Meal Planning and Food Prep 101

Why is meal planning and preparing food ahead of time important?

The more prepared you are, the more likely you are to choose healthy, whole foods. When you know ahead of time what you will be preparing, you won't go for the convenience foods. You have the opportunity to purposely choose the best foods possible to fuel your body! It is all too easy to whip out a frozen pizza when plans fall through or you had a rough day. But if the plan is made and you already have some food prepped ahead of time it doesn't matter if you are exhausted beyond belief and just want to collapse on the couch. The work has already been done and you just need 15 minutes to get a healthy meal on the table for your family. A plan of attack is essential when getting serious about your health!

Does it actually save you time?

Yes it does!! When you invest your time to sit and make out a meal plan (even if it takes you a long time at first like it did for me) you will be saving yourself so much time down the road. Think about the amount of time that you spend figuring out what to eat and what to prepare for your family each day. Is it a lot? If it doesn't take you much time, is that because you choose easy and convenient food that probably isn't very healthy? Meal planning really is an investment. And besides, once you've done a few it gets much easier! 

Finding the time to prepare your food in advance may seem daunting if you have a busy life (like most people I know)! However, all it really takes is an hour or two. Have your meal plan made and decide ahead of time what you will be making. Get some help with the children or block out a little bit of time on your weekend and I promise, you won't regret it!

How do you meal prep?

I use three different methods of meal prep.

1) I cook certain meats in bulk to use in different dishes.

• Chicken- a whole chicken in the crock pot or in the oven, or a package of 6-7 chicken breasts in the crock pot that I shred with a hand mixer
• One night I like to use some to just eat plain with sweet potatoes or rice and another vegetable
• Soup- use the broth that you get from cooking your chicken in the crockpot to make delicious chicken noodle soup! Use whole wheat noodles or brown rice
• Tacos/fajitas- we love us some chicken tacos in this house! Use homemade taco seasoning (omit the salt if on the 21 Day Fix) on your chicken and either use a whole grain tortilla or make a taco salad with home made tortilla chips
• Spaghetti- I heat the chicken chunks in a little bit of olive oil and season with garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper. I let this brown a little bit and it tastes great served with spaghetti in the place of ground beef
• Stir fry- I heat up the chicken in the same way I do for the spaghetti. For vegetables I use bags of frozen stir fry vegetables for convenience. Just watch the salt! Pre-seasoned bags have a lot of salt as does soy sauce so I tend to just avoid this meal while on the 21 Day Fix but it is definitely one of my favorite quick go-to meals for busy days.
• Salad- I just throw some chicken into my pre-made salad and voila! Sometimes I add some Mrs. Dash seasoning for a little extra spice. :-)
• Ground turkey or ground beef
• Tacos- see chicken tacos above
• Spaghetti
• Chili
• Eggs- some people (like my dear husband) do not approve of reheated eggs but I think they are just fine!! 
• Scrambled- cook up a big batch and just get out a serving for each meal that you have planned
• Egg burritos- add veggies, meat, salsa, or cheese and wrap it in a healthy tortilla like these:

2) I also cut and prepare vegetables for salad and snacks. Having one big salad that I can take portions from throughout the week has been an incredible help! I find it cheaper to buy certain elements of the salad on their own and add them to it rather than buying those bags of ready made salad. Its a little more work but not bad! For you Roanoke Kroger shoppers, the large boxes of 50/50 Organic spring mix/spinach is a great price! We shred a bunch of carrots and either keep them in a separate bowl or combine it with the salad. I cut up and measure out celery, carrots, and cucumbers then put them in individual baggies to take out when I need a snack. Sometimes I also boil eggs to keep in the fridge for an easy protein snack.

3) Lastly, I prepare entire lunches/snacks in portioned containers. This doesn't happen as often as I would like because it is more time consuming than the other methods of food prep but when I do get around to it, it saves me SO MUCH TIME AND ENERGY in the long run! The joy of just grabbing a bowl from the fridge with a ready made meal and just popping it in the microwave far outweighs any of the annoyance of the time that goes into preparing it! And really, even though it is a touch more time consuming, it really doesn't take that much time! It's also one of those tasks that can easily be left for some time while tending to outbursts from children or spilled milk all over the couch or a baby who has thwarted your baby gate and is headed up the stairs. It is so worth it to make the time! I found these great bowls on Amazon for a decent price during the Cyber Monday sales.

