Wellness Hustle

Wellness Hustle (00:44)
Welcome back to another episode of the Wellness Hustle. I'm personally very excited about this episode. We want to talk to you guys about food prep. It is the second week of January. Yes. And so likely you have either already started food prepping. Probably. Or you hate food prepping. Like me. Like us.

Or you're watching a bunch of TikTok videos on how people prep their entire meal on Sunday and you're just like, I'm not doing that. Which is also me. So we're really just here to like simplify food prep and educate you guys on the best way to do that. think there's a lot of misconceptions about food prep. And I think it's like food journal. Same thing. It's not that we're saying don't do the food prep. We're going to teach you how to do it.

in the right way. So it's not overwhelming, but also very beneficial. And Sasha brought up a really interesting fact to me recently. And I would like to talk about that, which is, okay, meat. We like meat. Meat gives us protein.

I am a meat eater. It's actually my favorite. I love fish, all of that. And we were talking about kind of food prep, just how much I don't like to do it and how I really never food prep the meat in advance because it kind of grosses me out. Yeah. It doesn't taste right. It doesn't. second day. No. And I hate when you microwave it. So if I do, I usually eat cold cut. Like I don't like microwave chicken or microwave meat for some reason. It just grosses me out. It gets like rubbery. God, it's nasty. Yeah.

I'm definitely not doing it with fish. God, no. Yeah. So when we were talking about it and I was just like, okay, I go off of intuition a lot because once I got kind of comfortable with my intuition, was like, I don't want something in me is saying don't eat that. So I'm not going to eat it. And meat was one of those things like leftover meat. And I've never been into leftovers. Sasha talk to us about what happens to food, meat specifically from an inflammatory perspective, what happens?

Right. So when you eat meat second day, third day, like it's a leftover, not just meat, chicken, and mostly fish, it's going to have a lot of histamine. And what's histamine? It's going to bring inflammation up in your body. And what we're trying to do with food prep is to be healthy. Right? We're prepping our meals. We're feeling good about it. We're thinking we're going to be healthy.

Actually in the reality, you're going to create inflammation in your body by eating the meat, fish or poultry that has been sitting around for a few days in your refrigerator. And so our whole purpose of being on a path of wellness. Yeah. And I think, and this is when things really changed for me was when I started looking at the food that I was putting into my body from a nutrient perspective and an anti-inflammatory perspective.

That's when my habits started to stick and I was able to like really fuel my body with better foods for me. So as soon as you said that to me, I was like, well, that explains why I don't want to eat leftovers, especially when there's meat involved because it's inflaming my body. It's actually counterproductive to what you're trying to do. You could freeze it right away.

but then you have to defrost it. So if you're okay with that, there's a way to do it, but you've got to freeze that meat right after it's, know, cooked and cooled down, you put in the freezer, then you're okay. But you don't want to let it sit in the refrigerator for a few days. I'm just grossed out by things sitting in the refrigerator for a few days. I don't know what it is about it. Like as you were saying that I was like the gaggy, cause I was, there's a lot of shit in the refrigerator.

Like I had someone one time just put something uncovered in the refrigerator and it smells wonderful. And I was like, all the air is getting in the food. I have some things we won't get into that. You know, I think the other part of it is, you know, if you're doing something and you're trying to prep your meal, let's say you're one of those people, you see all the Tik Toks and it's like, I'm going to meal prep my entire. And if that's the only way you can do it by all means, do you, but like just put in the freezer, just put it in the freezer and then you've solved that problem. But if you're just putting in the refrigerator, then you're.

it's counterproductive to what you're actually trying to do, which now you're inflaming your body. So you're not going to see those results that you're looking for. And then the other thing is you're eating the same thing over and over again. So you're bored and it doesn't have as much taste. Normally is like, it's why I always yell at my husband when I cook it's hot. I'm like, honey, time to eat. Once it's cooled down, it for some reason doesn't taste as good. I don't know why it just doesn't. So you want to eat it fresh. I mean, it tastes the best.

Once you have all this leftovers that you prepped, doesn't seem, doesn't taste as good. So then eventually you're going to waste food. I've wasted food so many times by trying to prep. It all ends up in the garbage because you end up cooking something else. You don't feel like eating this. some people will order Uber eats. I don't do that, but I know a lot of people do. Yeah. So instead of like going and grabbing your.

prepped food, I don't feel like getting this, I'm gonna get something else. So you're wasting actually a lot of food by prepping ahead of time. And we've talked about this before, but food is such a wonderful, creative opportunity to really, and maybe that's a culture thing for me, but like being able to use my grandmother's recipes or create a new flavor palette or try a new recipe, those are really exciting things for me to do. You're kind of taking that excitement around

