Mindful work days - 3 simple steps for making right food choices during work days

I know, I know you probably read a soup to nuts diet makeover like the one here and now your mind is starting to take over with one of these thoughts
1. I can do this over the weekend. There is no way this will sustain on weekdays when I am tied up with work
2. These strategies work only for people who have many people to help them out with grocery shopping and dedicated help in kitchen 
3. Let me ease into it over the next few weeks / months
4. If I had unlimited money I would buy and eat what I need to but I don't so a healthier diet-style is not practical for me
and the list goes on and on. There is only one commonality in these type of thoughts - they are all attempting to distract you from what you need really to do. All you need to do is
1. Believe that you can change your physical destiny by making healthier diet choices
2. Plan/Prep for what your workday is going to look like
3. Be prepared to standout a little in the beginning while people around you are getting used to saying no to 'normal' indulgences like extreme sources of sugar (Latte, cakes, breads, stuff that pretends to be food but is nowhere close to what we really need to provide nutrition)
4. Be prepared to have fun while you are at it : ) . No muscle is created without resistance. In this case you are re-training your brain to think differently about all the food and lifestyle choices. There are muscles which have never been exercised or have exercised for different goals - there will be pain. but it's worth it as this re-training is to create a healthier version of yourself.

You get the point. We can always find a reason to give in to our temptations and indulge while we are at work. We can also always find a reason and a way to stay healthy whether we are at home or traveling or at work. Here are a few easy tips to stay mindfully healthy during your work days

Step 1 - Plan ahead

You don't need to plan a month in advance. The night before ahead of your work dayis all it takes. If tomorrow is a workday in or out of town just get your head around where you are going, how long you are going to be out of home for and whether you can carry a few extra pounds of weight with you. Here's the easiest way to plan for your work day
a. Think about the number of hours you will be away from home. Let's say it's 12 hours.
b. Divide the number by 3. In this case, I get 12 / 3 = 4. This means that you will have to plan to be nutritionally prepared for three 3 hour period during the day. Let's illustrate it with some real times
8 AM - leave for work
9 AM - get to work
9 AM - 7 PM - work
8 PM - home

Step 2 - Meal prep ~ 30 minutes
Now 30 minutes might sound excessive .Just think about the time you spend looking for food, driving to a location to get food, waiting for your food to be served at a deli, restaurant or just staring at the same old menu for 15 minutes making up your mind ---- and you do that every single day, multiple times a day. By changing the time investment to the night before you can change the entire cycle and get 1000% more control over your nutrition intake and over short/long term spend less money too.
in general, prepare these 3 meals for a full work day
Meal 1 - A salad - with greens, some good fats you have available - avocado, coconut shavings, olives are great additions to your salad with a much needed dose of healthy Omega 3 fats our cells so desperately need
Meal 2 -  small bowl/box of nuts and seeds - walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, raisins, brazil nuts and pistachios are my personal favorite for a home made trail mix. Use what you like best but see if you can stick to raw, organic nuts vs. introducing processed sugar in disguise of yogurt covered berries, chocolate covered nuts etc.
Meal 3 - Sky is the limit for what you can consume, my personal favorite is baby carrots, apple slices, grapes with a side of hummus if you need something to dip 

Step 3 - Making it work
Sounds like a long day and a lot of work right? Well, here's the thing - days were the same length always and will be. How we construct our activities throughout the day, in this case around nutrition is completely up-to us. So let's see how we make this work

6:30 AM - wake up-to Apple cider vinegar + lemon juice + warm water
7 AM - Green Smoothie
7:30 AM - Herbal tea

11 AM - Salad / Meal 1

2 PM - three hour usually is the threshold most humans can go without eating or drinking something. Nothing special about 3 hours, all of us are unique and it might be 2 or 4 hours for you. Don't get hung up on the actual interval, focus more on having something ready before hand.
This is a great time to have Meal 2

5 PM - That's right another 3 hours have passed and it's time for that small snack and Meal 3 comes in very handy. It will keep you full until dinner later while providing much needed nutrition to starving cells

8 PM - You are back home.  Let a green smoothie or berry smoothie welcome you back. Feel free to satiate your palette with a little salty vegetable entry as well.

You will develop a huge number of your own variations once you get used to the pre-planning and preparing your meals. If you read the above and feel like you are limited to only the above food choices, don't be. Whether it's steamed veggies with homemade Thai coconut curry, home made lentil soup with veggies or a middle-eastern, Vietnamese, Moroccan, Indian entry - it is more important to let your creativity take you where your uniqueness will. Become a creator and producer who is willing to shape her/his own destiny by making conscious food choices vs. a mere consumer who is at the mercy of food and beverage industry.


When we get sick, it is not one single action that has contributed to it - it is a sum total of all actions that have depleted our body's healing potential - food choices are the biggest contributor to health or lack there of.

I know there's a lot to think about. We think about food 200+ times everyday in any case. The only difference is thinking about it before hand and in the moment so we can take care of our bodies vs. letting the temptation of the moment ruin it. Just because you are working, on the road traveling - your breath does not stop, your heart does not stop to beat, your cells do not stop re-cycling, your immune system does not go to rest. Infact, when you are out of your comfort zone - bodies defense mechanisms need a lot more support than usual, so take extra steps and caution to pre-plan how you will take care of it. One last thing, be mindful of what you are doing and have a blast doing it. Wish you safe and mindfully healthy work and travel.

Read this for some travel planning tips if you are an avid traveler