Anita: 0:03

Well, hello sunshine. Today, we're going to be sharing one simple strategy with you that is going to help you stay consistent on your whole food plant-based eating journey, because here's what we know there's a real struggle that many face on this journey, and it's falling off the whole food plant-based wagon. Now, there are several reasons for this, but one of them is the lack of preparation, and so today, jared and I are sharing the simple, actionable tips that will help you stay on track without the need for any exhausting batch cooking sessions, which we all know can get way too overwhelming. Are you ready? Then let's get to it. Hey sister, welcome to the Power on Plants podcast. Are you tired of staring into the fridge wondering what to eat so you can just feel better? Do you want to avoid spending hours in the kitchen making complicated meals in the name of health? Would you love to leave fatigue behind and finally have the energy to do all the things you want to do?

Anita: 1:08

Hi, we're Jared and Anita Roussel, christ followers, healthcare professionals, parents of four and big fans of great tasting food. We, too, tried exercising more, eating natural and clean foods, but we still found ourselves struggling with what we thought were changes that come with age or bad genes, and we weren't finding answers the traditional route. So we dug into the research and created our secret nutritional weapon sustainable plant-based living. The truth is, you can eat more whole plant foods and it's not hard. You just need the way that's realistic and delicious so you never feel deprived. If you're ready to enjoy your meals, no longer be held back by your health struggles and actively live your life, then you're in the right place. So grab your favorite plant-based cup of happy pop in those earbuds and let's get started. Well, hello, friend, and welcome back to the Power on Plants podcast. If this is your first time with us, we are so happy to have you joining us to be a part of the Power on Plants podcast. If this is your first time with us, we are so happy to have you joining us to be a part of the Power on Plants family. Jared and I are completely passionate about living whole food, plant-based, and today you'll be getting a big glimpse inside of why that is. But I want to talk about something that I mentioned in the intro. If you didn't hear the intro, you need to, because it tells you where we're going today.

Anita: 2:25

Do you remember those batch cooking sessions when you got together with friends at this place I think sometimes you even had to have a reservation to go there and you'd all gather together and you'd spend an entire day cooking freezer meals. Now, supposedly the freezer meals would last you a month. I never found that it actually lasted me a month, but I can tell you it was exhausting. They tried to get you all pumped up, tell you how fun it was going to be, but really it was so exhausting and you've got to wrap your mind around the fact of what you were doing. Even thinking about that gives me nightmares, and here's why. Who wants to spend their entire day off cooking and meal prepping? That's just not enjoyable. Wouldn't you rather be out spending time with your family and friends or helping someone in need? Yeah, I know I would, jared, you would have loved those. You should have been a part of those.

Jarrod: 3:18

Yeah, that's right up your alley. I'm over here thinking on the surface it sounds like that could be a good idea. Hang out with some of your girlfriends and I'm thinking from the perspective of a woman Hanging out with your girlfriends cooking, talking and all that.

Anita: 3:31

What you don't think. Guys actually took advantage of this. Well, they may have. They may have, but it's probably not as likely.

Jarrod: 3:37

I'm just thinking in general, it seems like it could be a good idea until it's not, because you have to plan ahead Now. Would they do the batch prepping for 30 days, or was it typically more for a week at a time?

Anita: 3:52

Oh no, I'm pretty sure it was monthly, From the one that I'm remembering. I don't remember the name of it. I'm sure some of you probably actually remember the name of it. You might even be screaming it at your phone right now, but it was just so painful I tried to wipe it from my memory.

Jarrod: 4:06

Once a month wouldn't be that bad, I'm thinking once a week. You'd have to be very regimented to do that.

Anita: 4:13

Okay, now I have to argue with you there because we think and we say to ourselves something like once a month wouldn't be too bad. But I want you to think about that. Once a month wouldn't be too bad. That's 12 days out of your year that you have totally lost to the kitchen. Now I enjoy cooking from time to time, don't get me wrong but I don't want to live my life in the kitchen.

Jarrod: 4:34

Well, you don't have to when you know a better way. But I'm thinking if you're preparing foods in mass like that, one day a month is not as bad. I'm not saying it's great, I'm just saying it's not as bad as one day a week, because that's more of what I think of with batch cooking and preparing ahead of time, and you have to plan that one day a week and you have to be consistent with it.

Anita: 4:57

Okay, you're still giving me nightmares, and I'm going to tell you why. Because have you ever seen me get in the kitchen for a whole day, one day a week, to do that? So we're not talking about a full day to get your whole week's meals done. You can do that if it works for you, but I'm just telling you nine out of 10 of us that's probably not going to work for and that's not what we see work for our clients. I know it doesn't work for me Because still now you're talking four days a month that I've got to get in there and do a bunch of batch prepping.

