Planning your meals is the key to eating better. Never wait until the last minute to decide what you're going to eat; you might end up eating high-sugar, high-fat items just because they're more easily accessible or more convenient. To avoid that, create your own weekly or monthly meal plan. Don't overwhelm yourself during the process, though. If planning a month ahead feels like too much, do it a week at a time until it becomes second nature.
Step 1
Use a meal-planning program or create a spreadsheet in your computer. This allows you to keep track of the meals for the week or the month easily. If you're planning to cook simple dishes, write something like "grilled chicken and brown rice" on the list. Alternatively, use a recipe book and write "page 25" on the slot for that particular meal.
Step 2
Go through your refrigerator and your kitchen cupboards and see if you can incorporate what you already have into your meals. Don't go shopping for new ingredients until you know what you already have at home.
Step 3
Look at the meals or recipe ideas you wrote down and make a list of the ingredients you need to make them. If you're planning for a week, buy all the perishable and nonperishable ingredients at once. This prevents the temptation for sugary, fatty items you see at the supermarket every time you shop there.
Step 4
Go over the list of planned meals and make sure each one includes at least one vegetable or one fruit. This could be as simple as adding a salad or something more involved, like incorporating chopped vegetables into sauces, casseroles and soups.
Step 5
Cook in advance if possible. Make meals larger than needed and freeze the leftovers. This ensures that you have at least one additional meal available for later on, in case you don't feel like cooking or preparing something.
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