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Healthy Meal Prep
36 Plays9 months ago
Welcome to The Positively Healthy Mom Podcast! I'm Laura Ollinger, and today, I’m excited to welcome Marquelle Brown, a nutritionist and meal prep expert. Marquelle is here to share valuable tips on how busy moms can make healthy meal prep a breeze.
In this enlightening episode, Marquelle explores the essential role of meal prepping—not just as a time-saver, but as a game-changer for ensuring balanced, nutritious meals throughout the week. Marquelle’s journey into nutrition began with a mission to make healthy eating both accessible and sustainable for everyone, particularly for busy moms.
Marquelle walks us through practical strategies for planning and preparing meals ahead of time. She covers everything from selecting the right ingredients and efficient grocery shopping tips to organizing your kitchen for success. Marquelle’s advice includes how to prepare quick and well-rounded meals—think steamed vegetables, salads, or fruits on the side—that you can whip up in just about half an hour. She also emphasizes creating meal prep routines that cater to your family’s dietary needs and preferences, making healthy eating both enjoyable and stress-free.
For our listeners, Marquelle provides invaluable insights on involving your kids in the meal prep process, turning it into a fun and educational activity. She shares how healthy meal prep can transform your family’s health and well-being, helping you to avoid common pitfalls like frequent illnesses, joint pain, and fatigue.Marquelle’s story is one of transformation.
She and her family have embraced a lifestyle of balanced nutrition and mindful eating, which has brought them vitality and joy. Today, Marquelle leads nutrition workshops, helping others achieve the same benefits through practical meal prep and healthy eating habits.
Key takeaways from this episode include:
- The impact of nutrition on overall well-being and how meal prep can support a healthy lifestyle.
- Involving the whole family in meal prep to make it a collaborative, educational experience.
- Practical tips for staying consistent with meal prep, even on busy days, and making it an enjoyable routine.
- Building a new, healthy identity through mindful eating and creating sustainable habits for long-term wellness.
Join us for this insightful conversation and discover how Marquelle’s expertise and passion for nutrition can inspire and guide you toward nurturing your family with wholesome, delicious meals
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Transcript
Introduction & Guest Background
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey moms, it's Laura Olinger.
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Positively Healthy Mom podcast.
00:00:05
Speaker
Because there's no manual for the hardest job in the world.
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome everybody to today's episode of the Positively Healthy Mom.
00:00:14
Speaker
I'm so excited to bring on my good friend Markel Brown.
00:00:18
Speaker
We go way back many years now from our Neuroencoding Institute training.
00:00:22
Speaker
So Markel, say hey, hi to everybody.
00:00:24
Speaker
Hi everyone.
00:00:25
Speaker
It's great to be here with you.
00:00:27
Speaker
Thank you for having me on your podcast.
00:00:29
Speaker
Yeah, so happy.
00:00:30
Speaker
That's great.
00:00:31
Speaker
So Markel, man, tell us about all your qualifications, because you've got quite a few.
00:00:36
Speaker
And then we're going to hone in on just some of those today.
00:00:38
Speaker
So tell us kind of your background.
00:00:40
Speaker
So I am a nutritionist, functional medicine nutritionist.
00:00:45
Speaker
And I love working with people helping them to navigate, you know, how to improve their health and wellness, you know, what to choose to eat.
00:00:54
Speaker
And
00:00:56
Speaker
Even including fun foods that they want, I call those processed and packaged foods fun foods because we have them at birthdays and social gatherings and holidays.
00:01:05
Speaker
And so it takes some navigating to find some balance and not overdue in that area.
00:01:12
Speaker
I'm also a mom of six kids.
00:01:15
Speaker
My oldest is 26.
00:01:16
Speaker
My youngest is 12.
00:01:17
Speaker
I have five girls and one son.
00:01:20
Speaker
And I'm also a betrayal, trauma, and addiction recovery coach.
00:01:26
Speaker
And I'm a brain health licensed trainer and neuroencoding specialist.
00:01:30
Speaker
So I've really done a lot to really focus on the whole system, the whole person, mind, body, spirit, because I think that they're all interconnected.
00:01:41
Speaker
And if we really want to have that full quality of life and the energy that we want, we've really got to look at all of those areas of life.
Challenges of Back-to-School Meal Planning
00:01:50
Speaker
I completely agree.
00:01:51
Speaker
And I think that's why you and I align so well, because I have the health coach background and the life coach background.
00:01:56
Speaker
And so we bring those together and just talk about, like you said, mind, body and spirit.
00:02:00
Speaker
But today we are going to talk about all things mom and back to school related things.
00:02:06
Speaker
And food related.
00:02:07
Speaker
So man, like, where do we even start with that?
00:02:09
Speaker
Because I think like, I know, um, our school starts, uh, next week, which is very soon, depending on when this episode airs, but we're, we're, we're imminent right now.
00:02:18
Speaker
And you guys have a few more weeks till your school starts.
00:02:21
Speaker
And I think what happens as moms is we all start to feel the pressure and the overwhelmed with all the emails and the signups and the,
00:02:28
Speaker
you know, the apps for the sports teams and just keeping up with everything.
00:02:33
Speaker
And one of the things that is our biggest kind of job or responsibility, not that it's not also dad's job, it certainly is, but it tends, the role tends to fall on mom as the food person in the house and grocery shopping, meal planning, cooking.