Should I plan for part of my meals or all of them?

I personally used to only plan suppers because everything else seemed self-explanatory and easy. But when I started the 21 Day Fix I realized that I needed help to make sure that I was eating all of my containers. I very quickly came to the conclusion that planning out everything that I ate was the way to go!! It took the guesswork out and ensured that everything was healthy. After finishing my week-long plan I go grocery shopping to get the items I need. I stick to the list and this also helps me save money because I know exactly what I am getting.

I made my meal plan and I prepared some food, now what?

Now rest in knowing that you can focus on other important things throughout your week. Whether you are trying to lose weight or you are just busy with no time to prepare healthy meals, investing in your time for a few hours one day in order to relieve some stress later in the week is definitely worth it!!

21 Day Fix Tip: Use the same meal plan for all three weeks that you are on the fix! It makes shopping easier and you only have to plan once!!
I would love to update this post with real questions from my readers so if you have any, please feel free to ask and I'll update this. :-) Happy planning!!

Homemade Tortilla Chips

Corn Tortillas (1-2 per person)

Olive oil

Sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut tortillas into eight wedges each. I use kitchen scissors for this. It is so much easier! Place on a cookie sheet at least 1/2 inch apart. Brush with a light layer of olive oil (or spray with olive oil if you have a sprayer). Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for about 8 minutes. Cool, then enjoy with some salsa or in delicious taco salad! 

21 Day Fix Approved! 16 chips equals 1 yellow and 1 teaspoon. Use very little to no sea salt. 

Keepsake Ornaments

I have never been very good about remembering to take care of our keepsakes. I remember to keep them but they are in different places in storage and I never get around to doing anything with them. But when I saw one of my friends on Facebook post about making keepsake ornaments, I thought it looked like a great idea! At Michael's last night I snagged a great deal on large clear plastic ornaments and I couldn't wait to get started! 

The project was fun and so easy! I used little booties that my sister in-law knitted for Isaiah, cute little shoes and a headband given to us by a cousin for Gracie, and sweet shoes crocheted by a lovely woman who I have never even met in person for the babies. Sadly, only one of Isaiah's booties fit inside and I had a hard time positioning it to see it well, but the others turned out great! 

It's things like this that I hope will leave a legacy for my children so that one day when I am gone, they can keep those ornaments on their family tree and do the same for their children. 

How I Lost 25lbs in Two Months

I am writing this story to tell you about this amazing journey of transformation that I have been on for a little while now. I know that it is long, but if you bear with me, I hope that you won’t be disappointed! I am by no means an expert and I am definitely not what you would call fit. But in September I made a choice. That choice was to stop making excuses, to get up off the couch, and to be an active and healthy wife and mother for my family. 

I have always been a big girl. Food has often been my best friend and my worst enemy at the same time. My eating habits were tightly wound up in my emotions and I had very little self-control when it came to food. I have wanted to get healthy but I didn’t know how to do that. I would try different diets but it was never long before I would slip back into my old habits. I would try to be more active but as soon as my knees or back would start bothering me I would be back on the couch. Any sort of emotional trauma (big or small) would send me into a spiral of depression and failing on a new diet or workout routine would only make it worse. I made excuse after excuse but ultimately it came down to my heart. I was afraid of change and afraid to push myself. 

I had always thought that despite my weight, I was relatively healthy with hypothyroidism being my only “disease,” which I would have had no matter my size due to the high number of my relatives who were being diagnosed. However, that idea was squashed when I was pregnant with the twins and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and mild preeclampsia. While both are somewhat common in twin pregnancies, your chances of getting them are greatly increased by weight. I was able to control my gestational diabetes with diet and I went on bed rest for the last month of my pregnancy, delivering a little early due to my blood pressure. 