Anita: 5:27

That's exhausting to me. The key here is getting yourself set up in a way that's enjoyable for you. So what we're going to talk about today is going to change things where you don't have to give up that one full day a month or four full days a month. When you're doing it one day a week, it's not about a full day cooking session. That's what I want you to wrap your mind around. We've got to escape these ideas of well if I really want to set myself up. This is going to take a whole lot of work, and so we see that and we think that and we hear oh well, this must be it, this is probably gonna work, because that's going to take a whole lot of work. No, you've got to learn the ways to make this enjoyable and exciting for you and for me. That's certainly not spending an entire day in the kitchen.

Jarrod: 6:08

And the method has to work with real life. From my perspective, I feel like that is the huge disconnect, because you could say, oh, I'll just do this once a week, and then for those other six days, or even once a month and the other 29 days, I never have to cook another meal, which probably I think it's probably not realistic. I think you're still going to, during that week or during that month, have to do some food prep anyway. So now you've got to take this day and make it every single week. Well, what happens if kids have a soccer game? You've got kind of a last minute little trip you want to go on, and now you think, oh, I would love to go on that little weekend trip with you, honey, but I got a meal prep on that Sunday so can't really do it. So it's not really, I think, realistic with most people's lives.

Anita: 6:55

Right. So we're going to give you some practical tips today for meal prepping, and you can make it any day. It doesn't have to actually be the first day of the week, although that works best for most people, and so it just is what works best for you. Take what we're sharing today and shift it to the days that work best for you. Maybe you don't want to spend 30 minutes in one day. You want to spend 15 minutes over two days, and that's going to make it simpler for you. Again, do what works for you.

Anita: 7:24

But what we're talking about here is there is some power given back to you when you take just a little bit of time to meal prep not a full day. Please don't waste your whole day off doing this. Really, it's just not necessary. Here's the thing Pre-prepping can change everything for you when it comes to having success with whole food, plant-based eating, when you're doing it the right way. Because what we know is, if it's there, you'll eat it, and if it's not there, you won't. So pre-prepping is going to make the healthy food not only there but ready to go. So we want to look at how can we do small, fast pre-prep steps which can make eating healthy, feel effortless for you throughout the week. So here are some whole food, plant-based pre-prep strategies that can change your entire week.

Jarrod: 8:18

And I'll say many of our members have said this made such a huge difference for them in eating this way.

Anita: 8:23

Huge. There's so many different things that you can do, but this can be a big key, so start with this today.

Jarrod: 8:29

All right. First strategy cut up your fruit.

Anita: 8:32

And this one sounds so simple, but I remember back years ago when one of my family members had really young children this was even before we had kids and they said to me you know, it's so crazy because I can have all this fresh fruit sitting out beautiful oranges and strawberries and grapes, all these things sitting out here waiting for them to eat them and they won't touch them. But if I take just the few minutes that it takes to cut up a melon and break up the orange into segments and just throw it into a bowl in the fridge, it's gone, it just disappears. And this is so very true. We found this to be true since we've had kids. It's true for us. I mean, if we have something cut up in the fridge, like fruit, we're so much more likely to just grab it and eat it than think, oh well, I've got to take a few minutes to cut it up. You just do that when you have a few minutes.

Anita: 9:25

When you're listening to a good podcast episode Right now, while you're listening, you could be doing that. You could be pre-prepping, so it could be during your podcast listening time that you're standing there pre-prepping and doing these things. Make it work with your schedule. Don't make it something you have to add on. There's another mind-blowing tip Don't make these strategies, when you add them, something extra that you have to do. Weave them in seamlessly with what you're already doing. Isn't that exciting? I mean, that really is mind blowing right there, because you don't have to make it something extra.

Anita: 9:56

When done right, these strategies should be woven into your daily life. So, with this strategy, think about grab and go fruit, and our next strategy is very similar. And our next strategy is very similar Chop a few of your favorite raw veggies, like carrots, celery, bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, and I'll even challenge you to add something in there that's not a favorite yet or something that you haven't tried before. Like, you can pre-chop some purple cabbage wedges these are such a favorite snack and then you can just chop them up again, keep them in a clear container, something that's very easy to see, and you can snack on these or even toss them into a meal during the week. Think about how much easier that makes meal prep.

Jarrod: 10:40

We do that all the time, like if we come home and it's later than we expect and we're thinking what do we want for dinner? And we think, hey, salad might be good. Yeah, maybe we've got some lettuce in the fridge that we need to use up before it goes bad, but we don't really want to have to take a lot of time to prepare all this. Well, when we have everything pre-chopped in the fridge, we just throw it together, or sometimes we'll even have that for grain bowls.

