I'm baaaaack!
After a bit of a hiatus online I'm back :) My family and I had a great Thanksgiving away, visiting family and doing some outlet shopping in the USA. Things went a little off the rails in terms of food but I'm back on track today and excited to start planning out some healthy meals and snacks!
Are you a meal planner?? I've always wanted to be but can't seem to do it consistently. It's silly because it truly does save time, money, and a headache each day trying to figure out what to make and what I have. I often have great intentions in the grocery store- I buy lots of great veggies and fruits but than end up wasting them because I either have too many for the week or I can't get it together in the evenings and end up ordering take out. Lame!
I received a little inspiration from another blog to start trying to meal plan again. I tried a demo free meal plan from a website and found I stuck to it pretty well and it made groceries super easy and less expensive. I don't think I need to be making new recipes every night or even every week and I have enough of a good healthy recipe repertoire that I don't need to pay for a meal plan. And if I need some new recipe ideas there's always Pinterest! So I'm on it....I'll be taking stock today of what I have and than making a plan for the rest of the week, who's with me?!
Next up, I recently came across something, on Pinterest (ha!), called the Skinny Rules (see here). Apparently Bob Harper (Biggest Loser) wrote them and they are the focus of his book, also named The Skinny Rules. There is a lot of opinions out there on these rules, and many of them are pretty negative.
I realize working with "rules" and restricting your diet can be detrimental in many cases, but in all honesty, following rules like "drink a glass of water before every meal" and "eat apples and berries every single day" would benefit pretty much everyone. My guess is the more controversial rules like "go to bed hungry" and "no carbs after lunch" are the ones people like to get all crazy about. But if you think about it- they're not so bad either. Go to bed hungry is basically just his way of saying don't eat for a few hours before bed- as in "Allison, you don't need that popcorn as an evening snack!".....hmmmm yep, that's right, I don't! And the one about carbohydrates- he's not saying we should never eat carbohydrates, he's just saying let's keep them to breakfast and lunch only, why is that so terrible??
I think most of the rules are quite doable and would be beneficial to most people looking to lead a healthier lifestyle. I think I will print a copy off, stick it to my fridge, and work on making the rules a part of my routine.
You know what will make following these rules even easier? MEAL PLANNING!
xo
Cheers!
Allison
