EP 58: A Well-Balanced Approach to Movement, Meal Planning, & Prepping for the Holiday Season with Dr. Cindy Kimmi Tan | Part 1

Hello, Hello, welcome to another episode of the Think Happy Podcast. By the time this episode airs, I will be on maternity leave, which is a crazy thought to me. It kind of feels like this weird form of time travel where right now I'm still pregnant, but I won't be pregnant anymore when this episode goes live. I don't know it just it feels kind of weird. And anyway, I am so happy that you are here listening and hanging out with me on this platform, This community and every single person inside of it lights me up and I just feel so thankful that you're tuning in, whether it's the first episode you've listened to or the fiftieth. Just thank you, thank you, thank you.

Today we have the pleasure of chatting with a guest who has been on the show before. She is actually our first repeat guest, which I am so pumped up about. She I could not think of a better first repeat guest, you guys, really truly, she is filled with so much knowledge, She has a heart made of pure gold, and truthfully, I am really looking forward into diving into today's content with her. But first I am also so excited, and when I say so excited, I mean so so so excited to tell you about Think Happy's newest program, Becoming Your Best You. So Becoming your Best You is an eight week group program that has been designed to take you from feeling overwhelmed, stressed, running in circles, unproductive, with your time distracted, and just on empty, to being in control of your life and everything on your to do list, having a plan for each day, consistently having enough time for yourself, and ultimately being in the driver's seat of your own life. So let me ask you this, do you ever find yourself feeling like the old you had time for exercise, eating well healthy lifestyle routines, but you just can't find the time for that stuff anymore. Or do you ever find yourself feeling like you are going NonStop yet you can never seem to get through your to do list because you run out of time. Or maybe you find yourself struggling to stick with new habits and routines that deep down you know will make your life better, easier, and healthier. Well, let me tell you something. You were made for more than having intentions of starting that new habit off on the right foot but falling short time and time again. You were made for more than using your valuable time unproductively and therefore feeling like you can never catch up. You were made for more than feeling constantly overwhelmed and drained. And this, this, this is exactly why I have created the Becoming Your Best You group program. It is time to be proactive and to put an end to this exhausting, unserving cycle that you're in. So inside of becoming your Best You, you will learn how to identify time you waste or time you use unproductively, and then how to reallocate that time back to yourself. You'll learn time management practices that you can start incorporating into your life immediately so that you can start optimizing your time right away. You'll learn how to manage and prioritize your tasks so you're able to efficiently get them done. And you'll learn how to identify tasks that can be delegated and actually how to start delegating them. And finally, you will learn how to build a routine, how to build habits that are sustainable and foster being your best you. Included in this group program are eight weekly self paced educational videos teaching you about each week's theme. You'll also have weekly live group coaching calls with me to support your learning and growth, to add additional insight to the weekly videos and to answer all of your questions. You will have daily communication with me and the other group members to provide support and ongoing guidance through the program. Plus, you'll also get some awesome bonus materials. If you've been looking for a sign, this is it. I'm gonna say that again. If you've been looking for a sign, this is it. Early bird pricing is officially open and I can hear your spot calling your name. Apply out at thinkhappyco.com/becomingyou to secure your spot at the discounted early bird price and receive access to a bonus intro module so you can hit the ground running. For questions, DM me on Instagram and I will personally get back to you and again to apply go to thinkhappyco.com/becomingyou.

Okay, guys, now to today's guest. It truly is my pleasure to introduce you to Dr Cindy Kimmy Tan. Kimmy and I have been connected and most importantly have been friends for close to a year now. She is the owner and founder of her nutrition and wellness business called Vertical Movement Wellness, and let me tell you, her resume is quite impressive. Not only is she a physical therapist, she's also an adjunct professed her at a Zoza Pacific University's Doctor of Physical Therapy program, and in addition to all of that, she's also a certified nutrition coach. Wow, guys, Kimmy has a passion to help women with food and body image issues little life where they can enjoy food and life, which is exactly what she's here to talk to us about now. So welcome to the show, Kimmy, how are you? Thanks so much, Caitlin, I didn't realize I'm your first repeat, I know, I know, I could not have hand selected a better first repeat. Oh, I'm so honored. So okay, speaking of being the first repeat, So, last time you're on the show was back in January, which, holy moly, it really feels like it wasn't that long ago. It really did.