00:02:48
Speaker
Again, I love it when my kids help in the kitchen, they're great.
00:02:52
Speaker
They actually all summer long have been doing
00:02:54
Speaker
a lot of their own cooking, which I highly encourage kids to learn early, get in the kitchen, and then to also clean up.
00:02:59
Speaker
That's a little bit more of a struggle.
00:03:01
Speaker
But where should we start with this conversation today as far as just like getting moms ready and prepared for the stress and overwhelm in relation to food?
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah, there is a lot to think
Effective Meal Prep Strategies
00:03:13
Speaker
about.
00:03:13
Speaker
And I think two topics that
00:03:16
Speaker
to talk about to start with are snacks and dinner time.
00:03:21
Speaker
Because dinner time seems to always fall when you've got to run somebody somewhere or go pick somebody else up.
00:03:28
Speaker
And it's like, okay, what do I get?
00:03:31
Speaker
And I guess I'll start there.
00:03:34
Speaker
So one thing that I like to do, if you have time in the morning, usually I'm preparing something quick for breakfast.
00:03:42
Speaker
A lot of times I do prepare a dinner meal for breakfast.
00:03:45
Speaker
which may sound strange for people.
00:03:47
Speaker
I just like to have some good protein and fats and healthy carbohydrates with vegetables.
00:03:53
Speaker
And whether you use a rice or a pasta or a whole grain bread, it really just gives everybody the energy to start their day and to sustain them throughout the day.
00:04:03
Speaker
So while I'm getting that ready, I will often, if it's going to be a really busy long day and I know that dinner time timeframe is going to be hectic, I will also,
00:04:15
Speaker
quickly prepare something in the crock pot.
00:04:18
Speaker
And I just put it in there and turn it on.
00:04:20
Speaker
So it's cooking all day.
00:04:22
Speaker
And then if we can sit down and eat as a family, we can.
00:04:26
Speaker
Otherwise, if people are coming and going, then they can prepare their food, just get it out of the crock pot, whatever else that you have in addition, whether it's vegetables or a grain again, that they can actually, you know, put that together really quickly, either grab and go.
00:04:44
Speaker
or they can sit down and eat.
00:04:45
Speaker
Not everybody has to eat at the same time.
00:04:47
Speaker
And again, when I talk about meal prep, I like to think about one protein and one fat or a protein or a fat protein and a fat and a carbohydrate.
00:04:59
Speaker
And so usually things that I'm putting in the carb, uh, in the crock pot are more like a protein, um, or a soup soups.
00:05:07
Speaker
You can have, you know, like, um, I like to use red potatoes, celery, carrots,
00:05:13
Speaker
And whether it's chicken, if you're making like a chicken soup, or if you wanted to do more of a taco soup or chili, you can put, you know, your beans and your proteins and meat.
00:05:26
Speaker
And if you like any fats, spices in there and then turn it on.
00:05:30
Speaker
That's really helpful.
00:05:32
Speaker
And then of course you could prepare.
00:05:35
Speaker
I like to prepare either the other vegetables or the grains.
00:05:39
Speaker
closer to when everybody is going to be eating.
00:05:41
Speaker
So I'm only doing one portion of the preparation during breakfast.
00:05:45
Speaker
And really I've gotten down pretty well.
00:05:48
Speaker
I'll either put frozen chicken in there or, and some veggies or some frozen meat.
00:05:54
Speaker
And then making sure that I'm also putting the spices in, adding the water or the liquid that I need, turn it on.
00:06:00
Speaker
And then I go, so I can do that pretty much in five to 10 minutes.
00:06:05
Speaker
And the biggest preparation for that is thinking about it the night before or the day before.
00:06:11
Speaker
Okay, tomorrow I'm going to make this.
00:06:13
Speaker
I'm ready to go and mentally prepared so that all I have to do is, you know, get that ready.
00:06:20
Speaker
And I create the time for that in the morning.
00:06:24
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:06:24
Speaker
I love that routine.
00:06:25
Speaker
I love those ideas.
00:06:28
Speaker
Okay, so what about snacks?
Healthy Snack Preparation
00:06:30
Speaker
All right, so snacks.
00:06:32
Speaker
Anybody that has kids, especially little kids, know that if you go somewhere and you don't have snacks, you could run into a meltdown.
00:06:41
Speaker
Because those little kids, they're fast metabolizers and they burn a lot of energy.
00:06:46
Speaker
And when they are empty, they are empty.
00:06:49
Speaker
And if you don't have a snack right now, it's going to be sad.
00:06:54
Speaker
So I make it more stressful for you as a mom and the child is going to be very upset.
00:06:59
Speaker
So, um, if you don't already prepare snacks for the go, uh, it's not that hard again, if you can make sure you've got some little finger snacks that they can, the kids can grab.
00:07:14
Speaker
And also I do like to, again, have that rule.
00:07:19
Speaker
a protein or a fat and the carbohydrates.
00:07:22
Speaker
So one thing that we have discovered is chomps beef jerky.
00:07:28
Speaker
If you like to eat meat and the regular ones are about this long, I don't know, what is that about eight inches?
00:07:34
Speaker
And they have something really fun now they're called chomplings and they're only about maybe three inches long, which really even for myself is a better snack size than the whole stick of beef jerky.
00:07:49
Speaker
whether organic, grass-fed.
