Weekly Meal Planning Makes Eating Healthy Easy

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jessica Condit
  • 19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. --  March is Nutrition Awareness Month and military members and health professionals at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., are emphasizing the importance of healthy eating. While healthy eating is ideal, sometimes it is difficult to do without ensuring you have decided before hand what you are going to make. Weekly meal planning has helped may Airmen achieve their healthy eating goals.
 
According to the Military Health System, weekly meal planning has many advantages to Airmen such as improving their physical fitness, minimizing stress, and adding money back to their budget. Learning how to shop for and plan weekly meals also allows for healthier food options while minimizing food preparation times.

The process of weekly meal planning also encourages people to stick to a plan and avoid eating fast food and ready-made meals. These meals are often loaded with fat, sodium and preservatives, making them an unhealthy choice. Regularly eating fast food or ready-made meals can lead to high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and weight gain. Such foods can make you feel sluggish and ultimately result in more visits to the doctor.

Health specialists associated with the Military Health System also say that taking the time to preplan your meals for the week by finding inspiration from healthy cookbooks like those from Operation Live Well, can be fun and involve the entire family. Asking your children to select a vegetable-based side dish for your entree may help encourage them to try new foods, particularly if they can help prepare the dish.

Military Health System writers suggest challenging yourself to find recipes that use some basic healthy ingredients, so you can make the most meals with the fewest resources. They also suggest selecting recipes that can be made in advance. For instance, you could make a healthy chili during the weekend, and on the day you eat it, all you have to do is add a vegetable side dish or simple salad.

Preplanning your weekly meals will help provide focus to your shopping list, said Erika Christ, a writer contributor to the Military Health System. She also said that visits to the commissary, local grocery store or farmers market will become more efficient, and you will be less likely to make impulse buys. Most importantly, you can select healthier, low-fat and low-sodium items.

"When it comes to weight management and fitness goals, you are less likely to overeat, miss meals or eat foods with low nutritional quality when you plan your meals," said Jill Hinsley, a 19th Medical Group nutrition specialist and certified dietician. "You are also more likely to meet financial goals when you plan meals by clipping coupons, avoiding impulse purchases, and avoiding eating out excessively."

Planning out meals and creating a weekly shopping list reduces the number of times you will need to make spontaneous shopping trips for ingredients. It also means saving money from eating out less according to the Military Health System.

Hinsley reminds us that healthy recipe suggestions are abundant on various food blogs and websites such as Pinterest. Hinsley also suggests using the Health and Wellness Center's collection of healthy recipe ideas at www.pinterest.com/lrafbhawc and the Little Rock AFB HAWC Facebook page.

The daily evening quandary of what to do for dinner will be a distant memory. All you need to do is pull out your recipe and the ingredients you need, and prepare your meal. Best of all, you will know that you are contributing to your family's health.

For more information on Operation Live Well, visit www.health.mil.