How are your NY goals going so far? Are you eating more vegetables? Cutting back on sugar? Replacing chips with celery? No matter your goal there is one strategy that will help you meet your target with ease. It’s pretty simple, you can do it any time and with technology, you can pretty much do it anywhere. So what is this magical solution? Planning ahead.
We all know the old adage “Fail to plan, plan to fail.” This is true professionally and personally. If you go into the week winging it, your schedule and biology are not on your side. When you’re hungry, you experience a perfect storm of emotions and hormones that are physiologically designed to push you towards anything that raises your blood sugar. And usually, that is exactly the kind of food you want to avoid on a healthy diet.
Invest 30 Minutes on the Weekend to Succeed During the Week
Take some time at the beginning of the week to plan your meals and avoid being a prisoner of circumstance. Start with asking yourself 5 questions:
What is on the schedule this week?
What meals do I need to prepare?
What am I fueling for?
What do I have on hand?
What do I need to buy?
From there you can put together an informed grocery list. Save time on this step by grouping like items together (ex. Frozen, produce, dairy case). Steal my favorite electronic grocery list and meal planning worksheet here (note: the worksheet becomes fillable once you download it). When your list is ready, head to the store or your computer to order groceries. The first step of eating healthy is having the food available. You can’t eat it if it's not there.
If you are super short on time, consider having 3 simple meal plans you rotate and use the repeat order feature for grocery delivery.
Combine Food Prep with Something You Enjoy
If you’re able, the next step is prepping a few things ahead of time. In the colder months, I like to make a quick batch of soup on the weekends, during warmer months a hearty salad. I’ll also usually grill or roast protein and vegetables for dinner on Sunday and for lunches during the week.
Now, if the idea of hours in the kitchen sounds treacherous, combine it with something else you enjoy - a favorite podcast, Netflix series or audible book.
Top 35 No Prep Health Foods
Let’s face it, sometimes life just gets in the way of our best intentions! I recently lost the use of my kitchen for a full week after a roof leak. This is where having a plan B comes in handy. When prep isn’t possible, because of time or logistics, stock up on some of these no-prep health foods:
Prewashed salad greens & bottled dressing (like Tessamae’s)
Berries
Cherry tomatoes
Pre-cut celery
Baby carrots
Baby cucumbers
Baby bell peppers
Grapes
Apples
Easy peel oranges
Dry roasted nuts
Dry roasted beans (ex. Bada Bean Bada Boom)
Protein shakes (ex. Orgain or Garden of Life)
Organic nitrate-free jerky (ex. Chomps or Nick's Sticks)
Collagen stick packs (ex. Vital Proteins)
Bananas
Low sugar Greek yogurt
Dark chocolate (70% or greater cocoa solids)
Steam in the bag veggies
Steam in the bag rice
Microwave baked potatoes (sweet or regular)
Peanut butter snack packs (ex. Justins)
Olive snack packs (ex. Oloves)
Hummus snack packs (ex. Sabra or Kirkland from Costco)
Salsa snack packs (Ex. Jacks)
Guacamole snack packs (Ex. Holy Guacamole or Market Street from Aldi)
Whole-grain crackers or wraps
Whole food bars (ex. Lara, Rx, Kind)
Unsweetened sparkling water
Instant steel-cut oats (ex. Bob’s Red Mill)
Mozzarella cheese sticks
Vegetable-based soups (ex. Amy’s and Pacific)
High fiber, low sugar cereal (at least 5g of fiber per 100 cal and sugar in the single digits)
Unsweetened milk (cow, almond, cashew, flax, soy, coconut)
Precooked hardboiled eggs
Success Starts with a Plan
Taking even 15 minutes to organize your fuel strategy for the week pays off and saves you time in the long run. And, when you have a plan, you can enter your week with confidence that you’ll work towards your health goals and be fueled for whatever else life has in store.
I hope you have found this article valuable. If you have more to add, we’d love to hear it! Our members have the exclusive opportunity to leave a question or comment in the Forum. The FMR Team will answer/discuss these questions and comments on Fuel. Move. Recover. A Performance and Wellness Podcast., which drops every Friday at noon.
Both members and nonmembers can visit our page on Facebook at fb.com/fuelmoverecover for more content or to continue the discussion there.
Not a Member? Click here to learn about what you get from a membership.
Comments