All the people that know me know that I live a very healthy lifestyle.
Many are proud of me, and others think I am crazy, but I`m cool with that. I
know that many would like to adopt parts of my lifestyle, but sometimes don’t necessarily
know where to start. I am currently following the Paleolithic way of eating,
but before I even blog about that (which will not be today), I want to share with you the basics. I want
to share with you what I practice in my life on a regular basis, so that when
you are ready to take more steps to your optimal lifestyle for eating, you have
a great baseline to start from.
Taking on a healthier approach to eating, depending on which principals
you decide on following takes effort. There are two common excuses I hear all
the time.
Excuse #1
- I don’t cook
If you are not used to being in the kitchen to prepare food, it`s not
easy and you may not be comfortable or know where to start. But over time it
does become more enjoyable and a lot easier because you know what to expect. We
all have to start somewhere.
Excuse
#2 - I don’t have time
Before I hear you say, “I don’t have time”, I say “Bull S**T! J” For
real, if you have time to sit at home and watch TV for the night, play games,
go out for drinks, you are just not taking time “out” of your busy schedule for
your own health. I can’t speak for people with children because that is a whole
other ball game that I have not yet had to deal with in my life. But I know
there are ways to getting around it because I work with some amazing men and women
that find the time.
Below are my tried and tested tips on starting off on the right foot and
having the ability to keep healthy eating a priority in your life!
Tips to making eating healthier easier
Stock up
on good food
I absolutely love grocery shopping. I love picking out my fruits,
vegetables, meats, nuts and super foods. I make food a priority in my life, and
I spend a lot of money on it. I am not saying you have to spend a lot on it,
but spend it on what you like, and what you will eat. Don’t just buy it because
you know it is good for you, but then a week later it is rotten in the fridge
and you have to throw it out.
Buy
yourself a fun food item
A fun food item is anything that you have been wanting to try for a long time,
but it is not justifiable because of the price. For example, I just bought
avocado oil for the first time and it cost me $15. I make salad dressings all
the time, and knew that I would use it on the regular, so it ends up being a
worthwhile splurge. Once you buy this item, you will be excited to use it
because it is something that can spice up your meals.
Organize your food
Keeping everything organized makes it easier to see everything and use.
Believe it or not, when you see it all when preparing a meal, you can get more
creative. The picture here is a part of one of my cupboards. As you see I
love using mason jars to show off my nuts, seeds, super foods (not pictured) and anything else
that would be acceptable to be mason jarred. I find that it is easier for me to
track when I am getting low on something. A 12 pack can be found at Canadian
Tire for $7.
Enjoy
the time you prepare food
I have the tiniest kitchen, and the worst part, it is not open to my
living room where my TV is. I love having the TV on or movies playing while
preparing food. I usually settle on just listening to the TV, but have gone as
far as bringing a mirror out to watch the reflection from the TV. I also love
listening to music, or talking on the phone (headphones in ears so that my
shoulder doesn’t get a cramp from trying to hold the phone up). For those of
you who have an open concept place, you are lucky because at least you can
still enjoy your shows while preparing your food.
Don’t
waste your vegetables
I am guilty for letting food go to waste, and it has happened a lot. The
reason why this happened is because I didn't take the time to prepare it. For
the items that are going to go faster, I wash them, cut them up, and store them
in a container. The biggest items that I do on the regular are salads, and raw
vegetables.
For my salads, I take huge container, cut up all the leaves, onions, and
any other "base" items that I want in my salad. When I have to prepare a salad
for work the next day, I get another container and take out these "base" ingredients
and add in what I called the “Glamour” ingredients followed by my home-made
salad dressing. Glamour ingredients include fruits, avocado, nuts and protein.
Whatever raw vegetables I want to munch on as a snack, I pre-cut them and
also store them. I will take a handful from each container and put it in a
baggy for work, or for on the go. One tip, celery usually can get weak a few
days after cutting it up. I store it in water so they can last the entire week.
But when taking to work the next day, you don’t need to keep it in water.
Portion
your meat and prepare it early
When I buy a big gigantic pack of meat, I will split it up in individual
portions. This saves time and money since I am not cooking them all at once,
or trying to separate it with a sharp knife when frozen because I only want
one piece. I use Ziploc bags to separate everything.
When I am ready to cook the meat, I usually marinate it the night before
so that it is ready to cook the next day. But if you have time on the weekend
to make a batch of meat for a few days, even better. My advice if you are not
yet much of a cook, don’t prepare meat for more than 2 or 3 days…you will
usually get sick of eating the same thing, unless you can jazz it up in
different meals.
Bake
your own treats
Eating treats are definitely one way to sabotage your healthy eating.
Sometimes we become like ravenous lions and want to eat everything in sight.
When you make your own treats, you know exactly what goes in it, and will
appreciate it more when it comes to those times you succumb to your cravings. I
suggest baking a healthy treat over the weekend and saving it for when that
moment arises, because we know that time will happen at least once in a week. A way to make it fun is to do it with
a partner. It makes the process that much more enjoyable, you are creating
memories, and you can share it too!
When you
run out of something, write it down
I have a chalk board decal on my wall in my kitchen. Whenever I am close
to running out of something, I write it down. Before I go to the grocery store, I
take a picture of it, and then I have my grocery list right there. There are so
many ways to track this from a pad of paper and a pen, a dry erase board, or
entering it on an app. Whichever way works for you is all that matters.
Time to
get started
I know that this seems like a lot and it will take a lot of time…I am not
going to lie, it will. But once you get used to the process, you will find your
way of doing it, your own short cuts, and eating healthy will be a breeze
because you found your
way of preparing your meals. If you have a partner that you live with, ask them
to help you. Preparing all this for you and someone else can get tiring, and
you may get annoyed that you are doing all the work, and they just get to eat
it! Having a supportive partner who understands your goals is very important in
living a healthy lifestyle.
I hate when people say, “I’m on a diet”. Diets suck and don’t work. We
all know that because we have tried our hand at a diet or two or ten in our
lives. You need to remember that this is a lifestyle choice, and eating this
way is a lifestyle. But for it to be a lifestyle, you need to make it an
important part of life.
A few key things to remember when considering a lifestyle change:
- Instead of thinking about the immediate weight loss gains, think about when you are old, and start slowing down…you want to be the best you can be, and not be slowed down because of the bad food choices you decided to make all your life.
- Don`t always think instant gratification, think delayed satisfaction.
- And to losing weight, it didn`t take a few days to put it on, so don’t think it will take a few healthy meals to take it off.
To eating, living, and loving life.
Shameen
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