00:07:51
Speaker
You're not going to have all the preservatives and nitrates, any additives like cornstarch or corn syrup and other preservatives that can actually be a neurotoxin.
00:08:03
Speaker
We do want to prepare foods and purchase foods that are not going to actually contribute to the kid's anxiety, stress,
00:08:11
Speaker
Um, and so those nutrient dense foods also trail mix is really great.
00:08:16
Speaker
Um, I know that one thing that really makes, makes it for those trail mixes a lot of times is if you can add a little bit of chocolate, if you like chocolate, that just gives it a little extra oomph.
00:08:28
Speaker
Um, I know goldfish, those are popular for kids, a little crackers.
00:08:34
Speaker
And then if you can add some other things into that also, um,
00:08:38
Speaker
If depending on the, we're going to talk about school age kids, so they should be able to do grapes.
00:08:44
Speaker
You know, you can, those are pretty easy grab and go and apple carrot sticks.
00:08:49
Speaker
If you have time to prepare ahead, you know, celery with peanut butter or almond butter, and you can do ants on a log.
00:08:55
Speaker
One thing with kids is you always want to make food fun.
00:08:59
Speaker
So sometimes or sandwiches on the go.
00:09:02
Speaker
I like to make sandwiches talk or,
00:09:06
Speaker
broccoli or trees.
00:09:09
Speaker
And so just get a little bit creative.
00:09:11
Speaker
I know I have one daughter still, she likes to bite a face in her tortilla and then hold it up.
00:09:16
Speaker
Look at me, mom.
00:09:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:18
Speaker
So if we can keep it fun, that also helps, you know, their snacks and mealtime be fun.
00:09:25
Speaker
So olives are also good.
00:09:27
Speaker
Now we can get pickles and those little to go pouches and you've got applesauces and
00:09:33
Speaker
guacamole and chips.
00:09:35
Speaker
You know, I think today it's really easy to get healthy grab-and-go snacks because they have, you know, a lot of the companies have really tried to put together some quick and easy things.
00:09:47
Speaker
So, and again, if you have some leftovers prepared from before that you could also take, that could be a good snack.
00:09:57
Speaker
or something that they could take for their lunch.
00:09:59
Speaker
So really a lot of times it's having some ideas and then thinking ahead, okay, what do I have on hand?
00:10:06
Speaker
What can I grab quickly?
00:10:08
Speaker
And sometimes if I know the morning is going to be hectic, I will prepare the snacks the night before.
00:10:15
Speaker
Okay, so that's kind of where I'm wondering with this because with a busy household, you know, you have tons of kids, I have tons of kids and, you know, they kind of all do their own thing, you know, teenagers,
00:10:27
Speaker
I don't typically prepare things.
00:10:29
Speaker
I just buy things.
00:10:30
Speaker
I go to Costco.
00:10:31
Speaker
I load up.
00:10:31
Speaker
I go to the grocery store.
00:10:32
Speaker
I load up.
00:10:34
Speaker
And I do try to minimize those processed foods.
00:10:37
Speaker
But what we find is like the things in a package are easiest.
00:10:41
Speaker
And so I think like what you're saying is just to like, I think what I'm hearing is that you're
00:10:46
Speaker
kind of finding a balance where you are doing some fresh stuff.
00:10:49
Speaker
I mean, I personally love to get those celery things that are already cut or the little mini carrots in the little packages, you know, all the things that are just like mini size that they can grab and go because I just is not reality for me to be preparing snacks.
00:11:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:05
Speaker
And thinking about that too, like those little bags of carrots or celery that are already pre-cut, same thing with broccoli, you can get that pre-cut, you know, then
00:11:14
Speaker
You know, kids could even prepare their own.
00:11:16
Speaker
Okay.
00:11:17
Speaker
There are these choices in the fridge of the fresh and they can get their own Ziploc bag if you use that and they can put that in.
00:11:24
Speaker
It doesn't take very long to pull off a bunch of grapes, wash it, put it in a little Ziploc and go same thing with an apple.
00:11:30
Speaker
Grab it.
00:11:31
Speaker
If you don't even have time to wash it, you can wash it wherever you're at and just grab and go carrots too.
00:11:38
Speaker
And same thing with those little peanut butter or nut butter.
00:11:41
Speaker
containers too that are grab and go or guacamole, the olives you can get in packets like that too, or applesauce, pickles, if you like pickles.
00:11:51
Speaker
I know that there's a lot more out there as well that are going to be some healthier snacks.
00:11:58
Speaker
Also remembering that kids are, they really are fast metabolizers.
00:12:03
Speaker
They're go, go, go.
00:12:04
Speaker
They are going to need more carbohydrates than say us adults.
00:12:08
Speaker
So yeah,
00:12:12
Speaker
Unless there's like a lot of allergies or sensitivities, I do think some of the crackers, pretzels are going to be, you know, okay to choose for a carbohydrate snack to give us that quick energy as well.
00:12:27
Speaker
Okay.
00:12:28
Speaker
Okay.
Encouraging Teens to Eat Healthy
00:12:29
Speaker
Well, I am gluten free and that does rub off on my kids a bit because I don't buy a lot of kind of like that.
00:12:35
Speaker
But so let's go into like the psychology of it because there's kind of two pieces of it.
00:12:41
Speaker
There's the mom psychology and then there's the teenager psychology or the kid psychology.
