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Ep 40: Meal Prep & Ingredient Prep Made Easy: Healthy Eating for Busy Lives
45 Plays1 month ago
In this episode, we’re breaking down the real reason healthy eating feels so hard—and it’s not lack of motivation, it’s lack of preparation. We dive into why meal planning doesn’t have to mean spending your entire Sunday in the kitchen or living off perfectly prepped containers, and how it can actually be flexible, realistic, and tailored to your life. From choosing a prep style that works for your schedule to keeping staple proteins, grains, and snacks ready to go, we share simple, practical strategies that make eating well easier (even on your busiest days). If you’ve ever stared into your fridge thinking “there’s nothing to eat,” this episode will help you set your future self up for success with less stress, more balance, and way more ease.
We would love you to join us in our latest program: The 21 Day Reset
If you are looking to reset your energy, shed a few pounds and feel like yourself again, this program is for you! Join us for the 21 Day Reset. We begin April 7!
Register here: 21 Day Reset
Where to find us:
IG @whatsmyageagain.podcast / FB - What’s My Age Again Podcast
Email us at: wmaapod@gmail.com
Where to find Tanya:
IG @tlcholistic / FB @tlcholistic
Book with Tanya:
Join the TLC Community: https://www.patreon.com/tlcholistic
Where to find Kim:
IG @kimdesmarais.nutrition /FB @KimDesmarais
Book with Kim: Complimentary Connect Call
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Transcript
Introduction to Empowerment Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to What's My Age Again, the realest podcast for women who are done chasing trends and ready to feel empowered. Hi, I'm Kim. And I'm Tanya, holistic nutritionists and childhood best friends who've been there, done that, and bought the collagen.
00:00:16
Speaker
more than once. Each week we provide actionable steps that you can start today to help you thrive through every decade to come. We're cutting through the wellness noise to bring you honest conversations about aging, hormones, health, beauty, mindset, and everything in between.
00:00:33
Speaker
You see, we're also on a mission to age gracefully one WTF moment at a time. Backed by research and real life, we're here to share what actually works, what's a waste of time, and how to truly thrive through the messy, magical midlife transition.
Wellness Programs and Initiatives
00:00:49
Speaker
We're so happy you're here. Let's dive in. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. How are you, Kim? I'm good, Tanya. How are you? I am good. i am still super excited and thinking about um the free masterclass that we just actually had a couple days ago and how fun it was to do that class and literally dig into rethinking detoxification.
The Importance of Meal Prep
00:01:20
Speaker
Totally. It was such a good group and yeah, tons of information covered. What makes it though, I think even more exciting. um And if you haven't watched it, don't worry. We know everybody's schedules are different. We'll drop the link below so you can actually go back and watch the free masterclass anytime. But hopefully you're listening to this in a timely manner the day or so or after it comes out because...
00:01:45
Speaker
Next Monday, me and Kim, we are back kind of under the consistency collective umbrella for everybody who joined us in December for the accountability program we had. We are doing a 21-day reset in perfect time for this spring season, kind of a pre-detoxification. And like, I'm so excited, Kim. I'm so excited because I love this topic.
00:02:11
Speaker
Oh my goodness, me too. And and so the reason Tanya and I wanted to program this episode today is because for this spring reset, we're going to be, there's a lot of prep involved, right? For the people that are involved. There's a lot of prep involved. involved in this because we're giving out a two-week meal plan to help with your reset. And so there'll be some meal prep involved, some ingredient planning, a little bit of change to the routine. So today, and I can't believe actually, Tanya, yeah when I was sitting down to start record, I cannot believe we've waited, what, 39 episodes to record this one because it's both of our favorite topics. And if you don't follow Tanya on social media, it's daily she is talking about this.
00:02:55
Speaker
And this, the topic today is going to be meal prep and planning. Super excited because guys, we are you, we are still the every woman, right? So we know even us included, most of us genuinely want to eat well, like we want to do good, right? We buy our groceries with good intentions. Remember like the first episode that we talked about one of our friends that buys a cauliflower every week and then she watches it die a slow death in the back of her friend. And then we got into like, oh, our greens die every week, our arugula. like
00:03:32
Speaker
But we we have the good intentions, but it's when life gets busy, every day it's stressful, it's chaotic. This is when when we don't have meal planning, our meals get skipped.
