Low Carb Made Easy: Managing with a Busy Schedule

Plan, plan and plan is the most important part of Banting.

Donald Rumsfeld said:

Think ahead. Don’t let day-to-day operations drive out planning

We can get so caught up in our busy schedules that we forget to plan for the most important thing during the day, our meals.

We recommend setting 4 or 5 hours aside on a weekend to do all your prep, chop up vegetables and make portion size packets.  When buying your meat, make it  up in portion size packets.  Make mayonnaise for the week (mayo can be kept in the fridge for 2 weeks if it lasts that long:-)) Vegetables to prep like Brussel sprouts, kale, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower for cauli rice or cauli mash.  Make up your vegetables in 100g packets which is much easier for preparation if you are single, or 200g packets if you are a couple.

During working week days, eat a good healthy fat breakfast so that you stay full longer, e.g. eggs in butter with avocado, thick double cream yogurt with a few berries; salmon and avocado.

Prepare lunch such as Parma ham, salami, chorizo, hard cheese, olives, tomato, macadamia nuts or almonds. Some celery sticks, cucumber sticks, biltong, cherry tomatoes.

Evening meals does not have to take long to prepare.  Have some pan fried fish or steamed fish, chicken in the oven (don’t use large pieces of chicken as it will take longer to cook, leave cooking a whole chicken or large pieces of beef or lamb for the weekend); steamed vegetables, salad and have a lemon butter dressing on your vegetables.

During the week we love one pot meals, it’s quick and easy and should not take more than 30 minutes.  You can also make more e.g. if you are two people make enough for 4 people and freeze the rest if it’s a recipe that you can freeze.  The next time your schedule is overloaded, it’s easy to take this out of the freezer and warm up.

Always keep a 30g portion of macadamia nuts or 30g portion of almonds in your bag if you do happen to need a snack during the day and can’t get to lunch

Only eat when hungry!  If you eat enough healthy fats it satiates you and you won’t be hungry all the time (remember sugar fuels hunger).

Salad in a Jar – use any of the following ingredients:

• egg
• bacon
• avocado
• diced tomato
• chopped chives
• cucumber
• sliced red onion
• bell pepper
• chopped lettuce
• cubed cooked chicken
• cubes cheese or feta
• radish
• broccoli

Add the ingredients that will be least soggy to the bottom of your jar and pack until you get to the lettuce on top or any cheese that you want to add.

Salad dressing:

• extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
• apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar
• herbs

Pour this over just before enjoying your salad.

Below are two videos that show you how you can prepare meals and salads in preparation for your busy days.