A Little Help for Your Busy Ass Life

Disclaimer – this post is a little different than what you’re used to from me.  To be honest, I felt a little confined in my previous blogs.  I felt I wasn’t being me – I was trying hard to ensure I didn’t offend anyone.  I wanted to ensure I was appealing to the masses.  Bottom line, this doesn’t work for me.  This is who I am – hopefully you still like me :).

On to the blog……

You’re a busy person, you have a hundred and ten things to do at any given time; laundry, pick up the kids, go grocery shopping, make dinner, clean the house, go to the kids’ sporting events, and oh ya – go to work and worry about YOU and your career growth.

To boot, you feel pressure to seem you have your shit together 24/7 (puts that song in my head, “Under Pressure…pushing down on me…pushing down on you..YOUR WELCOME!) Sorry, I get distracted easily.  But if you’ve never seen the vid, click and check it out – totally weird.

Back to my point – WE ARE BUSY, BUSY, BUSY and if someone says they’re bored, you wanna throat punch them.

So, how do we manage this crazy life? That’s the million-dollar question! I’m sure there are a million and one articles out there on how to balance your busy life.

I call bullshit. 

It’s like hey, to get better at life do these 100,000,000 more things to make life easier.

A lot of self-help lists babble on about getting up earlier (which isn’t for me).  Manage your stress by meditating – when do ANY of us get two seconds to ourselves? Pre-make your meals is another one of my faves.  Last time I checked – I DON’T HAVE TIME! So, prepping meals isn’t necessarily in the game plan either.  None of this shit helps me save time – it adds to the damn pile of crap if have to do.

So, what’s my point?  Stay tuned, I’m going to land her plane shortly.

My point is – we’re busy and we need things that work versus a million things that don’t.

So, I’ve put together a list of stuff that’s real – and hopefully helpful.  It’s not pretty, it’s quite messy – but it works because it’s not crap that you’ll add to your to-do list and never scratch off.  It’s real life stuff that can actually be applied.  Some of its food to grab and go, some of its tools – either way – read through – hopefully something will help you.