00:03:45
Speaker
that convenience food takes over. And like, we literally open the fridge with decision fatigue and stare at it with all of these ingredients and be like, what do I make?
00:03:55
Speaker
There's nothing right. I have nothing to i've nothing. There's nothing. Oh my gosh, Tanya. And you know, even, even guys, even as a holistic nutritionist, I make decisions all day long. I'm talking to people all day long. If I do
Adapting Meal Prep to Individual Lifestyles
00:04:10
Speaker
not have a plan in place of what we are going to have for dinner slash what I'm going to have for lunch, snacks, all the meals, I, like, I too have decision fatigue. I'm like, I say to my husband, like, Pat, can you deal with dinner tonight? Because I just can't.
00:04:26
Speaker
And it's, you know, so if there's no plan in place, I stare at my fridge as well. Absolutely. And like, I think that, Our intentions to eat well and to nourish ourself rarely fail because we don't, not because we don't care. It's because we haven't planned for real life and meaning our own real lives, right? Because they all want. look different. However, even though all of our lives look different, there are some really big staples that we can get into when it comes to meal prep and meal planning that we can then plunk in to all of our individual lives.
00:05:07
Speaker
It's not a one size fits all surprise. We almost say that every week as well, but there are some one size fits all staples that we can make our own to be successful.
00:05:17
Speaker
Can I tell you, there was a teacher I had, actually, I've talked about him on before on the podcast. He's fantastic. His name's Josh Katalis. And he would always say, we don't plan to fail, we fail to plan. love it.
00:05:31
Speaker
Love it. and We don't plan fail, we fail to plan. So here we go. We're going to give you some tips. And as Tanya said, it's not a one size fits all. And I know, you know, some some of you may be tuning in.
00:05:46
Speaker
may have the same sort of perception that so many of our clients actually do the first time we talk about meal planning. They think meal planning involves like spending an entire Sunday cooking meals to then put in your freezer, making full meals ahead of time, or like having these like perfectly prepped little containers that you see on Instagram, like here's all the lunches. And that doesn't have to be what it is.
00:06:12
Speaker
No, and it doesn't need to be rigid at all. So like we really have to get into that mindset where meal prepping and planning can actually be whatever we want it to look like, right? And what works for us. I'm telling you, Kim, unless I have to, there's been some times where I've spent a ah you know a big portion. I don't want to spend all day on Sunday in the kitchen. and I actually don't want all day to sorry, I don't want to spend all day any day in the kitchen. So I think one of the first success tips, if we can break them down like this today, is to talk about pick your style of meal prepping, right?
00:06:54
Speaker
I love it. And we can also use the term ingredient prep. You can make full meals. And I actually have a client, Tanya, that, you know, she's a nurse, she's on shift work and freezer meals work for her, right? So she does like taking a full day full day to grocery shop, prep her ingredients, prep her meals, because that is the time she has. Because when she's home from a shift, all she wants to do is throw something in the oven and it's done.
00:07:21
Speaker
And that works for her. Whereas other clients that I work with, it's more of an ingredient prep. It's having things ready to go so that meals can come together really quickly. So again, like you said, figure out what your style is, what you need for meal prep.
00:07:38
Speaker
Exactly. You might be a weekend prep person, like your client, the nurse, right? You might be a daily prepper. um I feel like I'm a daily prepper. So what I mean by that is I prep a little every day. And as you guys know, if you do follow me on Instagram, I schedule it in. So some days might actually be like a quick full meal prep, you know, for the weekend or something. might One time I might make breakfast. Yeah.
00:08:04
Speaker
while I'm making dinner or cut up some tofu all my veggies. So I kind of doing a little bit a day. And you can also say you can be in every other day. Sometimes, you know, you do that every other day, you prep enough. So you have enough for the next two days ish and kind of reset every two, three days. Right.
00:08:22
Speaker
Love it. And I think, you know, one thing that I like to tell my clients and I do this myself too, is take a look at your calendar and what what fits in your lifestyle right now, maybe different in September, might be different in June, maybe different next week, but take a look and be like, okay, here's what my week looks like. And what is realistic? What is the realistic time you can spend on your kitchen on the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday? Maybe you have kids sports all evening on Wednesday and nobody's home. Maybe you are on shift work. Maybe you're going to a class on Thursday. So take a look at your calendar and really think about what works for your schedule.