00:12:45
Speaker
You know, we are talking about all agers, but kind of I focus more on teenagers and
00:12:51
Speaker
It's funny because a lot of my clients, the parents' biggest complaint is my teenager eats like junk all the time.
00:13:00
Speaker
And as much as the mom wants to influence healthy eating, the teenagers are just, they're already kind of resistant to mom advice in the first place.
00:13:08
Speaker
And then when you add that element in, there is a lot of resistance.
00:13:11
Speaker
And so what I have talked to my clients about is just how...
00:13:15
Speaker
They do hear what you're saying.
00:13:17
Speaker
They might not follow what you're saying, but that doesn't mean that someday they won't come back to it.
00:13:21
Speaker
So I'm like, give them to you in their 20s.
00:13:23
Speaker
And then they know, oh, yeah, mom said eat healthy.
00:13:26
Speaker
And then I do.
00:13:26
Speaker
Right.
00:13:26
Speaker
Or it kind of has to come from within.
00:13:29
Speaker
I mean, I know my son who's 15.
00:13:31
Speaker
He's an obsessive, healthy eater, like no sugar, no dairy.
00:13:36
Speaker
No, like he is because he's an athlete and he cares about eating really healthy.
00:13:40
Speaker
Some of my other kids don't care as much.
00:13:41
Speaker
They eat kind of what, you know, other things.
00:13:43
Speaker
And so I think part of it is A, the individual, but B, what's the motivation behind it?
00:13:47
Speaker
And a lot of times teenagers don't really necessarily have the specific, if they're not a big athlete, they don't have that motivation behind it, but that we still want to make sure we're guiding them, showing them the way, even if they're resisting that and eating lots of junk.
00:14:01
Speaker
So like, what's your kind of take on that?
00:14:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:05
Speaker
With my own kids, I have learned when they get about 16 years,
00:14:10
Speaker
that they start questioning, wait, why are we doing this?
00:14:13
Speaker
Why do we eat well?
00:14:14
Speaker
All my other friends don't eat like this.
00:14:17
Speaker
Not all of them.
00:14:18
Speaker
You know, they're eating a lot more fast food processed, you know, sodas.
00:14:23
Speaker
And so I thought that was very interesting with my first two children because I'm like, okay, we have done this since you were like four and six years old.
00:14:33
Speaker
You know, so I thought it would have been just an established pattern that they would want to keep going with.
00:14:38
Speaker
And so what I found, even though I had been educating or a little bit going along that at that age, I really needed to bring in more education like, OK, well, why do we eat like this?
00:14:51
Speaker
Well, we aren't sick as often.
00:14:53
Speaker
You don't have as much pain and inflammation.
00:14:55
Speaker
You don't have headaches and joint pain.
00:14:57
Speaker
You're able to work out really hard and recover quicker and faster.
00:15:02
Speaker
You're not getting injuries.
00:15:04
Speaker
Your face and complexion looks better.
00:15:07
Speaker
Your moods are better.
00:15:09
Speaker
You feel, you know, you're not as tired.
00:15:11
Speaker
And so really a lot of times I will ask them, you know, how do you want to feel?
00:15:16
Speaker
What do you want to be able to do?
00:15:17
Speaker
And if they've eaten quite a bit of junk,
00:15:21
Speaker
over a few days or a week, and they're like, Oh, I don't feel good.
00:15:23
Speaker
I'm like, well, you know, why, why do you think that might be?
00:15:27
Speaker
You know, is there anything contributing to that?
00:15:29
Speaker
And usually they'll put together for themselves that, well, I haven't been eating very well at all.
00:15:35
Speaker
So helping them to generate that awareness.
00:15:38
Speaker
And I really do like to emphasize, you know, we have it eating well, you're, it's an anti-inflammatory diet, you're going to
00:15:49
Speaker
have less inflammation, which means less pain, which means more energy.
00:15:53
Speaker
Um, and your skin is going to be better.
00:15:57
Speaker
Your moods will be better.
00:16:00
Speaker
And also we don't have to go to the doctor very often unless there's something major.
00:16:04
Speaker
Um, and that's something that I want, you know?
00:16:08
Speaker
And, um, the other thing that I found was that my,
00:16:14
Speaker
kids as they got older, they wanted to, they were discovering things.
00:16:18
Speaker
Did you know this?
00:16:19
Speaker
And I'd be like, yeah, isn't that great?
00:16:21
Speaker
Did you know this and this?
00:16:22
Speaker
And so really celebrating when they are looking things up themselves and allow them to share because then they're learning.
00:16:32
Speaker
And as we celebrate with them, it's really going to help anchor in that.
00:16:36
Speaker
Yeah, I want to eat well.
00:16:38
Speaker
And it really does make a big difference.
00:16:40
Speaker
So the other thing too is,
00:16:44
Speaker
those teenagers that are rebelling, you know, food is one thing that they feel like they can control.
00:16:52
Speaker
Yes.
00:16:53
Speaker
And hoping you go there.
00:16:55
Speaker
Yes.
00:16:55
Speaker
Yes.
00:16:56
Speaker
And that can be really tough, especially when like as a nutritionist, I know that there are some pretty severe consequences.
00:17:05
Speaker
If you're eating poorly constantly, you know, three, three times a day and for snacks as well.
