What are the habits of getting a well balanced meal? Today, we are going to discuss what the habits of creating a manageable, sustainable well balanced meal for the long haul looks like.
Attached is a picture of my breakfast.
Pretty delicious looking right. It’s a 4 egg omelette with peppers, onions, and cheese and on the side 2 pieces of turkey bacon and toast. A green juice (micronutrients baby) and a coffee(MMMMMhhhh COFFEE!!!).
The point here is not to make you jealous or freak people out over the FAT content of my meal. Also, it’s not to say this meal is the one to your physique goals and dreams. Rather it is to show you what a well balanced meal can look like and the habits I employ each week to enjoy this meal every morning. That’s RIGHT, I eat this every single morning. Even, when I have work at 6:00AM and wake up at 4:15 to get to work on time.
Ok so let’s talk meal habits.
Habit 1:
Planning
“Not Planning, is planning to fail”. I can’t remember who the original person to make this statement was but I do believe in it. You have to plan on making a meal. I choose the morning’s because my schedule allows me to allot the amount of time to create such a beautiful masterpiece. I do this on the days I go in late to work.
Now, most people I know head to work earlier than me and usually need to be at the office between 8 or 9. The idea here is not to get hung up on the meal, but rather the habit of making a well balanced meal on the days that you can.
If Wednesday nights are the days you get home a bit earlier from work, than make your dinner the well-balanced meal with protein, fat, and carbs.
If Thursday nights you have time to prep your lunch for Friday, than go for it. Looking for the spots where you feel you have control over your meal choices and without a doubt can get done, you should do it.
Now, you are probably wondering, why eggs? Because I love eggs. I can eat them every day and they give me the energy I need to make it through my morning in conjunction with the other food sources. Find/discover the healthy foods you enjoy the most and prioritize that each week.
Habit 2:
Scheduling
Scheduling a time for you to get to the store is another important part of the well-balanced meal habit. You have to pick a day or two each week that you can make it to the store. For me, it’s every monday night. Why Monday’s? Because I get paid Monday’s and have work at 12:15 the following day(Usually).
Every Monday, I buy two cartons of eggs, organic peppers and onions, cheese, and turkey bacon. The cycle on these things is about 1 week give or take a few days, which works out because than I have a bit left over in case I can’t get to the store the following Monday.
Scheduling a day to go to the store is so important to guarantee consistency. It sets yourself up for the motivation to make the food you have desired and planned on making each week.
Now, I personally don’t write down what I need from the store for this because it has become the staple of my breakfast routine, but when I first started I wrote it down each week in my phone on a list of certain items to pick up from the store. As a further way to remind myself, for six months I set an action step, a reminder on my phone to go off at 3:00PM to hold myself accountable to pick the food items up that Monday after work.
Habit 3:
Meal Prepping
Every Tuesday morning, I grab all the food I bought Monday nIght and I meal prep. I cut up the onions and peppers and throw them in tupperware. I dice the bacon and do the same in a separate container. The eggs get placed in the same spot in the fridge every day, so that I can grab it without even looking. The coffee is set up the night before, so all I have to do is hit start and I leave a cup out on the table for my green juice.
Lots of habits right. I find that meal prepping or chopping up all the food prior to the week helps me become more efficient. It gets me to use the food I bought, by reminding me that all the food I bought is ready to cooked into the meal that I want. I save time and effort once the bulk work is done and the meal is just ready to be made. By food prepping on Tuesday, I save about 5-10 minutes each time I make this breakfast.
Again, you don’t need to do all this just yet, just start by figuring out what is manageable. If you know that right now all you can manage is a yogurt and granola, than put it in a place you know will grab it in the morning. Set a reminder on a calendar in your phone or on your fridge. Just do the thing that will make you consistent.
