How Meal Planning Improves Healthy Eating

Andrea Andretta loves growing, cooking, and eating good food. But when fatigue, pain, and brain fog from myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome got in the way about a decade ago, she turned to a simple and effective strategy to reclaim a healthy diet: meal planning.

Andretta created step-by-step recipe pages, with photos, for easy meals like yogurt with fruit and nuts, salad with chicken, and scrambled eggs with veggies, cheese, and bacon bits. She keeps containers of prechopped ingredients in the refrigerator. She also orders groceries online, buys in bulk, and joined a community-supported agriculture program.

“I eat better when I plan my meals,” says Andretta, 61, a former elementary school teacher from Milford, CT. “I create systems based on my energy level. And I include friends and neighbors. We enjoy food together.”

Researchers agree. Creating a plan for future meals helped 99 older adults eat healthier, according to a study in the Australasian Journal on Ageing in June 2024. Planning meals reduced fast-food consumption and increased home cooking and family meals in a Michigan State University study of 499 people published in Appetite in July 2022. And the strategy was linked with more successful weight loss among 139 people in a study published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine in February 2021.

Planning meals can help overcome extra challenges to healthy eating such as fatigue, pain, difficulty concentrating, and mobility limitations, says Sudha Seshadri, MD, FAAN, professor of neurology, psychiatry, and cellular and integrative physiology and founding director of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. It also can help people with neurologic conditions and their caregivers more easily meet individual nutritional needs, such as timing meals and medications—a particular concern for those with Parkinson’s disease—and getting enough calories and protein for people who have trouble eating or swallowing or whose condition (cerebral palsy or Huntington’s disease, for example) requires extra motor activity.

“In some cases, care and attention to diet and lifestyle can have as positive an effect on neurologic disease as medications or other therapies,” says Dr. Seshadri. Reducing salt intake can help control high blood pressure, for example, while decreasing saturated fats can ensure better heart health. Focusing on diet can help people avoid high and low blood sugars and get sufficient vitamins, iron, and nutrients.

“Meal planning doesn’t have to be onerous or perfect,” Dr. Seshadri says. “Sometimes a small change can push you in the right direction.” Registered dietitians who specialize in neurologic conditions offer this advice to get you started.

Set one goal.
It’s easier to introduce one change than to overhaul an entire diet, says Molly Rapozo, MS, RDN, senior nutrition and health educator in the lifestyle program at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute Foundation in Santa Monica, CA. For example, if you need more protein at breakfast, try Greek yogurt, eggs, or three tablespoons of hemp-seed hearts. If you’re low on fiber—which is important for digestion, blood sugar control, and a healthy gut—incorporate more fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains, she suggests. “Getting more can be as easy as adding a half-cup of canned beans to your salad or eating oatmeal for breakfast.”

Start slowly.
Ease into meal planning by thinking about just one or two meals a week and build from there, says Emily Truscott, MS, RD, a clinical dietitian at the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at University of Florida Health in Gainesville.

Cook ahead.
“Make double recipes and then freeze half for later,” says Tyler J. Titcomb, PhD, RDN, a research associate who studies the relationship between diet and neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and multiple sclerosis at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. “My family does this with casseroles, ground beef, boiled chicken, soups, and even whole-grain oat and blueberry muffins,” Dr. Titcomb says. “We use freezer-safe containers, label the items with the date they were prepared, and try to consume them within a month to avoid freezer burn.” You can also chop vegetables and cook meats early in the week and store them in the refrigerator for meals later in the week, says Truscott.

Consider a slow cooker.
Slow cooking is a great way to prepare healthy food in an energy-efficient way, Dr. Titcomb says. “Add your ingredients in the morning, press start, and go about your day.” Overnight oats and chia-seed puddings that soften in the refrigerator while you sleep are other easy options.

Use one ingredient two ways.
Eat baked chicken one night and cook up a bowl with chicken, rice, and vegetables another night. “This can save time,” says Truscott. “For example, if you have three recipes with chicken in one week, you can prepare all the chicken ahead for easy meal assembly later. The same goes for vegetables.”

Be loose.
“Do what works for your lifestyle,” Truscott says. “If your meal plan is too structured, it might be harder to stick to. Instead of assigning meals to each night of the week, have a list of meal possibilities you can choose from on any given night.”

Embrace convenience.
“If it’s hard to find the time to prep and cook, look for shortcuts,” says Truscott. “Buy frozen fruits and vegetables instead of fresh, low-sodium canned beans instead of dry, or grab-and-go breakfast items, such as yogurt parfait or overnight oats.” Precooked grains, rotisserie chicken, fruit and vegetables from the supermarket salad bar, and bags of pre-chopped onions and peppers make prep fast and easy, too, Rapozo says. Other items include individual cups of yogurt or dried fruit with no added sugar, nuts, and whole fruits and vegetables, suggests Dr. Titcomb.

Harness digital tools.
Grocery list apps for your smartphone and online ordering from your grocery store save time and energy. “Fatigue, brain fog, low energy, and even disability can dramatically affect your ability to shop for food,” says Dr. Titcomb. “One strategy is to plan a few days’ worth of meals and then use your grocery store’s online ordering or a grocery delivery service to order exactly the ingredients you need. This saves time, energy, and even money by avoiding many of the tempting non-nutrient-dense foods that line the aisles,” he says.

Think bowls.
Use precooked or quick-cooking ingredients to create a variety of one-bowl meals, Truscott suggests. Start with a base of greens or a grain like rice or quinoa; add a protein such as precooked chicken, canned beans, tofu, meat, or fish; top with raw or cooked vegetables and a dollop of guacamole, sour cream, salsa, or hummus.

Let friends help.
Andretta says yes when friends offer to visit and bring lunch, pick up her grocery order, or drop off an extra serving of whatever they’ve made for dinner. She says it’s an important part of meal planning that restores another vital health benefit: socializing over a meal. “I always say thank you,” she adds. “It might be a note in the container I’m returning that says ‘Delicious!’” When a friend’s peach and apple trees are full of ripe fruit, Andretta will help pick, wash, or chop, depending on her energy level. “It’s exercise and having a great time with people I love,” she says.