

There are times when I’ll cook macaroni and open a can of soup for Mr. Non-Compliant. (For my new readers, Mr. NC is my dear husband.) It’s a “go-to” for emergency situations. I can be happy eating sardines and almond crackers. WHAT?  NO VEGETABLE? Well, sometimes that happens in our house too.

Healthy enough might mean scrambled eggs and toast for dinner. It might mean white rice instead of brown because that is what your family (and Mr. NC) will eat. It might mean store-bought hummus, pre-cut vegetables, or a turkey sandwich with some baby carrots on the side. It might mean doing the easy version instead of no version at all. 

That is not giving up. That is being practical. And it’s still better than fast food.

A food does not have to be perfect to be helpful.

A meal does not have to be impressive to nourish you.

And a realistic choice made consistently will usually serve you far better than a perfect plan you cannot maintain.

So, this week, instead of asking whether a food is the healthiest thing imaginable, maybe ask a more useful question:

Is this healthy enough for real life today?

A lot of the time, that answer is, it’s more than enough.

Much love,
Health Coach Carol

“It’s not about perfect. It’s about effort. And when you bring that effort every single day, that’s where transformation happens.”—Jillian Michaels