00:09:06
Speaker
That's right. And then take the next step. I love this, Kim, because it's going to change from week to week, maybe day to day, and actually schedule it in like an appointment, right? Like you have any other appointment. You need to schedule it in so it remains a priority.
00:09:22
Speaker
Because if it's not a priority, you're not going to do it. 100%, Tanya. 100%. would never, you know, we wouldn't miss a meeting at work. We wouldn't miss a meeting for each other, you and I, Tanya. You know, we wouldn't meet miss an appointment for our kids. We need to treat this with the same priority. We need to go back to that first episode you talked about in prioritizing ourselves and our health.
00:09:46
Speaker
I love that, Tanya. For sure. So that's our pillar number one right there. Set yourself up for success. Figure out your schedule first and foremost and stick to it, schedule it in. And then let's go on to kind of what you can do within that
Benefits of Having Prepped Ingredients
00:10:02
Speaker
timeframe. Oh, Kim's saying no. Can I just say one more thing? One more thing in terms of prep.
00:10:06
Speaker
Sorry. No, one more thing because this is me. For me, I also have to actually plan the recipes because, you know, sometimes I can go into my fridge and if I have things prepped, I can throw it all together. But what I would say to you too is as you're looking at your calendar for the week, plunk in, have an idea of what you're going to have each night. And even take 30 minutes at the beginning of the week or even do it at the beginning of the month for the whole month and really plan what your meals are going to look like. And this takes all the guesswork because for me, that's one of the biggest things. If I don't have a plan in place, I'm going to stand there in front of my beautiful ingredients that may or may not be prepped. And I'm going to be like, we have nothing for dinner.
00:10:52
Speaker
Right. For sure. That's a really good point. All right, let's go into success tip number two, Tanya. um This is a big one for me personally, is just always having your staple proteins ready. um I think it's one of the biggest game changers because for me, when my protein is ready, it means that I can put my meals Together quicker. And again, whether um you have a planned recipe, like you just mentioned, Kim, or you you don't have a planned recipe, and you're just looking to put something together.
00:11:26
Speaker
For me, the protein is half the battle right there, because it's a big component of each meal. And what am I talking about? the proteins, whether you are, you know, animal based, plant based, or both having like cooked chicken, um, fish, grass fed beef available. A big one for me is like tofu cubes, um, tofu triangles, shredded tofu, tempeh, all of my soaked lagoons, lagoons, legumes, chickpeas, lentils, et cetera. Um, eggs, hard boiled eggs are making like a recipe of egg cups. And this is something I really always try to have on hand and kind of going back to
00:12:07
Speaker
the picking your style, I might do this once every couple days. So on a Monday, let's say when I have time and it's scheduled in, I might take an hour and do a double batch of tofu cubes, right? And then on Wednesday, I'm like, let me cook a whole chicken for my husband. So, you know, not that I'm needing to do it every day. Thursday, let me put a big pot of lentils on just so I always have that go-to protein in the fridge or in the freezer to add to meals and planned recipes, right?
00:12:36
Speaker
Absolutely, Tanya, because the cooking our proteins is one of the biggest time consumers. And okay, two things here. Number one, one thing I forgot when we were talking about the planning is so many of my clients kind of have one or two meals or snack that is really difficult for them. It might be breakfast where they're racing out the door. It might be lunch where they're typically working through it. So having those proteins ready to go can make any meal or snack come together. And we always talk on here about protein is so important, especially for us during perimenopause all the time. But during perimenopause, a lot of us aren't getting the quantity of protein that we need in a day. So having those proteins prepped are just taking that taking all that off the the table. The other thing like I like to do with with our proteins too, because I do the same thing, Tanya, I have always ready to go in the fridge. So for example, if I'm cooking, if I'm roasting a chicken for for our dinner, I'll roast two chickens. And when with that other chicken, I will, you know...
00:13:40
Speaker
shred it up and have shredded chicken in my fridge ready to go. Or if I'm making, if I have chicken breasts, do the same thing or salmon, or if I'm doing tofu cubes, always making extra so that you can have those extra proteins for your lunches or for your meals going forward.
