Have you ever found yourself at work at 4pm, totally starving, with the only options being the vending machine full of crisps or chocolate? This used to happen to me all the time and most days, I ended up having an unhealthy snack, as I was hungry and there were no other options.

I’m a hangry (angry when hungry) person. If I feel really hungry I can’t think of anything else. It totally consumes my thoughts! For my work colleagues and friends sake I have to eat or I will be in a terrible mood. If the only thing available is crisps or chocolate then that’s what I have to have. That’s where I realised that being organised was going to be of great importance if I wanted to eat healthily, particularly at work. The key for me is not to allow myself to become hungry. Once I have that feeling of a rumbling stomach, it takes a lot to satisfy my hunger pangs.

How you can organise yourself to eat more healthily:

1) Planned food shop

If you plan your meals and buy the food you need for the dinner you are preparing, it makes life much easier. If you don’t have the right food in for the meal you are planning to cook, there may be more temptation to give into something unhealthy. You can find a recipe, buy all the ingredients and then you won’t have any other things that you might be tempted to eat instead. If you have to go to the supermarket every day as you always have at least one of the key ingredients missing, it means there is more temptation to buy stuff you don’t want to be eating. It’s also easy to make the decision not go to the supermarket at all and instead have something less healthy that you already have in the house. So planning all your food for the week in advance can really help.

2) Healthy snacks

The best idea is not to have unhealthy snacks in the house. If you have them in, you will no doubt be tempted to eat them. Plan out what healthy snacks you like. Whether you have to make them, or they come ready made, have them made up and ready to go with you, so you don’t get caught out and have to use the vending machine or any other unhealthy options. Healthy snack options include carrot batons, nuts, fruit, cucumber sticks etc.. Often eating little and often, or grazing throughout the day works wonders, as it means you never let yourself get hungry, but you are still not over eating, as long as your portions are not too big and your snacks are nice and healthy.

3) Tupperware

Organising your snacks into containers is a good way to control portion size. For example if you like to snack on nuts, rather than bringing a whole bag in with you, put the portion size you want in a Tupperware and this provides damage limitation from overeating! If not, the temptation is there to eat the whole lot, rather than the handful you originally planned! If you prepare them all in the fridge or the cupboard the night before, you can just grab them in the morning ready to take them to work with you.

4) Carry water with you

It always helps to have some sort of container that you fill up with water. If it is with you, at your desk, you have much more likelihood of drinking it, rather than if you have to get up and go and get a drink from the water cooler or the tap, as that involves getting off your seat!

The minute I become disorganised it means that my healthy diet often goes out of the window. In particular snacks are my main issue. If I’ve not planned in advance, they tend to be much less healthy. Meals become more rushed and often not as healthy as I would have liked and sometimes I realise I have got through the entire day without drinking any water at all. I have definitely found a positive correlation between being organised and being healthy.

You can follow my healthy eating journey on Instagram. I’d love to hear from you how you organise yourself to be healthy and whether it has helped you.