Why You Should Memorize Your Meals

The secret to eating well at home is having a repertoire of easy-to-prepare meals.

Dr. David A. Kessler has dedicated his career of late to thinking about what keeps Americans from eating healthy food. There is, he says, a frightening preponderance of fat, salt and sugar tempting us at every commercial break, street corner and in grocery store aisles. But in his recently released book, The End of Overeating: Taking Control of The Insatiable American Appetite, the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner lays out a battle plan against the seductive forces of highly processed food. Chief among his strategies: exercising control through thoughtfully planned eating.

"If you know what you're going to eat," he says, "you're not susceptible to the constant barrage, and the cues don't have such power over you."

In Depth: 10 Meals You Should Memorize

Yet instituting such structure is intimidating when you don't have the proper tools, namely a repertoire of healthy, easy-to-prepare recipes. Such dishes might include wheat pasta with homemade tomato sauce or a marinated baked turkey breast with a side of kale. Meals like these rely on basic staples like whole grains, legumes, lean protein and vegetables, as well as herbs and spices, which are essential for flavor. These ingredients, experts say, are the pillars of a healthy, nutritious diet.

How to Plan Meals

An important part of meal planning, Kessler says, is looking forward to what you've chosen to eat. In other words, creating structure in your diet doesn't mean that breakfast, lunch and dinner have to be bland affairs. It does mean, however, that you have to find joy in eating well-seasoned, sautéed lean ground beef as part of a pasta dish instead of a fast-food hamburger loaded with fat and salt.

Some fear cooking, worried that their homemade efforts will be less than sophisticated, or worse, flavorless. But meal planning actually helps home cooks discover new techniques and flavors.

Sarah Krieger, a national spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, recommends borrowing ideas and inspiration from the countless cooking resources online, which offer recipes by the dozen as well as tips on technique.

One of her go-to meals is a brown rice stir-fry with vegetables and spices; a quick Internet search of this mainstay yields plenty of versions, including ones with edamame beans and walnuts or lentils and shrimp.

Preparing dishes from your repertoire will be much easier when you've stocked up on staples you can use over and over. Bethany Thayer, a national spokeswoman for the ADA and a manager of wellness and program strategies at the Henry Ford Health System, says the most effective meal-planning strategy is built on knowing what you want before going to the supermarket. It sounds obvious, but plenty of shoppers return home only to realize the next day they neglected to pick up a key spice or carbohydrate.

Such oversights can quickly upend any plans you had for healthy eating. The neighborhood fast-food chain, after all, is likely to require less time and energy than a trip to the grocery store--which would be followed by standing at the stove.

Meals to Know by Heart

To avoid giving in to such impulses, Thayer draws on a number of her favorite recipes, including baked chicken and grilled fish.

For the chicken dish she uses a skinless, boneless breast, which is low in fat, high in protein and easy to prepare. She recommends trying it a few different ways, like rolled in breadcrumbs and dried oregano, thyme and rosemary or slathered with barbecue sauce. For a nutritious side dish rich in fiber, beta-carotene and potassium, she might cut sweet potatoes into wedges and bake them with a little vegetable oil and cinnamon.

Though fish may seem intimidating, Thayer simply selects fresh salmon or tuna--both are rich in omega-3 fats--and seasons it with lemon and dill or rolls it in bread crumbs with an Italian seasoning and cooks it under the broiler or on the grill. She'll have that with a small salad or sautéed vegetables.

In addition to stir-fry, Krieger often opts for whole-grain pasta in a homemade tomato or peanut sauce, both of which are easy to make with just a few ingredients. (The tomato sauce requires only chopped tomatoes, onion and garlic and herbs like basil and oregano, while the peanut sauce is a combination of peanut butter, sugar, vinegar, ketchup and garlic.)

No matter what you decide to eat, says Dr. Kessler, the most important thing is having an idea of your meal well in advance. The structure "is probably the best way to protect yourself from excess weight gain."

It's also a great way to avoid the excess fat, sugar and salt found in processed food.

"Food you'll prepare at home," he says, "is almost always going to have less [of that] than what's available commercially."

In Depth: 10 Meals You Should Memorize

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