Insider Tips for Meal Planning

Are you trying to eat better, but find yourself in the fast food line (again!)?  I hear you.  I have a family of 8 to cook for and it can be a struggle.  If I don’t plan ahead, then it’s not going to happen.  All the good intentions of eating better will not yield results if you don’t eat more at home.  I promise you that it can be done.  It just takes a little planning.  

Here are my top tips for avoiding take-out and fast food:

1. Plan ahead. Once a week take some time to plan out your menu.  It can be as elaborate or simple as you want it.  Personally, I just plan our dinners, but some of you might find it helpful to plan lunch and/or breakfast as well.  As you jot down your menu, take a look at your calendar so you can see what nights you need quick dinners and what nights you have more time to cook.  At our house, Monday night is slow-cooker night and the weekend is when we typically prepare more time-consuming meals or try new recipes.

2. Share the responsibilities with your family members. There was a year when my teens and pre-teen all took a night to cook.  It was their responsibility to plan the meal, add the foods to the grocery order, and then prepare the meal.  We did that for about a year and then wanted a change.  But it really helped this busy mama out!  I still use their help often if I’m not going to be home around dinner-prep time.  It’s a win-win because it helps me out and it teaches them important life-skills.

3. Don’t feel like your meals need to be gourmet or ultra-healthy.  Here are some of our favorites: spaghetti, tacos, pizza, breakfast casserole, taco soup, and grilled cheese.  All of those meals can be nutritious and family-friendly. Here is how:

  • Spaghetti: whole wheat pasta, jarred marinara sauce, and lean ground beef.  Serve fresh fruit and microwaved vegetables on the side.
  • Tacos: use lean ground beef, tomatoes, lettuce, avocados, cheddar cheese, and light sour cream.  Serve seasoned black beans (from the can) and canned pineapple on the side.
  • Pizza: use whole wheat crusts from the grocery store, ham or Canadian bacon, turkey pepperoni, marinara sauce, mushrooms, peppers, and mozzarella cheese.  Serve a salad on the side.

Remember, most meals can be rounded out by using lean meats, low-fat dairy, and adding fruit and vegetables to the side.  We almost always have canned fruit on the dinner table.

4. Always have a Plan B.  Keep a few staples on hand so when you run out of time or energy to cook, you can still eat at home and skip the fast food.  For example:  canned turkey chili over rice or potatoes; sandwiches on whole wheat bread with fresh vegetables and Sun Chips; breakfast tacos and fruit.

5. Make wise use of leftovers. There’s a concept called, “Cook once, eat twice”, coined by the Beef Council.  The idea is to use the ingredients for your main dish in another recipe later in the week.  This saves time by having to cook less and money by not throwing away leftovers.  For example, cook a pork roast one night and use is to make sandwiches or soup another night.  Or you can make double the food and freeze the leftovers for another night.

6. Use grocery pick up. Read this article to learn more. It’s a life-saver for me. I rarely have to step foot in the grocery store and it helps because I add to the list all week long. Whenever I run out of an ingredient I immediately add it to the “cart” on the app. I can have my family members add to it throughout the week as well. They love adding their favorite foods and having some input in the grocery shopping. (I review what everyone has added before purchasing, though.) Then I schedule pick-up for a time that is convenient for me.

The bottom line: to stick to your diet it takes is a little planning ahead and the right the tools.  Remember, if I can do it—you can too!

For more help with planning your diet, check out my Custom Jumpstart Program.

Do you plan your meals ahead of time?  What works for you?

How to take care of yourself when life is crazy

It happens to everyone…you are in a good routine: exercising, drinking water, planning meals, cooking, and taking time for yourself.  And then…life happens.  Things fall apart. You’re stressed, tired, not eating on a regular basis (or overeating), not planning, not exercising, and so on.  And then you feel awful physically and emotionally.

What are you to do?  You can’t just magically change your life circumstances.  You can’t take the stress away or make the problems go away.  You just have to push forward.  But do you have to accept the fatigue, low energy, cravings, and feeling out of control?  Of course not.  That’s when you enter Survival Mode.

Survival Mode

Step 1: Identify 3-5 behaviors that give you biggest impact in your health.  Here are some examples:

  • drinking water instead of soda
  • meditating
  • exercising
  • eating at home
  • keeping a food diary
  • taking time for yourself

Step 2: Based on your current life circumstances, identify which of those behaviors are most realistic.  Choose 1-3 and write them down as specific SMART goals.  Here is what I mean:

  • Walk outside in the morning for 20 minutes on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.
  • Take 5 minutes of alone time on my backyard porch every evening after dinner.
  • Limit eating out to 2 times per week.

