Speaker A [00:00:00]:
Hi, everyone. Today we’re going to talk about meal planning. Now, I don’t want you to get stressed out. Meal planning is not what you think it is. Meal planning has been kind of taken over by this extreme fitness and dieting culture and they sort of ruined it. So my version of meal planning is not intense, it’s more old school. It’s basically just thinking in advance about what you want to eat and then what ingredients you need to make those meals happen and, and then setting aside some time to get it done. So let’s get started.
Speaker A [00:00:34]:
Let’s talk about meal planning. Welcome to the Paralysis Nutrition podcast, where changing your eating habits is the key to losing weight, improving bowel health, and feeling your best. I’m your host, Fatima Fakouri. I’m a registered dietitian who’s married to a quadriplegic and specializes in nutrition for paralysis. Get ready to be inspired, educated, and motivated so you can take control of your health using the power of food. Let’s get started. This is the Paralysis Nutrition podcast. So meal planning is not just meals that you cook from scratch.
Speaker A [00:01:09]:
I think that there is this idea out there that if you’re meal planning, you need to buy 10 bags of groceries and spend, you know, five hours cooking every Sunday, and then you’ll have 21 containers in your fridge. Breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next seven days. And that’s not really meal planning. That’s meal planning and prepping and cooking for an entire week. So really, meal planning is just thinking in advance about what you want to eat and then getting it done. So let’s simplify it. I think buying convenience foods is really something that people overlook. Buying healthy convenience foods is also meal planning.
Speaker A [00:01:52]:
So in my house, I buy a lot of frozen proteins. They are so easy. I get bags of wild caught salmon. I get veggie burgers, chicken sausage, frozen grilled chicken strips. There is so much out there and I just freeze them and keep them on hand. So I’m always sure that I have some protein options. Also things like beans, canned tuna. These are convenience items that are healthy and you can buy them and keep them.
Speaker A [00:02:26]:
Right? They’re not perishable. So I buy things like pre cooked quinoa, brown rice, other high fiber grains that we enjoy in these little microwavable bags like from Target. And like I said, certain things are canned. This is all meal planning. Even if I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do with them, making sure that I have these things at home is the very first step to make sure that we eat healthy on a daily basis. And meal planning really just starts with the question of what do I want to eat? Right? What do you want to eat? Make a list of the meals that you want to have in the next couple of days or in the next week. I usually grocery shop once per week. Some people I know maybe do it twice.
Speaker A [00:03:11]:
Some people probably go less than that. So whatever works for you. Think about what do you want to eat in the next couple of days or the next week. And I actually have a free meal plan that is designed for people with paralysis who want to lose weight and improve their bowels. I’m going to link it in the show notes for the podcast. It’s@paralysisnutrition.com freemealplan so it’s a one week meal plan and it comes with all the recipes and a grocery list. Just wanted to remind anyone, if you haven’t downloaded that free meal plan, go ahead and do so. You can also look up recipes online.
Speaker A [00:03:50]:
I love Pinterest. It’s a an app that I absolutely love. And I have different categories like soups and salads and chicken and seafood and I put my recipes that I see on there in the different categories. So it’s kind of like a fun way to organize some of these recipes that I see online. And these days a lot of recipe sites have nutrition info included. So if you look something up and it’s kind of high in fat, you know, you could swap something, maybe less in fat. If you see a soup recipe, as I often do, that is lacking in protein, then I can think about what I can do to make it more of a meal. So choose some things that you want to eat this week.
Speaker A [00:04:37]:
Look online for inspiration. Check out my free meal plan and make a list of the things that you’re going to need to buy at the store. Never go to the store without a list. You will feel overwhelmed. You might end up buying things that you don’t need and you might forget something that you need. I hate when I forget one little ingredient and it’s like, ugh. You have to either substitute or you just say, oh, I’ll make something else. It’s not the best feeling.
Speaker A [00:05:03]:
So. And also reminder, do not go to the store hungry. Do not. Because you will end up impulse buying something like quick and probably crunchy like chips or something. So eat before you go to the store. So at this point we already know what we’re eating. We have picked a couple of things you don’t need to have seven different breakfasts on seven days, I usually alternate two things for breakfast. Maybe something different on the weekend since we’re all home.
Speaker A [00:05:34]:
Lunches tend to also be kind of on rotation. Two things, maybe three things. And then dinners tend to be not seven out of seven days a week. Do we have something new, but probably like five. We do order takeout once a week. We often have leftovers. So choosing your meals in advance is half the battle, right? Knowing what you want to eat and then the actual grocery shopping. These days, it’s easier, I think, for people who use wheelchairs to do grocery shopping because we have these different options.
