Why meal plans are not realistic or long-term solutions!

Often individuals assume that seeing a Nutritionist is going into an office and walking out with this magical meal plan that will mystically make them reach their goals, I suspect this perception comes from all the diet trends. However when clients walk into my office: I go over their medical history and we talk about their goals, then I follow up with a program to help them rebalance their health working towards their goal. Occasionally this program will include a meal plan or two. The meal plans are specific to the individual's needs and a lot of considerations goes into them, such as health status, goals, estimated energy requirements (EER) and much more dependant on the situation. In my Wellness Programs, I use meal plans as an optional educational tool, they are generic and I always stress the fact that the individual may need to consume more and to use it as a guide more than anything. Other than that, I am not a fan of generic meal plans which can be found everywhere and may be poorly constructed, they can lead to nutritional and health imbalances, as well as turn people off from using nutrition to help them reach their goals.
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What meal plans are great for?

• To help clients through a difficult step in a personalized nutritional program.
• To educate on what a typical week of healthy eating should look like as well healthy eating patterns.
• To be sure they are eating a well-balanced diet and consuming the right number of calories based on their EER. (Surprisingly most of my clients don’t eat enough which is not healthy and often counterproductive in meeting their goals.)
• To assist individuals in specific situations, such as a health crisis, lack of motivation to eat …

How should they not be used?

• As quick solution to poor eating habits, you need to learn what healthy nutrition is and implement it independently on your own for it to be fully beneficial.
• As a diet plan. Following meal plans all the time is not realistic or sustainable, eventually, you will get bored of eating the same way all the time. It's important to learn to prep and come up with your own meal idea's that are healthy and best for your unique lifestyle, you can't do this if someone is always telling you how to eat.

Tools I feel are more beneficial to my clients than meal plans

• Healthy eating cooking classes (look for classes taught by Nutritionist)
• Recipe books recommended or written by Nutritionist (I provide my clients with a mini recipe book to get them started and post on my Facebook Page awesome finds with healthy tweaks)
• Nutritionist guided shopping trips

These will offer more sustainable and realistic solutions to reaching your goals.

Dana Clark, CNHP, CHC, CHN, CLE
Original article can be found on my website here http://www.fromtherootsholistic.ca/articles-videos--recipes/why-meal-plans-are-not-realistic-or-long-term-solutions