"What's the best diet?"
"What superfoods do you recommend?
"Can I get a meal plan?"
"Food is fuel, right?"
These are easily the most common questions we get from people that are considering, or just starting out in, our nutrition counseling sessions. I truly love answering nutrition-related questions, so I love what I get to do every day!
Yes, we can make you a weekly or monthly meal plan (or you can pick one of the ready-made ones because sometimes that’s what people want), but we don’t recommend following a rigid daily meal plan on a long-term basis. I don’t blame you for asking! It’s considered a quick, simple fix to the age-old question of what to eat for dinner, etc. But most of the time, those meal plans don’t work. Normal people don't eat the same thing, in the same amount, at the same time, every day. It's just not realistic.
For example:
Breakfast
3 scrambled eggs
1 cup vegetables
1 slice whole grain toast
1 cup coffee
1 glass water
Morning Snack
1 protein bar
1 glass water
Lunch
4 oz chicken or tofu
2 cups salad
1 handful seeds
1 glass water
Afternoon Snack
1 scoop protein powder or Greek yogurt
1/2 cup fruit
1 handful mixed nuts
12 oz water
Dinner
4 oz steak or salmon
1 cup cooked veggies
1 baked potato
1 glass water
Sounds great, right? This seems like a perfectly reasonable day of eating - and it is! If we were doing a nutrition assessment and we were given the above for one of the days of a diet recall, we’d be ok with that!
You might be thinking, “Good! I’m tired of trying to figure all this stuff out, it’s exhausting. Just tell me what to eat, please, for the love of all that is holy!”
But imagine eating like that, day in and day out, for the rest of your life. Fork no. That shirt would be the most BORING and unhealthy way of eating! Yes I said fork and shirt instead of, well, you know AND I said unhealthy. Why unhealthy? It seems like the macros would be hit just fine! Well A., I wish it were that simple for every individual but it is definitely not, and B. Think about the micronutrients! Less variety, less micronutrients, less of a healthy balanced diet. Plus, a meal plan like that can have lots of things go wrong. Why?
I promise, no matter how enthusiastic you are, daily meal plans can be tough to follow. This is absolutely normal! Life can get in the way! We get busy, we’re not always prepared, we work late, we get sick, we have birthdays and holidays and other special events, and sometimes you straight-up don’t feel like having a protein bar at 10 in the morning. Maybe you need more to eat to feel satisfied, maybe you want something else entirely, or maybe you’re just not hungry. Well, what now? Our solution to this is to recommend at least a weekly meal plan on rotation, if not a monthly one. We can customize it to incorporate your family’s Meatless Mondays, Taco Tuesdays, Friday pizza nights, Sunday brunches, parties, and everything else life will throw at you - that flexibility is what sets us apart and allows you to actually have a guideline, not a rigidly assigned plan, to answer that endless question of what’s for dinner. Life is flexible, so so must we be!
Most meal plans are meant to be temporary. They’re designed to help a person get to a specific short-term goal such as learning how to manage blood sugar, cutting weight for an athletic competition, or simply how to feed a family with young children without everyone losing their minds! But, if you’re too strict for too long, you could wind up with disordered eating habits and lasting health (mental, metabolic, hormonal, etc) consequences.
Calorie-counting and macro-counting are two other common solutions that people use to track their intake. But unlike rigid daily meal plans, macro-tracking will give you way more options and may even inspire you to get more creative with cooking and consuming healthy foods. Tracking macronutrients never tells you what to eat, but instead sets parameters on how much is appropriate for you! Pick any cuisine, any prep method, large or small portions depending on your goals - and if you want it, you can have it! Simply put, the macros don't tell you what to eat - that's up to you. However, we don't recommend these techniques on an ongoing basis or getting started without professional help. They're great for certain times in life, just like meal plans, but again, this can lead to disordered eating habits.
Especially with the extreme calorie-restricted meal plans, you may be able to follow the plan for awhile but it isn’t sustainable. Maybe you see some short-term results, but you hate eating this way. You never want to see another stupid piece of lettuce or a 3 ounce piece of chicken (I am definitely calling out the ridiculous 1200- or 1500-calorie-per-day "military diets" that are way too prominent on Pinterest). Eventually, you get so turned off by the process that you regress or quit altogether. You conclude that “eating healthy” just sucks. And you miss your big chance to learn how to make healthier, more enjoyable changes that ultimately help you achieve sustainable results! Keep reading to learn how to quickly make effective little changes, and let us know if you have more questions.
