Meal planning is a great tool to create the calorie deficit required for weight loss, but also for supporting you from snacking whilst planning meals from scratch when coming home to eat and hungry.
There are now many ways we can access food planning /preparation ideas: For example;
Recipe books
Meal Prep King
Websites
Companies that deliver to your door recipes and the ingredients for each meal you order.
Gusto
Hello Fresh
Green Chef
or even planning app's.
Samsung food: Meal Planning
Mealine Meal plans & recipes
NHS Easy Meals
Meal planning offers us various benefits, the majority supporting our mental health as well as our physical health.
Meal planning saves time and reduces stress instead of stressing about what to eat in the moment, planning a week ahead, where you've brought the ingredients ready to cook the meal, or even that you've batched cooked and its just needs reheating makes meal times relaxing allowing time to do other jobs, activities...
Meal planning saves money as you buy what you need in your grocery shopping, which avoids buying in excess or not enough, and limits you needing to snack often nutrient deficient or takeaways...
Meal planning also supports eating healthy meals as you can plan your meals across the day to be nutrient dense making sure your meals are well balanced meeting the quota of each daily nutrient intake. i.e.:- Protein, Carbohydrate, Fibre, Fat...
Planning meals ahead can also reduce food waste, an average UK family throws away £350 of food waste each year. By reducing waste we are saving ourselves money and supporting the environment.
Meal planning can be a fun family activity where you sit together and plan meals for the following week all will enjoy, it also allows younger members of the family to be more adventurous with foods and supports them to understand healthy eating, which in turn develops great life skills of budgeting, looking after the environment, reducing stress, eating healthy...
There are many ways we can record our meal planning, write each meal on a calendar, creating a spreadsheet, in a note book, on an app, or like myself on a weekly magnetic white board, which is attached to the fridge door. https://amzn.eu/d/0bpRXoGN Which allows me to create a meal plan for each day of the week, and add the ingredients required to the shopping list.
Planning a healthy balance;
Choosing meals over each day that meet your Protein and Fibre goals, means we are promoting our gut health and supporting us to feel fuller for longer, reducing cravings and helping us feel satisfied with small portions.
Reduces reaching for UPF's which are often nutrient poor and calorie dense, and fail to stimulate the brain to feel satisfied, in many cases create further food cravings.
Allows us to plan in lots of fruit and vegetables which are vital for our gut health and our overall health and well-being as packed with Macronutrients Fibre and often Protein (Pulses) but a powerful source of Micronutrients, Vitamins and Minerals.
Meal planning is not limited to just main meals, if you require regular snacks you can plan these too, allowing you to stay within your calorie deficit achieving a nutrient dense balanced diet with a few maybe nutrient deficient treats.
Picking a method of meal planning that works around your lifestyle will support you to stay on track to achieve your weight goals.
Which method would work best for you?
Resources;
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