With more and more people opting for a freelance career nowadays, it is becoming clear that the majority of people prefer to organise their time in their own way and choose projects themselves. However, in reality, things don’t always seem so picture perfect. For most new, aspiring freelancers it is a constant battle to reach deadlines and get as many new projects to develop a diversified portfolio, whereas the more experienced ones still struggle to make the right work-life balance due to specific working conditions and different challenging projects.
One of the most challenging areas of life for a freelancer is health; specifically, making healthy dietary choices. It’s so tempting to break under the pressure of stress and short deadlines, and indulge in quick, fast-food choices or opt for unhealthy processed, frozen meals that take no time to prepare. If you feel it’s about time you broke those bad habits and started eating healthy while working in order to feel and look better, here are some easy-to-implement steps on how to make better food choices as a freelancer.
Create a Routine
It’s so easy to fall off the wagon of healthy lifestyle if you don’t have a well-thought-out plan ahead of you. Understandably, there will be some sudden projects or unexpected tasks, yet it’s much easier to squeeze them in once you have a great time-management plan. Once you are creating a plan for the next week, don’t forget to throw in a couple of recipes for your favourite meals you can eat throughout your work week, and do the shopping to make sure you have all ingredients you may need.
Make the Right Choices
First and foremost, go on a real decluttering spree through your kitchen cabinets. Get rid of any unhealthy, processed, sugary foods that only add up to stress and anxiety, and you especially don’t need them around during short deadline crises. Apart from being seriously unhealthy, foods that are high in carbs are completely ruining your focus and productivity. The great thing about not having any unhealthy sweets and snacks in the house is that you simply won’t eat them, since leaving the house to go grocery shopping during your important project simply isn’t an option. Now that you have cleared the shelves of unnecessary items, it’s time to stock up on the real stuff.
Once you go shopping, forget the frozen foods or snacks sections at your local supermarket. Instead, buy fresh fruits and veggies that can be combined in a dozen of recipes to make healthy, nutritive meals that will provide you with great energy for a week. Instead of being tempted with processed meat fast-food products, buy fresh chicken or turkey meat, and some salmon and tuna for your daily protein doses. Add some cheese, eggs and yoghurt to your shopping cart as well.
Almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts are also amazingly nutritious and don’t add too many bad calories to your daily intake. They are a healthy substitute for popular salty snacks. As for drinks, forget the sugary juices and choose plain water which you can flavour with lemon or some fresh ginger slices from time to time. Additionally, try to replace your third cup of coffee of the day with a cup of amazingly healthy powdered green tea. It has a similar effect to coffee as it is rich in caffeine, except that it won’t suck all of your energy once the buzz is over. Also, it is rich in L-theanine, an amino acid that improves mental alertness and attention.
Prepare Your Meals
You have probably learned by now that it takes up too much of your daily schedule to prepare meals each day, which leaves you frustrated as you have to work till late to catch up. Also, it can be quite bad for creativity, having to stop the work in the middle of an idea and spend at least half an hour in the kitchen. That’s why so many freelancers and busy office working people too are embracing the meal prep trend. It is creative, healthy and immensely time saving.
It can be done in many different ways, just find one that suits your schedule. You can either do most of the preparation on your day off when you have the most time, or you can do it a couple of times a week, in the evenings when you are done with work. Prepare your vegetables, soups, salad dressings, and ginger-flavoured water. Wash and cut fruits, vegetables and add nuts snacks, and put them in containers so that you have a healthy dose of vitamins for each day.
Play with different flavours and combine colours and vitamins. Keep cooked rice, pasta, or whole-grain homemade bread as bases to which you can add 5-minute grilled veggies, some cheese or meat. Prepare some healthy fruit smoothies with yoghurt, honey or nuts to keep you away from sweets in case of sugar cravings.
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