Speaker A [00:06:13]:
My husband is able to do the drive up like a curbside pickup. I place the order, and then he pulls into this special spot that’s just for grocery pickup. And then on the app we use Instacart, he’s able to say that he’s at the store and then he just pops the trunk and they put the groceries in there. When he comes home, you know, I bring them inside. So it is a bit easier these days to get your groceries, but that’s, you know, if you drive. So my husband is a quadriplegic, but he drives. Another option is delivery. So they do offer grocery delivery.
Speaker A [00:06:51]:
It’s usually at a cost. We don’t pay anything extra to pick up our groceries, but we do have to drive there and get it. So step one, pick what you want to eat. Step two, get the food that you’re going to need to create these different meals, and then the actual meal prep is next. So you can choose to cook your meals in advance or not. I’ll be honest with you, I don’t really cook in advance. I prep in advance. So for me, prep is getting to the store first, deciding what we’re going to eat, then going to the store, getting the things, or Ray picking them up.
Speaker A [00:07:30]:
And then I often on a good week, I will chop stuff up in advance so that it’s less work when I actually do want to make the meal. So meal planning and prep looks different for everyone. If you have a caregiver or someone in your home that is paid, you know, to help you, it is 100% in their job description to help you prep meals. So if they don’t know how to cook, they can learn. You can choose to batch, cook, and freeze things. So if you have a caregiver, they don’t have to cook five days a week or seven days a week. They can cook a couple of times per week and just cook larger portions, right? Larger amounts. And then you can freeze things, you can put things away for later, or you can just cook your meals each day.
Speaker A [00:08:17]:
It really depends on what works best for you. I’ll be honest, I don’t cook a bunch of things at once. What I do is cook at the time of the meal. But I always, almost always for dinner, will cook extra so that we can use some of that for lunch or perhaps use it for dinner the next day. And also it depends on your schedule, your lifestyle, right? So for me, I work from home. I gave up my office space in town over a year ago. So in between my paralysis, nutrition group, coaching calls, discovery calls, I can do some prep. I chopped up a head of cauliflower this morning and quartered some potatoes and I, I slice some onions because I’m making soup later.
Speaker A [00:08:58]:
I didn’t have anything until 10am so between I got home at like 8:30 from dropping off the kids at school, I had about an hour and a half to have breakfast and usually I would just start working, but I had like 15 minutes so I could chop this stuff up. I personally love chopping and storing my veggies and certain fruits like perhaps like melons or whatever because it cuts down on prep time when I’m ready to make the meal. We don’t do the cook 21 meals and stick them in the fridge around here. That does not work for us, but it does work for a lot of people. I’m home, I’m here, I work from home. I can cook right beforehand. But it is essential that I have a bit of a jumpstart. I have a lot of clients who these days are working from home and I think that it’s easier to eat healthy when you have a kitchen, right? You have access to all of your stuff.
Speaker A [00:09:52]:
Now if you are working, like many of my clients now have gone back to the office, I’d say it’s like 50, 50 half are I think permanently going to be working from home, which is I think, great in some ways. And then some people are like, no, I’ve been back in the office, you know, for a while. And so I say in those cases you need to make your lunches in advance. Get yourself a nice insulated bag so that it stays nice and cool or warm, whichever is appropriate for your meal and bring it with you. Because if you don’t bring lunch with you prepared to work, what’s going to happen? Two things. One, you’ll skip, right? And you will just be starving. You might end up in the drive through or getting takeout on the way home from work because you haven’t eaten, right? Or you’ll end up ordering something. And I get it in the office.
Speaker A [00:10:47]:
It’s hard. I had a client who said, oh, you know, I work in healthcare and there’s always like donuts or there’s people who want to order pizza or people who want to order Chinese food. And it’s like, I. It’s hard to say no. And I understand that. But if you put aside your dinner leftovers, you can easily bring your own lunch. Or if you want, you can cook something on Sunday that is specifically for your lunches, right? And it makes it feel a little bit special, like, oh, this is for my lunches for the week. You know, that’ll make it easier, I think, for you to not just stay on track for healthy eating, but also to easily say no, you know, I don’t want to order Chinese food.
Speaker A [00:11:30]:
I have this delicious thing that I made. And so there has to be a plan, right? And if you want to lose weight and improve your bowel health, you have to meal plan in some capacity, right? I said we don’t. We plan. I plan mentally, I plan. You know what, we’re going to have maybe a day in advance, but I’m not cooking all those meals in advance. If you are a person who is working outside of the home or if you’re really, really busy, you know, spending some time on a Sunday to get things ready is really worth your time. I often chop stuff up and grocery shop on Sundays. It’s easy for me to also be flexible, right? Because my kids are in school, I don’t have little ones in the house from like 8am to 3pm so if I wanted to kind of duck out for an hour during my workday, I could not everyone can do that.
