Choosing what to eat is no different.
If you can eliminate decision fatigue for most of your meals, you’ll find you lower your stress and have a lot more focus.
So how can you eliminate decision fatigue when it comes to meals?
- Instead of waiting to the last minute on deciding what to eat, think about it a day or a couple days ahead.
- Then, set aside an hour or two to do the tips below and you should enter more of that stress-free zone you’re after.
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4 Ways to Eliminate Decision Fatigue on a Plant Based Diet
1. Plan meals
Plan meals at least 1 day in advance. If you don’t, you end up eating what’s easiest at the moment, which isn’t always the healthiest.
You don’t need to sit down and write an official menu for the next day, but you do need to have the building blocks of a meal- meaning having pre-cooked options to choose from in your fridge.
See the next 3 tips on how to do that.
2. Pre-cut veggies
Cut up some veggies. My favorites are carrots, celery, red bell pepper, jicama, and radishes. I find once these veggies are cut they still retain their crunchy texture.
You can either put them in mason jars in the fridge for maximum aesthetic appeal, or wrap them loosely with a paper towel and place them in a ziplock bag and into the fridge.
If they’re already washed, cleaned and cut, it’s easy to top any meal with these veggies, or just be a healthy snack with a dip.
3. Batch cook grains
Pre-cooking grains is probably one of the most important tips and time savers. Your favorite whole grain can be the base for any, or all your dishes for the week.
My favorites to precook: quinoa, rice, and bulgar.
You can easily make a bowl with any of these whole grains as a base.
Here are some of my favorite bowls to make with quinoa:
4. Homemade dressings and dips
If you’re making primarily salads and healthy bowls, you absolutely need top shelf dressings.
There’s no chance of me making a salad without a homemade dressing.
The two great things about making homemade dressings is that 1. you can pack them with healthy seeds and nuts, and 2. that these dressings can last a week in the fridge. So, you can just make a big batch once or twice a week and have your salad dressing and a dips ready for 1, 2, 3 bowls or healthy snacking.
This is THE quickest way to make plant-based eating fun and tasty. Without a great dressing, you’re eating the same thing- grains and veggies day after day.
Here are a few of my dressing/dip dressings you can make for the next week ahead.
In Summary:
The thing to takeaway from this read is that with a little pre-planning, not only can you make plant-based eating easier, but you can also eliminate a lot of the decision fatigue that comes with choosing your meals.
If you lower that decision fatigue, you can boost your willpower, and in turn can reach for those healthy bowls and snacks without resistance.
They will become habits more easily.
We're going for the long-term, marathon approach here.
Make it easier on yourself.
In 1-2 hours a week you can prepare your pre-cut veggies, batch cook grains, and homemade dressings so you are not scrambling at lunch time.
You'll be glad you did when mid-week comes around!
Extra Notes from a Chef:
I’m not telling you to meal plan (making all your meals ahead of time) because to me, there is nothing more boring than eating a pre-set meal in a little box.
If you just make the building blocks of a plant-based meal, you remove enough of the stress of micro-decisions, but allow just enough creativity when you assemble your meal.
It provides just the right amount of fun and excitement that every great meal needs.
Just because you’re eating healthy doesn’t mean it has to be boring.
Remember the three components to any great dish- crunchy, saucy, fresh. Take it from a chef. Any dish can be made exciting with these key principles.
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