August 21, 2025 • 29 mins
Send Naihomy encouraging words!💕
Discover why Pinterest-perfect meal prepping might be the biggest obstacle in your wellness journey, creating cycles of guilt and failure rather than sustainable healthy habits.
• Rigid meal prep plans often lead to boredom, waste, and eventually abandoning the entire process by mid-week
• Cultural disconnect occurs when traditional foods are excluded from "healthy" meal prep examples
• The time investment required for perfect meal prepping is unrealistic for most busy people
• Learning multiple new skills at once (cooking techniques, unfamiliar foods, meal planning) creates overwhelm
• Sustainable meal planning requires flexibility, honoring your cultural foods, and understanding your actual capacity
• Taking leftovers from family gatherings can be a legitimate part of your meal prep strategy
• Creating personalized systems based on your lifestyle is more effective than following influencer-style meal prep
If you want support with one-on-one food and hormone health coaching, book a consultation call with the link in the show notes or send me a DM on Instagram.
Thank you so much for listening!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello friends, welcome back to the podcast.
Today we're going to talk aboutall those beautiful little pins
that you have on Pinterestabout meal planning, all those
safe posts that you have onInstagram and everywhere else
probably TikTok, right.
You have all these safe postson how to meal prep and it's
(00:24):
probably the number one thingholding you back on your health
and wellness journey and it's,believe it or not, setting you
up for failure and guilt insteadof success, friends instead of
success, because sometimesthey're just really complicated.
(00:45):
It's not meant for you.
You're not a content creatorand you feel like in order to
stick to a meal plan or to eatright, not get takeout, you have
to have your meal prep done,like these influencers are
getting it done on the internet.
And let me tell you somethingthat leads to burnout, it leads
(01:09):
to frustration and then again,like the failure and the guilt,
like, oh my gosh, I cannot keepup with these people and how are
they doing this?
And here we go with theimmigrant mentality, right Of
like now we're wasting food.
Now we're wasting food becauseyou've probably tried to meal
prep like this before.
Maybe you bought all thegroceries and they're just
(01:32):
sitting in your fridge and comeWednesday you're not cooking
anything and you're orderingtakeout.
You're ordering from Uber, eats, doordash, whatever it is
regular old delivery service oryou're picking up and meal
prepping goes out the window andall your pins go out the window
(01:53):
, but it creates this circularsense of failure, because now
you probably did these groceriesas well and everything is just
sitting in your fridge going badbecause now you have so much
fresh products in your fridge aswell.
So we're going to get into whythis actually doesn't work for
(02:13):
you.
And are there different ways tomeal plan so that it's not so
rigid, it's more flexible?
You don't feel like a failureand, at the same time, the only
example of meal prepping thatyou have is not this perfect
little you know 30 second reelof how to make the perfect meal
(02:38):
prep.
Okay, so let's get into some ofthe reasons why this is not
working for you and it's becauseyou're not capable.
Okay, let's get into some ofthe reasons why this is not
working for you and it's becauseyou're not capable.
Okay, let's just get this outof the way from the beginning.
It's not because you can't doit and it's not because you're
not capable.
It might be other reasons.
Right, you might be so bored.
(02:59):
Okay, even if you get to makethese meals, maybe you have 30.
I let me tell you something.
The first time I saw like 30containers being filled up with
the same foods over and overagain, and half of them frozen
and half of them in the fridge,I was like no, thank you, I
(03:20):
don't want to do this and maybeI'll never meal prep if this is
what it's going to look likeBecause, as a true foodie
probably you are too.
If you're here you actuallylike variety in your meals.
You like to switch things up.
You don't want to eat the samething over and over again.
You probably don't likeleftovers because that's
(03:43):
essentially what it's going tobe Because you're going to be
reheating up this food on dayfour and five, like you can
maybe take two days of thesethings, or like freezing them,
like having space to freeze allthese meals, like it's just a
lot.
It's just a lot.
And let's bring in the factthat probably what you're meal
prepping is not even food thatyou like.
All right, a lot of these peoplemeal prepping are prepping
(04:06):
foods that are not familiar toyou.
It's probably the quinoas andthe kales, and I don't even know
what else to bring in y'all inhere.
But those are the first thingsthat come to mind.
And then you're like, butwhere's the arroz and where's
the frijoles?
And I don't eat rice like that,and usually my rice comes with
beans.
It's not just plain, and I likeseasoning in my food.
(04:30):
So now there's this wholecultural disconnect of the foods
you're preparing and there'salso this whole concept of
you're preparing so much andthen you're going to have to eat
all of this on a consistentbasis.
If you could see my face rightnow, maybe it's coming through
(04:52):
in my voice, but it's likealmost a disgust.
Look from inside out.
It's like ugh.
How much of this can you take?
And let's not mention how muchtime it takes to create so much
freaking food.
All right, it takes so muchtime to prepare, and now half
(05:16):
your Sunday is spent in thekitchen trying to make these
beautiful meals that you pinnedand these new recipes using new
techniques.
