Growing up, my favorite thing to eat was waffles with brown sugar and cream. Holiday dinners would come and go without a single vegetable dish being prepared or served. I lived off of saltines and cheese whiz in high school. I recently realized my mom (bless her heart) still doesn't know how to cut open an avocado. Eating a nutritious diet just wasn't PART OF my early years but I got away with it for the most part because I had a teenager's metabolism. Fast forward just a couple years and I got REALLY overweight in college. I was miserable, but I was taking 18 credits plus working part time so there was no time to focus on weight loss. I told myself that I would just get through graduation and then would focus on eating better...and that's what I did. Or so I thought.
You see, I cleaned up my diet a little, but still I was working SO HARD in the gym to maintain a healthy weight. And that worked for me (sort of) when I was younger and had the endurance to do that. But in my mid 30s through now (my early 40s), I have had to take a closer look at my diet in order to be more gentle with my body. Figuring out how to eat healthier has taken some trial and error. This is true especially because when I get hungry, if I don't have food prepped, I grab whatever junk food is easily accessible. But now I am in the swing of things with my food prep Sundays!
I have been talking about food prep Sundays for a couple of years and so I regularly get questions on "what do I prep?" And here is the answer:
· Organize Tupperware cupboard
· Wash apples / grapes, etc. for easy munching.
· Wash, peel (as needed), and dice veggies (onions, sweet potatoes, kale) and pre-cook bacon (yes I eat bacon). Veggies and bacon are used for breakfast (usually egg scrambles or simply sautéed veggies with avocado).
· Cook side veggie dishes such as Brussel sprouts and / or beets baked in balsamic vinegar or mashed cauliflower with coconut milk. Nom nom.
· Cook chicken breast on the BBQ or in the crockpot for use on salads & in veggie scrambles.
· Pre-make 5 salads (one for each work day) - but leave the dressing on the side.
· Pre-make one soup (I try to stay away from cream based soups or use a coconut milk substitute).
· Desserts (and, yes, I eat desserts too). Here are my favorite recipes: Coconut Milk Sorbets and/or Paelo Pumpkin Bars (I substituted Tigernut flour with Cassava flour which I found at our local Walmart).
The majority of the women I train with are in their 20s and 30s, so although this post is for anyone of any age, my hope is to help those younger generations figure it all out more quickly and easily than I did! If you have any favorite food prep pointers, I would love to hear from you! XOXO, Mindy
Article by Mindy Cochran. Mindy is the founder of Kalispell's Levitation Nation Aerial Studio, where the catch phrase "fitness is fun" is embodied alongside a culture of movement & women empowerment. Mindy is also a columnist for "Montana Woman Magazine." Her column "The Real Levitation Experience" shares expertise for elevating health and wellness that she has acquired through her certifications as a personal trainer, nutrition coach, and life coach. For more about Mindy, please visit: https://www.levitationnation.org/mindy.