I bet for most of you this has been a period of intense cooking – three home-made meals per day anybody?

Social media are full of people baking banana breads, experimenting with sourdough bread and the like. Whether you cherish the opportunity to spend more time cooking or not, research consistently shows that you can control much better your diet the more home cooking you do.

So, in short, it tends to be better for your health and your waistline – maybe not if all you do is bake cookies ;-) But if I had to choose between home made cookies and store bought ones – the home made ones are hands down preferable, especially if you also swap some of the worst offenders like the type of sugar, flour, and fat.

My aim with this post is to encourage you to keep some of this home cooking routine as we slowly move back into a more normal routine such as going back to the office. Maybe this could be an opportunity to prepare your own lunch starting with two times a week, for example. Or, if you usually order a takeout in the evening, maybe you could commit to 2 home cooked dinners. Remember, starting slow and being consistent is what brings success.

In general, what I want you to think about is the rule of 5 Ps – Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance ;-)

It is really all there is to a successful healthy routine, especially when it comes to a diet. That means that you stock up on the healthy for you ingredients and remove the bad for you trigger foods.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you should not allow yourself an occasional indulgence – far from it – but rather you make it easier on yourself to stick to the healthy diet (always stressing – healthy for you!) 80-90% of time.

Let’s get down to nitty gritty. I will walk you through my normal routine to give you an example of what yours could look like. Of course, feel free to adjust to your specific circumstances and preferences.

My 5Ps process usually starts sometime on Saturday afternoon when I plan meals for the next week. This is a rough plan taking into account mine and Frank’schedule, i.e. how many lunches/dinners we are going to prepare that week. Breakfast is a given – we always eat it at home together.

And, to anticipate your question of weather this is overly constraining – it doesn’t mean that things spontaneously pop up – i.e. instead of planned dinner at home, there are drinks with friends that turn into a night eating out.

But, what I want to stress it is a rough plan that allows you to prepare a shopping list of main things you need for the week. We have all been forced to shop less frequently now, so hopefully this step is already something you are used to doing. So, then having a shopping list, I am ready for a trip to the market on Sunday. Apart from fruit and veggies, that often includes fresh fish/meat, organic eggs, some staples (nuts, flours, condiments, teas, etc.), and frozen foods (my favourites include organic berries and wild frozen fish).

The next step that I actually look forward to it is a Sunday afternoon cooking date with myself when I prep foods for next’s week’s lunches and dinners.

That may vary from a week to week but it usually includes cooking a bigger batch of grains (usually quinoa), cooking some lentils, roasting some sweet or regular potatoes, roasting root vegetables and/or cauliflower/broccoli, making soups (which in my case often starts with an overnight bone broth made in a slow cooker), making some broccoli slaw (shredded broccoli, carrots and red cabbage in equal proportion with some mayonnaise and lemon juice), etc. I might also prep some veggies like peppers, radishes, and cucumbers and have them easily accessible in glass jars in the fridge to add to salads, etc.

Apart from cooking dinner on Sunday, often including roasting fresh fish that I just bought at the market, I would normally also prepare our lunches for Monday.

Just to give you some idea of how easy it can be, what I might do is use the broccoli slaw (about 1 cup per person) and then add the 2 boiled eggs for protein.

Or, I would fill my lunch box with a mixture of cooked quinoa and lentils, add some olive oil and lemon juice, add another layer of roasted vegetables, some additional protein (cooked/smoked/canned fish, beans, or meat) and top with fresh leafy greens (spinach, rucola, etc.) sprinkling with some seeds and/or sprouts. And there you have it. You can use this layering formula (keeping sturdier foods and dressing at the bottom and lighter foods on the top) as a white canvas and experiment with what you like.

In the evenings, I tend to cook a quick dinner, usually consisting of 2 servings of some non-starchy vegetables (that should cover about 70% of your plate by volume), small serving of protein (fist size, about 115 grams), and optionally a small side of slow burning carbs (grains, roasted potatoes, etc.). Then, after relaxing a bit, I usually prep the lunches for the next day.

On some nights, if I am really pressed for time, I might just defrost some meal I have prepared earlier – chilly, soup, or stew come to mine always trying to add some fresh greens and herbs. I also freeze some desserts for the times I feel like something more than just a piece of dark chocolate (my usual post-dinner treat), which allows me to have some healthier options on hand. And this is basically it.

Let me know if you find this information useful. I would be very happy to hear how you have adapted these guidelines to your circumstances and how your routine looks like. Please share in comments!

If you would like to work together on designing a routine that works for you, schedule a free consultation with me today. I would love to help you along the way.

Hello! I am Magda and I work with people that are ready to transform their health and wellbeing. What are your health goals that you have not been able to reach? Read more about me and my services.

Subscribe!

Subscribe below to my newsletter.