Meals Matter
Meals Matter
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The Meals Matter Blog offers advice and tips on using a positive and realistic approach for meal planning, healthy eating, feeding families and fitness. Posts are written by registered dietitians, staff and guest bloggers of the Dairy Council of California.
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Even a well-defined health goal can be fraught with barriers. For example, you get home from work and your intent is to take a 30 minute walk in the neighborhood. However, when you get home the house is so cold that you don’t want to change into your walking clothes. While you are waiting for the house to warm up, you sit down at the computer or TV and by the time your house or apartment has warmed up too much time as elapsed to take the walk and you now need to start preparing dinner.
How might you overcome this barrier? Have your walking clothes and shoes laid out on your bed before you leave for work. Have a space heater in your room that you can turn on while you change. Make sure your walking shoes are also nearby. This simple plan could be enough to get you walking after work more often.
Many of us want to cook healthy meals more often yet for a variety of reasons fall short of this goal. The first step is to examine the barriers that are holding you back. Is your kitchen usually messy and the prospect of cleaning it before you begin cooking a barrier? Or, is your dining room table piled high with clutter so you end up eating in front of the TV in spite of your desire to turn the TV off and eat at the table? Or, is the problem that you rarely have enough food in your pantry and you don’t have enough time to both shop and cook dinner? These are common issues.
A good place to start is conducting a family meeting to brainstorm solutions. Behaviors that could increase success include:
- Emptying the dishwasher before you go to work
- Having your children clean the kitchen before you get home
- Finding another place to store the incoming mail or recycle junk mail before lands in a pile on the kitchen counter. The public library has books on how to reduce clutter and organize your home. Treat yourself to a night at the library to research ideas that might work for you.
- Plan a few menus for the coming week and shop on the weekend. This will eliminate trips to the store. The time spent menu planning helps save time later in the week.
Achieving a healthier lifestyle is a worthy goal. Begin the New Year exploring ways to achieve your health goals. Planning small achievable goals, while anticipating and planning solutions for possible barriers, will help you achieve the results you desire.
Maureen Bligh, M.A., R.D.
Dairy Council of California