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Friday Favorites: Meal Planning

Yum

July 27, 2018 By Laura Ligos, MBA, RD, CSSD Leave a Comment

You may get sick of me talking about meal planning, but guess what? It’s a part of the health process whether you are strict about it or loosely planning. For some people meal planning involves weighing and measuring and knowing exactly how much protein, carbs, and fat they are eating. For others it simply means having meals planned for the week ahead so that poorer food choices (i.e. takeout, fast food, etc.) do not sneak in. Which side you choose is entirely up to you, your capacity to do one or the other, and your goals. The point is that we should all be planning in some way, shape, or form if we want health to be a priority. The only exception to this rule is if you are happy with where you are health-wise and/or make time daily to make/eat healthy food.

Time is Of the Essence

I hear ALL the time from people that they don’t have time to do something. I use the excuse too for things I don’t want to prioritize or that I’m not sure I need to prioritize yet. It seems as if we will find any excuse under the sun to not prep or plan our meals or eat healthy, or make it to the gym. We blame this thing called time as if time has ever done anything to use (I SEE YOU GRAY HAIRS). However, the same people will find time to go see a movie, binge watch the latest Netflix series, spend hours at the mall finding the perfect shoes, and the list goes on.

Here’s the cold hard truth (that even I need to hear some times). It’s not that you don’t have time, it’s that you are choosing to NOT prioritize something in your life. Which, hey, that’s OKAY. However, what’s not okay is you blaming your health status (or lack thereof) on lack of time. If you don’t have your health, what do you have? So here’s what I tell my clients, make time, make health a priority, and have a realization that in order to see results you have to put in the work. Time is of the essence but we get to choose what we do with our time, and if that time is spent playing video games and claiming we have no time for meal prepping/planning then who are we really kidding here?!?

Why Meal Plan?

Look I get it, there have been times in my life that I fly by the seat of my pants and tell myself it will be okay. The thing is, I’m a dietitian and a relatively good cook (not to toot my own horn). So, when I fall flat and fly by the seat of my pants it looks a little different than most. HOWEVER, that being said, I still eat better and stress less when I plan ahead, end of story. Here are some of my main reasons for meal planning:

It Sets You Up for Success

No kidding. While the upfront work can seem (and is) like a lot of work, it makes the week nights (and lunch packing) infinitely easier. There are fewer temptations to run to the pizza shop, sub shop, or Chipotle because there is food already at home. While you certainly can forgo the food in the fridge that is already made for you, that’s just a waste of time, effort, food, and money. I saw a meme once that said “Being an adult is reminding yourself you have food at home.” If that’s relatable, then you probably need to eat at home more often!

It Saves You Money

Speaking of money, meal prep/planning saves you money. How? Well, you don’t have to make 10 grocery trips, you will eat out far less AND if you are planning appropriately, you will most likely be shopping what’s in season and/or what’s on sale. The more you do it, the easier it gets, I promise.

It Spices Up Your Meals

You know what happens when it’s 5pm on a week night and no dinner is prepped? You either go get food OR you make something you know is quick and easy. While the latter is not necessarily a bad thing, it can be boring and less than enticing to make/eat on the regular. By planning ahead, you can put those Pinterest scrolling habits to good use and actually try something new that could become a staple in your household. There’s also an argument to be made that eating a variety of foods will give you more nutrients via vitamins and minerals, sooooo spice it up with variety in the kitchen, okay!?

It Simplifies and Streamlines Your Life

Put aside 3 hours of your week to meal prep and perhaps 1 hour to plan. That’s 4 hours TOTAL all week that you can use to feed yourself. There are 168 hours in a week, and 4 hours of that is only 2% of your time. You can find a way to take 2% of your week to plan/prep. If you can’t then you clearly are not prioritizing it, end of story. By setting aside time to meal plan/prep you will simplify the process of cooking and streamline this part of your life, promise.

#SassyApproved Meal Plans

The good news is I can help. If you haven’t heard yet, I am officially riding the entrepreneur wave and am 100% on my own. The company, Designed to Fit Nutrition, that I used to do meal planning for has officially closed there doors. While that news sucks, don’t worry I now am using that same meal planning software IN HOUSE to provide you with #SassyApproved meal plans that fit your lifestyle, goals, and tastebud desires.

I love helping people meal plan and prep, so let’s get after it together, what do you say?!

Happy Friday Friends! Find some time this weekend to sit down and plan for your week ahead, believe me, it will make all the difference.

xoxo,

Sassy

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Filed Under: Blog, Meal Plans

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@thesassydietitian

We’ve made it over a week together and it feels We’ve made it over a week together and it feels like it’s always been this way.

Motherhood is a wild ride & it’s only getting started. I have never been so tired & simultaneously so fulfilled in my life. That’s not to say it’s not filled with tears, worries and doubts but what fun would it be if it were all sunshine and roses anyway?

Going into this all I have felt so supported by friends going through this with me BUT I felt so unsupported by the general public. It seems like we want to fear and shame moms because misery loves company, right?!

