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Summary
On episode 431 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan lays out a three-stage process for putting your nutrition on cruise control, the same idea behind the roadmap approach in his book The Wellness Roadmap: making healthy eating automatic instead of something you have to decide on every day.
He walks through logging your current eating first, without changing anything, to see your real core foods and macros. From there he covers bulk cooking a week’s worth of meals in one Sunday session, and finally clearing your kitchen of the foods that work against your goals.
He closes with how to handle planned detours, dinners out, holidays, potlucks, by researching menus ahead of time and deciding your order before you’re standing in front of temptation.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Building nutrition “cruise control” is a three-stage process. Log your food first, then build a repeatable plan around convenience, then clear out the foods that work against your goals, done in that order.
- Start by logging without changing anything yet. Measuring and recording, on paper or in an app like MyFitnessPal, what you already eat for one to two weeks reveals your true core foods, your macros and calories, and any nutrients you’re missing before you try to fix anything.
- Bulk cooking turns a week of daily decisions into one Sunday of prep. Allan cooks three to four meals in quantity, about 16 meals at once, using a slow cooker, Instant Pot, grill, and stovetop, then freezes the bulk and refrigerates a few days’ worth.
- Bulk cooking also cuts down on grocery trips. Instead of shopping every few days for fresh produce, batching sauces, broths, and prepared dishes means one weekly trip covers most needs.
- Stage three is removing the foods that don’t serve your goal. If your logging shows a food isn’t worth its calories, fat, or sugar for what you’re trying to achieve, and you know you can’t moderate it, like finishing a whole tub of ice cream in one sitting, get it out of the house rather than relying on willpower.
- Plan for “detours” before they happen. Anticipate events like dinners out or holiday meals, look at a restaurant’s menu in advance, and decide what you’ll order (chicken and a salad instead of a cheese-heavy casserole, for example) so you’re not deciding under pressure.
- A planned detour isn’t a failure, it’s part of the plan. Going off plan for a good reason is fine as long as you’re ready to get right back on it the next day, and having your freezer and pantry already set up makes that return easy.
- Convenience is what makes a habit automatic. The whole point of the cruise control approach is removing daily decision-making: when healthy food is already prepped and unhealthy food isn’t in the house, staying on track takes very little willpower.
“You’re taking a detour, and usually for a good reason. Do it, and then be ready to come right back on plan.”
Coach Allan