Meal planning is by far one of the most helpful habits you can have in your toolbox. Over the last 15 years of raising a family and striving to live a healthy life, I have found that when I take time to plan out my meals for the week, my whole week goes so much more smoothly. There is less stress, I eat better, and I feel better.  
I've put together some helpful tips and strategies on how to start your own habit of planning meals. 

Mindset reminders
 

• Every time you eat or drink is an opportunity. When you plan ahead, you are choosing to prioritize your health. 
• Healthful eating has very little to do with willpower, and quite a lot to do with planning.
• What you eat in the short term affects your energy level, feelings of comfort or discomfort, and perhaps your mood and ability to work. What you eat over time affects your long-term well-being, including your risks for developing type 2 diabetes, dementia, and other chronic health problems. Something this important deserves some planning.

 
 
Benefits to meal planning
 

• better nutrition
• better health
• greater control over your food choices
• more food variety
• save money
• less waste
• less stress

 
Common barriers to meal planning and how to overcome them
 

• Lack of awareness of how important it is
  • Remind yourself often of the benefits, and take note of how much smoother your life goes when you plan
• It takes time
  • Yes, but it’s worth it. In the long run it will save you time and you can reuse your meal plans
• It’s hard to please everyone
  • Let everyone give some input.  Pair less favorable foods with favorite foods so everyone has something to eat.  Remember that food acceptance increases with exposure, not pressure.
• Family members have conflicting schedules
  • Factor schedules into your plan.
  • Use a slow cooker.
  • It’s okay to plan a simple sandwich if life is busy.
• Too many surprises in your week
  • Have a back-up meal plan and stock your pantry, fridge and freezer smartly so you can always whip up something quickly. (Scrambled eggs, frozen veggies and potatoes are delicious and more wholesome that a bucket of greasy chicken!)
• You don’t know what a healthful meal looks like
  • Check out the “Plate method “ of planning. Fill ½ of your plate with non-starchy vegetables, ¼ with protein rich foods, and ¼ with wholesome grains or starches.  https://www.choosemyplate.gov/
• You don’t know what to cook
  • Make a list of go-to recipes and meals so you have it handy.
  • Expand your recipe collection. Go online or find cookbooks that inspire you.

 
 
Two methods of meal planning
 
Detailed Meal Planning- for those that need more structure
 

1. Look ahead.  Look at your calendar and consider your family’s schedules for the week.
2. Put your plan on paper. Use a white board, a note-pad, or your electronic calendar. I love these pads that hang on the fridge:  https://www.amazon.com/Knock-What-Eat-Pad-Yellow/dp/1601061536
   1. Decide which dinners need to be quick-to-prepare foods or leftovers and which meals can be put together more leisurely.
   2. Using your family’s favorite meals, your recipe collection and ideas for quick meals, start filling in the blanks. Don’t forget to plan for leftovers- cook once to eat twice.
   3. Jot down full dinners that you plan to make for each day of the week. Then add in breakfast, lunches and snacks if you feel you need to. Often just having a plan for dinner can be enough. 
3. Take inventory and make a list of ingredients you need to your grocery list
4. Build flexibility into your plan. Some items may not be available, or you may have a desire to try something new.
5. Recycle your menus.  After a few weeks of meal planning, you can take the best and make a new one. Make it easy for yourself.

 
Mix and Match Meal Planning- for those that resist too much structure or are already practiced with meal planning.
 

1. Look ahead at your week. Don’t ignore what could get in your way of putting a healthy meal on the table.
2. Select entrees and side dishes
   
   • If you know you are planning to prepare 6 dinners, then choose 6 entrées, 6 non-starchy vegetables, and 6 starchy foods. Then mix and match shortly before cooking which entrée, vegetable, and starch to cook.
3. Take inventory.  Identify what you need. You can give yourself flexibility when you get to the store on which specific vegetables or proteins you buy based on availability and price.
4. Fill in the rest of the meals
   1. In a similar manner, decide how many lunches you need for the week, how much fruit, vegetables, sandwich meats, etc. Do the same for breakfasts and snacks.

 
More tips:
 
Have some Go-To Meals or planned back-up meal ideas ready, so if something comes up, you don’t find yourself ordering that take-out or having pizza delivered.
 
Ideas for go-to meals:

• Scrambled eggs, ready to heat brown rice, frozen vegetable
• Tuna salad, whole grain crackers, canned or fresh fruit
• Low-fat cottage cheese with fruit and nuts or diced tomatoes and basil; serve with whole grain toast or crackers
• Bean burrito on whole grain tortillas. Use canned beans, drained canned tomatoes, diced green chiles, black olives, shredded cheese.
• Panini with whole grain bread, cheese and sliced vegetables. Serve with a bagged salad or prepared vegetable soup
• Rotisserie chicken with baked potatoes, frozen or canned vegetables
• Steamed shrimp, ready to heat brown rice or quinoa, canned or frozen veggie

 
Don’t forget to plan healthy snacks, if you like to snack. Limit snacks to 100-250 calories and focus on nutrient dense whole foods.

