If you are anything like me, just eating anything at all can be difficult. Let alone eating healthy. I have had a couple of times where I have literally eaten ice cream for dinner because I a. didn’t have anything I could quickly throw together or re-heat, b. didn’t have any ingredients on hand to make anything or c. I simply didn’t have the energy to create anything more complete and nutritious. Such is the life of a busy 20-something, especially one with some pretty significant food allergies that make getting take-out more of a hassle than a convenience. Plus, who can afford regular take-out on an entry-level salary? Definitely not this girl. *sigh*
Now I am no expert on healthy eating, but I was raised under the supervision of a mother who majored in nutrition in college, and a father who calls fruit “nature’s candy”. There were always veggies on my plate at dinner and I remember being that weird kid who absolutely LOVED broccoli. I also have the disadvantage of having a sensitive tummy that doesn’t like things with gluten and dairy in them – aka, just about everything that is processed/easy to fix. One thing I love about veggies and fruit is that there isn’t a label to read – I know automatically that they are free of the things that make my stomach angry. Some of you may think that this makes eating healthy “so easy!” but let me be the first to tell you, there are plenty of “bad for you” things out there that don’t contain gluten or dairy. And trust me when I say that I have found nearly all of them. Sugar, for example, does not include either of those ingredients, and can be just as detrimental to your health if consumed as often as most people consume fried foods and whipped cream.
But like they say, you live & learn. In these past 8 months that I have spent transitioning from semi-employed & having too much time on my hands to working 40 hours a week with the exact opposite problem, I have accumulated some knowledge on how to eat healthy (or at a minimum get 3 servings of fruit/veggies a day) on a time crunch.
1. Stay hydrated.
If there is one thing that will not help you if you are maintaining a busy schedule, it’s being dehydrated. I started obsessively drinking water when I was in high school, so I am one of the lucky few who developed that skill at a young enough age that it stuck with me, but the vast majority of people are walking around with draught-ridden cells. When you wake up, drink at least 8 ounces of water (or, as I like to do, coconut water) especially if you drink coffee as part of your morning routine. Everyone wakes up dehydrated, most people just don't do enough to fix it. Invest in a recyclable aluminum water bottle (such as Sigg) or a BPA-free plastic bottle (such as CamelBak). Or even better, invest in a couple – one for work, one for home. Commit to drinking a bottle full before lunch, and a bottle after. Then additional water in the morning when you wake up and if you work out. You will be amazed at how much healthier you will feel just by resolving to get enough fluids.
2. Eat a veggie or fruit with every meal.
Eating fresh vegetables and fruit is one of the first things that can slip away with a busy lifestyle. The easiest way to make sure you are still getting enough of these natural goodies is to eat one with every meal of the day. Two things that help me with this are a standard list of fresh veggies/fruits I buy every time I go to the grocery store and Ziplock baggies. I also find that pre-slicing fruit such as strawberries and cantaloupes make it easier to eat them on the go or toss them in a salad. Baby carrots are easy to throw into a Ziplock bag and eat later at work. Dried fruit such as Craisins also work (although these do have added sugar, so just be mindful!) Also, don’t let the lazy connotation that comes with convenience foods scare you away from them. I took a lot of crap when I told people that I bought pre-sliced apples but a. I HATE cutting apples and B. if it’s going to encourage that I eat more apples, why not? I buy pre-sliced apples and pre-shredded carrots. I make my own salads but if you know you won’t, buy pre-packaged mixes. It’s better than nothing!
MY LIST: baby carrots, salad ingredients (green leaf lettuce, red cabbage, green onions & shredded carrots), spinach, strawberries, cantaloupe, pre-sliced red apples and bananas, along with the occasional cucumber, zucchini and tomato.
Trust me when I say that this task is less daunting than it seems – just requires a little planning. As soon as you get used to it, you will feel like your meal isn’t complete without a big bowl of salad or a banana while you check your inbox first thing in the morning.
3. Your fridge & freezer are your best friend.
Make things in bulk when you have time and store them for when you don’t. You can even freeze things like fresh chicken or ground beef, as well as pasta sauce, soups and muffins/cake. Just make sure to label things you freeze – things have a tendency to get lost in the vast expanses of that frozen tundra, and the last thing you want to eat is year old beef that expired months ago.
If you plan to eat something over the course of the next few days, invest in some Tupperware and keep it in the fridge. A few minutes in the microwave and you’ve got yourself a meal. I also try to make green salads in bulk and keep them in the fridge so that all that’s standing in the way of me and a big bowl of salad is a pair of tongs and clean utensils.
In a perfect world, I would come home and cook every night, but I have learned in reality, that just doesn’t happen. Use the tools you have to ensure you get good meals to maintain your energy throughout your busy week.
4. Snacks are important.
This is something I have learned being gluten-free. I always have some kind of bar or trail mix stashed in my purse and I literally have a snack drawer at work for days when I don’t get lunch or my appetite is just harder to satiate than normal. We all know that nothing is worse than a busy day that is so busy in fact, you don’t have 20 minutes to run out and grab a quick bite. Solution? Snacks. Also, another universally known fact is that we human folk get grumpy when hungry. The blood sugar gets low, and so does the tolerance level for just about anything that isn’t kittens and/or someone giving you a gift. This is probably the most easily avoided circumstance in the adult world, but our diet obsessed culture has led us to believe that things like “snacks” and “eating after 7 PM” lead to weight gain and subsequently an unhappy life. In reality, it works backwards – if you are TOO hungry and under nourishing yourself, your body will go into starvation mode, and instead of letting the fat go, it will hold on to it like Rose held onto Jack at the end of Titanic. As long as you are snacking healthfully and when you actually feel hungry, it’s quite beneficial. If you avoid getting over-hungry you will be able to avoid over-eating and you will keep your metabolism functioning at a normal rate.
Some of my favorite snacks: baby carrots with hummus, a mix of Craisins, almonds and if I’m feeling fancy dark chocolate chips, protein bars made with natural sugar (either agave or rice syrup), fruit leathers, un-buttered popcorn and the not-so-healthy rice krispy square. I also have a special spot in my heart for Trader Joe’s cinnamon almonds, made with sugar, but taste like a snickerdoodle. (For those of you not doing the math at home, the almonds are healthier than the cookie.) I also find myself snacking on cereal and milk (almond or coconut) before hitting the sack.
So in essence: snack up.
5. Remember that you aren’t perfect.
You aren’t Giada DiLaurentis. You don’t get paid to stare out at the ocean from your Malibu mansion and make delicious, healthy food. Some days, you barely have the time and mental capacity to even remember what celery looks like. We all have those weeks where our personal food triangle (or whatever shape it has morphed into these days) consists overwhelmingly of takeout and fast food, and we all have those days where we missed lunch and are so ravenous that upon getting home we eat an entire bag of salt & pepper potato chips in one sitting (not that I am speaking at all from personal experience…)
Just because you have eaten poorly for a couple days (or a couple weeks) doesn’t mean you should give yourself permission to give up entirely. If you’re anything like me, after a long session of terrible eating, you could spend an entire day just eating cucumbers and dry cereal. Don’t launch into some crazy cleanse or punish yourself by working out harder than you are physically capable of – just stop, think, put things in perspective and realize that your body isn’t ruined because you filled it with junk for a little while. Pick up an apple, slather on some almond butter, and move on.
Being busy is not an excuse to malnourish yourself. But, as with anything in life, it's all about balance. If you are getting what you need to keep the inner you happy & healthy, give it a little chocolate. It would be unfair to deprive of it of such a wonderful indulgence...
♥mb.
