Why meal planning lowers my anxiety
This week I want to talk about meal planning, how and why.
This is the post on why I have decided to go back to meal planning.
While there are many reasons people meal plan, such as:
Saving time and money
Encourages better nutrition
Avoids unnecessary waste
Encourages variety
Plan ahead to give up the stress of “what will I cook for dinner” every night
The reason I have decided to go back to meal planning is because I despise food shopping. Yes it’s odd as I love to eat it.
Over the years of counting points, calories, fat, carbs and really anything that can be counted, when I walk into the supermarket I view food in a series of numbers. I start shopping in the “good” food isle first, which is also the low number isle (veggies).
I then stroll through the “bad” isles for the advertised meal suggestions. Clearly to be lead by the prettiest label/ packaging on the shelf. As I hold the 'Five taste - green curry' kit I imagine my self preparing the best curry of my life, in reality that never happened.
I then surprise my self when I "accidentally" turn into the sweets isle. In the eyes of my co-shoppers I appear as cool and composed, unfazed by all the treats surrounding me. In my mind however, I'm sitting in the middle of the isle with all the sweets pulled off the shelfs around me, tearing the packaging of the Skittles bag with my teeth and eating the lollies there and then.
But I push on towards the light (the end of the isle), repeating "I’m serious about my *Insert name of current diet fad*!"
And then BANG
I spot the LIMITED EDITION Kinder Surprise collection. You know what I’m talking about!!
I have to get some it’ll NEVER be released again. And I can’t just get one. I have to collect all the cute toys.
“It’s OK” I say to my self “I’ll get ten, five for me and five for Andy. We’ll only eat one a day after dinner”….. as if they'll lasts that long.
So I have decided to go back to meal planning. My reasons however are:
to make the food shopping experience more enjoyable and guilt free
to ensure I eat healthy every day and don’t succumb to uncontrollable eating during the week
Later this week I’ll post how I meal plan, but in the mean time I’d love to hear what you bought at the supermarket as an impulse buy which turned out different to what you imagined it would.
Vanya