No amount of stressful projects that usually send you running toward the vending machine can set you off course if you start your week with a good plan. Planning and preparation are the biggest keys to making a healthy lifestyle. My advice? Take a few minutes to sit down and think about your week. Make a grocery list with some clear goals. Consider what proteins you'd like to eat this week. Also, ensure that your list includes whole grains, low-fat dairy products, eggs, fruits and vegetables - which should fill 60 percent of your shopping cart. Making a game plan will ensure that you're ready to go when hunger strikes. That way, there's no way you can make an excuse for Chinese takeout over the healthy meal you had originally planned.

It's all too easy to opt for a bagel and cream cheese or a sugary cereal if that's what you have in your pantry. To ensure your breakfast - often the most hastily eaten meal of the day - is more balanced, fill the kitchen with high-fiber protein bars, yogurt, fruit, eggs and whole-grain cereals or oatmeal. If healthier breakfast options are readily available, that pit stop at the doughnut shop will be easier to avoid. If you're the type who craves sugar with your coffee and can hear the pastries at the bakery next to your office calling your name; try making a smoothie. It's tasty and only takes mere minutes to make. If you have a few minutes to sit down and read the paper but not enough time for anything that involves a frying pan, try whole grain cereal topped with walnuts, fresh fruit and skim milk. It's filling and will keep you going until lunch. You can also whip up a breakfast burrito. Use a whole-grain tortilla and fill it with a scrambled egg, a sprinkling of cheese and any vegetables you have in stock - think tomatoes, peppers or onions.

The best way to fight the urge to order out with your co-workers or to cave to that stress-induced craving for a slice of pizza in the middle of the work day, is to make sure you've packed a lunch that's not only healthy - but one you'll enjoy. Don't force yourself to eat things that you don't like. For one lunch option, try a different take on your average deli sandwich. Try layering your turkey on a whole-grain roll with brie, lettuce, tomato and honey mustard. Or change it up by using different spreads. Maybe hummus, pesto or mashed avocado? A rule of thumb, use no more than three pieces of deli meat on your sandwich. And when it comes to produce, add at least two different colors for more antioxidant power.

With dinner, portion size is often the place where people go astray. Half the plate should be filled with vegetables, a quarter should be lean protein and the other quarter should be high-fiber complex carbohydrates such as a small baked potato, brown rice or whole-wheat couscous or pasta. If you have a family to feed but don't have the time or the budget to cater to everyone's different tastes, try chicken with steamed vegetables. Buying frozen vegetables is not only convenient, it's healthy, too. Frozen vegetables are picked at the peak of ripeness. It's cheaper and will go farther. Sometimes, you need something that you can prepare ahead of time and have ready in minutes. Cook a whole-wheat pasta with low-fat sauce, turkey meatballs (the meat is much leaner than ground beef) and a side salad. The meatballs can be made ahead of time, and leftover salad can double as lunch the next day. If you're tired and the last thing you need is a mess in the kitchen, cook fish in a foil packet and avoid the cleanup all together. Take a fillet of salmon, or whatever fish suits you, and squirt it with lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pepper. Lay it over a sheet of foil. Chop up whatever vegetables you have on hand - onions, zucchini, asparagus or string beans - and pack them into the foil as well. Heat the oven to 200C [400F] and cook for about 25 minutes, until the fish is flaky and - voila! - your meal is served and there are no pans to scrub.