00:13:58
Speaker
For sure. Yeah, that's so important. And for me, whenever I'm making a recipe for dinner or putting together something at lunch, You're right, because the protein is the most time consuming part of the meal,
00:14:15
Speaker
Breaking down things in manageable steps makes even, you know, a more labor intensive recipe. If you have a favorite that you're making or something feel less so because you're skipping a whole step, you actually have a portion of that ready. So it's like in minutes without even thinking, if you don't have anything planned, I think of what I make for lunches and dinners, you know, in minutes because my protein and other things are ready. like salads, wraps, bowls are a big one in my house, stir fries, soups, because you know, you have everything ready to go past as tacos, burritos, I'm a big Mexican cuisine girl. So just having that protein ready, like you said, Kim and making extra, it's such a pillar of preparation.
00:15:00
Speaker
Totally. And I'd love to say this too, because let's face it, everyone, like if you are making whole foods and you're trying to cook from scratch and you're trying to do all the things for your health, it takes a lot of time. And what we always talk about is how to maximize your time in the kitchen. So as Tanya was saying, like if you've got those tofu cubes on, why not put on a pot of lentils at the same time? it's the exact same amount of time you're in the kitchen, but you're maximizing your time there. So when you're making the one protein, why not make another one for the next night?
00:15:34
Speaker
And that's such a good point. And I do that. So you're right. And sometimes even I'm doing a third in terms of I'm going to soak the chickpeas an overnight. So I start to soak the chickpeas while the lentils are cooking and the tofu cubes are, you know, in the oven. And I just wanted to say quickly too, because I think this is a good spot to insert this thought.
00:15:55
Speaker
When we're doing so many things at once and it's so time consuming, like you said, Kim, we can get frazzled. We can get exhausted. We can get frustrated. We can get short. We can get irritated because we're tired. We have so much going on. And I think it's really important to note how much energy and emotion goes into the food that you're prepping.
00:16:18
Speaker
And it's a real thing. We are all energy. Everything is energetic. So food also contains the intention and the emotion of the person who is preparing it.
00:16:30
Speaker
So if we are pissed off, exhausted, sick of this, just trying to get it done, just let me get this done, That's what's going into the food. So breaking it down, as you said, Kim, into smaller pieces, I feel less frustrated when I just have to go in the kitchen for an hour, I bang out three proteins while listening to a podcast or something, and then I can leave the kitchen, you know, and then I get back.
00:16:54
Speaker
Totally. And for me, Tanya, that goes right back to the planning. So for me anyways, it really helps me to have a plan in place of what I'm having for the week so that when I'm in the kitchen, I can think, okay, tonight we're having
Creative Use of Leftovers
00:17:09
Speaker
that roasted chicken. I'm going to do two because I'm going to have extra protein left for my salads for the next couple days. And And then I'm going to soak my chickpeas because we're going to have a coconut curry tomorrow night. And I'm going to make lentil burgers the next day. So I'm going to get my lentils ready. So having those, going that, getting that first step can sometimes for some people really help manage the stress of what I'm doing in the kitchen.
00:17:36
Speaker
Yeah. And then that completely shifts the emotion, right? I love that. And it's so true. And mean when you make something with love, people definitely feel it. That old saying made with love.
00:17:48
Speaker
Yeah. um And it is made with love. Let's let's face it. We spent a lot of time in the kitchen. We obviously love you. Oh my gosh. So speaking of time in the kitchen, here's one that's not my favorite, but I have learned is so valuable because then I'm not going to watch things die a slow death.
00:18:07
Speaker
wash, shop and prep your produce. So you don't watch it die slowly because ingredient how game changer, how easy is it to open your fridge and be like, Oh, the kale, I want it. i don't want to take it out of the bundle, stem it, wash it. I don't have time. Close the door again.
00:18:27
Speaker
But when it's chopped, dried, crisp and ready to go, what are you doing? You're grabbing the kale. Yep. And for me, squashes, any type of squash, that that is the one If not ready to go, we'll just stay in my cupboard. And I'll be like, we'll put this off for another day. It's so true, Tanya. And also for those of you out there with kids,
00:18:52
Speaker
I don't know about you, but for me, when my kids come home from school, they are, i want to snack this absolute second. Like, I cannot wait for you to chop up the carrot or chop up the green pepper. i need it this second. So they'll reach for whatever, you know, is in the pantry.
00:19:10
Speaker
So what I like to do is have my veggies cut up, ready, and washed. You place it down in front of the kids and watch. They will just start grazing on it. But if they're prepped, and and even sometimes my kids go to the fridge to grab them because they're prepped and ready, but they're not
Involving Children in Snack Prep
00:19:26
Speaker
going to grab a carrot that's not ready to go, right?
