You are Not Joining a Cult - How to Choose Real Food for Busy Families on a Budget!
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February 15, 2023 - Episode #110 - You are Not Joining a Cult - How to Choose Real Food for Busy Families on a Budget!
You are not joining a cult! You are not picking a religion here. You are just trying to decide what to eat. But it seems like you are being forced to pick a team. To call your diet, your nutrition strategy something...Paleo, Keto, Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Pescetarian, Sugar Free, Low Carb, Vegan, Whole 30. I’m going to tell you something, your nutrition strategy doesn’t have to have a name. It doesn’t. The confusing and conflicting world of nutrition has gotten out of control coo coo. And in the middle of the madness, you have a family to feed and you are busy and the cost of food is crazy!! Hey friend, I’ve got you. Today we are talking real food for busy families on a budget. This short, packed podcast is going to cover some nutrition basics so you have an understanding of what to feed your family and provide you with some time saving and budget friendly tips. You are going to love this. It’s all today on the Healthy Harmony podcast. Here’s the deal. I’m not going to do this podcast and just leave you hanging. That’s not right! I want to provide you more support, encouragement and accountability than that. So, I’m launching a 2-week Real Food for Radical Change Nutrition Challenge. This challenge is designed to to encourage you to prepare and eat REAL FOOD at home. You will be empowered with realistic nutrition tips for radiant health. Included in this Nutrition Challenge is...
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TRANSCRIPT You are not joining a cult. You're not picking a religion here, you're just trying to decide what to eat. But it seems like you're being forced to pick a team to call your diet, your nutrition strategy, something paleo, keto, vegetarian, gluten-free, pescatarian, sugar-free, low carb, vegan, whole 30, the list goes on. I'm going to tell you something. Your nutrition strategy doesn't have to have a name. It doesn't. The confusing and conflicting world of nutrition has gotten out of control cuckoo, and in the middle of the madness you have a family to feed and you're busy and the cost of food is crazy. Hey friend, I've got you. Today we're talking real food for busy families on a budget. This short packed podcast is going to cover some nutrition basics so you have an understanding of what to feed your family and provide you with some time saving and budget friendly tips. You're gonna love this. It's all today on the Healthy Harmony podcast. Hey friend, welcome to the Healthy Harmony podcast. Simple holistic wellness for women. I'm your host, Jennifer Pickett, dietitian turned functional medicine health coach. When it comes to your wellbeing, do you know what to do but have a hard time actually doing it? Have you sacrificed your own health for the sake of taking care of everyone else? Are you tired and overwhelmed? But but also, are you looking for answers ready to take a small step? Holistic wellness doesn't have to be time consuming or overly complicated. In this podcast, you will discover simple tips to help you take control of your overall wellness. I want to help you make a shift from knowing what to do to actually doing it. If you are ready to feel better, make healthier decisions, address the obstacles, standing in your way, and live a life of freedom and harmony, my friend, you are in the right place. Here's the deal. I'm not going to do this podcast and just leave you hanging. That's not right. I wanna provide you with more support, encouragement, and accountability. So I'm launching a two week Real Food for Radical Change nutrition challenge. This challenge is designed to empower you to prepare and eat real food at home. Included is a private Facebook group, an extensive meal plan with recipes, prep guides, shopping list, and practical simple nutrition education. This is exactly what you've been waiting for. The Facebook group will provide you with that support, the accountability and the community as we tried new recipes and encourage each other. And outside of the realistic nutrition tips that you have got to be aware of, you will have an opportunity to ask your nutrition questions and have them answered on a Facebook Live. All of this for an absolute minimum cost. So go to inspire healthy harmony.com for more info or if you are ready to get signed up, go to bitly slash real nutrition challenge. Again, that's bitly slash real nutrition challenge to get signed up. Now, this group starts February 27th and let me tell you, this is exactly what you've been looking for. Eat this, don't eat that. Follow this diet for the love, make it stop. It is very, very overwhelming. And you know, my role here is to help you overcome the overwhelm. So I wanna give you a very simple warming warning as we get started. Number one, you gotta ditch the guilt and shame because it is gonna be just natural to you to think about, oh, I should have done this differently with my family. Well girl, we can't go back and and change yesterday. We