Healthy Meal Planning For Beginners

Healthy meal planning is an essential skill to have for living a healthy life. Once you’re aware of your eating behaviors and patterns, you’re ready to plan your meals according to your goals and situation.

Remember, getting started is the hardest part in any journey. If you’ve never prepared meal for yourself then you’ll have to give it a lot of time and effort in the beginning.

The good news is that once you practice meal preparation and you’re used of the process, it will become part of your lifestyle and it would not be as hard after first few days or weeks.

If you don’t commit to make the healthy change, you’ll struggle to take the first step. Now let’s get started and learn the basics of healthy meal planning.

BEFORE GETTING STARTED

You don’t have to follow your meal plan accurately. The plan is just a starting place. If you plan your meals in advance then it will be much easier for you to make conscious decisions about your food choice.

Your meal plan doesn’t have to be perfect. It could be flexible. It means that you should be able to swap meals and there should be some backup healthy snacks that you can eat during the time of emergency.

When it comes to healthy eating, some people think it takes a lot of extra time to prepare healthy meals. This is not true. Eating healthy doesn’t have to be time taking specially when we have access to the internet. You can find thousands of healthy recipes on internet for free. Choose the recipes that you like and suit the timeframe you have for cooking.

GETTING STARTED

Start with the foods/ingredients you already like. Find recipes on internet based on the healthy foods you like. Based on your lifestyle and preference, you can either choose to cook in bulk for a full week or you can choose to prepare your meals on the go. You can also choose a middle ground in which you can cook for 1 or 2 days in advance.

No matter what meal preparation frequency you use, always have a meal plan so that you already know in advance what you’re going to eat in future. This way, you will not go for emergency unhealthy options as often.

LEARN TO LOVE COOKING

My next tip is to start loving the process of cooking. Once you start loving the process of preparing your own healthy meals, you’ll enjoy your meals even more. If you get time on weekends, you can explore your cooking skills and try new recipes every week.

Once you start to challenge yourself and enjoy cooking, it gets easier and more enjoyable. You’ll also start to develop better cooking skills and take lesser time to prepare your meals as it will become your habit.

To get started, decide the first few recipes you want to try and prepare a grocery list. Buy the exact items you need next time you go for grocery shopping.

THE ANATOMY OF A HEALTHY MEAL

Find the balance between nutrition, pleasure and serving size. Every food you eat is made up of combination of these three factors.

A good meal would have a lot of nutrients and it should be tasty enough that it satisfies you with its right serving size.

Make sure you understand the anatomy of healthy meals. You should learn the very basics of nutrition so that you can eat what healthy means to you.

In essence, a healthy meal should have enough protein, healthy fats and fiber rich foods (most importantly vegetables). Such a meal would keep you satiated for a long time. Also, make sure to consume enough water in between every meal.

WHAT IF YOU FAIL

If you go off your meal plan, don’t stress about it. There will be times when food cravings will arrive. I don’t want you to restrict too much. If you overcome your cravings, give yourself a pat on your back. But if you indulge in your cravings, forgive yourself and move on.

If you restrict too much, you might get burnt out and binge eat or quit following your meal plan altogether. So don’t be too hard on yourself. Find the source of your pleasure and measure the cost and benefit each time you want to ‘cheat’ on your meal plan.

Plan, prepare and record your meals to get your eating habits in control. Don’t wait. Just start and soon you’ll be living a healthier life with lesser effort.

Are you tired of following diet plans?

Transformation starts with small steps and right education. Click here to take FREE lessons on Facebook messenger and take charge of your health, starting today.