Save Time and Eat Healthy with Meal Preps

Ever since I started training clients that wanted to lose weight, at least 90% would say some version of “I want to eat healthier, but I’m too busy.”

We live in an on-demand society, and, in just the last 10 years, people have grown accustomed to getting the things they want with the greatest amount of ease. For instance, the main reason why Blockbuster Video was effectively sent to the gallows by streaming video services is that a person is guaranteed to watch the movies he wants without leaving his living room, whereas Blockbuster required customers to drive to the store and the inventory was limited by the amount of space at the location.

Office professionals are often held down to their desks with piles of work and tight deadlines, therefore, it is common for these folks to choose fast food or have their lunch delivered by Uber Eats or DoorDash. The problem with this is that most of the time, such food options, while they may taste great and offer a short-term sense of satisfaction, are loaded with high amounts of sodium and calories and offer few vitamins and minerals.

Eating like this becomes exponentially more dangerous for office professionals because of the sedentary nature of their work, thus increasing their chances of developing a heart disease. By changing eating habits and consuming nutrient-rich meals at the workplace and home, it can pay huge dividends in overall health.

Time is a valuable commodity. It is not rare for office managers, attorneys and accountants to work 80 or more hours in a given week, which means they may have to eat two or three meals at work in the same day. If these meals are coming from fast food restaurants, such individuals may be consuming nearly twice the amount of calories their body burns throughout the day, thus leading towards weight gain.

In recent years, meal prep has been gradually growing in popularity and it is one thing that I believe can be extremely helpful for professionals. In addition, I have noticed stores like Walmart, Costco and Target stocking reusable meal prep containers, which allows you the opportunity to prepare your own meals and reduce waste.

At most meal prep businesses, you can easily pre-order your meals and select which ones you would like. For instance, some may feature steak, bison, chicken or fish, and others specialize in vegan or vegetarian for the folks that prefer that route.

Personally, I like to prepare meals for myself since this gives me the best opportunity to tailor meals to my tastes. Also, if I am looking to lose weight or gain more lean muscle, I can simply decrease or increase how much I eat. Additionally, on my cardio days, I increase the amount of brown rice and vegetables for the meals I eat before the workout, and on my strength training day, I like to increase the protein foods for the meals I eat after my workout.

But, how does a busy office professional do this? If your time is too limited or you are not too picky about your meals, meal prep businesses may be the best option. However, if you are more particular about the things you eat, you may want to prepare meals yourself. The great thing about meal preps is that you can prepare enough meals to last you for an entire week.

After selecting the healthy meals you would like to eat for the week and picking up the ingredients, select a day and time to prepare the meals (such as Sunday morning or evening) and add it to your calendar with a reminder. If you are new to cooking, I suggest you experiment with herbs and spices until you find the combinations that suit your tastes.

A few days into abandoning fast food and replacing it with healthy meals, you will notice a nice change in your energy levels and decrease in uncomfortable bloating. When it goes from a few days to a couple weeks and months, the next time you get your blood work checked by your doctor, the results might be much better.

Give meal preps a try and feel free to reach out to me for suggestions on cookbooks with healthy and delicious recipes.