can change what we're doing moving forward. So number one, drop the guilt and shame. It doesn't help any of us. Number two, keep in mind change takes time. You can't change everything at once. It's impossible. It doesn't work. So just keep in mind, change takes time. I'm gonna provide you with some simple tips for helping your family eat healthier. You cannot go from one ex, one extreme to another. It's all about small steps. So as you listen to today's podcast, listen, be open-minded and just be thinking, what is that one small change that I can make today to help my family eat healthier? Let's get started. Here is my number one piece of advice when it comes to nutrition. Now it's really complicated, so you might need to write this down. Okay, super crazy complicated. You ready? Eat real foods. Yeah, that's it. That's it. Eat real foods. Now let me give you just a little friendly reminder. This is coming from the girl who has 25 years of experience, a master's degree in human nutrition, a dietitian, functional medicine certified health coach. This is what I do for a living. I coach every single day, all day, and this is my nutrition advice. Eat real food. I'm not trying to sell you something complicated. I'm not trying to sell you something. You know, some big program, some big plan that you cannot afford that you cannot teach your children. Eat real food. So what are real foods? Well, it's those foods you easily recognize that don't necessarily need a nutrition label. You know exactly what it is. That's broccoli, that's chicken, that's an apple, that's an avocado. Those are eggs. You, you get my drift. Real whole foods. When we stick to real whole foods, our body flourishes. Food is medicine. Food is not like medicine. Food is medicine. It can heal your body. It can turn everything around and yes, promote radical change in your health and in your family's health. It is absolutely crazy, but sometimes the simple gets overlooked because you got a lot of people trying to sell their big program. Okay? So I like to give it to you straight. When it comes to mealtimes, I want you to think, okay, I'm gonna keep it simple. I'm gonna keep it simple. I'm gonna stick to real foods and be thinking, okay, I need to include protein, I need to include some vegetables and maybe some fruit. Like that's it. That's what a meal can look like when we're using a real food approach. And I know some of you are thinking, well, like I, I need to call this something. Like what is this strategy, Jennifer? I need to call it something I need to. Is it keto? Is it low carb? Is it gluten free? Like what is it? You don't need to call it anything you really don't. Heck, if you wanna call it something, call it the Falala diet cuz you can eat whatever the falala you want. Just stick to real foods. Now there are definitely therapeutic approaches for people who have health issues that needs to be approached with a highly trained and experienced health coach, dietician, nutritionist, someone who is very experienced and knowledgeable with whatever health struggle you have. Okay? So, but I'm talking about the vast majority of you. Let's start here. Okay? This is where we start real food. So I'm not talking about anything therapeutic in this podcast, just what is best for most of us. Because remember food is medicine, but it's so easy to fall into the hype and whatever is popular. And here's the other thing, we are bombarded, absolutely bombarded with messages from the food industry. Very deceptive messages. Their only goal is to get you to buy their product. It doesn't matter. They don't care about your health. It's always, always profit over people. And so you're bombarded when you get in the middle of the grocery store and you're looking at all these items and you're like, it says gluten free. I think gluten, I don't think gluten's good for me, but I mean I, I guess I need to choose this cuz it says gluten free or this says organic or this says natural or this has pretty colors on it. This says, you know, this is really good for me. All of that is designed simply for marketing, simply to get you to grab the package and not look at the back of it where you see all of the nutrition facts and the ingredients. So we are bombarded with those marketing, very deceptive marketing practices. That is why we don't wanna spend a whole lot of time in the middle of the grocery store. It's really confusing. It's designed to be confusing. And so many times we're just wrapped up in that. So I want to kind of like keep in mind that the more you eat something, the more you crave it. When it comes to junk food and processed foods, guess what? The more you eat, the more you crave. Have you ever noticed that with fast food? You get stuck in a rut, you're eating fast food a lot. Guess what? The more you eat, the more you crave. Same thing with sugar. The more you eat, the more you crave processed foods, the more you eat, the more you crave. But guess what? Healthy foods, the more you eat, the more you crave because your body is getting those nutrients it desperately needs. So you literally crave it and then you start to notice, g wow, I just kind of feel better. I don't feel like I did when