Step 3: Choose a friend, family member, health professional, or your friendly dietitian (me!) and share your goals.  Ask that person to check on you periodically to see how you’re doing with your goals.

Step 4: Adjust these goals as necessary.  If one goal seems to add more stress and pressure to your life, then drop it.  If you identify another goal that would give you a bigger impact, then add it.

Step 5: Enjoy feeling proud and happy that you are managing your health, even when things are falling apart.

Finally, in the words of one of my favorite authors, Geneen Roth, “When things fall apart…let them.  Find a soft place to land and fall apart for 5 minutes.  Then get up, wipe the tears, pick your kids up from school, and move on with your day.”

For more tips on how to manage your health, set up a FREE Jumpstart call by clicking here.

Please share, what’s your favorite way to take care of yourself when you are really stressed? 

Breakfast: Picking Apart the “Most Important Meal of the Day”

Breakfast has long held superiority status and taken precedence amongst all other daily meals. But aside from being the first meal, what merit does breakfast hold in acquiring the title of “most important meal”? It’s important to take a look at some of the evidence that supports such claims, including the benefits of, and, the drawbacks of not “breaking the fast”.

One of the immediate benefits from consuming a morning meal is, like any other meal, that it provides energy. However, unlike other meals later in the day, breakfast replenishes some of our energy stores we relied on overnight while asleep and fasting. In other words:

breakfast can sooner kick our metabolism out of the slowed, fasting rate from sleep, and into increased, awake mode.

Beyond providing energy, breakfast sets us up for success in various other ways:

Eating breakfast encourages healthier diet patterns due to the added opportunity for intake of important vitamins and minerals (especially through fortified, fiber-rich cereals) and reduced likelihood of eating later into the evening, at a time when eating becomes less ideal. Alongside our metabolism, cognition may also be kickstarted after breakfast, as studies support the influence of breakfast on increased alertness, mood, and attention.

This finding is consistent with our brain’s reliance on carbohydrates as its primary source of energy, given the tendency for this meal to be carbohydrate-rich.

Breakfast, however, is not necessarily the end-all be-all. A large portion of supporting evidence for breakfast benefits is derived from observational studies rather than the gold-standard randomized controlled trial studies. Many individuals find they naturally aren’t hungry in the morning, or find the thought of eating early to be nauseating. Rather than forcing food down when it isn’t welcome, listening to hunger cues from your body is key. The bottom line is that while breakfast presents a number of benefits, we should not put so much focus onto one meal so as to lose sight of the importance of consistently balanced meals throughout the rest of the day.

Please share below: what is your favorite breakfast?

Written by Lamar Dietetic Intern: Pietra Haracz

Are you still struggling to lose weight?  It could be your genes…

Are you ready for a weight loss plan that is sustainable and works with your body not against it?

If you’re tired of trying diet after diet, but can’t seem to find the one that sticks, the solution might be in your genes!

There is more and more exciting research about genes and their connection to nutrition.  For example, protein is an important part of a healthy diet, but for some people protein can also be the key to losing more body fat on their weight loss journey.

The FTO gene can determine if a higher protein diet is the best choice for people wanting to lose weight. In research trials, those with the AA variant of this gene lost significantly more body fat after 2 years while following a higher protein diet, compared to people with the TT or TA variants.

So, for people with the ‘responder’ genotype, consuming a higher percentage of energy from protein actually accelerated their fat loss potential, while for the non-responders, more protein in their diet did not make a difference.

Do you want to learn how you can eat to optimize your body composition and reach your weight loss goals? I can help by offering you a genetic test, called Nutrigenomix. Watch this video to learn more.

Nutrigenomix is celebrating Nutrition Month by offering a free Personalized Nutrition for Skin Health report (PDF) with the purchase of any 70-gene test ($79 value).  “Through nutrition care and prevention, the Skin Health test helps determine how genes can influence the skin’s ability to combat signs of aging, how the body metabolizes nutrients that support skin health, and how genetic markers that affect eating habits can play a role in the health of your skin.”

To learn more about the test, click here.

Contact me to schedule your test today.  The free skin care test is only offered until March 31, 2022.

Mindfulness and Hunger

A client told me the other day, “I’m never hungry.  My stomach never growls.”  When someone tells me that she is never hungry, I bring up my favorite subject: mindfulness.