• Almonds and apple slices
• Hummus with raw veggies
• Yogurt and fruit
• Light popcorn
• Cheese and grapes
• Whole grain crackers and nut butter
• Hard boiled egg
• ½ peanut butter sandwich
• Dried fruits (unsweetened) and nuts

Lastly, check out this great website service www.realplans.com. For a small monthly fee you get an access to a cool planning tool that makes your shopping list for you and you can access all kinds of recipes. If you have dietary restrictions this is a really helpful tool! 


Thanks to Jill Weisenberger, MS, RDN, CDE for her book "Prediabetes a Complete Guide. Your Lifestyle Reset to Stop Prediabetes and Other Chronic Illnesses"  check out her site here for more great resources: ​https://jillweisenberger.com/jillweisenberger.com/

I am 2 years now into my new life in Ann Arbor. Moving away from the beautiful community and life I created in small town SW Wisconsin was a hard decision to make. I feel grounded and stable now, but I know it's going to take more time to feel deeply rooted and connected here. 
I've had a few different jobs since I've landed. First was the Ann Arbor YMCA working on the wellness floor, teaching yoga and being a lifestyle coach for the Diabetes Prevention Program. 
While working at the Y, I also started teaching yoga at the Dexter Wellness Center and tried a short stint of sharing yoga at various locations for the University of Michigan's M-Healthy program. 
I got really spun out trying to teach so many different classes ( chair yoga, beginner yoga, yoga with teens, vinyasa yoga, yoga for corporate folks). Having a high load of classes per week at three to five different locations meant I was driving around a lot, exhausting my voice and energy, and not making very much money! My desire to be a calm, grounded presence for my yoga students was not happening. 
In the fall of 2018 I thought, "wow, this is not sustainable. I need to get a job." Well, a job appeared and I took it- scaling back to teaching yoga at only one place (the Dexter Wellness Center) and two classes a week. 
I worked that job until this past July. (Thank you Harvest Kitchen for employing me!) But then a crisis hit. You could call it a mental health crisis due to working a lot of long hours and not taking care of myself. But actually it was a crisis of meaning. A crisis of purpose. I found myself deeply questioning, What the heck am I doing with my life and where am I going? Who am I and what is this all for? 
You see, part of my dream in moving back to Michigan was not just about being closer to my family and my roots. It was about putting myself in a bigger environment so I could take bigger steps. 
Bigger steps to fulfill my purpose and create meaning in my life. Bigger steps to generate the income I desire to fund the things that are important in life to me. 
Since leaving my job in July, I've been reckoning with some deep questions. I've been doing some hard examination of myself and bringing to light the places I've been hiding. I realized how much I've been hanging back and hiding out, afraid to take the next step. 
What I do know is that the call I heard years ago to be a Wellness Coach and to help people transform their lives is still alive, and still calling me deeply. So with deep breaths I am taking the plunge back into the scary waters of entrepreneurship and re-developing my coaching practice.
To begin, I am starting where I left off with my work at the YMCA and helping people steer their direction away from the scary cliff of Type 2 Diabetes.  I know I can help women especially, make small sustainable changes in their diet and exercise plans to lose the weight and change those A1C blood levels back into the safe range from a pre-diabetic diagnosis. 

Stay tuned to see how it's going to unfold! 
Thank you for your friendship, love and support!

I love attending yoga festivals and gatherings. It's wonderfully nourishing to connect with other yogi's, practice together, and open our hearts with chanting.

After several years of attending yoga festivals, I am excited to be on the other side this summer as a presenter at YogaFest 2019 at the Song of the Morning Yoga Retreat Center in northern Michigan.  
Look for me on the schedule Friday at 2:00 and Saturday at 12 noon.  I will have some musicians joining me to provide a live musical soundscape for our practice. It's going to be so sweet! 

I hope you will come and join me! Use code BABAJI62 to get 10% off tickets. 
​

Students sometimes ask me about yoga mats- which one to get? 
Well, I came across this great review of different mats and wanted to share with you. Check it out.
https://www.consumersadvocate.org/yoga-mats

Here's an article that reminds us what we all know-- that putting our self-care first is the most important thing we can do. There's some helpful suggestions and links for more info to get you inspired.  Check it out! -Lauren 

For over a year now, I have had the pleasure of sharing chair yoga with seniors. It's wonderful to see the positive effects over time the practice has. Check out the article below. Great links too! 
- Lauren

​6 Reasons Why Seniors Should Get Into Yoga, by Harry Cline
 
Yoga has been trendy for the last decade, and it’s no surprise why: it’s exceptionally versatile. At its core, yoga is meant for you at any level. You don’t need to do a backbend to get into yoga. You don’t even need to be able to touch your toes. Yoga has benefits both physical and spiritual. Even if you don’t feel up to it, you should consider giving yoga a try. Here’s why.
 