Those traditional meal plans focus on “nutrients” - well, actual humans eat food, which happens to contain nutrients, but we don’t keep track of every nutrient for every food for every meal (and if you do, I’ll tell you right now that that’s unhealthy) and we rarely measure things precisely (side note: yes, professional athletes or bodybuilders use meal plans to fuel and prep for training and competition but most of us aren’t in pro sports and therefore do not need that level of precision). The typical person doesn’t track their intake (or know the chemical composition of) omega-3 fatty acids, and frankly, shouldn’t! That’s my job - I get to handle the specific nutritional stuff so you can go about your day and not worry about it.
Food is Fuel? Well... kinda but that's oversimplified. If food was just fuel, we'd drink blenderized nutrients and be done with it. But does that sound satisfying to you? Efficient, sure! But certainly you'd get bored of that pretty quickly. There are many reasons juice cleanses and liquid diets are not a long-tem solution. We aren't robots or vehicles needing gasoline and a spark to run our combustion engine... food is MORE than fuel. Food is nourishing for our body as well as our soul. Why do we have cake at birthday parties and weddings? Why do we love to catch up with friends over dinner? All societies and cultures use food to connect with each other as well as nutrition to keep our bodies running - it's known as a universal language for a reason!
So, what can you do instead? Something I like to call Meal Hacking - tiny tweaks to help improve your satisfaction and relationship with food that meets you where you are and is judgement-free.
I think of it as a game with 4 levels. Level 1 is the baseline, and you may or may not be above that. Regardless, to play, there's just three steps:
Think about what you’re already eating normally, and how you eat. What do you enjoy? What isn’t so great?
Think of little ways to improve just a bit.
Implement those tiny tweaks and revel in your progress!
Using this approach is great because A. this can be utilized even when you have limited options, such as when traveling, and B. it does NOT aim for perfection because we will never be satisfied if that’s what we’re expecting of ourselves.
Let's see what each level looks like for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Breakfast:
Level 1 - Let’s say that your typical breakfast is something like an Egg McMuffin, or a whipped-cream coffee drink and a chocolate croissant from Starbucks drive-thru on your way to work. I think we’ve all been there! It’s not bad, it’s just no longer working for you. You’re getting indigestion from the stress of rushing, the croissant doesn’t keep you full for long, and you’ve just spilled the coffee on your crotch while changing lanes because cupholders rarely seem to be free of life debris (seriously, is it just me, or is there always stuff in the bottom of at least one of the cupholders?! I digress).
Level 2 - Maybe you switch out the croissant for a whole-grain muffin, and get a no-whip latte or a regular coffee (with or without cream and sugar; I don’t drink black coffee ever so no judgments on how you take your coffee!) Perhaps you even manage to grab a yogurt cup and/or an apple or banana on your way out the door! These might seem like huge swaps or minimal adjustments, but regardless of where you are, it’s a nice start.
Level 3 - You prep ahead (or just grab a parfait at the gas station) some granola with cottage cheese or Greek yogurt, add some fruit, and switch out the creamer for milk in your coffee. Maybe you’re eating at the table instead of on the go. Maybe you’re still distracted and rushing. Again, little changes, trending upward!
Level 4 - Okay, you got this! You somehow manage to trick your mind into letting you set aside a bit of extra time in the morning to actually enjoy breakfast instead of running late. You meal-prepped an egg frittata with veggies in advance! You may even switch to a green tea because you became aware that too much coffee was tweaking you out. You’re proud of your increased protein, fruit, and vegetable intake, and maybe you realize you actually like that delicious strawberry lemon cucumber infused water?! You eat mindfully, feeling relaxed, while watching the sun rise (or maybe you’re watching TV, or your kids, or the neighbors… just keeping it real).... Ahhhh.
Now, when reading this, and being at stage 1 or 2, you might be like UM YEAH RIGHT. No forking way am I reaching that level of nirvana over here. At this point, when starting out, the idea of a sit-down lunch feels flat-out ridiculous. “Eat mindfully? During my typical day? HA ok then. How about I just grab my burger and go?!” Another lunch in your car, maybe some stomachache and regret. You decide you might want to change this up too!