00:19:30
Speaker
I have been witness to this feeding frenzy, staying at Kim's house and picking up the kids from school. And Kim barely has hay out of her mouth and like, can we have a snack?
00:19:42
Speaker
And like, that's before we drove home. And then the feeding frenzy, when you get into the kitchen, I have seen this in action and I have seen the veggies disappear. So for anybody out there who says my kids aren't going eat veggies, I don't know, Kim's theory is pretty accurate when they're there and they're prepped and they're ready to go.
00:19:59
Speaker
They seem to disappear. Yeah, try it. Try it out. Try it out. But to back to what Tanya was saying, the washing, chopping your vies but veggies ahead of time can be game changer for meal prep as well. Because again, just like the proteins, this takes time. Think about how long it takes you to cut up like a butternut squash, right? So if you have that ready to go,
00:20:23
Speaker
You know, you'll basically put that on your pan and bake it or whatever you're doing with it. And take a look at, again, your recipes for the week and think about how how like how you need to chop them up. Do they need to be chopped up in cubes? Do they need to be chopped up in... sticks, um you know, and have that ready to go so that if you're making that curry, well, you've got your protein ready, you've got your veggies all chopped up, you throw it into your pot, and there you go, it comes together within twenty thirty minutes. As opposed to an hour.
00:20:57
Speaker
Yeah. It takes so much frustration out of it. I think about when I'm cooking my kale stew, which has like every single thing in the world chopped. And when it's all prepped, the onions, and even if I mince the garlic, you know, ahead of time and put it in a tight container, which is actually better for us.
00:21:15
Speaker
I just put, throw everything in the pot and throw the containers in the dishwasher. When I have to prep it all myself, I just eye roll. And I'm also laughing extra hard, Kim, because I have a freaking butternut squash in my pantry and I need to do it. And every night I'm like, we're going to have squash. It's like 545. I'm like, we're not having squash. So yeah I'm going to do the squash today.
00:21:36
Speaker
because you've inspired me. But if you guys also a big tip of mine, even the small things help juice your lemons. Do you know how annoying it is when I need to use lemon and I'm like, Oh, it doesn't seem like a big thing. But when you're in a rush to get the lemon to cut it to juice it. So at the start of the week, juice your bag of lemons, put it in a glass container in the fridge. When you need a tablespoon of lemon juice, it's a little dash in there. It's so it's the little things like we say, even in like nervous system support that make the biggest difference.
00:22:10
Speaker
Absolutely. Another big one to have on hand and prep is dressings. I think we talked about this when we were talking about food labels. One of the things you could do to eliminate some of those additives and to continue having whole foods is make your own salad dressings. And it's so simple. So if you make your dressing ahead of time, you just have it there in the fridge so that whatever, you know, lunches, dinners can come together so quickly.
00:22:39
Speaker
And this is a layer on of what we're talking about right now. As you are prepping your herbs, juicing your lemons, you know, like Kim said, why do we keep going back to this? Kill two birds with one stone. Is there not something else? My God. um Multitask. Let's go with that. So while you're doing that, make a quick dressing, you know, and like, if you have questions about dressings, reach out. Our Instagram is below. DM us.
00:23:05
Speaker
We got the, we got them for you. Like easy, not the easy, easy. Lots of good ones. And again, back to the fact that like, we don't want that cauliflower dying its slow death in the back of our fridge, right? When we have things chopped and ready to go, watch, you're going to use it. And all that expensive organic, because let's face it, that organic produce that we are buying for ourselves is expensive. We want to use every last ounce of it.
00:23:34
Speaker
And anything that's left in your fridge, by the way, just, I always do a fridge clean out at the end of the week. You can always make a beautiful vegetable broth out of it. You can juice it You can even freeze those scraps to use for for future broths. There's tons of ideas you can do to use every single bit of produce that you buy.
00:23:53
Speaker
Oh my God, Kim, that's such a good point. And I do that as well. If I'm not ready to make a mineral or bone broth, I will freeze like the scraps because there is nothing worse. My husband knows I get, this is when I get angry when I need to throw out produce. Kim, I sent you a text. You and Christy actually, like last month, I was livid that I had to toss out like a bag of sweet potatoes because they started to mold. Nothing makes me angry. So you're right.
00:24:18
Speaker
If it is prepped, you're going to use it. Yeah. Right. Awesome. Okay. So that was tip number three, wash, chop, and prep those veggies. So tip number four, what are we missing?
