Eating healthy has SO much impact on your performance. But it is not that easy. These days we are extremely busy, so eating healthy sometimes falls by the wayside. Did you know that only 20% of Dutch people get the recommended 200 grams of vegetables per day? Time for a change! Meet mealprepping.
What is mealprepping?
Mealprepping translates into meal (meal) and preparing (prepping). Meal prepping. So this means you prepare your meals in advance, preferably in large quantities. Are you making pasta in the evening? Then make an extra portion to take with you the next day. And we're not talking about sandwiches with bacon and cheese. No, mealprepping is about preparing healthy meals full of vegetables and healthy fats. The advantage of vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat substitutes and beans, for example, is that they are not dangerous outside the refrigerator. So you can just take your couscous salad with arugula, peach and raisins on the train for two hours. I would advise against this for a salad with salmon or chicken.
But I'm way too busy for meal prep!
No, you're not too busy for meal prepping. You just don't know how to fit it into your life yet. I always plan on Saturday. Then I go grocery shopping on Sunday, while eating leftovers that day. Sunday night I spend in the kitchen. Then I make my own snacks and cake for breakfast (yes, TAART for breakfast. Especially send me a message for more info). That's also when I make the first badge of meals. I usually cook 4 portions at once while living by myself. Since I'm productive in the afternoons (and you probably work in the office in the afternoons), I only cook in the evenings. That way I have healthy, delicious and fresh food for lunch every time.
What's wrong with ready meals
Now you may be thinking: but my falafel wrap from Albert Heijn is also full of vegetables and healthy things (because legumes in hummus and a leaf of lettuce). But no. In principle, there is nothing wrong with the basics of ready-made meals. What makes them so unhealthy is the sauce or dressing. That thick layer of mayo on your chicken sandwich. The yogurt dressing over your quinoa salad. The hummus on your falafel wrap - that too is full of calories. You're much better off making things like that yourself. Then you can be sure that no exorbitant amounts of sugar or salt have been added. So if you're really a fan of that falafel wrap (which I get, it's just delicious), study the ingredients and figure out how to make it yourself.
Extra tip: hide vegetables
Such a shift to healthy eating is not so easy, especially if your diet is generally crap. But there are ways to get lots of vegetables in without even realizing it. For example, make a vegetable-based soup. Easy to make, easy to take with you and delicious with a slice of fresh bread. You can make it a little more filling with a (sweet) potato. Perfect lunch. Also, add zucchini to your pasta sauce or put some extra spinach in your wrap. That way you'll slowly but surely get to those 200 grams. And then it's time for the next steps: pumpkin in your breakfast pie and smoothies with spirulina. Baby steps.
More on healthy eating
For one of my clients, I interviewed nutrition expert Sandra Misran. Read the blog article about the connection between healthy eating and burnout (prevention) here. For example, I asked her why we actually eat so poorly. She also gives fine lists of good and bad foods. And some top tips, such as: take fish oil tablets or flaxseed oil to feed your brain, so to speak. If you want to know more about healthy eating, I would definitely recommend reading that article.
