How to improve nutrition can feel difficult for Social Workers. Finding the time to eat healthily can be a challenge when you are busy. Between work, school, family, and social obligations, it can feel like there are never enough hours in the day to focus on health let alone improve nutrition.
For Social Workers and other Human Services professionals, having a lunch break is rare. Then, by the time you get home after a long and stressful day – the last thing you want to do is cook.
Eating a nourishing diet is essential for maintaining good health and preventing chronic diseases. Given we work in a high stress environment, maintaining our health is even more essential.
When I was a caseworker, I was guilty of living on the ‘child protection diet’ (lollies/chocolate jar snacking all day long followed up with microwave carbs of some sort at night). The start of the year is when a lot of people re-assess their goals and ‘start fresh’. So, todays blog post will discuss 10 ways you can improve nutrition, when you don’t have time.
1. Plan ahead
One of the best ways to ensure that you eat a nutritious diet is to plan your meals ahead of time. Because – who can really be bothered trying to think about what to cook after a long day on the front line?!
Use the ‘leave’ time over the Christmas/New Year period to plan your way to improve nutrition in 2024. Or, spend some time on the weekends to plan out your meals for the week. I know this will take some effort to begin with, but your future self will be grateful.
Do a stock take of your kitchen pantry, make a grocery list, and stock up on nourishing foods that you can prepare quickly and easily. If you need some ideas of what to include on your grocery list, Eating Well has some great ideas for clean eating, you can find that here.
2. Meal Preparation
Meal prepping can save you a lot of time during the week. Cook large batches of healthy meals on the weekends and store them in the fridge or freezer. Then, during the week, you can simply reheat and eat.
My husband likes to do a ‘bulk cook up’ once every couple of weeks whereby he will cook a couple of main meals with loads of vegetables. He freezes the meals, puts one in the fridge at night time, then before he rushes out of the house in the morning to drive to work, he takes this meal to work to microwave for lunch.
Bulk cooking can really help with the planning and you’ll be thanking your past self for spending a couple of hours to make sure you can improve nutrition.
3. Have nourishing snacks on you always
When you’re on the go, it’s easy to reach for a bag of chips or a candy bar, which is fine…nothing wrong with delicious chocolate.
However, if you are wanting to focus on foods that provide you with well balanced nutrients, keeping healthy snacks on hand is helpful.
You may be less likely to binge on foods that perhaps don’t provide as much nutritional value. Some great options include fruit, nuts, and yogurt. Or you could make your own snacks, muesli bars full of seeds and wholegrains, or protein bars.
If you would like some ideas, one place I always look for inspiration is ‘Pick up Limes’. You can find some snack recipes here.
4. Use a slow cooker
A slow cooker is a great tool for busy people who want to eat healthy. Simply throw in some healthy ingredients in the morning, and by the time you get home, you’ll have a nutritious meal ready to eat.
Slow cookers are great when you don’t have time to be hanging around in the kitchen for hours checking on food.
You can even pop the food in the cooker before work, then have a delicious dinner waiting for you once you arrive home.
5. Increase consumption of whole foods
Choose whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. Whole foods are beneficial for gut bacteria, maintaining steady blood glucose levels, keeping you full for longer and so much more.
Eating a diet rich in whole foods means you are feeding your body foods that are as close to their natural state as possible (i.e. opposite to highly processed). This will give you the opportunity to eat a wide selection of nutrients, thus positively contributing to a healthy life.
This is not to say that we should never eat processed foods. I don’t think we should have food rules or ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods – this is simply recommending that choosing whole foods more often that not is beneficial to our health.
6. Drink enough water
Drinking water is essential to improve nutrition. It provides our bodies with adequate hydration, nutrient absorption, waste removal, energy production, skin health and more.
It can also help you feel full, reduce cravings, and improve digestion.
We hear the advice to aim for at least eight glasses of water a day. Every body is different, but I usually go by how I feel and the colour of my urine! Headaches are often a good indication of our level of hydration. If you have a headache and haven’t had a glass of water in a while, it’s probably time for one!
If you are even too busy during the day to have water – try filling up a bottle when you walk into the office in the morning and carrying it around with you, this way you can take sips throughout the day and ensure you have had at least 500mls-1 litre.
7. Make nourishing smoothies
Smoothies are a great way to improve nutrition when you are short on time. Simply blend together some fruits, vegetables, and a liquid like water, almond/soy/cows milk for a quick and healthy meal.
I personally used this ‘trick’ when I was trying to increase the amount of greens and fruit I was eating in a day. By blending some spinach, bananas, berries and soy milk into a smoothie, I was able to increase my fibre intake as well as other nutrients. I honestly wasn’t going to eat these things if they weren’t blended into a smoothie.
For some yummy and nutritious smoothie recipes, have a look here.
8. Use a meal delivery service
Meal delivery services can be a great option for busy people who want to eat healthy. Many companies offer nutritious meals that are delivered right to your door.
I personally haven’t tried this, but I know plenty of people who have, and they swear by it! It is the only way that they have time to have healthy food in their house and by having it delivered its saves so much time and effort….time and effort that could go into recipe meal planning 😉
If you are looking for some ideas on meal delivery services, here are 5 if you’re in Australia.
9. Eat ‘mindfully’
When you’re eating on the go, it’s easy to eat quickly and mindlessly. However, taking the time to eat slowly and savour your food can help you feel more satisfied and prevent overeating.
Urgh….I am not great at this one. I mean, I can devour a pizza very quickly! But – I know my body, and if I eat too quickly, I will still feel hungry immediately after a meal which means I end up eating more (usually something processed) and will then feel bloated and yuck.
I have found that sitting at a table with cutlery and a friend/family member/partner can help to slow down the eating a bit. Whereas, if the plate is on my lap, while I’m sitting on the couch watching television…its like the meal has completely disappeared and I have memory of eating it, let alone enjoying it.
Eating mindfully is also a mental self-care strategy, you can read more about this here.
10. Prioritise having enough sleep
Improving sleep may be the last thing on your mind when it comes to improving nutrition. However, when you’re sleep-deprived, you’re more likely to crave quick, processed foods and overeat.
For those of you that have trouble sleeping, improving nutrition may be one way that you can help with this.
We are told to aim for at least seven to eight hours of sleep a night, but again – every body is different. I am a complete sook when it comes to sleep. I like 9 hours of sleep per night! Whilst I can function on a lot less, I like to try to aim for better than just ‘functioning’.
in summary
Even if you are short on time, there are still many ways you can work on improving nutrition.
By planning ahead, prepping your meals, keeping healthy snacks on hand, and choosing whole foods, you can make sure that your diet is nutritious, even when you’re on the go….or not getting a lunch break at all, because who has time for that in Social Work (am I right?!).
If you would like some help in setting goals for your health in 2024, I’d love to help you. Click here for a free 20 minute phone call.
