Many of us know what we should be doing with our nutrition to improve our health and our energy, yet we often find ourselves frustrated, repeating habits that we’d like to break.
The key is to have a plan.
Sounds simple, I know, but when life is busy we often fly by the seat of our pants, especially when it comes to nutrition. It can be easier to just grab whatever is around, but unfortunately this often does not give us the results we want.
Introduce the Meal Plan! A meal plan can be for one day, three days, or even a week or more. It depends on how often you grocery shop. If you can shop day-to-day then creating a Meal Plan the day before makes sense, shopping the next day for meals. Or it may work better for you to plan the week out on the week-end and do all of your shopping then. No matter what you decide to do here are some tips on creating a Meal Plan to help you reach your health goals.
Tip #1 - Three Meals and Two Snacks a Day
You won’t skip breakfast or lunch when you plan out your three meals a day. Also add in at least two snacks a day so you don’t go longer than four hours without eating, which can lead to a slower metabolism, low blood sugars, and overeating later on.
Tip #2 - Include Protein Whenever You Eat
Protein helps build and repair everything in your body, it helps control blood sugars, and it helps you feel satiated which helps with portion control.
Tip #3 - Vegetables
Yes, we all need reminding that lunch and dinner should include at least 1 – 2 cups of raw or cooked vegetables at each meal (1 cup minimum for gals and 1.5 cups minimum for fellows). Or 2 – 4 cups of salad. Vegetables fill your plate with nutrients and fibre with no impact on your waist line. To be a pro, have at least two different types of vegetables at your meal with one being a dark, leafy green.
Tip #4 - Treat Yourself
After planning your vegetables, it's time to look at the nutrient-light foods you are trying not to eat too much of (chocolate, cookies, chips). Can you believe I’m recommending this!?! Planning your treats will help you control portion size and frequency. If you know you are going to the movies Friday night eat clean the days leading up and the days after.
So again - planning is the key to help reduce or eliminate mindless, unbalanced, and/or unplanned eating that interferes with your health goals. What is the next step? A Food Diary! Stay tuned - we'll discuss food diaries in a future blog!
Would you like to learn more great ways to get your family's nutrition in line? Check out Christine's Meal Planning 101 Workshops!
