Looking to shed fat or gain muscle? Start by eating right for your goals. Get the lowdown on the key nutrients everyone needs in this macros 101 guide.

Over the past 2 years, I’ve been following the Faster Way Program with great results, completely transforming my body and fitness. 

Whenever I share my journey, I get many questions about macros. Today, I’ll answer all your questions and give you a peek into what a day of eating looks like for me. 

I recently shared my fat loss journey, including 2 years’ progress photos. Before Faster Way, I lived a healthy lifestyle and ate healthy, real food, but I couldn’t figure out why I was gaining weight in my late 30’s.

But that changed as I learned to track macros and lift heavy weights via this great program.

What is Faster Way to Fat Loss?

Faster Way is a digital fitness and nutrition program that teaches clients how to burn fat and build muscle through 2 key components:

• Nutrition – Customized macro counting and calories that align with your specific goals.
• Strategic Workouts – A focus on building muscle through strength training, either at home or in the gym.

It’s through Faster Way that I learned how to track macros and have received custom macros from my coach (and adjustments based on my goals over the last 2 years), and how to lift weights. Before Faster Way, I knew nothing about macros or strength training. So I have to give credit where credit is due. Thank you, Faster Way and my amazing coach, Sandi!

How Do I sign Up?

Join a 6-week round with my incredible Faster Way Coach, Sandi.

JOIN FASTER WAY TO FAT LOSS

What is a Macro?

The word “macro” is short for macronutrient. Macros break down into 3 main categories: 

• proteins
• carbs
• fats

According to the Faster Way Beginner’s Guide to Macronutrients, “Macronutrients are the molecules our bodies need to function. We use these molecules as energy to work on cellular, tissue, organ, and organismal levels. This energy helps us break down nutrients, repair damaged cells, grow new cells, and more. Everything you eat falls into macronutrient categories, so your body is actually tracking macros already.” 

For optimal health, your body needs a ratio of each macronutrient. This is why you shouldn’t eliminate any one macro from your diet (this is also why diets like low-carb and keto are not sustainable in the long run and lead to poor health issues).

Each macronutrient plays a crucial role in maintaining a healthy, happy body.

The 3 Macronutrients: Protein, Carbs, and Fats

Let’s take a look at each macronutrient and the important role it plays. Also, download the free Faster Way macro cheat sheet guide here.

Proteins

• Protein is the building blocks of muscle.
• The only way to build and maintain muscle mass is to eat enough protein and lift heavy weights.
• Many people under consume an adequate amount of protein for their body, which is easy to do if you’ve never tracked your protein intake.
• If you don’t eat enough protein, you’ll lose muscle mass, which means your metabolism will slow, and you’ll have difficulty losing fat and building/maintaining a strong body. Your metabolism has little to do with your age.
• We lose muscle mass as we age, so it’s essential to focus on protein and lifting heavy weights to build and maintain lean muscle, keep your metabolism strong, and maintain healthy body weight.
• Protein Examples – Chicken, greek yogurt, fish, beef, eggs (mainly the whites as the yolk is mostly fat), protein powder, beans, and tofu. 

Fats

• The most calorically dense macro.
• Fat doesn’t make you fat, but many people naturally over-consume this macro without realizing it (it’s easy to do), leading to a calorie surplus. A calorie surplus is the only way to gain fat.
• Fats are vital and help to support your metabolism, cell signaling, immunity, and hormone production.
• Fat Examples – Nuts, butter, cheese, sour cream, peanut butter, seeds, avocado, salmon, olives, bacon, and olive oil. 

Carbohydrates

• The body’s primary fuel source.
• Carbs do not make you fat. Carbs do contain water (carbo-hydrate). When you eliminate them from your body, you may notice a small decrease in weight on the scale (this is water weight; not fat). This change has nothing do with body composition changes or fat loss.
• Most complex carbs (whole grains, berries, fruit, oats, potatoes, etc.) contain a great amount of fiber, and getting at least 25 grams of fiber in your diet daily is important for overall health and feeling satisfied between meals. Most people under-consume fiber-rich foods.
• If you’re not consuming enough carbs, you may notice frequent energy slumps, constipation, intense cravings, difficulty concentrating, thyroid issues, and adrenal issues (source).
• Carb Examples – Sweet potato, white potato, vegetables, brown rice, white rice, bread, oats, berries, apples, and bananas. 

Calories and Macronutrients: A Winning Combo 

Each macro corresponds to a calorie amount per gram. 

• Proteins = 4 grams of carbs 
• ​Fats = 9 grams of carbs 
• Carbs = 4 grams of carbs 

When you add these up, say your macro breakdown is 130 grams of protein x 4, 200 carbs of carbs x 4, 67 grams of fat x 9, you get your calorie target number. 

• Diet Programs & Calories – All diet programs focus on calories, which is why most diet programs work (for the short term). But most programs put people in such an extreme, one-size-fits-all calorie deficit that the results and lifestyle are not sustainable in the long run.
• Calorie Quality Matters – While concentrating on calories is okay, and will help you lose weight, calories alone don’t address the quality of food you’re eating.
• Macros Are Important – Each macronutrient is critical in maintaining a healthy body. So, focusing on calories (the ultimate determiner of fat loss) and where those calories come from is essential. This is particularly important with protein, as you don’t want to lose muscle during a fat loss phase (which happens in most weight loss programs and is why these programs wreak havoc on a metabolism).

Why Track Macros?

• Awareness – Tracking brings attention to what you’re eating, how much, and what a proper amount of food in each macro group looks like for your body and to achieve your goals. Without tracking, most people have no idea how much protein they consume daily. Getting adequate protein is critical to building and maintaining muscle mass, particularly as we age.
• Reach Your Goals – Macro tracking is an amazing tool that you can tweak and play with based on your goals. By tracking macronutrients, you’ll focus on getting a specific amount of each macro to achieve your goals (fat loss, building muscle, maintaining, etc.). No longer does one feel confused and helpless about how to reach these goals.
• Food Freedom – It’s hard to explain, but tracking my macros has given me so much education and knowledge on how to eat and that has brought about incredible food freedom. I no longer fear food, food groups, treats, dinners out, vacations, etc. If I want cookies, I can eat the cookie. If I want to smash burgers, I can enjoy a smash burger. Fries? Yep, that’s cool, too. I can make all these foods and more part of my life without fear or guilt. And because of that, along with being nourished with a balance of each macro group daily, I no longer have intense cravings because “I can’t have that.” I understand how fat loss, muscle building (which requires food!), and weight gain work, and I know that no foods are bad. Sure, there are more nutritionally-dense foods, but morally, I don’t look at any food in a good or bad way. I also have an excellent understanding of how much food my body needs and what that looks like. Since I’ve focused on building muscle over the last two years through lifting heavy weights and eating, I know that when I do over-consume the number of calories it needs to maintain during a vacation, holiday, date night, etc., my body can metabolically handle this surplus. Tracking macros has allowed me to live a more balanced lifestyle and know when to enjoy food and cherish food memories without guilt. It has eliminated constant cravings (because nothing is off limits, and I’m also eating enough of all food macronutrients to satisfy hunger), giving me an even better relationship with food. 

How Many Macros Should I Eat?

