"How do I make smart eating choices on a busy schedule?" patients frequently ask. As a busy doctor, I can understand how eating healthy might feel like a herculean demand and become short shift among the numerous demands in your life. While eating healthy on a time budget does require a little planning, it's easier than you might imagine.
I find when I invest that time, it pays off by keeping me healthy and eating well. In the end, it makes life easier. You can cook once and eat twice by making more than you need and enjoying leftovers.
Let's face it: If you wait to decide what to eat until just before you leave for work or just after you get home in the evening, you may not have everything you need to put a meal on the table. Cooking your own food can become a revolutionary act that could even help save your life.
Being caught off guard, coupled with a growling stomach, could put you in danger of going off your program entirely. That's called a food emergency. When that happens, we will always go for what is available, quick and easy -- usually addictive, processed junk.
A little strategic planning ensures you never need to fall into those emergencies. I've found these six strategies help me and my patients maintain consistently healthy meals even with the tightest schedules.
- Make a list. Take some time one day every week to sit down and make a shopping list. Then visit the grocery store and purchase all of the ingredients for those recipes in advance. Keeping a list and sticking to it saves time, money, and unhealthy food from "landing" in your shopping cart. Another helpful hint: never go to the grocery store hungry!
What's your one strategy you would add to this list to get a healthy meal even with the most hectic schedule? Share your comments below or on my Facebook fan page.
Wishing you health and happiness,
Mark Hyman, M.D.
Mark Hyman, MD, believes that we all deserve a life of vitality -- and that we have the potential to create it for ourselves. That's why he is dedicated to tackling the root causes of chronic disease by harnessing the power of Functional Medicine to transform healthcare. Dr. Hyman and his team work every day to empower people, organizations, and communities to heal their bodies and minds, and improve our social and economic resilience.
Please join him in helping us all take back our health at www.drhyman.com, follow him on Twitter and on Facebook and Instagram.