More meal prep talk! I began intensely meal prepping last year because of Chris and Heidi Powell’s book Extreme Transformation. They really emphasize the idea that if you are prepared for your meals then you typically eat healthfully and mindfully and…it can
also taste good! I think what throws people off when trying to change their lifestyle is they take what is written and force themselves to eat things on a meal plan they don’t like without realizing that they can swap things out and customize to what they actually like to eat. On the other hand, if they get a blank meal plan they freeze and don’t know what to make or what they like to eat and then give up. I think it’s a good idea to look at several plans and tailor it to what you want to eat.
Once I started realizing that it’s not about following someone else’s plan to a tee but making it my own, it was easier to weed out all the recipes I wasn’t interested in: like cottage cheese, yogurt and eggs. Bleh. In some cases you can just swap out a particular ingredient like, if you don’t fancy mushrooms in your stir-fry you can add asparagus. But that requires thinking outside the box and the people who think they have to follow that meal plan to the letter are the same people who measure out the exact amount of things for a recipe and don’t deviate. My husband is like that–he’ll sit and dice each piece into exact measurements and if it says ¼ teaspoon of chili powder you know that’s what you’re getting–it drives him crazy when I throw in a handful of this or add some more of that. I’ve been cooking since I was 12. Sometimes you gotta go with your gut feeling.
Most of my recipes are based on other recipes that I’ve changed or added extra to because, in most cases, if I have 90% of the ingredients I’m making it. What am I gonna do–run to the store every time I need 1 lime or a box of penne? No thank you. And some people just think they can’t do it if they don’t have everything on the list which then means they’re going to the store every day for some ingredient or another. Who has time for that! Most of my planning comes from what I currently have in the fridge that I need to eat before it goes bad or whether or not I have meat like ground turkey or chicken or if I have to use beans for my protein (meat’s expensive and we’re on a budget!). A recipe calls for broccoli but I have cauliflower. Swap! Need black beans? I’m adding red beans! That’s how I roll.
I must say, since I’ve been following the Powell’s meal plan (which is rooted in Macro-science), I feel great. I’m less bloated and gassy and never feel gross after eating a meal. And ladies, when you have a boyfriends or husband and you’re still trying to keep the romance alive, it’s nice not to have to hold in your gas because you don’t really have any when you eat right! It’s never fun and it’s never sexy sitting on the couch saying to yourself “Don’t fart…hold it in. Oh he wants to cuddle? Damn, I can’t move from this position!…don’t make any sudden movements…” (you know what I’m talking about. Don’t pretend. We’ve all been there).
My meals for the following 3 days are always planned and I have flexibility on the weekends—especially Saturdays which are reward days for me and that makes my husband happy since we can eat pizza. But meal prepping also means carrying around a bunch of Tupperware all the time BUT that also means I never get to the point where I’m hangry and want to murder people….like out of my mind hungry…once I hit that point, get out of my fucking way.
It’s also like having a 2nd job–when I was following the plan 100% it was my job to meal prep and to work out. By the time I got home from work, worked out, showered, and cooked…it was 9pm. I really can’t imagine what that would feel like with kids pulling at you all hours of the day. I don’t know how people do it and I say kudos to them. I do know how the celebrities do it though: nannies and chefs. One day…
Life With Purpose (And Other Things) 