How to Pack Your Own Lunch, Like a Champ

At 5 am my alarm goes off. Up and at it I go. Goal one: Put in my contacts. Goal two: Grab all of my belongings for the day and head to my 6 am workout. I have definitely forgotten my fair share of essential items for the day (e.g., you can ask a few of Hilton Head Health's employees, ha); but one thing I will never forget is my packed lunch. I always bring my lunch box/cooler filled with breakfast, lunch and a few ice packs. After my workout, I have my breakfast within the hour post-training. I wish I could do a hot breakfast every now and then, but I save those for weekends. My two typical breakfast options:

BREAKFAST ONE	BREAKFAST TWO
¾ cup 1-2% cottage cheese or Greek yogurt ½ cup fresh berries (whatever is on sale) ¼ cup nuts (cashews, pecans, or almonds) 2-3 T. toasted oats or low sugar granola	1 cup cooked cereal (oats or buckwheat) or ½ cup cooked quinoa ½ cup mango + ¼ cup blueberries 2 T. homemade nut butter (almond or cashew)

Meal Planning Tip:  I portion out 3-4 breakfasts on Sunday.  Grab & Go daily.

 



My work day begins and soon enough it is 12 or 12:30 pm and I am ready for some lunch. I typically take a thermal walk after lunch or get in a walk before I eat to clear my head. Chef Karla Williams and Chef Carrie know the drill…I take my cooler to the Healthy Kitchen and I typically sit in one of my favorite H3 rooms while they are prepping for an event.  It is like my own personal demo while I reheat my lunch. I am thankful I prepared most of my lunches on Sunday, just like breakfast. I can’t imagine hitting the 12:00 hour five days a week and not knowing what I was doing for my food.  It is too important for me to forget.  No one “forgets” to eat…it simply isn’t a priority in that person’s life at the moment. Below are a few lunches that are easy to meal prep on Sunday while tasting delicious a few days later. I usually repeat these lunch items a few days in a row for meal prepping purposes and will most likely switch things up once or twice during my Monday through Friday.

WEEK ONE	WEEK TWO	WEEK THREE	WEEK FOUR
½ cup cooked whole grain (rice, farro, etc.) ¾ cup cooked roasted eggplant and onions 4-5 oz. coconut slow cooker pulled chicken	¾ cup roasted sweet potatoes ½ cup balsamic roasted Brussels sprouts 4-5 oz. herb grilled pork tenderloin	½ cooked cilantro brown rice 1 cup stir-fried peppers and onions (seasoned) ¼ cup black beans 3 oz. grilled chicken	3-5 cups spinach ¼ cup blueberries, cherry tomatoes, avocado 2 T. sunflower seeds 4 oz. Salmon (from night before) 2 T. homemade dressing

To some, these lunches may appear more like traditional dinners; however, it is essential to have a balanced and satisfying mid-day meal. These meals carry me through most of my afternoon and I know I have done everything possible to set myself up for success. Put in the effort to create a lunch that you enjoy and I promise everyone will start coming to you for daily lunch inspiration. ;)

Nutrition: HOW TO KICK START YOUR MEAL PLANNING ROUTINE

It’s no secret that eating healthy can be a challenge. We’ve all been in a situation where we’ve failed to plan our meals ahead of time and find ourselves consuming a not so healthy option. However, this doesn’t have to be our reality. We can avoid these situations by practicing meal planning. Meal planning gives you the ability to ensure that all of your breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks are healthy by planning and writing them all down ahead of time. I’ve composed eight tips to help you get started and form a routine:

1. Gain a firm grasp on what a suitable meal looks like. For inspiration, check out the Hilton Head Health Wellness and Weight loss Menu. We’ve included both recipes and sample menu’s that will help you lose weight, get more energy, maintain a health lifestyle and achieve your goals.


2. Use a template. This will help keep you organized. You can either find a template online, or create your own. I suggesting saving a blank copy so you can reuse this for multiple weeks.


3. Write down when you plan on eating your meals.  Too many people back-load their calories/energy intake.  This is eating most of our food late afternoon and throughout the evening.  Avoid going more than five hours without eating something—your food choices may not be as healthy if you are extremely hungry.


4. Prioritize breakfast.  Plan on eating breakfast as soon after you wake up.  We need energy to wake our bodies up versus waiting until 10:00 am to eat something. I suggest a source of protein (e.g., eggs, Greek yogurt, yogurt, cottage cheese, tofu, nuts/seeds, etc.), fruit and/or vegetable and a healthy source of carbohydrates coming from either a whole grain (e.g., oats), fruit or starchy vegetable (e.g., breakfast sweet potatoes).


5. Devote a day to prep.  This step is crucial.  I find preparing a few things on a Sunday helps takes some pressure off for the rest of the week.  For example, I make a vegetable based soup, roasted vegetables, a quinoa pilaf, and grilled chicken. These four basic components can be used through out the week, and can either be kept in the fridge or frozen if necessary.


