Good Morning Everyone!
If you’re following along with this email series, you’ve decided whether or not you’re ready to make a change and are on your way to figuring out what your baseline is.

Now it’s time to start forming the wellness plan that will be best for you. There’s an immense amount of information out there that can both influence and motivate us. For example, we can be motivated by someone’s success, read their story and then want to duplicate what they did with hopes of achieving the same results. Or, we can watch the latest health documentary and be influenced by their passion and want to adopt their lifestyle. It’s not a bad thing to be influenced or motivated by external things because we can learn a lot about ourselves, what we value, what interests us, etc. However, there are 100’s of diets and bloggers out there expressing their opinion about what health and wellness looks like to them…it can be overwhelming to say the least with all the conflicting opinions!!

In an effort to make your exploration process a little easier, I wanted to give you a short list of questions that I hope will help you start to piece together the right plan for YOU!
Questions to ask yourself:
1. What kind of meal plan appeals to me the most and will help me reach my goal?
2. Is this plan suitable to address my needs?
3. Will I have time to properly prepare for this diet?
• Am I going to go grocery shopping and meal prep all my meals weekly?
o Try using a grocery shopping app to keep you organize:
o http://www.bestproducts.com/eats/food/g1505/grocery-shopping-list-apps/
o Try out curbside grocery pick up if your local grocer offers it. Check out emeals.com for recipes and grocery lists that can be sent to your local grocery store for curbside
• Am I going to eat out for lunch every day and meal prep for the rest of my meals?
o Figure out what local restaurants would be a good choice for you and figure out if any modifications would need to be made ahead of time
• Am I going to use a meal delivery service?
o Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Factor 75, Plated, Green Chef
4. Is there anything about this diet I need to modify?
5. How can I prepare myself for special occasions?
• Check out this article I wrote for Thanksgiving preparation. You may find a few tricks that will work for you…and you will still be able to enjoy your special occasion :-). http://grape.mcklab.com/2014/12/thanksgiving-2014/
Beware of:
1. Diets that promise quick weight loss or promote diet pills. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
2. Diets that exclude food groups. It’s ok to limit the amount of certain foods groups if your body responds positively to that limit but we all need macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) to live.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or want to talk through any part of your plan. Okay, now take a deep breath and enjoy the process. You’re worth it!!!!

Yours in Health and Wellness,

Meredith Mitchell

734-714-1900