•A National Treasure •Tame Your Temper •Diet Mistakes

WELLNESS
The Biggest Diet Mistake You’re Making
By Brandi McCarthy, RHN
Most of us are doing our best. We are trying to cook
healthy meals for our families, eat lots of fresh fruits
and vegetables and minimize the amount of
processed/fast foods that we are eating, but most of us
are still missing one vital component for success:
Planning. Yup, it’s as simple as that. Most of us have
heard the phrase “If you fail to plan, you plan to
fail”. It’s so true, especially when it comes to our diet.
Don’t believe me? When was the last time you uttered
the words, “I just don’t have time to make dinner, let’s
get take out”, or perhaps it was, “I just didn’t have
time to eat lunch today”. Either way, we are forever
making excuses for not doing the things we know we
need to do and we’re letting ourselves get away with
it! Planning ahead is THE most important thing you
can do in my opinion. If you know that the kids have
soccer on Tuesday night and you’re working late on
Monday night, make sure you pan ahead for that on
Sunday! No, you don’t need to make 3 meals in one
night, just make one and “stretch” it out (see Cook
Once, Eat Two to Three Times). Don’t want to be
caught mid-week with yet another takeout pizza?
Here are my best “plan ahead” tips for success;
Write It Down
This is the most important tip. You need to know
when and where you have time to do things and what
potential snags you will run into along the way. Take
15 minutes out of the slowest day on your weekend,
(yes, you can find 15 minutes) and write down what
you have to do that week. Take a look at your
schedule and try to figure out how much time you can
allot to dinner, packing lunches and making
breakfasts. I bet it isn’t as much as you thought! You
need to have a plan! Pick a few days that you know
are not as busy and schedule in some cooking,
shopping and prep time. If you know that Tuesday and
Wednesday night you don’t have time to cook, look
for some extra time on Sunday and Monday to make
food ahead of time. Get the family involved too! Kids
are great at prep work and getting them to help out in
the kitchen when you have the time, will go a long
way towards teaching them how to make healthy
lifestyle choices in the future!
Make Tupperware Your Friend
If you don’t already have an arsenal of Tupperware,
get some. I highly recommend glass Tupperware over
plastic (no leachy chemicals, easier to clean and lasts
way longer), but it’s up to you, any sealable food
container will do. Keep your Tupperware in an easy to
access place with all the lids at the ready. This stuff
couldn’t be more handy!
Cook Once, Eat Two to Three Times
I can’t stress this enough. If you are making taco’s on
Monday night, double or triple the meat for a leftover
meal on Tuesday/and or Wednesday. You don’t need to
have the exact same thing, just have the “cooked”
portion ready to go ahead of time (see example
below). Make sure you package up the extras in your
handy dandy Tupperware and put it in the fridge for
tomorrow’s lunch or dinner BEFORE you serve it.
This is a super important step! Often when there is
lots of food available, we eat more than we should
(buffets anyone?) Be sure to put away the “next
dinner” servings before dishing out the meal to avoid
all of your planning going to waste.
Simple Example:
Monday night –
Traditional taco’s
Tuesday night –
Taco salad using
leftover meat,
chopped cabbage
and various other
veggies (maybe
even a few nacho
chips...)
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