And you're in the pits of hellbecause you're like why in the
world did I start this?
Now you're midway done.
You don't want to stop.
You spend all this time notjust doing the groceries,
preparing cleaning up food,cooking the food, waiting until
(05:39):
it cools down to put it in nicecontainers, and then by
Wednesday you're not even eatingthat.
Okay, you're not even eating it, and this is why trying to meal
prep in this way just leads youto go and grab takeout and
(06:01):
there's nothing wrong withtakeout, actually but I know
that what's happening is thatyou feel like a failure for
ordering takeout by midweek,when you're sick and tired of
this food that you've prepared.
It's not tasting good anymoreand you're over it and you spent
so much time making it.
Now there's also the concept ofyou're going to prep the food so
(06:26):
you can cook it during the week.
Okay, that also becomes kind oftaxing because you're not even
taking into considerationeverything else you have going
on that week.
And cooking is a job.
If not, there wouldn't be tonsand tons and tons and tons of
(06:46):
restaurants and takeout placesand fast food places.
Every human needs to eat and toprepare food takes time, takes
technique, takes dedication andsometimes, even if we love
cooking and making these things,we might not have the energy to
(07:07):
do so every single time duringthe week.
So freaking tired by the end ofthe day, of long work days, of
trying to get other wellnessthings done like go to the gym
(07:28):
or go to sleep early or hang outwith a friend, right.
So it's just not that effectivewhen we're trying to really
force ourselves to follow aspecific plan with no
flexibility.
And this brings us back to theall or nothing cycles that we
(07:50):
create in wellness.
The one that we know so well iswith exercise.
It's like either we're going tothe gym seven days a week or
we're not going to the gym atall, like there's no in between.
And then it becomes the samewhen it comes to rigid meal
planning of exactly what you'regoing to eat, then having
(08:12):
flexibility within that, andthen when you decide to make
other decisions because yourcapacity is totally tapped out,
like ordering food, then it'sthe whole blaming game.
Like you see, we can never dothis.
We can't stick to it.
It's not for me.
I cannot do it.
But what you can't do is rigid.
(08:33):
What you can't do is notleaving any room for flexibility
or joy within the week of whatyou're going to eat.
It gets boring so fast and itgets overwhelming so fast when
it's so much work.
And let's not even talk aboutoh my gosh, you're going to
(08:56):
prepare this food A lot of stuffthat comes in with preparing
new foods is that you're doingso many new things at once.
It's not just I'm going to mealprep, but you're also probably
learning how to shop for newfoods.
You're learning how to eat newfoods.
You're learning how to cook newfoods.
(09:16):
You're learning new cookingtechniques.
You're learning plating styles,probably because you want it to
look as beautiful as it does onPinterest or these posts, and
that has you hung up.
So not only are you coming froma space of being super busy,
(09:39):
capacity running low, knowingthat you need to eat, you know
that you want to make betterfood choices.
You think the answer is goingto be to make this massive meal
prep that looks beautiful atsome capacity and follow through
with eating it and enjoy theprocess.
(10:01):
That's a lot, if you ask me.
That's a lot.
There is no space for fun.
There is no space for you eatlo que se te antoja ese dia,
like what you're craving thatday.
There's no space forflexibility.
There is no space for orderingthat takeout without the guilt
(10:25):
and the shame.
So what happens?
You quickly go back to theother habits that you had before
, again going back to the zero,because the 100 felt like too
much and too overwhelming.
So you go back to the zerowhatever's quickest, whatever
you can get your hands on,whatever's convenient,
(10:47):
whatever's tasty, and now thewhole let's say mindfulness of
what your goals were goes outthe window.
All right, because it's justnot as sustainable to spend four
hours in the kitchen on aSunday and be so overwhelmed by
(11:07):
the process.
You know it's like creatingthese meal plans that took you
hours in the first place tocreate the plan and then they're
so hard to execute when yourcapacity is out.
And you know what?
Also, maybe the disappointmentof you putting all this work in
(11:27):
and the food just not tastinggood or not looking like.
You expect that and, trust me,I've been there Before.
I used to experiment a lot withrecipes and I remember one time
I made this baked lemon chickenand like this vodka what's it
(11:48):
called?
Like penne alla vodka pasta andit tasted so incredibly bad and
I was so disappointed at theresult because I had spent hours
trying to make these food fromscratch.
That's another thing.
There's no flexibility betweenlike what can you buy that's
(12:08):
already pre-made to give you ahand?
A lot of these recipes are alsolike make tomato sauce from
scratch, make granola fromscratch, make yogurt from
scratch.
Like we don't have time for allof that.
Friends, we are busy.
People Like what else can weincorporate to help us?
(12:38):
So I totally get it.
It was so bad that I told mypartner I was like we're going
to go get Wendy's, like weliterally I was so sad and we
drove to get Wendy's and I endedup repurposing the beef.
