How dramatic is that title? Please bear with me as I try my best to explain the madness that is our everyday life, and what I think my “keys to success are.” I used quotations because some days I succeed and others I simply survive. That’s totally normal right? Anyway, I digress. I have narrowed down my life (for simplicity) to three pillars: health, family & work. I’ve found time and time again if I spend too much time on one pillar, the other two tend to get off balance. You know those memes you’ve seen about Chapstick? Like where you lose your purse chapstick so you have to put your car chapstick in your purse then your work chapstick gets in your car and then you misplace another one and literally everything in your life is falling apart. Thats me if I neglect one of my “pillars.” I thought about making this one long post but I don’t want to gloss over anything. So I’ve decided to make this a 3-part series, where each pillar has it’s own post.
First up: Health. This includes both physical and mental health. I honestly think eating well is the single most important thing you can do for yourself in life. It’s SO important. When I eat well I have more energy to workout, play with Dallas, I have much better focus while I’m studying and overall I’m just much more pleasant to be around. (Ask Jared, he’ll vouch.) “Healthy” is defined differently by different people, to me it’s sticking to the Paleo diet 90% of the time. I jokingly say I’m Paleo + Wine. Which is pretty true. I’m not a robot, I have a sweet tooth every now and again and I don’t always limit myself, but most of the time I do.
Paleo Basics
So, what’s Paleo? Technically speaking, the Paleo diet is supposed to closely resemble what our Paleolithic era ancestors ate. There’s no less than a millions books/websites/podcasts about this topic so I won’t bore you with the details. To summarize, we primarily eat meat and vegetables. I eat an apple everyday but that’s the extent of my fruit intake. I’m sure this sounds super boring to you, and truthfully when I first learned of this diet I was like ” no effing way am I cutting out rice and pasta.” But here I am. Proof that a carb junkie can indeed change her stripes. Another reason I like eating this way is because meal planning is a cinch! Which leads into my second point: meal prep.
What About A Meal Service?
Meal prep is, without a doubt, the most vital step to my weekly routine. In truth, it takes me about 1.5 hours total every Sunday and then the only thing I do in the kitchen for the rest of the week is make scrambled eggs and brew my coffee. Before baby I would prep our lunches and make dinner every night. After he was born, but while still on maternity leave, we started getting meal prep services like HomeChef and loved it. They send you all the ingredients and you make the meal yourself. Highly recommend those if you’re short on time but still want to cook your own food. Now, where we’re even shorter on time, we have a local meal service called Good Clean Food, that delivers pre-cooked paleo meals to our gym. (If you’re on the island of Oahu, there’s a code at the bottom of this post for $10 off your first order of $50 or more) It takes 2 minutes to heat them up and they’re delicious every time. We get to spend very little time with our son during the week because of our work and his nap schedule. Utilizing this service gives us an extra hour to hour and a half with him ever night and to me that’s everything.
Meal Prep Made Easy
How do I meal prep? Great question! Our go-to is chicken. Every Sunday I pickup 8-10 chicken breasts and 2 different kinds of fresh vegetables. Any vegetable you can slice, toss with a little oil and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes is a winner. Turns out that’s pretty much any vegetable you can find. I especially like asparagus and sautéd spinach and kale with garlic. I usually layout all the chicken on a cookie sheet and season with pepper, olive oil and whatever else I’m feeling. Sometimes onion powder, garlic powder and occasionally I use those meat seasoning packets if I have them on hand. I let those sit for about 30 minutes while I slice the veggies and heat the oven. I always grill the chicken so it takes about 10-15 minutes to heat that up. It cooks at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes and the vegetables at 350 for the same, give or take a few minutes. While that’s cooking I clean the kitchen and set out our meal containers. I always check the chicken with a meat thermometer, then chop, divide up between 10 containers and boom, I’m done. Jared always gets a whole chicken breast and generous amount of vegetables. I use a food scale to measure out 3oz of chicken for me and divide the rest of the veggies equally.
A Little Effort, Big Results
That’s it! I don’t write down meals on a calendar, I don’t excessively count my macros, and I don’t stress about cooking during the week because it’s already done. Big things I exclude from my diet are sugar (stop drinking soda, like really, stop it) and super starchy carbs. Food is fuel, you’re not going to put unleaded in a Ferrari (Von Miller said that haha). I fuel my body so I can be the best mom, wife, and pilot I can be. Meal prepping frees up my time not just for family but for my own mental health. I try to spend at least 30 minutes a day doing something for me. Whether that’s reading a book, going for a run or just walking Dallas down to the beach. What I’m trying to say here is, eating healthy isn’t more time consuming nor is it more difficult. It just takes a little forethought and you’ll be setup for success. I realize everybody is different, and this is not a one size fits all plan. But if meal prepping/eating healthier is something you’re interested in, give it a try. And if you do, let me know! I’d love to hear how your doing. And you’ll always have a personal cheerleader in me.
I know there’s nothing more cliche than making a diet or fitness goal for the new year, but people do it because sometimes it works and more often than not you’ll learn something new along the way. So, today being the last day of 2018, if you find yourself trying to create more time in your day, give meal prepping a shot for a few weeks and see how it goes. Do it for your health, both physical and mental. Do it so you can spend that extra hour with your kids, or reading a book or whatever it is you’ve been trying to find time for. And I promise you, eating well will change the way you feel. I’d love to hear your meal prep tips, your struggles and of course your questions.
I wish you all the best in 2019, Happy New Year!
-XO, Emily
Bonus!
If you’re interested in trying a meal prep service and you’re on the island of Oahu, you can use the code “travelingblonde10” for $10 off your order over $50. Additionally, I have 1 $20 coupon for a new GCF customer. Comment if you’d like it and I’ll send you the code personally.