So what have you been up to since the last time you were with us? Yeah, I mean I've been up to a lot of stuff. I think one of the or two of the biggest things I can think of, My first one is in my nutrition program. I started some group programs from one of my own group programs, and listening to you in your upcoming becoming the best youth group program that is awesome because my favorite part has been hanging out with the community and watching them hang out with each other. So I'm excited for you and your listeners because, yeah, your program is going to be amazing. Oh thank you for saying that. I really I'm so excited. I really cannot wait. I think kind of to your point, community is probably one of the biggest reasons why we both do what we do, you know, Like, it's is so much about the people who we get to work with and serve and it just makes me so excited. Yes, I mean that's that's how you and me became friends. We were in Yes, we grouped together for business and look at us, look at us, look at us, look at us. A year in I've been doing that. And also I've been gratinating, which has been so fun, and I actually have I wish everyone can look out my window right now, but I guess that's not how podcasts work. I have two little baby watermelons growing. Oh, you don't have to send me a picture. I've had so much fun watching your progress with the gardening on Instagram, Like, oh, that's so much fun. And so you actually eat the produce that you grow in your garden, right I do? Yeah, I eat it. And so far the plants that have survived, I think I'm at a fifty fifty eight right now. But the plants that do survive, they actually produced amazing fruit in vegetables. And I can tell the difference when like I get my fruit and vegetables from the Superman. It's there's a difference and it makes me question, oh, yeah, is that our markets? So, my dad has taken a stab at gardening with us. I don't know the proper way to say this, gardening produce are growing produce? I guess yea, and um, we might so. So my family and I have had similar conversations about how you can literally taste the difference. It is mind boggling. A cucumber that has been bought at the grocery store versus a cucumber that has come from a homegrown garden almost to me doesn't even taste like the same vegetable. Oh my, cucumbered. So I'll take your word for it. Yes, yes, take my word for it. And I do know that with cucumbers the time, and it probably is with any fruit or vegetable, the timing of when you pick it is super important because if you wait too long, it gets really bitter, like to the like, it does not taste good. You would not want to eat it, even if you like tried to make it work like inside of a salad or something. It's just so bitter that you just don't want to eat it. Oh my, I didn't know that. The harvest.

Last time You're on the show, we talked all about intuitive eating and that episode was such a hit. Since then, I have had multiple women in the Think Happy community reach out and ask for other content that I feel like is right up your wheelhouse. Also, so specifically, I have had requests for content surrounding combining movement with food and creating well balanced plates and just well balanced meal plans in general. And then also selfishly speaking, I have already started thinking about, you know, preparing for the holiday season, specifically surrounding just not always being inside of an environment that condones my regularly, regularly scheduled healthy routines. And so I'm hoping that we can tackle all of that today, which I know is so much to cover, but we have to make the most out of our time together, please everything out of it as much as we can. Yes, yes, okay, so let's just let's get straight to it now. I think it's funny that I said let's get straight to it, even though we've been like chit chatting. That clearly is not getting straight to it. But you know what I mean. You mean, that shows our friendship exactly exactly. It makes me so happy. I have such a big smile on my face right now. Okay, so getting this conversation started, you know, like specifically surrounding some of the topics that the Think Happy crew has been wanting to hear on.

