Here are just a few things every working woman needs to do during her day: get dressed up, handle kids, commute, attend meetings, make a school run, handle social events, etc. Here’s hardly any time to grab a bag of chips, let alone have a healthy meal. So how can busy working women like you improve their eating habits and take better care of their health?
Do your research
Before you start making any changes to your diet, it’s important to analyze your eating habits and notice your mistakes. For a week, try to note down in your phone everything you eat. The results are guaranteed to blow your mind—you’re probably eating more than you thought. Just writing everything down can make you more mindful of your diet and provide you with more balance.
Focus on protein
When you’re starving at work, it’s easy to reach for stuff that’s packed with empty calories like chocolate bars, cookies or chips. These are tasty and appealing, but they won’t keep you full for an hour, let alone until dinner. So what can you do to feel full and stay full? Protein! Adding protein to every meal will give you the energy to handle the day and you’ll easily survive until dinner without being tempted to make bad food choices. What kind of protein do you need for lunch? The answer is eggs, chicken (you can add different spices to make your chicken more interesting), chickpea salads, salmon, etc.
Prep lunch in advance
In most cases, working women struggle with lunch because it happens at work when you don’t have time to think about calories. Well, if you prep a few lunches in advance and make them balanced, you don’t have to think about calories at work at all. Planning meals in advance allows you to make better choices and skip those pizza grabs after work or school. On Saturdays, set an hour aside to do your shopping or find a health food store online to deliver your healthy goodies. This way, when you have time on Sunday, you can use your quality ingredients and create a few balanced meals to bring to work or school during the week.
Fill out the plate with veggies
When you feel like you need a bigger portion to get you through the day, feel free to fill the plate with veggies. For instance, if you’re planning to have mac n cheese for lunch, add some spinach, mushrooms and fresh tomatoes to the mix to eat more food yet ingest fewer calories. Veggies will not only make your meals tastier and more adventurous, but they will make even the most mundane meal healthier. Plus, you’ll eat fewer carbs and sugars after filling up on fiber.
Make healthy snack decisions
It’s normal to get hungry during the day even after a nice lunch meal. When you’re hungry, your brain stops making smart decisions and just wants to handle the hunger. So what can you do to prevent senseless snacking? Add a nutritious snack to your purse, car, office desk, etc. To skip office biscuits or canteen muffins, pack a trail mix, roasted chickpeas, dried fruit, cut veggies or granola.
Hydrate
Yes, you probably know just how important it is for your health and fitness to stay hydrated, but maybe if you hear it once more, you really start sipping on water throughout your day. Dehydration leads to confusion, fatigue and headaches, but it can also trick you into eating (the brain sometimes mixes up hunger and thirst signals). If you don’t like plain water, you can trick your taste buds by adding sliced cucumber and some lemon to your water bottle. And always keep a reusable bottle on your table, because when you see water in front of you, you will automatically reach for it throughout the day.
When you want to improve your eating habits while being a busy working woman, it might seem like the whole world is working against you. However, if you stay consistent and get back up if you mess up, you will get the hang of healthy eating, know how to prevent binging and adapt your habits to fit your new lifestyle. Very soon, you’ll feel, look and perform better than ever.
