"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." - Benjamin Franklin
Housekeeping from last week...
The whole discussion of progress vs. perfection drew quite a few email comments. Most centered around plateauing or even taking a few steps backward in your efforts. TOTALLY NORMAL. As I've said many times, getting the necessary information is not the hard part.
The hard part is doing the same thing over and over to achieve a level of consistency to hit your goals. I will work a bit harder in the future to expand on how I've been able to do that. Which is a great setup for our discussion today- Preparation!
Preparation
Now I've been known to ramble at times and this week will be no different. But I promise you there's a reason. Lunchboxes have always been an important accessory in my life. And never would I have imagined that a lunchbox would be so important to me in my 50's.
Early in my grade school days, I had a prized possession- none other than a metal lunchbox painted to match my favorite TV show, Speed Racer. Now a brown paper bag would prove to work just fine, but a cool lunchbox was such a status symbol to a 7 or 8-year-old kid.
One day I may or may not have accidentally (possibly and slightly on purpose) hit a female classmate of mine with my lunchbox. As I made my escape, the heel of my platform, disco shoe slid on the asphalt sending me skidding across the playground.
As I lay there in a heap of skinned extremities and tattered bell-bottom action slacks, my classmate caught up with me and proceeded to crack me over the head with my Speed Racer lunchbox. Not a day goes by where I don't wish the technology of lunchboxes today would have been around in the 70's.
Enter the "soft-sided" Columbia Lunchbox. I could have used such a forgiving fabric back in the mid 1970's. This vessel is part of my person on a daily basis when I leave the house for work. It is almost as important as my car keys.
There is much to learn about gut health. But it doesn't take rocket science to figure out the basics. What it does require though is some prior planning. This piece of equipment will go a long way to meeting your goals. Stay tuned.
My Routine
Before we start, let's stipulate to some more facts. Let's assume we know what foods we need to build and maintain a healthy gut. This is important, but almost as important is having the desired foods accessible. I do 3 things that directly impact how successful I'll be on a daily basis; shop for my gut, cook/ meal plan for my gut, and pack for my gut.
We can split these activities into weekly and daily tasks.
Weekly Stuff
If you can get into a habit of finding some time during your week to long-range plan for the week, life becomes so much easier. Chances are you're already doing it (or someone in your household is doing it). The trick is to incorporate your gut health into the planning process.
Shop. Start with a list before you head to the grocery store. I imagine the alarm clock going off and thinking about what I need to eat for the day to hit my goals for fermented foods and fiber. For me, I use the 3-meal and 2-snack setup for a typical day. Do what works best for you.
Some of what enters into my calculus here relies on my experiences as a diabetic. The danger zone for me is allowing myself to go too long between meals and getting "hangry". Snacks will help tremendously in this fight.
I don't know about you, but when I get hungry, I reach for the closest food I can get my hands on. And if you're not prepared, enter the vending machine, the drive-thru, or the candy jar. (foreshadowing-the lunchbox can help!)
When you're on the shopping list patrol, be sure to include items for snacks, fruit, nuts, healthy protein or nut bars, some dark chocolate, etc. These items will be a lifesaver when it comes to staying on track.
Then I focus on meals and how I want to structure my day. Good protein sources, good fresh fruit and vegetables, and good fats are how I build meal ideas. Within these groups, I pepper in my fermented foods and fiber goals.
Some staples on my shopping list that always make the cut? Greek yogurt and cottage cheese, wild blueberries and every other affordable berry I can find (don't forget frozen is great!), bell peppers, Brussel sprouts, carrots, mixed greens, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, almonds, and plenty of hand fruit (pears, apples, bananas- green especially, and beans are all mainstays.
Then I get a variety of items that serve a specific goal. An example would be avocado to crush good fats. I made 54 trips around the sun before I started to eat plain avocado (plain means adding salt, pepper, some garlic, or hot sauce). Another item would be small potatoes to boil, cool, then crush for resistant starch. You'll have your own favorites for sure.
Bottom line here- have a plan and stock your shelves and pantries with food that takes you closer to your goals. If you don't, the results won't lie.
Meal Plan/ Cook- For me, a couple things that come to mind in this arena are black bean soups, varieties of hummus, boiled potatoes, protein-dense entrees like roasts, chicken breast, etc. And if you're fermenting on your own, weekly time to do this is crucial!
Time-intensive foods that probably won't fit into a hectic weeknight schedule can be knocked out at one time on a Sunday watching football or a good Hallmark movie!
Setting some time aside to meal plan makes life so much easier and better equips you to handle the ever-changing demands on your time. The goal here is not to become robotic in your preparations. It's to expect the unexpected and have good sources of nutrition at the ready.
Daily Stuff
Pack- I saved the best for last. Enter the lunchbox! My lunchbox is loaded from top to bottom every morning, usually with my wife rolling her eyes close by- "How the hell do you eat all that in one day!"
The goal for me is to get through the workday and make it home for dinner without completely trashing my dietary goals. I eat breakfast before leaving of course and dinner at home in the evening. Everything else goes in the lunchbox.
It usually consists of Greek yogurt with fruit or cottage cheese, fresh greens with my fermented honey vinegarette, fresh fruit, vegetables to include frozen Brussel sprouts, a nut mixture, some other fermented offerings, kefir, sauerkraut, pickles, and a protein bar or snack bar of some sort.
And the lunchbox is returned empty.
This routine has resulted in more gains for me than probably anything else. Consistency is the most important part of meeting goals, especially when it comes to nutrition. Planning ahead is a superpower. The more you plan, the less chance there will be for trips to the vending machines, drive-thrus, and candy jars.
As I've been known to say this before about gut health- it isn't sexy, but man it works. BE PREPARED!
Next week- For gut health, fiber is very important to our bacteria. How the hell does fiber actually work once it's in your body?
Thanks for reading,
Jeff