6. Cross-utilize ingredients. If salmon is the dinner protein of choice, prepare an extra filet for lunch the next day—throw it on top of a nice spinach strawberry salad.  Use spinach in another way. Make a spinach, onion and cheese scramble the next day for breakfast.


7. When going out to eat, write in your intended meal and stick to it.  Most people are going out to eat at least two or three times per week.  Check the restaurant menu before hand, and write the healthiest choice on your meal plan.  Commit to this, and don’t look back.


8. Trial and learn. Always keep an open mind and continue to make changes. Take the time to document any meals that didn’t satisfy you and make changes accordingly. Once you get more comfortable with meal planning, the more diversified your diet becomes and you will continue to enjoy new recipes, new foods and gain a new outlook on healthy eating.

By practicing these eight easy steps, you’ll be that much closer to achieving your goals! What are some of you favorite meal planning tips and tricks?

Healthy Eating Made Simple!

Program Intern, Kim Jobke, gives us insight on one of her favorite nutrition apps. Check out the post below!



Meal planning is often the first step in building a healthier diet. But, let’s face it, planning meals takes time, something we all could use more of! Add grocery shopping into the mix and eating healthy can take up a significant amount of your time. The good news is there are many websites available to help you eat healthy, and save time doing it. My favorite is a website called ZipList, where you cannot only plan your meals, but also create smart grocery lists and find deals at local grocery stores.

To get started, visit ziplist.com and create a free account and/or download the free app for your Smartphone. The account on the computer will automatically sync with the app on your phone. Once you have an account you can:

Find Recipes – Find thousands of recipes through ZipList’s recipe database, including those from popular food websites, add your own recipes, or “clip” and save recipes you find on the internet – try the recipes on our blog!

Create a Recipe Box – Save recipes in your recipe box for future use and sort by source, ingredient or cook time for faster meal planning.

Sync Meal Plans to Calendar – Sync the meal plans you create to your personal calendar on Google Calendar, iCalendar, or Outlook.

Generate Grocery Lists – Generate a grocery shopping list from your meal plan to make shopping less time consuming and cut down on unnecessary spending. You can even share your lists with others! Scan the barcode on items at the grocery store using your Smartphone to automatically add them to your list.

Find Deals and Get Coupons – ZipList will find local grocery store deals based on the items you buy and also send you coupons. Then, you can assign items to lists for purchase at specific stores based on the deals.

Try ZipList out today and comment to tell me what you think!

Healthy Meal Planning Made Simple

It can be very challenging coming up with some variety in your daily meal plan.  Without trying to research a ton of different recipes to start trying, perhaps there is another approach you can take when planning your meals.  I usually like to start with picking my protein first and going from there.  You could also pick a theme for your protein and build your meal plan based on various themes throughout the week.

Monday- Mexican Night

Tuesday- Tuscan Night

Wednesday- Leftover Night

Thursday- Seafood

Friday- Pizza Night

Saturday- Grilling or BBQ

Sunday- Leftovers or Sandwich night

It doesn’t always have to be a cuisine that you pick; it could just be the type of food you pick.  How many different types of pizza could you make? Well, off the top of my head I can think of BBQ chicken, Mediterranean, Tropical Vegetable, Basil Pesto, Fajita, and many more.  How about sandwiches? I could easily think of burgers, wraps, clubs, tuna melts, BBQ pulled chicken sliders, or a simple egg salad. 

This method should help spice up the creativity you’re looking for in your meals—it doesn’t have to be fancy, just tasty. 

Don’t forget to check out the Mix and Match handout that can aid in getting the juices flowing for ideas.  Remember these key sauces that can help drive the style of the food you’re cooking: Marinara, Alfredo, Teriyaki, Sesame Ginger, BBQ, Savory Gravy, Mango Chutney, Scampi, Salsa and Basil Pesto Cream sauce…need I go on? Use your ‘Unwise, Better, Best’ tool to ensure the ingredients you are picking fall under the ‘better’ or ‘best’ categories.

While cooking, put on some of your favorite tunes to help you get in the mood!

Strategies To Step Back Into Meal Planning

While meal planning is essential to weight loss or weight management, it can be challenging for many.  There is no single right way to meal plan and many factors affect how we do it and how consistent we are.  Our palettes change, life demands more time in other areas, travel, motivation, levels shift… whatever the reason, if we look at meal planning from an “all or nothing” approach, we will not find success.  Be realistic with your planning, even if that means starting with planning 2 meals for the week, because having success in that will only bolster your confidence to take on more the next week.  If you’ve been through our program, you may likely have attended my class where we work as a group to develop a 7-day meal plan.  Here are some steps to consider if a 7-day plan just seems too overwhelming for this coming week:

1.  Break it down.  Start by just planning 3 meals for the upcoming week instead of all 21.  This allows for some flexibility with yourself but still moves you closer to your goal.  You might even surprise yourself and eat healthier for a few more meals as well.


2. Develop a Routine.  Give your week a basic framework that might help guide your thoughts to specific meals.  For example:




• Monday is Chicken Night – whether it’s grilled chicken, chicken parmesan or chicken marsala… it’s going to be chicken.


