The Benefits of Meal Prepping and Trusting Your Gut
by Annie Richardson
Tired of not having a healthy meal readily available? Does having to cook every day of the week take away from your free time?
You aren’t the only one - Try meal prepping!
Meal prepping is making a rise in the field of nutrition largely due to convenience. What better way to get the nutrients you need while saving time, saving money and feeling great?!
Advice From Our HIP Guests
As we learned from many of our guests in the Financial Health and Nutrition series, making sure we eat right is important but can be time-consuming and expensive. However, with a little bit of planning ahead, meal-prepping can save you about 8 hours a week!
Another added benefit? The brain-gut connection! Having a healthy microbiome has an overall benefit in all aspects of physical and mental health. As Dr. Bonnie Kaplan and Dr. Julia Rucklidge shared with us in their book The Better Brain: Overcome Anxiety, Combat Depression, and Reduce ADHD and Stress with Nutrition, there is also a strong connection between micronutrients and mental health. How do we ensure getting the right macro and micronutrients into our bodies? Plan ahead!
It is also important to remember that the food we eat is incredible medicine. Chiropractors, Nick Sheeran, and Jo Wise note in their episode on functional nutrition that education is an important component of their practice. Supporting gut health and its relationship to physical health, mental health and immunity make a difference in the daily lives of their patients. One common practice that often helps their patients maintain a healthy gut is what they call JERF (Just Eat Real Food). They recommend getting a wide range of ingredients in order to get lots of prebiotic foods in the system. Jo suggests when at the grocery, filling a basket with as many different colored fruits and vegetables as possible—the rainbow.
Many studies support the notion that eating the rainbow can help you to live a longer, healthier life. To learn more about how phytonutrients color our foods and impact your health, check out this article from Harvard Health.
What is meal prepping?
Meal prepping is a strategy for cooking your meals ahead of time and then dividing them into enough meals to last anywhere from 3 days to a week.
Why should you do it?
It’s Personal! Each person has their own reasons. Working parents love the benefit of getting some free time during the week and not having to think about what’s for dinner. Meal prepping as a family will teach healthy habits. Those motivated for weight loss enjoy creating calorie-specific meals. Always on the run and find it hard to eat properly? It’s right there ready to go. No thought required! (Besides the thought of ‘I’m hungry, I must eat food’). It’s not only convenient, but it also keeps you from spending money on food when you don’t need to and ensures that you are getting a nutrient-dense meal.
Will I enjoy meal prepping?
Not everyone enjoys spending hours in the kitchen but it is well worth it in the long run. A little music and kitchen dancing is a must! Another thing to consider, when you meal prep, you will be eating meals that will be the same or similar everyday. If you are unable to eat leftovers or find complete and utter boredom in eating the same thing for a few days, then meal prepping may not be for you. But, give it a try! You might be surprised. I’m sure there are some favorite recipes out there that you wouldn’t mind eating more than once.
What foods should I use?
The first thing before you begin is to get organized. Make time that is dedicated to only food prepping. It’s also nice to create a database for recipes you enjoy and find enjoyable to make.
Since you will be storing your food for up to a week, you’ll want to make sure that you choose foods that will keep nicely for a few days and won’t get soggy. Don’t fear! Here is a refrigerator and freezer chart from the FDA. Most foods will stay fresh in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can freeze the remainder for the rest of the week. Some basic ideas are hard boiled eggs, rice, quinoa, carrots, celery, beans, overnight oats etc. You can meal prep just about anything so aim for things that you are familiar with to start.
What meals should I prepare?
I am lucky enough to have access to a refrigerator at work so meal prepping my breakfast and lunch is convenient for me. This also leaves me a little variety for my dinner. However, I do try to have a pre-prepared dinner at least 2 days of the week. Especially those unpredictable Mondays. So ask yourself, what meals would make my day smoother? What meal can I bring on the go? What days does the lazy bug creep up and make me not want to cook? Here are some of the hip cast's favorite go to recipes:
• Sweet Potato Sausage Breakfast Casserole (make it with turkey breakfast sausage to reduce fat and calories!)
• Five Fab Brain-Healthy Wraps (use pre cut ingredients and wrap up as you head out the door).
• Zucchini Caprese Salad (or anything with Zoodles! A Zoodler is a must buy!)
How to start
Besides deciding what foods you enjoy eating the most, you’ll want to do some research on meal prep recipes that you find attainable and yummy. Make sure that you have reliable food storage containers that close properly and can withstand freezing. I love my snapware, but save those containers you get from your take out meals! They work wonders and are “technically” free. Don’t forget about the slow cooker!! Nothing better than to come home to a meal that cooked itself for you. Brittany Williams uses an Instant Pot and shared with us some amazing meal prep time and money-saving ideas in her episode as well as in her book INSTANT LOSS on a budget.
Start by prepping for three days to get the hang of it.
Set up a formula for the type of meals you want to make. Veggies and protein; veggies, protein and carbs; or veggies only. The internet is full of quick prep ideas and tasty meal options.
Once you have a plan, make a list of groceries that you will need. Since you are going to be cooking in bulk make sure that you are buying enough quantity for your recipes. Take inventory of your pantry too! Many times we have the majority of the non perishable items already in stock.
Happy recipe hunting and don’t forget… JERF!
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