Lunch:
Level 1 - Fast food burger, fries, soda or shake
Level 2 - Go to a higher-end burger place where you’re sure that you’re getting real meat/no fillers (think Culver's over McD's) or maybe you get a sandwich or wrap instead. Maybe you choose a side salad with your sandwich and/or a side of fruit as opposed to fries. You pick a diet soda instead of regular, or juice instead of a shake. You don’t eat in your car, but you do eat by your computer. That’s ok! It's still progress.
Level 3 - you meal-prep burgers, wraps, whatever, so you’re ready to go to work with fresh burgers, nice cheese, and whole-grain buns. You still grab a diet soda from the vending machine to wash it down, or maybe you progress further to a fruit juice or water. You move from your desk to the lunchroom, where you socialize with coworkers or even just scroll through your phone. Slowing down like this helps you digest and relax.
Level 4 - Maybe you’re having the burger without the bun, maybe not, and with a side of fruit and a nice meal-prepped salad. Instead of staying at your desk or in the office, you take a break outside and get some fresh air while you enjoy your meal.
Dinner:
Level 1 - Well, you just got home from work and all you want to do is throw some food down your throat and zone out in front of the TV. Making anything more than boxed mac & cheese isn’t happening. Perhaps adding ketchup and hot dogs is as gourmet as it’s going to get.
Level 2 - Same thing, but you add some extra protein with the help of a rotisserie chicken that you grabbed at the grocery store on the way home. Even just throwing in some ripped-up deli meat because you don’t give a fork. Maybe you add a side salad, just grabbing a few handfuls of pre-washed greens out of a bag. You make some pasta and throw pesto on it for something different, and you might have a few glasses of wine to chill out.
Level 3 - You have your pasta sauce and protein additions meal prepped, added a nice big salad to the mix, and you only have one glass of wine. Plus, you’re sitting at the dinner table, instead of flopping down on your couch.
Level 4 - With your meal planning and prep strategies, you can whip up a delicious salad in 3 minutes flat and you have some pre-cooked quinoa on hand like a boss. That rotisserie chicken is still a fast, convenient option, but now it’s got some healthy buddies to keep you satisfied and zen.
I'll reiterate that this is absolutely not about reaching perfection.
If you’re at level 1, all you have to do is shoot for level 2.
If you’re at level 2, try advancing to level 3.
And if you’re at level 3, heck, you can stay where you are.
You might never get to level 4, or it might only happen at times when you’re relaxed and have a little extra time. It might only happen on Sunday night, whereas the rest of your week is a mix of levels 1, 2, and — if you’re lucky — 3.
And that’s okay!
Ultimately, the end goal of using a meal plan is to not need one, but to eat intuitively and mindfully! People who have a good relationship with food don’t need other people to tell them what to eat at all times. We can help you get to that point! Main takeaway: progress over perfection.
Consider where you are from levels 1-4, and think about where you'd like to be. So ask yourself: given your goals and your current situation, what is realistic? Start small, maybe deciding to try getting lunch from level 2 to level 3. Add up those small steps gradually. Then consider:
Is planning helping you? How could you do more of that?
Is a healthy meal delivery service making it easy? Could you set aside a little more cash to get two meals a day instead of one?
Is setting aside time on Sunday afternoon to cook some protein a good idea? Great, keep on doing that. Book it in your calendar.
If not, figure out another plan of action! Let us help if you need it; it's what we're here for!
Tips for Great Meal Prep:
shopping (or arranging to have food delivered)
washing and chopping vegetables
cooking/preparing protein (e.g. cooking up some chicken breasts, marinating tofu)
cooking meals in bulk (e.g. casseroles, soups, stews, chili)
preparing the dry ingredients for things like muffin mix
soaking grains/beans beforehand so that they’ll be ready to cook later
sorting foods into smaller containers or baggies
freezing and refrigerating food for later
planning healthy meals that someone else cooks (e.g. using a meal delivery service, deciding in advance what to order at a restaurant, etc.)
looking ahead to ensure healthy eating strategies during the next few days, especially during difficult times (e.g. a busy week, traveling, dealing with a family crisis, etc.)
Tips for Eating Mindfully:
slow down
breathe between bites
relax
savor your food
sit at a table if you can, and/or
use real dishes if you can
Let us know how you plan to start playing the Meal Hacking game!
And as always, if you need help on how best to switch up your diet and lifestyle towards healthier choices, we're here for you! Get in touch here and we'll talk soon!
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