How many macros you eat is specific to you, your body, and your current goals. My daily macros will be different than yours, and yours will be different than mine. Macros are not a “one size fits all” thing. Here are a few ways you can breakdown your overall calorie consumption into macros.

• 45/25/30 Breakdown- Generally speaking, most Faster Way clients (the ladies, at least, I can’t talk to the men’s program nutrition) use a macro breakdown of 45% carbs, 25% protein, and 30% fats. This means that 45% of your calories will come from carbs, 25% from proteins, and 30% from fats. This is the most common breakdown for fat loss and muscle growth.
• Other Macro Breakdowns – Other options include, 50% carbs, 20% protein, and 30% fat or 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat.
• Coach Adjustments – When you join Faster Way, you don’t have to think about this as your coach will create your custom macros and percentage breakdown based on your unique body and current goal.

How Do I Determine My Unique Macros?

There are 2 ways to determine your specific macros. Remember, macros are unique to each person as we are all different.

• Certified Coach – The best way is to start by working with a coach who can set up your macros, monitor your progress, and adjust as needed. When joining Faster Way, you must start with a 6-week round. During this 6 week time, you’re paired with a certified FWTFL coach who will calculate your custom macros based on your body, weight, activity levels, past dieting history, goals, etc. These are your initial macro goals/targets based on your current body and fitness goal (whether it’s fat loss, maintenance, etc.). These macros will and should change as your body changes and you build more muscle, lose fat, etc. The beauty of having a coach (who continues with you if you choose to continue into the month-to-month VIP option with Faster Way) is your coach will work with you to adjust those macros and offer the additional support to reach your goals. My macros changed multiple times over the past 2 years as I built more muscle (which requires more food to maintain and increased my metabolism) and transitioned from a fat loss to a maintenance goal. 
• Macro Calculator – Another option is to use a macro calculator (Google “macro calculator,” and you’ll find many options). The calculator will ask you questions like your height, weight, activity level, and goal (fat loss, maintenance, which means you want to maintain your current weight, etc.). After an initial survey, the calculator will provide you with an idea of what your estimated macros are based on your goal/body at the moment. Keep in mind that calculators are not personal like a coach who can adjust numbers based on how your body responds to these initial numbers, so use these calculators as more of an estimate than an exact number. For example, macro calculators estimate my maintenance calories to be about 1850/1900. However, in working with my coach, we found that my true maintenance calories are 2300. That’s a big difference. 

How Do I sign Up?

Join a 6-week round with my incredible Faster Way Coach, Sandi.

JOIN FASTER WAY TO FAT LOSS

How Do You Track Macros?

• Meet Your Macro Goals Through Tracking – Once you know your macro targets (specific macro grams that you should aim to eat each day), it’s time to start tracking what you consume to ensure you hit these macro goals.
• You Must Track If You’re Working Toward a Goal – This is the ONLY way you will see progress if you have a specific goal like fat loss, building muscle, or working to maintain your weight. You have to track for some time. You don’t have to track for the rest of your life.
• Use a Macro Calculator – The easiest and best way to track macros is to use a macro calculator. A macro calculator will do all the work for you; all you have to do is enter the food you’re consuming (most tracking apps have large databases with thousands of different foods), and the calculator will do the rest.

Here are a few options for macro trackers

• Faster Way App – Available to all Faster Way clients, which includes an exclusive macro calculator, macro tracker (I love how visual the tracker is, see below image), a recipe library (whole food recipes), and meal plans (if you want ideas each week for well-balanced meals that will help you meet your macro goals). This option also comes with a coach to set up your custom macros, education how to track and meet your macro goals, and their support.
• My Fitness Pal – I’ve never used this popular calculator and tracker, but many people love it. My Fitness Pal was free, but now it’s a paid macro tracker.
• Cronometer – I know a few people who love this macro tracking app. There is a free and paid version. If you’re serious about tracking, the paid option is best.

Fat Loss, Maintenance, and Bulking: When & How to Change Your Macros

Your current macros aren’t a forever thing. They will and should change based on your body, metabolism, hunger cues, and goals. 

Here are the 3 phases you may find yourself in over the years, as you progress in your fitness journey, during which your macros will look different.

• Fat Loss – Macros/calories set to a slight calorie deficit are needed if you want to lose fat. A calorie deficit is the ONLY way to lose fat. It’s important for you to eat enough calories (and protein macros in particular) to maintain muscle mass during this time. During this time, you’ll be tracking data via progress photos and measurements. Your macros may need to be adjusted based on how your body responds (using data to guide adjustment decisions- this is where a coach is super valuable). A general fat loss phase is around 12 weeks.
• Maintenance – You can’t stay in a fat loss phase forever as you don’t want your metabolism to adapt to these low numbers (and it’s not fun), so eventually, you must reverse your macro targets and calories up. This will take increasing your macros to where your body can maintain your current weight while slowly building muscle. This is where your body is happiest! For me, this meant working with my coach to increase my macros 5% every few weeks based on my hunger cues, strength, and other biofeedback markers (like sleep). Usually, significant fat loss and a toned look are achieved through years of maintenance and then short fat-loss phases. This is the healthiest, most sustainable way to lose fat, build a toned body, and support your metabolism. But this method certainly isn’t as sexy as quick-fix diet programs. You can also stay in maintenance for years, or the rest of your life. No need to go back to a fat loss stage (or bulk) if it’s not needed or desired.
• Bulk – Building muscle in maintenance is a very SLOW process that takes years, so some folks purposely eat more macros/calories than their body needs for a short time and go through a “bulk” phase. Building muscle requires lots of food, so you can put muscle on your body much faster by eating slightly more than the body needs and lifting heavy weights. During a bulk, you’ll also put on some fat and muscle. So usually, people will complete a bulk phase and go into a fat loss phase (to maintain muscle but lose fat) and then work up to maintenance. I’ve never done a bulk, and I don’t plan to (not yet, at least). Going through a bulk would also mean a change in macros/calories.

Having my Faster Way coach has been an invaluable resource in helping me navigate changing macro needs over the last 2 years on my incredible journey.

As I mentioned in my 2-year journey post, the coach will make or break your experience with Faster Way, and Sandi is incredible at able providing custom macros and guidance (not all coaches do). 

What I Eat in a Day: Example of Macro Tracking & Meals

I share my daily meals on Instagram. Here’s an example of what I eat in a day.

This meal plan example is based on my current macro goals (in maintenance) of 142 grams protein, 76 grams fat, 245 grams carbs, and 25 grams fiber.

• Break My Fast & Pre Workout – Coffee with heavy cream, water and electrolytes, and creatine, 2 dates with peanut butter (I like to eat carbs before training; carbs are the body’s preferred energy source and help me get through a workout) 
• Breakfast – 1 egg + 3 egg whites (for extra protein) omelet with ham, 2 slices of cinnamon raisin toast with cream cheese, berries + Greek yogurt with honey 
• Lunch – Tuna mashed with avocado (a great way to get in fat and fiber) and salt, crackers, apples, cucumbers and carrots
• Snack – Smoothie with rolled oats, peanut butter powder, protein powder, banana, almond milk, ice 
• Dinner – Ground beef tacos (corn tortillas, ground beef), avocado, cheese, sour cream, slaw and black beans on the side. If I’m still hungry after dinner or need to catch up protein, may have some Greek yogurt.
• Begin my Overnight Intermittent Fast – Usually about 12 hours, sundown to sun up, but I’m not super strict on this.

