Spontaneous at the Ready

 

I employ a health coach. Before each appointment, I think about ending our professional relationship, thinking there couldn't possibly be anything more to learn or discuss and couldn't/shouldn't I spend money elsewhere, but she always manages to say the thing that leaves me inspired and hopeful.

I originally hired her to help me lose weight in an effort to ease my arthritis pain. I didn't lose much weight, but I did learn to be happy. (Note: In 2019, I was told to schedule surgery on both knees immediately, but with massage, and acupuncture, and learning to be happy, I haven't had surgery.) Unhappiness is a big impediment to weight loss, so with my improved attitude, we have returned to thinking about improved health.

She carefully steers me away from any eating plans that come with restrictions and guides me instead to things that make eating joyful. My only current self-imposed rule is "eat less than my husband." I had fallen into the habit of filling our places with the same amount of food; now it's become a game to follow this new eating guideline.

At our last session, she inquired about my eating. I lapsed into "should" thinking and spoke of how on weeks when I planned my meals I ate better so I should go back to weekly meal schedules. She pushed back saying she knew that I excelled at spontaneous cooking, excited to make something interesting out of random ingredients on hand. She knew I hated to be restricted by a schedule.

So she suggested I think about how to make spontaneous cooking feel more effortless and called it "spontaneous at the ready." What ingredients could I prep in order to quickly prepare a meal that sounds good to me at the moment?

The photograph is what I prepped in a day to build meals for coming days. There's sweet  and russet potatoes prepared in the crockpot, shredded cheese, cooked green beans, sauteed mushrooms and onions, diced bacon bits, polenta with cheese, and frozen bananas layered with peanut butter and chocolate. The polenta was first a meal with a soft cooked egg and then became a base for homemade tomato soup. The potatoes were topped with bacon bits, cottage cheese and broccoli for one meal, scrambled with eggs and the prepared onions and bacon for another meal, tossed with chopped spring greens, the green beans, and a can of tuna for still another meal. I purchased a rotisserie chicken and rolled it into the spontaneous plan, serving with sweet potatoes and green beans for one meal, and making enchiladas for another meal. 

It's going to take a bit more thinking to actually write it down as a plan, but the way I'm operating now is to have prepared at the ready most of the following: a grain, a batch of beans or lentils, potatoes, sauteed onions, roasted peppers, and bacon bits. Then I'll add proteins during the week to build the rest of the meal, supplementing with assorted pantry items.

Thanks, Lisa! https://mindfullyawarehealth.com/