You were born knowing when you were hungry and when you had enough to eat.  Unfortunately, for some of us, our hunger and fullness signals got mixed up.  Whether it was a well-meaning adult that made you “clean your plate”, learning that eating chocolate helped you feel better when you were sad, or ignoring hunger pangs to lose weight—you started to ignore your hunger/fullness cues and now you might not know what your body is telling you anymore.

If you are like my client and confused about what your body is or is not telling then, then mindful eating will help you.  According to The Center for Mindful Eating, mindful eating is:

“Mindfulness is the capacity to bring full attention and awareness to one’s experience, in the moment, without judgment. Mindful Eating brings mindfulness to food choice and the experience of eating.

Mindful eating helps us become aware of our thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations related to eating, reconnecting us with our innate inner wisdom about hunger and satiety.”

Doesn’t that sound really beneficial?  Wouldn’t you like more of that awareness with your body?  I think we all would.

There are many benefits of mindful eating that I could discuss with you, but I just want to focus on one right now: learning how to tell when your body is hungry. Here are steps take periodically throughout the day:

Step 1: Pause and stop what you are doing.

Step 2: Minimize distractions (phone, TV, conversations, driving, etc.).

Step 3: Take three big, deep breaths.

Step 4: Scan your body from head to toe, noticing if anything feels “off.”

Step 5: Pay attention to the part of your body that doesn’t feel right.  Let’s say you notice you have a headache, for example.  Could it be that it needs nourishment?

Step 6: Ask yourself some questions to figure out if it is related to hunger:

When was the last time I ate?

*What did I eat today?

*What time is it?

*Am I feeling stressed?

*How much have I had to drink today?

If you determine that your headache could be due to low blood sugar, then go ahead and eat something nourishing.

Ways your body might tell you that you are hungry

And that is using mindful eating in a nutshell to learn more about your hunger.  I realize it’s not always as easy as that.  It takes a lot of patience and practice.  The benefits are worth it!  That same client I mentioned who said he never felt hungry started using mindfulness and determined that when he was cranky in the morning it was due to skipping breakfast.  He started eating a small breakfast (yogurt and fruit) and is not irritable in the morning anymore!

How does your body tell you it’s hungry?  Comment below.  And to learn more about mindful eating, check out my most popular class Chocolate and Mindfulness: Why We Need Both.

What is the difference between a meal replacement drink and protein shake?

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a meal replacement drink and a protein drink? I get this question all the time.  It’s really important to know the difference so you can make the best choice based on your health goals.

A meal replacement drink contains significant amounts of the three macronutrients: carbohydrate, protein, and fat.  As the name implies, it is meant to relace a meal.  The balance between carbs, protein, and fat are meant to mimic a small meal (or large meal—depending on which drink you choose).  For a typical meal replacement drink, the carbs can range anywhere from 15-45 g of carbs (the equivalent of 1-3 carb servings).  Protein can range anywhere from 7-40 g (the equivalent of 1-5 protein servings).  The fat content can range from 5-15 g (the equivalent of 1-3 fat servings).  Typically they are fortified with vitamins and minerals too, so it’s like taking a daily multivitamin. 

Which drink you choose is up to your health goals.  The one drawback to meal replacement drinks, is the amount of added sugars, which can range anywhere from 4-24 g (the equivalent of 1-6 teaspoons)!  Here are some ideas:

Boost
Boost Original
  • Boost Original, Ensure Original, or Carnation Instant Breakfast only have about 1.5 servings of protein, a little over 2 servings of carbs, and 3 teaspoons of added sugars.  Because of the added sugars and low protein, I rarely recommend these drinks.  They could be used as a snack replacement if you are trying to gain weight.
  • Boost High Protein, Ensure High Protein, Carnation Instant Breakfast High Protein, Slim-Fast, Special K, etc.  These types of drinks have a higher protein content and provide about 2 protein servings.  The carb amount is around 30g on average.  These drinks are great for meal replacements because of the balance between protein and carbs.

A protein drink is high protein and low carb/sugar.  They contain at least 20 g of protein and at most 40 g (3-5 protein servings).  They have little or no added sugars or fat.  They are meant to add more protein to your diet and don’t provide energy (carbs).  Protein drinks are a perfect supplement for you if you struggle to get adequate protein at every meal.  In fact, I prefer to call them “protein supplement drinks” to remind my clients that they supplement the meal, not replace the meal.  If you rely on protein drinks only at your meal, you might be tired, hungry, and sluggish because you are not eating any complex carbohydrates. 

Some examples of protein supplement drinks that I recommend and my clients love:

  • Premier Protein
  • Boost Max
  • Ensure Max
  • Fairlife Nutrition Plan 30g Protein
  • Fairlife Core Power
My favorite protein supplement drinks

How might you use a protein supplement? 

