If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail...

in #health6 years ago

Hello Steemians,

First of all a big thank you to everyone that has joined in with my #sixweekhealth challenge so far. If you've not seen the challenge, and want to join in for the chance to win 60 Steem, check out the challenge for this week HERE.

'If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail' - Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying, if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. But I doubt he was thinking about diet and exercise when he said it. It was probably about war or politics or something. None the less, the saying applies really well to planning for our health.

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Veggies from the farmers market all washed and dried ready for storage

Eating well for a day or a week won't improve your health much. It takes months and years for changes to happen and for health to improve. So you need to have a plan in place that lets you keep on with those healthy habits. So step one is to plan the days that you'll go shopping. If you just wait until you're all out of food, you're destined to fail. I always go shopping at 8am on a Saturday because then it's done with. You can make most veggies and meat last a week if you store them properly, though some people might like to shop twice per week.

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Always having healthy foods in the house makes it so much easier to eat well. If you run out of healthy food, you're more likely to just buy a take away or make some crappy pasta or frozen pizza rather than a meal rich in protein and vegetables. Storing different foods correctly can really help. THIS article gives some great pointers on how to store fruit and veggies so that they stay fresh for longer.

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Batch cooking some chicken skewers for lunches

Once you've bought your food on your planned day and prepared it and stored it for lasting freshness, it can be helpful to prep food in advance. Perhaps you marinade chicken for dinner later in the week or pre-cook a bunch of food to have for lunch or breakfast. Look for the times that you struggle to eat properly most often. If you find yourself reaching for a store bought sandwich at lunch, what you're really reaching for is convenience. Prepare yourself healthy lunches and have them ready to eat, and you're more likely to eat well.

So if you're struggling with your diet, have a think about how you could prepare more healthy food for yourself in advance. Eating out at restaurants frequently? Look at the menu before you go out and make a healthy choice. Regularly missing breakfast? Prepare some healthy breakfast options in advance and leave them out for yourself. The more you can plan, the less likely you are to fail.

I hope today's post has been helpful and is a little reminder to be extra prepared! If it was helpful, comment below and let me know which ways you plan to be healthy.

Yours in health,
Coach Ben

#coachben

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I am a Foodie.....

@healthsquared All those fresh and green veggies make me want to go as a pure vegan :D

I love eating

Me too!

I'm a foodie too, nothing better than food that is medicine!
if anyone wants to know more about healthy eating and plant based recipes, theres some new steemians you should all meet, please check out this post to find out more and get inspired
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What your writing about is so crucial. We're truly creature s of habit and convenience, we oftentimes go for what's easy. I liked the BF quote "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail"

We like to cook extra food freeze it to eat throughout the week. It help so to keep your future self in mind.

That's a really good idea - sort of like making your own ready meals. I like the idea that you need to keep your future self in mind. You might be really motivated right now but at 9pm on a Wednesday after a bad day at work, you might not be. So do future self a favour and help out by making things easy! Thanks for the great point @mountainjewel

I agree with the meal prep once a week, only I prefer to organize ingredients and portion to be cooked fresh. If I am traveling, I will pre-cook and reheat in the oven, or on stove when available. NEVER a MicroWave...

A reminder, I'll have to make a post on that too!
Thank @mountainjewel you!

I'd be interested in reading your microwave article @starserpentbay :)

Great point! It can't be short term, it needs to be a lifestyle.

Yeah.
It must be long term or forever term as long as we're still alive.
And yeah it needs to be a lifestyle which is a lifetime commitment.

And that is where it all starts, define healthy eating ;)

I just love steemit. So many people that educates other people. Keep it up brother

This is excellent.
In today's society it is nearly impossible to eat out healthy.
Additionally this is a very economically wise choice.
One more point I would add is not to go to the grocery store hungry.

That's a really good piece of advice. That way it makes sure you only buy healthy foods! If you go shopping hungry you'll buy junk food

Our health is one of our top priorities. Because it determines how far we go. Only a healthy person can work. Challenge up.

Exactly - and the healthier we are the more efficient we are at work too!

actually I do not like the diet. I really like vegetables, I like to eat any vegetables, in addition to my busy activities, then the vegetables are in need by my body. Oh yeah, I just wrote an article about health, but it's interesting. Unfortunately my article is Indonesian, I hope you use google translate, to read it if you are interested

It really helps if you enjoy vegetables and exercise! :D

reto excelente estoy realmente enamorado de este tipo de actividad que patrocinas....

