A Little Too Busy for You - Easy Healthy Food options

It’s a term I hear in my nutrition sessions all the time. Some of us are stuck in a world of ‘too busy’ and we can’t seem to get out. Whether is juggling the demands of a busy family life or meeting the demands of employers, life seems to have become a case of stretching ourselves to our limits. Within all this there is also the issue of you and your need to keep yourself on the top of your game. So how can you start putting yourself back into the centre of that busy schedule and develop some healthy food options for you?

Fist of all, its important to realise where you are? Start looking at how your days pan out and how your weeks evolve. Where are there times that are immovable, set activities that cannot be shifted? Where are there small opportunities of flexibility, space of activities or room to move?

Next, start looking at areas where you might want to improve. For example: a walk at lunchtime, training on a Tuesday evening, introducing healthier snacks or being a bit more prepared for your evening meal.

Next take one of these ideas and run with it for a month. Break it down into a little bit more detail; it may take some planning, some preparation and a change of a habit or pattern of behaviour. As you trial the idea, start paying attention to what is working and what is not. Alter and adapt as you go

Take, for example, the decision to snack on healthier options. You know that healthy snacking during the day can improve concentration and performance and improve choices made and reduce overeating at mealtime. So some options include:

You decide to add to your weekly shop a range of more nutritious snacks, some fresh and dried fruit, a range of nuts and seeds, wholegrain crackers and dips, high protein cereal bars.

You figure out your main spots for healthy snacks, leaving a few options in a desk at work, leaving some options in the car and/or taking a few options in your bag.

You put a reminder on your phone at 11ish and 4ish to touch base with how you are feeling in terms of hunger.

You trial for a few weeks, notice some fresh fruits are better than others, dips don’t work in the office and you need to bring a water bottle with you in your bag.

It’s a process of trial and error. It’s a process of taking one step at a time. Yet even the smallest of changes can put you back in the driving seat of your own health. Even the shortest amount of time dedicated to you can reap massive rewards. You can create healthy food options for you!