Healthy eating is a great goal, and it doesn’t have to be hard.
Let’s start off by busting a few myths:
- Healthy eating doesn’t mean you have to eat salad every day.
- Healthy eating doesn’t mean you have to avoid the cake at your nephew’s birthday party.
- And healthy eating doesn’t mean choking down cardboard-like “diet” food, counting calories, or suffering through restrictive diets.
Hallelujah, right?
You see, eating well is not about having a perfect diet. Instead, it’s about making a commitment to nourish your body and help it thrive. Real food heals, it repairs cells, gives you energy, and enhances your beauty.
The problem is that the world has made healthy eating way too complicated.
And even if you could work your way through all the nutritional dogma without being completely overwhelmed, actually getting real food on the table can be its own mountain to climb.
Eating out is easy, but most restaurants use questionable ingredients at best. Buying pre-packaged processed food may be convenient, but it comes with a hefty price.
When you create simple, satisfying, real food meals at home you’ve just won the biggest battle for your health.
When you cook at home you are in charge. You know what’s going on with your food. And when you combine that with the knowledge of some real food basics, you can’t lose.
One thing to make eating better a habit: Meal Planning.
Now, I know some of you are already firing up the excuses:
I tried that once, it didn’t work!
It’s too hard.
It takes too long.
I still don’t know what recipes to use!
I never have the right ingredients.
I’m sure I missed a couple excuses, but you get the point. Meal planning sounds like a big deal. So why do I recommend it as the “one thing” you should do to make healthy eating a habit?
Because meal planning is a weapon against laziness, confusion, overbooked schedules, and fake processed food.
When I first started making healthy eating a real habit, meal planning was at the core of it.
It was hard. Each Monday I’d pull out a spreadsheet full of recipe ideas. I’d pick and choose what we wanted to eat. Surf the web for more inspiration. Open them all up. Sift through all the ingredients. Spend an hour making a shopping list. And then try to brace myself for the mental game ahead – making sure I prepped all the items in a timely manner without forgetting any crucial bits to the puzzle.Spoiler alert: It doesn’t have to be that hard.
But even if it did, it’s worth it.
Why do I say that? Because meal planning keeps you focused on eating wholesome, yummy, nourishing foods. You save money by not eating out or letting food go to waste. You save time by knowing what’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day.
Stress levels go down, happy levels go up.
More importantly, you skip the inevitable moment of truth: The 3 P.M. slump when you don’t know what’s for dinner and you frankly don’t want to figure it out. It’s during that pivotal moment when you find yourself quietly sobbing because you don’t have a plan. You wonder if eating is really necessary for sustaining life, and end up calling for pizza. Again.
But here’s the real reason why I’m putting meal planning as my top “one thing” you should do to eat better:
Because meal planning is finally EASY.
Remember all those excuses? Remember all that time and energy meal planning used to involve? All the hard work?
Gone.
I’m mean, sure you can go old-school and still see awesome results from traditional meal planning, but why would you when there is a better way.
Here’s what I use for my family: Real Plans.
Imagine having someone plan your meals, figure out your shopping list, and schedule your prep work. No more worrying about whether or not a recipe is “healthy.” No sifting through long ingredient lists. I mean, all the hard work and mental gymnastics have just *poof* vanished.
Real Plans was created by people who love nutritious, real food. You won’t find any processed junk in their hundreds of recipes. So even if you’re still figuring out what’s “good” or “bad” in terms of nutrition, you can leave it to these guys. They are experts when it comes to healthy eating.
Real Plans also understands “busy.” They’ve made their service and app ridiculously user friendly.
Healthy eating is simple, doable, and repeatable with Real Plans.
It doesn’t matter if you are vegetarian, Paleo, or just want wholesome, traditional meals at your table. Real Plans has got you covered.
- Got food allergies? No biggie, Real Plans is completely customizable.
- Hate mushrooms? Just say so in your settings and you won’t have to worry about them showing up in your plans.
- Have your own favorite recipes you want to add? It’s easy to import any recipes into their system with a few clicks. (Yep, you can even add some of my Thank Your Body recipes!)
Healthy eating just got automatic. With Real Plans you leave all the worry, stress, confusion, and work at the door. You can finally make eating healthy a lifetime habit.
Easy peasy.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the recipes are delicious. (As in “kid and husband approved” yummy!)
Now, the subscription isn’t free. But at $6/month I promise you’ll make back that teeny investment by using their plans. I say that as a full-paying customer who wonders what I did before Real Plans.
Are you ready to take the “eat better” challenge?
Try Real Plans for just one month and see the results. You’ve got nothing to lose. Lots to gain. And it just may change the way you think about food and health forever.
When you get a handle on meal planning you’ve just hit the 80% of healthy living. One thing, big results. Those are the kind of changes I like.
Remember, food is powerful. Meal time is special. It’s time to create healthy eating habits that honor both. You can eat healthy. You just need a plan.
