You can eat healthily and enjoy it, all whilst maintaining a super busy lifestyle. It’s true! All you need to do is fill up on this nutritious, delicious advice.
Your first step is to ensure your cupboards are stocked. Most of us have the intention to eat healthily but lack the produce to make it happen. You’re never going to be the Nigella of healthy cooking when all you’ve got to work with is a box of stale Rice Krispies, two chocolate digestives and a tube of tomato purée. Just sayin’.
Yes, it’s not particularly fun drifting around a supermarket alone, pretending to be an adult. But if you want to ensure you eat healthily during a hectic week, you need set aside time to shop for a nutritious stockpile of goodies.
Get cruising, you beacon of health.
This leads us on to the mother of healthy eating: prep. I learnt of prep via “The Body Coach” Joe Wicks, one of those humans who almost looks too healthy. Maybe it’s the hair.
The reality is, after a long day of uni/work/life, your tank’s empty. You have neither the desire nor the energy to stand in your cramped kitchen, chopping onions, trying not to cry.
This is where prep comes into the picture. You get home to find a delicious turkey moussaka made by, gasp, you, for yourself, last Sunday! It’s like a benevolent Memento remake.
I eat all day and am a big snack advocate. If I suddenly had a change of heart and decided to swap writing for political lobbying, I would be a Snack Lobbyist.
When you’re busy, you’re likely stressed and time-poor. This often leads to meal-skipping and snacking. Which leads to vending machine raids. Vending machines don’t tend to stock wonders of the natural world. Twix bars don’t grow on trees – side note, almonds do! Did not know that!
Regular grazing is a great way to maintain energy/sanity. The key thing is to go for the caviar of snacks: slow-burning, nutritious stuff such as crudités with hummus, nuts and fruit. Avoid sugar highs and treat your body like a Rolls-Royce. Premium fuel only.
Another nifty way to eat healthily when you’re busy being badass is to have a treat day. Set aside one day of the week to indulge a little. Pizza, donuts, pick your poison, we’ve all got one. Except for Joe Wicks, perhaps. Ugh.
I’m not a fan of diets, nor am I a fan of banning things. If you’re told you can’t have your favourite food in the world, baklava, then suddenly all you can think about is baklava. Baklava, baklava, baklava. Someone asks you a question and you hear:
“Baklava?”
When your stress levels go through the roof, you’ll end up gorging on all the banned items you’ve deprived yourself of, because, well, why not? You’re tired, delirious and “shopping” in Tesco Express at 9pm.
So just have some baklava, dammit, in moderation, on your treat day. Avoiding temptation is boring.
Hydration, please! Why would I inflict a Saharan level of dehydration upon myself? Because I’m super busy and forgot to drink water. It amazes me how many of us fall prey to this. Not only is it vital to stay hydrated for, you know, survival, it also helps maintain concentration.
If you want to eat healthily, there’s also another compelling reason to hydrate. Much of the time, we believe we’re hungry when, réellement, we’re simply thirsty. Set a reminder on your phone, frame a poster of the Mojave Desert; whatever it takes to remind yourself to have a (non-alcoholic) drink.
Also, your skin will thank you. Watch out Joe Wicks, there’s a new queen of glow in town.
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