After the babies were born I had a scary couple of days with severe headaches and extreme swelling and had to go back to the hospital for tests. I had postpartum high blood pressure and my doctor put me on medicine to control it. When my blood pressure was still high at 6 weeks postpartum, I was diagnosed with hypertension. That was it for me. I knew that something had to change but with twin newborns, a one and a half year old and a five year old, I was very overwhelmed and a change in diet and activity level was out of the question. 

In the spring my dear friend, Tia, started posting on her Facebook about this amazing transformation from the 21 Day Fix by Beachbody. She had lost so much weight and she was feeling awesome! I was intrigued. I followed her stories and couldn’t wait to see her continue to blossom! Then one day I got a Facebook message from her inviting me to try the 21 Day Fix because it was a great program for busy moms with only 30 minutes a day AT HOME to work out and an easy to follow diet plan. I was very interested but ultimately decided that it wasn’t the right time. I was very overwhelmed with life, not sleeping, and I was worried that any change in routine would upset the delicate balance of all of our lives. I joined Tia’s challenge group to be inspired by her and others on a daily basis until I felt like I was ready. But the wheels were turning…

During that time a very dear friend passed away from a lifelong battle with an autoimmune disease. She faced more trials and tribulations than anyone I had ever known, yet she faced it all with a smile. Her life’s motto was “Choose Joy.” She inspired me so much that I named my little Grace Emily after her. No matter the circumstances of her life, she chose to look to the Lord for her strength and find joy in the trials that He placed before her, because she knew that He had a great plan for her life and that He would use her story to impact many people. I longed to find joy in all circumstances but I was still fighting to survive life with all these children! God placed many reminders in front of me of His blessings and to choose to be joyful. He reminded me time and time again to praise Him at all times. He was really working on my heart! 

In September Tia announced that she would be holding a couple’s challenge and I got so excited! The moment I read it I KNEW that was my chance! I knew that Will and I could be stronger as a team than I would be as an individual so we signed up. I was ready. We purchased the 21 Day Fix program and I dove in fully! I spent a couple of weeks before the challenge practicing meals and teaching myself a little bit about nutrition. I searched for recipes and I tried out new foods. 

Then it started and Will was amazing! He was faithful to do the workouts every single day, even when I was sick and couldn’t work out for a few days and even when I hurt my foot and missed another couple of days. He was right there, working out every single morning. His dedication inspired me so much! He was my hero through that entire 21 days! We often talked about how much food we were eating compared to what we thought we should be eating. The difference was that it was GOOD food. As in CLEAN, REAL food! There was a different 30 minute workout for each day of the week and they were very challenging but easy to follow. They got easier each week as our endurance grew. We had so much fun working out together and taking selfies after each workout session. 

We started to notice that the weight was shedding off! We felt so much better and our stamina was increasing. We were getting stronger, we had more energy, and we were shrinking. By the end of that first round Will had lost 11 lbs and 7 inches and I had lost 13 lbs and 11 inches! We turned it into a friendly competition--whoever lost the highest percentage of body weight would get to choose an item off of our Amazon Wish List and purchase it, no questions asked. Will beat me by a small fraction but he won fair and square and he earned it! That little competition helped to keep us engaged the entire time.

I am still working the 21 Day Fix and going strong, despite a couple major setbacks involving diastasis recti (an abdominal injury caused by the twin pregnancy) and arthritis in my knees. I have had a few slips this round but always get back on track! The changes in my body have been incredible! I have so much more energy to complete my daily tasks as a wife, mother, and keeper of the home, my digestion has improved, and my complexion has become smoother. I can see my biceps and calved beginning to get more toned. One of the more surprising differences is that I am staying fuller for longer. I always thought that “dieting” meant you were hungry all the time but that just is not the case when you fuel your body with exactly what it needs. This isn't a diet! It's all about changing your outlook on food. It's about giving your body the nutrients it NEEDS, not the junk it craves. My body definitely feels different when I eat processed, fatty, salty, or very sweet foods and I don’t like it! I feel sluggish and weak. With all of these things going on, my proudest accomplishment thus far is being told by my doctor that I no longer have to take my blood pressure medicine after losing  total of 25 lbs! 