Um, later on, like I chopped itup so small that it looked like
ground beef and then we used itin tacos.
(12:59):
But when you're in the middle ofthe week and, mind you, this
was a time where I really hadnothing better to do Like I was
just playing around in thekitchen.
We didn't have children, likewe had nada que hacer, right,
but oficios, you know, like thechores that you're like, you
(13:19):
know when you're laying aroundand your mom is like, oh, you
don't have nothing to do, go doyour chores.
Yeah, it was like that kind ofstuff.
Um, but man, that'sdisappointing when you spend so
much time and then nothingtastes good, right, and then
(13:41):
nothing tastes good, right.
So look, during the week andwhen you're busy is not the time
to be trying to create wholenew skills or processes from
start to finish, okay.
So I just want you to know thatsustainable meal planning is
really about flexibility, andhaving different tools and
(14:04):
different levels of mealprepping is not about the
perfect execution that looksflawless from start to finish.
It means you understand whatfoods you actually like, what
foods you can cook really well,right, and a lot of that might
(14:26):
be your cultural foods thatyou're telling yourself you
cannot cook anymore because,quote unquote, they're not
healthy or they won't help youlose weight or they won't help
you reverse your prediabetes orwhat have you.
Because a lot of our culturalfoods do not appear on those
lists of quote unquote healthyfoods or they're really
(14:49):
demonized, you know, by themedical system.
They're never given as examples, they're always stripped away.
It's like oh, don't eat no morerice, right, don't have no more
tortillas.
So it becomes very confusingout there.
So, just starting off by like,what are you comfortable making
(15:09):
in the kitchen?
What are the foods you actuallyenjoy eating?
How much time do you actuallywant to spend doing meal
prepping on the weekend orduring the week?
How much capacity are you goingto have to actually make food
after you come home from work?
Like, those are all things thatneed to be taken into
(15:31):
consideration.
It's not like, oh my gosh, allthese containers look real cute
because the end result alwaysseems appealing.
It's like, oh, it's so easy totake a meal out of your fridge
and eat it, but how do you getthat meal in the fridge in the
first place?
These are things that you needto think about.
So, having options like how doyou stock up your pantry, how do
(15:54):
you stock up your freezer?
What are some of those mealsthat you can make that are quick
and easy and delicious?
What does a quick meal preplook like?
What is your capacity to handlethese things and what are other
resources out there to supportyou?
Like what does takeout looklike?
What does ordering pre-mademeals look like?
(16:15):
What does ordering like cookingservices look like?
For example, the HelloFreshFresh's of the world and there
are other ones that of myclients specifically, have felt
like if they're not cooking 100%from scratch, then it's
(16:42):
cheating, it's not actually ahealthy meal.
They are not putting in hardenough work, right?
So this is exactly where Istart to support you to
understand how many differentstyles of meal prepping there
actually are, to understandingyour food right and knowing how
(17:09):
food works in the body so thatwe start to like, kind of step,
take a step back at blaming ourcultural foods for causing, you
know, disease, for causing usnot to feel well, for being
demonized at something thatcannot support us with our
health goals.
So these are things that wework on one-on-one.
(17:31):
We work on what's your familyunit right Like?
Are you the one doing groceries?
Are you the one that's incharge of cooking every day?
Is there other loved ones whoare in charge of cooking in your
home, right?
A lot of Latino and Hispanichomes, immigrant homes, are
multi-generational.
So is grandma the one in thekitchen making meals and all of
(17:51):
a sudden, you're telling grandmathat you can't eat that and
you're going to do a three-hourmeal prep when grandma's making
delicious ass foods on a dailybasis?
Is it your partner that'scooking, right?
So how can we learn how toenjoy these foods in a way that
is sustainable for us?
(18:12):
How can you build inflexibility, fun, culture while
you work on your goals?
How is that part of mealprepping?
I'm telling you, part of mymeal prepping is that if I go to
a party and you know a lot ofHispanic parties they have the
containers for you to take homewith you.
(18:34):
They encourage it.
They order food for the entirevillage most of the time and
they're like oh no, te va allevar un plato, like you're not
taking a plate.
Let me tell you something,honey Taking leftovers from
parties is part of my meal prep,and it should be part of yours
too.
All right, so there is no oneway to do this meal prep.
(18:57):
When you understand number onehow food works and when you
understand what is your capacityfor getting meals done, do you
like to cook in the first place?
Maybe not, so why would yousubject yourself to four hours
in a kitchen?
Do you want to learn new skillsin this kitchen?
Do you want to buy newappliances?
(19:18):
Or do you want to understandhow to get takeout from your
favorite place that does thatsame meal perfectly and
delicious, and you don't have tolearn how to do it?
I mean, I work like that.
I order a lot of things atrestaurants that I have no
desire as to how to make at home.