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The post Faster Way to Fat Loss Macros 101 Guide appeared first on Live Simply.

2 years ago, I was frustrated and confused by weight gain despite my healthy eating habits. But now, after 2 years, I’ve lost over 20lbs, gained amazing muscle and strength, and dropped 6 pants sizes. And the best part? I achieved all this by eating more, prioritizing rest, and lifting weights 3 times a week.

Below, I’ll share my personal experience with Faster Way to Fat Loss (the program I’ve followed), including progress photos, what I eat in a day, and my best tips for fitness at any age.

Why I Chose Faster Way?

• Looking for Answers in My Late 30s – As I started to gain weight in my late 30s, despite eating real food and being active (barre classes and kickboxing), I began searching for answers. I couldn’t figure out why I was gaining weight.  
• Best Way to Lose Fat – As I began to research and listen to experts in the field of fat loss, I realized everyone recommended 3 things: calories matter (but so does the quality of those calories so focus on macronutrients – carbs, fat, protein), strength train (lift heavy weights), and consume plenty of protein. The problem? I didn’t know how to do any of this. It all sounded good in theory, but I didn’t know how to put the pieces together and make it work in my everyday life. 
• Explored My Options – I contacted a personal trainer and looked into courses, but everything was too expensive for my budget.
• Stalked Faster Way – That’s when I found Faster Way on social media. Of course, I was skeptical, having seen so many gimmicks over the years. And the marketing sounded very gimmicky to me. But the longer I followed the company on Instagram and read client wins, the more curious I became. Faster Way was precisely what I needed.
• Joined My First Round – Finally, in December of 2021, I joined a 6-week round of Faster Way.

What is the Faster Way to Fat Loss Program?

Faster Way is a virtual fitness and nutrition program started by Amanda Tress that teaches clients how to burn fat and build muscle. The strategic program focuses on intermittent fasting, carb cycling, macro tracking, whole food nutrition, and strategic workouts.

How The Program Works

• 6-Week Program –  First, you must join a 6-week round, which is $250. During this time, you’re paired up with a certified nutrition coach (I highly recommend my amazing coach, Sandi – watch my interview with Sandi here) who sets up your custom macronutrient targets/calories based on your goal (i.e., fat loss, building muscle), get access to the Faster Way App where you’ll easily track your nutrition, get weekly meal plans (for ideas and inspiration), and weekly 30-minute workouts (3 strength trainings for home or gym workouts and 2 HIIT workouts. Think of the first 6 weeks as a crash course for a life-time of success – you learn everything you need to know about tracking macros/calories to hit your goals, how to lift weights, strength training, and have a coach to guide you the whole time.
• VIP Program – After the first 6 weeks and an incredible education, you may choose to continue working with your coach, getting the weekly strategic workouts (programmed new each week), using the app. VIP is a monthly subscription costing $79 and worth every penny! I’ve been doing the month-to-month for 2 years now. 
• Macro Tracking to Achieve Your Fitness Goals – The reason why any weight loss program works is because of a calorie deficit (eating fewer calories than your body needs). Most weight loss programs put people in a very low calorie deficit, causing people to lose a rapid amount of weight quickly. This weight is not just fat but also vital muscle. These super low-calorie deficits are not sustainable, so when the person goes back to eating “normal” again, they binge and gain back all the weight. Faster Way focuses on losing fat and building muscle by placing a person in a slight calorie deficit (specific to you!). Instead of focusing on calories, Faster Way focuses on macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fats). By concentrating on macronutrients (which total up to a calorie number), the focus is on the quality of food you consume, getting enough protein to build muscle and lose fat, bringing in healthy fats for hormone health, and enjoying carbs for energy. You can’t stay in a calorie deficit forever, so your Faster Way coach will help you exit this stage and live in maintenance, where you’ll eat enough calories to maintain your results.
• Strategic Workouts – Faster Way focuses on building muscle through strength training. Building muscle is the best thing a person can do, both for longevity and for their metabolism and hormones and to maintain a healthy weight. As we age, particularly women starting in their 30s, we lose muscle mass. Faster Way pairs lifting weights with the nutritional aspect. The workout plan is uploaded to the app each week and features 3 days of lifting weights (total body, upper body, legs), 2 days of HIIT workouts, and 2 rest days. You don’t need any prior experience with lifting weights (I had none). Each workout includes a video you can follow along with, form help, and a list of the moves for the day. The lifting moves are all basic compound moves and are built in a progressive manner (helping you get stronger over time). Each strength training features a gym option and a home option. The workouts are like having a personal trainer without the expense. The workouts alone are worth the cost, in my opinion.
• Faster Way App – The Faster Way App is included when you join a 6-week round and as a VIP client. This is where you’ll find the weekly workouts, meal plans (if you want ideas), a huge recipe database (for easy whole food ideas), your custom macros and macro tracker.

Faster Way provides everything you need to reach your fitness goals in one spot- a certified nutrition coach, custom macros/calories that align with your goal(s), workouts, macro tracking app, and ongoing support.

My Fat Loss Journey & Progress Photos

When I joined Faster Way, my goal was to lose weight. What I got was so much more. I gained the habits and education to keep me in shape for the next 60 years.

When I joined, the best advice I received was to take progress pictures and stay off the scale. While in the day-to-day, I didn’t always feel like I was changing, looking back, the photos tell a different story.

Today, I have 2 years’ worth of progress photos in my phone, a time-stamp on my progress.

December 2021 (Joined Faster Way to Lose Fat)

• Joined Faster Way – I joined a 6-week round of Faster Way at age 37. I was eating healthy, but gaining weight and felt hopeless and frustrated. While my goal was fat loss, I didn’t have a specific goal number on the scale or pants size (which I think has been incredibly helpful on this journey). I wanted to feel better and hopefully look better – whatever that meant.
• Calorie Deficit – Because my goal was to lose fat, my coach set up my macronutrient targets (eating a certain amount of fat, protein, and carbs) to be in a slight calorie deficit (1600 calories).
• Strength Training at Home – I had never lifted weights before, so I followed the Faster Way workout videos to a T – watching the form, following along, and learning things like deadlifting, bench press, etc. I had a pair of 10- and 15-pound dumbbells at home, and that’s what I used.
• Intermittent Fasting – I also practiced intermittent fasting for 16 hours a day, from after dinner until about 11 am. My metabolism was “in the trash” and I honestly didn’t have much of an appetite so I wasn’t even hungry until this time anyway. I soon learned that this “lack of appetite” isn’t a good/healthy metabolic sign.

January 2022 (Noticed Some Results)

• Finished My First 6-Week Round – I felt good and saw some fat loss, and was getting stronger and loved lifting weights.
• Continued into VIP – I was excited about everything I had learned, understanding the value of tracking my nutrition and building muscle, and decided to continue with the VIP month-to-month program and my coach’s support ($79). I wanted to see where this journey would take me.

