Despite running a successful company, I'm losing the battle with my own body. I know exactly what I should eat, yet I'm still ordering takeout at 10PM. Sound familiar?
I can offer a few perspectives. Daily rituals for me including less coffee, more Matcha or green tea later after I wake up. Go walk anywhere anytime for any length of time. Just start walking, it'll help give you the space you need to think and focus. Choose self care in the form of gym time, occasional massage, acupuncture, cryo...anything that helps make yourself the priority. Then the food choices and prep will follow. Snacking is where I fall down and so I keep less snacks and sugar around ever. That makes the difference for me. One other thought, I choose one healthier dish than I want to actually order and then leave some food on the plate. That helped just start doing it.
I am 41 and live in a major city, principally by myself. I would say that I cook 90%+ of what I eat, for every meal, every day. Setting aside for a moment all the nutritional and health benefits you outline (as they do not need recapitulation), the whole structure of thinking through, planning and executing what I will be making helps to give an outline and a rhythm to the days and weeks.
I grew up enjoying cooking, but it was COVID that kicked my interest in cookery into higher gear. Stuck at home, I needed something to occupy myself and cooking was it. The kitchen became my workshop. You can, if you wish, think of the whole thing as another domain for mastery - another space for process optimization, for planning, for measurement of results.
But the fact is that, like so much else that is discussed in this newsletter, it is a *discipline.* It requires a persistent commitment at every stage of the process: to plan, to execute, to repeat. You must not only commit to making the dish, but also eating every portion of it. And yes, sometimes you are tired of that beef stir fry for lunch AND dinner for four days in a row. But that's why we have Hot Sauce. It also means sometimes you will make 12 portions and freeze 6 for later.
I do not do "meal prep" in the way that is often described in the fitness world, parceling out individual portions a week in advance. Nor do I "track the macros," or attempt to optimize specific dietary inputs. I make what I think is tasty, use full-fat ingredients where they make sense, and generally follow the premise that "you can eat whatever you want as long as you make it yourself." If I want cookies, I'll make cookies. And I have a BMI of 25.2 and it basically never moves from there.
However, all this means that cookery, foodstock management, and the kitchen occupy a significant part of my life. I am gradually becoming a Home Economics planner for myself, integrating food planning with budgetary planning, and thinking about family and home plans within that context.
So how do I do it? By making it an extension of the rest of myself
I am fortunate that I grew up in a kitchen where I learned to cook and bake (and clean!) from my mother and grandmother. Cooking is a joy for me today. Likewise my wife grew up learning to cook and I continue to learn from her.
Is it about of work? Heck ya! There are times when it feels like a chore or we simply don’t wanna. One way we countered that was to crowdsource meals with our children. That, too, proved difficult to teach them how to plan meals, plan efficient grocery lists, and execute the meal prep. It eventually worked and we enjoy seeing the ones who have left home also enjoy providing for themselves in a healthy, wholesome way.
I view it as a lifestyle that you can definitely integrate into your daily routine. I wish you success and good eating on the journey.
Throughout most of human history people did not eat diverse diets nor did they eat regularly scheduled meals. They ate what was hyper-locally available, which was very limiting, and they ate opportunistically.
As for those high-performing executives and their diets, I think we might have the cart and the horse reversed here. I suspect many of them started eating really well when they could afford to pay someone to plan and execute those uber-healthy meals. You don't really think C-suite types are shopping for and preparing their own dinners, do you?
Does your business have any sort of kitchen facilities? If so, you might be able to prepare, or at least warm up, a better quality meal at a more reasonable dinner time without needing to get home (exhausted) first to do it.
The key for me is to keep meals simple, a lot of raw food that does not require time to cook, but rather to put together.
Seeds and nuts is a must since you can have them right away or mixed in smoothies, salads and porridges.
General rule is less carbs, more protein, for me the hemp seeds do the trick and fish since I'm pescatarian.
The 2 hours that you mention per day can be turned into a 1 hr with the right plan.
I can offer a few perspectives. Daily rituals for me including less coffee, more Matcha or green tea later after I wake up. Go walk anywhere anytime for any length of time. Just start walking, it'll help give you the space you need to think and focus. Choose self care in the form of gym time, occasional massage, acupuncture, cryo...anything that helps make yourself the priority. Then the food choices and prep will follow. Snacking is where I fall down and so I keep less snacks and sugar around ever. That makes the difference for me. One other thought, I choose one healthier dish than I want to actually order and then leave some food on the plate. That helped just start doing it.
I am 41 and live in a major city, principally by myself. I would say that I cook 90%+ of what I eat, for every meal, every day. Setting aside for a moment all the nutritional and health benefits you outline (as they do not need recapitulation), the whole structure of thinking through, planning and executing what I will be making helps to give an outline and a rhythm to the days and weeks.
I grew up enjoying cooking, but it was COVID that kicked my interest in cookery into higher gear. Stuck at home, I needed something to occupy myself and cooking was it. The kitchen became my workshop. You can, if you wish, think of the whole thing as another domain for mastery - another space for process optimization, for planning, for measurement of results.
But the fact is that, like so much else that is discussed in this newsletter, it is a *discipline.* It requires a persistent commitment at every stage of the process: to plan, to execute, to repeat. You must not only commit to making the dish, but also eating every portion of it. And yes, sometimes you are tired of that beef stir fry for lunch AND dinner for four days in a row. But that's why we have Hot Sauce. It also means sometimes you will make 12 portions and freeze 6 for later.
I do not do "meal prep" in the way that is often described in the fitness world, parceling out individual portions a week in advance. Nor do I "track the macros," or attempt to optimize specific dietary inputs. I make what I think is tasty, use full-fat ingredients where they make sense, and generally follow the premise that "you can eat whatever you want as long as you make it yourself." If I want cookies, I'll make cookies. And I have a BMI of 25.2 and it basically never moves from there.
However, all this means that cookery, foodstock management, and the kitchen occupy a significant part of my life. I am gradually becoming a Home Economics planner for myself, integrating food planning with budgetary planning, and thinking about family and home plans within that context.
So how do I do it? By making it an extension of the rest of myself
I am fortunate that I grew up in a kitchen where I learned to cook and bake (and clean!) from my mother and grandmother. Cooking is a joy for me today. Likewise my wife grew up learning to cook and I continue to learn from her.
Is it about of work? Heck ya! There are times when it feels like a chore or we simply don’t wanna. One way we countered that was to crowdsource meals with our children. That, too, proved difficult to teach them how to plan meals, plan efficient grocery lists, and execute the meal prep. It eventually worked and we enjoy seeing the ones who have left home also enjoy providing for themselves in a healthy, wholesome way.
I view it as a lifestyle that you can definitely integrate into your daily routine. I wish you success and good eating on the journey.
Throughout most of human history people did not eat diverse diets nor did they eat regularly scheduled meals. They ate what was hyper-locally available, which was very limiting, and they ate opportunistically.
As for those high-performing executives and their diets, I think we might have the cart and the horse reversed here. I suspect many of them started eating really well when they could afford to pay someone to plan and execute those uber-healthy meals. You don't really think C-suite types are shopping for and preparing their own dinners, do you?
Does your business have any sort of kitchen facilities? If so, you might be able to prepare, or at least warm up, a better quality meal at a more reasonable dinner time without needing to get home (exhausted) first to do it.