2264: Meal Prep 101: Making Containers Fun Again by Rachel Trotta on Nutrition Tips

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Relationships Daily, Episode 2264, Meal Prep 101, Making Containers Fun Again by Rachel Trotta of rachletrotta.com Hello everybody and welcome back for another weekly bonus episode of ORD, brought to you by me Greg Audino. Though I won't be narrating today, instead we'll be featuring the sweet

[00:00:21] sounds of Dr. Neal, our host over on Optimal Health Daily. So with that let's hear his narration and commentary on this article about Meal Prep as we optimize your life. Meal Prep 101, Making Containers Fun Again by Rachel Trotta of rachletrotta.com Your Meal Prep Mindset

[00:00:46] Every once in a while I hear mudslung at Meal Prep. It's accused variously of being restrictive or overly rigid. To quote Bob Basso, if Meal Prep feels that way to you, you're not doing it right. But a few clarifications first. Healing a dysfunctional relationship with food

[00:01:06] My disclaimer for all of my nutrition clients, in person or online, is that our commercial diets, foods we eat at restaurants or out of packages, are incredibly oversaturated with sugar. If packaged or pre-prepared food has made up the bulk of your diet for years,

[00:01:23] it is at first difficult to remember the authentic flavors and textures of more simple foods. In other words, if you make a dramatic change to try to eat more healthfully, you are at first going to feel

[00:01:35] deprived. Foods may taste plain and bland for a little while. Part of the process of eating healthier is retraining the taste buds and it is not an overnight process. Your very first step in sticking with your new routines is to be realistic about this and to develop

[00:01:52] a mindset that is oriented around persistence. Be gentle with yourself and make modifications as needed but also be consistent in testing the edge of your palate's comfort zone. I remember the first time I tried Ezekiel bread back when I was not eating so healthfully. My partner still

[00:02:11] makes fun of me for the face I made. You will be surprised to find that within weeks, you'll be enjoying food more and easily going without the high octane flavors of commercial additives. That being said, meal prep should not be a miserable experience. From my experience of

[00:02:28] meal prepping consistently for over five years, I can confidently say that the weekly chunk of time that I spend in the kitchen isn't necessarily fun but it's not bad either. The same goes for the

[00:02:40] food itself. Does it feel like I'm sitting down to a Michelin star plate every time I eat? No, but that's not what it's about. If you have struggled to make meal prep part of your

[00:02:50] regular weekly routine or if you have dutifully choked down the resulting meals that didn't turn out so great, please know that there is hope. It can be better. In fact, it can be great and it's worth

[00:03:04] it to improve your cooking skills and expand your recipe repertoire so that you can enjoy the health and lifestyle benefits of meal prep. Here's why. The benefits of meal prep. It saves time and mental energy planning food. Instead of having to stir up the creativity juices

[00:03:22] every single night, you only have to do it once a week. It also ensures that your diet is well balanced. By looking at the big picture, you can easily tell whether you're getting enough fruit and vegetables. It also provides automatic portion control. By packaging the food separately

[00:03:39] in portion-sized containers, you don't have to stop yourself from getting a second helping. It may also make tracking unnecessary. If you're calorie counting to lose weight, eating on a meal plan created by meal prep can reduce the need to track every meal because

[00:03:55] everything is planned in advance. It may also mean less takeout and more high quality food because let's face it, we always do what is easiest, especially at night. Having food prepared at home means that you'll make better decisions when you're on autopilot

[00:04:11] and it also provides you with a sense of self-efficacy. This is very important. Cooking has been relegated to a complicated and lost art that only a few have mastered. The reality is that you can be your own personal chef with just a few simple skills.

[00:04:28] It can also help with allergies and food intolerances. If you have a sneaking suspicion that dairy or another ingredient is bothering you, meal prep allows you to control your grocery shopping and your daily meals with more scientific accuracy. So are you ready to

[00:04:44] try your own meal prep experiment? Well, listen on to my top five tips. Tips for meal prep. Tip one, buy containers. It's so simple that it almost seems ludicrous, but the first step to meal prep is to make sure that you have the right number of individual

[00:05:02] portion-sized containers. I use glass, derelicts containers and I love them. Tip two, be consistent with the day or days that you grocery shop and cook. For us, we cook mid-week because we do not like cooking on weekends. Once you build your kitchen skills,

[00:05:19] the entire task can be done quite quickly in under two hours. Pick the day or days that you will tackle shopping and meal prep and stick with it for a few weeks to experiment. Then change the day or days if you need to.

[00:05:32] Tip three, only meal prep foods that either reheat well or taste fine cold. When it comes to fish, I only meal prep cold dishes like my Greek salmon quinoa salad. Chicken really needs a friend like salsa or a sauce. Meatballs and other types of meat patties

[00:05:51] are rock stars. Fusili reheats better than spaghetti. Soups are always champs. Tip four, treat yourself a couple times a week. A couple of times a week go to a restaurant and take

[00:06:03] a break from your prep meals. A little variety helps grease the wheels of adherence to a new habit. And finally, tip five, make food that everyone will love. Meal prep will work for your family

[00:06:15] if you make it work for the whole family. I caution against making your own meals while your family gets something else. You will burn out. If you have kids, try foods with interchangeable ingredients like nachos, tacos or pasta with toppings. Keep in mind that there are

[00:06:32] age-appropriate tasks for kids too. One of my clients gave her 14 year old son one meal per week to cook and he has thrived on the responsibility. You just listened to the post titled Meal Prep 101, Making Containers Fun Again by Rachel Trotta of racheltrotta.com.

[00:06:54] Dr. Neal here for my commentary. I'm a huge fan of the tips Rachel provided. Last week, I mentioned that when I was younger, I used to hate leftovers. This unintentionally

[00:07:05] led to me wasting quite a bit of food. But since then, my taste buds have changed. It does happen. I've found that there are actually certain leftovers I like. Curries for example. With curry

[00:07:17] dishes, by letting it sit in the fridge for a day or two, it seems to help the flavors become even richer. For foods that I don't prefer to eat as leftovers like steamed broccoli

[00:07:28] for example, I'm a bit more careful about making the right portions to begin with to avoid wastage. Now there are a couple of other things that I found really helpful. One is to definitely use

[00:07:39] clear glass containers just as Rachel said. Why clear? Well because it helps you see what's inside your containers. It reminds you oh yeah I have food left over that I need to finish.

[00:07:52] And by placing these foods in plain sight think middle middle of your fridge right on the shelf. It'll remind you to eat them too. Now something else that I found helpful especially when it comes

[00:08:03] to getting motivated to meal plan and actually cook is to watch cooking shows. I realized that when I watch baking shows, I find myself wanting to raid my cupboards for something sweet to eat even if I'm not really hungry. Just watching those shows makes me crave those foods.

[00:08:20] Well I found a way to use cooking shows to my advantage. So I found I really like watching cooking competitions. So instead of watching baking competitions, I'll watch chopped or beat Bobby Flay for example. When I'm not in the mood to plan my meals or cook,

[00:08:36] I found that these shows will inspire me. I find I want to get up and cook something or at the very least plan a future meal based on something I saw on the show. Try it out and see if it

[00:08:47] works for you too. Just be careful about watching too many of those baking shows especially. All right that'll do it for the Saturday episode. I hope you're having a wonderful weekend and a wonderful holiday weekend if you're in the States and I'll be back here tomorrow as usual

[00:09:02] with your Optima Life Awaits.