4 tips on how to create meal plans your clients will actually follow
#TLDR
We asked Meal Garden nutritionists, “What are the most important steps you take to ensure your meal plans are easy for your clients to follow?” They told us to limit the ingredients in each meal plan, to limit meals to under 30 minutes, to ensure that meals fit a variety of tastes, and to choose versatile ingredients that can be batch-cooked.
You take great care to put together a meal plan you think will be a game changer for your client’s health, but the next time you follow up with them, they admit they just didn’t stick to the meal plan like they wanted to.
Why does this happen and how can we improve client adherence?
We asked the nutritionists behind Meal Garden:
“What are the most important steps you take to ensure your meal plans are easy for your clients to follow?”
This is what they said:
Limit the ingredients in each meal plan.
Keep it simple.
The more ingredients there are in a Meal Plan, the more expensive it is, and the longer it takes to stage and cook a recipe. This can lead to feelings of overwhelm.
A study published in the journal Clinical Diabetes and Endocrinology reports that both a lack of knowledge and the cost of a healthy diet were top reasons why patients don’t adhere to dietary recommendations.
2. Limit meals to under 30 minutes.
According to a study published in the Journal of Public Health, preparation time and a lack of cooking skills are among the top barriers toward healthy eating.
“I mostly give [clients] meals under 30 mins because I get a lot of clients that do not want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen,” says nutritionist Erin Madden.
3. Make sure meals fit a variety of tastes.
When there are picky eaters at the table, parents don’t want to spend all night being short-order cooks.
Even if there are adults at the table who won’t touch a variety of foods, it’s important to know what your clients will or won’t eat up front, before you expect them to follow a meal plan.
“I have one client who sent me a list of 50 foods she won’t eat,” says nutritionist Erin Madden, “So I go to Meal Garden, I write in all the ingredients to exclude, and then I can see all the recipes and meal plans that exclude those foods. It’s a really easy way to give clients meal plans they’ll actually want to eat.”
4. Choose versatile ingredients that can be batch cooked.
“In my meal plans, I offer recipes where my clients can batch cook,” says nutritionist Erin Madden, “They can chop their veggies, cook their quinoa or rice, and then store the prepared food in quality storage containers so it’s ready to be heated up for the next meal.”
This is a great way for clients to leverage leftovers. This way, they don’t have to spend a lot of time cooking every night, they save money on ingredients, and they cut down on food waste by repurposing elements of each meal.
Meal Planning Made Easy For Nutrition Professionals
Meal Garden cuts down on meal planning time for practitioners by an average of 70%. This powerful tool allows practitioners to connect with their clients through an individualized client portal, offer programs, and design highly personalized meal plans that fit a wide array of health conditions.
Health practitioners can seamlessly integrate Meal Garden into their current practice management system, without adding another layer of tech for your clients.
It’s free to join. Click here to start making meal planning easier than ever.
Further Reading:
How This Health Coach Makes an Additional $1k/Month By Using This Powerful Meal Planning Tool
This Feature in Meal Garden Lets You Get Laser Specific With Your Recipes & Meal Plans
What to do if Your Protocols Just Don’t Stick as a Health Practitioner - With Adele Wellness
