Lifestyle Tips — Healthy Choices
8 Reasons Why You Should Adopt Meal Planning in 2018
The world is fast evolving into 24-hour economies. In fact, with our busy lifestyle, making meals at home has become a thing of the past. The long commutes, due to traffic and having to manage both office work and home, can be challenging. Additionally, the presence of convenience stores and fast food restaurants opening up on every corner has made it easy to eat outside. The result is more and more people are making poor food choices. The good news is that this can be reduced by meal planning in advance.Having a plan makes it easy to follow through with your commitment to healthy living, because it removes the need to make a decision. Not to mention, indecisiveness derails your progress by a huge percentage.
Here are eight reasons why you should plan your meals in advance.
Saves you money
When you plan your meals, it is easy to make a grocery shopping list from the plan. Having a shopping plan will prevent you from impulse buying random unhealthy food when you go to the store.1 Who knows: you may get discount prices in some stores by buying in bulk.
It also saves you money that you would have used to order costly last minute takeout.2 In addition, there’s less spoilage of groceries, since you have track of what you have in the house, and wouldn’t buy extra that would go bad in the fridge. There's also less chance to discard pre-planned meals, unlike groceries that may go bad because you forgot about them in the pantry.3
Lastly, having healthy meals also saves the money you would use for hospital visits caused by unhealthy lifestyle.3 Use the savings to treat yourself to a spa treatment or save up for end year vacation.
Saves your priceless time
Your time is precious. It can’t be retrieved. A few decisions, once a week, eliminates the need to make a decision later, and a wrong choice for that matter.3 Having a grocery shopping list saves you time when you go for shopping, instead of going shelf to shelf trying to remember what you don’t have in the house or deciding what to have for dinner.1
Having a weekly or monthly meal plan made up makes it easy to just shop once in a week or two, rather than daily. Furthermore, once you buy the groceries, you can prepare some food in advance that you will just need to warm up and store in the fridge. Imagine making a week’s meal using the same time you would make a single meal.
For instance, freeze-dried berries and fruits make a quick breakfast on the go. Similarly, freeze dried veggies and beans can be prepared quickly after a long day at work. In fact, you would just need to rehydrate the freeze-dried fruits and veggies, and voila! your salad is ready.
Prepare two or three meals during the weekend and have them when you get at home, when you’re tired from work. It helps to split up food into serving portions that would be enough for your family.2 Freeze meatballs, marinated chicken, soups, and reheat them when you need a quick meal.
Helps you to make healthy food choices
If you decide what to eat at the last minute, chances are that you’ll choose to eat out. Buying food gives you power to control your caloric and sodium intakes since your not in control of the ingredients.2 Having a plan puts in mind the right food combinations when you’re not pushed by hunger and tiredness to choose an unhealthy meal. Moreover, when you plan your meals at the beginning of the week, it is easier to have a healthy meal available.
Meal planning eases your burden, especially if you are going to have a busy week ahead. You won’t need to drop into a convenience store to pick a bag of fries or a burger.1 Furthermore, when you shop while hungry, you’ll most probably pick junk food.2 It helps to build your willpower to follow through with what you have set out to do. You can follow your meal plan and stay on track to getting the body you always wanted.3
Better nutrition for you and your family
Home-cooked meals are always nutrient dense and have fewer calories, salt, and fat compared to takeout or ready-made food.1 You’re in control of all the ingredients, including spices. In fact, they also have fewer additives and preservatives. You can even buy organic food that is most nutritious.2 Planning your meals on time helps you to plan for well-balanced meals throughout the week or month. Likewise, you get to choose a variety of foods.1
Again, you cater to your individual nutritional needs. For a hypertensive person, they can take a low sodium diet and a diabetic low glycemic diet. Better food choices will reduce the chance of your craving junk foods like cakes and cookies.2
There’s less chance to have cheat meals
While it is okay to have can cheat meal once in a while, lack of a meal planning compels you have more cheat days. This becomes a habit and can make you gain weight. When you plan your meals, there’s a high chance that you’ll stick to the plan and commit to it.
Reduces the chance to overeat
Good news if you want to lose weight. Having proportioned meals in advance reduces the opportunity to overeat.2 When all you have to do is reach out to the fridge and get your pre-packed meal and heat it up, emotions are thrown out of the window, and you cannot control your choice of food or how much you should eat. You eat what’s in there - no more, no less.3
Reduces stomach issues
Bloating, acidity, and other digestive issues can be caused when you have untimely meals, when you don’t plan in advance. Excessive periods of hunger may result in a lot of acids produced in the stomach. Plan your meals in advance and reduce the chances of getting bloated or having acidity.1
Gives you peace of mind
Imagine not having to wonder what to prepare for dinner. I know that thought plagues your mind throughout the day - from balancing your sanity at work, to rushing to school to pick your kids, to running to the store at midnight just because you realized a crucial ingredient is missing.
You don’t need to wonder what to cook for dinner after a tiring day at work. Save yourself the stress and have a meal plan. After all, you can reuse a week’s meal plan and even use the same grocery list. Just start with a week’s plan or a two; this is enough to have all the variety for you and your family.2
At first, it will seem tedious to sit down and write down what to eat, especially if you’re a person who lives by the one day at a time rule. In light of all the benefits above, take this crucial step, make your meal plan, and forget making food choices based on emotions and convenience. Don't forget to check out our freeze dried fruits and veggies. They'll surely fit into your meal plan and save you time and money.