00:17:12
Speaker
Um,
00:17:13
Speaker
I mean, if you're doing that here and there once in a while, you know, your body can keep up with that, that load and those toxins coming in and you're doing it all the time.
00:17:22
Speaker
It really does burden the system.
00:17:23
Speaker
And I've had to really just take a deep breath and again, bring an awareness.
00:17:32
Speaker
If somebody has been really sick, you know, what do you think?
00:17:35
Speaker
What, what do you think you might, might help?
00:17:37
Speaker
And they'll be like, well, I probably should eat better.
00:17:40
Speaker
And then just love them where they're at.
00:17:43
Speaker
Just love it.
00:17:44
Speaker
And then bring in, you know, when you've got more cavities, what do you think that's from?
00:17:49
Speaker
Could that be from more of that soda pop and not getting the nutrients that you're needing from those processed foods?
00:17:57
Speaker
And again, just loving them.
00:17:59
Speaker
And hopefully all of those years of eating well at home and preparing meals and snacks, once they get through that, you know, teenage 17 to 20 years,
00:18:12
Speaker
hopefully they'll come back around and be like, oh.
00:18:16
Speaker
And again, like you said, those that are athletes, that's a real motivating factor because usually you can tell a huge difference if you're working out really hard, if you're not eating well.
00:18:26
Speaker
I mean, you just don't have that motivation and that drive like you normally do and that endurance to be able to do those sports.
00:18:37
Speaker
And so you'll almost adjust yourself because you want to be
00:18:42
Speaker
at your peak performance level.
00:18:45
Speaker
Also, if somebody isn't feeling very good, they might start investigating what can I do to improve my health and start doing some research there.
00:18:54
Speaker
And then other times kids, they just actually really don't know.
00:18:58
Speaker
And so,
00:19:00
Speaker
My mom, growing up, she used to say, oh, I read this article, and this is supposed to be good for you.
00:19:05
Speaker
We're going to bring more of this in.
00:19:06
Speaker
And I found this recipe.
00:19:08
Speaker
I'm going to bring this in.
00:19:10
Speaker
My grandma used to do that, too.
00:19:11
Speaker
They would share health tips all the time.
00:19:13
Speaker
Back in the day when we had the Reader's Digest, there were health tips and articles in there.
00:19:19
Speaker
And so any little bits of information that you can just share in passing?
00:19:24
Speaker
You know, I learned this.
00:19:25
Speaker
I'm kind of excited, and I thought I'd share with you, and I might try this out.
00:19:30
Speaker
implement some of these things.
00:19:31
Speaker
I think all of that can help pique these teens interest as they are really, um, striving to go from that kid and stepping into being an adult where they're making their own choices and figuring things out on their own.
00:19:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:49
Speaker
I like all the things that you said.
00:19:50
Speaker
They were great.
00:19:51
Speaker
And it reminds me of, so my mom, um,
00:19:55
Speaker
We never really, she never made like a big deal out of things.
00:19:58
Speaker
Like we always had chocolate chip cookies in the house or some dessert options.
00:20:03
Speaker
She loves ice cream, so we always had ice cream in the house.
00:20:05
Speaker
But she never like made a big deal out of it.
00:20:07
Speaker
Like there was almost never a conversation that I can remember that she was trying to tell me what to eat or influence me.
00:20:14
Speaker
But what she did do, and I think it's almost a good like metaphor even for presenting or offering, which is she would just like leave out a cutting board with some like sliced peaches or nectarines or just something kind of cut up.
00:20:28
Speaker
And it's like you're walking through the kitchen.
00:20:29
Speaker
It's kind of right there.
00:20:30
Speaker
It looks really, you kind of just, you know, but it's almost like she was not here, eat this or do this or eat your broccoli or, you know, it was always just offered, but it was never really discussed.
00:20:39
Speaker
And so I'm not saying don't discuss it, but I'm saying,
00:20:43
Speaker
You know, we don't want to force anything but like presenting the information or the research.
00:20:47
Speaker
Well, I also did something similar.
00:20:49
Speaker
My son recently, we were having a discussion about dairy.
00:20:52
Speaker
I personally don't do dairy much myself and I don't buy a lot of dairy.
00:20:57
Speaker
And my son was like, mom, we need milk.
00:21:00
Speaker
And I said, well, it's kind of inflammatory.
00:21:02
Speaker
And he's like, well, he kind of didn't believe me is basically where I was.
00:21:05
Speaker
He was going with this.
00:21:06
Speaker
I said, OK, well, that's fine.
00:21:07
Speaker
We have your annual checkup.
00:21:09
Speaker
Let's go talk to the doctor.
00:21:10
Speaker
She.
00:21:11
Speaker
you know, kind of agreed with me.
00:21:12
Speaker
And but what I had said was, well, why don't you Google it, do some research on your own and see what you can find?
00:21:18
Speaker
And I wasn't going to dispute if he found something, I would just kind of go with that, whatever he found.
00:21:23
Speaker
So kind of like putting that ball in their court or just offering information that is from a third party.
00:21:29
Speaker
Because that way you're taking any emotional charge and say, oh, well, this is what the researcher found.
00:21:33
Speaker
Or this is what the nutritionist said.
00:21:34
Speaker
Or this is what your doctor said.
00:21:36
Speaker
Right?
00:21:36
Speaker
And so because anytime it comes from mom, it's a little, there's chances are it's going to be a little bit more, you know, maybe some pushback.
