It can be tough to keep up with your self-care if you have a busy schedule. Think of a newbie law associate, for instance, working 80-90 hours a week just to get a foothold in her new career, or a medical professional trying to deal with the intense load placed upon her by the Covid-19 pandemic, or a long-haul truck driver spending dozens of hours behind the wheel each week.
Life can get busy for many folks, and it’s amazing that they manage to handle this demand with as much dignity as they do. That said, longevity in these positions (and success in any right) comes from being able to take care of yourself as well as investing yourself in these disciplines. This means catching up on sleep where appropriate and finding means to relieve your stress can be essential. In this post, we’ll discuss how you can enjoy the added benefit of healthy eating despite such a load being placed upon you, where hours are short and the days can get tiring.
Let’s consider that below:
Simple, Immediate Recipes
Simple and immediate recipes can make the most difference when it comes to trying to eat healthy when pressed for time. For instance, think of how an instant pot chicken tortilla soup in 20 minutes can not only provide you something delicious and wholesome with only a fraction of the cleanup you’d have for other methods, but how dishes like this can be stored, made portable, or even frozen so that you don’t have to head to a fast food joint in order to find that same convenience. Once you have a few recipes like this under your belt you’ll be empowered even further.
Meal Prep Sundays
Meal prep Sundays can be a great way to get all of your cooking done at the end of the week and to prevent the need for that effort during the weekdays. Using a few Tupperware boxes you can make sure that a large curry, or large chicken and broccoli dish (or whatever else you deem relevant and has multiple healthy food groups s part of its creation) is frozen and almost instantly accessible during the week. This can be a great way of saving money in the long term by using batch ingredients and saving time through little to no cleanup. There are great online meal prep communities out there - so don’t be afraid to leverage them.
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting can help us learn to uncouple ourselves from hunger pangs by making sure our bodies are adapted to eating within a given window appropriate to us. For instance, it might be that you only really have parts of the afternoon and evening to eat. With an appropriate 16/8 intermittent fasting regimen, those 8 hours in the evening can be your ‘eating window,’ and the rest of the time you can fast, allowing you to do without hunger in the mornings and feeling better as a result of the routine of it. This IF protocol is becoming majorly popular thanks to the health benefits provided, and you can use apps like Zero to keep your timings regular.
With this advice, you’re sure to organize healthy eating despite a busy schedule.