Summer 2022 (Down 6 Pants Sizes)

• People Started Noticing – 6 months in, people started noticing my changing body and asking what I was doing. It was at this time I began sharing my journey on Instagram.
• Increasing Calories/Macros – I had now spent 6 months eating in a slight calorie deficit and lifting weights with the Faster Way workouts. Based on biofeedback (hunger, sleep, energy, strength), I worked with my new coach (Sandi) to increase my macronutrient targets (therefore increasing my calories) for the first time to about 1800 calories. As I had built muscle, my body now required more food to maintain that muscle.
• Shorter Fasting Window – I stopped fasting for 16 hours and went down to a 12-hour fasting window, from sun down to sun up. As I built muscle, my metabolism began to “fire up” and suddenly I was hungry like never before. I woke up wanting food with hunger signals -a sign of good metabolic health.
• Fat Loss & Muscle Growth – I continued seeing fat loss as we increased my macros/calories and body composition changes. I started noticing muscle definition like never before as well.
• Mindset Shift – My mindset shifted from one of fat loss to building muscle and strength. I began to realize the incredible benefit of having muscle on my body. The habits I had formed and the consistency of sticking with Faster Way was paying off.
• Dropped 6 Pants Sizes – I still had not stepped on a scale. But the pictures told the story. I had dropped 6 pants sizes at this point, going from a size 8/10 to 2. 
• Home Workouts – I continued to follow the FWTFL workouts at home, buying heavier weights as I got stronger.

October 2022 (Down 20lbs)

• Stepped on The Scale – Finally, 10 months later, I stepped on a scale. Sandi (my coach) had been upping my macros/calories for several months now. I wanted to start tracking my weight each week (taking a daily weight, then a 7-day average over multiple weeks) to see if I was maintaining (my new goal) or losing fat. I was tracking my weight for data collection as I worked up to maintaining my results and as we were tweaking my calories.
• Mindset Shift – To my surprise, in 2021, I was 145lbs (heavy for my petite frame) and was now down to 123lbs. I didn’t care about the number on the scale – a scale number was never my goal. The proof was in the body composition changes, the incredible energy I felt, the fantastic sleep I was getting, my improved hormones and libido, the confidence gains, and the strength gains.
• Home Workouts – I continued to follow the Faster Way workouts at home, buying heavier weights as I got stronger.

December 2022 (Time For More Food)

• Eating More Food – My daily calories were around 2000 (broken down by specific macronutrients). I still did not hit “maintenance calories,” which was evidenced by the data I was collecting on the scale – my weight was still going down, not maintaining. How could I eat this much and still lose fat? Answer: I had built a significant amount of muscle over the past year as a newbie to strength training, which requires more food to maintain (muscle is metabolically taxing). Ladies, muscle will do incredible things for your body composition, health, and metabolism.
• Continued to Increase Food Intake – I continued to increase my macros/calories with my coach until we found the “sweet spot” of maintaining (not losing or gaining weight, just holding steady). I told Sandi, “Let’s see just how many calories my body can handle without gaining weight.” If we went too far (a surplus, eating more than my body needed), we could simply dial back my calories. I was collecting data from the scale, paying attention to how my clothes fit, and taking pics, so I had data to use during this process.
• Mindset – While my calories were increasing, a battle was raging in my mind. I was fearful that eating more would equal weight gain. I grew up being told “eat less, weigh less.” So the idea of adding more calories and food was a huge mental battle for me. But, I trusted the process, I trusted my coach, and I was collecting data (how my body was responding).
• Home Workouts – I continued to follow the Faster Way workouts at home, buying heavier weights as I got stronger. My collection now ranged from 8lb-60lb dumbbells and bands. I was noticing significant strength gains as I was eating more food!

March 2023 (Maintaining & Eating 2350 Calories)

• 2350 Calories – By this time, I finally hit my maintenance calories/macros, landing around 2350 calories daily. I continued to eat this amount of calories throughout 2023, maintaining my current body, gaining strength, and slowly building muscle.
• Fasting 12 Hours – I followed a 12ish hour fasting window, from sun down to sun up, but I wasn’t strict about this. My metabolism was clearly working like it hadn’t in years and eating this much food was something I needed (and desired based on hunger cues) to support my new body and burning metabolism (thank you muscle!).
• Started Eating Before Workouts – I stopped working out in a fasted state and started eating first thing in the morning before working out, always having some carbs (oatmeal, toast with peanut butter and banana, or dates and peanut butter) before working out in the morning. I found this was needed as I got stronger and lifted heavier weights. After working out, I would have a big breakfast with protein, fat, and more carbs. 
• Home Workouts – I continued to workout with the Faster Way workouts at home using dumbbells and bands. I felt strong and energetic because I was eating so much amazing food (fuel!).

Summer 2023 (Joined a Gym)

• Joined a Gym – I joined a gym for the first time as we moved across the state and couldn’t access my home dumbbells in storage. Plus, as I had built muscle over the past 1.5 years, it was time to reach for heavier options, particularly for leg day. The gym could provide those options.
• Faster Way Gym Workouts – I started following the Faster Way gym workouts (which feature a mix of machines and dumbbells). I didn’t know how to use gym machines, so I utilized the Faster Way video tutorials, along with YouTube, included with each workout to help guide me and learn these new skills. At first, I would mostly use the dumbbells (my comfort zone), but I slowly warmed up to the machines and barbells and haven’t looked backed since.

February 2024 (Maintaining & Building Muscle)

• Maintaining – Today, I’m living my best life in maintenance (eating around 2300 calories and maintaining at around 125-126lbs). I plan to stay here all of 2024, maintaining my progress.
• Food Freedom – I have food freedom like never before. I don’t fear food, I enjoy treats and all my favorite foods, and have an incredible body and feel amazing. Tracking macros and calories has also become very intuitive, helping me understand what an adequate amount of food looks like for my body. Today, I’m able to practice more intuitive eating without weight gain because of learning how to track macros/calories. 
• Building Muscle – I continue to follow the Faster Way workouts (mostly the gym workouts, sometimes the home option) and am focused on building more muscle in 2024!

Today, I’m in better shape than ever before as I enter my 40s this year with a body composition I never thought possible while eating a ton of food and feeling strong.

How Do I sign Up?

Join a 6-week round with my incredible Faster Way Coach, Sandi.

JOIN FASTER WAY TO FAT LOSS

Nutrition: What I Ate Before vs. During Faster Way

• What I Didn’t Change – I never changed anything about what or how I ate when I started my journey, even in a fat-loss phase (calorie deficit). I was already familiar with eating whole foods, which is the emphasis of Faster Way. This program is NOT a diet program. It’s not about eating special shakes, protein powders, or brand-specific foods. I continued to eat the same foods as I did before I joined the program.
• What I Did Change – What changed is I learned how to track the food I was eating to hit my macronutrient goals and calories targets. As my macros/calories changed, I would increase (or decrease) the amount of food I ate: more chicken for protein or rice for carbs.
• Dairy and Gluten – In Faster Way, clients are encouraged to eliminate gluten and dairy during the first 6 weeks as these foods can cause inflammation for some people. The quality of these foods is important, and I’ve always enjoyed sourdough and cultured dairy (like yogurt, sour cream, and cottage cheese) without issue. I even tested for gluten and dairy sensitivity many years ago, and both tests came back negative. I would have a hard time meeting my protein goal without dairy. And no one is going to take sourdough bread away from me. That said, if you have inflammation and feel like these foods may be causing it, it may be worth eliminating them temporarily to see if that helps.

What Does a Typical Day of Eating Look Like For Me?

