This article is not meant to tell you exactly WHAT to eat, but more like HOW to prepare yourself for success. In reality, there are many ways to go about your nutrition and there's no one correct way. Whatever approach you decide to take, make sure it fits your energy needs, fits your schedule, is sustainable, and most importantly you can enjoy. When deciding what type of foods to eat, think of the following quote that I always keep in mind:
"Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch (pastas, breads, rice) and no refined sugars (foods with sugar added, not fruits). Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat."
We can discuss foods and meal plans later, but for now, think of the perimeter of the grocery store as your playground. This is where you will find you fresh vegetables, fruits, and meats. This doesn't seem too difficult to figure out...right? So let's look at WHY you're not eating as healthy as you would like.
MEAL PLANNING MADE EASY
In order to reach a goal, we need to know how we will get there. Nutrition is no different than preparing an exercise regimen, preparing for a trip, or planning a birthday party. Meal planning is a great way to help you ensure you'll get as many nutritious meals as possible during the week. By planning ahead, you're less likely to run to the first drive-thru or gas station to grab an unhealthy meal/snack since you'll already have the food ready. Here are a couple tips to help you start implementing healthy foods into your daily routine:
"If you don't make a plan for success, you're only planning to fail."
- Do your homework. If you don't know some healthy recipes off the top of your head, take some time to find some. The internet is a great place to start as there are countless websites with healthy meal recipes. Buying a couple cookbooks can help too! Browse around and save the recipes that look most appealing or most compatible with your cooking abilities.
- Meal Prep Sunday. Once you've started to develop your collection of recipes, take a couple minutes on Sunday (or your day of choice) and determine which recipes you would like that week. Ideally, think of one recipe per day (or every other day if you aren't too picky about your food). But most importantly, KEEP IT SIMPLE! Once you decide your meal plan for the week, head to the grocery store and stock up on what you'll need.
- Think of weekly obstacles. At bare minimum, think of days or events that will make it hard for you to follow your week of healthy nutrition and develop plans to work around obstacles. For example: prepare your simplest recipes on days that you know you will have less time
- Cook in bulk. One of the easiest ways to make sure you have food around is to cook more food than you need for that meal. Leftovers are an easy way to have dinner today as well as lunch for tomorrow. I tend to cook for a family every time so I have enough for another two or three meals later.
- Invite your friends. Probably the most surefire way to encourage any positive life change is to include your friends. You can share your knowledge as well as help keep each other accountable. Try this out for fun: recruit a friend (or two) to join you on your healthy journey. Each of you chooses a recipe or two for the week, cooks enough for the both of you, and exchange some meals. This will save you some time as well as give you more variety in your planning.
- Keep practicing. The most important part of this all, is to keep on practicing. At first, things can be difficult because you're learning to build a new routine. The more you plan and practice, the sooner you'll be doing this without much thought.
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