• Tuesdays/Thursdays are Seafood night – one week might include H3 Shrimp Scampi and Salmon, the next week might be H3 Crab Cakes or Lemon Parmesan Tilapia.


• Wednesday is Salad night – Steak Salad, Grilled Chicken Salad, Spinach Salad with Tempeh… whatever you choose, it’s going on a bed of greens.


• Friday night’s “Where’s the Beef?” – Steak, lean burger, Spaghetti with meatballs… you get my drift.


• Pizza Saturday and Wild Card Sunday – keep it fun on your weekend by making pita pizzas or even homemade whole wheat dough.  Sunday is your wild card to be spontaneous!




3. Play “Go Fish” for meals out. Make a list of restaurants and what meals are “acceptable” to your healthy meal plan.  You could create a card for each meal.  When you choose, or need to dine out, select something from your cards.


4. Remove and Replace. Identify 1-2 food choices that are contributors to an unhealthy plan and replace them with a healthy alternative.  Decide what your alternatives are now and make it something you can look forward to.


5. Portions, Portions, Portions!  Get back into the habit of measuring.  Even if it’s still a “bad” food, know how much you are consuming.


6. Write it down.  If at the beginning of the week you have every intention of eating healthy, and that always seems to fade mid week, you might forget all the healthy planning you did!  Don’t just plan in your head.  Write it down so you can refer back to it.  

Mindful Meal Planning

Here comes the New Year! Every year millions of New Year Resolutions are made, this year I challenge you to make your resolution one that sticks! Resolve to plan meals a week at a time forever and always! Meal planning will help you eat nutritiously, save money at the grocery store, and keep you from panicking and attempting to throw a dinner together when dinner hour rolls around.

1. PLAN AWAY! Take about 30 minutes of your day once a week, sit down, and decide what you would like to eat this week. Keep your goals in mind, whether you are choosing to eat more vegetables, cut calories, or incorporate more fiber. I recommend starting by planning about 3 lunches or dinners a week. Start small, once you become used to your system plan every meal. Hopefully, you will have leftovers from a few meals that you can eat another day too. Some meals like breakfast can be the same or repeating.  

2. WRITE A GROCERY LIST! Write your grocery list according to your meal plan. Include the obvious items too such as skim milk, eggs, and berries. Don't leave anything out. This will help you limit your grocery visits to just once a week saving you time, calories, and money.  Stick with your list even if something other then fruit and vegetables look tasty.

3. PREPARE EVERYTHING! On Sunday or any day you have time, reserve some time to prepare all of your meals for the week. Prepare everything, including your vegetables for omelets, peeling oranges, making sauces for each meal, etc…  Also, I strongly recommend preparing a larger recipe, and freezing it. That way in a few weeks when you are ready for that meal again it is already prepared. Use a lot of tiny Rubbermaid containers to ease portion controlling.

4. EXECUTE IT! All you have to do is come home and pop your dinner in the oven or heat a few things up. Having your dinner already prepared will help you avoid ordering pizza for dinner or just making quick unhealthy dinners.

Meal planning takes some time in the beginning of your week, but will save you time, money, calories, and stress. A few recipes that I love to include on my weekly meal plan are:

¨     Chicken Cordon Bleu (Prepare the chicken ahead, make a few extra, freeze them, and reheat at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the center reaches 165 degrees, when frozen. Make the Dijonaise sauce ahead and prepare your vegetables too.)

¨     Pita Pizza (Make your marinara, freeze it in small containers. Prepare your entire pizza, wrap it, and freeze the entire pizza. Reheat when frozen at 375 degrees for about 12 minutes or until the cheese has turned a light brown color.

¨     Beef and Vegetable Lasagna (Use your H3 Marinara you already prepared and make the Beef and Vegetable Lasagna then freeze it. Reheat when frozen at 350 for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the center has reached 165 degrees.)

Planning ahead will make your life a little easier, the more you plan the easier it will get.

Happy New Year's Resolutions!

A Meal Planner's Dream: Never Ending Recipes

Looking for some new recipes beyond our website? I’ve recently discovered www.myrecipes.com. You can sign up for their free newsletter called Dinner Tonight.  During the week, each day you will receive an e-mail with a recommended recipe for dinner that night.  The recipes are pulled from Cooking Light, Southern Living, Sunset, Real Simple, and Health.  The nutritional information is provided along with the serving size. 

What I’ve enjoyed about the website is that it has a “recipe file” feature that I can save recipes to. Therefore, it saves me some time in researching new recipes to try. I simply receive an email – if it sounds good, I save it; if I think I would never make it, I delete the email and go about my day.  When I’m ready to try something new, I just go into my saved file and pick something from there. There is also a meal planning feature where you can use their recipes or even add your own.

Remember the guidelines we discuss at H3 – you may have to substitute white rice for brown or decrease the amount of oil used every once in awhile, but all in all, it gives you some more diversity to strive for in your meal planning.

 What other resources or apps do you find helpful with meal planning?  Please share!