  • After a hard workout at the gym, drink a protein drink and eat a piece of fruit within 1 hour of finishing your workout.  Your muscles will soak up the protein to start re-building and the carbs will fuel the muscle building process. 
  • Drink a protein drink for lunch when you don’t have time to leave the office.  Eat a banana, box or raisins, whole grain crackers, or an apple for carbs (brain power) and fiber (fullness) with it.
  • Drink one for breakfast to round out your favorite high-carb breakfast (oatmeal, whole grain toast with avocado, whole wheat tortilla with peanut butter, etc.)

If I had to choose my personal favorite, it is the Fairlife.  I love to drink one for lunch and eat a banana on my busiest work days.  The combination of carbs, fiber, and protein keep me satisfied and fueled for a few hours until I can eat a balanced snack.

Do you need help with your diet? Check out my Intentional Eating 101 Program.

Now that you know the difference between protein drinks and meal replacement drinks, which one are you going to choose?  Comment below to share your ideas.

Are you addicted to food?

Have you ever felt like you are addicted to food?  I can’t tell you how many of my clients have expressed this belief about themselves.  Is food addiction even a thing?  The research on food addiction is very limited, but I can share with you some of the latest research and what we do know.

First, it’s very important to clarify that food addiction is a process addiction.  That means it is the act of eating and the feelings you have about eating certain foods that is addictive, not the food itself.  As you engage in overeating and eating foods you consider bad or trigger foods, your brain releases dopamine which makes you feel good.  After chronically overeating, the dopamine receptors are down regulated and then you need to eat more and more to get the same dopamine response.  This is the same process that occurs in other addictions like gambling, shoplifting, gaming, and phone use. 

Many people falsely believe that food addiction is a chemical addiction like drugs or alcohol.  That’s not so.  Drugs and alcohol contain chemicals that are physically addictive.  But foods commonly considered addictive (flour, sugar, salt, and chocolate) are not actually chemically addictive.  Sure, they do make you feel good, but you are not dependent on them.  For example, if you find chocolate to be a trigger food for you then when you eat chocolate you feel a hit of dopamine. You have a piece of chocolate and then want more and more.  However, let’s say you don’t find orange juice to be a trigger food and so when you drink orange juice, there is no dopamine hit.  So, it’s not the sugar from the chocolate or the juice, it’s the act of eating something that you feel is forbidden or you have strong feelings about. 

The act of overeating causes a similar pathway in the dopamine response.  The more you overeat, the less your body releases dopamine and then you need to eat more and more to get the same response.  Just like gambling and gaming, for example.

So, what does all this mean? It’s good news actually.  It means you don’t have to avoid your favorite foods forever because you think you are “addicted” to them and you have to abstain like you would from alcohol.  It means that you can eat your favorite foods in moderation after learning how to manage cravings, compulsive eating desires, and your feelings surrounding certain foods.   

How do you do that?

1. Keep a food journal where you write down the food you eat, your level of hunger/fullness, and the feelings you have surrounding that meal/snack. 

2. Identify the emotions that lead up to overeating/compulsive eating. 

3. Try to catch yourself when you are feeling those emotions and deal with them in a more constructive way.

This list is very simplified. I know it’s not as easy as that.  It takes a lot of introspection, outside support, and patience with yourself.  And that’s what I am here to help with.  I want you to feel in control of food instead of food controlling you.  Sign up for my Intentional Eating 101 program and you can start your journey to feeling better and getting healthier!

What will you commit to this year?

I confess, I have been dragging my feet on writing a new blog article. So much has happened over the last year in the world and in my own life, that some things just seem too trivial. I couldn’t get the motivation to write about new foods, recipes, or the latest nutrition fads. None of that seems important when so many of us have burdens of loss of loved ones and friends, lost jobs, financial problems, or health problems.

I have suffered a loss greater than I ever thought I would. My sweet husband, Lee, died of cancer on August 16, 2020, just 10 months after his diagnosis. Like many of you, my world has been turned upside down and it’s a struggle to feel right-side-up again.

You may read his obituary here.

So what nutrition topic can I write about that will even seem important right now? Well, let me first list what IS important: my support system, my faith, my career, and my health. There are so many things out of my control right now, but I can control how I take care of myself. You can control how you take care of yourself. (However, the outcomes aren’t always under your control–like incurable stage 4 cancer.)

