Want a customized meal plan?

9 hours ago

4 min read

When a woman searches for a "customized meal plan," what is she generally looking for? Well I can't get inside the head of every woman, however I can tell you what I've observed in my office over the last 17+ years:

She might be looking for:

the key to her personal weight loss/fat loss formula
a way to eat that gets rid of painful eating habits she doesn't really like
a place to pour her energy and feel a sense of her own power to steer her life
a way to structure the diet that includes her own unique body needs or weak areas (i.e. preventing heart disease, preventing osteoporosis, restoring weak digestion, caring for food sensitivities, anti-inflammatory considerations for better health, improved cognitive function)

Whatever the reason a customized meal plan appeals to you, what it often points to is a

A person writing notes in a white lined notebook on a quilt — A customized meal plan often offers hope for a good, life-living outcome.

desire to do a little better, to optimize oneself and one's eating, in the hopes of a good, life-giving outcome.

Since I've been observing and working with clients since 2009 and observed these common reasons that clients have come to work with me, I'm going to break down the details or each a bit more here...

Four reasons clients want a customized meal plan

A Key to Your Personal Weight Loss/Fat Loss

Some clients come in feeling misguided around weight loss or fat loss due to the overwhelming amount of content circulating on social media. Because it is not a given that the most effective or useful information will make it in front of your eyes, but more often, the most popular, it can be difficult to discern what's worth embarking on. More often weight loss or fat loss from a strictly nutritional standpoint comes down to basic considerations such as: overall energy consumption and macronutrient balance and meal composition. These are things that can be taught and embodied when pursued in a down-to-earth and encouraging way.

A Way to Eat that Gets Rid of Painful Eating Habits

Some clients come in for support feeling demoralized about new or long-standing unwanted eating habits like overeating, binge eating, or chronic dieting. They've tried generic advice to eat better, but little has made a dent long-term to reduce or eradicate the eating habits they dislike so much. The desire for a customized meal plan in this case, would offer a client a diet that considers the very conditions that cause the painful eating habits to happen in the first place. For example, a personalized diet plan could mitigate episodes of overeating or binge eating by focusing on meal timing, the appropriate placement of snacks, a strategic inclusion of the foods they tend to overeat or binge on (and with guidance and support, prove to themselves they can eat these foods without overeating them or gaining weight), and generous and effective conversations around their relationship with food. This includes a person's personal biography and history around food, eating, and weight.

A Place to Pour Your Energy and Feel a Sense of Personal Power

Some clients are finding themselves in a new season of life: graduating college, having young children, becoming an empty nester, navigating midlife...and want to focus on a diet that appropriately meets them in this season of life and challenges them to regain a sense of personal power through their commitment to their health and body care habits. For example, I worked with a freshly minted college graduate who wanted to feel more confident "eating like a proper adult" rather than relying on the convenience and fast food options she'd heavily leaned on in the past. In other instances, I've worked with women entering mid-life that are outgrowing the diet/revolt/diet/revolt patterns of their younger years. They want to feel more confident, grounded, and disciplined about the things that really matter in relationship to their diet and body care. In either of these examples, and in countless other scenarios, working with one's eating is a call to keep growing up and maturing with one's relationship with food. It's often a doorway to a sense of personal power.

A Way to Structure the Diet that Includes You Unique Body Needs or Weak Areas

Some clients are curious to explores what it means to feel their best now as well as consider their long-term future and health. If you've been dealing with weak digestion, a customized plan might offer meal options that increase thermic efficiency, reduce aggravating foods, and work to restore adequate levels of stomach acid. A client that has been dealing with inflammation whether on the skin or in the joints, might find a customized meal plan would incorporate anti-inflammatory foods and herbs that they actually enjoy. As you know, there is no poverty of diet information out there, it's supporting people to making changes that can actually sustain over time that's the real art form here. As rational and strategic nutrition seems on the outside, the whole of a person must be considered.