Anita: 11:03

It works great for grain bowls, noodle bowls. Any meal you can think of that needs ingredients, which is pretty much any meal right.

Anita: 11:09

You have those ingredients pre-prepped and ready to go. But I love that idea of chopping up some cabbage specifically purple cabbage into wedges, because that goes really well with this next tip, as do all the veggies there, and that is pre-prepare a delicious dressing or a sauce, at least one versatile dressing or sauce that will elevate your meals during the entire week. And if you think I have no clue where to start I don't even know how to make a dressing without pouring a ton of oil in it or putting mayo or eggs in it then you want to grab your copy of the Power on Plants cookbooks at poweronplantscom forward slash cookbook, because that's where I share all of my favorite dressings. These are the dressings and sauces that our family eats every single week, and I can't tell you how much we hear from people.

Anita: 11:59

These are the things that change everything for them the dressings, the sauces. Getting them onto your foods amps up the flavor and makes things delicious, and when you don't miss your dressings or sauces, you don't miss the flavor. So this is the big key. Why does this work so well? These small steps are going to reduce your decision fatigue and make healthy eating automatic. Think about it. Anytime you can put something on automatic, are you much more likely to do it.

Jarrod: 12:26

Absolutely.

Anita: 12:27

Absolutely Every single time. When it's on automatic, it's just more likely to get done.

Jarrod: 12:32

And we've used many of the dressings as dips and there have been times we've come home and just had broccoli dippers. The broccoli was already pre-cut up. We had the dressing slash dip and then we just dipped it in there and ate it and that was our meal Zero prep time, because it was all done ahead of time and we just pulled it out of the fridge and ate it.

Anita: 12:51

And I know, if you're new to plant-based, this could be shocking to you, because you think If you're new to plant-based, this could be shocking to you because you think, yeah, I could never eat that for a meal.

Anita: 12:59

Just wait, when you go all in, it's going to start tasting amazing and it is going to floor you. The things that you're actually going to enjoy and look forward to eating, and these are going to be the things that are going to power your body. Well, you don't have to start that way. We're going to help you find all your favorites the lasagna, the cheesy soups, the creamy veggie chowders, the desserts, the brownies, all of those things that you love. Yeah, we walk you through exactly how to do that. You want to start with the cookbooks. Again, you can grab those at poweronplantscom forward slash cookbook. But the main thing is to start finding your new favorites and build on those, and definitely start with the dressings and sauces, because they can make all the difference for you.

Jarrod: 13:39

Because, really honestly, you were using those beforehand. I mean, you were putting sauces, maybe on animal based foods, or you were using dressings on salad if you ate salad beforehand, so why would you not do that, going into whole food, plant based?

Anita: 13:53

Yeah, sauces make all the difference.

Jarrod: 13:55

It skyrockets. The flavor, all the difference, these strategiesrockets the flavor, all the difference.

Anita: 13:58

These strategies are life-changing when done consistently. So our challenge to you is to try at least one of these tips this week, and if you're thinking, look, anita, these tips are helpful, but what I really need is the way to get out of the mess I'm in. I need for my body to finally feel good, and I want someone to show me how I need this, step by step way. That's actually exciting, it's enjoyable and will give me optimal health that lasts because I'm sick, I'm not feeling good and I want to be doing the things I want to do in my life without my body holding me back anymore. I want to get rid of what's been sabotaging my health and to know what to buy and where to find it, and how to make my meals so enjoyable that I never feel like I'm missing out again Never. If you feel yourself shouting amen to this on the inside, then you are going to love our accelerator program. Go right now to poweronplantscom forward slash accelerator to learn more. That's poweronplantscom accelerator Friend.

Anita: 15:03

The reason that Jared and I are so very passionate about helping you to reverse your health struggles the enjoyable way is because we got tired of helping people just manage their diseases. So now we spend our days helping our patients and our clients reverse disease instead of managing it, and what we see over and over again is that the accelerator framework for whole food, plant-based eating leads to lasting energy and health, because this is the simplest, most enjoyable and exciting way to regularly eat plants that you can imagine. Friend, our hearts are for you. What lights us up is seeing you be able to actively and fully live the dreams that God has placed in your heart, and we want you to know that we are honored to be a part of your plant-based journey to feeling good. We'll be back with you again next week with another episode dedicated to helping you thrive on a whole food, plant based diet the enjoyable, exciting way. In the meantime, know that you are loved, you are prayed for and we will see you very soon, thank you.