3 Ways a Dietitian Helps Clients With Meal Planning

When many of us think of meal planning, the first thing that might come to mind is all three meals and snacks thoroughly planned and mapped out with a full fridge of carefully measured and organized meals prepped for the week. For many of us, this could work, and this could be the meal planning approach you take. But it could also be too intensive and time-consuming for many and only work for a short time. We can meal plan many ways; the key is figuring out which approach will work with our lifestyle and for long-term success. Here are a few ways a dietitian can help with meal planning:

 

1. A dietitian can help you navigate different strategies and guide you through a few different approaches to meal planning that might work for you. For example, you may like variety with dinners but are ok with having repetition in other meals. Maybe you don’t feel you need to plan for breakfast because your breakfast is always the same. Or perhaps lunches are your leftovers from dinner, keeping things simple. The point here is that everyone is different, and there are many different strategies to try. A dietitian can help you identify what will work for you.
2. Behaviour change is hard, and it is crucial to make small, realistic changes for long-term success, including meal planning. A dietitian can help guide you to focus on 1 or 2 meals at a time to slowly work up to planning more extensively (for example, the entire week of meals). This approach can be essential for long-term success without feeling overwhelmed with our goals. If we dive in too quickly and meal plan everything all at once from the start, we risk not maintaining this long-term.
3. Lastly, a dietitian can help ensure the meals you are planning are balanced and nutritionally complete. If you are doing the work to plan out your meals, it makes sense to put in the extra effort to make sure these are balanced to support your overall health and wellness. Suppose you are living with a health condition, like diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure, for example. In that case, it is important to consider how these conditions may influence food choices to support overall health. A dietitian will consider these factors while supporting meal planning.

 

 

My Viva Plan is an excellent digital meal planning tool that provides a fully customizable meal plan. It will help guide you through meal balance and provides an option to ‘focus’ on certain meals to help with long-term change. Depending on your health conditions and interest, you can choose a wellness journey that coaches you weekly through the process.

 

By

Katrina DuBois

– Registered Dietitian (Nutritionist)