Feeding the Family
I read somewhere that we make over 220 food related decisions every day. Decision fatigue is real! I swear, the idea of planning, shopping, prepping, and cooking healthy meals for my family remains one of my life’s greatest day-to-day challenges.
It started in the morning with the mad dash to get out the door. I don’t know about you, but my kids were never hungry in the morning. I knew, though, if they skipped breakfast it was unlikely that they’d eat anything proper before dinner.
Don’t get me started on packing lunches.
And between work and school, driving the kids to sports and practices, and everything else in between, it often felt like getting a healthy dinner on the table was just beyond me.
I hear from families every day who struggle with skipping breakfast, eating lunch on the go, and finding themselves ordering takeout or door dash more nights than they’d like.
It’s probably no surprise that research demonstrates home cooking promotes healthier eating habits. When children grow up learning how to cook, they are more likely to meet the recommended daily amounts of healthy fats, vegetables, fruits and whole grains and less likely to eat fast food. So while we may be gaining some convenience by grabbing takeout or door dash most nights, we may also be losing our family’s health.
So what’s a family to do?
Sometimes a simple shift in perspective can yield big positive changes. Here are some shifts some of my clients have made.
Instead of viewing cooking as a chore , they started seeing it as a way to nourish their families.
They decided it would become a time to model and create healthy eating habits for their children, setting them up for success for a lifetime.
One dad decided he would start to view creating healthy meal times as an investment in his childrens’ future, not much different than contributing to a college fund.
The biggest obstacle most people face when it comes to healthy cooking is time and effort. So here are some strategies my clients have found to make things more efficient.
Have a plan! Spend a few minutes each week planning meals and make the grocery list as you go. Consider the family calendar. Are there nights when the kids have late practice or you have a work event? Be sure to factor in date night or another night you’re planning to eat out.
If the planning is taking too long, set yourself a timer to limit yourself and learn to be more efficient.
Put meals on repeat. Soup on Sunday, Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday. You get the idea. Our brains love novelty, but reducing decisions by avoiding the trap of scrolling for new recipes on Instagram every week makes it much easier to execute a plan.
Keep it simple! We have a tendency to over complicate our cooking. Instead of a new recipe, just grill or saute a lean protein, cook up a pot of brown rice or other whole grain, and steam a big serving of vegetables.
Batch cook. Cook all your meat and grains on a Sunday and have them ready to assemble a variety of mix and match meals during the week.
My hope for you is that these tips help you find more ease and joy in the daily routine of cooking a healthy meal for your family. If you want more help with changing your family’s approach to health, message me for a free strategy session.