Reclaiming Meal Prepping
I’ve always associated meal planning & prepping with diet culture. It was for people who counted calories and/or macros, a way for dieters to control their portions and themselves. Or it was for the people who lived in the gym and needed 6 small (exactly the same) meals throughout the day. You know the ones, the lunchbox with six compartments holding their chicken, brown rice and plain broccoli. These are disordered behaviors around food.
But since leaving that world, I’ve found that meal prepping is actually a really great tool within Intuitive Eating as well. Anticipating your hunger needs and having a plan to nourish yourself is a very healthy behavior.
There are many benefits to meal planning/prepping that have nothing to do with dieting, controlling/restricting food intake, or body size!
For one, it saves time around meals. When you take the time to do things like wash and prep vegetables, cook and slice meat, hard boil eggs, cook a large batch of rice and/or pasta, etc. your time spent in the kitchen when it’s time to prepare meals is significantly reduced.
Meal prepping can also save money. When you’ve got a preplanned menu for the week, and some prepped snacks, you typically spend less at the grocery story and tend to eat out less.
Having that meal plan, and some meal prepping already done for sure saves some mental energy when life gets busy. Instead of having to figure out supper after a long day, you know what meal is planned, and have some of the work already prepped. That feels so much better than scrambling to decide, prep and prepare something last minute when you’re tired and ready for a mental break.
And speaking of life getting busy, having a meal plan and prepping done helps prevent skipping meals and ending up hangry! If you can grab a snack you prepped earlier in the week when you feel that afternoon slump, you’re less likely to snap at your coworkers. :)
Meal planning can save time, money and mental energy for sure, BUT we all know that LIFE HAPPENS. It’s totally ok to throw out your meal plan and grab takeout instead when you need or want to. No guilt, no shame, just flexibility! That’s FREEDOM, instead of restriction.
So if you’re ready to reclaim meal prepping from diet culture, ask yourself two things:
What’s your motivation for meal prepping - is it saving time, money, and mental energy?
Can you release the need to control food intake/portions?
Can you build in guilt-free flexibility for when life happens?
If yes, go for it!
*I want to acknowledge the privilege of being able to meal prep. I understand that many do not have the means to do so.