Food away. Food away. And we know that some people are going to say, have two kids, have to shuttle them to sports, I don't have time for this. We get that. Yeah. So that's why we want to give you some tips how to make it easier for you but not have the same meals for whole week sitting in refrigerator that you're going to get bored with. Right. I think the other thing for me is just like, you you're creating the same meal.

for the entire week and I've done that thing. Like you do it on Sunday, you prep it for the entire week. by what I'm probably not even Wednesday, I have a limited attention span by Tuesday night. I'm like, I'm not going to eat this. I've done it before. I'm going to just order something and to your point. I've wasted it because I didn't put it in the freezer. I put it in the refrigerator. Now I'm out of meal. I've wasted money. that was so time consuming. It took up my entire Sunday.

when you could have fun. You're doing something different. Yes. God says to rest on Sunday, you should lay down or something. I don't know. you know, it's like, it's like you didn't you get two days of the weekend, right? And if you have kids, you're probably doing sports with them on Saturdays or they have activities or play dates or sleepovers. And what now you're going to spend your entire Sunday cooking, cooking for the whole week. Yeah, you can do something fun. We can free you from that.

whole Sunday of cooking. we talk a lot about all of these things you should be doing, right? And all the, we're trying to give you like a lot of data and it's like, at the same time, let's eliminate some of the stress around. Yeah. And I think like to have to be so rigid and have to like eat these like chicken rice and broccoli. Right.

You're going to get burnt out. And if you get burnt out, then you could get stressed. If you get stressed and you can get sick and now you're sick and you're just eating whatever's in front of you. Correct. And I mean, we taking the culture is so weird right now, right? We like cooking same meal for your whole week and storing it in a refrigerator is just so weird. so we want to take you away from it, possibly give you a permission. I would say, because a lot of times you hear from personal trainers and nutritional coaches

coaches that you have to foot prep. We just want to give you different opinion, different side of the story. Yeah. How Britt and I were foot prepping, which is nothing like what you see on social. No. And that's not that we want it to be negative. We just wanted to reflect what other people think, why foot prep is not working for most people and how to make it work for you.

we're all thinking. Quite frankly. and it goes back to the influencer thing. You know, we're, we have to keep in mind like social media in January is all about like fitness and wellness and all these things. And you're like, yeah, me too, me too, me too. And then you try these things that these girls are doing. Well, they're professional influencers. Okay. They don't have, and maybe they're not, maybe they are professional.

personal trainers and they do have the flexibility in their schedule to do these things. You might not have it. Exactly. So to Sasha's point, like we want to give you permission to say, fuck that. And I'm going to do it my way. Right. So what is your way, Brit? How you've been for prepping. So my way is that I like to do a lot of the, like the cutting of things in advance. So when I get, for example, let's say like I get my carrots.

I don't like to buy the carrots out of the baggie with like the little baby carrots because I don't like that they weren't some and they're like preserved in that bag. Yeah, no. I started getting freaked out when I saw like you start to buy things that are organic and you notice that they deteriorate faster and then you buy those things that you used to buy and you're like, why is that not deteriorating? Like that's not why is it lasting three weeks? It shouldn't. Exactly. So I was noticing that with the carrot. So I started buying carrots that are organic and freshly yanked out of the ground.

Right. That's what I like to buy too. And they've got the little green leaves. Yeah. They look like a fucking carrot. And so I then will chop those. I'll like peel them and chop them. Okay. And then I'll put those in like little pre-done baggies. So then all I have to do is like, I'll make, I have dips that I've dipped them in. Okay. And that's like a snack for me. Did you know if you store carrots in the water, they last longer and they're crispy. I did not.

So you put little water, they put a tap over it, put little water, filtered water, and you put your carrots in there. Also, if you have sad carrots, you know, like if you had them in the refrigerator for a while, you can take them out and you can put them in the cold water and they will go back to crispy. Same with strawberries, same with blueberries, same with a lot of like herbs, I do that. You kind of wake them up. You just put them in the really cold water. You can even pass ice in there and they will come back. You don't have to throw them away.

A little tip. Shock. Another episode where I learn a tip, I'm like, what the fuck? That is so good. That is such a good tip. like, again, how did we get so far? I always bring it back to like tribal caveman. Yeah, it's like, because you know, the nutrient the nutritional value of something also starts to deteriorate. Because when you pull something from the ground,

Yeah. Is when it starts to die. like you think of- no water. You put water in the plant and it needs water. So if you store it too long, there's no water. All you need to do is just put it back in the water and it'll come back to life. Yeah. Like flowers need to be in water. So do herbs. makes perfect sense. Yeah. And the way you will store herbs, actually you cut them when you come home, you cut a little bit off because you know how they get brown in the end. Yeah. So they're not open, per se, to soak the water.

