Don’t we love a secret? Or even better a conspiracy!! I think this is why we’ve become so enamoured with “superfoods” or “evil” ingredients that we must quit.
So at the risk of bringing down the wrath of the Internet conspiracy theorists I am prepared to expose the secret to eating well. Are you sitting down? Ready? Got a pen?
Planning.
There you go, you’re welcome!! Are you excited? No I thought not. Sorry, that’s why we like to quit stuff and buy superfoods, it’s more exciting than planning a menu, making a shopping list and trundling around the shops, then coming home to chop, cook, portion and freeze.
Eating a predominantly plant based diet of mostly unprocessed
foods seems to be the only dietary theme that is consistently associated with good health. There’s a lot of room for manoeuvring within that framework to find a way that you enjoy eating and is personally healthy for you. Yes there is no hard and fast “right” way to eat.
However if you’re going to eat more plant foods and less processed foods then you need to have these foods in your fridge and cupboard. It will help if you can cook, not like a chef, just basic skills will suffice.
Planning can be anything from a thought in the evening or morning about the day ahead to get something out of the freezer for dinner and “what will I have for lunch?” or it can be as detailed as a 4-week menu plan with shopping lists.
My planning falls somewhere in the middle, I plan dinners for the week, just a list of 5 – 7 meals. From the list I make a shopping list after checking the cupboard and the fridge. I make sure to think of the accompanying vegetables for each meal and I think about how can I incorporate vegetables into the meat component of the dish too. Of the dishes I am making I try to ensure some can be cooked in bulk with extras frozen in portions for quick dinners or lunches.
Planning ahead allows me to use all of the vegetables that I buy and avoid them going floppy in the crisper. The biggest benefit I get from planning ahead (apart from money and time savings) is not having to have that “what do you want for dinner?” “oh, whatever” conversation.
I also plan our takeaway and eating out so I can look forward to not cooking, therefore getting double the joy!
There’s a saying “take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves” this applies to health too. The small actions we take add up to big results.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you might want to check out some of her others including, The scales. Argh. Do they fill you with dread?, The Non-Diet Diet, Your body is wise and “Don’t you know how much sugar is in that?”.
