by Stacey Valley, Miss October 2015

You know the old adage: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Well, that certainly applies to eating healthy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that only 13 percent of Americans eat the recommended daily allowance of fruit (1 ½ – 2 cups a day), and less than 9 percent eat enough vegetables (2-3 cups a day).

Additionally, according to Wikipedia, the U.S. accounts for more than a third of the global pharmaceutical market yet we are ranked 33rd on Bloomberg’s ranking of healthiest countries. Something is wrong with this picture.  

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” — Hippocrates

There are many reasons to eat healthily; mine are family-oriented. I’m an old momma of young children. In fact, I will be 65 years old when my youngest graduates high school. I want to do everything I can to stay healthy and enjoy these years with my kiddos.

Recently I started meal planning and food prepping. I plan my meals that I take to work for the week (breakfast, lunch and snacks) and prep them in advance on Saturday or Sunday. I like to make dinner fresh each night. Chopping and cooking after a day in the office is therapeutic for me, so dinner is not included in my food prep usually.

I start my meal plan with my recommended daily allowance of fruits and veggies. This single idea is both the secret to my success while contrasting the way I was raised where the meal revolves around the meat. I still eat meat, chicken, and fish, but it’s not the focus of my meal. Breakfast lately is baked oatmeal cups with blueberries and bananas. I love them! I pack baby carrots and hummus for an afternoon snack. Zucchini noodles (aka zoodles) topped with a little pesto are also a new favorite. I bake several sweet potatoes and sprinkle them with cinnamon. Mason jar salads are fun and easy to make in advance.

It takes practice to meal prep. The first time I did it, it took all afternoon. But now I can crank it out in a couple of hours. Planning is key. Give it a try, and then tell me how it went. And eat your veggies!