Just like laundry and dishes, meal preparation is also a necessity of life.  For those of us with CI, it is extremely important for us to eat healthy, well-balanced meals within the plan either laid out by your medical professional or a plan that is a result of  your own research as to what is best for your body’s special needs.  Personally, I do a combination of both of these.

Through the years of raising kiddos and being ill, I have discovered just a few tricks to make it a bit easier for me, because no matter how you do it, meal preparation takes a lot energy.

First, I keep it simple.  Yep, I love looking through magazines with beautiful pictures of healthy foods laid out on the glossy pages and for a split second I think………..maybe I could try that.  Ha!  if it has more than 6 ingredients, it isn’t worth my energy to even rip the page out of my magazine and save for later because realistically it just won’t happen.  I must keep each meal as simple as possible; a combination of protein and carbs and a healthy fat……..heavy on the complex carbs if at all possible.

Two, as I have mentioned in a previous post, if  I am making something that can be frozen, I make two and save one for later.  Foods such as stir-fry, meatloaf, burritos, and meatballs can be easily frozen and ready to eat at another time.  On bad days, who doesn’t love knowing there is home-cooked food in the freezer for your next meal.

Three, I am drinking more smoothies for breakfast.  Simple, fast, nutritious and everyone in my family loves them.

Four, I do not have a weekly/monthly meal plan.  I gave it the good ‘ol college try and realized it maybe be helpful for some people but it just wasn’t for me. It was another one of my attempts to follow what works for others resulting in me feeling like a failure because I couldn’t keep a simple meal plan.  Sometimes I just didn’t feel like eating what was on the menu that week and some days I felt so poorly that food in general just made me ill.  That is when I established number five.

Five, I keep several meals worth of  pre-packaged frozen food in my freezer.  I attempt to buy as healthful as possible, but these are there in case I just can’t do it – you know the days.

And last but not least is number six.  I purchase a much fresh produce as my budget will allow.  That way there are apples, bananas, carrots, celery, cucumbers……….you get the picture, to eat when family members are hungry.

That’s it.  We all need to eat and the healthier the better.  But, remember, you can only do what you can do.  There are days when I look upon a drive thru as the 8th wonder of the world.

Until next time…………….YOU are a super hero, no matter what you eat!