Whats for Dinner?


Jul 27, 2021

 by Thomas Sampson
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I want to share a story that I am pretty sure you can relate to. 

Because it’s about … drumroll …

“What’s for dinner?” 

The answer is a never-ending nightly struggle, am I right?!

We make so many decisions every day - and by the time dinner rolls around - it’s like an endless loop trying to figure out what to eat.

For me, this struggle came to a head one night when I was standing in front of the fridge, trying to figure out what to make.

The same way I did almost every single night. 

It wasn’t like I didn’t have any food on hand. I’d even gone grocery shopping over the weekend and stocked up on healthy food.

But everything required work – and time. It involved COOKING.

And honestly, I felt so tired and stressed out by the whole thing. 

I just didn’t feel like making anything. 

So I opened my phone and ordered takeout. Even though I knew it was going to set me back on my goals.

Can you relate? 

Being stuck in that cycle is the WORST … because it’s way too easy to click that Uber Eats button on your phone. 

Sometimes you’re not even sure you WANT to break out of it because it does make your life a little easier. 

But when you look at the big picture…

  • You end up consuming WAY more calories than you wanted to,
  • There’s likely a lot more sodium (and other unwanted ingredients) in your food,
  • And it’s not nearly as nutritious as if you were to make it yourself. 

Here are three things I did to break out of the loop:

  1. I got over the blame game with myself and analyzed why my “meal prep” wasn't working, and why I was ordering so much delivery.

I always had good intentions of spending time prepping on the weekends - but the fact was, it wasn’t always happening. 

So I absolved myself of that task! Which led to:

  1. Spending time “batch cooking” a couple of weeknights. But I didn’t force myself into creating entire meals.

Instead, I spent about an hour on Mondays and Thursdays pre-cooking ingredients: quinoa, rice, potatoes, proteins, (chicken/turkey burgers/etc), and veggies.

This meant I could easily mix-and-match meals for the next few days (for lunch and dinner).

With the right music or podcast playing in the background, I actually started to look forward to doing this.

  1. Here’s where the magic happened! I noticed the link between how I felt (and my results) when I ate home-cooked meals vs. delivery a few times a week.

I had more energy, my stomach felt SO MUCH BETTER (seriously I didn’t even know how much it would affect me), I slept better, and I even had fewer aches and pains. 

After that, it was so much easier to keep up with my batch cooking – AND stay (mostly!) away from the takeout food.

This ultimately not only kept me on track with my goals, but I also saved some $$$ in the process. Love that!

Upgrading your habits isn’t always easy – but it’s not as hard as you think. 

Your results are waiting for you!

Coach Thomas Sampson CFL-3, USAW-2, Sports Nutritionist