I have taken a little hiatus lately, and wanted to come back to the drawing board so to speak. I wanted to “get out there” in social media an in order to do that, I wanted to do a little research and here is what I learned:
There are a bizmillion (and no, I do not think I am exagerating) websites out there about food, and great ones that teach people how to meal plan. There are almost as many aps out there to assist with grocery shopping, grocery lists and sale items in local stores. To navigate through all of these sites, blogs and aps it is absolutely facinating for me, but the light bulb went off when I went to see my most recent client. She and I had set up a plan, a meal planning strategy if you will, that would assist her to get dinner on the table in a short period of time and meals that would meet all the nutritional requirements for her entire family. 1 week in: “Carolynne, this is awesome and it works!” 1 month in: “Carolynne I fell off the wagon, I don’t know what happened. But look at all this meal planning stuff I found on the internet!” Literally, she had found 5 different meal planning strategies that she wanted to adapt with the one that I had given to her, but that didn’t work either. She was lost and back to square one.
With all the information out there at everybody’s fingertips, why are people still struggling? Why are families telling me that they still have no time? Why do we surf the internet for an abundance of data to try to help us, only to fail over and over again?
OK, so here is my thought…
I love to plan. I love to cook. I love to cook new recipes and I love to look at and incorporate new recipies into my weekly meal plans. I love to create a shopping list and I love to shop by the flyers and save oodles of money each week. I believe that this is my gift, and this is the gift that I have chosen to share with others. I can pick and choose what I know will work for me. I can navigate through all the recipes, plans and strategies and know that my life will be easier by implementing “that”, whatever “that” happens to be.
There are several people out there that read the information, navigate through it, and struggle with the implementation part of the strategy. It is not a question of commitment. It is challenging and habit changing. And we all know that habits are incredibly challenging to change.
So what is the solution?
Think of this as a paralel to fitness training. We all have the best of intentions, right? We all want to be healthy, watch what we eat and exercise. In reality, how many of us make the commitment to get to the gym each week? What is the solution? A personal trainer. It creates a relationship where people are now accountable to get to the gym because now, they have a standing appointment. Now they have asked for someone to commit to their goals and stick with them until they are accomplished.
As a personal meal coach, this is the same philosophy. My clients make a commitment to me and we build the relationship based on goals, strategies to acheive these goals and of course, what does success look like?!
Need help? Want a coach that will get you committed to a strategy that is personalized and that will work for you? Drop by www.easybite.ca and check it out.
By the way, I am going to try a new recipe. You try too and let me know how it works for you!
Peasant Style Chicken Primavera-emazing.com
4 tbsp olive oil
1 pound skinless boneless chicken breasts, diced
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup zucchini, sliced
1/2 cupmushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup tomatoes, diced
linguine
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Heat the oil in a heavy skillet. Add the chicken and fully cook. Add the garlic and pepper flakes. Add the zucchinii and mushrooms. Cook until juist soft. Check seasonings. Toss in the tomatoes and cooked pasta. when warm, place in bowls and top with the cheese.
memoirsofasuburbanhousewife 