References
How to Make Resolutions That Will Stick In 2018
It’s that time again when the curtains fall, and a new chance to do better comes wrapped up as a new year. A time when you look back on the past year and identify areas that you want to improve on. A time when we feel that a new year will be a motivation to finally achieve the resolutions that have been prominent on our list every other year. A time when it’s ideal to adopt new habits and make new goals.The majority of us like to make resolutions early in the year. If you’re like me and most of us – being in better shape, healthy eating, and exercise may feature on your list. Or maybe your goals are to lose weight, save more money, be happy, and advance your career. Sadly, only 8% of people are successful in achieving their resolutions.1 If you wish to be in this top crop of people, use these techniques to make resolutions that stick.
One resolution at a time
We possess a limited will power.1 Hence, it is overwhelming to make multiple resolutions work at the same time.2 You will fail if you try to change everything at once. If you want to achieve your goal and stay on track, stick to one thing, make it happen, and then move on to the next.3
Not to mention, you will need commitment and action. Pick just one area to begin with then give yourself a month to make the habit stick.2
Practice the habit every day without fail, paying attention to the little steps of action that will propel you to achieve your bigger goal. It would be impossible to lose weight if you practice the foundations like eating healthy and starting an exercise regimen.1
Start small
Start from somewhere.
You don’t climb an entire mountain in a day. Losing weight is too broad a resolution. Equally, you can't lose all the weight in a month. Set a small and attainable goal for a start. Be specific about how many pounds you want to lose and at what time. Then, start with a manageable figure and work upward.3
Once you can follow through and it becomes a habit, then you can set more significant target. Likewise, you can’t start by going to the gym for two hours every day. It is wise to start with 30 minutes every other day, and then, improve on that daily.1
Set smart goals
You must set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound targets. If you want to lose weight, there are many things that are involved. What exactly does it mean to you to lose weight? Is it weighing fewer pounds or fitting into a particular dress size?
Figure out what exactly you want to do. Say you want to lose ten pounds in a months’ time. Then, find steps that can drive you to achieve that. Plan your meals in advance, pay for a gym membership, and go three times a week.
Have a strong why
Why are you making those resolutions? Why do you want that change? Having a strong why makes it easy to change your habit for the better. “Why” gives you the motivation to stick to your goals even in the face of adversity and challenges. A strong why will keep you going even when you want to quit.
You don’t just need any motivation, but a quality motivation that instigates change within you and propels you to success and greatness. Resolve to change a lousy habit, because you want to improve the quality of your life. Don‘t set resolutions just because your friends are setting resolutions. Don’t set resolutions that people think you should set. Be honest with yourself, and choose what you feel you want to change. That way the motivation will come from within.
Make a monetary incentive
Set a monetary reward for when you achieve your goal. Decide on the value of money you will pay if you don’t go to the gym. You could give the money to a friend, or donate to a charity, or send to a friend who has achieved his/her goal.
The reward, no matter how little, will encourage you to go through with it: a movie, ice cream, or whatever makes you happy.2 Of course, it is easy to be hard on yourself when you don’t achieve your goal than to celebrate when you succeed. Make effort to celebrate when you succeed and pay yourself the reward.3 Apply this tactic to any resolution and see it work.
Expect obstacles and accept failure
Making a habit change is not easy; otherwise, we’d all be who we want to be in a jiffy.
In fact, you may feel like giving up a few days or weeks into the change. Chances are you’ll get distracted. Therefore, you need to on the lookout. List the potential challenges that may hinder you from following through with your plan. Then, come up with solutions to those obstacles.
If you find it difficult to get out of bed and you keep hitting the snooze button, keep it on the other side of the room, so you’re forced to wake up and turn it off. Don’t forget to remove all triggers, like junk foods in your pantry, and replace them with healthier foods, like fruits and vegetables.3
In any event that you lose track, don’t give up altogether. Don't beat yourself up. You don’t just pack up and go. Instead, tell yourself it’s just a bad day at the office, and tomorrow you’ll do better. Dust yourself off and analyze the triggers that caused the setback and learn from them. If you’re going out with friends is the trigger for drinking alcohol, minimize that interaction.2
Have an accountability partner
Share your resolutions with your family and friends. Likewise, you can share on social media to make yourself accountable to your goal.3 Additionally, you can join a group of people who have the same goal as yours for accountability and support. When you share your success and struggle with others, the journey to your dreams seems more accessible and less daunting. You remain inspired, dedicated, and committed, because it’s no longer just about you, but others would be disappointed if you don’t achieve your goal.1
Get out of your comfort zone, and get support from other people with the similar goals.
Track your progress
Keeping a log is vital to making your resolutions stick. Once you have your specific goal and action plan, track your daily progress.2 When you monitor your performance, it becomes more likely that you’ll achieve your goals. Not to mention, the feedback you get encourages you to keep going.
If you set up a financial goal to save a certain amount every day, every time you see the bank balance grow is a tremendous motivating factor. The feeling of the ticking off your list will prompt you to set even bigger goals.1
Summarily, whatever you want, you have all it takes to achieve it. All you need to decide what you want, take action, and don’t stop until you follow through with it.
What do you want to achieve in 2018? Is it financial success? Is it weight loss?
Share with us in the comments!
Happy New Year from Mother Earth Products.
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