Your family deserves this! - A healthy dinner every day.
As many recipes, food pictures, and videos I post on my Instagram (@gigis.light) and as many fruits and veggies as my family eats, I get a ton of questions about how I manage to cook as often as I do.
What most people wonder is "Do you clean and cut all your veggies and fruits yourself?", "How often do you cook?" "How do you make time?" and so on.
It seems unbelievable to many that I cooked dinner almost every night (unless we ate leftovers), some people also found it surprising that we barely went out to eat. I think it wasn't' until COVID happened that most people realized they could survive without eating out all the time.
No matter how busy you are, I challenge you to eat a wholesome, healthy dinner every night, especially if you have some healthy lifestyle goals that you are hoping to achieve.
Here are the things that have worked for me, and helped me make healthy meals for my family daily.
1. Find your WHY? - Most motivational speakers talk about finding your Why, whether you want to start a business, lose weight, or accomplish anything significant in life. This applies to eat healthily as well. For example, one of my biggest reasons why I'd rather eat a home-cooked meal is that I am very picky about what is used in my food, and you probably should be too if you want to lose weight, or if you have any health conditions that you'd like to improve.
Most restaurants use cheap ingredients to cut costs and maximize profits; they also use processed foods; they buy in bulk, so most foods have preservatives in them to last longer, and lastly, many food workers may not be as clean as you would expect them to be.
So my desire to eat, mostly plant-based, wholesome, natural foods, and to know what is in my diet is one of my Whys. My other Why is to train myself, but especially my family, to get used to the lifestyle of eating homecooked meals rather than creating a habit of eating out all the time.
What is your Why? Perhaps saving money? Getting better at cooking? Knowing that a home-cooked meal is usually healthier than taking out? Losing weight? Whatever it is, pinpoint it and always think about that before you order your next take out or go through a drive-through.
2. Change your MINDSET. You have time, and you can do it! The stories we tell ourselves, ultimately becomes what we believe, what we manifest and make our reality. If you keep telling yourself, "There's no way I can make dinner frequently, I am too busy, I can't cook, the kids won't eat it, etc. etc." Then guess what, you will manifest and experience all of that.
I know someone who always said she couldn't lose weight because it was genetic, and her whole family was overweight. After mindset coaching and changing her bad eating habits, she is currently 40 pounds lighter than she used to be. She was able to achieve her success because she stopped telling her self it was genetic and made an effort to lose weight. If you are interested in my coaching services and getting in my Healthy Body Program, send me an email at Myhealth@healthylightlife.com.
Changing your mindset means changing the self-talk. Begin proclaiming that "A healthy dinner is better and is possible.", "I can make time to cook." "My family and I will have a good family time when we cook together and eat together." when you change the story, you change the outcome. Try it.
What are your priorities, and what have you made priority in your life? This is a thought-provoking question that creates a shift in mindset. If you can honestly answer that question, your breakthrough will come!
Because many times the things people say are a priority to them are not the things, they've made a priority in their lives. For example, you can't spend hours watching reality tv shows and turn around to say you have no time to cook—that was your time when you sat on the couch and watched TV for hours. Or when you chatted on the phone for hours and didn't even think to multi-task.
If you want to feed your family with good food, put in some good time, doing that. If you have to sacrifice, social media, TV, and phone time, then that's what you do.
3. PREPARE - As much as military prepare for war, prepare!
I was born in a small West African country Ghana. Some years ago, the soccer team from humble Ghana beat the US men's soccer team. The next time those two teams met the US soccer team this time beat Ghana mercilessly. I don't remember the number of goals, but it was a big win for the US. and when the coach was asked how they did it, he said, "we were prepared for them this time." And when he went into detail, you knew right away it was no joke type of preparation. The US team studied every member of the Ghana soccer team, knew everything about them, especially regarding how they played and their skill set.
So, if making daily healthy meals is kicking your "derriere," then study the patterns that cause you to lose and change them.
For me, my most significant preparation is shopping for the foods I will be making ahead of time. Typically every weekend, I go to the farmers market. I don't usually have a list anymore unless I am going to be making something I don't typically make.
However, I recommend having a list. keeping these things in mind:
what are we eating for breakfast? Then make a list of all the items you need to have all the ingredients for breakfast on your menu available at home. Do the same with lunch and dinner. So basically, make the menu first, then go out and get the ingredients needed. Click here to download a sample dinner menu.
Having the ingredients readily available will motivate you to cook, and knowing that you don't want to throw them out because you didn't use them may also motivate you.
Your most significant preparation maybe to wash and cut your produce if you bought fresh fruit and veggies as I do. I am not against cut and frozen vegies either; they are time-saving, convenient, and healthy as well.
I do prefer fresh produce, but sometimes I end up freezing after cutting because I don't want them to spoil.
Lastly, in preparation, always think a day or at least 12 hours ahead of what your family is eating that day or for dinner. We don't eat chicken, turkey, or beef, but if we did, I would take the chicken out the night before, or the morning of so it can thaw.
Once your products are prepped and ready to go, and protein is unfrozen, cooking becomes a lot easier. Just pick your dinner recipe for that day, and follow the steps.
If you'd like some recipe ideas from me, please click this link.
4. HELP is your FRIEND. - Let me keep it real as usual and just say that many times I feel overwhelmed by all the things I have to do. But I have made a decision that I don't like to feel overwhelmed, that I don't want to feel overwhelmed, so I will not feel overwhelmed. So whenever the overwhelming feeling begins to creep up, I have found ways to make it disappear.
First, I use the word of God; I ask myself what the bible says about being busy, getting rest, etc. I find related devotional plans in the bible app, and I pray. I then keep meditating on the word and repeating it to myself like a mantra, to get me through.
The next thing I do is break down my to-do list and take things one at a time based on its priority level. After that, I typically do a check-in at the end of the day or week to recognize the things I did accomplish, I get my gratitude going and clap for myself at this time. Knowing how to help yourself is helpful and effective.
But the best thing I have done is talking to my loved ones --- spouse, kids, mom, on how I feel, and how they can help me. The last part is essential because many times, we assume our spouses or kids know what to do, but they don't.
It is up to us, the moms, the doer of all, the thinker for all, the default to all questions. The picker-upper, the food maker, the homeschooler, the everything! It is up to us to spell out the help we need in all areas, but especially when it comes to cooking.
I have decided to break the status of quo African men being raised outside the kitchen and thinking that cooking is for girls, so I spend a lot of time with my boys in the kitchen. They are there to help mommy, but also to learn how to cook.
When hubby is home, I find ways to keep him as close to the kitchen as possible when I am cooking, so I can spend more time with him and also ask for his help when I need it, even if it means just grabbing something out of the fridge or the pantry for me.
The TAKE AWAY ( and I don't mean pick up take-away)
Cooking a healthy meal every day is not as daunting as it seems, especially when you realize that it starts with you. It's a decision you have to make, based on your WHY, if it's important to you for your family to eat healthily.
Once you have that significant reason, The next thing is to change your mindset about how challenging achieving this goal can be. Because the truth is that if you prioritize correctly, you will be able to achieve this goal.
Preparation is vital; always having your ingredients prepped ahead of time will save you time and motivate you to cook.
And knowing how to help yourself, and ask for help will save your life, literally.