I don't want to learn thatskillset, not in this season of
(19:42):
my life, okay, and I'm a personwho loves experimenting in the
kitchen, and I used to love tobake and all that and it's not
that I don't love doing thosethings is that at this moment, I
don't have the capacity to dothose things and I make it okay.
So if I want a delicious bakedgood, I go to the freaking
bakery.
If I want I don't know what,what stuff did I buy in a
(20:06):
restaurant?
Usually steak or stuff likethat.
I don't really cook that athome, but I have it when I'm out
.
So how do we get your time back?
How do we get you to enjoy theprocess again?
How do we detach yourself fromthis sensationalized Pinterest
(20:27):
perfect way of meal preppingthat just does not align with
your lifestyle, that does notalign with your season, that
does not align with your familydynamic all right.
That does not align with whatbrings you joy.
All you know is that you needto eat and you have goals that
you need to meet, whether that'sweight loss, reversing
(20:48):
illnesses, just feeling good inyour body.
You don't want to bloat everysingle time that you eat.
You don't want to ruin yoursleep.
You want to look really goodfor vacation.
Whatever that is, your goal isyour goal.
You're allowed to have thatgoal.
How and you know and understandhow important your meals are to
(21:12):
reach these goals.
Like you, are a savvy asswellness person.
You know that it takes food andit takes exercise and other
wellness habits like mindfulnessand sleep and hydration, and
all that to reach your goals.
So how do we not overcomplicatesuch an important part of the
(21:32):
process as it is eating?
Because I know you've heard thesaying abs are made in the
kitchen.
They say it all the time absare made the kitchen right, and,
trust me, it's it's insanelyhard to get abs in the first
place.
But, however, going along withthat notion, I know you
(21:54):
understand how important food isto meet your goals and you want
to build some sort ofdiscipline and you feel like the
discipline is building theseinsane, cutesy meal prepping.
You know designs and stylesthat just do not meet your needs
on so many levels, culturally,time wise, um, skill wise.
(22:22):
Another thing is right and thisis the last example I'll mention
too, is like what about ifyou're not just meal prepping
for yourself?
Like what about if you alsohave to feed other people?
And it's like well, are youcooking two dinners, three
dinners?
Right, because what?
The foods that you're having isnot necessarily foods that your
(22:45):
kids would eat or your spousewould eat, or other family
members that you have livingwith you.
Like, then, what do you, what,what like?
What are you going to do inthose situations?
Okay, so, let's lighten theload.
You do not need to be makingall of these different versions.
(23:06):
And that I've mentioning allthese examples because all of
these examples have come up, orall of these circumstances have
come up with my clients incoaching Not just with my
clients in coaching, but alsowith myself, and we have figured
out ways to meet their needs.
While abuela is the one cookingto meet their needs, while
(23:29):
their spouse is the one makingmeals to meet their needs, when
they're the ones responsible forcooking not just for themselves
but their whole family, to meettheir needs, when they're just
cooking for their damn self,right.
When they enjoy going out withtheir friends, when you enjoy
going out solo.
So it's this major skillsetthat you're going to learn that
(23:52):
actually is personalized to you,to your lifestyle, to your
family dynamics, to the foodsthat you enjoy.
And this is why my clients havesuch insanely great results,
because, all of a sudden, somuch guilt, pressure,
perfectionism gets lifted fromtheir experience and the stuff
(24:13):
that they think and they shouldbe doing to get the results,
because that's what you'velearned on Pinterest and TikTok
and Instagram and all this,instead of just like scaling it
back and being like, hey, whatworks for me in this season with
this capacity, with this stuffthat I like to do and not like
to do?
Okay, and when you get thattype of personalized support
(24:37):
through one-on-one food andhormone health coaching with me,
you really start to take rootin sustainable habits.
That then gives you andprovides you with that
consistency that you've beenlooking for, because you cannot
(24:58):
reach consistency without makingthe system work for you.
It's just really hard.
Then you go back to all thoselike thoughts and emotions about
yourself that are simply nottrue.
It's just not aligned with theway that you work, and those are
two different things, friend.
Okay, so the key message here,literally, is that when you plan
(25:24):
for your actual life instead ofthis ideal made up version of
life that you might be insertingyourself into the like, the
influencer's life or how otherpeople do things, if you
actually make a system thatworks for you, even when life is
(25:45):
going sideways, or you're notthe main person making these
meals or you don't have thecapacity that week, then it just
makes it so much easier to makechoices that you are proud of,
that you are consistent with,instead of always leaning on the
immediate, fastest, quickesttakeout fast food order that you
(26:08):
can get, even if it is that youget to make a decision from a
position of power and educationright, educated decisions, and
how do these decisions alignwith your goal.
So I'll leave you with that.
(26:28):
Friends, if you want supportwith one-on-one food and hormone
health coaching, I invite youto book a consultation call with
the link in the show notes.
You can send me a DM onInstagram.
In the show notes you'll findways to get in contact with me
and start the conversation.
