Healthy Eating with a Busy Lifestyle.
By GemmaR
@GemmaR (8517)
October 25, 2012 2:09pm CST
A lot of people don't eat the right types of foods in their every day life, but one of the reasons for this is that they think that they don't have enough time to be able to do so. I have thought of some tips that would help, and you should add your own to the end of the discussion.
-Buy a slow cooker. If you have one of these, then you are able to put everything in it first thing in the morning and then it will be ready for you when you get home from work at the end of the day. It wouldn't take much time to do, and yet has some very good results.
-Take a piece of fruit instead of a bag of crisps. People think that this is harder to do, but actually it might be easier. You just have to pick up a piece of fruit from the bowl in a morning instead of taking crisps out of the cupboard.
-Buy low fat alternatives. You can get the same types of things if you like, but make sure that you get the diet versions. This means that there would be as many calories or as much fat in it.
-Drink water instead of anything else. If you replace the other drinks with water, then you will be saving a lot of calories in your daily life.
6 responses
@echoforever (5180)
• United States
25 Oct 12
Those are great tips.
One of the main problems is that healthy eating is just one more thing most people set aside and replace with some other activity they enjoy rather than taking care of themselves first. Their health will suffer and then their enjoyment will also falter because they will feel worse.
@GemmaR (8517)
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25 Oct 12
I completely understand how people might think that they didn't have the time to be able to eat healthily, but one of the things that I have learned over the course of the past couple of years is that healthy eating really doesn't have to be all that much of a big deal in the grand scheme of things. It is just a case of making healthier choices, such as having some fruit in the evening in the place of other snacks that you might have been eating previously. It is all about the balance, and it doesn't have to take such a large amount of time out of your life.
@echoforever (5180)
• United States
25 Oct 12
I completely agree, it is just taking those steps toward setting up your goals in a way. So that you have those foods handy to eat in place of others, breaking the habits of unhealthy foods. It doesn't take much time when a person sets out to do so. Like you said with the slow cooker, excellent idea and there are so many things you can make in those, it will be a life saver and a time saver.
@GemmaR (8517)
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25 Oct 12
Yes it definitely takes your mind to be in a certain place for you to be able to achieve in something like this, but once you have got into the habit of being healthy this is something that will stick with you for the rest of your life. I know that I used to eat crisps and chocolates every night when I was at University, and now I know that there is no way that I would ever want to put that amount of damage onto my body. I respect my body a lot more and I now understand all of the things that I should be doing to try and keep it as healthy as I possibly can.
@GemmaR (8517)
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9 Nov 12
I agree with this. When I first started trying to lose weight, I realised that I ate my food far too quickly. When you do this, you don't realise that you're full until a bit later because of the fact that you were eating so quickly. If you make sure that you're chewing your food properly, you should find that you're able to make it last longer, and you will notice sooner when you're no longer hungry. I always make sure that I don't put as much food on my plate, so that if I am still hungry then I can make something else that I can eat. If I did the food on the plate then I would feel bad about leaving it, so I always think it's better to make sure that you don't pile foods high.
Also I prefer to eat vegetables such as carrots and broccoli, as they are very low in calorie and it means that you're able to eat more of this then you would if you chose to eat the things such as meat or potatoes. It's important that you find things that you are able to eat, as you will only struggle later on if you don't choose to do this.
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
26 Oct 12
Those are some rather great tips. I think making a schedule to fit your meals into if you are able is also essential. If a person is going to eat at about the same time every day, their body will know its supposed to eat at those times. And if you carefully portion out and schedule the meals. Offer some variety, but make sure you look into the healthiest treats you can.
Of course, you should not deprive yourself either. That is the worst thing you can do, deprive yourself completely of treats. Therefore, as a milestone for doing well, you should give yourself a treat. Maybe once a week or once every couple of weeks depending on your goal. Also, shop around, and don't be afraid to go outside your comfort zone. Those tips have worked well for me.
@GemmaR (8517)
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27 Oct 12
I think that a schedule is a brilliant idea as well. I always eat at around the same time, but sometimes if I am going out somewhere then I will end up eating things that perhaps aren't all that great because of the fact that I am a bit busy and haven't thought ahead. But I know that if I had taken the time to think ahead and if I had made a plan then I would have been able to just think about it a little bit more and then have taken something a little more healthy with me rather than just grabbing an unhealthy snack.
@Raine38 (12391)
• United States
26 Oct 12
I know a lot of busy people who often overlooks the importance of eating healthy foods. I used to be one of them. USually in the morning it's a mad dash to go to the office, so I just grab anything from the fridge or pantry, any instant breakfast will do. Instant noodles, pop tarts, those breakfast bars and some instant coffee or instant choco drinks. Of course with all these sugar I will have the energy to get past the few hours of the morning but halfway through I will already feel hunger pangs and pains even before it's hours before lunch time. Then for dinner, since everyone's already tired, it's most likely a microwave dinner once more. When I got married, I began to be concerned with the health of my husband more than myself because I can actually see him doing the same thing I do and I realized it's not good. So now, I prepare everything the night before so all we have to do is heat everything up, breakfast and packed lunch.
@GemmaR (8517)
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26 Oct 12
It is a lot easier to just get hold of something in the morning that will keep us full during the morning, and I think that a lot of the things that people choose do tend to be the slightly more unhealthy options. But the best thing to do is to find things that you can get which don't take all that much effort. One of the things that you could try are instant oats. These would mean that you could just add boiling water to them and then stir, and you wouldn't have to spend a lot of time preparing food. There are many things that you could get which don't take a lot of time to sort out.
@mariaperalta (19073)
• Mexico
25 Oct 12
Healthy eating is important. I used to have a hard time. As I work 12-15 hours a day in my internet cafe. SO now- I always have a bowl of fruits on the table. And a plastic container in frig with veggies cut up. So I eat better than I did before.
@GemmaR (8517)
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25 Oct 12
I think that it is good that you have found ways that you are able to be healthy when you are at work when you work such long hours. One of the things that I think people struggle with is the fact that it is probably easier to put a chocolate bar in your bag in the morning, because if you took an apple you would have to wash it, and if you took an orange you would have to peel it, whereas chocolate would be easy to eat quickly. It is all about being able to find alternatives to what you have always been doing, and it does sound as though you have been able to do this.
