Christian Community Networking

 Aaron Rosendary, Certified Trainer

Diet tips for people on the go!

Let’s say you wake up in the morning getting ready for work and you have developed a routine of drinking coffee instead of eating breakfast. You get to work at 8am and you jump right into it. Around 10am you are hungry and you either drink another cup of coffee or you hit the vending machine. Now, it is lunchtime and you are really hungry so you go out for fast food or a chain restaurant. Five or six hours later, the hunger hits you again and the cycle repeats itself. Does this day sound familiar? If so, you're not alone for people on the go!

Today the 8 hour work day has evolved into the 10 or 12 hour shift work. Many of us are taking on additional work from home for ends to meet. With crazy hours like these, the best way to make sure you stay on track nutritionally is to prepare yourself a week's worth of healthy meals in advance. Here are a few tips for doing just that.

Master the grocery store. You should avoid entering the grocery store when you are hungry. Without thinking, you find yourself drawn into the bright, shiny, end-of-aisle display and before you know it, you're about to fill your cart with 10 frozen pizzas for $10.

Stop! Change direction. Do not go in hungry. When you do enter go straight to the produce section and select enough lettuce and fresh vegetables to make a salad that'll last you all week. It's best to avoid processed foods, keep to the perimeter of the store. This path will lead you to healthy choices like veggies, fruit, low-fat dairy, lean meat, and poultry.

Cook big on Sunday. Roast a bunch of chicken, make a big stew, and grill some veggies; you'll have a great meal on Sunday and enjoy the leftovers for the next few days. Another thing to do on Sunday to prepare lettuce that you bought while strolling the perimeter of the store and put it in a zip-top bag. With this combination, you'll have fresh, healthy food to put into meals all week.

Pre-pack your snacks for work. You may not always have time for a full meal at work, and that's OK. The night before a busy day, measure out foods that you can graze on all day. Measuring the portions in advance helps assure that you won't accidentally down an entire 1,000-calorie bag of trail mix.

Hydrate in fashion. Instead of going through tons of plastic bottles at your desk, buy yourself a fancy water bottle. Busy people often forget to hydrate properly. In addition, the average American drinks 57 gallons of soft drinks each year! You can avoid the temptation to purchase soda by refilling a beautiful reusable water bottle with water throughout your day.

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If your plan is working, just stay the course. Do your homework. When you plan to go to work the next day, plan your meal as well. Failing to plan is planning to fail with your diet. Finding and keeping a diet that supports your lifestyle will more likely result in long-term success for people on the go like you.

What say you?