(26:49):
I cannot wait to talk to you ona consultation call where we
get to go over what your goalsare, what your challenges are,
what you've been doing all ofthese years that has just led to
frustration, and how to get youon the path of where you've
been wishing you were today forall these years.
(27:10):
Okay, and it just has not beenpersonalized to you and your
lifestyle, your season, yourcircumstances, your likes.
Okay, and that's exactly howwe're going to work on together.
That's exactly what I supportyou with and how my clients have
gotten such amazing results.
All right, so I'll see you onthe next episode.
Have a great week.
(27:31):
Bye.
Hello friends, welcome back to the podcast.
Today we're going to talk aboutall those beautiful little pins
that you have on Pinterestabout meal planning, all those
safe posts that you have onInstagram and everywhere else
probably TikTok, right.
You have all these safe postson how to meal prep and it's
(00:24):
probably the number one thingholding you back on your health
and wellness journey and it's,believe it or not, setting you
up for failure and guilt insteadof success, friends instead of
success, because sometimesthey're just really complicated.
(00:45):
It's not meant for you.
You're not a content creatorand you feel like in order to
stick to a meal plan or to eatright, not get takeout, you have
to have your meal prep done,like these influencers are
getting it done on the internet.
And let me tell you somethingthat leads to burnout, it leads
(01:09):
to frustration and then again,like the failure and the guilt,
like, oh my gosh, I cannot keepup with these people and how are
they doing this?
And here we go with theimmigrant mentality, right Of
like now we're wasting food.
Now we're wasting food becauseyou've probably tried to meal
prep like this before.
Maybe you bought all thegroceries and they're just
(01:32):
sitting in your fridge and comeWednesday you're not cooking
anything and you're orderingtakeout.
You're ordering from Uber, eats, doordash, whatever it is
regular old delivery service oryou're picking up and meal
prepping goes out the window andall your pins go out the window
(01:53):
, but it creates this circularsense of failure, because now
you probably did these groceriesas well and everything is just
sitting in your fridge going badbecause now you have so much
fresh products in your fridge aswell.
So we're going to get into whythis actually doesn't work for
(02:13):
you.
And are there different ways tomeal plan so that it's not so
rigid, it's more flexible?
You don't feel like a failureand, at the same time, the only
example of meal prepping thatyou have is not this perfect
little you know 30 second reelof how to make the perfect meal
(02:38):
prep.
Okay, so let's get into some ofthe reasons why this is not
working for you and it's becauseyou're not capable.
Okay, let's get into some ofthe reasons why this is not
working for you and it's becauseyou're not capable.
Okay, let's just get this outof the way from the beginning.
It's not because you can't doit and it's not because you're
not capable.
It might be other reasons.
Right, you might be so bored.
(02:59):
Okay, even if you get to makethese meals, maybe you have 30.
I let me tell you something.
The first time I saw like 30containers being filled up with
the same foods over and overagain, and half of them frozen
and half of them in the fridge,I was like no, thank you, I
(03:20):
don't want to do this and maybeI'll never meal prep if this is
what it's going to look likeBecause, as a true foodie
probably you are too.
If you're here you actuallylike variety in your meals.
You like to switch things up.
You don't want to eat the samething over and over again.
You probably don't likeleftovers because that's
(03:43):
essentially what it's going tobe Because you're going to be
reheating up this food on dayfour and five, like you can
maybe take two days of thesethings, or like freezing them,
like having space to freeze allthese meals, like it's just a
lot.
It's just a lot.
And let's bring in the factthat probably what you're meal
prepping is not even food thatyou like.
All right, a lot of these peoplemeal prepping are prepping
(04:06):
foods that are not familiar toyou.
It's probably the quinoas andthe kales, and I don't even know
what else to bring in y'all inhere.
But those are the first thingsthat come to mind.
And then you're like, butwhere's the arroz and where's
the frijoles?
And I don't eat rice like that,and usually my rice comes with
beans.
It's not just plain, and I likeseasoning in my food.
(04:30):
So now there's this wholecultural disconnect of the foods
you're preparing and there'salso this whole concept of
you're preparing so much andthen you're going to have to eat
all of this on a consistentbasis.
If you could see my face rightnow, maybe it's coming through
(04:52):
in my voice, but it's likealmost a disgust.
Look from inside out.
It's like ugh.
How much of this can you take?
And let's not mention how muchtime it takes to create so much
freaking food.
All right, it takes so muchtime to prepare, and now half
(05:16):
your Sunday is spent in thekitchen trying to make these
beautiful meals that you pinnedand these new recipes using new
techniques.
And you're in the pits of hellbecause you're like why in the
world did I start this?
Now you're midway done.
You don't want to stop.
You spend all this time notjust doing the groceries,
preparing cleaning up food,cooking the food, waiting until
(05:39):
it cools down to put it in nicecontainers, and then by
Wednesday you're not even eatingthat.
