I can see the draw of a meal plan. A plan can do a few things...
It can counter this excuse.
(all 3 are essentially the same.)
“I don't have time”
“I am too busy”
“I ran out of time.”
Having a plan correlates with lower obesity rates. When you cook more at home, you're more likely to stick to your nutritional goals and eat more fruits and vegetables.
A plan can skirt skipping home cooking due to a lack of cooking skills. It's hard to have to figure things out at the moment. Waiting until you're hungry to decide what to eat can cause problems.
“I'm hungry, and now I must figure out how to cook this thing. I don't have the mental energy for that right now.”
No-duh! Thinking takes energy. Energy takes food.
While meal planning offers numerous benefits, it's essential to acknowledge and address the serious drawbacks.
Strict meal plans can increase the following temptations to say, “f**k it.”
Higher willpower cost
Feeling deprived
Pressures on time
Pressures on social events
Isolated from family support
Having to refuse certain foods
Isolated friends support
Can anybody relate when trying to follow a nutrition plan?
Responses I usually get:
"Yes"
"100%"
"Absolutely"
We can't solve all those problems. Making changes does require discomfort, but we can manage that discomfort by including appropriate flexibility to match your goals.
Having done this for a long time with many people, I have never seen a long-term meal plan work. Some people can (for a limited amount of time) if they're super, super motivated, but often, it ends in discouragement and gets them worse off.
Instead, I want you to think about a plan for meals instead of a meal plan.
Are you looking to make a complete lifestyle change to support what you want your body to do? Meal plans are not a long-term solution.
We want a plan that builds in enough flexibility so that when you decide to go to the farmers market this weekend with Mom, you've been craving that one thing, or you have an event, you have the flexibility to do that.
Sound good?
This is the way that I want you to try to think about meal prep: single ingredients.
Meal prepping is like packing for a vacation, and you can only have a carry-on. I won't bring a pair of pants for every day, right? I'm going to bring one pair of pants and two different shirts. I'm going to bring one pair of shoes that go with four different outfits.
If we're talking about creating a sustainable meal plan, we want to make it easy. If this is overwhelming, start prepping one meal a week, move to two, and build from there. It's a practical system ensures you can easily and flexibly prepare food for the week. Depending on how much precision your goal requires, you can have more or less meals using this strategy.
So pick steak, let's say, and then pick one other meal you're going to eat with steak, and then pick rice, and have two meals that you're going to have with rice, but that way, you're only cooking steak once, and you're only cooking rice once, even though you're getting four different meals from it. Does that make sense?
Keep it simple. The majority of your meals don't need to be a culinary experience. They need to be good enough that you enjoy them. Find the things you like, simple things that will only take a little prep. When you get tired of it, change it.
(Protein) Pick One:
Chicken
Steak
Shrimp
Salmon
Tofu
(Smart Carb) Pick One:
Potatoes
Rice
Quinoa
(Fat) Pick One:
Avocado
Coconut Oil
Olive Oil
(Veggie) Pick One:
Spinach
Green Beans
Carrots
(Flavors) Pick One:
Mexican
Japanese
Southwest
Italian
Meal Prep for Dummies
Put these on the calendar. Possibly on separate days to distribute the workload.
Schedule (5 Min)
Which days of the week will you have less time to prepare meals? Which days will you have more? Schedule in prep time.
Plan (15 min)
Keep it stupid and simple. No Michelin stars. Just general ideas.
Shop (45 min)
MAKE A LIST. Don't go hungry. Start with the perimeter of the store with more whole food items.
Cook (60-90 min)
Cook time-consuming ingredients like potatoes, rice, pork or chicken.
Store (15 min)
Store in stackable clear containers for easy access.
Of course, there is more to sus out. If you want to get into more of the nitty-gritty of your plan to eat, fill out this short quiz, and let's talk about the better, faster, stronger, more confident version of you.
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