And then you will get paper towel and you'll soak it in water and you rub it, like kind of put it around the ends of the herbs and you start in the Ziploc. So it has like a little moisture in the ends. Does that make sense? Yeah, it makes perfect sense. Yeah, that's brilliant. And honestly, how I'm going to start doing it. just to go back to like how I food prep, it's it's prepping a lot of those ingredients and just making sure that they're ready and easy for me to grab. also like to instead of

prepping my meal, like actually cooking it ahead of time. I like to plan my meals. And the reason I like to do that instead of prepping is because I can then on, you know, whatever day I choose to get my groceries, I've planned my meals out. I've also created leniency for a potential like night that I'm to go out. Right. And also you can switch, say you want to have steak tomorrow, but maybe you feel like chicken so you can swap it. It's not cooked yet.

I'm an impulsive girly. So I'm not eating it if I don't feel like it. Same. And then I'll order something instead, or I'll go out to eat or I I'm so bad. I actually won't eat at all. I'll just be like, I don't feel like that. And I'm not going to eat. I'm a little bit stubborn. Yeah, I'm a lot stubborn too. So that is really like planning my meals out, making sure I have all the ingredients, making sure that they're fresh. And then making sure that if there's anything, especially with snacks, I like to prep my snacks.

And I'm not necessarily like snacking snacking, but you know, when you, when you're like eating a meal. let's say for lunch, for example, I'm going to like. Cook up a little meat bowl for myself real quick. And then it's like, I like to have like a little side sample thing on the side. And sometimes I like to munch on that while I'm creating the meal. So what that would be on the side. would be like carrots. And I love to do a cottage cheese with salsa, like a clean salsa. And I put that, that's my dip. mix it. And then I have this like yummy.

nutrient dense dip that I dip my carrots in. And I'll sometimes munch on those because sometimes what I noticed throughout my day is that like, I will get hungry and not realize I'm hungry. And then I'll wait. And then I'm starving. Exactly. And then I won't want to cook a meal because I'm just like fatigued. Exactly you don't want to wait too long. You got to eat something. So because I know my own personal struggles or like my own personal roadblocks. Yeah.

then I'm like, okay, well, I need to have something available so I can snack and then create a meal for myself. Yeah. Also, I'll tell my clients, I used to have like snacks before I cook because my husband wants to eat later and I'm starving. So I would start snacking on stuff crackers and cheese and something else. And then I was like, okay, this is not serving me what, and my husband doesn't really like salad. So I'm like, what if I make salad? we like that.

And I'll eat salad instead of the snacky snacks while I'm cooking. salad is very easy to do. And this is the way I prep. So I prep salad dressings and they can be stored in the refrigerator or cupboard depends like what is in the salad dressing. So that way all you need to do is take out the greens. And also I toast my pine nuts.

So they're ready to go. Any nuts you want. So that's my meal prep. I toast my nuts. I do my dressing that way. know it sounds something else, but anyway, back to the food prep. And catch my nada gada. The face that Sasha made. I didn't even pick up on it. And then I was like, toasted nuts. Yeah. like, what am I talking about here? Stay focused. Okay. So you're getting your greens out of refrigerator. You're pouring this out, dressing, little bit of cheese, nuts.

you're good to go, have a salad. So that's how I food prep. It's like a little appetizer for yourself. now then you can do you can make your own homemade hummus. Yes. So then if Britt cut her carrots and put them in the water, she's got the hummus or she's got her cottage cheese. So that's another way of food prepping. Yeah. Can we talk for a second actually, and it might be a little bit off topic, but it is in regard to food prep. Like I do food prep my dips because I don't purchase dips.

directly from the store because I have found that like, for example, pesto, I love pesto. It's super easy to make. I make it in my Vitamix or like any blender you have. Yep. And there are a lot of like inflammatory oils in a lot of dressings, dips, exactly. Sauces. Exactly. So I always say you can make your own much quicker and better and cheaper.

And you can store it. Yeah. So I think condiments, you definitely can make your own. You can find ketchup with less sugar. So usually I buy that, but everything else we pretty much make at home. salsa, some salsas. You can find good salsas. I feel like salsa can be time consuming chopping all the vegetables, but I don't know. Do you make your own salsa? I have made my own salsa. I haven't done it in a long time. There's some brands.

as someone who has allergies to things and now I don't do lot of inflammatory things. The sauces and dips got really hard for me. So now I have like my, call my safe zone brands. So a safe zone brand is essentially like, Siete Yeah, I love that brand. Primal Kitchen. Yes. That chosen brand. Yup. There's a handful like that where I'm like, okay, that is a safe zone

And then you just kind of have to be mindful of if they get bought out or anything like that. Exactly. Because Siete just got bought out. So we've got to now flip the bags and see what's in them because. Yeah. We were just talking about that with the chomp sticks. I looked at a chomp stick and I was like, that's a new, it's funny how when you start to read the ingredients of things, you see, you know, we were comparing our ingredients on our meat sticks because she had an Epic and I had a chomp.

