Change :// the way we stress about our prep.
Ok, so the thing is, sometimes healthy trends…well ya, you guessed it, they become really UNhealthy.
I am a big believer of meal prep, planning, scheduling and to do lists of all sorts. It is that kind of thinking that helps me feel grounding in knowing what my day is going to be like and trouble shoot where it seems chaotic. However, I’ve noticed, and I know it aint just me, this crazy pressure that people seem to be experiencing from the very idea that is supposed to decrease stress!! Yup, meal prepping. The very thing I often suggest to my clients. Here is the thing, we are missing the point.
Meal prep is NOT about having a fridge stacked with perfectly colour coded and portioned out foods. Hey if you can do this and enjoy this, props to you, I know a few of you. But not everyone can, or fuck that, not everyone WANTS to. And well, that doesn’t mean that you are doing it wrong, maybe we are just glamourizing what it actually is.
Maybe meal prep means
- Prepping once a month or even twice a month
- Prepping snacks! this is my favourite. It’s the snacks the often steer all of our choices
- Maybe it is stock piling a few fast throw together…the avo, toast, and hemp hearts.
- Maybe this means cooking a pot of quinoa, a pan of veggies and thats it
- Maybe this means actually going grocery shopping and buying fresh produce
- Make your own dressings
- Go to a meal prep workshop
Whatever it looks like this idea is supposed to be about relieving stress and not creating it. My job is to talk about food all day and healthy habits and I can assuredly promise you that not only do I NOT meal prep all the time or every week, but in some ways I maybe even cook less than I EVER have….
This also does not mean that I am unhealthier for doing so. The fact is, that healthy eating is possible, convenient and appropriate to everyone. Yes everyone. The key think to look at is meeting yourself where you are at. DO you even like cooking? Do you think just making food will solve your problems? Do you even care that much? This last may sound harsh, but no it’s not meant to. Guess what… your body, your life. If you feel pressure to meal prep just cause everyone is doing it…drop it, and get on with what you love. Because believe me, that habit will not last.
I teach meal prep workshops on occasion. I adore them. I think this skill can be invaluable. Gaining confidence in the simplicity, and organization of how you eat can be so liberating, I think. The idea is that you do not leave there though and have your life changed and a fridge full. The idea is that you find game changers. Hacks that help you get to whatever that goal is for you. Be that a weeks full of food, or maybe just a days worth. That is your decision.
Lastly, instagram. Sigh. You have fomo over what you are or are not eating, at the neatly organized trays of perfect food. I kind of feel like this is a whole ‘nother post in and of itself, but I want to reassure you, healthy AND delicious foods, do not have to look a certain way to be enjoyed. Fact. And most of the time, like 99% that is the way it is.
TRUTHFOODBOMB
Truth, love and food.
Kate