• 1) Protein Powder – I knowwwwwwwwwwwww you’ve heard it a million times.  And I’d even venture to guess you’ve “tried them all and you hate them.”  Or maybe you’re worried about the price tag (it’s cheaper than running through the drive through – just sayin’.) But I mention PP because people are busy and literally don’t have time to eat so they eat what’s available to them at the moment (and typically this isn’t something “good for them”.)  And they can’t figure out how to get out of this habit.  Me, I’ll go hours without eating only to realize I’M STARVING.  Unleash the beast and get out of my way or you may just get your head bit off.  It aint good for any of us.  My trick, hack, whatever you want to call it….carry a little baggy of protein powder in your purse.  If you are really awful at planning (like me), keep the whole damn tub of protein in your car.  That’s the beauty of it – it’s portable.  And when someone sees it and judges you, don’t be their friend. BENEFITS: Really simple – it’s easy, portable, doable, and you don’t starve yourself – therefore avoiding binging on food later in the day or when you FINALLY get home from work and the ONLY thing in sight is a family size bag of Doritos and you crush the whole bag.  Not the worst thing in the world but I’m guessing something in your body may mention that it wasn’t too thrilled with a giant-sized Dorito bag cursing through its veins.   So, what brand – Trutein.  Has tons of flavors – you can’t go wrong with this stuff.  And no – you don’t have to make some fancy shmancy smoothie.  Literally, a scoop of protein and a shaker with water and you’re good.  Chug it.  It’s not the most pleasant thing in the world but it will curb hunger and avoid the beast coming to life later in the day.  If you REALLY have time and want to spice it up – carry along a piece of fruit in your purse – apples are perf for this or bananas (yes, you can eat friggin bananas, they won’t make you fat.)  Another option to make it tastier, stop by a convenience store and grab a little thing of milk and make your protein shake with milk versus water.
• 2) Salad in a bag.  Me, I don’t eat veggies.  You can tell me I should until the cows come home but I aint doing it – not easily anyway.  BUT I WANT TO! So, my solution to getting a punch of fiber quickly without much labor on my part (I’m lazy, can you tell?) a bag of Spring Mix salad – get it at any grocery store – ANY! No washing, no cutting, no nothing involved.  Except for open and dump in a bowl or cup or whatever works.  Add Feta, drizzle olive oil and some balsamic vinegar and you’re off to the races with eating veggies.  And by the way, if you’re REALLY lazy like me and hate thinking about packing your lunch for work – this is something you can take the bag, a tub of feta, the whole thing of olive oil, and the whole thing of balsamic.  Yes, someone might pick on you but get over it, we’re adults and can handle someone snickering at us – just tell them you’ll get the last laugh when your poo is in check from eating fiber.  Boom – such an adult thing to say! BENEFITS: You get veggies.  You get some fat for satiety.  It’s easy to transport.  It includes nearly no effort on your part.  And best yet, rather than the head of lettuce sitting in the fridge until it turns brown because you DON’T HAVE TIME to cut it up into a salad, this bag might actually get eaten – so extra bonus – you don’t waste money.
• 3) Forager shakes.  One of my fave grab and go is drinks with nuts in them.  HUH? Ya I know, sounds appetizing, doesn’t it?  But again, I’m not trying to make you feel or look awesome here, I’m trying to save you time and energy so you can spend do more important shit (like getting your nails done.)  One of my favorites is from a company called Forager – sorry if you’re allergic to nuts – this won’t work for you. BENEFITS: It’s grab and go snack and its amaze balls.  Organic.  Plant-based.  Delicious (this is on their website, and it’s true!)  They have all sorts of products but my go to is the Nuts and Vanilla or Nuts and Chocolate.  Or, sometimes I get real cray and go for the Nuts and Coffee – good food plus I’m jacked up.  Match made in heaven.  Worried about processed crap – no worries, it’s organic and very little ingredients.  Here’s the break down – 195 cals, 12g of fat, 19.5g of Carbs, got some fibers in there along with 6gs of protein.  This is a magnificent well-rounded grab and go meal.  Do it, you’ll thank me later.
• 4) Siggi’s drinks.  This is a grab and go drink again – sorry I have a lot of these but that’s what keeps me going, helps me feel full and healthy all at the same time.  And honestly, this isn’t the granddaddy of them but I will say, again, keeps me feeling full until I can get a meal.  Make up – 180 cals, 8g of fat, 20g of carbs, 8g of protein.  It’s balanced and best part of all, tasty.  I won’t belabor the benefits, clearly, grab and go is what it’s all about folks.
• 5) Rice maker.  I know…I know….RICE IS WHITE OMG I CAN’T EAT THAT.  Well fine then, eat your brown rice and be happy but I’ll keep mine white because it’s edible.  None of this stops a rice maker from making rice.  Brown, white, whatevs you like – do it.  But this is a genius machine.  You literally dump some rice, wash it quickly, fill the water until your three fingers are covered with water while tips of fingers touch the highest part of the rice.  Throw it in the machine hit the button and it’s a go.  BENEFITS: It can stay in the maker for a few days at a time so whatever meat/protein you decide to make for dinner just a few scoops of rice and you’ve got a meal ready to roll.  So, you can make this on Monday and it will keep through the week.  It can also make a TON of rice so it’s good for larger families.  This bad boy that I added here – it’s a little pricey – there’s cheaper ones.  I’m showing you the one I use because I know it works.
• 6) Crock Pot – I KNOOOOOOOOOOWWW …ugh so sick of the crockpot meals.  Ha, me too.  I don’t have a link to this one because I think I might have the oldest crockpot on earth.  Sorry, but I’m sure if you use the Google, she’ll find you one.  Don’t worry, this isn’t another “spend 4 hours making crockpot meals to put in the freezer only to pull them out either, never, or when you do, they suck”.  Nope.  To make a meal that actually tastes good and is done in like all of 5 mins is – throw some meat in the crockpot, plus a sauce, cover, hit high or low and you’re good (4 hours, on high, low for 8 hours.)  An extra time saver is get the crock pot liners.  That way, you even get out of cleaning the pot.  BENEFITS: Major time saver! You can do this in the morn before you head out for work or if you don’t have time in the morning, do it right before bed and it will be done when you wake up.  Take crock pot out of cooker, sit on counter while you shower, get kids ready for school, and before you leave throw the whole darn thing in the fridge.  Boom, meat cooked and ready when you return home from work.  By the way, if you’re not a fancy cooker – no worries – Franks Hot sauce is a good enough to throw in there but one of my faves (because of its limited ingredients) is Stubbs Cookin’ Sauce.
• 7) The NINJA – OKAY, so this totally changed my life.  I used to make smoothies in my food processor – but umm…that was a pain, AND it didn’t chop everything and blend it like I liked.  If there’s one thing that disgusts me, it’s when a smoothie has weird chunks in it – and isn’t blended well. BENEFITS: Ninja’s blend perfectly – I can’t comment on competing brands but know fo sho I like my Ninja.  I can make a smoothie in like 2 minutes. Literally.  I think I may have a competition with myself later to see how fast I can do it.  Back to the goods of this thing.  Not only does it work really great but it also allows me to get some veggies in.  Which as you can see by now is not my forte. Extra tid bit for you – frozen fruit – cheaper, keeps longer and then you don’t need ice cubes which are the bane of my existence when it comes to smoothies.  And when I said you could get veggies in – throw spinach in it.  TRUST ME, you won’t even taste or see it. I otherwise HATE, I mean HATE, spinach.  Lastly, you can drink the smoothie in the same cup as you blend it in.
• 8) La Croix – for all you water hating peeps out there.  I’m sure you’ve heard the “drink more water” spiel and you still can’t make it happen.  But you should.  If you really want to see the benefits of drinking water – check this out.  Then when you’re done with that– check this out for a more serious reason to drink water and at the same time enjoy a great accent.  BENEFITS: See vid but here are three quickies on why you should drink water: 1) Increases energy and relieves fatigue (cells don’t operate at a high level if they are all dried up) 2) Flushes out toxins 3) Maintains regularity (I won’t elaborate on this one, use the google she’ll help you.)  And La Croix is a good alternative to straight water – there’s a million different flavors to choose from – hopefully, you can find something that interests you.  Added bonus, these are good for “mixers” in adult beverages because they’re low cal and you can get in water to your body all at the same time.

And that’s it folks.  Those are my go to’s when it comes to making life easier and more doable – all while living a healthier life – all we can do is give things the good ol’ college try.  One thing to keep in mind – nothing needs to be perfect, it just needs to work for you.

If you’d like more ways in which to deal with the things you struggle with as far as body image, eating healthy, getting your life in order, etc. go here.

And please, type a comment below if any of this helped.  I’d also like to hear what you do to help with your busy life.  So, don’t hesitate,  I really want to hear from you!

Xoxo

Melissa

PS – I do not get endorsed for any of these products.