We’re often taught about the importance of following a healthy, balanced diet. However, according to a recent study, “two-thirds of adults admit they often eat badly because they don’t have the time to prepare nutritious food” or meals. While this is understandable, given that it often feels as though there aren’t enough hours in the day (especially for moms).
However, a busy schedule doesn’t mean that you can stop taking care of yourself - in fact, it often speaks to the need to do the opposite! After all, following a healthy diet helps you to maintain and protect your health year-round.
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
With that in mind, here are some tips you can use to master a healthy diet while contending with a busy schedule!
1. Focus on ‘speedy’ recipes.
Despite common misconceptions, healthy eating does not require you to spend hours in the kitchen every day. For example, this recipe for drunken noodles takes less than 30 minutes to make - and is packed with both flavor and fresh ingredients - making it the perfect choice for a midweek dinner.
2. Plan out your meals ahead of time.
Sometimes, half of the struggle associated with cooking from scratch is deciding what you actually want to cook. This can often take up so much of your time that reaching for the take-out menu or grabbing a microwave meal seems like the only option. However, you can make this process much more straightforward by planning out your meals ahead of time. This can also help ensure you use up all of the ingredients in your kitchen instead of letting fresh items go to waste.
3. Meal prep.
If you’ve got more time at the weekends than you do on a weekday (which is likely if you're working or dealing with the dreaded school run), then meal prepping can be another great way to ensure you’re sticking to a healthy diet. After all, it means that you don’t have to do anything other than reheat your dishes when you’re feeling hungry, as opposed to having to start from scratch at the end of an already tiring day.
As such, you should set aside a few hours a week to dedicate to meal prepping. Remember, you can also freeze some of these meals so that you can come back to them at a later date.
4. Don’t skip breakfast.
There’s a reason breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day. For example, it can help to kickstart your metabolism while also ensuring you have enough energy to make it through your commute or morning meetings. Despite this, “nearly one-quarter of individuals in the United States skip breakfast daily.”
As such, if you’re embarking upon a new healthy lifestyle - make sure eating breakfast is part of your routine. There are plenty of low-effort dishes you can make in the morning, such as toast and cereal - and even picking up a piece of fruit will make a difference. Alternatively, you could prepare dishes such as overnight oats ahead of time, so your breakfast will be ready to enjoy when you wake up!
Post a Comment