By Dr. Mark Richards
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.” Well this has shown itself true throughout this experience. The first time around Amanda and I had planned out all our meals for each week. Every Saturday night we would make a list of each dinner we were going to make and then shop for what we needed on Sunday. It really worked great. It solves that daily question of “what’s for dinner?” It seems like such a simple question, but it would always cause us all sorts of grief trying to figure it out. Having it set ahead of time really is nice just for the sake of not having to figure it out on the fly. There were a few other reasons though, that it really helped us.
Logistically it just works. If we know we’re going to need some chicken for dinner we can get it out ahead of time and not have to do that whole microwave defrost thing which I really hate doing. We can plan meals around our schedule, nights we know we’re busy we can do something simple, like salad. Nights I’m home, we can do more complex meals, that require more of a time commitment.
It also helps keep you on the right direction with this diet. There are certain meals we have that may have a higher glycemic load, usually because of tomatoes, which we will have once in a while. For example if we do taco night and have salsa or straight tomatoes on our taco salad we will know not to eat our berries or green apple during the day. Also, if we are planning vegetable lasagna, we won’t do that the day after, we’ll space it out. We would also try to put a very low glycemic meal the day after and/or before having a meal like that. So it allows to have those foods, but ensures we don’t over do it.
Another great thing that we’ve noticed from planning ahead, is that we are more willing to try new things. Its hard, for us at least, to try a new recipe spontaneously. Usually when the dinner decision has been left to that night, we’ll go with something familiar and easy. Its good to have familiar and easy recipes that fit this diet, but at the same time certain foods can get old really quick on this diet. Adding variety has definitely helped us.
I think the best part of having meals planned though, is that it helps avoid temptation. For Amanda and I, that time of day leading up to dinner, usually between 4-5 pm is when we are at our weakest. The cravings, if they come, come at that time of day. If dinner hasn’t been decided yet, it leaves us extremely vulnerable to making a poor decision.
The first three weeks of this second 60, we hadn’t planned our meals. It was evident. Like I said last week, it didn’t feel like we had a great week diet wise. It felt that way again this past week. I think it really comes down to the fact that we didn’t plan our meals. We did sit down and plan this coming week. So I’m expecting a great week. My weight didn’t change from last week. So I’m still at 206 lbs. I’m not too bothered by that though, because every day I’m feeling smaller, even if the scale doesn’t show that, my clothes certainly do. I know I’m on the right path. Thanks for reading.
-Dr. Mark