Okay, you're not even eating it, and this is why trying to meal
prep in this way just leads youto go and grab takeout and
(06:01):
there's nothing wrong withtakeout, actually but I know
that what's happening is thatyou feel like a failure for
ordering takeout by midweek,when you're sick and tired of
this food that you've prepared.
It's not tasting good anymoreand you're over it and you spent
so much time making it.
Now there's also the concept ofyou're going to prep the food so
(06:26):
you can cook it during the week.
Okay, that also becomes kind oftaxing because you're not even
taking into considerationeverything else you have going
on that week.
And cooking is a job.
If not, there wouldn't be tonsand tons and tons and tons of
(06:46):
restaurants and takeout placesand fast food places.
Every human needs to eat and toprepare food takes time, takes
technique, takes dedication andsometimes, even if we love
cooking and making these things,we might not have the energy to
(07:07):
do so every single time duringthe week.
So freaking tired by the end ofthe day, of long work days, of
trying to get other wellnessthings done like go to the gym
(07:28):
or go to sleep early or hang outwith a friend, right.
So it's just not that effectivewhen we're trying to really
force ourselves to follow aspecific plan with no
flexibility.
And this brings us back to theall or nothing cycles that we
(07:50):
create in wellness.
The one that we know so well iswith exercise.
It's like either we're going tothe gym seven days a week or
we're not going to the gym atall, like there's no in between.
And then it becomes the samewhen it comes to rigid meal
planning of exactly what you'regoing to eat, then having
(08:12):
flexibility within that, andthen when you decide to make
other decisions because yourcapacity is totally tapped out,
like ordering food, then it'sthe whole blaming game.
Like you see, we can never dothis.
We can't stick to it.
It's not for me.
I cannot do it.
But what you can't do is rigid.
(08:33):
What you can't do is notleaving any room for flexibility
or joy within the week of whatyou're going to eat.
It gets boring so fast and itgets overwhelming so fast when
it's so much work.
And let's not even talk aboutoh my gosh, you're going to
(08:56):
prepare this food A lot of stuffthat comes in with preparing
new foods is that you're doingso many new things at once.
It's not just I'm going to mealprep, but you're also probably
learning how to shop for newfoods.
You're learning how to eat newfoods.
You're learning how to cook newfoods.
(09:16):
You're learning new cookingtechniques.
You're learning plating styles,probably because you want it to
look as beautiful as it does onPinterest or these posts, and
that has you hung up.
So not only are you coming froma space of being super busy,
(09:39):
capacity running low, knowingthat you need to eat, you know
that you want to make betterfood choices.
You think the answer is goingto be to make this massive meal
prep that looks beautiful atsome capacity and follow through
with eating it and enjoy theprocess.
(10:01):
That's a lot, if you ask me.
That's a lot.
There is no space for fun.
There is no space for you eatlo que se te antoja ese dia,
like what you're craving thatday.
There's no space forflexibility.
There is no space for orderingthat takeout without the guilt
(10:25):
and the shame.
So what happens?
You quickly go back to theother habits that you had before
, again going back to the zero,because the 100 felt like too
much and too overwhelming.
So you go back to the zerowhatever's quickest, whatever
you can get your hands on,whatever's convenient,
(10:47):
whatever's tasty, and now thewhole let's say mindfulness of
what your goals were goes outthe window.
All right, because it's justnot as sustainable to spend four
hours in the kitchen on aSunday and be so overwhelmed by
(11:07):
the process.
You know it's like creatingthese meal plans that took you
hours in the first place tocreate the plan and then they're
so hard to execute when yourcapacity is out.
And you know what?
Also, maybe the disappointmentof you putting all this work in
(11:27):
and the food just not tastinggood or not looking like.
You expect that and, trust me,I've been there Before.
I used to experiment a lot withrecipes and I remember one time
I made this baked lemon chickenand like this vodka what's it
(11:48):
called?
Like penne alla vodka pasta andit tasted so incredibly bad and
I was so disappointed at theresult because I had spent hours
trying to make these food fromscratch.
That's another thing.
There's no flexibility betweenlike what can you buy that's
(12:08):
already pre-made to give you ahand?
A lot of these recipes are alsolike make tomato sauce from
scratch, make granola fromscratch, make yogurt from
scratch.
Like we don't have time for allof that.
Friends, we are busy.
People Like what else can weincorporate to help us?
(12:38):
So I totally get it.
It was so bad that I told mypartner I was like we're going
to go get Wendy's, like weliterally I was so sad and we
drove to get Wendy's and I endedup repurposing the beef.
Um, later on, like I chopped itup so small that it looked like
ground beef and then we used itin tacos.
(12:59):
But when you're in the middle ofthe week and, mind you, this
was a time where I really hadnothing better to do Like I was
just playing around in thekitchen.
We didn't have children, likewe had nada que hacer, right,
but oficios, you know, like thechores that you're like, you
(13:19):
know when you're laying aroundand your mom is like, oh, you
don't have nothing to do, go doyour chores.
Yeah, it was like that kind ofstuff.
