Meal Prep for optimal performance & Sustained energy
You might be thinking - meal prep seems tedious, a struggle to fit in my weekly schedule, why don’t I just make a meal at the beginning of the day? Let me tell you - it’s a game changer! From my personal experience, it has become a handy habit before those long (physical) days of work. Every time I eat from my meal prep kits, I want to thank myself for making my life much easier!
In today’s blog, I will be outlining the benefits of meal prepping, how to optimize your current weekly schedule and show implementable steps to make your life easier.
What are the benefits of meal prepping?
Taking a chunk of time to prepare most meals for the week means you free up more time! How? No need to think of takeouts, going to the shops.
Less food waste! Think about the last time you bought random ingredients for one meal and didn’t use up everything.
It saves you money because you’re buying ingredients you’ll use for multiple meals, especially since protein prices are on the rise!
Less stress- you know you get to go home to a fully cooked home-made meal.
Planning your meals ahead means securing the balance of macronutrients (carbs, proteins and fat). This is super important in supporting overall energy levels, muscle growth and recovery.
How do I get meal prepping into my current week?
Choose a free day you know you have a few hours to spare. Plan, schedule and commit to this day.
Find recipes that you love eating all the time, group them up based on ingredients. Do they all have chicken? Do they all have common vegetables? Perfect.
Individually for each recipe, look at what you can add based on macros. Not enough protein? Add some chickpeas. Not enough veg? Add your faves on top.
(Remember: We don’t want to take away food to be healthy. It’s about adding nutritional value e.g more vegetables. Less is not MORE for your body)
Now buy those ingredients in the grocery store! Enough for the week only- no food waste here!
Cook or prepare or batchcook most components.
It might be you cook it all fully, and freeze them in containers.
You might cook all ingredients, but separate individual ingredients in containers.
You might do all the marinade and cooking, but then assemble it freshly cooked on
The day you want to eat.
This is a great opportunity to focus on portion control, and loading up on those veggies!
Don’t forget to:
Let food cool before storing
Store it in airtight containers for the fridge or freezer
This is your week, your schedule - you decide to what extent you want to finish preparation. Either way, your future self will thank you for the organisation. For me, securing that nutrition is really important for muscle recovery and performance. I recommend focusing on protein and combining proper nutrition with massage for optimal recovery.
Meal prep will take time, it’s a habit and commitment. So try doing 1 week of meal prep once a month, and gradually increase it. You won’t get it all perfect the first time, but it’s really your future that will reap all benefits! It’s self care that leads to less stress, less food, less money wasted!
So to summarise:
Use meal prep to cook your favorite meals, but with consideration of balanced nutrition and protein
Eating these meals everyday can really amplify results during massage therapy or during busy days of work
View it as self care and slow yourself into it.
Wishing you health and good food!
Cheers,
Nina
Owner of ATL Therapeutic Massage