What I want to talk about in this newsletter, is how you can control how you take care of yourself. You can choose to keep your yearly check-ups with your doctor (virtual or in-person), whether to take your meds or not, whether to exercise or not, what foods to eat, and how to spend your free time. Trust me, I know that when under stressful circumstances it is hard to do all of those things. You only have so much willpower and a lot of it used just getting through the day. But that doesn’t mean it’s an excuse to not try. You can choose to do one thing (or more) everyday to take care of yourself.

As for me, I commit to take care of myself as best as I can, so I can be there for you, for my kids, my colleagues, my friends, and my family.

What do you commit to do?


How can I help?

Here are some ways I can help you reach your health goals:

  • Monthly Masters Group: Tuesday, January 12, 2021 @ noon (virtual or in-person): Brenda Hoehn, guest speaker, with Procare: “Physical Regeneration and Strength Upgrade”. Send an email to kelli.worley@intentionaleating.net to RSVP.
  • Want to work with me to find the best diet plan for you, but don’t have time to come to appointments? Sign up for Virtual Intentional Eating 101 here.
  • Having bariatric surgery this year? Learn Everything you Need to Know Before Bariatric Surgery here.
  • This year I will finally re-vamp my Support Group. If you want to be added to the list for the beta launch, reply to this email and let me know.
  • Sign up to become a new one-on-one client here.
  • Last, I want to give you what you need. If you have any ideas or need something specific, send me an email.
The Best App for Calorie Counting

The Best App for Calorie Counting

With hundreds of calorie counting apps to choose from, it easy to get overwhelmed or waste your time on ones that aren’t very useful.  I know you’ve been there.  Either it’s confusing to use, the data is wrong, or you are distracted by ads.  I have used so many different calorie counting apps over the years with my clients and have never been 100% satisfied.  That is until I discovered Nutritionix Track.  I have started using this app with my clients and so far they and I love it.  

Here is what we love about it:

  • Easy and attractive dashboard and diary
  • Multiple ways to add your daily food: upload a picture, search in the database, add your own foods, scan the package barcode, or use the “freeform box.” 
  • It offers a unique feature that I have not seen anywhere else.  The “freeform” option allows you to say your diary and using advanced technology it accurately determines what you ate.  Just takes a minute to log all your food!  (Watch the video below to see how it works.)
  • If you are trying to NOT think about calories, the picture option is a great way to log your food without worrying about the nutrition.
  • You can add your own recipes.
  • It tracks your weight, fluid intake, and exercise.
  • You can link it with popular fitness trackers, like Fitbit and HealthKit.
  • Shows macro and micronutrients.
  • No ads.
  • You can connect your diary with your dietitian (me!) and I can view your foods from my computer. 

One of my clients said, “My favorite feature is the Freeform box.  It’s so much easier to log my food rather than type it out.”

Have you ever had a financial goal, like pay off your car or save for your vacation?  I bet the first thing you did was figure out how much money you needed to save and then made a plan to save that money.  Part of that plan probably included making a budget.  What does that have to do with nutrition?  Everything!  If you have a health goal, you have to know how to get there.  And what you put in your mouth will move you towards or away from that goal.  That is why I recommend calorie counting, especially with the Nutritionix app. 

Watch the video to see it in action.

For more apps that I recommend, check out my FREE Guide: 25 Best Apps for Optimal Health

Click here to download

How Intentional Eating can Help you Manage Chronic Disease

First, let’s define Intentional Eating since it is the basis of all my programs. By definition, intent is “aim” or “purpose.” So, what is your “purpose” or “aim” with eating? There is no right or wrong answer. Occasionally it might be for pure pleasure, other times for fuel, most of the time to satisfy hunger, or to improve your health. Knowing your intent with food is essential in managing chronic diseases and improving your health.

Now, let’s take you through the steps of Intentional Eating.

  • Know your why. Why do I want to eat? What is my intent with food? Am I hungry? Bored? Sad? Stressed? Getting ready to exercise? Before putting one bite in your mouth, it’s important to identify the “why” so you can make sure you are eating for the right reasons.
  • Know your what. What am I going to eat? This is the most important step in managing chronic diseases. By carefully choosing “what” you can optimize energy, sleep, hormones, blood sugars, blood pressure, etc. The list could go on and on. Choosing the right foods is key to feeling great.
  • Know your how. Am I eating at home? In the car? With other people? Fast? Slow? Standing up? Sitting down? Managing “how” you eat will maximize the food that you put into your body so you can feel your best.

Intentional Eating does not have to be tricky or difficult. It just takes some practice. By paying attention to why you eat, what you eat, and how you eat, you will see how different foods affect you in different ways, You will be empowered to make the food choices that give you the results you want.

Click here to become an Intentional Eater