Um, but man, that'sdisappointing when you spend so
much time and then nothingtastes good, right, and then
(13:41):
nothing tastes good, right.
So look, during the week andwhen you're busy is not the time
to be trying to create wholenew skills or processes from
start to finish, okay.
So I just want you to know thatsustainable meal planning is
really about flexibility, andhaving different tools and
(14:04):
different levels of mealprepping is not about the
perfect execution that looksflawless from start to finish.
It means you understand whatfoods you actually like, what
foods you can cook really well,right, and a lot of that might
(14:26):
be your cultural foods thatyou're telling yourself you
cannot cook anymore because,quote unquote, they're not
healthy or they won't help youlose weight or they won't help
you reverse your prediabetes orwhat have you.
Because a lot of our culturalfoods do not appear on those
lists of quote unquote healthyfoods or they're really
(14:49):
demonized, you know, by themedical system.
They're never given as examples, they're always stripped away.
It's like oh, don't eat no morerice, right, don't have no more
tortillas.
So it becomes very confusingout there.
So, just starting off by like,what are you comfortable making
(15:09):
in the kitchen?
What are the foods you actuallyenjoy eating?
How much time do you actuallywant to spend doing meal
prepping on the weekend orduring the week?
How much capacity are you goingto have to actually make food
after you come home from work?
Like, those are all things thatneed to be taken into
(15:31):
consideration.
It's not like, oh my gosh, allthese containers look real cute
because the end result alwaysseems appealing.
It's like, oh, it's so easy totake a meal out of your fridge
and eat it, but how do you getthat meal in the fridge in the
first place?
These are things that you needto think about.
So, having options like how doyou stock up your pantry, how do
(15:54):
you stock up your freezer?
What are some of those mealsthat you can make that are quick
and easy and delicious?
What does a quick meal preplook like?
What is your capacity to handlethese things and what are other
resources out there to supportyou?
Like what does takeout looklike?
What does ordering pre-mademeals look like?
(16:15):
What does ordering like cookingservices look like?
For example, the HelloFreshFresh's of the world and there
are other ones that of myclients specifically, have felt
like if they're not cooking 100%from scratch, then it's
(16:42):
cheating, it's not actually ahealthy meal.
They are not putting in hardenough work, right?
So this is exactly where Istart to support you to
understand how many differentstyles of meal prepping there
actually are, to understandingyour food right and knowing how
(17:09):
food works in the body so thatwe start to like, kind of step,
take a step back at blaming ourcultural foods for causing, you
know, disease, for causing usnot to feel well, for being
demonized at something thatcannot support us with our
health goals.
So these are things that wework on one-on-one.
(17:31):
We work on what's your familyunit right Like?
Are you the one doing groceries?
Are you the one that's incharge of cooking every day?
Is there other loved ones whoare in charge of cooking in your
home, right?
A lot of Latino and Hispanichomes, immigrant homes, are
multi-generational.
So is grandma the one in thekitchen making meals and all of
(17:51):
a sudden, you're telling grandmathat you can't eat that and
you're going to do a three-hourmeal prep when grandma's making
delicious ass foods on a dailybasis?
Is it your partner that'scooking, right?
So how can we learn how toenjoy these foods in a way that
is sustainable for us?
(18:12):
How can you build inflexibility, fun, culture while
you work on your goals?
How is that part of mealprepping?
I'm telling you, part of mymeal prepping is that if I go to
a party and you know a lot ofHispanic parties they have the
containers for you to take homewith you.
(18:34):
They encourage it.
They order food for the entirevillage most of the time and
they're like oh no, te va allevar un plato, like you're not
taking a plate.
Let me tell you something,honey Taking leftovers from
parties is part of my meal prep,and it should be part of yours
too.
All right, so there is no oneway to do this meal prep.
(18:57):
When you understand number onehow food works and when you
understand what is your capacityfor getting meals done, do you
like to cook in the first place?
Maybe not, so why would yousubject yourself to four hours
in a kitchen?
Do you want to learn new skillsin this kitchen?
Do you want to buy newappliances?
(19:18):
Or do you want to understandhow to get takeout from your
favorite place that does thatsame meal perfectly and
delicious, and you don't have tolearn how to do it?
I mean, I work like that.
I order a lot of things atrestaurants that I have no
desire as to how to make at home.
I don't want to learn thatskillset, not in this season of
(19:42):
my life, okay, and I'm a personwho loves experimenting in the
kitchen, and I used to love tobake and all that and it's not
that I don't love doing thosethings is that at this moment, I
don't have the capacity to dothose things and I make it okay.
So if I want a delicious bakedgood, I go to the freaking
bakery.
If I want I don't know what,what stuff did I buy in a
(20:06):
restaurant?
Usually steak or stuff likethat.
I don't really cook that athome, but I have it when I'm out
.
So how do we get your time back?
How do we get you to enjoy theprocess again?
