Eating Healthy When You’re Too Busy to Eat Healthy

I know how it is. You want to eat healthy, but how can you? Your life is a constant whirlwind of activity between family, work, volunteering, and making an attempt at self-care. There’s only so much you have the energy or time to do, right? Something has to give. For many, that something is planning ahead for healthy food choices.

Past experience tells you, though, that when you eat healthy you feel great and have more energy. You probably feel better about yourself, too, when you’re making healthy choices for yourself and your family.

It is possible to eat healthy even when we’re crazy busy. We don’t have to let “being busy” stop us from feeling great. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Smoothies on-the-go

Smoothies are one of the fastest, healthiest ways to make a quick meal-on-the-go. Not to mention that replacing one meal per day with a smoothie that is packed with protein, veggies, healthy fats and low-glycemic fruit is a great way to jumpstart weight loss and begin to introduce more whole foods into your diet.

Got a blender? This is your breakfast on the run for the whole family. Throw in some fruit (berries and banana) and some veggies (spinach, cucumber, romaine lettuce, just to name a few. Pour some coconut water, rice, almond, or hemp milk into the blender.

Add some protein (hemp, chia or flax seed, or maybe a scoop of hemp or brown rice protein powder or a tablespoon of nut butter) and some healthy fats (avocado, coconut oil; even the proteins I mentioned before also have you covered on the healthy-fat department!). For extra flavor, add some pure vanilla extract or a dash of cinnamon.

Blend it up and put it in a glass to-go cup or Mason jar and you’re on your way!

Make ahead salads

The salads that I like to prepare are not only flavorful but they’re packed full of veggies, clean, lean protein and healthy fats that will fill you up and stay with you for hours. These salads fill an entire plate and are a complete meal.

Prep once. Chop the veggies in bulk and you can make several salads at a time. Don’t add the dressing to them yet, and they usually last a couple days in the frig.

Clean and chop up a bunch of greens – romaine, green or red leaf lettuce – and add some spinach. Keep in an airtight container.

Slice or dice some other veggies – tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, radishes, beets, bell peppers, onion… whatever you like. Sliced avocado also adds some healthy fat. Some chopped apple or fresh mandarin orange slices add some slow, healthy carb and a little sweet or tangy zip.

Add some protein. Choose pumpkin, sunflower or hemp seeds, cooked organic chicken breast, kidney beans or chickpeas, sprouts, a hard-boiled egg, or salmon or tuna.

Make a quick dressing with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, cracked pepper and Italian seasoning. Toss it all together and enjoy.

Know where you can get healthy take-out

Find the restaurants near home and work where you know you can find smart, healthy food. Ethnic restaurants are often a good choice. Stay away from the fast food chains and see if you can find local restaurants that offer fresh, healthy options. Keep their menus on hand. Get their phone numbers in your address book or on speed dial!

Stores like Snap Kitchen are cropping up in some cities like Austin, Dallas, Houston, Chicago and Philadelphia. They prepare healthy food to go. You can pop in and pick up a couple dishes for several days’ meals. They have organic and locally-sourced produce, organic chicken, and free-range grass-fed beef and bison.

In my city of Des Moines, try these 9 healthy spots to eat out. Or you might check out The Grateful Chef that offers weekly fresh, healthy meals for order and pick-up.

No, it’s not quite as cheap as buying and preparing it yourself, but if you’re a busy person (OR you don’t enjoy cooking) and would just spend the money on junky fast food or pizza delivery, then it’s a much better value.

Stay tuned for the second post in this series and learn about emergency packs and how they will save your bacon when you don’t have time to plan ahead.

When it comes to our health and wellness, it’s always the small habits that add up. Don’t let yourself fall back into old eating habits that cause you to not feel so great! I’d love to hear from you, too: what do you like to eat when you’re really busy? Share over on the Facebook page!