So, can you tell us just the benefits of combining a healthy movement routine along with a healthy food or eating routine. Yeah, And that is a beautiful question because a lot of people aren't even in the place of their health journey to ask that question. So I yeah, they think either one or the another is that more important? And there is just so much research. There's so much research that supports combining exercise with a healthy food routine and the impact of combining them. It's just been proven over and over again. It's better. It's just way better. So the thing is they provide different things. So movement, it's important because it helps loosen your joints and keep it mobile, and it also helps build lean muscle mass, which you totally need if you want that that metabolism that's booming, right. And then it helps with your digestive system. So if you find that you get constipated or you're having some stomach or any sort of intestine issues, it's so important to get moving because that movement actually helps get that food going through your body. Yeah yeah, and and the healthy food part, which is important is you need the proper vitamins and minerals and all the nutrients. So you need the carbs, you need, the proteins, you need, the healthy fat, you need the vegetables, you need all of that so that your body will function properly. So having both is a power duo, right right.

What does this look like on a day to day basis just in your average life? Yeah. So for me, I get bored easily, So bored easily, and I love to have fun. So that is a, I guess, a good thing about me, but also a bad thing about me because I love to have fun and if it's not fun, I didn't enjoy it. So what works for me is I mix it up. I mix it up, and I'm pretty flexible with what I do. I try not to have a rigid mindset, so I'm a recovering perfectionist. I've learned to embrace going with the flow in structured boundaries, right, Because if there's no sort of boundaries, then you tend to just not even do anything, right, So for me, I try to lift two to three times a week, and lifting like weights, it looks different. Sometimes if my husband and I are having a hard and long day at work and we just want to watch our TV show, we will lift weights while watching our show. I love that. Yeah, And it's fun and I think for for me and for him because I would say we're a bit more advanced in knowing what to do to exercise, and we're pretty aware of our body mechanics, so form isn't really um an issue we have to think about. So since we have that, it's okay for us to watch TV because I'm pretty sure we wouldn't injure ourselves and right, Yeah, we just kind of have the right foundation, Yes, yes, we have. We have the foundation of knowing basic things fitness. So sometimes we do that and then sometimes we feel a little bit more sporadic and we'll do partner workouts and it would just literally beat us going back and forth of coming up with an exercise and we'll do it. And so we'll just take turns, like okay, let's do a plank and then we'll time that for a minute. All right, We'll do that for a minute. And we just kind of have fun with it. We also have a dice. It's like an exercise dice. It's yeah, it's like meat out of foam. I found yeah in the what is it called? This is the dollar section at Target. Even though things aren't a dollar. I know, I know the right when you walk into Yes, that hard yeah right now, that that place I'm avoiding, like the play because it's so many cute pumpkin things. But so that's where we got the exercise dice. So sometimes we just throw that around. And then our foundation is that we walk every day. We have two pups, so it makes it easy we have we have to walk every day. But sometimes if we're just having a day where we went out for dinner and we didn't we do not feel like walking and we're a bit tired, we won't and that would be like one day of the week. So as you can see, I'm a little bit more flexible. And then on Saturdays we have beach volleyball, so we do that your size, So as you can see, for us, what really helps is we mix up our our movement routine and our eating routine is pretty similar. We make sure to get all of the foundations and we'll probably chit chat about that more in our talk today, and we just sure to get all the foundations in a flexible context. I love that, and it's it's something that we talk about a lot inside of the think happy community. Is, you know, to help create these sustainable routines, it has to be something that you're not going to get so burnt out of. And my perfect example is running. I go through my relationship with running is the definition of a love hate relationship. And if I were to build a movement routine that only consisted of running, I would immediately be setting myself up for failure because I know that in a couple of months, I'm going to get so burnt out. And So what I love about what you've just outlined to us is, you know, just from the get go, adding in you out the flexibility, adding in different forms of movements, so like, not only is that literally benefiting benefiting your body by working different muscle groups and you know, creating length while also creating strength. it's also helping the mental side of all of this and help you prevent bird out. Yeah.

