When we’re not eating a balanced, healthy diet, we often blame it on our lack of time. But maybe we’re looking at it all wrong? Perhaps the struggle to cook meals from scratch and eat them with others is not because we lack time but because we’re scheduling it poorly. Not long ago, set mealtimes were a given. People had breakfast in the mornings, workplaces and schools had defined lunch breaks, and almost everyone sat down at the table for dinner. If these rituals didn’t happen, it was an aberration from the norm. Now a ‘normal’ meal schedule hardly exists. Modern life has become so busy, so packed with activities that happen at all hours of the day, that formal mealtimes have lost their places of importance while on-the-go eating becomes standard. Because we feel so busy, we’ve convinced ourselves that there is no time to cook, which makes no sense considering Americans are working less than they used to. It’s time to reinstate mealtimes and the healthy diet that come with it. The time is there; we’re just using it in the wrong ways. A good first step is to replace social media scrolling time (or TV-watching) with food prep. We all know how quickly fifteen minutes can disappear when we’re looking at Instagram feeds. Reallocate that time to something purposeful like cooking. A more drastic step is to refuse to schedule activities around meal times. That way you value your meals and take them more seriously. At the end of the day, it will make you a happier, healthier person.