Healthy Hook: chef-prepared meals delivered to your gym

For those of us trying to stay healthy on a busy schedule (and who isn't?), it often feels like you can pick only one of the following: eat healthy or work out. Sometimes, there simply aren't enough hours in the day or decimal places in the bank account to have both. Ruth Hardy, founder of The Healthy Hook, thought the same thing — what if you could have your meals prepared for you by a real chef in a real kitchen and have it hand delivered to your gym?

That's the exact model she pursued with her latest health food venture, and she's hardly a stranger to  the local culinary scene. After helping open Il Panificio and Jack Dusty, she and her business partner, Patrick Bucko, opened Off the Hook in Gulf Gate, where Healthy Hook is headquartered.

A long-time fitness buff, Hardy says she understands the struggle of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

"Everyone's busy," she says. "Between balancing their professional lives and their children — it's tough when you have any kind of demanding lifestyle. This is something that I personally wanted, and everyone seems to be trying to get fit lately, so there was a huge demand for it."

Hardy has partnered with several local gyms, which have agreed to stock her food. Clients order their pre-packaged meals online, choosing between a weekly rotating menu of foods catered to basic health maintenance, Paleo diets and athletic meals, then pick up their freshly prepared or frozen food the next day at their gym.

"I hope we can help people reach their goals," says Hardy. "To feel better, happier and maintain a healthy lifestyle. It's nice to know you can help people do that. I love entertaining and I love cooking, so it's almost like opening my own kitchen to the public — but without all the cleanup."