There are strategies you can put in place to make it a whole lot easier for you to comply with your eating plan and/or therapeutic diet.
First, get your kitchen ready: knives, cutting boards, utensils, small appliances like a food processor, and cookware. Make sure you have everything you need and at your fingertips—the tools you’ll reach for most often. Keeping everything accessible can be motivating to get started with meal prep and cooking.
Second, inventory your pantry and spice rack in case you’re low and need to restock, or throw out old and expired and replace with new.
Clean out your fridge and make room for the big shopping you’ll do. This is also an opportunity to remove any science projects that have been out of view. What’s that behind the jar of mayonnaise? Is it supposed to be that color?
Make a shopping list. But first think about what your meals will consist of. Sources of animal protein, seafood, and produce of all kinds will comprise the majority of the foods you’ll eat. Think about what your favorite foods and meals are and stick to those—especially in the beginning when adhering to a new regimen can be challenging. This is about self-care, not deprivation. Shift your mindset.
Make the best use of your freezer—after you’ve removed the unidentifiable freezer burned stuff. Stock up on grocery items especially where you find sales because they’ll keep in the freezer for a couple of months until you’re ready to use them. Creating a meal plan will help you decide when to take out some meat or poultry from the freezer and place it in the fridge to begin thawing so it can be ready to cook in a day or two. For example, if you plan to cook chicken on Wednesday, take it out of the freezer and place it in the fridge Monday night so it can begin thawing. Never leave any raw meat, poultry or seafood out on the counter to thaw.
The most important strategy for complying with your new eating plan is to not let yourself get very hungry throughout the day. Is it coming up on five hours since your last meal? That should be a red flag; blood sugar will start dropping as it’s time to eat soon. When we wait too long and allow hunger to set in, we become irritable, hangry, and lightheaded, and then we start to crave something—invariably the wrong thing–or look for a quick but unhealthy fix. This sets us up for abandoning the whole program. When we fail to plan, we plan to fail—it’s true. Decide now that you will ALWAYS have a plan to have food available to eat in a pinch.
Choosing your favorite food items and meals, and making sure you always have them available to eat when hungry, will give you the best chance of success for staying on program and reaching your health goals.
To your health!
Leyla Muedin, MS, RD, CDN
