The simple backup plan to get you past it – for good!
to you
I’m grinding away at a busy morning when I look at the clock and realize I’m behind schedule for my first meal of the day.*
I stop what I’m doing and head to the kitchen, only to realize there wasn’t much in the fridge for me to make a decent meal with.
There was no way I was going to cook. Even if time allowed, it just wasn’t going to happen.
You’ve probably been in this situation a million times.
What’s the easiest thing to do?
Find something in the pantry or start scrolling through your favorite food delivery app.
But it doesn’t end there – it’s so easy to use this situation as an excuse for an unplanned indulgence. This is how foods that should be limited to occasional treats become the foundation of your diet.
It’s also how you end up feeling less than your best, with a few extra inches around your waist.
So, what’s the alternative?
Coach Kayla and I encourage our clients to think a few meals ahead, or even a few days ahead, particularly with a tactic we affectionately call “intentional leftovers.”
As the name implies, when you have the time to cook, you intentionally cook more than you need. This ensures you’ll have high-quality choices available for future meals that you might not have the time (or desire) to prepare.
This is what saved me during my busy morning!
There’s a compromise, though. You have to be willing to try some unusual combinations.
Here’s the salad I ended up with (the image below is a screenshot of my food diary in our custom coaching app):
No, it’s not going to win any awards for best recipe. But it clearly wins the prize that matters most – supporting my health and wellness despite being pressed for time and short on motivation to cook.
☝️ (Don’t assume that a good meal needs to have this many items. When availability isn’t an issue, it can be as simple as just three ingredients, like salmon, broccoli, and olive oil, for example.)
To get the protein I needed, I had to combine leftover steak, leftover salmon, and a hard-boiled egg.
And to get the amount of leafy greens I typically aim for, I needed three different sources (leftover collards, romaine, and baby lettuce).
Probably not a combination you’d go out of your way to put together, right?
But it was more than good enough to satisfy me. And, as I mentioned earlier, I didn’t have to make any compromises that would be unideal for my health and wellness.
The best protein sources typically require cooking, which makes protein the most challenging part of assembling a quick, but healthy meal.
My favorite quick-and-easy protein sources that I always have on hand in case of a time or motivation emergency are:
Honorable mention:
These are just my favorites. If you don’t like my taste, there are other good pre-cooked options commonly available, like chicken breast or shrimp.
** Canned food isn’t ideal, but it's much better than using time or motivation as an excuse for a poor food choice (and the canned foods listed here are all outstanding sources of very important and often under-consumed long-chain omega-3 fatty acids).
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What can you learn from my haphazard meal of “scraps”?
If you’re busy, you don’t like food prep, or both, being prepared for loss of time and/or motivation is an essential part of making good nutrition the sustainable habit it needs to be to support long-term health and wellness.
It doesn’t take much – cooking extra when you do cook, or even just buying foods that are pre-cooked or don’t require cooking.
And it’s a small change that, when adhered to consistently, can make a giant difference in giving you the energy, health, and confidence to go after life full steam ahead!
To making healthy eating a sustainable habit,
Dr. Vin
* Eating at a similar time each day shouldn’t be a source of stress, but it does facilitate good digestion and help to reinforce good habits.
🆘 Need help with your backup plan for making healthy meals when busy or unmotivated? Schedule a free call with Coach Kayla to learn how we can help!