The changes I have noticed in myself aren’t just physical but spiritual, mental, and emotional as well. I am finding myself thinking more on my relationship with the Lord and how I have been destroying His beautiful creation with junk and laziness. I am seeing myself in a new way, through His eyes as a child of God and worthy of His love through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. My mindset has shifted from having a “desire” to lose weight to a determination that I have never before seen in myself, and that has been the biggest driving force in keeping me going. My determination to be a wife and mother who is present, engaged, and enjoying life WITH my family instead of watching from the sidelines over-powers any excuses I try to make. I am happier and more confident in not just my looks, but what my body is capable of doing! My ability to use self-control has been getting better and I am finding it easier to say no to temptation. 

I have learned over the last 10 weeks that just as we should choose to be joyful in all circumstances, we must also choose to be determined. Determination is a choice that we must make every single day, every single hour, and every single minute! One key factor in helping me to embrace this journey I am on was learning that this is not just about getting healthy, but about a lifestyle! I have learned the importance of meal planning (my worst days food-wise are ones in which I do not think ahead) and food preparation. I have learned how to incorporate more movement into my daily routine, how to eat a well balanced diet that is high in vegetables and protein, that things I thought were good for me actually weren’t, that it is so important to never look back at your failures but to always look forward, to give yourself a little grace, and so much more that I can’t possibly fit into this story!

This is one of my favorite pictures because I felt strong and slim that night after my workout! I can see my own confidence shining through in this picture! 

And now I want to help other people find this determination in themselves. We are much more capable than we think we are! I want to tell you that you CAN push aside those fears and those excuses and get fit and healthy! I know that there are so many people out there like me who are afraid of change, who keep making excuses, who desire to change but just don’t know where to begin. I am still learning and I definitely don’t have all the answers but I do have some tools at my disposal and I would love to share those! I would love to learn with others who are determined to make this change in themselves as well. We can’t do it alone! One of the most important things that I have learned is that accountability is ESSENTIAL. There have been so many people who have inspired me along this path and if some of those people hadn’t taken the time to truly invest in me, I would not have made it this far. If you are interested, please contact me via email at igjohnson085@yahoo.com or through Facebook messaging. I would love to walk this journey with you! 

Determination is a Choice

Well hello again! My last post was in June. I have started many posts and not completed them in the months since but I always have the excuse that I don't have time to be blogging. While that may be true, I am here today to talk about excuses. Some are okay and reasonable, such as not having the time to write a blog entry because it is not very high on my priority list. Having sick children is a good excuse for not being able to fulfill my responsibilities in the church nursery (sorry, Cristy)! But a very important lesson that I am learning now is that there is absolutely no good excuse to ignore your health. I am not here to lecture anyone because I have been making excuses my entire life, but I do want to share with you this amazing transformation that has been taking place in me over the last couple of months.

I have used every excuse that you can think of to not exercise or eat well. "I'm waiting until I can strengthen my back, right now it wouldn't be able to handle a workout." "I am so busy and I don't have time." "My children need me to be happy right now, not grouchy and starving." "I'm going through a hard time and need my comfort food!" "It's too cold (or too hot) to be going outside." "I need to research first." "The holidays are coming, I'll start next month." "Now isn't a convenient time." There are many, many other excuses that I have made for my lack of fitness over the years and they all made sense to me at the time but now that I know more some of them sound flat out idiotic! How many of those have you used?

I had a major scare during my last pregnancy when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and post-pregnancy hypertension. The GD is gone but I am still on blood pressure meds and borderline diabetic. I knew that my health was in serious trouble if things didn't change. But I still made excuses! Now, I will admit that having newborn twins that I was exclusively pumping for was an okay excuse for not having the time or energy to get involved in a serious fitness plan, but there really was no excuse for how I was eating. I kept telling myself, "You've already lost all the baby weight, you're fine for now!" But I knew that I wasn't. 

