My Bootcamp ladies got me thinking about simple tips to eat healthier on a busy schedule, so I dedicate this post to them. A continuing trend I have heard over the years from my clients and participants is "I find it so hard to eat healthy being a student, mom, dad, full-time worker"... so basically everyone has trouble in this domain at some point in there lives (Unless you have enough money to hire a personal chef and someone to buy your food... and if so can I have some money please!)
To be completely honest, proper nutrition is something I struggled with and continue to struggle with even now. I'm on a limited income, I'm very busy and I work out a lot! That's a recipe (haha food pun!) for some serious bad eating.
So here are some tips that I have used since April 2009 in the journey of eating better (props to Bobby Tran for helping me on this journey)...
1. Buy at local markets: This was probably my greatest discovery when trying to eat healthier. For those on a strict income, local markets are a god send. I spend about $35 a week on veggies as apposed to about $45-50 at the big stores, plus your supporting local business.
2. Find your staple vegetables: This may be tricker for those who are picky eaters or have children but I swear by my staple vegetables. These are veggies that can go in my staple meals of pasta, stirfry, wraps, salads. If you're wondering my staple veggies see my earlier blog post here...
3. Plan your week: This is probably the most difficult thing to start at first, but if your patient with yourself ( you WILL have slip ups) because this gets easier and easier. I don't necessarily write down what I'm going to eat, but I kind of plan in my head how I would like to eat for the week. For example, Monday I made a huge pasta with lots of veggies and ate that for dinner Monday, lunch Tuesday and dinner Tuesday, then I used my left over spinach for an awesome salad today, supplemented with fruit and veggies for my snacks, then got some chicken on the way home today for the rest of the week. I find buying the bulk of what you need at the beginning of the week is helpful and picking up some other stuff to supplement during the week is cool too.
4. Cut up everything one day: I'm still not very good at this, but I try and cut up the entire vegetable that I get out of the fridge and put it in Tupperware or a ziplock bag. This make making meals on the go easier (e.g. throwing a salad together or making a wrap).
5. Drink water: You may be saying "duh Byn, I know this" but do you drink other things than water? If so look at this carefully. I know everyone has heard this over and over but cutting out pop (including diet pop), reducing juice, and reducing caffeine consumption (as most of us drink our coffee with cream and sugar) will dramatically reduce your caloric intake. I honestly drink a quarter cup or OJ not from concentrate in the morning, drink water all day and maybe will have a tea here and there. Stay away from the following if your looking to be healthier...
- Slurpies/Slushies (i.e. the University students)
- Lattes, Frappuccinos...the Starbucks crap (if you are addicted to Starbucks reduce consumption slowly)
- Coffee and Tea with sugar and cream in it
- Hot Chocolate and Chocolate milk
- Juices from concentrate, it will say this on the bottle
**note: it's ok to once an awhile have these things, for example on a once a week coffee date. You still have to live to. However, reducing day to day consumption is a good thing.
6. Reduce your alcohol consumption: This kind of goes with #5 but I think it needs its own separate section. I suck at this one, as I like my wine, cesars and beer. Alcohol has a lot of empty calories and depending on the way your body metabolizes alcoholic sugars it could lead to some serious weight gain. If that's not enough incentive my doctor just told me drinking over the recommended amount of alcohol a week, which is 9 drinks for females and 14 for men, substantially increases your chances of stomach, pancreatic, liver, esophageal, colon and breast cancer as well as liver disease and early dementia. I think this is an area I personally am going to work on in the near future.
7. Portion control people! I'm also really bad at this one, especially with pasta. If you are eating the right things...but a bus load of it.... you will gain fatty tissue, which not only may decrease your aesthetic appeal but MORE IMPORTANTLY predisposes you to high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, cancer all the nasty stuff. If you are unsure of what a portion is here's a quick and dirty guide (see the Canada food guides website for more detail)
- Protein: 1 serving is the size of your palm, see my picture below.
- Veggies: 1 cup is roughly a serving, it varies if it's cooked or uncooked.
- Carbs: 1/2-1 cup is roughly a serving, depends on the type (e.g. bread vs. pasta)
8. Be Patient: This is probably the most important thing when improving your diet. It seems we are a society of "I want to be perfect now and if I'm not why bother". This is faulty thinking and seems to be the general trend around this time of year. Just remember, even small gradual changes are better than no changes and I recommend gradual changes, they are healthier.
Start by setting a new goal for next week! For example, you may say "I am going to try and drink just water all day except for some juice in the morning" and see how that goes. Set obtainable goals as well. For example deciding that you are going to eat 6 meals a day with protein, veggies and a complex carb every day for the entire week while just drinking water is setting yourself up for failure. Try maybe doing it one day (after smaller changes), and if your successful... great, and if your not, try again and don't give up.
Life's to short to give up and stop trying... trust me you'll get there.
Okay it's time for what I ate today! Today was a "off" day, meaning I didn't have an intense workout, so I ate slightly less calories then if I did teach classes. For example yesterday I taught 2 hours of fitness class in which I was participating so I ate a lot denser.
Breakie: Flax seed bagel with peanut butter, 1/4 cup of OJ, Banana
Lunch: Salad with spinach, red pepper, avocado, walnuts (only a palm full), cucumbers and 2 tablespoons of pesto salad dressing
Snack: a huge orange
Dinner: Palm size piece of chicken, 1 and 1/2 cup of broccoli, zucchini and asparagus and some pasta... nom nom nom
1 Beer
**Water all day long, especially during Bootcamp.
Well that's it! I'd love to hear what you thought, other comments of how to eat healthy, meal ideas.. share share share
Stay Strong,
Byn
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