Cathal BarryHealthy Living with Cathal Barry
The key to success when beginning any new eating regime is organisation. That means planning ahead, shopping in advance and preparing and cooking your meals yourself.
Some people may consider that inconvenient and time-consuming, but ultimately it’s the only way to control what goes into your body. Remember: You are what you eat!
Weight loss can be challenging enough, so don’t let a scattered approach make it even harder. The more disorganised you are, the more likely you are to slip back into old habits – just because it requires less effort.
The first step in being organised is preparation. Decide ahead of time what you are going to eat for the next week. Create meal plans, menus and snack ideas, gather recipes and buy all of the ingredients you need to make them. If you don’t have any healthy cookbooks there are endless delicious and nourishing recipes available online.
If you don’t prepare ahead of time, you may have a harder time resisting indulging in junk when you get the munchies!
Ideally, you should try to buy all the groceries you need once a week. However, if you need to buy foods that may spoil before you use them later in the week, you may want to set aside time for two shopping trips each week. Remember to make a shopping list and rigidly stick to it to avoid any temptation on the aisles. Skip the sweet section!
A few times per week you should set aside some time to prepare food so it’s ready to cook and eat. You can evencook many foods ahead of time and store them in the fridge for several days.
Benefits
Meal planning is the perfect strategy to help you stick to your healthy eating plan, with the added benefit of saving time, money and stress. That’s because meals prepared at home generally contain a greater variety of nutrient-rich foods compared to those found at typical restaurants, at a fraction of the cost.
If you’re organised, eating healthily doesn’t have to take much time, but prior planning is essential. Being organised and having the ingredients you need at hand is crucial for success.
Breakfast: Avoid the sugar-loaded breakfast cereal. Eggs are easily whipped up in the mornings and their high protein and beneficial fat content will help stabilise blood-sugar levels. Opt for porridge if you have a long day ahead.
Lunch: Bring a pre-packed lunch to work. These meals can be prepared in advance and kept in the fridge. This is much healthier than popping out to the shops for a sandwich and cheaper too!
Snack:Nuts like almonds and cashews are an excellent option, provided they aren’t covered in chocolate!
Dinner:The evening is generally a less hectic time for most people, so you may have time to be adventurous in the kitchen. Why not make enough to have for lunch the following day? If you’re stuck for time try washing and chopping vegetables, and marinating your meats in advance.