Today’s general population struggles with obtaining healthy foods from the store to prepare in the comfort of their own homes. A common problem that we hear from our personal training clients in Napa is that healthy food is expensive and going to the store is drag. People are too busy to make a trip to the grocery store and shop for food that can be prepared at home. The perception of dining out is that it’s convenient and inexpensive. Unfortunately, this perception that eating out for convenience and saving money is flawed. Additionally, eating out regularly is suboptimal to our health.
A common scenario entails individuals who work long business hours to get their meals conveniently before work, during lunch time or on the way home from work when 5:00 PM hits by visiting the drive through. You have everything made for you to collect in a matter of minutes. However, an abundance of problems arises from being involved in the drive through rat race. The food at McDonald’s, Taco Bell, or Jack in The Box will undoubtedly hold you over for the lunch hour or after a long day’s work. The downside is the warfare that most of the foods on the menu inflict, leaving your body in disarray. Processed white flour bun or tortilla in the form or wraps and burritos are filled with simple carbohydrates waiting to spike your insulin and be stored as fat. In addition to the insulin response and overabundance of carbohydrates in these items, there is too much protein and fat for the body to absorb when consumed in one sitting. Granted, there are healthier options like salads on the menu. However, sandwiches, burgers and wraps are what takes up the greater portion the fancy lit of menu we see while sitting in the drive thru line. Lastly, fast food drive throughs are kind enough to offer some fries. Who wants to throw away a pound some delicious, salty, deep fat fried potatoes for such a great price? The problem arises when too much food is consumed at once. Fast food industries can offer you a lot of food for a great rate. Most of the time when this much food is put in front of us, we eat it. These are some of the leading causes of pre-diabetes and becoming overweight when our culture becomes entrenched in the drive thru epidemic.
The convenience of avoiding the store, shopping the aisles, waiting in line and unloading groceries gets eliminated when dining out. Another common misunderstanding is that shopping for healthy food at the store is pricey. Purchasing items like lean meats, oils for cooking and veggies are thought to be on the pricier side.
A solution that we offer our clients during our nutritional consultations is to first pick out some proteins and vegetables they enjoy eating. We challenge our clients to create a days’ worth of what having a vegetable and lean protein during each meal would like throughout the day and have them write it down. Additionally, another successful strategy is to develop 5 separate breakfast and dinner dishes that include a veggie and lean protein. After we have these items, we have a healthy breakfast and dinner menu. Within these menus, we now have ingredients. We find that a lot of these ingredients are budget friendly and have a decent shelf life. Lean meats such as chicken and fish can be frozen and stored. Once we know what is on the menu for the night, the protein simply needs to be taken out in the morning to be thawed. Eggs are also a very sustainable source of protein that can be purchased in bulk and utilized throughout the week. Veggies such as broccoli, green beans, carrots, onions and garlic are all nutrient dense foods that can be stored in the fridge before expiring. These veggies not only have health benefits, but also can be innovatively prepared in many dishes. Some of our favorite ways to recommend carrots is to either steam them and sauté or bake them in aluminum foil with garlic, onion, olive oil and salt and pepper. This method can also be used for broccoli. Creating a list of the healthy foods we enjoy and developing food prep. tactics can create solutions to cooking at home more often.
Once we learn to shop smart for healthy food items, budget and inconvenience becomes a non-issue. Take efforts to make it to the grocery once or twice a week and limit your dining out to 2-3 times per month. That way we can get out of the car and get to the comfort of our home faster to enjoy our delicious healthy meals. Get out of the drive through rat race and get into the comfort of your home to destress from the day and supercharge your lifetime fitness journey.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.
