"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art."
― François La Rochefoucauld
Eating healthy is not as complicated, costly, and time-consuming as many think. In reality, it is as quick, simple, and time-saving as prepackaged convenience foods once you get the hang of it. This month's theme is all about being proactive in your lifestyle choices, exercise habits, and attitude practices, and the same proactivity stands for what you choose to eat. Becoming more intentional about including health-promoting nutritional preferences into your daily eating takes a little bit of planning, prepping, and follow-through. When consistently accomplished each week, this new practice will become more automatic over time, taking less effort as it becomes more habitual.
Meal planning, just like every other positive health practice, is a lifestyle choice and one of the four pillars of optimal health and wellness. Although we may have a different reason for meal planning, ranging from simplifying dinnertime to keeping track of calories and macros, in the end, this habit of intentional eating will pay off in more ways than you can imagine. A goal of improving health through better quality food choices has proven to reduce your risk of metabolic syndrome and other chronic diseases such as type II diabetes, heart disease, and various cancers. The food we eat can be the most significant source of health and wellness or the devastating cause of illness and disease. The power to choose what you eat is in your hands, and the road to healthy food choices through meal planning provides your roadmap to better physical, mental, and emotional health outcomes!
Here are a few simple strategies to get your meal planning practice started.
Make a list of all the fruits and vegetables you (and your family) like to eat.
Decide on a few healthy meals and snacks you want to have during the week before going to the grocery store.
Shop with a list of intended raw ingredients, including those favorite fruits and vegetables, for upcoming meals.
While shopping, ask yourself this question, "Does this food purchase help me with my health goals?"
Shop only from your preplanned list and avoid "junk food" temptations.
Stick mainly to the grocery store's perimeter (this is where most of the whole foods live) and avoid the isles as much as possible.
When you venture down the middle isles of your grocery store, choose healthier options to highly processed food choices such as a protein bar instead of a candy bar, baked chips instead of fried chips, and plant-based high fiber high protein types of pasta.
After arriving home, take a few moments to unpack and prepare fruits and vegetables for quick access, such as create a nice fruit bowl on your counter or unload prepackaged tangerines and apples from their bags and place them in the produce drawer in your refrigerator.
Prepare a few quick grab-and-go snacks ready for easy access, such as hard-boiled eggs, prepackaged raw nuts, cut-up carrot, celery stick, and single servings of nut butter and hummus.
Have refillable water bottles filled and ready to go
Collect a hand full of easy bulk prep recipes that you can make and freeze for later in the week
Replace highly processed prepackaged foods with healthier, less processed options as they run out.
Have prepared salads and lunch boxes available to grab in the morning on your way to the office.
Although purposeful meal planning and preparing will take a bit more effort at first, it will get easier as you learn and practice this new skill. You will begin to find what foods work best and develop quicker ways to stock your kitchen, refrigerator, and pantry with more healthy options. Incredibly, as you get better at this new practice and it becomes ingrained in your lifestyle habit, you will also discover positive residual side-effects such as weight loss, more energy, and being in a better mood more often. You will also notice a lessening desire and craving for those prepackaged, high-calorie foods. The more you practice this new health skill and fine-tune what works and what doesn't, you will find yourself in a "meal prepping rhythm." This rhythm is a clear sign that meal prepping has become a habit in your life, and you have made great strides on your journey to improved health and wellness.
If you found this blog post informative and helpful, please share it with your family and friends and help us help the ones you love live happier, healthier, and more productive lives!
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