Hey there, Reader!

One of the biggest obstacles to eating well isn’t knowing what to eat. It’s having the time and energy to actually make it.

You get home late. You have 20 minutes between one thing and the next. You’re exhausted, everyone is hungry, and the last thing you want to do is start chopping vegetables. So healthy eating gets postponed until you have more time.

We’ve made “eating well” too complicated

When you picture a healthy dinner, what do you see? If your answer involves a recipe, several ingredients, chopping, cooking, and a pile of dishes afterward, you may have accidentally created a definition of healthy eating that requires you to cook.

But a meal doesn’t have to be cooked from scratch to be nourishing. It doesn’t even have to look like a traditional meal. Sometimes dinner can just be food you put together.

Think assembly, not cooking

This is one of the simplest shifts you can make when life is busy. Instead of asking, “What can I cook tonight?” ask, “What can I assemble?”

A can of beans, microwaveable brown rice, salsa, greens, and avocado can become a bowl in minutes. Whole-grain bread, hummus, vegetables, and fruit can become dinner without turning on the stove.

You can grab precooked grains, frozen vegetables, canned beans, bagged greens, cut vegetables, fruit, hummus, or other simple foods that require very little preparation. You’re not cheating. You’re feeding yourself.

Convenience isn't the enemy

Somewhere along the way, many of us picked up the idea that convenience food automatically means unhealthy food. It doesn’t.

Frozen vegetables are convenient. Canned beans are convenient. Bagged salad greens, precooked grains, frozen fruit, whole-grain bread, and pre-cut vegetables are convenient too. Convenience can actually be a strategy.

If buying the bag of chopped vegetables means you’ll eat vegetables and buying the whole vegetables means they’ll slowly die in your refrigerator, buy the chopped ones. The goal isn’t to prove how much work you’re willing to do for your food. The goal is to nourish yourself consistently.

Build meals from components

You also don’t need a new recipe every night. Instead, keep a few basic components around that can become different meals depending on what you have.

Start with a source of protein and fiber, such as beans, lentils, tofu, or another option that works for you. Add a whole grain or starchy vegetable, plenty of vegetables or greens, and something that brings flavor.

Now you have a framework instead of a recipe. Those ingredients might become a grain bowl tonight, tacos tomorrow, or a giant salad the next day. Less deciding. Less cooking. Less waste.

Have a few “no-plan” meals

The hardest time to decide what to eat is often when you’re already hungry and tired. That’s why I think everyone needs a few meals that require almost no thought.

Not emergency meals you reluctantly settle for. Reliable meals you intentionally keep available because you know real life is going to happen.

Maybe yours is a bean burrito with greens and salsa. Maybe it’s hummus toast with vegetables and fruit, a loaded baked potato, or a quick grain bowl assembled from whatever is available. You only need a few.

When the day falls apart, you already know what dinner can be. You don't have to use your last bit of energy figuring it out.

Preparation doesn't always mean meal prep

You also don't have to spend Sunday afternoon filling 15 matching containers to be prepared for the week. Preparation can simply mean making healthy choices easier to access.

Wash some fruit. Keep canned beans in the pantry. Buy frozen vegetables. Make one sauce or dressing you love.

You can also cook extra rice when you happen to be making rice anyway. Even grocery shopping with your busiest days in mind is a form of preparation. You’re not trying to predict every meal. You’re making sure Future You has some good options.

Simple food still counts

I think this matters beyond nutrition. We can turn caring for our health into another area where we believe doing it “right” requires more time, effort, and complexity than we actually have available.

But faithful care doesn't have to be elaborate. Sometimes stewardship looks like cooking a beautiful meal from scratch. Sometimes it looks like opening a can of beans, microwaving some frozen vegetables, and feeding yourself something nourishing before you head out the door.

Both count. The complexity of the meal isn't what determines whether you've cared well for yourself.

Make healthy eating easier on purpose

If eating well keeps falling apart when your schedule gets busy, you may not need more discipline. You may need fewer steps.

Look at the foods you regularly eat and ask: Where could I remove some friction? Could you buy something pre-cut? Keep a frozen option available? Stock ingredients for two no-cook meals? Make double when you do have time to cook?

Don't make the goal “cook more.” Make the goal make nourishing food easier to eat.

Knowing what to do and actually doing it are two different things

You can finish this email with some great ideas and still find yourself standing in front of the refrigerator next week thinking, There's nothing to eat. 😂

And that's true of so many things when it comes to our health. We often know what we should be doing. The harder part is figuring out how to make those things happen consistently in the middle of everyday life.

That's exactly what we'll be working on in the next Warrior Wellness 21-Day Challenge, and enrollment opens in just two days!

If you've been wanting to make some changes but aren't quite sure where to start, I'd love for you to join us. We'll spend 21 days putting the Five Pillars of Warrior Wellness into practice and learning how to build healthier habits that work in real life.

Join the waitlist now, and you'll be the first to know when enrollment opens on October 25.

​JOIN THE 21-DAY CHALLENGE WAITLIST​

You've got this!

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