I would say that is the key to having a successful help journey is doing things that will not run you out. And I hear you with the running, because maybe four years ago I started running and doing races, and at that time I was so gung ho about it. For four years I did like marathons and half marathons. But now, as you can tell from what I mentioned my routine, we do no running right now because I do not want to m hm and do other things that I enjoy exactly. And it's just why set yourself up for that failure? You know? If there's there are so many options out there of different forms of you know, intentional movement and exercise and different classes you can try, and there's just so many options that why not utilize them, you know, and like take advantage of that, use it to your benefit a thousand percent. And I know you teach a trampoline exercise class. Oh yes, it's so fun, and like, I bet what maybe in other other countries they might not have that. So for people here in the United States, we're kind of lucky. We have a variety of cool exercise routines. And yeah, right, So do you have any tips or you know, suggestions specifically on how to balance movement and food. Yeah, I do so some tips, and this is my model. It's pretty much build from where you are at. And a lot of times people they do not build from where they're at, and they have this unrealistic idea that Okay, I'm gonna start this health journey. I'm going to exercise five days a week for an hour, and I'm gonna meal prep every meal, and I'm going to do this for three months. I'm gonna lose thirty pounds. And yeah, if you stick to that routine, I'm sure you will lose the thirty pounds. But the thing is, it's hard to stick to that because you came up with a goal that's so unrealistic and so far from what you're used to. My number one tip is start small, start from where you are at, and just add a little bit more to that, Just a little bit more to that. An example would be say, and a lot of my clients, they are all very different. They all come in with a different set of experiences, and they come in at a different level of nutrition and fitness. So an example, I have some clients who are not exercising at all, and they haven't for a really long time. So we'll just start off walking and of them literally walk just five minutes a day just so that they can get used to the rhythm of getting out of the door. Yeah, that just get used to that habit. Yea used to that habit, and you know them stepping out and going for that five minute walk. I'm going to tell you most of the times they don't just walk five minutes. They walk a lot more. And might say a lot more. They double it, so minutes, fifteen minutes, and then they start craving it. So I would say, start where you're at and just add a little bit more. I would think. Another thing is that you have to think realistically. So take into account your age, taken into account, how much time you have taken too account, your past injuries, and take into account what you enjoy, what you enjoy doing for movement, and what you enjoy eating. Because you need to make a goal that actually can work in your life. Yeah, if you're just not realistic. Let's say you're a mom of three and you have a full time job and your husband works. You're not gonna meal prep every day and you're not going to be able to do a formal exercise routine thirty minutes a day. You're just not and you need to admit that and realize that so you can come up with strategies that will work. And work is maybe you're parking a little bit further away when you go to the grocery store, in walking a bit, or maybe it's when you're doing laundry. You can be less sufficient and put up one piece of clothes one at a time, so then you're moving more yeah, movements and getting creative. Yeah, yep, getting creative, or even doing like squats and a variety of exercises throughout your day rather than doing one set routine. So you just need to be realistic and that's when you can actually come up with goals and and a routine that works for you. Oh, I really like that. And something that reminds me of is I can't remember if this was a conversation that I was having on my podcast or someone else's podcast. Forgive my memory, you guys, but I was talking with someone about how you know, your family doesn't always need you to serve them in a plus meal. You can serve them a b minus meal or even a sea meal that still contains all of the nutrients that they need and fills their bellies. You know, like it doesn't have to look perfect, It doesn't have to take you forty five minutes. You don't have to create a lot of dishes, it doesn't have to look pretty. But it just like it goes back to and everything that you were just saying really just makes me think of, you know, setting ourselves up for success. And if you are that mom of three who works full time whose husband also works, then you know it is getting creative and there's nothing wrong with that. You know, finding four times a day that you have five minutes to get in some sort of intentional movement is better than not being able to find the twenty minutes of maybe a formal workout that you would do you know, from like YouTube or on a program that you're doing something like that. Um. Yeah, yeah, this is why I love talking to you. You have such good advice.