00:24:31
Speaker
A pot of grains. It's better than a pot of gold when you are meal prepping. Let me tell you. Yes, exactly. And again, this allows us to make things quickly. You can prep ahead. Prep for two days, let's say, when you can have your quinoa or whatever grain that you're choosing so that you can bring into those bowls, those stir fries, those salad, those breakfast bowls, soup, you know, whatever that you're making for the week.
00:24:58
Speaker
yeah and you'll literally be surprised how much you use them. A lot of time my clients are like, what do you want me to do with like a pot of quinoa and a pot of like brown rice? And by midweek, they're like, oh my God, like I've i've actually...
00:25:11
Speaker
thrown it into things I didn't even think of. And it's like increased my nutrition, you know? And so that's a key one for me. And bonus tip with that beautiful broth that you made from your fridge clean out, boil it in that broth and get all of the extra nutrients right there in your grains. Like that is just a huge leveling up bonus there.
Overall Benefits of Meal Prep
00:25:33
Speaker
Absolutely. Tanya always says, and I use it with my clients as well, you know, how can you level up your meal? Like how can you add nutrients to your meal and adding bone broth instead of water to your grains is one of those amazing ways to do it. And it adds flavor as well, which is amazing. Yeah. Okay. Just as easy.
00:25:52
Speaker
Should we move on to number five? Yeah. Which you kind of touched upon, which is absolutely amazing is always make enough for leftovers, like i.e. those two chickens, which is brilliant that you were talking about.
00:26:06
Speaker
Totally. And maximize that time in the kitchen. When you're doing one thing, you could be doing another thing, right? At the same time. So it takes that, you know, you're maximizing your time. So, you know, and I always think this in terms of snacks too. Even Pat says, even when I double my recipe, the kids always eat it in the first couple days. And i'm like, oh my goodness.
00:26:28
Speaker
It's great, it's great. I'm glad we're eating it all and it's not going to waste, but shoulda made four. So figure figure out the needs of your family, figure out you know what recipes are big winners, all of that sort of thing, and decide how much you need to make, double, triple, quadruple the recipe, whatever you need. Because those leftovers can become lunches, dinners the next day, snacks, freezer meals in the future, you know, and, and, you know, even those ingredients as you're prepping them. You know, what we'd said with the chickens, if, if you've got two roasted chickens, one can be a roast chicken dinner and the other one can be shredded for
00:27:07
Speaker
tacos or your salads or chicken sandwiches or chicken noodle soup, any of those things. So thinking kind of ah about those ingredients and what you can use them for that week.
00:27:19
Speaker
Absolutely. And I really do think that this is the most underrated meal planning strategy is leftovers because people are like, I don't like leftovers or my kid doesn't like leftovers. I actually get annoyed when I make a recipe and I forget to double it. I was so annoyed the other day I did the Oh, She Glows chia seed donuts. And I was like, why is there only nine? And I was like, oh, I didn't double the recipe. But you're right, Kim, if we're going invest the time in the kitchen, it takes just the same amount of time to double it. And another thing with leftovers that I like to talk about,
00:27:54
Speaker
is that if you don't like the same meal the next day, then don't have it as the same meal. So what do I mean by that? Kim, you just talked about, let's say, a beautiful coconut curry that, you know, if I ever use my squash, I could do that. So if I don't want the same coconut curry the next day on the brown rice with microgreens that I had the day before, then make it look different. Serve it with like a tofu scramble, mix it into there, put it into a wrap, you know, and grill that wrap with like a green salad. You can actually, i do it all the time, even with soups. I'll double soups as like sauces. i take whole meals, not even just ingredients, and repurpose them the next day differently. And it doesn't feel like you're eating the exact same thing because you've repurposed the whole actual recipe differently. somewhere else.
00:28:47
Speaker
That is such a great tip, Tanya. And for all of you who have families that say the same thing, I don't like leftovers. This is an amazing tip because it's true. You don't have to have that exact same meal every day, but how do you repurpose it? Repurpose the ingredients or even as Tanya said, the whole meal can turn into something else. I think that is amazing. For sure. Yeah. No,
Efficient Breakfast Preparation
00:29:10
Speaker
thank you. um So here's one that is a very big topic in Kim's house. I also love them, but very big, which we covered snacks, success. Tip number six, snacks are essential. I don't care who you are. Snacks are essential.