Its really helpful article @healthsquared

Health is wealth, it pays to eat and stay healthy...

So true. Health is the ultimate wealth

Great advice, I always find that although I stock my fridge full of healthy food.. I sometimes get too lazy to want to cook..and reach for the cup noodles.. and then its a downward spiral 🙈

'If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail' - Gotta keep this in mind a little more often. I'm terrible at planning anything!

That's why I often pre-cook a lot of my food. Then the healthy food is as fast as the cup noodle! (and I don't keep cup noodles in the house :p)

Hi Entranador, the information you provide is ideal, in addition, an emotional imbalance leads people to make bad decisions in their diet, that's why you just said, diet is a lifestyle, not a temporary emotion, regards

Comfort eating can be really difficult for some people. When they feel emotional they reach for junk food. It can help not to keep junk in the house in these situations - part of being prepared and planning!

Correct thanks

Healthy foods wealthy life..I like the skewers so much

They were so good!

One of the biggest things with dieting is that you should try to challenge your desire to eat. If you're one of the kind of people who wants to eat due to pleasure/boredom, you need to evaluate this and try to work through it, as this is the biggest pitfall of most people who overeat. Clearing this mental block is the biggest step towards improving diet, life, etc. And what you illustrated, ie only stocking up on good foods, is a huge help in trying to change like this.

When people eat because they are stressed or bored then that's a hard challenge to overcome. Making healthy food more interesting can help :D

Yes absolutely, I work/have worked with many pro boxing, MMA, NFL, powerlifting/strongman gyms/people of note/etc and have noticed that the one similarity between pro athletes and everyday people (ie, the kinda members at Equinox) is that interesting food helps people stick to meal plans a lot more.

There's the odd person who just wants to eat the same thing every single day but for me, I like variety!

I like low-calorie ice cream... it's low calorie so it's okay to eat 2 tubs a day right...

I think that's exactly how it works yeah...

Auch ich mag unter anderem Gemüse, aber bei der Menge an Rosenkohl, würde für mich wohl zu wenig zu Essen übrig bleiben.

Great article! Very true about planning. In the past the weeks where I didn't really have much of a plan or schedule I noticed were the weeks where Fast food, and not the best quality of foods were on my menu. It always pays best to plan!

It happens very easily - well done for noticing and making adjustments!

This is so true. I have found that if I don’t cook on the weekend for the whole week, I will get off track and eat something that is convenient. Convenient normally equals not good for me.

It really does help! I'm lazy so I need to make healthy food more convenient than convenience food!

Thank you @healthsquared for continually giving pointers and inspiration for a healthier lifestyle.

Thanks for reading @loveself, nice to hear from you again

good post, I like your post ..

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thank you for your great advises. I like eating very much, but as nice saying health is wealth, so everybody has to eat in limit according to his body capacity.

Awesome point #coachben! I lead my long term clients to creating just that, a plan to transition their life style.

When I started my detox process, my goal was to cleanse for the first few years on an experimental regimen. Now, I have had two years to observe my clients, offering them better assistance for a progressive transition.

Be self sustaining, and plan to take control of your health!

Want super herbs to heal? Lanita SupHerb!

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Very helpful article for working women. Who strives to put in their best at work and as well as at home. Great share

Exactly! When you're working it's even more important to prepare as much as possible in advance :)

Improving Health...

  1. Those who don't even think of taking care of their health & don't take any action.
  2. Those who atleast attempt, but don't have a strategy in place. They just do some random stuff without giving much thought to it.
  3. Those who make a good strategy and work hard to stick to it.
  4. Those who have a strategy in place and they are focused on the results.

Good health is all about healthy habits and lifestyle.

Great point!

I try to differ regarding the importance of a protein rich meal, you can easily overdo it, load the kidneys with acid, increase the risk for stone formation, decrease your calcium balance, and risk bone loss. Keeping that aside, excellent article, and thanks for the reminder. Saturday is also a rest day from my ashtanga practice, so the morning is a good time to free your mind and do some healthy shopping.

Veggies and fruits are really good for our health. Thank you for sharing.