Creating Weekly Menu Plans for Healthy Eating
Creating your weekly menu plan can be a great way to incorporate a healthy lifestyle into your home. You can also save a great deal of time when you know in advance what you are eating and what you need to prepare. For healthy living and effective time management, try creating your own menu plans.
When you are trying to stick with a healthy lifestyle you will want to be sure that you are eating the right foods. When you make use of a weekly meal planner you will be able to schedule and plan your meals ahead of time to keep you on the straight and narrow. Planning ahead of time is the best way to make sure that you stick to your decision to eat healthier foods.
The use of a weekly meal planner will also let you prepare your meals ahead of time. One of the biggest problems that people face when they are trying to eat healthy is finding the time to prepare their food. Everyone lives a very busy lifestyle and cannot always find the time at the end of the day to prepare a healthy meal. If you take the time to use a weekly meal planner, you can plan ahead what you are going to eat on every day of the week. And you can prepare some of the meal ahead of time. If there is chopping and slicing to do for your healthy meal, make sure you do it ahead of time. You will be surprised how easy it is to follow a diet if you plan ahead.
If you leave your meal planning for each day, you are more likely to stop for something quick and easy when you are in a rush. By doing the meal planning once at the beginning of the week, you will not have to make any decisions about your meals and everything will be ready for you when it is mealtime.
This particular method of preparing your meals has been very successful in helping people to lose weight and get healthy. It is proven that when the healthy foods are readily available and planned people will find it easier to choose the healthy foods. Dieting is work and you must put the time in planning to be successful at it.
A weekly meal planner is also great if you have children in the house. Children are always asking what is for dinner. When you have a weekly meal planner prepared your child will be able to see for themselves. Plus, you can get some input from your children on the types of meals they would like to have in the upcoming week. This will avoid the problem of your child not wanting what you prepare. If you have more than one child, let each one pick a meal for a different night of the week. Give them the healthy options they can choose from and let them pick the ones they like. This gives your child some input on the meal and they will enjoy it more if they got to decide on what is prepared.
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Tags: Diet, Menu Plans
How Do Diet, Medications, and Alcohol Affect Breastfeeding?
Food
If you are eating a balanced diet, you shouldn’t have to deny yourself the foods you like. However, if you notice that your baby reacts badly after you have eaten something it may be best to leave that food out of your diet for a few days then try again to see if you get the same reaction. Because peanut allergies are a big problem in later life, some are suggesting that you avoid heavy consumption of peanuts/peanut butter while breastfeeding.
Preventing rapid weight loss
Breastfeeding burns up a lot of energy, and can actually help a woman “get her body back” quicker. However, some women will need to eat extra snacks to prevent rapid weight loss. Most experts agree that a woman should up her daily caloric intake approximately 600 calories while breastfeeding to insure that she is getting all of the necessary nutrients.
Note to Vegetarian mothers
A vegetarian diet can meet the nutritional needs of a breastfeeding mother as long as it includes a variety of foods and adequate calories, including:
- Legumes
- Eggs, milk, cheese and yoghurt
- Wholegrain breads and cereals
- Fresh fruit and vegetables.
Drinks (Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic)
Milk is a wonderful source of calcium, vitamins, and minerals. If you have a hard time digesting milk, don’t worry. It doesn’t take milk to make milk; but, you need to be sure that you are getting plenty of water, fruit juices and other liquids as well as a good source of calcium.
Occasional alcohol intake while breastfeeding can be acceptable. Typically, alcohol intake should be not exceed 8 ounces of wine, 2 ounces of spirits, or 2 regular-sized beers in a 24-hour period.
Caffeine
Though dietary caffeine appears in breast milk, nursing mothers can safely consume small amounts of caffeine without passing on a significant amount to the baby. Higher caffeine amounts could potentially cause problems such as poor sleeping, nervousness, irritability, and poor feeding, so limiting your caffeine intake makes sense.
Caffeine tends to build up in babies’ systems because their bodies cannot get rid of it very easily. Try using decaffeinated coffee and tea, and avoid colas and other carbonated drinks that have added caffeine. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that nursing women limit consumption to the caffeine equivalent of 1 to 3 cups of coffee per day.
Smoking
The mother who smokes
Smoking, especially while breastfeeding, is dangerous. Nicotine is present in breast milk and will easily be transferred to baby. For your health, as well as the health of your baby, quit smoking.
Second hand smoke
All babies need a smoke-free environment no matter how they are fed. Secondhand smoke is dangerous to all children, but especially to newborns. Among other things, it increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Insist that smokers in your household smoke outside or far away from your baby.
Drugs/Medication
Take no chances. Discuss all medications with your health care professional. While most medications are safe to take during breastfeeding, there are a few that can be dangerous for the baby. It helps, however, to take the medication just after you nurse rather than just before. Most over-the-counter medications are compatible with breastfeeding, but play it safe by consulting a trusted health care professional.
Read more here about medicines during pregnancy.
Breastfeeding No-No’s
There are very few reasons a health care professional would advise against breastfeeding, but there are some situations when bottle feeding must be seriously considered.
Breast implants or breast reduction surgery: Women who have these surgeries should be counseled at the time of the surgery that these procedures may interfere with their ability to produce milk or deliver the milk to the nipple. Women who have had these procedures should certainly try to breastfeed.
If you are infected with HIV or have active tuberculosis that is not being treated; have herpes with active lesions on your breasts; take illegal drugs; are addicted to prescription narcotics or have an untreated breast abscess, you must receive treatment and special counseling.
Mothers with primary herpes with active lesions (not on their breast) should discuss with their health care provider whether or not they should breastfeed.
Women with Hepatitis C should understand that it is theoretically possible to pass the infection to their infant while breastfeeding, although this has not been documented and maternal Hepatitis C infection is not considered to be a contraindication to breastfeeding.
However, women with Hepatitis B infection can breastfeed if their newborn has received the appropriate vaccine within 12 hours of birth.
Scheduled for surgery? Most moms will be counseled to store breast milk prior to surgery, pump and discard breast milk for a few days, then resume breastfeeding.
Tags: Alcohol, Breastfeeding, Diet, Medications
