For the past six months or so my schedule has changed more than it has for the seven years prior. I started working part time as a substitute teacher at my kids’ school and I love it. However, I rarely know ahead of time if I am working, most of the time I get a call or text the day before or that morning. This can be hard for a routine driven person, but I really love being in the same building as my kids and being able to work with children again. I was a teacher before my kids were born (Kindergarten and Second grade!), and worked hard when they were babies to earn my Master’s degree in Reading Education. I also like working with and talking to real grown ups during the day! Talking to small children for the majority of the last decade has made my mind pretty…soft. HA.
I’ve written before about my ideal eating day and the 3 things I’m doing right now to be healthier, but I wanted to speak specifically about eating healthy on the go!
One of my biggest tips when eating outside the home in a work environment is to bring something from home to eat. I pack snacks (mozzarella sticks, almonds), drinks (Coconut La Croix, my water bottle), and a meal (either a salad or a variety of small snacks, like turkey and Kashi crackers and carrot sticks.) I did this when I was working full time and I loved that it kept me on track. I also TRY to stay away from the yummy stuff in the lounge, though we won’t discuss the Godiva chocolates from two days ago or the cupcake from a Valentine’s Day party last Friday;) It’s always a pain to have to pack an extra lunch on the days I work, but I’m always happier with myself when I have a healthy option.
Something I also do is eat basically the same thing each day for breakfast and lunch for weeks. I like the predictability of it and knowing that I can grab certain things and throw them in my lunchbox and I am good to go. I am a really boring eater, but find it works out well for me in the long run.
On the days I am not working, but eating out (my husband and I get day dates often if he is flying at night or has duty), I try to steer us to places I know work for me meal wise! I try to pick places that have healthier options for me, and that he likes, too. I like Panera the most, because their salad and soup options are surprisingly low calorie and it’s easy to find and put the meals into My Fitness Pal from there. If we go somewhere else I tend to get a salad or something equally low calorie. I’m working on putting all my meals into Fitness Pal for more accountability.
Finally, I pre plan a lot of my meals. I write out my grocery list each week and do meals by the day. This is pretty standard and works well for us. I eat a lot of the same things and buy them every week (Kashi crackers, Dr. Praeger’s veggie burgers, broccoli and asparagus for roasting, kale for salads and for making chips, chicken for grilling, etc.) If I have healthy options available I eat them, and it is easier to pack them when I am away from home.
To be healthy (ish, HA), you have to make good eating a routine! I try to work year round on eating the best I can (with slip ups, obviously, no one is perfect), and preplanning what I eat daily and weekly really helps me attain this goal. Being the best me I can be is important, as is being able to eat well about 80% of the time, so I can then have a couple of birthday cake Oreo’s as a splurge. Those things are RIDICULOUS.