I share my daily meals on Instagram. Here’s an example of what I eat in a day…

• Break My Fast & Pre Workout – Coffee with heavy cream, water and electrolytes, and creatine, 2 dates with peanut butter (I like to eat carbs before training; carbs are the body’s preferred energy source and help me get through a workout) 
• Breakfast – 1 egg + 3 egg whites (for extra protein) omelet with ham, 2 slices of cinnamon raisin toast with cream cheese, berries + Greek yogurt with honey 
• Lunch – Tuna mashed with avocado (a great way to get in fat and fiber) and salt, crackers, apples, cucumbers and carrots
• Snack – Smoothie with rolled oats, peanut butter powder, protein powder, banana, almond milk, ice 
• Dinner – Ground beef tacos (corn tortillas, ground beef), avocado, sour cream, lettuce and roasted sweet potatoes on the side. If I’m still hungry after dinner or need to catch up protein, may have some Greek yogurt.
• Begin my Overnight Intermittent Fast – Usually about 12 hours, sundown to sun up, but I’m not super strict on this.

Learn more about macros in my Faster Way to Fat Loss Macros 101 Guide.

What will you learn in a 6-week round of the FWTFL program?

As I mentioned, you must complete a 6-week round of Faster Way to start. The first 6 weeks are all about education and building habits. After this, you can continue with a month-to-month VIP membership (much cheaper than the 6-week round).

So what should you expect if you join Faster Way and go through a 6-week round? 

• Custom Macros With a Certified Nutrition Coach– Your coach will have you complete a survey after joining and, based on this info (such as your current goal, diet history, height, weight, etc.), will send you custom macros. Not all coaches do custom macros, but my coach does, and that’s why I recommend her. 
• Macro Tracking – Your coach will then teach you, over the 6 weeks, how to track macros (you get access to the Faster Way app and macro tracker, or you can use an app like MyFitnessPal or Cronometer). 
• Small Group Education – Over the 6 weeks, you’ll be placed in a small group with your coach and other people going through their first round. This is a place to stay accountable, ask questions, and learn. Your coach is there to teach, guide, and help you. 
• Carb Cycling – Faster Way uses “carb cycling,” which means eating more fat, fewer carbs (net carbs), and the same amount of protein 2 days a week. Then, 5 days a week, eating higher carbs, lower fat, and the same amount of protein. I practiced carb cycling for over 18 months and loved it! In the summer of 2023, I stopped carb cycling due to personal preference. This is a fantastic nutrition strategy to learn during your first 6 weeks.
• Intermittent Fasting– Faster Way also uses a strategy called intermittent fasting, which doesn’t mean skipping a meal. Fasting is simply giving your body time for digestive rest. I still eat all meals, including breakfast and dinner, and fast for 12 hours each night. Your coach will help create a custom fasting schedule for you that’s safe and based on your goals and body. This is the beauty of Faster Way: once you learn how to track macros and strength training, use intermittent fasting safely, and have the help of your coach, how you utilize these strategies can be completely customized to you and your lifestyle. 

Do I Recommend Faster Way to Fat Loss? My Honest Review

100%, yes!! 

• Best Decision – Joining Faster Way is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It’s completely transformed my body, relationship with food, strength and energy levels, and outlook on aging.
• Not a Fad, Diet, or Gimmick – Faster Way isn’t a gimmick; it’s not some crazy fad. It’s a clinical-trial-backed, evidence-based program focused on eating the right amount of calories/macros to meet your unique goals and strength training. Those are the fundamental tenets.
• You’ll Get an Education – Over the past two years, my understanding of fat loss, weight loss, and muscle has completely changed, and as a woman, I feel empowered and excited to age. 
• Consistency = Results – I’ve seen results because of the compounding effect of consistency. I’ve never been “perfect” with my macro tracking, and I’ve taken weeks off from strength training (vacations). But my daily habits have been consistent, and I stuck with it even when I didn’t feel like I was making progress. I’ve seen incredible results by not focusing on a result (like a number on the scale) but instead on being consistent and enjoying the process. And those results aren’t just in a physical change, but also my energy levels, hormones, libido, sleep, and more non-appearance markers. Ladies, please stop obsessing over quick fixes; instead, build the habit of consistency. It’s boring, but it works! What if I quit after those first 6 weeks, when I didn’t see a huge change? I wouldn’t be where I am today. Change takes time.
• The Coach Will Make or Break Your Experience – When I first started, my initial coach could have been better. She didn’t set up custom macros for me and was very distant. She was an influencer, not a coach. This was fine during my first few months, but after a while, as I needed more help, she couldn’t provide that help. This is when I switched to Sandi, who has been a personal trainer for a long time and knows her stuff! With her, I saw the progress I have made so far. I can’t stress enough how important it is to choose the right coach. To join a 6-week round of Faster Way with my incredible coach, click here.  

I’ve been sharing my journey on Instagram, and since that time, I’ve received incredible messages from people also on a similar journey. Here are just some of the amazing messages I’ve received.

Reader Q&A

If I lift weights, will I get bulky? 

No, women don’t easily get “bulky” without a ton of strategic action over many years: eating a TON of food, lifting HEAVY for years, using steroids, etc. You will not get bulky by lifting weight. Muscle is the organ of longevity and the key to looking toned and so many vital functions.

How tall are you?

I’m 5’2″.

How often do you train and how long are your training sessions?

I lift (strength train) 3 times a week with one upper body day, one leg day, and one total body day (about 45 minutes to 1 hour each time- I take lots of rest between sets, so my sessions take more time), HIIT 1 time a week and rest 2-3 days a week (walking). I love Faster Way because this schedule is all programmed for me each week, so I don’t have to think about what I’m doing. I open the Faster Way App and get to work.

I’ve tried everything from CrossFit, to boot camp, to running, weight watchers and even Optavia. I need something that I can stick with and will give me results to better health and a better body that’s good to me. How is Faster Way different?

All of those diets, and even the workouts don’t focus on building muscle, and that is the key to longevity to restoring your metabolism. Things like Optavia put you in an extreme calorie deficit and so does Weight Watchers. And anyone will lose a large amount of weight in those extreme deficits (it’s why they work in the short term with amazing results). The problem is they are quick fixes and how do you sustain the results? Plus when people lose weight on those diets they’re losing both muscle and fat because of how extreme the calorie deficit is. And by losing muscle and eating at such a low calorie number, you’re tanking your metabolism. So when you do go back to eating more food, you’re naturally going to gain a ton of weight.

Faster Way is different because it takes what all the science and data backs as the way to lose fat and build muscle and maintain these results for the long-term. You won’t see any kind of crazy results in 6 weeks, as you can see from my photos. But eating enough to build muscle (and a slight calorie deficit if your goal is fat loss) and lifting weights to build muscle will do INCREDIBLE things for your body and metabolism over the long haul no matter your age. This approach is sustainable and you’ll get results that go beyond just a quick-fix downsizing on the scale.

Is there anything you don’t eat? Are there any foods you avoid or have cut out of your diet?

No, I eat anything and everything (in fact, just enjoyed some Girl Scout Cookies). Learning the strategy of counting macros and calories and understanding how to build muscle has given me incredible food freedom and an amazing metabolism that can handle a lot of delicious food. 

Do you have to intermittent fast? 

First, everyone fasts. When you sleep and go without eating for 7+ hours, you’re fasting. So fasting doesn’t need to be some extreme thing to be scared of.

