Preparation = Success

I am currently living the gypsy lifestyle. I couch surf at least three nights a week! I moved back in with my parents while I work on creating and starting my business(s). Let's just say, it has been quite the adventure. With all that being said my home-base is about an hour from Minneapolis which is where I am doing an apprenticeship (I say apprenticeship because it sounds way cooler than intern) at an amazing gym. I also do some odd jobs up in the cities for extra income. With all that being said, I am on the move a lot!

Okay, now I'll get to my point.

Many of us are VERY BUSY. Probably too busy. If you have every tried living a healthy lifestyle, you most likely found that it takes time and preparation. I found this for myself when I was working my corporate nightmare--I mean job, and now while I live the gypsy lifestyle.

I would like to say, when in doubt eat Chipotle... but then I think--oh yeah, they are owned by McDonald's. Watch out. So how do I manage to maintain my healthy lifestyle when I usually don't have a kitchen handy and am on the fly?

Planning

From my own personal experience, and watching and talking to people, PLANNING is the only way that you are going to be able to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle. My mother is amazing. She not only had seven children, but she also managed to home school (shoot, the secret is out... I was home schooled), taxi, love, feed, clean, and support us! Talk about a full-time job. She fed us little... or not so little Sevlie children very well! The key? Planning. To put it nicely... My family eats a LOT.

(I wish this picture showed how tall my brothers are: 6'9", 6'8", 6'5", 6'3", 6'3")

Here are some tricks that I have learned that make planning EASY! Let me introduce crockpot cooking. If you haven't already tried crockpot or slow cooker cooking I highly recommend trying it. Two of my favorite crockpot cookbooks are the Slow Cooker Bible and Fix It and Forget It cook books. There are hundreds of recipes and a good number of them are delicious. It is pretty easy to modify them to gluten and dairy-free. Also, when feeding big eaters you can always add beans to make the dishes go farther (this is a trick my mom uses). You can also serve a lot of these dishes on rice or potatoes if you are trying to feed growing hungry boys for cheap! 

Another great thing about slow cooker recipes is that you can freeze them and heat them up at a later time and they still taste really good. When I go up to Minneapolis for extended periods of time I try to freeze enough food throughout the week so I can keep it in a cooler in my car over the weekend. It saves me money and I feel so much better when I eat good food.

Another Tip: Have Healthy Easy Snacks Around

If you have healthy snacks ready to be eaten you are much less likely to eat something that you will regret eating later. Some of my favorite healthy snacks that I try to have around at all times include:

• Homemade hummus--You can make this in a blender, I prefer my Vitamix.
• Any green veggie (broccoli, green beans, snap peas, celery, etc.) to dip in the hummus--also carrots
• I also like making almond/cashew butter in the Vitamix and dipping carrots in it
• A small handful of nuts or seeds is great quick snack if you are on the go (I avoid peanuts)
• Hard boiled eggs

So, let's start planning to be healthy! Think ahead, and prepare for your week. You wont regret it. 

Until Next Time,

Hope

xoxo