Mindful Meal Planning Tips

Are you feeling overwhelmed with meal planning? Our intense diet culture tends to make us feel that we have to be perfect when it comes to eating and planning meals. Meal planning can be fun and flexible.

Try these tips and let your body guide you!

Listen to your body.

What are you craving this week? Think about what foods will nourish you and make you feel satisfied and add those to your grocery list. Food is important for mind, body, and soul. When we eat what we really want while paying attention to our fullness signals eating and meal planning become enjoyable, peaceful experiences that make you feel good.

Have a flexible plan.

Meal planning doesn’t have to include calorie counting or a rigid structure that can’t be changed. Our body’s needs and desires change each day, and our meal plan can accommodate that. It’s a good idea to plan meal ideas for the week that can be shifted around based on what you feel like having. For example, if you don’t feel like having spaghetti on Tuesday night you can move that to Wednesday. Also, when we take our time with eating and pay attention to the signs that we are comfortably full we can trust our body to give us just the right amount. No calorie counting needed!

Do the meal prep that’s right for you.

You don’t have to have every meal prepared and stacked in containers in your fridge. Try not to compare yourself to on-line influencers that seem to have it down perfectly. It’s important to evaluate and learn what works for you and your family. Different variations of meal prepping work for different people. If you don’t want to spend 8 hours on Sunday cooking meals for the week you don’t have to! Wash and cut up fruits and veggies or grill some chicken ahead of time for tacos, salads, casseroles, or soups. A little prep can go a long way without leaving you feeling overwhelmed!

Meal planning doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to work for you!

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