This next question I have in mind, Um, the person who either more easily or naturally gravitates toward one or the other. So what do you suggest if we find ourselves in a situation where it's naturally easier for us to either stick with a movement routine or to stick with a healthy eating routine. Yes, so I have two thoughts of this. My first thought, if you can't equally participate in in your meal prep and concentrate more on food or movement, but you just have to choose one or another. Choose food, Okay, food is probably the best place to start, because I strongly believe the nutrition you put in your bodies of your health journey and the food is what actually gives us the nutrients and the energy to move properly. And you got to choose one. I would choose focusing on fueling yourself with some good food and learning to have some moderation with your food. That's the better way if one. And let's say you don't have a choice, So this is my second thought. If you don't have a choice and you have to focus only on exercise, I would say that's completely fine. And if you have to focus only on exercise, what I recommend is sticking to what is easier. So what I what I mean by that is sticking to an exercise that is easiest and that you're confident that you will get it done. So you're kind of setting yourself up for success. Yeah, yeah, kind of like you know with your kid when I mean you're your kids older now right too? Almost? Yeah? Almost two? So Ellie, Ellie's her name is that, right? Yeah? You have such a good memory. Oh I don't. I don't know why I remember that, but I did. So like when Ellie started to do more things and you play games with her, you kind of would set her up for success so she could feel that one mm hmm yeah sure, even though maybe she really didn't like catch the ball completely and you, but she caught the ball. So it's the same way with our health journey. And when we choose a movement, you want to set yourself up for success so that you can feel that rhythm and that wind. And I call this the snowball effect. It reminds me of Dave Ramsey. He came up with all effect. His thought is, you pay off the smallest loan first and then you snowball into paying off the bigger loan. What would be like, no, pay pay the loan that has the most interest first, not the loan that has the least interest. But his thought is starting off at something that's easier and something more doable, and then you you'll snowball into something bigger, and those bigger things will seem easier. So it's the same idea. If like you were to choose movement, choose something that isn't an easy exercise, and that's the same thing with food. If you choose food, food, choose something that's a bit easier that you can do, like prepping only one meal instead creating or prepping just one portion of the meal, like the vegetables instead of all of the portions. And if you have a choice of movement or food, choose whatever is easier to you. Choose the one that you've already mastered. Is master it even more and become a queen or king of that. And once you've mastered that, then go on to the next thing. And this is the next thing and the next thing until you can start incorporating all the different avenues. But I would say, if you have to choose one, choose the one that's a bit easier, okay. And what I really like about that can me is just the mental boost that that's going to give you, because that's kind of like the low hanging fruit when it comes to you know, what we can accomplish. It's the thing that is easier. And if you go back to day Ramsey and his snowball effect, think of how you know, good you feel when you do pay one item of debt even if the interest rate was lower. Um, that's a huge mental boost that can you know, catapult you into that snowball effect, you know, or catapult you into even faster you're able to pay off that second thing, or even faster you're able to um, add some more movements, or add some more meal prep or whatever it might be. Those mind boost I like mind boost these like that. I like that it helps you build the habit. Yeah yeah.

