Reach out to us through our website to set up an initial consultation. From that consultation, a potential client can decide whether they want to move forward with an assessment for coaching and planning. 

Meal plans are tailored to each individual’s needs, based on the initial assessment and physical evaluation. The base of the meal plans will be derived from seasonal, cultural, geographic, and ancestral influences that are as close to farm/forest-to-table as possible with minimal processed incorporations. 

1. Meal Planning as a Therapeutic Tool

• Structured Decision Making: Meal planning provides structure to dietary choices, reducing the mental burden of daily food decisions. By mapping out meals in advance, individuals can make intentional, healthier choices instead of relying on impulsive or emotional eating, which can be a barrier to long-term health goals.

• Self-Efficacy and Empowerment: Planning meals ahead of time builds confidence in one's ability to make healthier decisions. It empowers individuals to take control of their nutrition, providing them with a sense of accomplishment as they stick to a plan, set goals, and see results over time.

• Emotional Regulation: By identifying food triggers (stress, anxiety, boredom, outside influences) from all stages of life development, demographics, geographic location, and heritage, individuals can plan for more targetted and balanced meals that nourish both the body and the mind. For example, incorporating stress-reducing foods (such as omega-3-rich fish) or mindful eating practices (such as seasonal eating) into the meal plan can address emotional eating and improve mental well-being.

• Goal-Oriented Eating: Meal planning serves as a tool for aligning food choices with personal health goals. Whether the objective is to manage weight, improve energy levels, enhance physical performance, or manage chronic conditions (e.g., diabetes or hypertension), meal planning helps turn abstract health goals into tangible, achievable actions.

2. Vision Boards to Align Dietary Goals with Personal Aspirations

• Visualization of Health and Wellness Goals: In the context of meal planning, individuals can use a vision board to highlight the desired outcomes of their dietary goals, such as feeling more energetic, achieving a healthy weight, or building strength. This serves as a constant reminder of why they are making dietary changes.

• Incorporating Values and Personal Desires: A vision board allows individuals to include images, words, or symbols that reflect their personal values or lifestyle aspirations. For instance, someone may place images of fresh, vibrant fruits and vegetables to align with a goal of increasing their vegetable intake or pictures of family meals to encourage shared, enjoyable mealtimes. This deepens the emotional connection to their meal planning process.

• Aligning Nutrition with Lifestyle: Vision boards can highlight how healthy eating fits into a broader lifestyle vision. For example, if an individual aspires to a long, active life or wants to feel more confident in their body, their meal planning might focus on nutrient-rich, whole foods that align with these overarching life goals. A vision board gives clarity to how food choices contribute to larger life priorities.

3. Practical Use of Vision Boards in Meal Planning

• Daily or Weekly Meal Planning Inspiration: By placing the vision board in a visible location (such as on the fridge or kitchen counter), individuals can use it as inspiration when creating their weekly meal plans. It acts as a motivational tool, reminding them of their larger health and wellness goals as they make food choices.

• Incorporating Positive Affirmations: Vision boards can include motivational affirmations such as “I nourish my body with healthy foods” or “Every meal is an opportunity to thrive.” These positive statements can help reframe any negative or restrictive thoughts around food, replacing them with empowering, compassionate messages that support long-term dietary changes.

• Creating a Balanced Meal Plan: The vision board can also guide the structure of the meal plan. For example, someone may have a vision of improving gut health and place images of probiotics or fiber-rich foods on their vision board. This serves as a visual reminder to incorporate these foods into their weekly meal plan.

4. Therapeutic Benefits of Vision Board Meal Planning

• Enhanced Motivation: When an individual visualizes their desired outcomes (better health, more energy, improved mood) and places these aspirations on a vision board, the process of meal planning becomes more than just a practical exercise. It becomes a deeply motivating and emotionally connected activity. This emotional investment strengthens commitment and helps overcome barriers such as time constraints or cravings.

• Mindfulness and Reflection: The process of creating a vision board encourages mindfulness. As individuals reflect on their personal goals and aspirations, they become more attuned to their desires and needs. This heightened self-awareness can enhance mindful eating, making it easier to tune into hunger and satiety cues, avoid overeating, and enjoy food with greater presence.

• Reinforcement of Positive Habits: By visualizing and connecting meal planning with long-term goals, individuals are more likely to engage in behaviors that reinforce these goals, such as preparing meals in advance, prioritizing balanced nutrition, and avoiding unhealthy food choices. The vision board serves as a visual tool for reinforcing these positive habits, keeping goals at the forefront of daily decisions.

5. A Holistic Approach to Wellness

• Integration of Mind, Body, and Emotion: Meal planning, enhanced by the emotional and aspirational connection from a vision board, takes a holistic approach to health. It integrates physical nutrition, emotional well-being, and psychological motivation, making the journey toward health more comprehensive and sustainable.

Building Long-Term Healthy Habits: With a vision board in place, the process of meal planning shifts from a short-term task to a long-term lifestyle change. The board reminds individuals that their dietary choices are stepping stones toward achieving personal aspirations, not isolated or temporary decisions.

