Posted on January 16, 2014 by Jenny Cromack

Times have changed and we are all working longer hours, the times of eating meal as a family for most people has disappeared but one thing that has not changed is our need to eat healthily and regularly. We may all have busy lifestyles but being prepared with your food will help you stay healthy and achieve your goals! 

Many people put down skipping meal and opting for unhealthy options down to the fact that they do not have enough time. It’s not about having time but making time. The bottom line is your body needs food in order to function at its best. Skipping lunch for an important meeting will not only hinder your fitness progress but research has been proven that people who eat regular healthy food have a greater concentration and productivity level than those who try and work on little or no food. So by taking 20 mins to eat your food might be the difference between clinching a big deal in a meeting or reaching a deadline.

Being prepared with your food

1. Tupperware box.

If you don’t own a selection of lunch boxes then this is something you need to change. Having a box you can prepare and transport your food with ease. This also helps portion control. Having a range of sizes allows for lunches and snacks to be carried around.

2. Breakfast

Breakfast is incredibly important to get your metabolism started. Most people skip breakfast because they have to be up early or are in a rush. The simplest option is to set your alarm 15 minutes earlier. Instead of snoozing have a shower and a good breakfast and you are guaranteed to feel more wide awake than waiting for the next alarm to go off. (if you really find waking up in the morning a chore and constantly feeling tired read my blog on how to wake up feeling fresh as a daisy http://www.m8north.co.uk/blog/sleep-time-how-well-do-you-sleep-zzzz/)

Preparing a healthy breakfast does not take a long time. Stay away from the high carbohydrate and sugar filled cereals and fuel your body for the day ahead. Preparing a bowl of porridge and adding fresh fruit can take as little as 3 minutes. Making an omelet is quick and easy filling breakfast. My top tip is to pre chop your ingredients. By pre chopping onion, pepper, mushrooms and storing it in the fridge and pre cooking chicken, or adding a can of fish you can make a healthy tasty omelet in half the time.

3 Lunch

This is where your Tupperware containers come in handy. Popping down to your local supermarket or café on your lunch hour is not only time consuming and costly it also minimizes the choice of healthy options. Although healthy options are becoming more readily available low fat salad options are still alarmingly unhealthy. The only way you can be in control of what you eat is either making it yourself of going to a café that makes everything from scratch so you can be specific with what you do and don’t want.

There are a number of ways you can ensure that you have a good lunch. On an

evening you could always cook extra to have as your lunch the next day.

If you prefer more variety cook extra meat and veg on the evening and then add it to your salad.

Make your lunch the evening before so you don’t have to rush to make it the next day. It’s much easier to pick it out the fridge in the morning that making it in the morning.

4. Dinner

When you have had a busy day at work the thought of coming home to cook dinner can be horrendous. When you’re tired and hungry you are much more likely to make unhealthy choices for a quick fix however people sometimes forget that cooking a pizza can take 10-15 minutes however cooking a chicken and veg meal can take as little as 20 minutes.

Again it’s all about planning to ensure that when you are busy and tired that you have healthy choices to hand.

Taking time out to cook food in batches is a great way to save time and money the extra servings can be stored in the fridge, frozen or used as lunches. All that needs to be done is for it to be warmed up. Having batches of meals will help you remain organized.

5.Snack

It is important to eat regularly every 4 hours too many people go through their day just eating 3 meals a day. This will slow down weight loss, productivity, concentration and the body’s natural functions. It is important to keep on top of healthy snacks

Carrying round Tupperware with nuts, carrot sticks, fruit, humus etc is a great way to ensure you always have food available.

Pre preparing your snacks at the beginning of the week will ensure that you are in control and not hungry allowing you to stay away from the office biscuits.

Planning your shopping and meal plans is key to ensure that you always have healthy food available. You have to ensure that you make time at the beginning and middle of the week to prepare your meals. It will save a lot of time in the long run.

Don’t be afraid to plan your meals. It’s a great way of ensuring you’re in control

 

LH