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So okay. In the same vein um. One of the other topics that the think happy community was wanting to hear about was or is well balanced plates. And I think that, you know, it's along with well balanced place plates, we also have to you know, take a state step back and also talk about just well balanced meal planning in general. And so I wanted to first start this part or this question off with I feel like, quote unquote, a well balanced plate is a term that we're starting to hear and see, you know, just like as we're scrolling um and what exactly does that even mean, you know, aside from a pretty graphic on Pinterest or Instagram? Right. You know, this is so interesting to me because I feel like all of us grew up in our schools and elementary school we learn about the pyramid Yea our generation, we grew up the food pyramid. And we learned about all the foods that we should eat, but we have no idea how to put that on our plate. Yeah, and I had even forgotten about that food pyramid, but I can picture it perfectly in my head right now. Yeah, it's like, I guess it's outdated now because now do the plate, I don't know what they call it, balance plate, I don't know, But so why they change it to that because it's more realistic and helpful, and the idea is to make sure that you're getting all of the food groups, like all of the macro nutrients that's important for your body to function. So those would be vegetables, and it would be a protein, a healthy car So I emphasize healthy and healthy facts. So I would say having all four of those in every meal would be phenomen minal and that would be a very well balanced plate. Okay, can you say those just for extra emphasis once again? Those four components of the well balanced plate? Yes, of course. So you would want to make sure you have vegetables, and you want to make sure that you have protein, a healthy carb, and a healthy fat. And just to to answer this because I know this would be a question because it's a question that comes up with my clients. Fruit is considered a carb, so the fruit under that category. Okay, so fruit would be a healthy carb. What would be other examples of healthy carbs? Yeah, healthy carbs would be things that are whole grain. So whole grain would be wonderful. So a lot of people they try to stay away from rice or any sort of bread, but please eat your rice. It's super important. Brown rice is great because is a little bit more fiber. There's also like wild I think they call it like wild rice. That doesn't sound right. Oh, I think you're right. Is it okay? Yeah? I think so. It sounded so weird, but wild rice. And then also with like pastas, there is all kinds of beautiful pastas you can have, and there's a whole wheat pastas and even the regular pasta that's not wheat, it's wonderful. So trying to think more of healthy carbs. So when I when I talk about unhealthy carbs, I think that might help put into context what is a healthy carb. Carb would be something like a piece of cake, so it's with sugars and fat um or maybe a white piece of bread. I feel like there's a lot of refined white pieces of bread that a completely great for you, but they're not bad for you, but there are choices. And then with healthy fats, what comes to my mind are things like avocados, um nut butters. What else are those like some of the main ones? What else falls and under that category? Yeah, I mean you're spot on, So all different kinds of nuts. Those are a great source of healthy fats. Avocado is a wonderful one. Hard cheeses are aged. Hard cheeses are actually considered, um, a great source of healthy fat olives and for those of you all out there that is also I am one of them. Yeah, yes, oh perfect. And now thinking of like the oils, because that's the easiest way to get healthy fat in your mules is trying all the different oils. So there's now avocado oil, there's all, um whether the sunflower oil are extra virgin olive oil, and I know there's a bunch of coconut oil. There's so many. Yeah, sesamese oil, yes, yes, and sesame oil would be considered maybe I teach this whole method of red, yellow, green, So there's green foods you eat more often, yellow not as often, and red very limited. So I would say the sesame oil would mostly be in the yellow. So okay, okay, but it's still it's still an option and it's a bad food. But um, you definitely want to try to eat more of the the healthy fats in the green and so do you. I love asking people this question, and I've probably asked you this on our other episode. But do you have any like go to meals that would constitute like being a well balanced plate? Yes, yes I do. And this is called or the hack that I have. It's called the hand portion guy. It really helps you figure out actually how much to eat each of those four foods because you hear, Okay, I need a veggie, protein, carb, and fat, but how much and yours? I have no idea. So the hand portion guide is great. And I wish you all could see my hand. So you just have to imagine how you use your own hand. Um, but we can imagine. Put your put your imagination hat on. Here we go, So go ahead and grab your hand. And I want everyone to make a fist. Okay, I'm doing that right now. Okay, So a fist is the amount of vegetables you want in each of your meals. Okay, yeah, so a fist and and the plate method that's common right now, they say half of your plates be vegetables. That's fine too, but I think actually more realistic to have half or to have the fist of vegetables, because I find that half the plate is actually a lot of vegetables, and I think it's a little too much. So a fist of vegetables. Okay, Now go ahead and open your palm, so you're like trying to high five someone. And the size of your palm, so without the fingers, thickness of your palm is how much protein? Okay? Yeah, so that's how much protein. And if you cannot use your hand for some reason and it's hard to imagine, or let's say you're out at the market buying ground beef or ground in it, You're like, I have no idea. What is a palm? Three ounces? Three to four ounces is considered around A palm helps you with the ground meat, um, when you're shopping. So a palm of protein. And then we're gonna now go ahead and move your hand into a cutting shape, like as if you're trying to hold a cup of water. Okay, and what fits in your hand right now that you want to have in each meal? So that's a lot less Yeah, what we're given in restaurants and what we think is a healthy portion of carbs. And I love this method because it allows people to have the freedom to eat the delicious and yummy carbs that they that they love and they do not have to have this restrictive no carb diet. Yes, and I think we lost connection just for a second, So I want to tell the listeners. So before we lost me, just for half of a second, we had our hands in the C shape like we're cupping a glass of water, and she's saying that what fits inside of that c are the healthy carbs that that can go on our plate. Yes, a thousand. Well, I didn't even realize you lost connection. Okay, I'm back. She's back. Don't worry everyone, We got it under control over here. So um, just repeating what I said, just in case. A cup of carves, So a handful of carves. What fits in that hand is how much you can eat the amount of carbs in the meal.

