Making healthy lifestyle changes shouldn’t add to your list of things to do. Here are our top tips for flying down the fast lane.
In an ideal scenario, we’d all have a chef, personal trainer, life coach, nanny, chauffer and PA.
However, if you live in the real world, you probably do all of these jobs yourself, maybe even on top of a regular 9-5! Getting anything, let alone everything, done takes an enormous amount of planning, patience and multitasking, so we’ve done everything possible to make sure that switching up your lifestyle doesn’t become just another addition to your endless list of things to do.
The busy bee’s guide to SFD
Below is the busy bee’s guide to making SFD part of your regular schedule – some tips on how to can fly through the Fast Lane!
- Make healthy shopping purchases a habit. If it’s convenient and in the house, you’ll eat it instead of naughty snacks.
- Buy healthy takeaway – it does exist but choose carefully. Some SFD-friendly suggestions are
- Avoid anything deep fried
- Be mindful of sauces; a creamy sauce can undo your good intentions
- Veggies instead of rice
- Salad instead of chips
- Grilled fish with fresh lemon
- Low calorie soups
- Chicken without the skin
- Salads without the creamy dressing
- Vegetarian wraps
- Tabouli with Greek salad
- Fresh sushi & sashimi
- Stir fried lean meat and veggies with soy or black bean sauce
- Grilled chicken skewers
Many restaurants and takeaway shops now have the calories content listed. Get in the habit of reading the menus before ordering.
- Handbag Helpers: Pint-sized snacks that will fill you up in on the go. Think: a boiled egg, a tin of tuna, carrot and celery sticks, a piece of fruit or a bag of nuts.
- Resist the massive bacon and egg burger at the kids’ Saturday sport! Bring a better choice with you, grab some healthier takeaway or stop at your fave cafe on the way home.
- Have fast day survival snacks in your drawer at work such as nuts, rice crackers, dried dates and tasty teas for when you’re feeling peckish.
- Get a more activity in your day by squeezing in a walk whenever possible:
- Get off the bus a couple stops early and walk the rest of the way home
- Go for a walk on your lunch break
- Do laps of the footy field while your kids have school sport
- Park your car farther away from the office and walk the extra blocks
- Whenever you happen to have an extra 20 minutes, take a walk!
- Cook larger quantities of your favourite low-calorie meals and freeze them in advance. This will help you out on mornings when you don’t have time to pack a lunch and on busy weeknights when you don’t have the energy to cook.
- Fast on busy days. The day will go fly by and you won’t notice feeling hungry when your mind is on more important tasks.
- Fast when you’re running around and eat when you get home. Once again, the distraction really works and you’ll skip the unhealthy servo snacks in favour of a healthier (and tastier) bite at home.
- Feast when you’re not fasting. Make those non-fast days matter: enjoy relaxing and socialising when you have the opportunity!