CNRI Services focuses on the human condition and how individual development of behaviors are shaped through perceived information. The perception of information perceived is relative to behavioral eating patterns, and CNRI Services utilizes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy tactics to reshape how a person rationalizes and understands their emotions, psychology, and physicality of their individual conditions by reshaping their thought patterns and behaviors to promote healthier lifestyle choices. We focus on identifying and changing unhelpful or distorted thoughts (cognitive restructuring) and modifying maladaptive behaviors. Here's an outline of how CBT techniques are used to achieve these goals:

1. Identifying Negative Thought Patterns

• Cognitive Restructuring: The first step in CBT involves identifying negative, automatic thoughts that lead to unhealthy behaviors. These thoughts are often irrational, unrealistic, or distorted (e.g., catastrophizing, overgeneralization).

• Thought Records: Clients are asked to keep a daily log of their thoughts, particularly those related to stress, anxiety, or unhealthy choices. This helps to make cognitive patterns visible and more manageable.

• Challenging Negative Thoughts: Once the negative thought patterns are identified, the therapist helps the individual question their validity. Clients are encouraged to assess the evidence supporting or contradicting these thoughts.

2. Reframing Thoughts

• Cognitive Restructuring: Once clients understand the inaccuracies in their thinking, CBT encourages them to replace distorted thoughts with more balanced, realistic ones. For example, changing a thought like “I’ll never be able to stick to a healthy eating plan” to “I might struggle, but I can try again and make gradual improvements.”

• Alternative Perspectives: The therapist helps the individual explore alternative ways to view situations. Instead of seeing a mistake as a failure, clients learn to see it as an opportunity for learning or growth.

• Decatastrophizing: By looking at the worst-case scenario and assessing its likelihood, individuals can reduce feelings of overwhelming anxiety and prevent avoidance behaviors. This helps individuals engage in healthier lifestyle decisions without being paralyzed by fear or perfectionism.

3. Behavioral Activation and Change

• Behavioral Experiments: CBT encourages individuals to test their beliefs through small, manageable experiments. For example, if someone believes that exercise is too difficult or tiring, they might try a short walk to challenge that belief and observe how it makes them feel afterward.

• Activity Scheduling: Clients are encouraged to schedule positive and rewarding activities, including self-care or health-promoting actions like exercise, healthy eating, and relaxation. This helps break the cycle of avoidance and encourages more balanced behavior.

• Graded Exposure: For behaviors tied to anxiety or avoidance (e.g., avoiding social situations or unhealthy foods), CBT involves gradual exposure to these feared activities. This helps individuals build confidence and reduce anxiety in manageable steps, ultimately promoting healthier behaviors.

4. Developing Problem-Solving Skills

• Solution-Focused Thinking: CBT helps individuals develop problem-solving strategies for coping with challenges that might derail healthy behaviors (e.g., stress at work leading to overeating). Rather than ruminating on the problem, the focus is on finding constructive solutions.

• Action Plans: Clients learn to create specific, actionable steps for making healthier decisions. This includes setting realistic goals for diet, exercise, or stress management and breaking those goals down into smaller, achievable steps.

• Relapse Prevention: CBT prepares individuals to cope with setbacks or relapses by using strategies like identifying early warning signs of old thought patterns and creating action plans to prevent them from returning.

5. Improving Decision-Making and Healthy Choices

• Mindfulness and Acceptance: CBT incorporates techniques like mindfulness to help individuals become more aware of their thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations. This awareness can help individuals pause before reacting impulsively, allowing them to make more deliberate and health-conscious decisions.

• Values Clarification: By identifying core values (e.g., health, well-being, family), CBT encourages individuals to make decisions aligned with what is most important to them. This strengthens motivation and long-term commitment to healthier behaviors.

• Cost-Benefit Analysis: Clients learn to weigh the costs and benefits of unhealthy versus healthy choices. This decision-making process helps individuals choose options that align with their long-term goals, reducing impulsive or short-term rewarding behaviors.

6. Self-Monitoring and Reflection

• Tracking Progress: Individuals in CBT are encouraged to track their progress over time. This helps them see how their thought patterns and behaviors are shifting, reinforcing positive change.

• Self-Compassion: An essential component of CBT is fostering self-compassion, where individuals learn to be kind to themselves rather than self-critical when they make mistakes. This helps to reduce feelings of guilt or shame, which might otherwise derail progress toward healthier decisions.

7. Reinforcement and Maintenance

• Positive Reinforcement: CBT helps individuals identify and celebrate small successes, reinforcing positive behavior changes. For example, feeling good after a workout or enjoying a healthy meal can be a form of self-reward.

Sustaining Change: CBT techniques encourage the maintenance of changes by emphasizing the importance of continuing to apply new thinking and behavior patterns even after therapy ends. Clients are encouraged to continue using cognitive restructuring and problem-solving skills to manage future challenges.