How to Eat your way to Success
Eating Your Way to Success
Do you find that you are so busy that you eat on the run or even forget to eat?
Time is a premium in today’s busy world and if you are like most busy people you may take short cuts. Unfortunately taking short cuts with eating will mean a less energy, less efficiency and poorer health. So if you want to have great energy levels, fantastic concentration, restorative sleep and wonderful health, then I like applying the 3P approach: Plan, Prepare and Perform (roll out your plan) and EAT YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS!
Plan
Look at your week in advance and work out where you will be over the week. You may have meetings, need to work late or find yourself in different venues. For all of these occaisons (including work and social) you will find some forward planning will pay huge dividends.
- Plan your week in advance or plan a few days ahead.
My preference is to plan the week in advance and it might look something like this:
| mon | tues | wed | thurs | fri | sat | sun | |
| Breakfast |
Meat balls or savory mince |
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| Snack |
Nuts, apples and figs |
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| Lunch | Casserole left overs | Chicken stir fry left overs | Steak or tinned fish salad | Chicken breast on salad | Spag bog | Left overs | BBQ or steamed fish |
| Snack |
Rice cakes and houmous |
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| Dinner | Chicken stir fry | Fish and salad | Steamed chicken breast and veggies | Spaghetti Bolognese | Chicken curry or roo | BBQ – marinated steak | Chicken casserole |
| snack |
Blue berries |
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- Shopping lists
Once you have planned your meals, you will be able to work out what foods to buy and the quantities. Ideally you can do this at a market and butcher. This saves money, time and gives you the best produce (which will last longer and taste better).
And example of a shopping list may be:
| Meat: | Chicken breasts x 6, Thighs x 1 pack (for casserole), Mince x 1 kg (for meat balls and for spaghetti Bolognese), 1 piece of rump or eye fillet, 200 grams of thin steak for the BBQ, 1 whole snapper |
| 1 packet rice cakes, 1 packet of wheat free mega grain snacks, 1 packet of basmati or brown rice | |
| Vegetables | Parsley, 2 x red peppers, ½ pumpkin, bag zucchinis, bag of carrots, bag of potatoes, 2 bunches of spinach |
| Fruit | Bananas, Apples, Fresh or Frozen berries, Fresh or Frozen mango |
| Other | Walnuts, almonds, gogji berries, chocolate. |
- Consider having your own vegetable patch.
Having your own garden is very exciting indeed! It means fresh supply of vegetables whenever you like. It is a great way to de-stress and get “back to nature” which will help you excel in the workplace too!
PREPARE
Preparing food can take a long time. Interestingly large amounts of time can be saved by preparing vegetables, salads and meats in advance. What may take 30-60 minutes each night will often only take 1.5-2 hours for the whole week’s preparing when done in one sitting. Save time, stop yourself from being tempted to eat junk food and turn the preparation time into a GREEN light activity. Turn up the music, have a dance, relax and enjoy preparing your food in advance. Make salads up and put into separate bowls, or cut vegetables and leave in containers to be mixed up at a later date and add marinades to meats and put in the freezer until the day they are needed.
PERFORM
Planning and preparing are wonderful steps to improve your eating and success but you need to actually stick to the plan. On the night you have planned fish and salad, make sure you go to your fridge and eat it (ie don’t get lazy and eat toast or order take away).
Routine suits some people and having a ritual of getting the night’s dinner out before you leave for work each day is a great idea. Refer to your plan (stick it on the fridge) and make sure you roll out the plan!
Sticking to these 3 principles will ensure you eat your way to success.
Some other hot tips:
- Match carbohydrate foods with protein foods
- Drink 2 litres of water a day
- Eat regularly – every 2-3 hours
- Eat fresh, vibrant food not deep fried, nutrient poor take aways
- Keep nuts in your top draw as a perfect snack
- Don’t eat infront of your computer or while doing work as your gastric juices will be switched off
- Avoid high sugar foods and adding sugar to drinks
- Avoid energy drinks, more than 1 coffee/tea a day and fruit juice