The focus quickly shifts from mom to baby (still shocked that I only have an appointment at 6 weeks even though my body went through the biggest event of its life) and there also seems to be this shift from joy to shame & guilt.

Here’s some of what I heard from people:

😕Sleep when baby sleeps. You’ll never sleep again.
😕Don’t let baby sleep in a car seat, or a bouncer, or anywhere but their crib EVER. 
😕You’ll never have time to shower again, enjoy it now. 
😕Cry it out is cruel and harmful to the baby. 
😕Get baby on a schedule/never put baby on a schedule.

These are all things I heard and that truly led me to believe I was going to lose all sense of who I was and my life as I knew it.

What I wish people had said instead were:

🥰Your heart will grow bigger than you could imagine.
🥰You’ll cry the happiest tears you’ve ever cried.
🥰You’ll feel like a giant hole was filled that you didn’t even know was there.
🥰You won’t feel guilty about cleaning your house, it just won’t matter anymore.
🥰Babies pooping will make you laugh so hard you will feel like a kid again.
🥰You will have time to eat and shower and you don’t have to neglect yourself.

We need to do a better job of building each other up, supporting one another and our decisions while refraining from offering unsolicited advice and opinions. 

So for all you future mamas and new mamas out there, I see you, I’m proud of you and I cannot wait to share our stories with one another and the world.

Let’s stop fear mongering (just like the diet world) and start building one another up.

Xoxo,
Sassy & lil sassy man
🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s b 🌈Some things truly are worth the wait. It’s been a long year of loss, unknowns and worry but it’s all been worth it to get to meet my lil man🥰
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Now time to introduce this sassy human who is already so well loved to the world...
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Introducing 

💙 Connor James Ligos 💙
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After an almost 24 hour labor, Connor joined us over a week past his due date on 2/12/21 at a whopping 9lb2oz & 22.5 inches long with a full head of hair and lungs to scream hello to us with.
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We are so in love already and cannot wait to share him with the world. Thank you for all the love and support from friends and family and to all those that helped us in the hospital. Holy cow labor & delivery teams are truly magical and I cannot imagine doing it without all of their support.
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Now back to snuggling this human of mine and trying not to cry at every last thing he does 🥰 
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Mom, Dad & Bode are all doing well!
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#babyboy #pregnancyafterloss #rainbowbaby #birthdayboy #birthannouncement
I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk t I get it, we all eat so we all then want to talk to others about what worked for us. That's great!
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What's not great is when we push our nutrition and eating behaviors onto others ESPECIALLY when we are not qualified to do so.
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So often when people meet me for the first time they are worried to eat around me and/or buy groceries around me. My friends can attest I am not judgemental around food and will gladly eat that cake, queso dip or sip on that glass of wine right alongside of you. I am not the food police and do not offer unsolicited nutrition advice unless it's a client who is paying for my help OR on Instagram and other social media platforms where my goal is to educate.
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Why do I share this? 
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Because I see far too many people diving down diet rabbit holes, finding success & then claiming to be nutrition experts purely because something worked for them. 
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I've also seen this alot being pregnant, everyone wants to tell you what worked for them. IF you use that stipulation of "this worked for me" then fine, share away but if you start doleing out advice please pause, take a breath and think about NOT doing it.
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People are OVERWHELMED by diet culture and some so badly want to change but YOUR way is not the only way and it most likely is not what will work for your friend/coworker/cousin/neighbor so please, stop trying to be an expert in something you aren't.
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Got it!?! 
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Ok, carry on.
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xoxo,
Sassy
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#nutrition #nutritiontips #nutritionist #dietitianapproved #rdapproved #rdchat #dietitiansofinstagram #dietitian #dietitiansofig #albanyny #albanynutrition #albanynutrition
Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. Your nutrition does NOT need to be all or nothing. I'm not saying you have to find perfect balance (does that even exist?) but I am saying that we shouldn't feel like either we have to eat perfectly or that we might as well give up.
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Instead we should look to the grey area in between for our nutrition guidance. 
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What do I mean?
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I mean that we need to realize that we can still eat cookies but we probably should throw some veggies in there. 
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We can have a glass or 2 of wine but we should probably also drink some water. 
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We can take rest days but we should also find ways to move our bodies regularly.
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And the list goes on.
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It's not about all or nothing it's about doing something daily to help your health and nutrition without it feeling like a set of rules or a free for all.
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How do we find that grey area in between?
👉🏻 stop hopping on and off fad diets
👉🏻listen and trust your self, not your coworkers and cousins 
👉🏻focus on the simple things (ie drinking water instead of worrying about supplements)
👉🏻work to remove guilt and shame around food & body
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Where do you currently fall Right now?!
🤪 all
👍🏻in between 
🙅🏻‍♀️ nothing 
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Xoxo,
Sassy
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#dietitian #dietitiansofig #dietitiansofinstagram #nutrition #nutritionist #nutritiontips #thesassydietitian #rdchat #realtalk

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