Grocery Shopping Tips and Stress Reduction
00:21:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:43
Speaker
So let's kind of spend the last part of our conversation back on mom, us.
00:21:49
Speaker
And just that psychology of it feels like a lot.
00:21:53
Speaker
It feels overwhelming.
00:21:54
Speaker
So I just did do my meal plan for this week.
00:21:58
Speaker
And I cannot handle buying groceries for four days or five days in a row.
00:22:02
Speaker
I literally, it's too much.
00:22:03
Speaker
It's overwhelming.
00:22:04
Speaker
So now I'm like, I'll buy two days at a time, right?
00:22:07
Speaker
I live really close to the grocery store.
00:22:09
Speaker
So I don't mind running over there.
00:22:10
Speaker
But in the past, I would literally go every day.
00:22:12
Speaker
Like, this is a massive waste of time.
00:22:14
Speaker
I do need to do a better job planning.
00:22:15
Speaker
So I am trying to get better about that.
00:22:18
Speaker
But what is that?
00:22:20
Speaker
Like, what is that from moms where it just like, oh, I have to do this, right?
00:22:23
Speaker
Like, where does that come from?
00:22:25
Speaker
I think part of it is that, you know, we, we do have to eat.
00:22:30
Speaker
My mom used to say, I wish we had edible dishes or I wish we didn't have to eat.
00:22:36
Speaker
And, you know, now I'm like, okay, I get it because, you know, you have to, you have to go shop for it.
00:22:44
Speaker
Then you have to bring it home and put it away and then you have to get it out and prepare it.
00:22:47
Speaker
And then you have to cook it and then you eat it and then you have to clean up and then you do it all over again, you know?
00:22:53
Speaker
depending on how many times a day or a week you decide, you know, there's a lot that goes into it.
00:22:58
Speaker
And so I think one of the automatic negative thoughts or intrusive thoughts is, oh, I don't have time.
00:23:05
Speaker
Well, if we are even just thinking ahead, okay, I could make this, I could make this.
00:23:12
Speaker
And then, you know, we've got the ingredients.
00:23:14
Speaker
It really doesn't take that much more time.
00:23:18
Speaker
You know, even going through the fast food and the drive-through that takes time, right?
00:23:23
Speaker
Um, and so I think if we can create some pockets of time to prepare, you know, plan for grocery stop shopping and preparing our meals, then that's going to be very helpful for me.
00:23:38
Speaker
Um, I still have a lot of people, you know, living at home.
00:23:42
Speaker
And so for me, I actually prefer to get ingredients and go once a week.
00:23:49
Speaker
And then I can have food and I can be like, okay, I could make this and I could make this.
00:23:53
Speaker
And some of them are a shorter meal, meal prepping meals.
00:23:58
Speaker
And some of them might take a little bit longer.
00:24:01
Speaker
And I'm also with you.
00:24:03
Speaker
I, I, I get overwhelmed thinking to meal prep for a whole week that because when you're feeding a lot of people,
00:24:10
Speaker
That to me is way too overwhelming.
00:24:13
Speaker
So I don't do that.
00:24:15
Speaker
I, I've thought about it before and I'm like, Whoa, that's just too much.
00:24:19
Speaker
So I just look at the day, you know, breakfast and lunch, we kind of got, we have that down.
00:24:24
Speaker
And then I'm thinking, okay, what could I make for dinner?
00:24:27
Speaker
Even if it's something like spaghetti, you know, and we get gluten-free noodles, which, which we really like.
00:24:35
Speaker
Also, if you can handle gluten, you can get those, but that's pretty quick and easy.
00:24:39
Speaker
And then you can prepare some veggies on the side, whether it's steamed vegetables, a salad, or if you want fruit for that meal, you could have that.
00:24:48
Speaker
Olives, if you want to have with that, you know, there's a bunch of things that you could add to that to make that a well-rounded meal that doesn't take very long.
00:24:56
Speaker
So my meals, I really try to aim for, okay, what could I make in like a half an hour?
00:25:04
Speaker
And usually what I like to do, if...
00:25:07
Speaker
For me, when we are making a dish with meat in it, I'll put the meat in the pan first, get that started, and then I'll prep the veggies while I'm going and then add the spices.
00:25:17
Speaker
And then I start either the rice or the pasta, or if we're just going to have some chips on the side, we can do that or whatever else you want to add to that.
00:25:26
Speaker
And then the meat's cooking because that tends to take the longest.
00:25:30
Speaker
And then I'm chopping vegetables and putting it in and I put the lid on.
00:25:35
Speaker
and then I can usually have that dinner finished within 20 to 30 minutes, depending on what it is.
00:25:44
Speaker
Whether it's a stir fry or for doing tacos, taco salad, like a spaghetti or even a soup.
00:25:51
Speaker
Soups take a little bit longer because you've got to get everything boiling.
00:25:55
Speaker
But again, if I can prep it all, put it in the pot, put the lid on while I'm doing other things in this cooking, while I'm doing other things in the preparation is only maybe
00:26:04
Speaker
five, well, probably more like around 15, 20 minutes.
00:26:08
Speaker
So still, that's not too much time if I have the ingredients on hand.
00:26:13
Speaker
Right, right.
00:26:15
Speaker
The other thing, one other thing is I think that parents are like, I'm so tired, you know, at the end of the day.