How do we detach yourself fromthis sensationalized Pinterest
(20:27):
perfect way of meal preppingthat just does not align with
your lifestyle, that does notalign with your season, that
does not align with your familydynamic all right.
That does not align with whatbrings you joy.
All you know is that you needto eat and you have goals that
you need to meet, whether that'sweight loss, reversing
(20:48):
illnesses, just feeling good inyour body.
You don't want to bloat everysingle time that you eat.
You don't want to ruin yoursleep.
You want to look really goodfor vacation.
Whatever that is, your goal isyour goal.
You're allowed to have thatgoal.
How and you know and understandhow important your meals are to
(21:12):
reach these goals.
Like you, are a savvy asswellness person.
You know that it takes food andit takes exercise and other
wellness habits like mindfulnessand sleep and hydration, and
all that to reach your goals.
So how do we not overcomplicatesuch an important part of the
(21:32):
process as it is eating?
Because I know you've heard thesaying abs are made in the
kitchen.
They say it all the time absare made the kitchen right, and,
trust me, it's it's insanelyhard to get abs in the first
place.
But, however, going along withthat notion, I know you
(21:54):
understand how important food isto meet your goals and you want
to build some sort ofdiscipline and you feel like the
discipline is building theseinsane, cutesy meal prepping.
You know designs and stylesthat just do not meet your needs
on so many levels, culturally,time wise, um, skill wise.
(22:22):
Another thing is right and thisis the last example I'll mention
too, is like what about ifyou're not just meal prepping
for yourself?
Like what about if you alsohave to feed other people?
And it's like well, are youcooking two dinners, three
dinners?
Right, because what?
The foods that you're having isnot necessarily foods that your
(22:45):
kids would eat or your spousewould eat, or other family
members that you have livingwith you.
Like, then, what do you, what,what like?
What are you going to do inthose situations?
Okay, so, let's lighten theload.
You do not need to be makingall of these different versions.
(23:06):
And that I've mentioning allthese examples because all of
these examples have come up, orall of these circumstances have
come up with my clients incoaching Not just with my
clients in coaching, but alsowith myself, and we have figured
out ways to meet their needs.
While abuela is the one cookingto meet their needs, while
(23:29):
their spouse is the one makingmeals to meet their needs, when
they're the ones responsible forcooking not just for themselves
but their whole family, to meettheir needs, when they're just
cooking for their damn self,right.
When they enjoy going out withtheir friends, when you enjoy
going out solo.
So it's this major skillsetthat you're going to learn that
(23:52):
actually is personalized to you,to your lifestyle, to your
family dynamics, to the foodsthat you enjoy.
And this is why my clients havesuch insanely great results,
because, all of a sudden, somuch guilt, pressure,
perfectionism gets lifted fromtheir experience and the stuff
(24:13):
that they think and they shouldbe doing to get the results,
because that's what you'velearned on Pinterest and TikTok
and Instagram and all this,instead of just like scaling it
back and being like, hey, whatworks for me in this season with
this capacity, with this stuffthat I like to do and not like
to do?
Okay, and when you get thattype of personalized support
(24:37):
through one-on-one food andhormone health coaching with me,
you really start to take rootin sustainable habits.
That then gives you andprovides you with that
consistency that you've beenlooking for, because you cannot
(24:58):
reach consistency without makingthe system work for you.
It's just really hard.
Then you go back to all thoselike thoughts and emotions about
yourself that are simply nottrue.
It's just not aligned with theway that you work, and those are
two different things, friend.
Okay, so the key message here,literally, is that when you plan
(25:24):
for your actual life instead ofthis ideal made up version of
life that you might be insertingyourself into the like, the
influencer's life or how otherpeople do things, if you
actually make a system thatworks for you, even when life is
(25:45):
going sideways, or you're notthe main person making these
meals or you don't have thecapacity that week, then it just
makes it so much easier to makechoices that you are proud of,
that you are consistent with,instead of always leaning on the
immediate, fastest, quickesttakeout fast food order that you
(26:08):
can get, even if it is that youget to make a decision from a
position of power and educationright, educated decisions, and
how do these decisions alignwith your goal.
So I'll leave you with that.
(26:28):
Friends, if you want supportwith one-on-one food and hormone
health coaching, I invite youto book a consultation call with
the link in the show notes.
You can send me a DM onInstagram.
In the show notes you'll findways to get in contact with me
and start the conversation.
(26:49):
I cannot wait to talk to you ona consultation call where we
get to go over what your goalsare, what your challenges are,
what you've been doing all ofthese years that has just led to
frustration, and how to get youon the path of where you've
been wishing you were today forall these years.
(27:10):
Okay, and it just has not beenpersonalized to you and your
lifestyle, your season, yourcircumstances, your likes.
Okay, and that's exactly howwe're going to work on together.
That's exactly what I supportyou with and how my clients have
gotten such amazing results.
All right, so I'll see you onthe next episode.
Have a great week.
(27:31):
Bye.
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