When following a healthier, whole foods diet, busy schedules and between-meal snacks can become a challenge. So I prepared some tips that might help give you the upper hand you need to stay on top of a whole foods diet and keep the processed, convenience food to a bare minimum.
One of the most common obstacles to eating healthy that most of my clients share is how to be ready for those hunger pings that come up on the go and between meals. This is also a huge lifestyle factor that I believe plays into a larger issue of how, as a society and a critical mass, we have surrendered our wellness to convenience.
5 Whole Foods Diet Tips for Busy Schedules
1. Avoid Grocery Shopping While “Hangry”
Are you familiar with the latest, made-up buzz word, hangry? It is meant to describe the sensation of being hungry, stressed, anxious, and therefore possibly angry, all at the same time. A perfect example of how this might apply to you is after a stressful day at work, when you haven’t bothered to properly nourish yourself. Grocery shopping while feeling sad, angry, hungry, tired, and-or stressed-out will undoubtedly lead to purchases of all sorts of unhealthy things, from boxes of cookies to bottles of wine. Make sure you are satiated, nourished, and hydrated before you make your trip to the grocery store. Having a satisfied tummy and balanced blood sugar will keep you in the right state of mind and allow you to make rational, well thought-out choices in your groceries for the week. Try to consciously make this a priority and see what a big difference it makes for you.
2. Get Creative with Fresh Pack Foods
Following a whole foods diet does not mean you have to prepare everything from scratch. Basically, if you can recognize the food for what it is, it is probably in a whole enough state to serve its whole food purpose in your body. For example, many stores have a “Broccoli Slaw” mix in their fresh pack sections. Turn the slaw mix over to the ingredient deck and check to make sure it is just fresh vegetables with no preservatives or unnecessary additives. This mix can be used to make a super easy, nutritious raw salad for your lunch a couple days out of the week. You can add sunflower seeds, shredded carrots, sprouts, raspberries, proteins, any number of other fresh foods to make it a more complete meal. Produce packers and stores are expanding their reach of fresh pack offerings, making it easier than ever to get great variety in convenient whole foods.
3. Turn Your Menu Sideways at Restaurants
I know this sounds a little crazy. You are probably thinking, “how is this supposed to help me eat more whole foods?” I think we can agree that most of us approach a restaurant menu the same way. First we look for the meat or dairy, or the “main protein,” then we look to see what is accompanying that protein. In most cases, the most important whole food to our health, the minimally processed vegetable, takes the back seat. It is hard to change a lifetime of subconscious thinking around how we order at restaurants. Restaurants are fun, you are there to enjoy the company of others and break bread. And the menu is designed to help you indulge in fabulous cuisine and spend a lot of money. It is probably not designed to help you stick to your commitment to a whole foods diet, unless you are at a restaurant where that is the mission. By turning your menu sideways, either physically, or in your mind, you break up old patterns and give yourself a liminal thinking tool to approach your menu differently. So what does it mean to approach a menu differently? Try ordering your next meal at a restaurant like this: First, look for the item that offers at least half of the dish in the form of a fresh, unprocessed non-starchy vegetable. Make the non starchy whole vegetable the priority. Then, just follow the guidelines of your whole foods diet with the rest of the dish. The remainder of the plate should be about a quarter clean protein, an eighth starchy vegetable or grains, and some healthy fats. Fresh fruit can also be a part of this equation. In some cases, you may need to request extra vegetables, or a simple substitution, to get the kind of plate you are looking for.
4. Do Some Weekend Planning
Take a little time on the weekend, maybe an hour or two at the most, to do some whole foods planning for your week. This can be meal planning, preparing healthy snacks and vegetable sticks, doing some mindful, thorough, healthy grocery shopping, or researching and bookmarking some easy, healthy recipes. When your weeks start to run into each other, and conscious, healthy lifestyle planning takes a back seat, that is when you find yourself mid-week at a loss for the tools you need to keep you whole foods diet at the forefront. In my guided meal planning course, the Meal Guru, I teach participants the importance of being prepared and using part of the weekend to enjoy time in your kitchen, planning a healthful, nourishing week for yourself and your family.
5. Create A Daily Snack Bag or a Shelf at Work, and Use It!
I encourage my clients to make sure they are always prepared with the healthy, whole foods that support them, and that those foods are within arm’s reach at all times throughout the day. If you are on the go a lot, it could be a healthy snack bag that you keep with you at all times. If you sit at a desk all day, it could be a healthy shelf or a corner of your desk where you keep convenient, nutritionally rich foods to snack on. Some examples of some great snack “hacks” that you can take with you are fresh shelled peas (available at Trader Joes), mixed tree nuts and seeds, clean, whole food nutrition bars, fresh blueberries, vegetable sticks, organic brown rice cakes, and more. You can also keep a portable shaker cup on hand with your favorite, whole-food protein shake mix, for easy smoothie making in a pinch.
If you enjoyed reading this tips for supporting a whole foods diet on a busy schedule, you’re probably a perfect candidate for nutrition coaching. Let’s have a quick coaching call and learn about your nutrition big picture! It’s free! You can schedule it here. I look forward to seeing how I can help you!