00:29:27
Speaker
Well, yeah. And we went over it in the in the blood sugar episode, right? like there' And this is what a lot of my clients deal with. you know For those of you who are working and you eat lunch at, say, 12 o'clock, and then you're not going to have dinner till six or seven, like there is a big gap of time where your blood sugar will decline. there needs to be You need to be fueling yourself. You need to be nourishing yourself in the afternoon when inevitably those sugar cravings start, right? We talked about getting ahead of those sugar cravings and that's where snacks come in, right? So planning for those snacks will change everything. You won't be running to your closest Starbucks to grab a muffin when you're inevitably three o'clock blood sugar declines, or you won't be rummaging through your cupboard for carbs and chips and anything to kind of fill you up. Having those healthy snacks on hand, prepped and ready to go, makes your life so much easier.
00:30:23
Speaker
For sure. And not only will you not be running for different snacks, you won't be just saying, oh, it's so hard for me not to swear. e it. I'm just not going eat, right? Because that's what's bad. And then if you are like me and you still sometimes struggle struggle in the evening with wanting to snack,
00:30:45
Speaker
I need to have healthy snacks available for me. So if it is the evening and I'm seriously hungry and I need a snack, then I have something nourishing to go to instead of opening a bag of chips, right? That is going to be completely different snack for my body. So, and I think this goes back to planning, like you said, Kim, which was a really good point. I don't necessarily plan my meals every week, like recipes, but I plan my snacks.
00:31:13
Speaker
on Sunday or Saturday, whatever, in the little corner of my agenda, I think in my freezer, okay, what do we have as snacks and what don't we have? And that's when I write down two or three things that I want a double batch to have in my freezer to kind of to keep the snack. I say the snack train going. I always try to have five or six things in the freezer, different cookies, bars, nut and seed mixes, whatever. So planning my snacks is actually key. And then I schedule that snack making within the week.
00:31:42
Speaker
Absolutely, Tanya. And again, like for all of you listening, maybe snacks aren't what's hard for you. Maybe it's breakfast. Maybe it's that lunch. but And it goes back to really taking a look at your life and deciding what is most difficult for you and planning that as priority, right? When you're doing your ahlep prep and planning. And for me, snacks are a big one too, Tanya. And I always like to have a really good trail mix on hand.
00:32:08
Speaker
Like you said, those muffins or even like energy balls are ones that are quick and easy. Having cut up veggies and hummus available or avocados where you can quickly open an avocado and have some with some seed crackers.
00:32:23
Speaker
Anything that's easy that you enjoy, that is quick to pull out, grab and go. For sure. It's so important. And like you just said,
00:32:34
Speaker
We're all going to have different areas that feel hard for us and feel easy for us. But we thought it was important because a lot of people do struggle, our clients collectively, with breakfasts. And you said it earlier, Kim. People are in a huge rush in the morning. And here we
Flexible Meal Planning
00:32:53
Speaker
are. We're like, ladies, make sure in the morning you wake up the way your nervous system wants you take time for you. And you're like, girl, I have a million things to do. So by the time I put my legs up on the wall, get my kids ready, get out the door, you think I had time for breakfast. And that's where we see a lot of, you know, of our clients having that struggle with the breakfast.
00:33:17
Speaker
Totally. And as we talked about earlier and in previous episodes, when you're not nourishing yourself at the start of the day, that's when you end up on that blood sugar roller coaster, right? There's a reason our parents always told us breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? So how can you prep for breakfast? Well, while you're making your dinner the night before, you could be planning and prepping your breakfast. That could be how you're maximizing your time in the kitchen.
00:33:46
Speaker
That's a big one for me. And that's exactly what I do. So in my fridge specifically, which I do share a lot too, um I always like to have a yogurt and I culture my own yogurt. Or if I don't have time, I use yogurt, which I know you love too as well, Kim. So i always like to have a yogurt, some sort of chia seed pudding, some sort of overnight oats. This is in theory and some sort of egg cups in the freezer. So I'm kind of always cycling through. So I'm looking and saying, okay, the yogurt's low. let me, while dinner's cooking, make a quick chia seed pudding for the fridge, you know, or okay, we're low on yogurt, let me culture that overnight. So I'm always trying to cycle between having a breakfast that is a good amount of protein, obviously has a beautiful amount of fat, and as many nutrients as possible, phytonutrients, adaptogens to set us up for the day. But you're right, Kim, I do that at dinnertime usually, that's my time.
