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When working hard to achieve your goals, which may be to succeed in your career, make more money or further your education you may find yourself working long hours, and therefore cannot find the time to prepare and eat healthy meals. It’s easy to resort to quick take away or delivery meals, since these are so convenient, with many choices available.
Your diet may be set aside when you are focused on what you need to do to become successful. However, this can take its toll on you in the long term. To be successful it’s important to have a balanced lifestyle, eating healthily, making time for exercise and have a positive mindset.
I share below my 5 tips to Eating for Success:
1. Start the day with breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day as it refuels the body after a night of rest. How we begin the day can determine if we feel energised or lethargic for the rest of the day. If you are not hungry first thing in the morning, you can have it mid-morning. Smoothies, eggs with toast or porridge are some simple breakfast options that don’t take long to make.
2. Don’t skip meals. I understand that you may either forget to eat as are preoccupied with your work or just don’t have the time for lunch or dinner as can’t take a break. But you will be so hungry when you do get the time to eat that you may make up for the missed meals by grabbing the easiest options; junk food like crisps, chips, chocolates or cakes. Make some time to eat and schedule it into your busy diary by setting an appointment with yourself for lunch.
3. Carry some healthy snacks with you. Most of us get hungry every 2.5 to 3 hours, so if we waited until the next meal (4-5 hours) it's quite likely we would be ravenous and overindulge, eating large portions. If you need an energy boost either mid-morning or mid-afternoon have a small filling snack to get you through. Some simple snacks on the go are nuts, seeds, a piece of fruit, granola bars or energy balls.
4. Stay well hydrated and drink water during the day. When we feel tired and low in energy, we often think we are hungry. However, we may actually be dehydrated. Instead of drinking beverages like tea, coffee or soft drinks, have water. The amount of water you need will depend on your age, diet, activity level and climate you live in. If you don’t like the taste of water you can flavour it by adding slices of lemon, lime or oranges or fennel seeds or mint leaves.
5. Eat whole real foods. Instead of eating processed foods, which are high in fat, sugar or salt, go for whole foods. By having balanced meals which include whole grains, vegetables, fruits, healthy proteins and fats that provide us with nutrients that we need, our blood sugar levels are balanced through the day and we won’t hit an energy slump.
by Sujata Din
Sujata Din is a Certified Health Coach and Certified Professional Cancer Coach. In this regular column for ‘iGlobal’, she offers some special insights, from useful wellness tips to recipes for creations that are not only delicious but also healthy.