But no, you don’t have to intermittent fast; however, most people who ask this think fasting is extreme. Fasting doesn’t mean skipping meals or missing breakfast. It simply gives your body digestive rest (like we all do when we’re sleeping), but it also keeps you from overeating at night out of boredom (this was a massive help for me). I fast 12 hours daily, from sundown (after dinner) to sun up (breakfast), sometimes less. Other options are 14 hours and 16 hours. Your coach should work with you to create a custom fasting schedule that works best for you. IMO, fasting is less necessary than meeting your calorie/macro targets and strength training. Still, it is a good discipline that can be super beneficial and one strategy you’ll learn to use correctly and safely in Faster Way. 

I have a lot of weight to lose, will this work for me?

Yes, it will. Faster Way works because it combines a slight calorie deficit (if your goal is fat loss) with building muscle. Whether you choose to join Faster Way or not, these are the two essentials to losing weight and getting that toned look people want. It’s not that Faster Way has some magical secret solution (any program that makes such claims is a big red flag); it’s just that they’ve taken these tenets and packaged them up in an easy-to-follow program.

You can choose quick fixes that will put you in an extreme calorie deficit (which never last because you can’t eat that little for a long time and feel good, but give super fast results), but sustainability is critical. Faster Way does a fantastic job (particularly if you’re with the right coach, which is why I recommend Sandi) at helping people lose fat (through nutrition), build muscle (which will change your body and metabolism in an incredible way), and maintain those results.

Can men join Faster Way? 

Yes, Faster Way has a men’s program.

Can you share about low-carb days, low-macro days, and regular macro days in Faster Way?

In Faster Way, you learn how to carb cycle with low-carb days and regular macro days (in VIP, you also learn how to use a low macro day). I practiced carb cycling for over 15 months, but when I went into maintenance, I found it hard to fit my necessary calories with the amount of fat needed on low carb days. But these are amazing strategies that I will always have in my toolbox and can use in the future.

Do I have to weigh food on a scale when I track macros?

I highly recommend doing so initially and for a while as you learn to track macros. Weighing food is far more accurate than using measuring cups. You’ll get a fantastic education and visual on what 20 grams of protein looks like when eating chicken or what 50 grams of carbs looks like when eating rice or potatoes. Taking the time to learn this skill will ensure you’re meeting your macro goals, which provides the best results (particularly in a calorie deficit for fat loss).

Can I drink alcohol and lose weight? 

You can, but do I recommend it? No, at least not regularly. When I started my journey, I continued to drink, usually a glass or two of wine or beer a night. But as I tracked macros (which included those drinks), I realized that I didn’t want to waste my calorie allocation on those drinks. I wanted to eat delicious food instead. So, I slowly cut back, and gradually, my desire for it disappeared. As I stopped drinking, fat loss became more accessible, and I felt way better. I still drink from time to time. We recently went to Mexico, and I spent 4 days enjoying margs, wine, and beer. It was fun, but that’s not my daily life. 

How fast will I see results? 

While I saw some results in the first 6 weeks, I soon realized that this journey is lifelong. I recommend approaching your journey with the same mindset. Over the past two years, I’ve seen my body change incredibly, and if I had been focused on fast and quick, I never would have had the patience to build the consistency and sustainable habits that got me to where I am today. I can’t wait to see my progress over the next year(s) and the compounding effect of consistent daily habits.

Is Faster Way to Fat Loss an MLM? 

No, it’s not (and I’ve seen a lot of MLM companies over the years and been very outspoken about many in the health and beauty industry). I get that it feels very gimmicky for many people; I felt that way too. It’s a clinically proven program focusing on the foundation that every fitness professional will tell you is vital: protein, calories (Faster Way also focuses on macros for nutrition quality), and lifting weights. What FWTFL has done so well is taking these fundamental principles and packaging them into an easy-to-follow program, so you have all the tools and support needed to succeed with these essential habits. 

Do you need to know how to count macros to join Faster Way?

No, you’ll learn during the first 6 weeks and be given custom macros and have access to the Faster Way App for daily tracking. 

Is the month-to-month VIP group worth it?

Yes! For $79 a month, it’s a steal of a deal. Having my workouts completely programmed and done for me (and these aren’t just random workouts; they are strategically developed each week to build muscle and strength over time) is worth every penny. Also, having my coach’s support when I need my macros adjusted, have questions, have felt like I wasn’t making progress and needed help, etc., is worth the month-to-month cost. 

Will I lose weight on Faster Way? 

You may or may not see your scale weight drop. But scale weight means very little; it’s simply a piece of data (a number) that includes muscle, water, food, fat, bone density, etc. Even if the scale doesn’t move (which, yes, it did for me, I went from 145lbs to now maintaining at around 125lbs for over a year), you will lose fat, build muscle, and see body composition changes if you’re consistent. Instead of focusing on the scale, build the habits of tracking your macros and strength training and take progress photos weekly. You’ll be shocked at what your body can do and how it can change with consistency over time. 

Do I need to join a gym to follow the strength training workouts?

No, you can exercise at home using dumbbells and bands or workout at the gym. Faster Way provides options for both. It gives you everything you need to be successful – videos, form training, etc., whether you’re a newbie (like I was) or experienced (like I am now). 

Do I have to follow the Faster Way meal plans?

No, Faster Way provides meal plans each week in the Faster way App (included when you join and in the month-to-month VIP membership); however, you don’t need to follow them. This isn’t a diet program where you have to eat certain foods. The meal plans are simply there as a guide, like Pinterest or a blog, to simplify your life if you want to use them. They are not a “diet plan.” 

I like barre, pilates, yoga, and other classes, can I continue to do these classes and follow the Faster Way Program?

Yes, you can. Barre, yoga, pilates are both wonderful activities for a rest day (and Faster Way has these options built into the program on rest days with videos you can follow if you choose). But, you need to strength train as that’s the only thing that will build muscle and doing this is essential for your metabolism, appearance, and overall health and longevity. So whether you use the Faster Way strength trainings, or something else, these workouts should be your top priority.

How have you found the macro tracking? Weighing food, measuring ingredients, inputting all your recipes etc. That part seems like a lot of effort and time.

In the beginning, this skill takes time to learn (and that’s what the first 6 weeks are for – learning and practicing with the help of your coach). I keep meals simple and repeat a lot of favorite meals, and the app makes tracking so simple and easy. I do a lot of copy/paste in the app, too (making it so easy and fast to track meals).

Tracking macros is only hard initially as there is a learning curve (just like anything), but the incredible value of learning this skill is worth it and will pay off in the long run. Now, for me, it’s just second nature, and I don’t track in maintenance because I spent the time learning how to track and visualize what, say, 30 grams of protein looks like or 100 grams of carbs. I can eat intuitively now and maintain weight, but I needed to learn this invaluable tool.

How do I sign up? To join a 6-week round of Faster Way with my incredible coach, click here.  

How Do I Sign Up?