00:34:44
Speaker
Totally. And if you're thinking, okay, like, I mean, ideally, in an ideal world, we would love for all of you women to be able to make yourself a breakfast, sit down for 20 minutes and enjoy it. You know, let your digestion, you know, collective breathes get to That is ideal. But the reality is you might be a, I need to grab and go. So another one that I like to to recommend to clients is the smoothies, right? And you can make your smoothie the night before.
00:35:16
Speaker
Blend it all up, have it in the fridge. So you grab it from the fridge, shake it up a little bit and head on out the door. um The other thing too, with ingredient prep, you know, if you want to have the like, you know, yogurt and berries and granola or, you know,
00:35:32
Speaker
um I always have a little seed mix that I mix together ahead of time. I ground my flax and then I add chia and hemp. so that it's in a little glass container in my fridge and I just take a couple tablespoons and I put it on my yogurt and add my berries and done.
00:35:49
Speaker
Or you can make your own granola. There's so many great recipes out there. You can always reach out to one of us. Both Tanya and I have our favorites. You can make that ahead of time and add it. So it's either have something that you can grab and go or have something that can come together really easily in the morning. Tanya also makes amazing waffles as I do.
00:36:10
Speaker
Having those in your freezer, it's the exact same amount of time it takes to like cook up that Eggo waffle that's already pre-pepped but it's like filled with nourishing nutrients so throwing that in the toaster oven from your freezer adding a couple of berries to it and out the door
00:36:32
Speaker
and I mean All of this is so easy in theory. We understand though, meal planning does take effort. So all of this isn't to just say, here you go, guys, here's the magic solution. We know that it takes effort, but the effort that it takes gives us so much back. And I think number one for me is just less stress,
00:36:59
Speaker
around like, i only have this amount of time, what am I going to eat? When you have all of the stuff ready, it's just almost sometimes putting things together, putting the components together, which removes the stress and allows me to eat a lot healthier because everything is right in front of me.
00:37:17
Speaker
Totally. And guys, I mean, at me myself, there are weeks where I'm like frazzled and didn't meal prep and it makes my stress so much higher. um And I go back to the evidence that I have, which is when I meal prep, I know i feel less stressed. when i have my When I have these ingredients prepped, I know things come together easier. So what I say to you is just like everything else we talk about, movement, stress, sleep, it's a
Conclusion and Invitation to Programs
00:37:46
Speaker
practice. yeah It's a practice and it doesn't need to be perfect.
00:37:50
Speaker
But as you start investing your time this way and as you start changing your habits... you're going to start seeing evidence that this is in fact making your life easier and all this hard work is in fact paying off. So what I hope for all of you is you can take some tips and tricks from this, incorporate them into your life and see those positive results so that you can keep going and invest this work into you know your health.
00:38:17
Speaker
I love that. And you know what? The hardest thing to do is begin. So just begin and kind of go from there. And don't forget to take a peek below in the notes. If you haven't watched our masterclass, do it.
00:38:31
Speaker
It's so informative and this will also play into helping you be successful for that. And then you can take a peek. It's not too late to join us for our 21 day spring reset, which is starting next week, which is what has inspired us to have this episode. Finally.
00:38:47
Speaker
At this time. Totally. And you're going to get your meal plans and your grocery list. So we're taking the planning out for you. And we' all doing it together. Kim and I are doing it with you. So it'll be absolutely amazing and a good place to start.
00:39:04
Speaker
Thanks, Tanya. And I promise we're going have more conversations like this one because both Tanya and I love this topic. And we won't wait another 39 episodes to do so. So have a wonderful week, everyone. Thanks, Tanya, again for this conversation.
00:39:18
Speaker
Thanks, Kim. See you later, guys. Bye. hey guys. Thanks so much for hanging out with us today. If this episode resonated with you, we would love it if you would hit like, subscribe to the podcast, and share it with a friend.
00:39:32
Speaker
We love to hear from you because let's be honest, this show is for you. If you have a topic you'd love us to tackle or want to learn more about something we talked about today, send us a message. We got you.
00:39:45
Speaker
Stay connected with us on social media at what's my age again dot podcast for even more knowledge and inspiration between episodes. Kim and I aren't doctors or your healthcare practitioners. Everyone's body is unique, so always consult your own healthcare provider before starting something new.