I actually prefer Paleo Valley. And so then I went to look at the ingredients on the chopstick and this is one I've been eating forever. I know the ingredients of it. And I was like, what's that? That's a new, and I don't even know what that word is. So now I'm like, I don't know that I can have the pepperoni chopsticks anymore. I know. Is that terrible? Yeah. So you guys revisit the back of your favorite things that you buy in a store because sometimes they change ingredients, unfortunately. And I always teach people.

Look at the ingredients, not the calories, right? Yes. I mean, you got to be mindful about your portions if you're trying to lose weight, but the ingredients are most important thing when you buy something that is processed and in the package. Yeah. I could not agree more with that. That's the other thing is like, think aside from food prep, you know, when you're in the grocery store, it really comes down to planning and knowing, like educating yourself. And like, once you know, and I tell people all the time, like, look, they'll ask me why I eat a certain way. And I'm like,

Do you want to know? Because once you know, you can't unknow what I'm about to tell you. Exactly. And when I started this journey, it messed me up a little bit because I was like, now I'm on this anti-inflammatory journey. And you start to realize how many ingredients are bad for you and you start to pay closer attention to the ingredients. So I think for me, it's less about food prep and more about food planning and knowledge and really understanding what is in each thing that I'm purchasing.

If I buy a carrot, it's a carrot. Yes. If I buy a bag of carrots, they're kind of all wet in there. I got questions. they're shaped not like carrots, they're shaped like, I don't know, what are they shaped like? Like little bullets. Like little nuggets. Like they don't come out like that. look, comes back to tribal.

Does the food look like it originally should look? It's just common sense around it. Common sense.

So another thing you can prep is I like to roast vegetables and then ton of them and then whatever is left over in the morning, I can make frittata with it. And then frittata can be used a few days. It can, you know, it can be okay. In the refrigerator, you can eat that frittata next morning for breakfast. And you know, my mom made a Christmas like, I don't want to call it a quiche. It was just kind of like a giant scramble in a bowl, but it had like,

potatoes and it had sausage and it had, and I that goes against what we were just talking about, but like a bunch of eggs and veggies. And we had that the next day and I was like, wait, this is actually really good the next day. It is very good. I don't hate that. Yeah, the sausage is going to have some histamine. You can exclude it if you are really concerned about your inflammatory markers, but you know you can do the vegetables. You can roast vegetables and make frittata in the morning and you're

good to go. Yeah. Yeah. So that's another way of kind of prepping your food, make the breakfast ahead of time. Yeah. Yeah. Especially breakfast is such a hard one. That's one I do do actually is I hard boil or soft boil all my eggs in advance. Yes, I love that too. Because it does make it much easier, much easier. And at first I was kind of grossed out by the idea of having cold eggs the next day. But when I removed the shell, I just run it under hot water while I'm doing

You do and it's actually good. it like warms it up. I'm so used to cause you grew up kind of a chicken boil eggs, a snack in Russia. I'm okay. I'm cold. I'm just used to it. It's just whatever you got used to. Yeah. think. that's what it comes down to at the end of the day is like, okay, well what are you comfortable with? And then you grow used to that thing. like, yeah, maybe I don't food prep every week, but

I have my strategy that works for me. And like, I have a sourdough starter, right? And I love to make sourdough, but every week I'm not making sourdough. That's where I see these women doing that. And I'm like, I feel like it's unattainable. And then I feel like I'm getting down on myself and that just adds stress, which we want to eliminate. Well, I think maybe it's again, goes to priorities. The priority is to make that bread and your priority is not to make that bread. It's just something that you like to do once in a while. So I think on that note.

We can go ahead and wrap up.

think it really comes down to like, again, having food plan versus food prep, making sure that you have things in your refrigerator and in your pantry that have good ingredients in them. Yes, they're as close to the source as possible and ready to go. Like toast your nuts, have salad dressing, have your condiments, have your.

Just make those things and you can include your kids to do them. Like it's fun to make hummus with kids together, right? my God. I used to love to peel potatoes. And then I realized that was the shitty job that my mom would give me. I can peel potatoes. Like I can be in the army just peeling potatoes. I'm I'm a champ. Gold medal. Yeah. So, you know, give that to your kids cause it's fun until it's you're old enough to know it's not the fun job anymore.

So on that note, we'll see you guys next week. Yes, again, thank you for listening, tuning in. Let us know what are your takeaways from this episode is if you're still food prepping, if anything was helpful, if you're gonna...

incorporate anything that we suggested and share with your friends. and we will see you on Wednesday. Yeah. See