Planning for Healthy Meals

Do you wonder about eating the right fats, the right foods, the right cooking methods? Welcome to my world!

Everyday I see clients who would like to be healthier. We often discuss how to change their eating habits, but rarely do we talk about how to change their actual routine of meal preparation.

The bad economic situation has had some unexpected health benefits for my clients who are used to dining out. It’s now becoming necessary to prepare more meals for ourselves and many of us don’t have a clue where to start.

Here are a few simple steps to get organized in the kitchen for healthy eating.

1. Plan your meals. 7 breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks need to be addressed weekly. Remember those old lunch menus from school? Create your own meal schedule. Start with only one meal, maybe dinner, plus snacks. You can build up to the rest over time.

2. Write out a shopping list. Figure out how many times each week you’ll be at the grocery store and plan accordingly. If you only want to shop once a week, it will be a big list. Breaking the grocery shopping down to 2 or 3 trips per week can make for a more manageable list and you are more likely not to waste food.

3. Refer to your menu and prepare in advance. If you are grilling something for dinner, don’t forget to defrost it in the refrigerator the night before. Plan on having a vegetarian meal based on dried beans? Then you’ll need to soak those beans the night before unless you use a pressure cooker or a different cooking method. If you use canned beans rinse them before using to get rid of excess salt.

4. Increase your repertoire of recipes. Boredom is the fastest way to break down your resolve to stay home and eat healthy meals. Here are some websites to research for recipe ideas.
http://www.eatingwell.com/
http://www.epicurious.com/
http://whfoods.org/recipestoc.php
You can also google healthy_dinner_recipes to find a wealth of online resources.

5. Start with what you like when planning your meals. Hate fish? Leave it off your menu. Love burgers and fries? You can make oven fries for a healthier version and grass-fed beef is very nutritious. Want a vegetarian meal plan? Check out some Indian cookbooks for tasty recipes dating back thousands of years. A new favorite of mine is 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer.

Trying these 5 steps for a few weeks can really help with your goals of eating healthier and less expensive meals. Contact me for additional ideas. I’m here to help.