ORGANISATION.
Honestly, there’s no big secret to share. No life hacks. No cheats.
For me, when it comes to healthy living, the key is to be organised. If I have healthy things around me to eat, then I will eat well. If I plan my exercise into my life, then I’ll workout. If I get hungry and I don’t have nourishing snacks with me (or easily available to buy) I will probably buy some crisps or a chocolate bar.
Here are some of my organisation essentials for healthier living- I hope you find some of them useful. I’d love to hear some of yours too!
- Stock up your fridge, freezer and storecupboards with healthy foods including plenty of fruit and vegetables, pulses, protein, nuts, oats, dairy or dairy substitutes to enable you to make nutritious meals and snacks from scratch. Having items that can be thrown together to make a last minute supper or lunch can be really handy.
- Ditch the junkfood from your house, if it’s not there you can’t eat it.
- Get your food delivered directly to the house to avoid impulse purchases at Sainsbury’s. Ocado have an amazing stock of healthy items, including the more obscure ‘health’ products that I love.
- Keep a ready supply of snacks with you. Whether this is dried fruit and nuts at work, a nakd bar in your handbag or some energy balls in your car- if you have healthy snacks on hand you will be less tempted to hit the tuck shop.
- Offer to bring something healthy to parties; bring a large salad to a dinner party, nutritious nibbles to drinks or baked sweet potatoes and corn on the cob to a BBQ- this way you’ll know there will be something healthy you can eat. Same goes for drinks!
- Bring a packed lunch with you so that you’re not tempted by Friday Fish and Chips in the office.
- Stash a refillable bottle of water in your bag to carry with you- never will you have to spend £3 on a bottle of water again, nor will you mistake hunger for thirst!
- Pre-portion things like nuts, dried fruit, even crisps out into zip lock bags to avoid overeating.
- Freeze smoothie ingredients together to make for super quick smoothie making at 6am- just throw the mixture into the blender with milk/coconut water/almond milk and whizz together.
- Choose healthy restaurants, and/or check the menu before you go out for dinner with friends and family. I do this mostly because I get overexcited about going out, but it helps if you make a decision before you’re starving. (Last week I went with friends to Ethos for supper and it was amazing!)
- Before you travel- research your hotel to see if it has a gym, if there are any active adventures you can do on your trip, and what the healthy food options are like.
- Plan your exercise into your diary at the start of the week- whether it’s a lunchtime spin class or a pre-work barre class. Having it scheduled in means you’re less likely to skip it. I put my lunchtime sessions in my work calendar so that meetings aren’t scheduled to clash with my workout J
- Have a spare set of workout clothes at work/in the car – that way not having kit is never and excuse. Plus if it’s suddenly sunny you can pop on your trainers and head out for a run!
- Arrange to meet friends to complete a run or exercise class together – killing two birds with one stone.
- Book into classes in advance- if you’re going to get charged then you can’t miss it!
What are your top organisational tips for healthy living? Would love to add a few to this list!
My top tip is to meal plan week by week. I find I waste much less food this way and I know I’m getting lots of healthy, balanced meals in too.
That’s such a great tip Mary, I love finding and using new recipes
These are great tips and super easy to implement…they just take a little planning! I’ve been trying to get a lot better about bringing my lunch to work. I find that if I have prepared food, like you mention, it makes packing a lunch easy and convenient!
I agree- spending 5 mins in the morning packing lunch and snacks saves time, money and cals throughout the day!
Hi Charlie,
Thanks for this list of tips – there’s a lot on there that I’ve never considered and could easily see how they would prevent me from slipping up or finding myself in a situation where I couldn’t eat as healthy as I wanted to!
Besma (Curiously Conscious)
Hi Charlotte
Thanks for the post, this is really helpful! I always try to measure my portion sizes to take with me to lunch for example cashew nuts but I read the recommended size differently in so many places! I usually aim for 12g but some places say 25g! Which source do you use for this kind of guidance?
Also I saw your post a while back on ‘run to the barre’ and posted my interest underneath, if you’ll be doing another session I would love to join!
Thanks
Ciara
Great post Charlie (and glad I’m not the only person who gets excited and checks the menu before going out for dinner!). I especially love the tip about keeping spare workout kit in the office/car.
Another tip I like is to keep any not-so-healthy food in a separate place to the healthy snacks, or make them more difficult to get to. E.g. stocking the fridge so the healthy stuff is at eye level and is toward the front 🙂
Great tips Charlie! I know that when I don’t have workouts scheduled and healthy food in the house I’m more likely to skip exercising and gravitate towards quick bad food choices because I’m hungry!
Thanks Beki. I’m definitely the same!
I needed this – I start a new job tomorrow (my first day teaching, eek) so my breakfast smoothie is in the fridge ready and my home-made energy bar is ready to go 🙂 Thanks for all the tips.
No worries, hope the new job goes well!