00:26:22
Speaker
And so they've worked hard all day, you know, they've done all the things that they have to do, running kids, taking care of house, bills, work, all the things.
00:26:31
Speaker
And so oftentimes that thought creeps in.
00:26:34
Speaker
I'm so tired.
00:26:35
Speaker
I don't know.
00:26:35
Speaker
Maybe I'll just grab something fast.
00:26:37
Speaker
So crock pot dinners, if you can do that quickly in the morning, it really does not take that long, five to 10 minutes, put it in, put the spices in, put the lid on and then turn it on and ready to go.
00:26:51
Speaker
The other thing that I like to do is grab a rotisserie chicken.
00:26:56
Speaker
And that probably takes just as fast to go through a drive through, go pick up a rotisserie chicken.
00:27:01
Speaker
If you want to get all the already chopped veggies or a packaged salad or even salad that takes like two minutes to wash.
00:27:09
Speaker
And you've got, you know, some of those loose veggies and whatever else that you want to put with it, if you're going to do a grain and then you could really grab that chicken and a few things there at the grocery in a matter of five to 10 minutes, come home, put it on the table.
00:27:27
Speaker
And then you've got that ready to go.
00:27:28
Speaker
So, and then you can reuse that rotisserie chicken, depending on how many people are eating that, not, not reuse the leftovers.
00:27:37
Speaker
So you could have it for the next day for a salad, or you could put it in a soup, or you could put it in wraps, whether that's a lettuce wrap or, you know, you're using a tortilla.
00:27:48
Speaker
And then you've got enough of that protein for at least one or two other meals, depending on how much
00:27:56
Speaker
is being used the first and second time.
00:27:58
Speaker
So yeah.
00:27:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:00
Speaker
Those are great tips.
00:28:02
Speaker
And I think my takeaway too mentally is just that, that planning the pockets of time.
00:28:08
Speaker
So I do try to do that yesterday.
00:28:10
Speaker
I had a super busy day and I was going to be out for the evening.
00:28:13
Speaker
So I was leaving my kids home to kind of fend for themselves, but I didn't want them to have to do that.
00:28:18
Speaker
So I prepped something ahead of time.
00:28:20
Speaker
I use the Instapot.
00:28:21
Speaker
I'm a big Instapot girl.
00:28:23
Speaker
So I got it all done.
00:28:24
Speaker
It literally, I think I cooked dinner.
00:28:26
Speaker
I don't remember, but it was like two o'clock yesterday, but that way it was just sitting there ready for them to go so they can help themselves.
00:28:31
Speaker
So I think the biggest, the biggest takeaway is just like, if you're going to have to do it anyway, you might as well not get so stressed out about it.
00:28:40
Speaker
You might as well say, okay, I'll have 20 minutes there.
00:28:43
Speaker
I'll have 30 minutes there at that part of my day, whether it's morning, afternoon,
00:28:46
Speaker
you know, early, typical, like evening time, whatever that is, but just to know when it's going to happen.
00:28:53
Speaker
So you're taking some of the uncertainty out of it.
00:28:55
Speaker
If you can figure out what you're going to make ahead of time, again, like you said, the night before, you know what you're doing the next day, take the uncertainty out of it.
00:29:01
Speaker
So the more certainty we can provide psychologically, that feels better to us, that feels less stressful if we have a plan.
00:29:08
Speaker
What I did when I was making that dish yesterday was actually I had to run to the store
00:29:12
Speaker
get something else, but at least I had everything out on the counter.
00:29:15
Speaker
I had my spices out.
00:29:16
Speaker
I had my onion out.
00:29:16
Speaker
I had, right.
00:29:17
Speaker
So it's just even psychologically having it right there instead of me having to like fish through and be like, Oh, do I have this?
00:29:22
Speaker
Do I have that?
00:29:23
Speaker
Right.
00:29:23
Speaker
So anything we can do to like lower the bar on the difficulty level, which sometimes it's just as simple as, you know, it's the equivalent of putting your running shoes by the bed.
00:29:32
Speaker
If you want to run in the morning, put,
00:29:34
Speaker
Make it as easy as possible.
00:29:35
Speaker
So I think kind of like that's what it is as far as getting that done.
00:29:38
Speaker
So, okay.
Balancing Meal Planning with Fun Foods
00:29:40
Speaker
Any last, you know, pep talk for moms going back to school?
00:29:44
Speaker
Like what can we give them as far as just some type of a motivation or encouragement?
00:29:50
Speaker
Yeah, well, just know that you can do this.
00:29:53
Speaker
It's a routine.
00:29:55
Speaker
So it's just reestablishing routines.
00:29:57
Speaker
And so give yourself a week or two to get into the school year and then you'll see what routines you have.
00:30:03
Speaker
Okay, this is a pocket of time where I could prepare this meal, you know, or this is a pocket of time where I can go grocery shopping.
00:30:11
Speaker
These are some snacks that we can have on and see what your family likes, see what you can try to implement.
00:30:17
Speaker
And also I just want to briefly talk about fun foods.
00:30:22
Speaker
Okay.
00:30:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:22
Speaker
Other processed foods.
00:30:23
Speaker
Right.
00:30:25
Speaker
And they're everywhere that when I had little kids was, it was a bit of frustration for me because I didn't want them to have it.
00:30:32
Speaker
And then what I learned is when they got a little bit older, I really couldn't control the fun foods that were around them.
