Busy Person's Daily Strategy for Healthy Eating

Wednesday we launched our nutrition and therapeutic exercise services at McKinley Chiropractic. There were healthy snacks and recipes available for patients all day. I spoke about "Innocent Eats and Skinny Treats." It seems that an area of frequent questions is lunches on the go and healthy,easy snacks.

Here are some general principles for even the busiest person:
1. Try NOT to plan in meals, focus on eating mini-meals or hearty snacks every couple of hours. Like I always say, Food is NOT an event. Food is fuel. Create a new relationship with your meal "times" and you'll end up better nourished throughout the day. Stock up your desk drawers and glove compartment with easy, slow-perishable snacks and "tie-overs." This is especially important when you're too busy to leave your desk or after a long day at the office on the way home when you're tempted to go thru the drive-thru. (Remember,don't overdo it on one food or snack,keep variety) The intention is to prevent skipping meals and fast food.
Good examples of slow-perishables are: Unsalted Raw Nuts and Seeds, Carrots and Celery (I wouldn't leave these in the car), oranges, dehydrated fruit, soynuts, plain popcorn,cherry tomatoes, rice cakes, nut butters, grapefruit, grapes, unsweetened applesauce.

2. Dedicate some time once a week to make-ahead foods. Email me for my yummy make-ahead muffin recipes and breakfast ideas. Grill a bunch of foods ahead of time and pre-package them for on the go lunches, etc. A couple hours one day a week can stretch a long way for a week's worth of pre-prepped foods.

3. Plan in water breaks. Proper hydration is as important as healthy foods. In general, you should be drinking half your body weight in ounces of water. Pick your favorite sized cup and determine how many ounces it can hold. Divide your total amount of water for the day by that cup size and determine how many you need to drink in one day. Then, use that number of pennies and put them in one pocket. As you drink the water, take one penny from your pocket and put it somewhere else. At the end of the day, you should be out of pennies if you drank all your water.

4. If you have to eat out, choose places that give you some control over the preparation of the food. Places like sandwich shops, chipotle, Chinese or Japanese places that allow you to choose and watch the prep process. Most of the fat, salt, and bad ingredients that give you all the extra calories and fat in restaurant food come from the prep process in the kitchen. If you can choose to "no added oil", "leave off the mayo", "no butter", "brown rice please", "double the veggies", etc on your meals then you'll have a better chance of getting a healthier meal.

More tips later...
Eat Well. Workout Smart. Breathe.