I was eating those nasty processed foods. So that's what we want to really keep in mind moving forward. If you're looking at the back of a package and you can't pronounce anything on that and it you feel like you need a chemistry degree, well here's your son. And so the problem with all of those processed foods is that they contain a lot of ingredients, a lot of toxins, a lot of chemicals to make them shelf stable. What do those toxins and what do those chemicals do to your health? Well, I'll tell you, it's absolutely devastating and we're just, we, we feel drawn to these because we're just, you know, again, the more you eat, the more you crave. And so I want you to really consider that as you move forward. One of the things we're gonna be really diving into in this, in incredible Facebook group, you've gotta be a part of this, is just some nutrition education on how to food combine. So you're very satisfied and, and you can really, and how to really manage those cravings and what causes cravings in the first place. Because sometimes those cravings get a little bit overwhelming. And let me tell you, your kids are having cravings. So I'm gonna teach you about all of this in the Facebook group. Now, some of you you have to look at your own mindset because you've been saying things when it comes to healthy foods. You've been saying things maybe out loud in front of your family, things like mama's on a diet. I don't like this healthy food or oh my God, I've gotta have a salad. I can't have that. You know, and so listen to what you're saying cuz a lot of you ha you're saying, Hey, my kids are picky. I don't know what to do about that. Well, we have to start with one change at a time. So here's my suggestion with picky kids. Be willing to experiment, get them involved in the kitchen now. We don't wanna wait until later. They're not gonna like magically like get some nutrition education from somewhere. It's up to, to you. And sometimes that can feel a little bit overwhelming, but if we can be willing to experiment in the kitchen and keep in mind some experiments fail, but get them involved. And I have found that to be hugely, hugely beneficial. Get kids involved in the kitchen, get them to try some things. We really do want to expose our kids to healthy eating without shoving nutrition and extreme views down their throat. Okay? We wanna expose 'em. We really want to empower them more than anything else. We don't want to traumatize them by going to the extremes. Okay? Oh my gosh, you can't have that ever again. We can never, ever have, you know, cookies ever again in this house. Well, that's not realistic. But what can we do a little bit differently without going to the extremes? How can we start to layer some of these very small healthy changes and cook more at home? Again, this is what we're diving into on the Facebook group and we just want to make sure that we don't ignore the crucial aspect of their health. Nutrition is a crucial aspect of their health and neglect to teach them. Here's the other thing you need to keep in mind. Your taste buds change. So you might be sitting here right now saying, Jennifer, you don't understand. I don't like fruits, I don't like vegetables. I don't like any of it. Well, number one, you may not have had it prepared in a manner that tasted good, but number two your taste buds change. Yes, they regenerate every seven days. That's fast. So your body will become adjusted. And so yes, we get used to highly processed foods. They put a lot, they put like the perfect combination of sugar, salt, and fat in there to kind of keep you addicted. So we've gotta kind of break that addictive pattern with all these nasty processed food that is destroying your health and your children's health. And we've got to start preparing foods, real foods at home. And so again, we're gonna be taking a deep dab on this on the Facebook group. I'm often asked, well how do you eat healthy on a budget? Like Jennifer, this is awful and y'all, it is. Let's just say, let's call it what it is. It is so ridiculous right now and it is so frustrating to me. Because eating any food period is expensive. Okay? So first of all, let's look at our mindset. Sometimes we have the mindset of eating healthy is really expensive. Well, let me tell you, not all unhealthy food is cheap and not all healthy food is expensive. If we stick to real whole foods that we'll save you money, all of those processed foods in the middle of the grocery store, those are at a premium. Those are top dollar. Let me tell you, fast food, fast food is not cheap. Like it is not cheap. I don't care where you go, it is not cheap. It is coming at a premium price. And by the way, that premium price has a huge toll on your health, which is only gonna add to cost in the long run. Eating healthy can actually be cheaper than buying these these additive and chemical ladin processed foods. But we're kind of conditioned to think that eating healthy isn't budget friendly. Do you know why? Because we confuse eating healthy with processed foods that are labeled with those keywords and really good fancy marketing like gluten-free, organic natural vegan, et cetera, et cetera. So ditch the marketing