It’s Super Accessible
 
Regardless of your current flexibility, there’s a yoga for you. There are many different kinds of yoga and levels of practice, so it’s easy for you to get into. You can do it anywhere, even with your caregiver. If you don’t know where to start, there are online tutorials and classes. If you’d rather learn in person, there are classes available at local recreation centers. You can search online for local yoga studios, and many of them offer discounts and options for beginners.
 
It Can Help with Chronic Pain and Osteoporosis
 
A recent article published by HuffPost highlighted an important benefit of practicing yoga: it can improve bone density. For people who are already having problems with osteoporosis, it can slow or even reverse problems with bone density loss. Yoga can strengthen the nervous system and promote gray matter retention as you age, which protects your brain and can help you manage chronic pain.
 
Yoga Actually Helps Your Heart
 
A recent scientific study showed that yoga not only assists with flexibility and developing strength, but it can also increase the amount of oxygen that your body uses and positively impact metabolic capacity. Yoga is a proven way to not only become stronger but keep your cardiovascular system and lungs healthy.
 
Another way that yoga can help your heart is by decreasing blood pressure. One study showed that doing yoga for one hour a day could have an even more significant impact on blood pressure than changing lifestyle factors.
 
Yoga Builds Mental Wellness
 
According to Newsweek, yoga has multiple benefits for emotional health. It’s been shown to be effective at alleviating symptoms of depression and anxiety. It also helps in the treatment of eating disorders, PTSD, and other psychiatric disorders. A major part of yoga is learning techniques that can help you manage stress and see your body as something that you work with, rather than against. Building mental wellness in a sustained way is an important part of aging well and maintaining health.
 
Meditation and Yoga are Powerful Tools for Addiction
 
Meditation plays an important role in building mental and spiritual strength, as well as preventing addiction relapse. Integrate meditation into your life by practicing it while you do yoga, as yoga is a meditative act. Studies even show that yoga and meditation combine to form a powerful tool that can change you at the cellular level.
 
Addiction recovery requires mental and spiritual strength, but having a good relationship with your physical self also plays a critical role in addiction recovery. Building yourself physically can help your body retrain itself and avoid entrenched ways of thinking. For many people in recovery, having a good relationship with the physical self is as important as the spiritual one.
 
Yoga Can Help You Maintain Independence
 
Nearly all people want to live a long life where they can maintain independence and stay healthy. The secret is exercise. Yoga isn’t just for increasing flexibility or maintaining mobility. It’s an exercise that can help you lose weight, become stronger, and maintain aerobic health.
 
Yoga has a dose-dependent effect: the more you do it, the more awesome you feel. No matter what age or level of strength, you can do yoga. It’ll build your strength and flexibility, improve your relationship with your physical and spiritual self, and eases the aging process.
 
Author
 
Harry Cline is creator of NewCaregiver.org and author of the upcoming book, The A-Z Home Care Handbook: Health Management How-Tos for Senior Caregivers. As a retired nursing home administrator, father of three, and caregiver to his ninety-year-old uncle, Harry knows how challenging and rewarding caregiving can be. He also understands that caregiving is often overwhelming for those just starting out. He created his website and is writing his new book to offer new caregivers everywhere help and support.

I followed the calling of my heart to be closer to my family, (my parents and grandmother especially) and have relocated to Ann Arbor Michigan. 

The last year and a half have been incredibly challenging as I prepared to move my family. I have had to face all my demons and look at them more closely. i discovered there were more layers of grief living within me to pull back and learn from.  More layers of healing that needed to happen. Once the decision to move was made,  I had to pull back a lot of my energy from what I was offering and creating with my coaching business and workshops to the physical details of making a move happen- selling a house, organizing stuff, wrapping up details.

And now that we've landed, I feel the excitement of creation. The opportunity to recreate my life to be even more aligned with my dreams and desires. 

I'm still following the threads of joy, laughter, yoga, relationships, living a healthy lifestyle, and connecting with Spirit and I'm still carrying with me my deep desire to help others and be of service to LOVE. 

I'm remaining open to my inner guidance and I'm doing what is in front of me every day. 

Choosing to TRUST. Choosing to LISTEN. Choosing my heart over my MIND. Choosing to let go of fears.