Inspiring you to make healthy food and choices one step at a time

March 1, 2010

Planning Ahead - The Key to Healthy Eating


I want to preface this by letting you know I am having technical difficulties with my blog and my wonderful patient husband is working long and hard on it. Apparently, Blogger didn't tell me I wasn't supposed to cut and paste from Microsoft Word...

Back to Planning Ahead:



Isn't it funny how our emotions rule what we eat sometimes, I mean, most of the time? There have been many times when I've asked, "What do you feel like eating?" or "What do I feel like eating?" That is a giant indicator that I haven't planned ahead. It's easy to fall into the trap of emotional eating.

Planning ahead is probably THE secret to healthy eating. If you plan ahead you'll have a menu to take with you to the store. If you plan the next day's meals the night before, then you can get a jumpstart on the day. If you have a plan then more than likely you will follow it. Otherwise, you're left looking in the frig while wondering what you'll eat and how fast you can get it ready, maybe even stopping by take out.
There are 3 antecedents that lead to unplanned Unstructured Eating:  Habit, Boredom, and Stress. A plan will keep all three at bay when those times come. If you want to learn more about eating habits, follow the link at Peak Performance Radio and look for Dr. Gerard Musante and his book The Structure House Weight Loss Plan to listen to a program about our relationship to food.


The Lord has created good food to satisfy our bodies; give it what it needs to function and heal itself. The more man does to it, the further it gets from the original plan. All it takes is 15 minutes to get some key healthy meals added to what you normally eat.


Or if you have your meal plan all ready, examine and exchange what you can to make it healthier. For an overview...


Examine                   Exchange

White Rice                Brown Rice or Quinoa
Bread                       Whole Grain Bread (5g fiber)
White Pasta              Whole Wheat Pasta
Regular Eggs             Omega-3 Eggs
White Flour               Whole Grain Flour
White Sugar              Honey or Agave Nectar
Regular Milk              Organic Milk or Almond Milk


Even vegetables like peas, corn and carrots (favorites of children) could be substituted with broccoli and cauliflower in small increments. One dinner of meat could be substituted with beans as a main dish. For beginning transitions, don't shock your family with change all at once. It usual doesn't go over well. Make slow transitions; you've eaten a certain way for years, a few more months in transition will not hurt.


Add a healthier dish as a side at first, then make it more of the main dish over time. Vegetable choices can be slowly built up where they can be as large (hopefully) as the main dish. You can have 2 - 3 side dishes of veggies and one meat or main dish. There's only so much room on your plate; side dishes can fill most of it.


The general rule in food is "white is only good for laundry". There are exceptions like cauliflower and bananas but for the most part, the more color the better it is. You want your plate as naturally colorful as possible.


So take 15 minutes, plan ahead and make those healthy substitutes, your bodies will thank you for it.


4 comments:

Melanie said...

We have just recently been eating brussel sprouts...well 2 have of have been. I cut & paste from microsoft word often. maybe has to do with 'compose' on your posting page...i'm no expert...just lots of trial/error. mostly error.

Melanie said...

like i said mostly "error."
2 of us have been eating the b.sprouts.

Laurie said...

Melanie, you are so funny. :) It happened one day when I was editing a post. I am glad you are still reading some blogs. Still praying.

Kelly @ Structure House said...

Hi Laurie! Thanks for your post discussing Dr. Musante's program. I work for Structure House and I'm glad to see that you agree with our approach! I think that with so many food decisions we have to make each day, it just makes life a lot easier to plan in advance. I really like what you said about white only being good for laundry-I will keep that in mind the next time I'm baking something. If you or anyone reading your blog ever wants to know more about the program, I'd be happy to answer any questions! Thanks again for passing along the message that it IS possible to change your relationship with food if we make it a lifestyle change.

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