You know how they say ‘You are what you eat’, right? Well, let’s tin about that for a second – how have you been eating? We’re going to go on a limb and assume that since you’re looking for a way to plan your meals for a healthier lifestyle, you’ve already realized that you’ve been eating food that’s no good and consequently, that’s how you feel – no good. Meal planning is an elusive practice for those who haven’t ever put in that much effort before having their food. On this page, we’ll talk about what it takes to plan your meals and more importantly why you ought to put in the effort in the first place.
The only real reason why meal planning would seem like a lot of work for someone is that they’ve never had to plan a meal more than a couple of hours before they had it. Think about it, what do you do when you’re hungry? You probably head into your kitchen, see if you can find something that you can eat and if you don’t see anything, you’ll either look for ingredients to put something together or better yet – just order some food. That’s all fine but if you really want to start taking better care of yourself and be your hundred percent at all times, then you’ll have to start being a little more specific about what food you put into your body.
Your body has specific needs throughout the day, according to your activities, which is another reason why you should plan your meals accordingly. Let’s say you’re usually active during lunchtime. In this case, it’s better if you eat a light meal that gives you a boost of energy and doesn’t make you fit down and get lazy. This is why they recommend that everyone eat a hearty breakfast each morning. It’s literally in the name; you’re breaking your fast from the hours you spent asleep. Besides, this is when your bowels could use some fibre as well. We know, it seems like a bother at first but once you start eating your meals a bit more strategically, you notice how well your body performs every day.
Now, if you kept eating the same meals that someone told you were ideal you’ll get bored of it really quickly and your diet will lack variety. This is when planning your meals really becomes awesome. You’ll have a huge variety of food to eat in your meal plan for the month. You’ll be eating more variety than you normally would have and at the same time, you’ll have meals to look forward to. It’s a little thing but it can add some excitement to your life. Trust us, nothing feels more wholesome than putting in some effort to take better care of yourself. Now that you know why you ought to plan your meals, let’s look at what you can do to make said meal plan.
If you’re too lazy to get into planning your meals headfirst, then you can join some program. There are many meal planning programs that will help you plan your grocery, teach you all kinds of recipes and even plan your meals for you. They might also just deliver your meals to your doorstep, as is the case with many Ketogenic diet programs. Once you start using programs like ActivEats, you get into the habit of planning your meals, which pretty much gets you your money’s worth. After you’ve gotten into the habit and have completed the program, then you’re ready to keep planning your meals and making sure that you’re always at your hundred percent.
When it comes right down to it, there are three things that you have to do to when you plan your meals. Once you have a list of things you want to eat, of course.
Selecting Recipes
The first step is to gather all the recipes you have. You can sort them out according to how easy they are to prep. You can make the easier stuff when you have little time and some of the more time-consuming things when you want to cook as an activity. Once you have a list of things that you know you want to have in your meal prep, then you can make a shopping list.
Get Your Ingredients
Alright, now it’s time to grab that cart and go grocery shopping. You know what you’ll be making and now you just need to buy ingredients according to the number of times you’ll make making a certain dish. It’s a good idea to buy little amounts of highly perishable ingredients like milk, vegetables, and eggs, so you get them fresh. You’re trying to eat healthily so keep in mind that you need to shop accordingly. If you want to visit the store less frequently, then you can grab a lot of fruits and berries that you can freeze to make your smoothies.
Prep Your Meals
Okay, so this is where we eliminate the daily effort of making your own meals. You need to prep your meals for the next couple of days at a time and keep them. This way they’re almost done, you just have to cook them a bit and they’re ready to serve. Think of it as frozen snacks, only these are actually healthy for you. Make sure to prep everything properly. If there’s a chance of something going back if not cooked soon, then don’t risk leaving it in prep for too long. Consume things as fresh as you can!
Once you get into the habit, all of this will come to you naturally. After trying ActivEats, you’ll find that you’re always more aware of what you’re eating, making it easier for you to keep an eye on your weight and general health as well. Besides, when you’re on a diet, those days when you decide to eat out actually feel rewarding rather than guilty.