JOIN FASTER WAY TO FAT LOSS

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• Common mistakes when approaching picky eaters
• Tips and advice for overcoming these mistakes
• How to encourage healthy eating habits without obsessing over food or allowing food to become a battle
• The impact language has on kids and their relationship with food
• How to make new foods a positive experience for everyone in the family
• How to ditch control and worry associated with kids and food
• The importance of meal routines
• Tips for simplifying school lunch

• Healthy Lunches 5-Day Guide
• Kids Eat In Color Website
• Follow Jennifer Anderson on Instagram
• Better Bites: Jennifer’s 4-week program for picky eaters
• The Best Lunchbox Gear for Kids

The post Podcast Episode 055: How to Raise Kids Who Have a Healthy Relationship with Food appeared first on Live Simply.

Everyone has an opinion about how to eat and what to eat. That, my friend, is why I believe so strongly in getting back to something called: real food. Let me explain…

In the past 80 years, our food system has gone through a change like never before. Granted, many changes are amazing. I love my electric oven and fridge. As Michael Pollan says in Cooked, “Industrialization isn’t bad. But when we cut corners and forget why we did something for so long, we end up hurting ourselves.”

For thousands of years, (healthy) people have prepared foods in certain ways, and for certain reasons. Over the past 80 years, we’ve cut big corners and listened to advertisers and lobbyists tell us what to eat (versus tradition) and how to eat. As a result, we’re now confused about food and incredibly sick.

Maybe our ancestors knew what they were doing? Maybe tradition is important?

This, my friend, is what real food is all about. It’s about returning to a traditional way of eating. To a way of eating (the only way of eating) that nourished healthy families for thousands and thousands of years.

Listen to Real Food 101 Podcast Episode

Want to listen instead of read? That’s cool! Just pop your earbuds in and hit play.

What’s Wrong With Ultra Processed Food?

Let’s start at the very beginning and take a look at what food is. I think the best place to turn is the dictionary.

He writes that societies that have adopted such a way of eating“invariably suffer from high rates of the so-called Western diseases: obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Virtually all of the obesity and type 2 diabetes, 80 percent of the cardiovascular disease, and more than a third of all cancers can be linked to this diet. Four of the top ten killers in America are chronic diseases linked to this diet.”

Pollan also writes “Populations eating a remarkably wide range of traditional diets generally don’t suffer from these chronic diseases. Traditional diets run the gamut from ones very high in fat (the Inuit in Greenland are an example which subsists largely on seal blubber) to ones high in carbohydrate (example: Central Indians have a diet largely made up of maize and beans) to the ones high in protein (the Masai tribe in Africa live off cattle blood, meat, and milk.)”.

Pollan points out that these are extreme examples. But these serve a point. The new western diet, a diet that’s made up mostly of highly processed food, is making us sick.

Real food makes you feel good. This isn’t to say that we won’t get sick when consuming real food. We don’t live in a perfect world and illness happens.

But real food supports the body; it nourishes the body. Real food contains vital nutrients, like vitamins and minerals and naturally-occurring fats, that our bodies need for support and to function in a healthy way. Processed food doesn’t offer this. It leaves the body undernourished, and lacking the basic nutrients needed to thrive.

I know that some folks argue that we live longer today than traditional cultures, but I would point out, as Pollan does in his book, that this is due to improved infant mortality rates, as well as improved modern hygiene advancements (<–which I love and appreciate).

What Is Real Food?

1. Real food is traditional.

Real food is about food that has withstood traditions. In the past, people didn’t rely on profit-driven companies to tell them what to eat or how much to eat. As Pollan says, “Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.” Looking at traditional societies, we know that historically, we are omnivores, eating both meat and plants.

2. Real food is intuitive.

Our ancestors ate when they were hungry, and stopped when they were full. Food that isn’t full of additives, but rather is full of beneficial nourishment that our bodies recognize, allows us to eat intuitively. There isn’t anything added to real food–like trans fat (there is naturally-occurring fat that satisfies and nourishes), or sugars that are altered from their original state by food scientists in a lab to make us addicted to the taste of the food.

Real food also allows us to be in-tune with how the body reacts to food. Eating real food teaches us to listen to our bodies versus marketing.

3. Real food is ingredients.

Ingredients that are as close to their natural state as possible. Jamie Oliver says, “Real food doesn’t have ingredients, real food is ingredients.” Oats, almonds (almond flour), grains, yogurt, cheese, meat are all ingredients, used to create meals or, at times, enjoyed on their own.

4. Real food is full of variety and tastes amazing and different. 

Highly processed food is engineered to always taste the same. For example: A Big Mac is specifically formulated to always taste the exact same, with no variation.

Real food, on the other hand, tastes different depending on the variety, the season, and how it’s grown or where it’s grown. All beef doesn’t taste the same, neither does milk (it actually changes with the seasons, as the diet of a grazing cow changes), cheese changes based on how it’s cultured (a beautiful fermentation process that transforms milk into a beneficial, bacteria-rich food), and tomatoes and lettuce vary in flavor.

5. Real food is seasonal.

Broccoli and peaches aren’t grown year-round, instead there’s a specific season in which broccoli and peaches are grown. This is true for all real food. And this is a beautiful thing, because it means that we were intended to eat variety. Our body needs a variety of nutrients, and the seasonal shift in food provides us with this variety in a very natural way.

6. Real food has a face and name.

Real food is grown by someone, raised by someone, cared for by someone. Food is not just a substance. Real food has a story.

7. Real food is nourishment and should make you feel good.

One of the dangers of highly processed food is the lack of variety in the ingredients consumed. Flip over most packaged foods and you’ll find the same “ingredients” repeated over and over: soybean oil, enriched flour, vegetable oil, sugar of some sort, etc. Where are the nutrients? How can the body thrive?

When we enjoy real food, which changes with the seasons, we are getting all the nourishment we need, throughout a wide variety of foods that are constantly changing throughout the year.

What Does Real Food Look Like?

Here’s the foundation of what real food looks like.

• Grass Fed, Pastured Meats: Animals that have been raised and fed as they were intended when created, with grass underneath and the sun overhead. We use all parts of the animal, including the bones for nourishing broth. Chicken, beef, lamb, pork, and wild game.
• Eggs: From chickens that have been raised on pasture, roaming free with lots of sunlight.
• Fats: Naturally-occurring fats that have nourished healthy families for thousands of years, such as: butter from grass-fed cows, coconut oil, ghee, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, tallow, and lard. Learn more about fats and oils 101.
• Grains, Nuts, and Seeds: Whole grains and minimally-processed with an emphasis on ancient grains and variety: spelt, kamut, einkorn, even whole wheat. Also, ancient practices, such as sourdough bread, if possible. Also: beans, nuts, and seeds.
• Fruits and Veggies: Preferably in season and grown as local as possible, using organic practices. Including lots of fresh herbs. Cooked, raw, and fermented. While organic produce is encouraged, I don’t always buy organic produce. I use the EWG list when shopping at the store. And if purchasing from a local farm or market, many farms aren’t “certified organic” but use organic practices.
• Dairy: Raw or pasteurized and full fat from grass-fed cows, or goats or sheep. I only recommend purchasing raw milk if you know the source and have checked out the farm for cleanliness and safety. Pasteurized milk can be found in the store. I recommend avoiding ultra-pasteurized milk, since this milk has been heated to such a high degree that it kills everything. Anytime you see the words low-fat or fat-free you know a lot of junk has been added to compensate for the loss of nourishing fat. Dairy includes: milk, cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, yogurt, kefir (a fermented yogurt drink), cottage cheese.
• Salt: Real, unrefined salt that hasn’t been stripped of its nourishing minerals. I use Real Salt.
• Seafood: Raised in the wild versus a fish farm.
• Sweeteners: As close to the natural state as possible, such as: raw honey, pure maple syrup, and minimally-processed sugars. Learn more about Sweeteners 101.
• Beverages: Water and beverages made with real ingredients: tea, coffee, kombucha (a fermented tea), milk (from nuts, seeds, or dairy). Even wine and beer, and cocktails–just watch the ingredients and stick with crafting your own cocktails using simple liquors and fresh ingredients.

