How to Eat Healthy When You Have No Time!

Lately I have been hearing this issue come up with my friends and family. People who want to improve their nutrition, but feel like they don't have time to prepare healthy meals when our society has become overrun with fast processed options that seem more convenient.

Our lives seem to get busier and busier each year. I know mine does, I thought I was a busy guy then my wife and I welcomed our first child into the world this past year! Talk about a busy world immediately getting a little more crowded. Yet, throughout it all I have been able to use a few steps to continue my healthy eating routine.

First, you have to make 'eating clean' a priority. It's basically become a non-negotiable issue in our house. We have all been given one body and this machine is given a limited number of days for us to enjoy it. If you feed it junk, it runs like junk. But when you put high quality real food into your machine it is amazing how many areas it effects: Mood, Energy, Digestion, Skin, Hair, Relationships, Outlook, Clearer Thinking!

Second, you need to have a plan. It amazes me how many people made New Year's resolutions to start eating better, but never took the time to plan how they were going to do it. If you were going to take a road trip across the country, wouldn't you take the time to put the destination into your GPS so you could see how you were going to get there?

Third, this simple plan I lay out comes from a guy who does not cook. I eat from the same basics every day, and none of it requires any fancy cooking instructions. I live my life by:

"I'm hungry. I want to eat NOW"!

A successful week of eating for me begins on the weekend. I usually go to the grocery store on Saturday mornings. Two important things to do before you skip off to the grocery store:

Make A List
Eat before you Go!

If you don't have a list and shop hungry, you will waste time and money wandering around the store buying whatever strikes your fancy!

I'm going to share with you the staples I get every week:

Chicken Breast Family Pack
Sweet Potatoes
Avocados
Raw Spinach
Bell Peppers
Lemons
Oatmeal
Almond Butter
Green Beans
Mustard
Mrs. Dash

Since this article is about time - notice that I can be in and out of the grocery store quickly when I know what I want, and where to get it.

Once I get home I cook all of my food in bulk for the entire week. It only takes about an hour!

Here are a few easy steps to use in food prep:

Slice sweet potatoes and lay them flat in a large pan that is coated with cooking spray.

Place all chicken breasts into a large pan that has been coated with cooking spray.

Put Chicken Breasts and Sweet Potatoes into oven that has been set to Bake at 400 degrees. Cook for 45 minutes.

Place Green Beans into my steamer.

Wash Raw Spinach and put into large freezer bags to lay flat in the refrigerator.

Slice Bell Peppers and put into easy-to-access Tupperware containers.

While the chicken and sweet potatoes cook, this allows me time to prep Spinach & Bell Peppers. If you wanted to take it a step further, you could even separate bulk oatmeal into serving size baggies. I choose to let the avocados ripen and use them as needed.

After the chicken and sweet potatoes are done, you have a couple of options:

You can actually put individual meals together in zip lock bags or plastic ware. This way all you have to do each morning is grab the meals you need for the day, and be off.
If you are home through the day put food in large containers or freezer bags in the fridge and serve yourself for each meal.

The key is to keep it simple! When we have a ton of options we are paralyzed and frozen by too many options. Once I narrowed down my options, I started seeing very quick results. Because I no longer had to wonder about what I was going to eat each day. It took out the variable of having the option to choose something that was going to keep me from my fitness goals.

If you eliminate options during the day of what you are going to eat then the temptation for a fast cheeseburger in the middle of the afternoon won't be there!

I use many different kinds of spices to give me flavor variety from day to day: Cinnamon, Cayenne, Basil, Mrs. Dash, etc

It's not a flashy plan, but it works!

Get started and adopt some of these strategies to fit into your skinny jeans in no time at all!