What's the Best Way to Plan and Prep Meals to Eat Healthier?

  Planning and prepping your meals each day and each week may seem like a daunting task that takes more time than it's worth, but it actually does the exact opposite. Some of the most commonly quoted comments when we talk to clients and potential clients about a nutrition plan that involves recipes and planning ahead is, “I don’t cook,” or, “I don’t have time to get my food ready ahead of time.” Now don’t get me wrong, I understand that a lot of people have a lot of on their plate, pun intended, from day to day and week to week, but if you actually sit back and look at the overall picture it makes a lot of sense. The first comment that I talked about was the, “I don’t cook,” statement that we hear more often than not. I can understand where people come from with this because they haven’t had time in their busy schedules to sit back, read a recipe, and go get the ingredients from the store and then spend 20-30 minutes prepping and making their food. Most people think that they could spend that hour or so cooking on more important things. The only problem I have with this is most people do not want to step out of their comfort zone in order to have success with their nutrition. Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” How can you succeed in life if you don’t step out of your comfort zone? I bet at one point in your life, especially with work, you had to step out of your comfort zone in order to move up in the company. How about when you started that workout routine that you haven’t done in 10-15 years? That was definitely stepping out of your comfort zone. Same thing goes for cooking. Try it out because I bet in the end you may actually enjoy it. The second comment from above was the, “I don’t have time to get my food ready ahead of time.” This goes along with the not cooking comment because A) They don’t feel like they have time and B) Most people don’t want to plan their food. How about the big presentation that you have coming up next week for work? Or that work trip to a conference? Do you not prepare ahead of time for that in order to succeed? You would honestly be surprised how easy it is to prep your food, cook it, and be set up for success to go for the entire week. There are hundreds of recipes out there on different websites that only take 20 minutes total to prep and cook. I have always told my clients that if you want to set yourself up for success, take one day out of the week, usually Sundays, get a game plan of your lunches and snacks, and get them prepped, cooked, and put into Tupperware containers so they are ready to go. One to two hours on Sunday will save you all the time that you would have wasted running around during your lunch break going through the fast food drive-thru - and it’s a hell of a lot healthier as well! If you want ideas on different great-tasting, quick and easy-to-make meals please let me know and I would be more than happy to help you out.