I have a new rule for myself:
I will not skip a meal because I’m too busy.
And I’m writing it here because I need to hear it just as much as anyone else.
I can’t tell you how many times I look at the clock and realize it’s 4 p.m. and I haven’t had lunch. Not because I don’t care about eating well. Not because I don’t know better. Because I was busy.
One meeting turned into another. I wanted to finish one more email. One more task. One more thing on my list. And especially as moms, I think we can be very good at this. There is always something that feels more productive than sitting down for 30 minutes and eating. And cooking the meal and then sitting down to eat it? Some days that feels almost impossible.
So we grab a protein bar. We order takeout. We snack on whatever we can find. Or we just keep going until we’re absolutely starving.
But I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately:
How can taking care of our bodies be the thing we only do if we have time left over?
We talk so much about wanting to feel better. We want more energy. We want to eat more whole foods. We want to feel strong. We want to take care of our bodies as we get older.
We buy the groceries. Save the recipes. Make the meal plan. Start Monday with the absolute best intentions.
And then... life happens.I know this very well. I’m a busy mom. I’m building a company. My calendar can get crazy. And even though I know how to cook, and actually really enjoy cooking, I don’t necessarily want to cook lunch in the middle of a workday.
I would much rather cook on a Saturday or Sunday when I have the time to enjoy it.
But Tuesday at 1 p.m. between meetings? No, thank you.
And I’ve realized that if I want to be consistent about how I eat, I can’t depend on magically having more time.
I have to make eating well easier before the busy day even starts.
The first thing I’m changing is very simple: I’m putting lunch on my calendar. Literally.
The same way I block time for meetings, deep work, calls, social media, appointments and everything else that needs to get done, I’m going to block time to eat. Thirty minutes. That’s it.
I think this is especially important if you work from home because there is no natural stopping point. You can just keep going and going. But lunch isn’t getting in the way of productivity.
Lunch is part of being able to perform well for the rest of the day.
It’s a chance to eat, reset and give your brain and body a break.
And I think we can do something similar with our families. Maybe you can’t control everyone’s breakfast or lunch schedule, especially when the kids are at school, but dinner can become that little anchor in the day.
A time when everyone stops. We eat. We talk. We reconnect.
The second part is making real food the easiest option. This is probably the biggest one for me.
When I’m starving at 4 p.m., I’m probably not going to start chopping vegetables and marinating chicken. I need something to already be there.
That’s why I’m such a believer in meal prep. Not because meal prep is trendy. Because it removes one more decision from an already busy day and makes you eat better.
You don’t have to think:
What am I going to eat? Do I have the ingredients? Do I have time to cook? Should I just order something?
You open the refrigerator and there is food. Real, homemade food.
Ideally, I like having a few proteins and several sides that I can mix and match throughout the week so I don’t feel like I’m eating exactly the same thing every day.
And if you want to make life even easier, prep breakfast and snacks too.
This is actually one of the reasons I share my weekly meal plans here. I want to make that planning part easier for you.
But there’s another piece to this that I think is really important:
Be realistic about what you will actually have time to do.
We all have good intentions. You go grocery shopping. You buy the beautiful salmon, vegetables, herbs, berries, avocados... You have recipes saved on Instagram. You’re going to cook.
And then Wednesday comes around and half of it is still sitting in your refrigerator. I’ve done it too. The best plan isn’t the most ambitious plan. It’s the one you’ll actually follow.
If you have time to meal prep on Sunday, amazing. Do it. Put on some music. Make it enjoyable. Prepare everything you need for the week.
If you don’t have the time, or simply don’t want to spend several hours of your weekend cooking, get help.
This is quite literally why I created Chefpost.
I was a busy mom with no time to cook, and I knew there had to be an easier way to have homemade food during the week.
With Chefpost, you can book a vetted personal chef to come to your home and meal prep for you. You can buy your own ingredients, or if grocery shopping is another thing you don’t have time for, the chef can take care of that too.
It’s not about being fancy. It’s about making your week work better.
And next week, that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m booking a chef to prepare my meals because I know myself. I know how busy my week is going to be, and I don’t want eating well to depend on whether I happen to find an extra hour in my day.
So before next week starts, I’m doing two things. I’m blocking those 30 minutes for lunch on my calendar. And I’m making sure the food is already there.
Because we’re very good at making time for the things that need us.
Our businesses. Our jobs. Our kids. Our families. Our never-ending to-do lists. But our bodies need us too. So that’s my commitment for this season:
Never skip a meal because you’re busy.
Eat real food. Plan ahead. Ask for help when you need it. And give yourself those 30 minutes. I’m doing it with you. I promise the days I have my meal prep, is the weeks I eat the best and it shows, in my mood, my stress and my body.
And to make that first step a little easier, here is my meal prep plan for next week.
This week leans into late-summer produce, Mediterranean flavors, nourishing bowls, make-ahead salads and modular meal prep inspired by Chefpost’s signature meal prep plans.
Everything is designed to mix and match throughout the week, so you can create different lunches and dinners without having to think too much about it.
Save this plan, use it as inspiration, cook it yourself or have someone cook it for you.
The goal is to make eating well easier than skipping the meal.
Eat better. Live well.
Have a beautiful week!
Diana