Yesterday on episode 900 of the Primal Potential podcast, someone asked a question that really got me thinking. Basically, she asked how to make hard choices. How do you eat well when you’re tired? How can you eat healthy when it is so convenient not to? Actually, let’s not paraphrase. Here’s exactly what she asked:
“On days where you don’t get enough sleep, how do you manage eating healthy? It sounds ridiculous as I type this, but I struggle when I work thirteen hours then come home and work another 3. I’m just exhausted so I eat convenience food.”
Oh man, I can relate. Can you? That was my story for years. I worked a long, stressful day and I just wanted a bit of an escape from things that felt hard. If ordering pizza felt easier than cooking up a healthy dinner, I made the easy choice.
Fortunately for me, I think about things differently now and that helps me operate differently. Here’s how I see it…
I make it as convenient as possible to eat healthy and as inconvenient as possible to eat unhealthy.
Here’s what I told her in episode 900: if your convenience foods are unhealthy, change that. Make healthy food convenient and make unhealthy food inconvenient.
It’s super inconvenient for me to make unhealthy food choices (compared to healthy ones). I’d have to load up the baby in the car and drive to the grocery store. But, that’s not enough! I have to make healthy choices more convenient (otherwise, I just have two inconvenient options and the most appealing one will win.)
There are lots of ways to do this, but I’ll tell you how I’m doing it now. About 2 weeks ago, I made a shift to make healthy eating way more convenient. I returned to using a meal delivery service. I either buy pre-cooked healthy meals or pre-cooked bulk items like grilled chicken, steak, salmon, cauliflower rice and sweet potatoes.* Usually, I haven’t had to go this far (or to this expense) to make healthy choices convenient, but with a full time job and a new baby, this is what makes it easy for me.
That might not be what it takes for you, but do consider what you need to do to make whatever change you desire more convenient. If it’s food related, maybe an hour of food prep each week is the game-changer. Or maybe it’s automating one of your meals each day (I do this by having the same thing for breakfast every day – a protein smoothie** that satisfies me for hours.)
Be sure to consider this outside of food and health, too!
What do you need to shift to make staying organized more convenient? What do you need to shift to make being financially responsible more convenient?
If it feels inconvenient, that’s an opportunity. It’s information you can use to switch things around to make it convenient. It doesn’t need to feel easier to make unhealthy choices than healthy ones. That’s on you!
For more on this, listen to episode 900 of the Primal Potential podcast! You can find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or anywhere else podcasts are found.
* I’ve been using Paleo Power Meals and their sister company Just Eat Clean. If you use the code Primal20, you can save 20%!
** My daily protein smoothie includes plant protein, probiotics, frozen cauliflower rice, cashew butter, unsweetened almond milk and 1/2 a banana.
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