As someone who runs an online business, one of your biggest challenges will be maintaining a healthy diet. Running an online business can be tiring on the brain and eyesight through prolonged use of computers.
If you expect to have the energy, motivation, and brainpower to accomplish the jobs that need doing, it means that you need to fuel your body with the right type of food. Unfortunately, when you're working anywhere from 8 to 12 hours a day, cooking sometimes is not much of an option.
After all, eating healthy involves knowing what is beneficial, making grocery lists, going shopping, cooking, and more. This article discusses a healthy weekly meal plan for busy people. It's all about creating a healthy weekly meal plan that is easy to stick to for busy people.
Do Some Research on Nutrition
Before you start shopping and making a weekly meal plan, you should do some nutrition research. It is a lot easier to eat healthy when you know what is healthy and what's not. Therefore, spend a couple hours doing some research on the most nutritious foods.
You want to eat the foods that have the most vitamins and nutritional benefits with the least calories, fat, and sugar. Once you figure out what these are, you can make a weekly meal plan. We’re not saying you have to become a world-class nutritionist, but knowing the basics of nutrition and healthy eating will help you in the long run.
Make a Weekly Meal Plan
One of the most important things that to do is make a weekly meal plan. It's much harder to eat a healthy meal when you are winging it. More often than not, if you don't have a meal plan, you're just going to go for the easiest thing that's available at any given time.
If you have a meal plan, it's much easier to stick to it, especially if you do some meal prepping. It's much easier to do healthy cooking when you know what you want to make ahead of time. Unfortunately, after a long day of work, most of us don't want to think about making a grocery list or spending time cooking.
Have a meal plan, so you don't have to do any thinking and can just get right to cooking. If possible, try to plan out all your meals and snacks. Not only will this make cooking a lot easier and faster, but it will also make it easier to keep track of how many calories you are ingesting as well as the overall nutritional benefits.
Having a meal plan becomes so much simpler when you decide to get your groceries delivered. There’s less chances of forgetting to purchase an important ingredient, or being led astray into the realm of impulse purchases.
Stick to Your Grocery List
A big part of eating healthy is staying away from junk food. Chips, chocolates, fried foods, gummy bears, and everything in between are not going to do your figure any favors, nor will they benefit your energy levels. That said, when you go grocery shopping, it's easy to get distracted when you see shelves full of junk food.
Stick to your grocery list. In the step above, you made a meal plan, and this means that you have written down the ingredients you need for that weekly plan.
So, when you go to the grocery store, only buy those things. If at all possible, try avoiding aisles with unhealthy foods. It's all about using healthy and fresh ingredients so you can make healthy meals that will benefit your mind and your body; this means staying away from the junk. Moreover, sticking to your grocery list and only getting the essentials for your meals will also save money.
Use Fresh Ingredients Whenever Possible
In terms of being healthy, the right ingredients can make a difference. Getting some fresh vegetables to make some salads with a bit of olive oil and salt is a great way to go. Salad is fast, easy, and healthy.
Although things like frozen vegetables are convenient, they're not as healthy as fresh. The freezing process removes most of the health benefits from your vegetables.
It may take more to prepare fresh produce because you have to peel it, cut it, cook it, and more, but that said, it also contains more health benefits than frozen foods. Just take a look at the difference in nutritional content between fresh green beans and frozen green beans to see what we're talking about.
Make Ready-to-Go Freezer Meals
While frozen foods aren't the best way to go, they have their benefits; they can be quick and easy. In addition, if you plan on going for ready-made frozen foods, some microwave and oven foods can be relatively healthy.
However, if you want to know exactly what you're eating, you can always make your own freezer meals. Cook healthy meals and stick them in freezer-safe bags or Tupperware. You can just take one out of the freezer and put it in the oven or the microwave when you want to eat it. This is something that will save time.
Do Some Meal Prep for the Coming Week
You can do some meal prepping for the week, which doesn't necessarily mean sticking your food in the freezer. For example, you can cook a batch of spaghetti and then separate it into various portions to last a few days.
However, there can be a limit to how far in advance you can meal prep because the fresh and healthy vegetables and other foods can go bad. Nevertheless, you can always prepare a few days in advance. For instance, if you have a few hours to spare on Monday night, you can prepare your meals for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Choosing Healthier Alternatives
We touched on this before, but try sticking to the healthiest foods possible. One of the issues that many people have is getting enough protein.
To get your protein, you can always eat fish and legumes. Instead, try eating a lot of vegetables and salads. Switch that white bread for whole wheat bread.
If you have a craving for sugar, instead of going for gummy bears or chocolate bars, go for fruit. You don't have to substitute healthier alternatives for all of your favorite junk foods, but switch out a few.
Look Up Fast and Easy Recipes
We recommend looking up fast and easy recipes to eat healthier. Often, most of us just don't want to cook because it takes too long and it's effort-intensive.
However, if you can find some fast and easy recipes that are healthy and can be made in 30 minutes or less, there is no reason why you can't spend a bit of time cooking. It's all about finding suitable recipes.
One way to cut down on your time in the kitchen is by subscribing to a service that offers time-saver and protein-packed meals. For example, Green Chef can provide pre-portioned ingredients and recipe cards that are easy to follow.
FAQ
How do I Start to Eat Healthily?
Try eating more vegetables and fruits, limit your processed food, always read the labels in terms of nutritional facts, stop eating refined carbs, avoid vegetable oils, and avoid sugary drinks.
What Should I Eat Every Day to be Healthy?
You should eat 6 to 8 servings of grains, 2 to 4 servings of fruits, 4 to 6 servings of vegetables, 2 to 3 servings of dairy, and 2 to 3 servings of protein sources (meat, fish, dry beans, nuts, eggs).
What are the Most Harmful Foods?
Foods you should stay away from include processed meat and cheese, fast food, high-calorie drinks, refined sugars, and refined grains. Generally speaking, everything processed is unhealthy.
Conclusion
Now you have just about everything you need to know about making a healthy weekly meal plan. Unfortunately, as an online business owner, you don't have much time to spare for cooking and eating, which means eating healthy foods can be highly challenging.
However, with a bit of meal planning, a good grocery list, and some meal prepping, you should have no problems creating healthy meals without having to waste time. With a bit of effort, eating healthy doesn't have to be a challenge, even as someone who owns an online business and barely has time to spare.