And then lastly, go ahead and do a thumbs up. Okay, I grew up watching Full House and yes, dude, so then go ahead and do a thumbs up. And then the amount from the base of your thumb okay to the very top. That's how much you want to eat of a healthy fan Okay, because that's not really a lot. No, it's not all right, And that's where a lot of times people overdo it with the nuts and the nut butters and with the oil when they're cooking, they do a lot more than that. And also when you have like a wine and cheese night, I think most of us definitely eat way more than that the amount of cheese cheese. Oh yeah, I know that I probably eat like ten thumbs of cheese. That's that's when it's a good wine and cheese night, all right, exactly, that's a successful one and choose night. I mean, I I love that you said that, because, hey, there are going to be event nights like that when we do have ten thumbs amount of cheese. That's okay. Let's have a well mindset and it's all about having this be the like doing the hand portion on most of your days, right right. And I think that flexible mindset it's really helpful to free you from feeling like you failed into free you from not having these unrealistic expectations that you can't meet. Yes, And I think that it also helps us from totally falling off, because you know, if we have this mindset and we don't accomplish it, I think that our go to is just oh well, I can't do it anyway, so why even keep trying? this frees us from that. Also, oh completely completely, So okay, so let's get into well balanced meal plans. So I did want to to tell the thing happy community. So a lot of times, you guys, we do talk about, excuse me, the difference between meal planning and meal prepping. Um. And a reason that that we talked about this is I have found that the separation of these two is really helpful because I think that when we pair the two together without any separation, it can feel like a really large undertaking, especially for someone who's just starting at square one. So I just wanted to remind you guys of that before Kimmy starts talking to us about well balanced meal plans. So like you might hear her say things like a meal plan versus a meal or versuing prepping for a meal, and just keep the keep the difference in your head, you know. So I just wanted to start that off. So with that being said, Kimmy, what, okay, So we've talked about this well balanced plate, how do we take that knowledge when we're creating a whole Maybe like weekly meal plan for ourselves. Yes, So how to have a well balanced meal planning? Yes, yes, yes, And I love that you make that difference, because if you don't do that meal prepping and meal planning, it can become very overwhelmed. Me. Yes, And I have to say, even with my clients, the meal planning and prepping is probably the hardest thing for a lot of them to graph. So that's great. I love how you separated meal planning and meal and prepping because it just makes it that much easier to process and the chew on and incorporate in your life. So yes, yes, yes, So for or, I guess what works for me for having a well balanced meal planning is that, like I said earlier, I like to have fun and I do not like to be contained under rigid structure. I don't do well that way. Maybe it's a problem. Maybe it's I don't like to be told what to do, so I don't like to be too old and confined in a meal plant. So what works for me is I just like to break up my meals and prep one of the one of the sides and make that easy, and then I like to prep one of the meals so that makes sense how I always prep my vegetables. And that's, um probably the hardest thing in my family and the most important thing to us, because when we are eating our portion of vegetables in every meal, we do a really good job maintaining our weight, We do a really good job listening to our hunger cues and um eating intuitively. So vegetables is our key thing to focus on. And what I do is I just get a whole bunch of frozen veggies and when I'm ready to cook it during dinner time, I'll just throw that in the air fire. And that's just one less thing for me to think about with my my male planning. So me getting the frozen veggies, that's my meal plan. And I do