Speaker A [00:12:25]:
So if you have a goal of weight loss and you really want to improve your bowels, you have to think about this, right? In my case, it’s my husband, right, who’s quadriplegic. I see where he can help me. He’s not going to chop vegetables. He’s so even as a quad, he is sort of capable of. I shouldn’t say sort of. He is capable of cutting stuff up here and there, but we need not do that, you know, like, he’ll do it if I’m not around. But I am mostly around. So I do rely on him to go pick up the groceries.
Speaker A [00:12:56]:
Saves me half an hour, right? And then I’m able to just cut up the stuff. And even if there’s not a solid plan If I ordered, you know, four bell peppers, they’re going to be chopped. I’m not going to just start eating them like an apple, right? So when I see those in the grocery, grocery bag, I open it up and I slice them up. If I have some time on the Sunday or whenever we order the groceries, I like to chop up my veggies and put them in a container. It’s so much easier at dinnertime or lunchtime to eat vegetables when they’re already cooked. Also, frozen vegetables. We love frozen vegetables around here. We do not steam in the bag.
Speaker A [00:13:36]:
Yucky. That does not taste good. What I do is I just dump them onto a cookie sheet with some parchment paper. I spray them with olive oil or avocado oil and I season them and I roast them. We roast a lot of those vegetables just straight up frozen. It’s not a big deal. And the other thing I do is I also. What do I do? Oh, saute.
Speaker A [00:13:58]:
That’s the word, saute. So I just dump them into a pan and I saute them, right? And so they’re already cut up. It’s nice and easy. We don’t love. What is it? Canned. We don’t love canned vegetables around here. But it is totally fine. And you can do it, right? So you got to look at what do you like and then what are you going to need? And then how are you going to actually get this done? And so if you want to lose weight and you want to improve your bowels, you need to have a plan.
Speaker A [00:14:32]:
If you don’t, you will end up ordering takeout or delivery. You’ll eat Lucky Charms for dinner. You’ll skip meals. And when you do that, you don’t get enough protein or fiber and you will 100% eat too many carbs and your weight won’t budge. Your bowels will still frustrate you, and you just won’t have progress. You won’t be making progress. So meal planning. Meal planning is adulting, right? It’s not that fun.
Speaker A [00:15:01]:
It’s not. I’m sorry, it’s not all that enjoyable. Sometimes it makes me feel happy, makes me feel content, right, to cut things up and have a nicely stocked fridge, you know. But usually, no, it’s just a means to an end, you know, I want my husband to stay in good shape. I want myself to be in good health. I want my kids to eat a variety of food. So meal planning is just something that becomes a part of your routine. In this house, we eat three times a day, seven days a week.
Speaker A [00:15:29]:
So. And so should you. So it’s not rocket science to figure out that in order for those 21 meals to be healthy, I have to put in some work. Right. And my husband puts in a little effort too. Right. Picking up the groceries and stuff. So not everything is fun.
Speaker A [00:15:45]:
Sorry, but eating delicious meals is fun. It is. I love to eat. We love to eat around here. Losing weight and feeling good is fun. Spending less time in the bathroom is amazing. So it’s like you want the results, you need to do the work, you need to put in the effort. And it’s not too complicated if you’re not used to it.
Speaker A [00:16:07]:
I get it. It’s going to be. There’s going to be a learning curve. Right. But start doing it and it will become second nature. Ah. So remember, irregular diet, irregular bowels. Right.
Speaker A [00:16:18]:
Chaotic meals, chaotic health. So don’t overcomplicate things. Meal planning is just thinking about what you want to eat, buying the food and cooking it. That’s it. Oh, and eating it. Right. That’s the best part. So that’s my episode for today.
Speaker A [00:16:34]:
I hope that it was helpful. I hope that you feel a little more relaxed about the concept of meal planning and what it actually is and what it is not and that it will look different in your house than it does in my house. Right. Everyone has a different lifestyle. And just a reminder, if you haven’t already, go to paralysisnutrition.com freemeal plan and download your 7 day meal plan, specially created for people with paralysis. It’s high protein, it’s high fiber, it’s carb, conscious, all the meals are delicious. So. Paralysisnutrition.com freemealplan go download yours now.
Speaker A [00:17:12]:
I will see you next time. That’s our episode for today. Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed it and that you learned something new. Remember, if you want to lose weight with paralysis, improve your bowel health and feel your best you can. It’s possible. You just have to change your eating habits. If you need inspiration on how to get started, check out The Paralysis Nutrition Cookbook 101 Recipes to Help you lose weight and improve bowel health.
Speaker A [00:17:37]:
The cookbook comes with a bonus 3030 day meal plan and is the perfect way to start eating healthier. You can find it online@paralysisnutrition.com cookbook. I’ll talk to you again soon.
