Preparing Healthful Meals, Part 2 (Healthy Living DIY)

In the previous article, we left off talking about the resistance that some of us have to preparing healthful meals. I think most people meet up with this stuff in our lives from time to time. I know I do.

Just last night, for example, I was out late at a meeting. It was around 8 pm as I headed home for dinner. That little voice in the back of my head started right in. "Why not just run in the drive through. It's been forever since you've done that. You can get away with it once in a while, you know. Go on. It'll be easier & quicker than finding something at home."

You've got a voice like that too, I assume. Its arguments may be different than mine are, but regardless, things occasionally come up. Fortunately, last night the other side chimed in next. It reminded me that I'd be much better off choosing something at home, which I did.

It's helpful if you know your own vulnerabilities ahead of time. That way you can develop strategies for dealing with them. Mine usually run toward the "quicker and easier" variety, as you've just heard. One of my strategies is to keep a serving of something cooked and easy to thaw in the freezer for "emergencies." Last night I raided my stash.

The other common piece of logic we identified last time was the one that goes "cooking is too much work; it's best left to others." Since I actually like cooking that one doesn't usually grab me. We've each got our favorites!

Today we'll explore two more common ways people talk themselves out of preparing the kind of delicious, fresh, healthful meals that could otherwise bring nutrition and enjoyment into our lives!

Faulty thought pattern #3: Cooking is old fashioned.

What you hear in the privacy of your own mind: "Cooking was great for the old-timers. It's probably got some historical value. Sure, it's too bad we've lost some of the old ways (like making fire with 2 sticks). But come on. Nobody does that any more. We've gotta keep with the times!"

How it rates on the faulty scale: I'll have to identify this comment as a personal opinion. I am all for keeping with the times when new innovations represent a qualitative improvement over the cumbersome way things had been done in the past. (Say, this computer I'm typing on.) However when the topic is something that's been done a certain way with excellent results for thousands of years and the "new" way represents a qualitative decline, I'll think twice before pitching a basic, successful strategy (like preparing whole foods from scratch).

Faulty thought pattern #4: A large corporation that specializes in prepared foods is more qualified to prepare my food than I am.

What you hear in the privacy of your own mind: "I trust that the 'experts' know what they're doing better than some dude off the street."

A note of explanation. It's lately come to my attention that we've got a whole population of folks out there who trust their box mixes to provide better nutrition than an artful combination of fresh ingredients. Who trust McFood from a drive-through more than they'd trust Grandpa at the barbeque grill. To some readers, this may sound preposterous. Yet strange as it may sound, if you look at your life carefully, you may find yourself applying the same logic to ... oh, say pasturized dairy products versus "fresh from the cow."

How it rates on the faulty scale: As I once heard Tom Brown Jr. advise, when in doubt, look to nature. If your scenario occurs in nature, you can be pretty well advised it's not a mistake. I've never seen a boxed dinner mix show up unaided in nature. I have seen the cow.

Today's take home: It never hurts to question why you believe what you think you believe!

In the next article, we'll "wrap" this topic with an exploration of 4 personal resources you can count on to get great meals on the table for yourself and your family!

Elizabeth Eckert can help you explore how simple everyday choices create health — or undermine even the best of intentions. With a background that ranges from energy medicine to structural bodywork to developmental psychology, this "Stick-To-It Coach" has the experience to support you in creating the healthiest possible expression of — you!

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