Healthy-Up On The Go

Between my full time job as an ad exec, studying for school and launching my health coaching practice, it’s tough for me to find time to take care of myself let alone prepare meals. Use these tips below to “healthy-up” your food, no matter how crazy your day is looking.

1) Prepare healthy snacks in bulk that you can grab on your way out the door.

Commit to spending one night a week (i.e. Sunday) with your cutting board and a bunch of Ziploc bags preparing snacks for the workweek. If you can’t imagine spending this long in the kitchen, sit yourself down in front of your favorite TV show while you work.

Here are a few of my favs:

• Cut up cucumber, orange peppers, snap peas and baby carrots with greek yogurt veggie dip or hummus
• Cut up Fuji apple with 2 tbs almond butter
• Banana with 2 tbs peanut butter
• Hard boiled egg
• Trail mix: roasted edamame, almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries
• Kind Bars or Cliff Bars (great for your purse or in your desk in a pinch)

2) Plan your meals like you plan your outfits.

You wait patiently for 6:30pm to come and by the time you get home you’re starving. If you planned on cooking this may translate into pasta with butter with chips and salsa while you wait for the water to boil. If you’re ordering in all of a sudden the deep-fried cheese fries are sounding delicious. Sound familiar?

Combat your starvation haze by planning at least one meal ahead while you aren’t hungry:

- Take inventory of the fridge/pantry the night before and choose your ingredients

- Prepare the ingredients beforehand if you can

- Make your menu selection in your downtime (i.e. when you first get into the office/during your lunch break)

3) Add something fresh to every meal, no matter where or what you eat.

Instead of trying to change your diet, add to it! Having a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast? Yum. Add some sliced tomato onion and cucumber. That Subway sandwich for lunch? Get every vegetable topping on the menu. Is a long day calling for Chinese? Go for the sesame chicken if you must but add a side of broccoli.

4) Eat every 3-5 hours starting with breakfast.

I used to be one of those people who skipped breakfast every morning. My reasons varied from time constraints to hoarding calories for a heavy dinner. By 11am I was tired and cranky. By lunchtime I was eating a meal two times the size it should be and stuck in a food coma after. By the end of the day I was at the mercy of my digestive system and wondering why I had no energy after all that food.

Food is our body’s fuel. Your body needs food to convert into energy for you. If you do not give it fuel then it will start to malfunction which can manifest in forms such as headaches, tiredness, irritation, loss of concentration etc. When you eat again your body may try and hoard the energy for you, leading to overeating and poor food choices.

If you’re a breakfast newbie like I was at one point, start with something small. If you’re on the run I recommend a few pieces of fruit or a granola or nut bar (Kind bars or Cliff bars are great). If you’re going to eat at the office you can keep a box of instant oatmeal at your desk and yogurt in the fridge to grab once you get in. Continue to add to your morning meal until you find the combo that carries you through to lunch without that mid-morning crash occurring.

What's your favorite healthy life hack? Add your tip in the comments section.

xo Saranna