Embrace the suck

Unless your career involves you getting paid to be in shape, life will sometimes make it challenging to eat well.The first step is to accept this in a sober, realistic way. Then you can focus on finding strategies to work around the challenges. Change is hard. But you are strong and can totally achieve anything you commit to.

Build a kitchen toolkit

With a proper kitchen set-up you’ll be able to cook most things, even if you don’t consider yourself a great cook. To find the best price, shop around on Google, amazon, Ebay, Home Goods, or check your local thrift store.

The basics:

• Casserole dish (Pyrex is best but not necessary)

• Small assortment of steel bowls (scuffed and beat-up is fine)

• Stainless steel chef’s knife (get a reasonable secondhand one for $5-$10)

• Knife sharpener (ceramic rod or stone) * pro tip: check your local farmers markets or google local knife sharpener for hard to sharpen kitchen tools.

• Cast iron skillet (you can get a decent Lodge skillet for $20;* must be seasoned*)

• Small assortment of wooden / bamboo tools

• Fine micro grater

• Wooden cutting board

• Vegetable peeler

Schedule your shopping and meal prep.

Build grocery shopping and in-advance meal prep into your weekly calendar so you’re not always scrambling (and opting for less-nutritious convenience meals).

This also helps you use fresh food before it goes bad, saving you money in the process.

Simplify cooking

Meals don’t need to be elaborate to taste delicious. And while cooking skills don’t develop overnight, putting tasty food on a plate is by no means rocket science. Practice and repetition make this habit super easy to incorporate over time

Prioritize stress reduction

Eating well consistently requires resources — money, time, energy, and skill development. These requirements can be challenging when you already have a lot to worry about.

Reducing your total stress load may make more room in your life for the effort of high-quality nutrition (and allow your body to make better use of all those great nutrients).

Go for a walk, relax in the park, spend quality time with family and friends, do some yoga, play around with your kids, read a book, or get your partner to give you a massage.

Give yourself grace

If you’re struggling to eat the way you’d like, cut yourself some slack. It’s OK to ask for help.

If you’re a fitness or health pro who’s been known to say “healthy eating is easy” or “people just aren’t trying hard enough” — please stop and reexamine your thought process.

Healthy eating requires more effort and organization than most people think. Do some outreach. Find an accountability partner. Work with a coach. You don't have to do this alone.

If you have struggled on your own and not sure how to start the process of creating a healthier life, schedule your free call with Sophrosyne Health here . There are certified coaches waiting to help you on your journey of becoming the healthiest version of YOU!