Hi, this is Monica Reinagel, and you're listening to the nutrition diva's quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous. As you may have heard, some of us have been doing a 30-day

nutrition upgrade game this month and one of the challenges that many of the

players have run into is that it takes a little longer

to plan and prepare healthy meals than it does to just open a box or a can and not

all of us have an hour or more every evening to spend preparing a home-cooked meal.

So this week I have four strategies that can help you eat better in less time by making the most

out of the time that you do spend shopping and cooking.

And by the way, we have new people starting the 30-day game every day

if you'd like to join us.

The details are at nutrition overeatzy.com.

So my first time saving tip may come as a little bit of a surprise because it is to use

processed foods, but wisely. We hear a lot about how we need to eat less processed foods and more whole and minimally processed foods.

But that doesn't mean you have to start grinding your own peanut butter, rolling your own oats, and fermenting your own kefier, unless you want to, of course.

Look, there's a big difference between a frozen bag of chopped onions and a can of crispy French-fried

onions, or between a bag of pre-shreaded

mozzarella and a tub of processed cheese food.

Timesavers like pre-cut and pre-washed vegetables

can make it easier to get more vegetables into your day and you don't need to worry

about stripping all of the nutrients out of your food. Although there may be some

losses there are still going to be plenty of nutrients left in your vegetables.

And if having those vegetables ready to eat means that you actually eat them, then believe

me, you are gaining far more than you are losing.

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