Making the time to meal plan

Sitting down to a home-cooked meal is a great feeling, especially after a tough workout or a long day of work. But sadly, in our society, making the time to cook a meal is not an everyday occurrence for a variety of reasons:

• Being too tired or too hungry
• Needing something quick and convenient
• Feeling too busy
• Not knowing what to eat 
• No love for cooking
• No appetite

If you are like everyone else, you already have a lot to squeeze into the day so it's easy to see why your meals may be an afterthought, especially if you wake up at 4am to workout and you don't come home from work until 7pm.

But is that a reason not to cook/meal prep or an excuse? 

Meal prep/cooking should be a priority in your day. Just like working out, going to work, playing with your kids and sleeping, cooking/meal prep should be on your daily to-do list. It's not about finding the time but making the time. 

As an athlete, I understand how overwhelming it can be to plan (and eat) nutritious meals, every day of the week and still squeeze in exhausting workouts and everything else that keeps me busy in life.  For myself, my meals in peak training become a lot less exciting as I am hyper focused on nourishing my body but also constantly fueling and refueling, whereas in the off-season, I have a lot more flexibility in my diet and more time to cook. 

For athletes, the off-season is the perfect time to develop a passion for cooking and to create sustainable habits that promote meal planning and healthy eating. By placing a similar amount of passion, effort and enthusiasm into your daily diet as you do with your training, you will find it easy to adapt to your training as it increases in intensity/volume but you will also find yourself with a great relationship with food and confidence in fueling and nourishing your body.  

Here are a few of my meal planning tips that will work for your busy lifestyle. 

1) Prepare meals/ingredients when you have free time and when you cook, always plan for leftovers.  

A little meal prep goes a long way. Dice, chop, wash, cook - do as much as you can when you free time. No free time? Instead of playing on your phone or spending 5 extra minutes working out, or taking care of something now that you can do later, get in the kitchen and start prepping food. Don't overwhelm yourself with meal prep - plan for 1-2 days worth of meals at a time.
2) Prep a meal before a workout.

Guess what happens when you finish your workout hungry, with no meal at home waiting for you and no patience/energy to meal prep. Prepare as much as you can before working out. This is a game changer. You won't believe how much easier you will find fueling and refueling (and how less complicated "healthy" eating will be) when you know that a meal is waiting for you post workout. More often than not, if you finish a workout hungry, you will almost always go for what's quick and easy and not always healthy or performance enhancing.
3) Have a menu for the week.

Knowing what you will eat for dinner (and breakfast, lunch and snacks) will ensure you have the necessary ingredients and will prevent you from eating out due to "not having anything to eat." No need to make this menu extravagant or fancy, just have a plan. I find that theme meals work really well for families or those who struggle to be creative with new meal ideas and tend to eat the same thing every night of the week. 
4) Allow yourself one night a week to get a little help from a pre-made or semi-homemade meal.

Eating out is expensive and sometimes time-consuming but every now and then, it can work for you! Consider getting help from the grocery/restaurant, etc. once a week by eating from a salad bar, pre-made meal option, restaurant, pick-up/take-out healthy item or making something semi-homemade. Make sure this meal works for you as you should never feel guilty about eating food prepared outside of the home. My tip: Be inspired by what you eat outside of the home and try to re-create it at home. 
5) Use your time wisely.

Think about eat day of the week - when do you have the most free time? And by free time, this includes watching TV, laying around or spending time on your smart phone/computer at home.
It's important to find 10-30 minutes a day to use your time wisely and meal prep or cook. Set an alarm or a reminder on your phone/computer to alert you to stop what you are doing and get into the kitchen to start a meal. It's so easy to let cooking and meal prep become an afterthought because you feel "too busy" but really, it all comes down to how you use your time. 

As an athlete, cooking/meal prep should be high on your to-do list. Put the same focus and attention on your eating habits as you do with your training and you will soon find yourself with a healthy, strong and well-nourished and fueled body. 

Make the effort

It feels great to be back home in Greenville, SC.

