Planning to Be Healthy

One of the hardest components in being healthy is to plan for it.  BUT if you get your head in the game and get excited about it and get great ideas of HOW to plan to be healthy then it is 100% doable.  

And Trrrrust me, this is a work-in-progress for me!

So here are areas that I find helpful to plan ahead:

1. Breakfast meal

I eat breakfast EVERYDAY!!! It's my most favorite meal of the day.  I give myself 15 minutes to prepare/eat my breakfast.  In fact I would like to plan more time for my breakfast because 10 of those minutes turns into cooking/ taking my supplements/ putting my lunch together (cause I was lazy the night before).  Anyway Breakfast is so important!  Most mornings I have egg & spinach omelet cooked in coconut oil with steamed sweet potato--or if I don't have any sweet potatoes, I have a banana with natural peanut butter.  I have eggs quite a bit.  If I'm more hungry that morning I make oatmeal with--natural peanut butter, honey, almond milk, shredded unsweetened coconut and sliced almonds.  Most commonly that is my oatmeal recipe--it's SO delicious!  Other times I may add cacao powder to make it taste like a dessert!

2.  Packed lunch for work the next day

This probably the most annoying one because I have to make it the night before and sometimes that includes extra cooking because there may not be any dang leftovers in the house.  So I usually make a Spinach Salad with whatever Veggies I have in the house (cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, cilantro), Nuts (sliced almonds, walnuts), Fruit (dried cranberries, chopped apples), Meat (chicken, ham, pork, eggs), and almost always AVOCADOS! ---because I love them so much!

3.  Post-workout snack

For me, I just need to actually HAVE healthy foods in my house to have a healthy post-workout snack.  For example, if I always have berries or a banana, almond milk, nut butter (important for Protein)---THEN I always have a healthy smoothie as an option.  Other possible smoothie ingredients I use: protein powder, handful of spinach, shredded unsweetened coconut,  sliced almonds, cacao powder.  BUT the basics are all you need for a healthy post-workout snack.

4.  Dinner

I plan at least 2-3 meals per week (we have leftovers or salads/sandwiches on other days).  I plan on meals that are healthy  but foods that Blake will enjoy as well.  I also focus on at least 1 vegetarian meal per week for dinner.

5.  Good-for-me snacks when I'm feeling snacky

It's so easy to grab the chip bag.  I like to have a bag of small pre-cut carrots, nuts, apples, peanut butter & dark chocolate when I'm feeling snacky.  And it does the trick every time.  What I use to do was grab some chips, then a cookie, then some ice-cream--because I felt like I was filling this craving that never got filled because I was choosing foods that were making we want more processed foods.

6.  What foods I plan to buy at the grocery store

I make a list of what I need and mostly I stay on the outskirts of the grocery store, where the produce is located.

7.  What exercise I will do that day

Am I feeling tired--Do I need something less strenuous?

Am I feeling energetic--I want something more challenging.

8.  How much water I am drinking (more like monitor)

I've heard so often that you need to drink 8 oz of water 8 times a day = 64 oz!

BUUUT actually it's not based on a number.  It's based on the color of your urine.

It needs to look like a pale lemonade to know that you're drinking enough water.

If it's at all orangey---chug that water!

9.  How many hours of sleep I plan on getting

This is the ABSOLUTE most important factor of all of these.  I've noticed that if I don't get enough sleep, everything else goes down hill.  I'm too tired to make breakfast, lunch or dinner.  I'm too tired to go to the grocery store to restock my fruits/vegetables/protein etc.  I'm too tired to exercise.  Above all, not enough sleep = cranky mood + crazy cravings!  Anyway, not getting enough sleep is a set up for disaster for me.  So I make sure I go to bed early and read before I go to sleep to get a good, deep sleep.