Pre-pack!

Today’s tip will focus on the power of pre-packing and how this habit will help you overcome food temptations that may cross your way at any given time during the day.

I can almost hear you saying ‘Pre-packing!?! Does she have any idea of how crazy my days are?’ The answer my dear patients is: yes I do!

I know very well that we are all busy and that our mornings are real marathons where we run like professional athletes, trying to cope with all the obligations we have: take the kids to school, catch the train to work, be on time for that early morning meeting with our boss, you name it!

With all these responsibilities coming to our minds as soon as we get off bed, the last thing we will think about in the ‘am’ is packing healthy meals and snacks to take with us to work or school.

The truth is: by not pre-packing healthy and nutritious meals you are increasing your chances to hit the vending machine looking for some fast fix during the day. This unplanned gesture will cost you precious calories and will bring very little (if not zero) nutrients to your diet!

By now, I hope, you may be almost ‘buying’ the idea of pre-packing, so what about if I share my ‘best practice’ with you?

After reading them I hope pre-packing will sound like ‘a piece of cake’ to you.


Pre-packing 101: Put chances by your side: pre-pack every evening!


Let’s start with the golden rule of pre-packing: ‘Don’t go to bed before pre-packing all the meals you will eat the next day!’

‘That’s it? That’s so easy!’ you may be saying. And guess what? It is as simple as that! The ten minutes you will spend every evening pre-packing your meals for the next day will be the best investment you make to your health and to your weight loss success.

When you pre-pack your main meals and snacks you increase your chances of staying in the right track because you will be eating balanced meals that respect your meal plan.

To end this ‘tip of the day’ post I will leave you with two other advantages of pre-packing:

- Your mornings will be less stressful! You already have a lot to worry about each morning, coping with all the obligations of your day. By pre-packing your main meals and snacks in advance (the evening before), you will be reducing your mornings ‘to do list’, and increasing your chances to eat right during the day.

- You will be able to complete your food journal in advance. By knowing up-front what you will be in your menu for the next day, you can complete your food journal in advance and make sure you are keeping track of all your daily consumptions and respecting the portions of your meal plan.

I have added some pictures to give you ideas on healthy lunches and snacks that you can easily pack.




Thank you for passing by, and don’t forget to come back for tomorrow’s ‘tip of the day’!




Ideas for healthy snacks:



1 apple + 13 almonds



1 yougurt + 1 tbsp peanut butter + 1 apple











1 yougurt + 1/3 cup buds + berries





2tbsps of hommus + raw veggies







1/2 bagle + 1 tbsp peanut butter or 2 peaches





Ideas for healthy lunches:

1 big salad + 3 oz of fish + 1/2 cup of quinoa + 1/2 cup sweet potatoes







1 big salad + 3 oz of meat + 1/2 cup of pasta






1 big salad + 3 oz of fish + veggies








1 big salad + 3 oz of meat + 1/2 cup of pasta








1 big salad + 3 oz of fish + 1/2 cup of rice

What you see is not always what you get!

In today’s post I will be talking about one ‘nutrition trap’ that can be waiting for you the next time you hit the supermarket. You may say ‘Oh God! Long is gone the time when grocery shopping was a brainless activity!’

Not so fast with your conclusions my dear patients! I have to agree that there are a lot more products waiting to be picked-up in the supermarket shelves nowadays than there were 30 years ago, decision making has become more exigent. But there is a way to come home from the grocery store feeling you won the battle against the information overload existing in the food boxes!

In this post you will find some quick and simple advises, once you are done reading it you will never look at a cereal box in the same way you used to, I promise you!

Don’t judge a product by its box!

Have you ever heard someone saying ‘don’t judge a person by their exterior’? Let me tell you: this very piece of advice can also be applied to thefood you buy. Let’s make a quick test, have a good look at these two pictures:

Now answer: which of these two boxes would you put in your shopping cart if your decision was based exclusively on the information you see in these two pictures?

If you are like many of my patients, who I have asked this question before, you would have opted for the product in the left side of your screen: MINI-WHEATS. When I ask them why they have selected MINI-WHEATS I hear different reasons, most often:

- ‘MINI-WHEATS are healthy, they are made of 100% whole wheat’
- ‘MINI-WHEATS come in different flavours’
- ‘I cannot resist that yellow little guy on the box’

OK, leaving behind the last answer – too much affection - let’s focus on the first one: ‘made of 100% whole wheat’. When I hear it I reply with my own designed maxim: ‘don’t judge a product by its box – unless you have checked the right part of the box – the nutrition facts’. I know it is quite a long maxim, but I bet you got the picture, didn’t you?

MINI-WHEATS are indeed made of 100% whole wheat, what makes this product a strong competitor for other cereals that are not made of 100% whole wheat, but there is much more about it that should be taken into consideration, do not base your decision on the ‘whole wheat’ magic word.

Little details make a huge difference!

Have a look at the nutrition facts that appear on the box of each product:

Have you noticed that these two nutrition facts are based on DIFFERENT PORTION SIZES? The portion we see in the MINI-WHEATS box is 54g while the ALL-BRAIN Buds’ portion is 30g.

Comparing apples with apples

I have separated the key nutrition information I want you to focus on when comparing nutritional facts. Notice that the portion sizes were adjusted so that we will be looking at a 30g portion of each product.

MINI-WHEATS
Quantity: 12 biscuits
Calories: 105
Sugar: 6 g
Fibre: 3 g

ALL-BRAIN Buds
Quantity: 1/3 of a cup
Calories: 70
Sugar: 8 g
Fibre: 13 g

I want to ask you something: have you ever tried these two cereals? I have, and let me tell you that it’s very hard to feel fully satisfied with just 12 biscuits of MINI-WHEATS. On the other hand 1/3 of a cup of ALL-BRAIN Buds goes a long way in killing your hungry monster.

MINI-WHEATS has 35 calories more per portion - hoping that you will be strong enough and respect the 12 biscuits portion size - and has only ¼ of the fibre that you will get from ALL-BRAIN Buds! I know that MINI-WHEATS wins the ‘sugar category’ but the difference from ALL-BRAIN Buds is not huge: 2g only.

What you should keep in mind:

- Don’t blindly trust the claims that food companies make in their boxes: ‘100% whole wheat’ sounds great, but is this really the best deal you can get? Always compare between products by referring to the information available in their NUTRITION FACTS. This is your best choice for sound decision making.

- Understanding nutrition facts is not rocket science, the two key things you need to do are:

Compare ‘apples with apples’. Make sure you COMPARE PRODUCTS WITH THE SAME
PORTION SIZE, nutrition facts of different products sizes vary.

Pay special attention to the quantity of these components:
Fat, sugar, calories: opt for the product that has the LEAST of those.
Fibre: opt for the product that has MORE of it.

- Don’t assume that companies list the portion sizes for all their products in the same manner. Both MINI-WHEATS and ALL-BRAIN Buds are made by Kellogg’s and as we have just seen their portion size differed in the nutrition facts size.

Thank you for passing by today! Don’t wait too long for your next visit, there is always some ‘hot info’ coming out of the oven just for you!