Are you a busy businesswoman who wants to lose weight but doesn’t have the time or energy to cook at the end of the day?
I can totally relate. Which is why I have created a multitude of fast, cheap and easy tricks that are better than drive-thru or take out. Even better, they support weight loss efforts while optimizing metabolic performance.
My clients love these tips and do you want to know why? Because instead of eating a meal that contributes to bloat, weight-gain and metabolism slow down, these tips help them lose weight and shake-up their metabolism.
Since we all struggle with busyness at one point or another, I want to share my top fast, cheap and easy suggestions to keep it clean and healthy with metabolism optimizing foods when you don’t have the time or energy to cook.
Here you go…..
1. Keep it simple.
How about trying cowboy caviar (click here for the recipe) and burgers for dinner? You can make this in less time than it would take to order and pick up a pizza.
2. Throw it on the BBQ.
For a full meal that’s quick and easy, in the morning toss your choice of meat in a baggy with some olive oil, salt and vinegar. Then when you get home, make a large foil packet, take that meat out of it’s marinade, place it in the middle of the packet, add in some veggies, olive oil and sea salt then fold it up and throw it on the BBQ. Lunch or dinner is served in minutes plus you can sneak in a good dose of sunshine.
3. Buy pre-made salads.
Want the crunchiness, variety and freshness of a salad but don’t have time to chop and peel? Consider buying pre-made salad from the grocery store and replace the dressing with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Before I give you more I want to tell you a story. The other day my husband and I had to get on the road early for a morning appointment. He said let’s just pick up breakfast on the way.
My first reaction was like someone punched me in the stomach. It wasn’t because I am a snob about eating take-out. It was a visceral reaction. Which rather surprised me, but I was happy about it. You see I have trained my body and my brain to respond so well to foods that make it function at high performance that it now knows low-test foods are going to gunk up the engine.
Why would that be? Because drive-thru food has low density nutrition and it won’t balance my blood sugar. I needed to be sharp and focused for our appointment.
So, what did I do? While my husband was feeding the dog, I made us my instant whole food cereal listed in #7 below. Making it took the same amount of time as it took to feed our dog.
We sat down, ate breakfast, put the dishes in the dishwasher and were on our way faster than if we waited in line at the drive thru and ate in the car. And, even more important…we both felt full of energy and focused during our appointment.
So, here are a few more fast, cheap and easy ideas to help keep your metabolism rockin’ so you can avoid fattening, bloating, or brain-numbing take-out or drive-thru.
4. Dump it in the slow cooker.
I love, love, LOVE crock-pot dinners. They save time, money and a whole lot of hassle. Crock-pot dinners take literally 5 minutes in the morning and you pretty much have dinner ready and waiting for you by evening. Here’s an easy recipe. It took me 5 minutes to prepare the other morning:
Peel and slice one large onion and 6 garlic cloves. Place them in the bottom of your crock-pot. Place a rinsed and patted try beef brisket on top of the onions. Sprinkle both sides with cumin, salt and pepper. Scrub and half 4 sweet potatoes and place on top of the brisket. Add 1 cup chicken or beef broth cover and set on low for 8+ hours. Your house will smell amazing when you come home.
I served this over a bowl of greens with EEOV and vinegar and some sauerkraut.
5. Make a huge batch and freeze.
When you do actually feel like cooking, get into the habit of making double or even triple the recipe serving size and freezing the leftovers. Future you will be oh, so thankful.
6. Load up leftovers onto a taco bowl
This strategy is a favorite of mine. Re-purpose various leftovers like chicken and beans from the week by adding them to bowls over a bed of greens. Add salsa and some avocado. Toast up some taco shells until crispy and voila! A brand-new meal 🙂
7. Instant Whole Food Cereal
Mornings are often crazy which is why I love throwing together this instant cereal. It is soooo good and full of protein, fat and fiber. These are the nutrients you need to start your day with happy, stabilized blood sugar levels. They are also the constituents necessary to keep your body’s plumbing happy, but that’s for another conversation.
Here’s how you make this easy cereal.
In a bowl place 1/4 cup rolled oats or buckwheat, 2 tbs. ground flax seed, 3 tbs. chia seeds, 2 tbs. raisins, 1 teaspoon coconut oil, pour boiling water over, stir and drizzle with a little honey and a few nuts. Wait 2-5 minutes until everything softens and plumps up, then dig in and enjoy.
So, there you go. How about that for a bunch of go-to strategies for keeping mealtimes fast, cheap and easy while being healthy and keeping your metabolism rockin’?
If you want to learn more about how I work with my clients to help them learn how to fuel their body with foods that will recalibrate their metabolism so they can lose weight naturally, and change the way they think about themselves, we should chat. My clients are busy business women just like you. Just click here and you can set up a time to talk.
Until next time,
