How Meal Planning Helps You Stay on Track with Your Health Goals
If you’re anything like me, your schedule is jam-packed. The days fly by, and sometimes you wonder how you’ll get it all done – sound familiar?
Being busy on a regular basis can make it tough to add in new, healthy habits… or add anything extra at all to your already overflowing schedule. This is why it’s crucial to have a plan that fits into your schedule – this is the most effective way to see your health goals realized. One of the best things you can do for yourself and your family is to learn the art of planning your meals ahead of time… and making them simple.
Pre-planning your meals helps keep your head clear about what to expect for the week. If you go through the week without a plan, it’s incredibly easy to revert to fast food or unhealthy pre-packaged convenience foods due to lack of time. Without a plan, your health goals continue to be pending on an uncertain tomorrow, and we certainly can’t have that. We need a plan.
This is precisely why meal planning needs to be a part of your life; meal planning with a pinch of willpower can help you achieve your health goals. It gives you more control over your choices, which has an overall positive effect in your life. When lunch time rolls around at the office, and you don’t have a meal planned, a quick run to the vending machines is easy, fast and exactly what we are trying to avoid here.
From here on out, we are going to be mindful about our meals by planning them ahead of time (don’t worry, it doesn’t take as much time as you think) so you have more confidence about making healthy choices.
We will be going over small strategies throughout these five days together, but today, we will start at square one. Start today by organizing your thoughts.
Jump on Pinterest and search for healthy, simple meals and pin as many as you can find. Or go to your favorite cookbooks and bookmark all the recipes you would love to try or have worked for you in the past. Having a strong arsenal of easy recipes and meal ideas is crucial in keeping this going. Today is all about getting prepared to make this easy meal planning a regular occurrence in your household.
Action Steps:
Peruse Pinterest to find any inspiration for new, simple, healthy recipes you can try
Check out your favorite cookbook and bookmark your favorite ones.
Plan on getting the ingredients for two or three recipes next time you go to the grocery store or Farmer's Market.
An extra helpful step: Make a list of ALL of the fruits & vegetables you/your family enjoy, so you have many options to choose from.
The more we start to prepare home cooked meals from recipes, the more creative we become with whipping something up without a recipe.
You don’t always need a recipe to cook healthy, delicious, simple food. I’m going to be sharing some recipe-free meal ideas throughout the week that I know will inspire you!
Avocado Boats Fill avocado halves with a mixture of fresh, delicious ingredients. Pictured here is tuna, red onion, and tomato. Simple and filling! What can you put in your Avocado Boat?