I was downtown Nashville for meetings today and per the usual time I'm starving. I walk to my car, pop open my cooler, grab my meal and down it. 6 oz. of beef, 20 almonds. Yes, I eat it cold. I'm not in need of some gourmet setup, I have shit to do.
This was my second meal of the day of 5. Meanwhile, I'm finished in 10 minutes and ready to carry on my day when I get a text from an associate I was just with, "let's grab some food."
By the time he got to his car I'd already eaten and was ready to knock more stuff out - the day is young.
(Observe there are two normals here. One for the person who optimizes their life and one who does not.)
Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for taking some time out to eat and settle back but I don't like to waste my time often. Not to mention, I doubt any establishment is going to care how I'd like my food prepared. They just toss it on a greasy ass grill and throw it on a plate (even high dollar grills, good luck). Again, special occurrences or once in a while, I'll indulge. I'm human after all, but I don't like to make this a common thing. This is a working Tuesday for me, not a Tuesday in Vegas.
I want performance from my body & mind and have a grasp of the bigger picture.
The big idea here is how people view their intake. Even put fitness goals aside, not eating on a prep is just plain stupid. You're literally throwing away money & time and you cannot even begin to maintain balance for long.
Eating off balance forces things to go array in your system. Brain fog, chronic fatigue, obesity, etc. This becomes your new normal. But hey, everyone else does it so what the hell right!?
And I know, I know. Everyone has so many excuses and good reasons not to take control of their own prep. The only good one is if you take batteries. You're getting your energy from somewhere - why not make it clean and powerful?
If anyone shows you results and says they don't prep they are either:
(a) Lying to sell you [insert rubbish supplement here].
(b) On a crash diet and have a brittle, unhealthy physique due to lack of nutrients.
(c) Staffing a personal chef or have the funds to eat gourmet meals on demand.
(d) In the genetic the 1%. They could literally inhale packs of donuts and lose weight. (Even then, after 27 they have to play by a new set of rules which require balanced nutrition.
In all this I never mentioned working out - you cannot out-train a poor intake, that's a given. Meal prepping goes beyond just those who train or care about visible results - this is the core of all your health and well-being.
Face facts, you can take control of your nutrition which will empower you in many areas of your life. Or ignore it and keep puttin' along. It's just the only time you're going to get the opportunity to be alive.
All you have to do is make a choice. You can even season your food and start slow! Effort in will directly translate into habit building.