STUPID SIMPLE DIET TRICKS
Unfortunately, our bodies are way more complex than we’d like to think. We think these ads for “ONE TRICK TO FIX YOUR METABOLISM” is going to be the answer. Yet when we need medical attention, we go to specialists who spent 10 years of their life studying, who still don’t have all the answers to the human body.
Lucky for you though, the answers can be simple sometimes. Especially if we are prehabbing and not rehabbing our health. Things tend to get more complex when shit goes wrong. If we take steps to keep out head above water, they can be simple if consistent.
Here are a few simple tips that will go a long way in your consistency:
1) SET ALARMS FOR YOUR MEALS OR WATER: Life gets busy, if you have a hard time staying on top of meals or hydration, set a simple alarm or reminder for you hydration or meal times. Seems simple, yet application tends to cause the most issues. Give it a go.
2) ADD PROTEIN DENSITY TO YOUR MEALS: Instead of adding more protein feedings, snacks, or meals; increase the density of what you are already eating. Add cottage cheese to your scrambled eggs, throw in an extra scoop of protein, use ground meat to change the surface area and get more in, mix protein into greek yogurt, use a Fairlife shake (30 g of protein) with your protein powder instead of almond milk.
3) REDUCE DECISION FATIGUE WITH HYDRATION: Use a gallon or half gallon water jug. Sure, it isn’t as convenient as a smaller bottle, but realistically are you keeping track throughout the day? Are you remembering to refill your bottle? If not, cut down the amount of refills you have to do, and have a measurable way of seeing how far into a gallon your are. The less things you have to worry about on your health journey, the better.
4) CONSOLIDATE YOUR SUPPLEMENTS: It doesn’t always pan out into a quality product, but if you can consolidate your supplements into packs (multi/fish oil for example), 1 comprehensive Nootropic instead of 12 separate ingredients; you will probably be more consistent.
5) WRITE OUR THE BASE OF YOUR DIET: Realistically, 15-30 foods is all you need for variety, micronutrients, and hitting your goals. Get those foods on paper, eliminate some of the decision fatigue and eliminate the guess work. Use seasonings, condiments, different combinations of these foods for variety, and you are well on your way to a sustainable diet.
6) USE FROZEN OPTIONS: If shopping for fresh produce or proteins weekly is throwing a kink in your sustainability, just opt for frozen options. Vegetables, Fruit, even Proteins. You won’t have to worry about them going bad, and you aren’t losing anything in terms of nutrients.
7) USE A CROCKPOT: Instapot, Crockpot, whatever tool you can use to set and forget, can take a huge load off your meal prep stress. Throw together an oatmeal recipes in 2 minutes the night before and wake up to breakfast ready to go. Throw together a beef-rice-broth-veggie recipe early in the day and dinner is mindless.
8) UTILIZE CONVENIENT OPTIONS: The beauty of the world we live in is there are convenient options that can completely cut the prep out. Meal prep services delivered to your door, pre-seasoned and pre-cooked proteins, overnight oats already done for you, Hardboiled eggs pre-packaged, Nut and cheese packs, Veggie and Fruit Trays. If your time is valuable, this could be a game changer for your consistency.
9) JUST GET THE JOB DONE: We tend to let perfect get in the way of progress. Sometimes, you need to throw down a rotisserie chicken and 90 second rice. Drink pasteurized egg whites with sugar free chocolate syrup. Ready to drink protein shakes. A smoothie on the go instead of full breakfast. Don’t fall victim to the all or nothing mentality. If you are dialed in 70-80% of the time, you have some bandwidth to be “good enough.” Consistency is king.
10) COOK IN BATCHES: Again, back to the theme of decision fatigue, cook enough dinner for the lunch tomorrow. Make enough breakfast for 3-5 days. Even if its cooking a bunch of chicken, steak, fish at the beginning of the week and throwing them in giant ziplock bags. Cook a bunch of sweet potatoes and throw them in tupperware. Meal prep doesn’t have to be a fancy 4 course perfect tupperware concoction. Prep a bunch of individual things and piece them together if need be.
Hopefully this helps simplify some things for you, gives you some actionable steps to sustainability and creating a lifestyle of this. Keep cracking away.
