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If you’re overwhelmed with your healthy lifestyle change, know that the internet can make it seem really complicated. Here is healthy meal planning made easy – tips for success on your path to wellbeing.
I am assuming in this post you are putting some time into planning food in a measured way, but if you’re not, check this post out first – The Flexible Dieting Approach for Health & Weight Loss – as it may inspire you to start planning and tracking!
Above is a simple idea of how you can plan your foods out for the week, and you can refer back to this as you read each point below.
Now let’s look into easeful, healthy meal planning.
Write a week, or a few days at a time so you know what you need to buy and prep, and you know what you will be eating in advance. This saves time and energy (even if you think it’s going to consume energy in the beginning).
In meal planning, you want to aim for an 80/20 balance – 80% whole food, and 20% ‘anything’ food. Choose the 20% foods first, eg caramel latte, ice-cream, mini chocolate bar, honey oats which will end up being about one meal, or two small treats per day. Then add your whole food meal choices around that. This way you don’t miss out on the delicious and exciting stuff.
Choose one lunch, and one dinner, or alternate, or something like that.
Don’t choose 5 different lunges, and 5 different dinners to span from Monday to Friday (if you want meal planning made easy, as thats what we are focussing on here). That way when you meal prep you can make 5 lunches in one go, and 5 dinners if you like, by cooking in bulk.
For example, a lunch of beef mince with sweet potato mash and a handful of corn chips – you can cook at least 4 of these up in the same time it would take you to cook one.
If you’re looking for a guide filled with meal ideas and recipes, here is a great one for you! It’s a 147-page healthy lifestyle guide which will answer almost all of your burning questions around living more healthily.
Depending on your schedule, you may choose to eat 5 times per day, or two. It’s really up to you. If you don’t have time to snack, don’t include them. It doesn’t matter how many meals you eat, you just want to eat well, and do so consistently.
If you want to be adherent, and feel better with each week, take note of foods that don’t sit well with you. Try not to eat them! They are causing inflammation and dragging you down.
I hope that helps! 5 tips to healthy meal planning, and meal planning made easy so you can crush your goals week by week!
See you in the next post 🙂
Jen x