With the dark wintery days behind us, it’s easy for schedules to fill up fast with social activities, travel plans, or work happy hours. For me, these past few weeks have seriously flown by — between birthday celebrations, a trip to visit my family in Ohio, a weekend getaway to Napa, and everything in between, I can hardly keep up with the date let alone my to do list. Behind the scenes, I’m working on an exciting new business project which has kept my days full and my evenings short as well. I recognize that being busy is a self-inflicted state (one that I happen to enjoy — sometimes to a fault), but nevertheless have come up with a few whole health hacks for managing health and fitness when things get crazy.
During times of heavy travel and interruptions to my “regularly scheduled programming” of life, I find it’s especially important to maintain some normalcy and routine however possible. Through three whole health hacks — a meditation app, scheduling fitness activities with friends, and meal prep — I’ve been able to keep my health and fitness (mostly!) on track. The trick? Rather than trying to maintain a rigid fitness schedule, cook every day, work on the blog, keep the apartment in perfect condition, and maintain my normal work schedule, I’ve focused only on prioritizing these three whole health hacks beyond my normal daily routine, and outsourced or automated other aspects of my life that I can (more on that later). Here are three tips to consider for hacking the whole health lifestyle when you find your schedule is overloaded.
Clear your mind with Headspace: Start the day off my clearing your mind with Headspace’s brilliant 10 minute guided meditation sessions. Your first week is free, so no commitment if you don’t end up liking it (which I highly doubt). Before Headspace, I hadn’t given meditation enough of a fair try in the past and admittedly it intimidated me in a lot of ways. However, I love the way Headspace breaks it down into short sessions which feel manageable and help start the day off with clarity and purpose.
Fitness with friends: Skip happy hour and schedule a spin class instead, or get a group together to meet up for an afternoon of tennis. Not only will the heart pumping workout boost your endorphins, the social hour with your friends can’t be beat. And
let’s face it — even during our busiest times, prioritizing social activities is top priority for our mental and emotional health.
Stay on track with meal prep: This one’s a biggie and probably the toughest, but most rewarding, tip. Even when I feel that I don’t have time for meal prep, I do whatever I can to make it happen. Sometimes it means buying pre-cut produce to help reduce the amount of prep time., or squeezing in a quick batch of recipes before getting ready for work in the morning. Even if I’m only able to prep my lunches for the week (usually salad), I feel a lot better about staying on track with my meals and not worrying about paying exorbitant prices for gluten free takeout.
Candice
I’m Candice. I love writing, baking, and learning about all things paleo and food-related. After years of juggling a vegetarian diet and health issues, I swapped out bread for bacon and haven’t looked back! I create recipes and share my tips to help people live happier, healthier lives through informed food choices. When I’m not experimenting in the kitchen, you can find me hiking, practicing yoga and exploring the Pacific Northwest.
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