like to write down my meals on like you know, there's so many cute meal plan little pamphlets on Amazon right now. They're so cute. And what I do is I just put a general idea in there, so I think, like, Okay, tonight, we're going to have salmon with asparagus with brown rice, and just kind of more general. I don't like to think too fancy. Like you said, it doesn't need to be a plus just to see plus is fine, and then on Tuesday I'll put like, um, chicken lettuce wrap and I'll leave it like that. But in my head I already know, okay, chicken lettuce wrap means I'm also going to have some solba noodles for the carbs, and chicken is gonna be the protein. And in the chicken lettuce wrap there's chopped of vegetables. So I like to think more generally for my self, but for other people, what I find that works is that they plan, you know, all of the meals for one meal, so they meal prep everything for lunch, everything for lunch on a Saturday or Sunday, and then for their dinner they're a little bit more open and they just have they plan to have some sort of protein arb and some sort of of veggies, and sometimes that works better for people. So I don't think there's one answer to this. I think the key to it, and what I would say is do what works for you. Be okay with messing up and making mistakes in the process of figuring out what works for you. Be flexible and have grace on yourself as you're figuring it out, but as you find things that work. Tag that onto your routine. I really like that. I really really like that. It's it's kind of like one of those things where m hm.

At this point, you know, like we don't have to ever feel like we're starting at square one because we have what we have learned previously. So with what you're saying, you know, as long as when you are quote unquote messing up, as long as you're learning something from that that you're going to take into the next week. Even if you're just learning something to avoid doing again. Uh, that's that's still learning completely completely. Failures isn't a bad thing. It's a lesson to learn from. Yeah. Yeah, So are there any you know, pantry or refrigerator staples that you recommend just always having on hand vegetables. Yes, it's so easy. You just grab every vegetable in the frozen section. It doesn't go back on so small family of two, like my family is of too our vegetables when we get them fresh. If we get all of them fresh, it'll go bad by the end of the week, because it's right, but I would say frozen vegetables for the wind. I would also say having what I call emergency meals, and that is if you have a free day on the weekend or a free day sometime during the month, and you dedicate this day to prepping emergency meals, So something simple like chicken, rice and broccoli, or spaghetti with ground turkey with um, I don't I don't know, green beans on the side. That sounds good, right, It's close to lunch time here, yeah, so um, doing those emergency meals is really helpful. And you just have maybe like five or six of them, may be ten, and you freeze it. So whenever there is let's say emergency like your daughter she gets sick, or you have, um, you sprained your ankle that day, or work, how’d you stay later? Maybe you're an accountant and it's the tax season. You have the emergency meals. You can just come home and pop it out. In that way, you don't go to something else like fast food or even um. Yeah, I would say frozen veggies and emergency meals are might go to staples. Those are really good staples. Those are really good staples. Um. I don't ever think of just keeping frozen veggies on hand, which you know, as I say that out loud, sounds so silly to me because it is really so simple. Um So, that's definitely something that I'm taking away from this episode and will be starting to incorporate into the the Cuevas families just ongoing routines. Yes, yes, that's are apt for part one.

I'll be back next week with the second half of this conversation. See you then, From the bottom of my heart, thank you for joining me for this week's episode of the Think Happy Podcast. If you just can't get enough, find me on Instagram at think Happy Underscore Co. That's CO, and online at thinkhappyco.com. See you next week.