You wake up every morning and eat your favorite breakfast of eggs and toast.  Three hours later you have your protein shake with banana and peanut butter.  Lunch is always a turkey sandwich on wheat with cheese.  You packed your protein bar to ward off mid-afternoon munchies and you look forward to your grilled fish and veggie dinner every night.  Your meals are balanced, your energy is high, your body is changing in a positive way, and then it hits you…… you are downright bored with your meals!  And that piece of pizza is looking better and better by the minute.

If the above scenario sounds familiar, you are not alone.   As a nutrition coach and chef, I see plain old boredom push even the most motivated health nut off his or her program all too often.  So what can you do if your ho-hum meals are getting you down?  It’s time to pull yourself out of the food rut and get a little creative!
Creativity is the spice of life and this is particularly true when it comes to food.  As human beings we like to experience different tastes, textures, scents and even visually see different shapes and colors on our plate.  Just because your eating healthy doesn’t mean you can’t have a variety of delicious, creative (not to mention easy to make) meals throughout your day.

The best way to get started is to set the goal for yourself that you will experiment with one new creative, healthy recipe each week.  For easy and waist friendly ideas, I encourage you to check out your Recipes Tab within your personalized plan.  The Venice Nutrition recipe collection contains simple, fast and fun recipes like “Restaurant Worthy Steaks” (when’s the last time you feasted on a perfectly cooked filet at home?) to “Salad with Fries” and “Banana Cinnamon Pancakes”.  Every recipe in the collection contains easy to follow instructions and the nutritional breakdown, so you can be assured that your getting a balanced meal.  Perhaps you pack the “Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad Wrap” for lunch in place of your plain old turkey sandwich.  Maybe instead your usual mid-afternoon protein bar, you snack on a creamy, sweet “Greek Yogurt Parfait”.  If your getting hungry, all of these recipes are found in your Recipes tab!

If creating a new recipe seems overwhelming, start slowly by incorporating a new food item into your plan.  Perhaps in place of the cheese in your sandwich, you have some sliced avocado instead.  Maybe you switch out your banana and peanut butter smoothie for a strawberry almond variety.

The goal is that once you have established consistency and are completely comfortable with your meal plans, try slowly breaking out of your comfort zone slowly.  Keep the meals that you love, switch out the ones that your bored with.   I promise that with a little creativity on your end, you can prevent a food rut, and reach your goals that much faster.

Valerie  Cogswell
Nutrition Coach and Head Chef