Meal Scheduling

Meal scheduling or meal planning is the principle that inspires the most effective long-term eating change in many of my patients.  The vast majority of people in my office understand the basic anatomy of a meal.  On good days this happens, but on tough days it’s easy to order a pizza or make a grilled cheese sandwich.  There’s nothing wrong with a grilled cheese sandwich or pizza on occasion, but we want you to choose those foods when you actually want them, not because you’re feeling burnt out!

When you’re had a long, hard, tiring day and you’re staring at the fridge at 5pm - it is hard to make good decisions around what your body needs!

One of the best ways to stick to a plan 80% of the time is to plan it out, to preload your decisions (make them during a time in the week where you have a bit more capacity to think - ideally before you grocery shop!).

Start with planning out your dinners.  You don’t need to get fancy, and take-out can absolutely be part of the plan.   If you find a plan you like - maybe you can repeat it weekly or bi-weekly?  Or maybe you have themes that make it easier to find ideas: Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Pasta Wednesday, Bowls Thursday, Fish Friday, Stir Fry Saturday, Slow Cooker Sunday.  If you have ideas - put them on a Master Meal List to refer back to in future!

If dinners are feeling okay, then look at breakfast and lunch.  Can you anticipate when you’ll have lunch leftovers?  And make a plan for the days you won’t? Can you come up with a breakfast rotation that you enjoy? Or eat the same breakfast daily?  

We really don’t want your nutrition to stress you out - that might be doing you more harm than good.  While this change might feel a little bit intimidating at first, many find it makes their weeks flow much easier and they have more capacity to address other important things in their lives!