When it comes to eating for one, it's not a bad idea to look to the Girl Scouts and always be prepared (OK, OK -- that's the Boy Scouts' motto, but go with us here). "I'm a single -- unfortunately! -- registered dietician and always on the go. The best way that I've found to eat healthy is by making portion-sized baggies ahead of time," says Shari Portnoy, MPH, RD, a certified fitness trainer and dietician at Nutrition and Food Safety Consulting.
"Make packages of 1/2 cup servings of beans so that you can add them to soups or pasta. Cut fresh veggies and fruits as soon as you bring them home from the grocery store and put them in the fridge," she says. Then there's never an excuse not to quickly grab something healthy.
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Always have staples on hand
Gilda Mulero, a natural foods chef in Boston, Mass., who lives on her own, can relate to the challenges that arise when dining solo: "While I can cook in my sleep, when I come home from my clients' homes and am exhausted, I don't want to cook at all," she says. "I have staples in my kitchen just for that reason. I prepare small quinoa salads that are fast, and great to eat hot or cold -- plus, quinoa counts as a protein." Mulero also suggests making and freezing whole grain, vegetable pancakes, switching up the kinds of veggies to prevent food boredom.
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The freezer is your friend
Just because the freezer is home to things like, oh, Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk, doesn't mean that it doesn't have healthy stuff in store for you. According to Jennifer Fugo, CHC, a certified health coach and yoga teacher in Norristown, Pa., frozen foods may sometimes actually be healthier than fresh or canned ones.
"Fruits and veggies are flash frozen at the height of growing season and are therefore much more nutritious than the canned ones, which have additives and sugar," says Fugo. You can add the veggies to your go-to dishes (like pasta), or heat them up and eat them as-is; frozen fruits can go into yogurts or smoothies for added taste and nutrients.
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Stick to soups
A cup of soup is comforting, definitely, and it may actually help curb your appetite, too. You just have to make sure you fill your bowl with the right ingredients.
"My favorite standby is a quick soup," says Gratton. "I add some buckwheat noodles, a handful of loose pack frozen spinach, and some frozen shrimp to boiling low sodium chicken broth. When it's heated through and cooked, I add a drizzle of sesame oil and a sprinkle of ginger and white pepper."
Take heart, solo diners -- you may be sitting at the table by yourself, but you can still eat healthier than the people who are partnered up.
Eating for one is something that at least 73 percent of people living in single-person households do regularly, according to the Economic Research Service/United States Department of Agriculture's 2008 Eating and Health Module. And while there's nothing technically wrong with eating a meal by yourself, the unfortunate fact is that the meal is more likely to be an unhealthy one.
Why? No one's paying attention to what you're eating, for one thing. When we get home, we kick off our shoes, turn on the TV, and go into autopilot mode, says Luigi Gratton, MD, MPH, And when we're dining solo, it's easy for us to cook -- and eat -- more than we need. "People who live by themselves have some real challenges when it comes to cooking healthy meals," he says. "Most recipes are geared for four to six people, extra half heads of broccoli or lettuce that don't get used just go to waste and -- let's face it -- sometimes it just seems like too much trouble to cook for just yourself."