00:30:39
Speaker
And so again, I like what you said, not having too much of an emphasis on it.
00:30:45
Speaker
And also, um,
00:30:47
Speaker
not making a big deal if they're having them.
00:30:51
Speaker
And when we do that, then I find that they will sometimes not always monitor, you know, not eating too much.
00:30:59
Speaker
And what happened with me was I was like, Oh, we don't eat that.
00:31:03
Speaker
That's not good.
00:31:03
Speaker
That's not going to be very healthy for us.
00:31:06
Speaker
That whenever we would go to a social gathering outside of the home, they were eating way too many of the cookies and cakes and candies because they,
00:31:16
Speaker
you know, we didn't have it.
00:31:17
Speaker
And so I was like, oh, I'm going to have to rethink this.
00:31:20
Speaker
You know, how many cookies do you think might be okay?
00:31:23
Speaker
You know, maybe two or three.
00:31:26
Speaker
Do we like totally pile our plate up or do we just take a few?
00:31:31
Speaker
So helping them, you know, more with like finding some balance.
00:31:35
Speaker
And again, noticing how they feel after they have that is, I like to say, even in, especially if they've gone way overboard,
00:31:44
Speaker
then they can actually correlate that.
00:31:46
Speaker
Okay.
00:31:46
Speaker
Maybe that didn't make me feel very good.
00:31:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:50
Speaker
And again, you know, if they're reactive to it, they're going to learn really quickly.
00:31:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:54
Speaker
I don't want that because that's really not going to make me feel well.
00:31:58
Speaker
And it's really hard if they aren't reactive to it.
00:32:01
Speaker
Um, and that's where we can come in and be a little bit more intentional with our parenting to help guide them on maybe some portion control.
00:32:10
Speaker
Um,
00:32:10
Speaker
You know, how about let's take one of the smaller plates and you could put a few of those sweets or snacks on there instead of one of the big dinner plates.
00:32:18
Speaker
And then just help give them some guidance.
00:32:21
Speaker
And then too, like I find planning if they want some sweets, okay, where might we make that for dessert?
00:32:30
Speaker
Or maybe we'll go out and get a special treat so that it gives us something to look forward to.
00:32:36
Speaker
And it's not something that they're going to be eating all day, every day.
00:32:40
Speaker
you know, with every meal and every snack.
00:32:43
Speaker
And then one other tip, there's a study out there that says if you have, you know, two servings of fruits or vegetables a day, you're going to feel okay.
00:32:54
Speaker
If you increase it to four, you're going to feel better.
00:32:56
Speaker
If you increase it to eight servings of fruits and vegetables a day, there is such a significant boost in your mood and how you feel that you would be able to recognize it within 24 hours, which I think is pretty powerful.
Boosting Health with Fruits and Vegetables
00:33:10
Speaker
Wow.
00:33:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:11
Speaker
And so it doesn't take very much to get to, you know, eight servings.
00:33:17
Speaker
Serving sizes are not actually that big.
00:33:20
Speaker
And so the way that I encourage you to get those into your day is try to include, you know, three to five different colors of fruits or vegetables in your meals or snacks throughout the day.
00:33:34
Speaker
And then you'll easily get that.
00:33:37
Speaker
Hmm.
00:33:38
Speaker
love that i i would love for you to send me that study later so i can take a look at it because that sounds great and and they're on that that the the food colors and the phytonutrients i remember when i was in my functional medicine health coaching school they had a graphic for children and so i taped it up so my kids could see it and they did get really into it they were like oh this prevents cancer and this prevents all these things and so they actually got really excited about kind of learning about it and so it's been a while we've moved a couple times so i was thinking oh
00:34:06
Speaker
I should print it even though they're teenagers, but they still are interested.
00:34:08
Speaker
They're very interested in their health, both the boys and the girls.
00:34:12
Speaker
And so I thought, oh, I should just print that out again.
00:34:14
Speaker
I'll do the adult version maybe this time.
00:34:16
Speaker
But, you know, they do want to have a say and a part of that and understanding the connection of what it does for their body and what kind of energy it gives them and what kind of mood that provides and all the different things.
00:34:25
Speaker
And the boys are so into building their muscles.
00:34:27
Speaker
My daughter is, too.
00:34:28
Speaker
She's a weightlifter.
00:34:29
Speaker
So she loves anything that's going to help with that.
00:34:32
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:34:33
Speaker
Awesome.
Listener Engagement & Resources
00:34:34
Speaker
Okay.
00:34:34
Speaker
Markel, I think we did it.
00:34:36
Speaker
This was an amazing conversation.
00:34:37
Speaker
Where can people find you going forward?
00:34:39
Speaker
Yes.
00:34:39
Speaker
Thank you.
00:34:41
Speaker
So you can find me at markelbrown.com.
00:34:44
Speaker
That's M-A-R-Q-U-E-L-L-E-B-R-O-W-N.com.
00:34:50
Speaker
And I offer some discovery calls if you want to learn more and feel free to reach out.
00:34:58
Speaker
That sounds great.
00:34:58
Speaker
Thanks again.
00:34:59
Speaker
Okay.
00:35:00
Speaker
Bye.
00:35:00
Speaker
Bye-bye.
00:35:03
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Positively Healthy Mom podcast because there's no manual for the hardest job in the world.
00:35:10
Speaker
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