So something was brewing inside me. I knew that I had to be healthy for my children. They needed a strong mama who could sit on the floor and play with them or run outside with them. They needed a mama who would be around for a long time. They needed a good example NOW before their habits were set in stone. I had been thinking a lot about how I could get down to a healthy weight without compromising who I was. I wanted to continue to enjoy life and not eat boring food and spend a big chunk of my day working out. I didn't know how to do any of it. I passed on an opportunity to do the 21 Day Fix in the spring because I wasn't ready but when my friend started a couple's challenge group for October, I jumped on it! Something inside of me clicked and I was suddenly ready. My husband joined the challenge with me and we ROCKED our first round of the 21 Day Fix. We discovered that healthy food didn't have to be boring and that working out just 30 minutes a day was all that it took. We both lost a pretty significant amount of weight and we discovered that we were so much stronger than we ever thought. We had a blast working out together! Who better to work out with than your best friend? 

The whole experience was summed up for me in one morning. I fell and twisted my ankle during a workout when I only had 3 days left to go. My first thought was, "Oh no! I can't work out any more!" AND I MEANT IT! I was devastated. My ankle hurt for a few days then was fine, but I realized that morning that my determination to get things right this time was stronger than all of the excuses I had ever made. I realized that determination isn't just an attitidude, but it is a choice that you have to make every day. 

Here are some things that I have learned over the last couple of months:

- WANTING to be healthy and being DETERMINED to be healthy are two different things.

- Eating well doesn't mean you have to eat less. You eat less of the junk and more of the GOOD stuff. 

- Food preparation makes eating clean so easy!

- Making a new change isn't about dieting, it's about a lifestyle change.

- The more GOOD stuff you eat, the better you feel. The better you feel, the less you want to fill your body with junk.

- Healthy food can be mighty tasty! Coconut oil makes every vegetable taste so much better.

- Exercising and eating well is fun.

- Saying "no" to temptation gives you strength! 

- You can do ALL things through Christ when you trust in Him (this is something that I knew before but had to be reminded of constantly)! 

So we are starting our second round of the 21 Day Fix today! We are really excited about all that is happening in our lives and we can't wait to share it with you! I'll be sure to keep you updated on our progress. We are FAR from our goals and we still have a lot to learn but we WILL get there. I'm not here to sell the 21 Day Fix or anything but I do believe in the program so if you are interested, contact me and I can get you in touch with someone who can help you! No more excuses. Just get it done! 

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

Why yes, I do have my hands full, thank you!

"You have your hands full!"

When I heard this phrase the first few times when I was expecting the twins, I didn't think much of it. Then after a while and especially after the babies were born it started to bother me and I don't know why. Perhaps it was because I heard it ALL. THE. TIME. I would get so irritated every time someone said it. But then it occurred to me that unless spoken in a tone of obvious disdain and malice, these comments were most likely innocent and from a good place. Even if they weren't, was it my place to get mad and huffy? No! It is my job to show Christ's love to everyone. I now hear something along these lines every time I go anywhere with all the children and all I say is, "Yes I do!" Because, yes, my hands ARE full! I say it with a smile to show love to others and that even though my hands are SO full and I am exhausted beyond belief, it is a good kind of full and a true blessing. I am still a work in progress and the comments do get to me on occasion but I try my best to portray my blessings as such!

I really like what this lady says in her post on the Humbled Homemaker.


"Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 5:2

Homemade Crockpot Yogurt

What you will need:

Crockpot

1/2 gallon (8 cups) whole milk (or 2%, but the thicker the better)

Measuring cups

1/2 cup starter yogurt, any flavor (must have live active cultures, check the container for these words- most store bought yogurts will work for this) Can also just be 1 whole individual serving size container

Whisk

Blanket

This yogurt is so easy! 

Put the milk into the crockpot and turn on low.

Set timer for 2.5 hours

Turn crockpot OFF

Set timer for 3 hours

Do this step quickly!

Remove 2 cups of milk from crockpot, whisk in 1/2 cup of starter yogurt then add to crockpot and whisk together. Put lid back on and wrap the entire crockpot up in the blanket. Leave like this for 8-12 hours. We usually just do it overnight. 

That's it!! 

In the morning stir your yogurt, put it in a new container, and stick it in the fridge! If you want Greek yogurt, strain through a fine sieve until it reaches the desired consistency. You can then use the liquid (called whey) collected in place of buttermilk in recipes.