3 Reasons You Should Meal Plan If You Want to Eat Healthier

How many people do you know who have decided to start eating healthier, tried it for a few days, and then abruptly stopped? Eating healthy is so important to our overall health. What we eat can nourish us and make us feel vibrant or inflame us and contribute to a lot of our aches, pains and dysfunctions. Although healthy eating is so important to how our bodies function, nobody said it is easy to do. We live in a fast/junk food society and are surrounded by quick, easy (and often unhealthy) food options. Until the point that you have made eating healthy a lasting lifestyle habit, failing to plan your meals is just planning to fail. Here are a couple reasons why meal planning is vital to your healthy eating success:

1. Planning ahead keeps you conscious of your buying and eating habits: Putting together a plan of what you will be eating can hold your future self accountable. You will stick to the healthy meals that you planned. Another nice perk is that you will know what you need to buy from the store to make the meals. This prevents you from over-buying and wasting food because you didn’t use it quickly enough.
2. Meal planning makes it easier to follow through: I think this is the most important benefit of meal planning and prepping. In the past when I was trying to eat better, I would run into trouble because I would come to a meal that I didn’t plan anything for, and I would default for something simple and quick like pizza. Recently, I have been not only planning but also prepping food for the week. For example, yesterday I made some eggcups and chicken that will last all week. Now I can bring food with me, and I don’t have an excuse for not having a healthy option.
3. Meal planning can open you up to new ideas: This one was a nice side benefit. As I was planning meals for the upcoming week, I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t eating the same things over and over. The activity of meal planning forced me to look up new, healthy recipes that I could experiment with. Some could end up becoming new favorites!

Meal planning can look a little different depending on the individual. Some people like to plan for 2 or 3 days. Others like to plan the entire week. As long as you are doing it, do whatever works for you. The issue is that many people intellectually know what they need to do to get healthier. However, if people were ever going to DO what they know they should, then they probably would’ve already done it. Most people need systems in order to succeed. They also need some accountability because we, as humans, aren’t always the best at holding ourselves accountable. At Radiant Life Chiropractic, we have different programs to be able to help with these challenges. If you are in the Hatboro, Horsham, Warminster or Warrington areas, then schedule an appointment online or call 215-259-5100 today for a complimentary consultation!