Saturday Morning Success!

Monica Salafia, RD
Feb 25, 2017
3 min read

Saturdays are a 24-hour gift. Sleeping in and enjoying a coffee are my favorite parts of the day. I also really love to plan. I plan my day, my grocery list, my meals for the week. I set myself up for Saturday morning success by doing a few simple yet absolutely satisfying tasks.

Break out the assignment planner, mini notebook, dotted journal, or whatever you have to write down a plan of action for the day. Start with breakfast. Logging your meals is effective at bringing awareness to our intake (1).

Since I'm a creature of habit I start my morning off with a glass of water, a bowl of oatmeal, some egg whites and vegetables. I like replenishing my body with carbohydrates (which turns into "glycogen" when it's stored in the body) because I have been fasting all night. So I am literally breaking the fast with a bowl of warm & fiber -rich oats. I could make a cook book just on oat meal recipes hint hint. To keep it fun I throw in different fruits, spices, or nuts. One of my favorites is Turmeric & blueberries.

Coffee is procured first by grinding beans for optimally fresh ground coffee. I begin my brew and meanwhile pour a shot of unsweetened almond milk in a favorite mug of mine. While this is going, I'm starting my egg white & veggie scramble. In about 15 minutes I am sitting and mindfully enjoying my breakfast. I always have the 4 major breakfast food groups: water, coffee, oats & whites ;-).

Nutrition is on my mind (hence the name of my practice) so I might as well continue planning the rest of my day and meals for the week. I do "meal prep"/ "batch cook" / "bulk cook" ...whatever you want to call it...because that makes the rest of my week so much easier in terms of fueling up. I'm not tempted to buy fast food, getting "hangry", and I am definitely saving money & reducing my carbon footprint by not having to drive somewhere to get food.

Some of my meal prep staples:

Egg white & veggies "muffins"
Roasted chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, green beans.
Tuna and spinach salad, with kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, & brown rice.
Salmon or Mahi, with roasted mixed veggies, & squash.
Hard boiled eggs, veggie sticks, fruit
Carrots & peanut butter (that I portion into baggies)

I create my shopping list based off of what I want to have prepared for the week. My fiance also has his staple items that i mix in to my meal prep: hummus, bananas, nuts, yogurt etc.

It sounds like a lot but really it goes so quickly when you:

1) Chop the veggies (the sweet, potatoes, the salad, the squash, veggies like celery) & use frozen veggies for the rest (frozen bell peppers, green beans, mixed veggies)

2) Cook the proteins (egg white muffins, roasted chicken, salmon, hard boiled eggs)

3) Cook the rice ~ which is really just steaming for an hour.

4) Portion it all into bpa-free plastic or glass containers.

So by 8 am I am armed with a grocery list, a meal prep strategy, and a full belly to get my day going. The coffee helps with that too :o).

KEY STEPS:

I write it down. Whether a notebook, or an app like Noom Coach, or my phone notes.

I try not to over think. There are foods I like to eat and foods I know are important for me as an active, adult woman, to get in everyday.

I enjoy it. I do, as much as it sounds like work it's a labor of love. My goal is to help others love taking care of them selves. It might be meal prepping it might be something else. For me, I enjoy the process of planning and cooking. These are my healthy habits that set me up for Saturday morning success!