4 Quick & Easy Tips to Eat Healthy when you're Too Busy

It’s not surprising that new mums find it difficult to be healthy. Before kids, whipping together a healthy lunch was easy. Now, even keeping the fridge and pantry stocked can sometimes feel impossible. Plus, sleep deprivation, exhaustion and increased energy requirements don’t help, do they?  

But the truth is, even though it’s harder to stick to your healthy habits as a busy mum, with a bit of extra thought and organisation, it’s possible. And, if you can follow a healthy diet most of the time, you’ll be thanking yourself later as you'll be feeling and looking your best. And your little one, who will benefit from all the goodness you fill your body with, will be thanking you too. 

Below are our top four tips for eating healthy as a busy mum.

1. Surround Yourself with Healthy Options

The best advice we can give you is to make healthy choices easy for yourself and to make unhealthy choices difficult.

How do you do this? Don’t buy junk food. If there are no Oreos, salt and vinegar chips or other junk food sitting in your pantry, you’ll be so much less likely to eat them. Yes, you might convince hubby to run to the shops to pick up your favourite junk food when you’re desperate. But, more often than not, the thought of bundling your little one into the car to go and buy treats will seem way too difficult.

Instead, stock your fridge and pantry with healthy options. Make healthy choices easy. For example, stock up on fresh fruit, mixed nuts, yoghurt, veggie sticks and hummus, avocado and rice cakes. And for when the chocy cravings hit, Chococlate Brownie In Shape Mummy Health Shakes and Chocolate and Caramel Snack Bars are great guilt free treats. The more times you make healthy choices, the easier it gets. And surrounding yourself with healthy alternatives to your unhealthy pleasures is the best way to do this.

Add Healthy Foods to Add to Your Weekly Shopping List

• Eggs
• Hummus
• Avocado
• Rye Vitas
• Rice cakes
• Yoghurt
• Berries
• Bananas
• Hummus & carrots/cucumber
• Herbal tea
• Mixed Nuts
• Speakling water
• Ingredients for home-made muffins (always opt for recipes that use honey instead of sugar)
• In Shape Mummy Health Shakes
• In Shape Mummy Snack Bars
• In Shape Mummy Hot Chocolate, Chai Latte & Tea bags

When you’re at the supermarket, aim to buy most of your groceries from the outside aisles. This is where the fresh produce like fruit, vegetables, red meat, fish and poultry are. Dairy products like milk, cheese, eggs, and yoghurt also tend to be on the periphery. When you do head into the middle, try to avoid the confectionary, chip, biscuit, and soft drink aisle altogether.  It is much easier to avoid unhealthy choices if you don’t see them as an option. Out of sight, out of mind!

And always make sure you do your shopping on a full stomach. Going to the shops hungry is a recipe for disaster.

2. Simplify Your Cooking

You can simplify your cooking with these easy steps:

1. Buy pre-chopped vegetables.
2. Cook in large batches and freeze half for another night.
3. Make enough for leftovers the next day.
4. Choose a few easy dishes and have them on rotation for a few weeks; this way, you can cook them without needing to concentrate too hard (it will also cut your shopping time down as you'll know exactly what you need).
5. Shop online (Coles and Woolworths remember your previous order, which saves a tonne of time)
6. Reduce your washing up time by cooking one-pan meals or slow cooker recipes

3. Don’t Wait Until You’re Hungry to Eat

As a busy mum you need to plan your eating. Otherwise, you might miss out altogether. Every mum has been in a situation where you’re hungry and about to sit down to have lunch, but then there’s a dirty nappy or two, a change of clothes, a crying fit, and suddenly two hours have passed, and now you’re ravenous.

When we are starving, we are more likely to make bad food choices and to overeat because our hunger cues become all out of whack. So, if you can, try to eat before you get hungry. You can do this by aiming to eat regularly throughout the day. For example, prioritise having a smoothie or a piece of toast before your partner leaves for work. Another trick is always to have a little healthy snack like a boiled egg or piece of fruit when your little one goes down for their first nap. That way, if things get hectic over lunchtime, you’ve still fuelled your body recently.

Prepping food is another way to make mealtimes easier. We know busy mums don’t have hours spare to spend in the kitchen planning out the weekly meals in advance, but there are some quick and easy ways to prep that will take the pressure off a little.

• Cut up vegetables for a few meals all at once and store them in air-tight containers in the fridge
• Store your individual smoothie ingredients in zip lock bags in the freezer
• Boil enough eggs for a few days and keep them in the fridge 
• Make a big-batch healthy salad or soup that will last for several lunches. Store soup in individual containers in the freezer so they are ready to whip out

4. In Shape Mummy Health Shakes

In Shape Mummy Health Shakes are one of the easiest solutions to keeping healthy for breastfeeding and busy mums. By simply adding two tablespoons of the In Shape Mummy Health Shake mix to your smoothie, you’re adding over 25 essential vitamins and minerals, a good serve of organic vegan protein, probiotics, digestive enzymes and superfoods to help you get you get the nutrients you need, get in shape and feel your best.