We are back to our routine of work and training and of course, back to the routine with this little golden nugget who enjoyed his "summer camp" with our dear friend Christi for almost 4 weeks.....

As wonderful as it is to be back in our home environment, I have to be honest and say that adjusting to life, without all of our meals prepared and served to us, has been hard.

We were heavily spoiled by Karel's mom, while we were in Znojmo, Czech Republic, with over 2.5 weeks of really good authentic Czech recipes, all home cooked and prepared with love.

With Karel and I continuing to train for the races that we have planned for the rest of the season (next up in August, Lake Logan Half Ironman for me and Ironman Mont Tremblant for Karel), life certainly isn't slowing down for us, with little extra time to shop, prep and cook food.

BUT, we have to make it a priority because our bodies require food to perform and to stay healthy.

Therefore, we have to make the effort.

"Knowing what to do and actually doing it" is a common statement from many time crunched and exhausted athletes.

BUT, you have to make the effort. 

Here are 10 of my tips as to how to make food prep, cooking and eating possible, despite living a busy life as an athlete.

1. Plan ahead - prepare as much as you can ahead of time so that it a meal is ready for when you get home from work or a workout OR prep your meal ahead of time for easy cooking (which is helpful when you are hungry or exhausted).

2. Never let food rules boss you around. The more restrictions you place on your diet, the more you will dread eating and cooking. With a dieting mentality, you may find that food makes you feel uncomfortable and even scared, which may lead into disordered eating or an eating disorder.

3. Always start with a recovery snack or a pre-meal snack. This works wonders as you can think more clearly and you don't use the excuse that you are "too hungry" to cook. 

4. Rehydrate before you eat. The hot weather can zap the appetite. But not eating for hours after a workout (and then overeating in the evening or the next day) is not performance enhancing. Post workout, pour yourself a refreshing glass of OJ, squeeze a juicy lemon or lime into ice cold water or blend ice and frozen fruit for a slushy drink before eating your recovery snack or meal.

5. Get help. On your busiest days, use the grocery store, a fresh and healthy delivery service or even your family members to help you out.  Perhaps one of your family members (or kids) loves to cook but you would rather grocery shop. Maybe you love cooking but despise food prep. Does a grocery store have a hot bar where you can get some items prepared ahead of time or is there a section with pre-made items that you can add to a homemade meal? 

I often find that with a team approach, you can get a lot more done and cooking doesn't feel so overwhelming.

6. Don't try to be perfect. For an athlete who strives for perfection and approaches life with a mentality that everything needs to go as planned, accept that you do not have to be perfect with your diet to reach your goals. Having too many or too high of expectations as to what you should be doing vs what you can actually do can make you feel like a failure, thus making you think "it's not worth it."

7. Have a few go-to meals and snacks. Every athlete needs a few meals and snacks that are easy and simple and fit the bill as to what you need to feel healthy, satisfied and fueled/recovered. Don't make these meals super complicated but make sure you always have the items you need ready, for when you need a quick go-to meal or snack. 

8. Get out of your food rut. Many athletes find themselves into a food rut, eating similar things over and over again because they are easy and simple. While there is nothing wrong with having go-to meals, you shouldn't rely on them day after day. Use your day off from training to get creative in the kitchen or instead of lounging on the couch when you have a few extra hours to spare, get inspired by recipes and make good use of your time by preparing new recipes or dishes.

9. Stop the excuses. If you find yourself always in a situation where you feel too busy, too tired, too hungry or too unmotivated to cook, you will find that day after day, you are simply using the same excuses over and over as to why you can't get a healthy, nourishing and balanced meal on a plate. No more excuses, make things happen. Figure out why you are letting healthy eating or proper fueling be an afterthought and if needed, reach out to a professional (ex. sport dietitian) to help.

10. Appreciate food for fuel. Your body doesn't run well when you don't feed it well. Put a similar amount of passion, focus, dedication and commitment into your daily diet, as you do with other important things in your life. Many times, when the focus is place on food for fuel and for health, the body performs better and it becomes easier to see improvements in health, body composition and performance.