After years of helping others look and feel great I have learned that planning and preparation of meals is truly the key. If we do plan our meals and have our food prepared we are far more likely to indulge in the things we know are not best or end up eating too much or too little (which are both not good). I found that my clients did great immediately due to having their meals made up in advance and were ready to go. I know we all are busy and sometimes need food quick so this is a great solution. I will tell you that I personally try to stay away from microwaving my food, however of course you are free to do as you please, but recommend reheating food in good old fashion pots & pans.

So here is an example of a healthy eating lifestyle meal schedule:
(Please note meals should never be skipped)

Breakfast- 8:00 am

Light Snack- If necessary between breakfast and lunch. *Keep it no more than 150 calories.

Lunch- 11:00 a.m.

Snack- 2:00 p.m

Dinner- 5:00-6:00 p.m.

Snack- 8:00-9:00 p.m.- Yes, it is ok to eat after six. Your metabolism will keep burning fat if you have food in your body! Just keep this snack 150 calories or less.

Remember, the key to following this is preparing the food in advance!!! I typically made my daily meals and snacks for Monday through Wednesday on Sunday night or early Monday morning and then made Thursday & Friday meals on Wednesday evening. This gave me the weekends to eat out if I wanted to or if I was going to be at events where I certainly couldn’t whip out one of my own meals. The weekends I call “Reward Days”!!! (please don’t call them “cheat days” because that is too negative.)

Reward Days- On the two days you decide to not prepare meals be careful not to over indulge in goodies or the great work you to all week could not benefit you as much. Yes, it is ok to get an ice cream on your rewards day, but then that’s it…meaning eat good the rest of the day. It’s hard being at horse shows without diving into some sweets or some greasy goodness.

So another words on reward days you can satisfy a craving…absolutely, but do so in moderation! If you’re craving pizza, get a slice…A SLICE not 3! But eat well the rest of that day. If on your second rewards day you are craving a doughnut, I say go for it! But once again…JUST ONE! And then eat well the rest of the day.

Eating healthy may seem like a big deal or change, but you are worth it?!? Just give it a shot and try it out. Typically the first three days are the toughest. It’s a known fact that animals take approximately 28-30 consecutive days to learn a new habit…so keep that in mind. Meaning that after the first month this lifestyle will feel not only pretty good but much natural too! And yes, it does take some work, but again I feel it is well worth it to be healthy. You can exercise all day long, but if you are not eating well you are just spinning your wheels and won’t see or feel the difference.

Give it try in good sensible meal portions!

Also, check out “meal ideas” for examples of daily meals.

Tags: Add new tag, eating habits, good eating, healthy eating

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 2nd, 2008 at 8:30 am and is filed under Fitness For Equestrians. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.