"Health is a Lifestyle"
Nutritional S-T-A-P-L-E's I’m going to help you create healthy nutritional staples using the acronym S-T-A-P-L-E. S – Start your day with a Staple. Most people wake up, take a shower, get dressed, rush off to work and leave breakfast in their dust. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and creating a healthy staple in the morning takes out the guess work. It’s like laying out your cloths the night before so that you don’t have to create a outfit in the morning, it cuts back on time and you’re still on time for work. T – Time to prepare your staple. If a nutritional staple isn’t practical it will be a struggle to keep up. The less time it takes to create the meal/snack the better. Some nutritional staples take no prep time at all to create. An example would be fruit that doesn’t require chopping, just grab and eat! A – Accessibility of food. If you have to drive across town to the whole foods store to get a particular item to prepare your staple, it’s not going to last long. It can be as simple as placing the almonds in the back of the pantry. Nobody wants to go on a “search and rescue” mission to find the almonds; they’ll just grab the bag of chips that are in the front of the pantry. Put the chips in the trash and the almonds in the front to make the healthy option accessible. If a certain fruit requires chopping and it is in the refrigerator un-chopped it will probably remain that way. This is the main reason people waste so much produce. You can fix this wasteful problem by developing a “Shop and Chop” habit where you wash and pre-chop all fruits and vegetables when you get home from the grocery store. “A” can also stand for AFFORDABLE. If the food items are too expensive, the staple will not last or the staple may come once a week or twice a month. P – Plan for success. Once you find healthy, quick meals and snacks that you want to use as staples in your nutritional plan you need to develop a plan of action. Answer the following questions when developing your plan; How do I make sure the items used to create the staples are accessible? What meals do I plan to replace with the staples? How will I prepare the staples so that they are easily accessible? Are my choices for nutritional staples healthy? L – Less is More. When creating your nutritional staple, make sure it is the correct portion, because you can have too much of a good thing. Make sure that your snacks do not exceed 200 Calories and meals do not exceed 500 calories. The goal is that the staple gives you the energy and nutrition that your body needs, but with a small caloric footprint. If it is a healthy staple it should be full of nutrients that promote good health and wellbeing. A staple should also be as natural as possible. No processed foods, refined sugars or foods with harsh additives that can lead to health problems in the future. E - Energize your body. A tell all sign that your nutritional staple is beneficial, is your energy level. About 10-20 minutes after your eat your healthy meal or snack check for your energy level. If you feel sluggish or lackadaisical after your meal or snack this is a red flag. Of course the way you feel is affected by many different factors so don’t dismiss the staple after feeling sluggish one time. Observe you energy level over the course of the week and if the sluggish feeling is consistent, then it may be time to change the staple. Staples should promote a high level of energy and productive behavior. Every body is different, so a good nutritional staple for one person doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for everyone. Nutritional staples or nutritional habits have a huge affect on your overall health. It’s time to take a closer look at the current nutritional staples in your life and determine if they are leading you towards a healthier future. If not, you are left with a choice, hold on to the poor nutritional habits and face the consequences when they come or dismiss the habit and choose health. The choice is yours…
Every morning you stop by McDonalds and get a sausage, egg and cheese McMuffin with a large coffee and hash browns. If that was an everyday meal that is pre-determined and habitual, that would be considered a nutritional staple. Nutritious staple…NO, but stable indeed. The problem is that most people have unhealthy staples imbedded in their everyday nutrition and eat healthy on rare or random occasions. Creating healthy staples makes eating healthy practical. I personally don’t know anyone who wakes up in the morning and creates a random healthy nutritional layout for the day. If you were to look at the nutritional journal of Nutritionists, Dietitians, Doctors, Personal Trainers, or Health Coaches (that are in good health) you would notice that there is nothing random about their nutrition. You would see some of the same meals day in and day out, nutritional staples that lead to good health and well being.
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