Healthy Living • YMCA Health and Fitness
Eating healthy when you have no time
17 December 2018 - by Nicole Meredith
Investing in long-term healthy eating strategies can be particularly fruitful — pun intended! Whether you’re looking to lose weight, improve your health, or up your energy, there are quick and easy steps even the busiest of us can take to yield real results.
The takeout fake out
First things first: takeout as a time-saver is a big lie. Next time you order in, time the whole process from start to finish and see how long it really takes to get that pizza on the table. Compare that to the 2 minutes it takes to reheat the dinner you meal-prepped in advance, and the 45-minute-long delivery saga starts looking like the real waste of time — not to mention, a hard hit to your health.
That said, as a full-time working mom of 3, I definitely understand the impulse to order in. Here are some of the time-saving strategies I lean on to make sure takeout remains a rarity, and I’m making the most of my meal-prepping.
1. Grocery shop armed with a plan
There’s no bigger time-waster than wandering the aisles of the supermarket (it’s kind of like wandering the weight room, sitting randomly on whatever piece of equipment happens to be free). Before you rush off, sit down for just 10 minutes and plan the meals you’re going to make for dinner this week (there’s an app for that!). Make a list of the ingredients you’ll need to cook those dishes, and organize your trip around the grocery store accordingly.
2. Splurge for convenience
Prepared, pre-chopped, or frozen veggies may seem a little more expensive. But they’re worth every penny if you actually use them. After all, how many times have you tossed that unwashed head of romaine straight in the trash a week after buying it because you were too busy or too lazy to prep it for a side salad? That’s the real waste of money.
3. Pre-empt your own cheating
So many people fall off the healthy-eating bandwagon because they convince themselves it’s faster and easier to rip open a bag of chips than cut up an apple and break out the almond butter. But see #2, above: instead of spending time washing and chopping veggies, buy a ready-to-go package you can toss in your bag on your way out the door in the morning.
How do you stay on top of your meal and snack prepping? Share your tips with me on Twitter @CasmeySamantha.
Sam has an honours BSc in kinesiology from the University of Waterloo and is a YMCA Canada Trainer Educator. She’s currently the YMCA of Greater Toronto’s Manager of Health & Fitness Adult Programs. In the 20 years she’s been working at the Y, Sam’s taught thousands of fitness classes and trained hundreds of volunteers to teach classes including Arriba, MuscleFit, Bootcamp, and many more. She’s currently spending her time on Sudoku and cryptic crosswords, but investing in reading books on habits and behaviour change.
The takeout fake out
First things first: takeout as a time-saver is a big lie. Next time you order in, time the whole process from start to finish and see how long it really takes to get that pizza on the table. Compare that to the 2 minutes it takes to reheat the dinner you meal-prepped in advance, and the 45-minute-long delivery saga starts looking like the real waste of time — not to mention, a hard hit to your health.
That said, as a full-time working mom of 3, I definitely understand the impulse to order in. Here are some of the time-saving strategies I lean on to make sure takeout remains a rarity, and I’m making the most of my meal-prepping.
1. Grocery shop armed with a plan
There’s no bigger time-waster than wandering the aisles of the supermarket (it’s kind of like wandering the weight room, sitting randomly on whatever piece of equipment happens to be free). Before you rush off, sit down for just 10 minutes and plan the meals you’re going to make for dinner this week (there’s an app for that!). Make a list of the ingredients you’ll need to cook those dishes, and organize your trip around the grocery store accordingly.
2. Splurge for convenience
Prepared, pre-chopped, or frozen veggies may seem a little more expensive. But they’re worth every penny if you actually use them. After all, how many times have you tossed that unwashed head of romaine straight in the trash a week after buying it because you were too busy or too lazy to prep it for a side salad? That’s the real waste of money.
3. Pre-empt your own cheating
So many people fall off the healthy-eating bandwagon because they convince themselves it’s faster and easier to rip open a bag of chips than cut up an apple and break out the almond butter. But see #2, above: instead of spending time washing and chopping veggies, buy a ready-to-go package you can toss in your bag on your way out the door in the morning.
How do you stay on top of your meal and snack prepping? Share your tips with me on Twitter @CasmeySamantha.
Sam has an honours BSc in kinesiology from the University of Waterloo and is a YMCA Canada Trainer Educator. She’s currently the YMCA of Greater Toronto’s Manager of Health & Fitness Adult Programs. In the 20 years she’s been working at the Y, Sam’s taught thousands of fitness classes and trained hundreds of volunteers to teach classes including Arriba, MuscleFit, Bootcamp, and many more. She’s currently spending her time on Sudoku and cryptic crosswords, but investing in reading books on habits and behaviour change.
