Ultimately most of us know how to eat healthily--eat your veggies and cut out the junk food. But when it comes to the crunch (pun intended) we end up making poor choices. There are so many reasons we tell ourselves, as to why this happens, but at the end of the day, it boils down to one thing--not willpower, but lack of planning.



The effects of what you choose to eat and drink have a truly dramatic impact on your life--and although this may surprise you at first, eating well is the one thing you can do in your day-to-day to significantly and positively affect your focus, concentration, energy levels, moods, motivation and even your relationships as well as how you see the world. You know that feeling?--When you haven't eaten for a while and you start getting a little crabby and unfortunately end up taking it out on someone who had nothing to do with why you were moody in the first place?

This is easily fixed. It only takes a little planning and directed action. And it will enable you to save time and money too--all whilst being easy to implement! All you need to do is follow the plan.

1)Choose fresh and unprocessed, real foods

Basing your meals on your fresh vegetables (low glycaemic i.e. non starchy) and organic, good quality proteins (e.g. beef, chicken, lamb, fish, eggs etc) will be the best way to maintain your blood sugar levels balanced. Whilst fresh, vital and quality foods are easy to find and easy to prepare, consuming more of them will make the single biggest difference in improving your wellbeing, fast.

2)Create a plan

This is the most important part of the whole process. You will need about 30 minutes to complete this process but it will save you hours (and dollars too!) during the week and at the supermarket because you won't be wondering aimlessly when you are there, adding junk foods into your trolley. Plus during the week you will be saving money instead of losing it on expensive takeaways, full of unhealthy additives, which damage your health (and which in the long term, end up costing you even more!).

Here's what you do. Get a sheet of paper and draw a table with all the days of the week across the top and all the meals in the day (including snacks) along the bottom or download a printable copy here http://tinyurl.com/3uef4a.

Then your next step is to choose your meals and slot them into your plan remember to choose balanced, vital, healthy foods and snacks based on your proteins and low glycaemic vegetables (e.g. green leafy, and other non-starchy types). Protein-rich meals are especially important for breakfasts, snacks and dinners. Also it is crucial to have variety. The greatest thing about doing your plan is that when you finish it you also have your shopping list cut out for you. This means you are not going to be wasting time or money at the supermarket because you are only really going to buy what you truly NEED!

3)Batch cook

Now you've got your plan, here's where you save time, all whilst eating extremely well during the week. Prepare some healthy meals in advance and make enough to last you a couple of meals--this is THE SECRET. Choose recipes that lend themselves for freezing e.g. soups, stews, casseroles etc and some that you can eat later or a for couple of days e.g. roasts and roasted vegetables, a healthy salad without dressing, stir fries etc. You don't want to leave prepared food in the fridge for too long so aim to eat everything you cook within 3 days of preparation (except for meals you can freeze of course).

Although in an ideal world the best thing is to prepare your foods--washing and cutting all your vegetables at the time you are going to eat them, it is best you do this preparation and 'pre-cooking', allowing you to eat unprocessed, healthy home cooked meals rather than end up eating takeaway every night because you just can't imagine yourself getting home late, from a hard days' work to get into a cooking frenzy.

This way you know exactly what you are eating and best of all when it comes to actually doing your cooking you know you have all the right ingredients in the house--this is a much better strategy, instead of spending your whole day thinking about what to cook for dinner and starting a second marathon when you finish work--from the supermarket, to the kitchen. Advance plan and preparation will save the day as well as your health and sanity in the long term!