Meal Plans

There are many things that we can do to help us eat healthier and lose weight.  One of the easier things is developing meal plans.  Having meal plans helps in so many ways.  Whether you are in need of losing weight or want to be more organized in preparing your family meals, having meal plans are very helpful.

For those people that struggle with needing to lose weight, it seems that food is constantly on the mind.  Having meal plans can help avoid impulsive eating.  If you know in the morning what you are going to have for breakfast lunch and dinner, you can put the thoughts of food out of your mind.  Also by having the meal plans in place you will know the number of calories that you have planned for the day.  This will help you decide if you have calories left over for snacks between the planned meals.

Meal plans done in advance help to make grocery shopping easier.  First sit down and plan the meals that are eaten together as a family.  Make a list of ingredients needed to make the meal plans.  Now check what you already have in your pantry and freezer.  Add the ingredients that you need to your grocery list.  By spending a few extra minutes preparing the meal plans you can get everything you need for the week in one trip to the grocery store.  This saves in many areas.  The fewer trips you have to make to the grocery store the less money you will spend.  Lets face it whenever you run into the grocery store to pick up a couple of items, a couple more items seem to find their way into the cart, and these are often things that are not really needed.  Also when you are trying to lose weight trips to the grocery store are often temptations to cheat on your diet.  This is especially true if you are entering the grocery store when you are hungry.   If you stop and pick up an item that you forgot in your meal plans at a convenience store, you will be paying two to three times what you pay in the grocery store.  Also by limiting the number of extra trips to the grocery you save on gas for your vehicle.

Meal plans are easy to develop and can be done with in put from the family.  This way if the meal plans include an item that a family member enjoys making they can be in charge for that meal.  Meal plans are a small organizational tool that saves time and money.  The meal plans also help the dieter stay on course.

Helpful links:

http://www.changingshape.com/dietandnutrition/mealplans/
http://www.meals.com/