and focus on real foods. And again, we're gonna be taking a deep dive in the Facebook group on how to do this on a budget. And I'm gonna be giving you some suggestions for that cuz it is the, it is absolutely imperative that we use some of these budget friendly tips right now because food is very expensive. The last tip that I wanna give you before as we're wrapping up, is just some organization ideas. Again, this is another area we'll take a deep dive in on the Facebook group, but for the sake of of our time together today, I just wanna give you some simple organization ideas because being a busy working mom and our, our schedule can get a bit crazy, that is, that has been the biggest obstacle to eating real foods at home. It's like, oh my goodness, you know, it's five o'clock and we haven't, we don't have a plan and then we end up going out to eat. And so that's a disaster. So what I have learned is that you have to have a plan. It does not have to be an extensive plan, but you have to have a plan. I don't know if anybody, they can simply go to their refrigerator and their pantry at five 30 at night and just whip up a meal. It doesn't really work that way. Okay? So we do have to have a very simple plan of, okay, what are we gonna fix this week? So here's a, here's just some ideas I'm gonna throw out there. You can have a, a little binder, okay? And this sounds very basic and some of you are gonna laugh because you want an app. Okay? Yes, there's plenty of great apps out there. There's some good meal planning apps. Again, we're gonna go over some of those in the Facebook group. But you can do start simple. You don't have to pay for an app. Literally write down on a sheet of paper your your favorite meal ideas in your family. Just write 'em down. That way when you're thinking you're about to go to the grocery store, you can look through that list and go, okay, I'm gonna pick four meals from this list and I'm gonna, I'm gonna get the items for those meals. So once you've decided what you're gonna prepare for that week, then go ahead and look and see what you already have. So evaluate what you have in your freezer, your fridge, your pantry, and and before you go to the, to the store. Number one, do not ever go hungry to the grocery store. Can I get a amen? Have y'all made that mistake? I know I have. That's a disaster. Have a snack before you go or go right after you've eaten a meal. Do not go to the grocery store hungry. I really, ideally, I love to clean out my fridge before going to the store. Don't you hate it when you buy something speaking of budget and you're like, oh, I never mind. I already had that. I shouldn't have bought that. So I mean, ideally clean out your fridge before you go to the store, see what you need, see what you already have. And then and then again, we wanna communicate effectively, get the family involved do a little bit of meal prep. If, if you can figure out how to make that happen with your family's schedule, cuz that can make a very big difference. Again, this is how we can get our our kids involved. I love my son. You've heard me say it before. My son is now a sophomore in high school. He started meal prepping in in eighth grade. And before you start thinking, wow, Jennifer's really good. I I guess she was a good influence. No, y'all, he got it off of TikTok. Like that's what happened. He got the idea off of TikTok and I was like so thrilled. I thought maybe he had picked it up from his mama. Nope, he got it from TikTok, but I supported him in those efforts and and he's just gotten better and better at meal planning and prepping and and helps me prep food. So I think that is awesome and helps his sister prep food like this is fantastic. His future wife will thank me one day. Like this is awesome. So get the family involved, it, yes, it can be a pain, but like, it's so very valuable. So this was kind of a rapid fire approach, but I wanted to like squeeze some things in there. And also just kind of give you an indication of what all we're gonna be covering in the Facebook group when we have two weeks together to do a deep dive into these topics of how to prepare rural food. And I'm gonna give you meal plans with the prep guides and the shopping list and the recipes. You're gonna absolutely love it. And we can like, take pictures of our, you know, of our prepared meals and celebrate each other because it is, it's a big deal when we make that shift and, and we just feel so much better when we start eating real food at home. Because let me tell you, food is medicine. So I'm so excited about this. As you can tell. Remember this Real Food for Radical Change Nutrition Challenge. This two week challenge starts February the 27th. You can join us by going to inspire healthy harmony.com for more info. Reaching out to me [email protected] [email protected] on all the social media stuff or go to Bitly real nutrition challenge. Again, that's bt.ly real nutrition challenge. To get signed up. I just know that you're going to love this and I love supporting you in this and helping you overcome the overwhelm. So until next time, take a deep breath and just focus on one small change at a time. You've got this. Bye friend. |