What Real Food Is Not

1. Real food is not a trend or fad. 

While we may be hearing more about real food due to the internet, books, and documentaries, real food isn’t new. It’s not a trend that will be popular for a few years and then replaced with a new fad. Real food has always been around, since the dawn of time. It’s the way generations before us ate, and the way of eating that future generations will hopefully return to. Highly processed food, which lacks nutrients and is made with manipulated ingredients, hasn’t always been around. If anything, processed food is the new kid on the block.

Now, there are certainly trendy real foods. Kale has been having a spotlight moment, along with chia seeds, cassava, almonds, and cauliflower (cauliflower pizza). While blogs may be making these particular foods trendy, they are simply real ingredients that have been around for ages.

2. Real food is not a restrictive diet, or even a diet at all.

A real food lifestyle is not about limiting food. It’s about saying yes to actual food (ingredients) versus something that’s trying to look and act like food. And here’s the thing, once you begin eating real food, your palate changes and you realize just how amazing real food tastes and how good you feel.

3. Real food is not about depriving yourself.

As Harry Blazer, a food and beverage trends researcher says, “Eat anything you want, just cook it yourself.” Highly processed food has made it easy for us to effortlessly grab chips, cookies, muffins, and other foods that should require spending a fair amount of time in the kitchen to make. Making food yourself means you’re probably not consuming cookies at every meal–it lends us to eat more variety.

There is a rise in real food companies, making convenient options that are made with real ingredients. This is a blessing and curse. I believe the majority of our diet should come from home-cooked foods, made with simple ingredients. These real food convenience options are amazing and can be sprinkled in to help us simplify, when needed.

But we shouldn’t exchange processed food for more boxes and packages, just because we can. Real food is about taking responsibility for our food, and learning how to prepare food so we can nourish our bodies with simple ingredients.

4. Real food is not about counting calories or eliminating naturally-occurring fats.

Calories naturally occur in food, along with fat. We need calories and fat to thrive. Since we’re eating a lot of variety when consuming real food, we don’t have to worry about consuming too much.

5. Real food is not keto, paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free, or vegetarian.

These are variations of a real food lifestyle and, therefore, shouldn’t be seen as the only way to enjoy a real food lifestyle.

How to Make the Switch From Ultra Processed Food to Real Food

1. Change your mindset about food.

When it comes to food, many of us have been influenced by marketing, food packages, food company slogans and commercials. Companies spend billions every year on marketing for a good reason.

Before we make any physical changes to what we purchase or how we eat, we must first change our mindset. This was the greatest struggle I faced when first thinking about a real food lifestyle. Still, to do this day, I find it’s so easy for negative mindsets–based on past influences from marketing–to creep in.

Stop looking at food negatively with a fear mindset. Food is about more than just fat and calories. And remember, fat and calories are good for you–they are vital and essential. Also, stop thinking: Ugh, I have to cook. Start thinking: I get to cook, I get to nourish my family and care for myself.

Start thinking about food in a positive light: food is nourishment, food is a celebration, food is delicious, food is fuel and makes me feel good.

2. Focus on making changes to one meal at a time. 

Focus on making over one meal at at time versus tackling all meals. Maybe this is breakfast or dinner, or lunch.

Focus on preparing 1 or 2 real food breakfasts in a week. Weekends tend to be easier for our family, since they’re less hectic. Based on this, I would focus on preparing a homemade breakfast on Saturday or Sunday. This will give you time to learn how to cook a homemade breakfast. And for some foods, you may find that you have leftovers, like: pancakes, waffles, muffins, granola, or hard boiled eggs.  The leftovers can roll over to another breakfast on a different day.

Slowly, when you feel ready, add an additional day where you serve real food versus relying on a box of Pop Tarts. Slowly build up your real food cooking muscles.

In the beginning, everything is hard. When I first started working out and doing push-ups, I could only do one. I wanted to do 50. Slowly, over time, I’ve worked my way up to 5, then 10, and now I can do 50 pushups. Transitioning away from relying on boxes and packages for every meal is the same way.

You won’t start out eating real food for 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. Just thinking that way feels exhausting. But 1 meal a week? Now that’s doable. And slowly build on that success.

Your palate will also change during this time. And your family won’t feel like you’re taking away all the processed food at once–which generally makes the transition smoother.

Transitioning from a mostly processed food diet to real food is a journey. It’s about a long-term lifestyle. Focus on the small step you can make right now.

3. Focus on learning to cook, particularly basic recipes you can rely on over and over again.

Real food is about taking responsibility for our food, and learning how to prepare food so we can nourish our bodies with simple ingredients. You can’t enjoy a real food lifestyle without learning how to cook. In fact, learning to cook is the very foundation real food is built on.

People say, “I don’t have time to cook.” But we all find time for what matters most to us. If nourishing our family is important, we will find the time.

While individual and very unique recipes are great, I recommend focusing on basic recipes that you can rely on over and over again. Also, think about the highly processed food that your family currently loves and how you can remake that food with real ingredients.

Does your family love pancakes? Focus on finding an amazing pancake recipe that you can use every single week. Master that and then focus on a good muffin recipe. And then a great salad dressing, mac and cheese, or how to cook a whole chicken.

As I mentioned before, build your muscles in the kitchen and slowly build a list of recipes you can confidently cook and rotate.

Now, to do this, you’re going to need to gather real food recipes. Keep a list of recipes that are made with real, simple ingredients. Avoid recipes calling for things like: canned biscuits, condensed creamed soups, or anything that isn’t a single ingredient or a condiment (like mustard).

Keep a list of your favorite recipes and your family’s favorite recipes. You don’t need to know how to cook a million different dishes, or have 30 cookbooks or 100’s of recipes at your disposal. As you learn to cook, and slowly build up your real food muscles, take note of the recipes your family loves and the recipes you love cooking. Keep this list somewhere safe so you can refer back to this list. Or, keep a Pinterest board, or a note in your Notes app on your phone.

4. Shop the outer aisles of the grocery store.

The outer aisles of the grocery store, whether you’re shopping at a regular grocery store or Whole Foods, is where the bulk of your food should slowly begin to come from. You’ll find this is a natural transition as the recipes you’re beginning to try should keep you in these aisles.

This will also be a slow transition; one that may feel scary at first. As you build your real food muscles, you’ll find those outer aisles are your go-to source for food and you’ll feel comfortable shopping the outer section of the store.

The inner aisles aren’t evil, they also have real ingredients, like: oats, flour, barley, beans, rice, canned tomatoes, frozen fruits and veggies.

And what about organic?

In the beginning, I wouldn’t even worry about organic, or pastured meat or eggs. If you can find this stuff right now, great! If so, make the switch to the pastured eggs or grass-fed meat. Many stores are now carrying these options.

I didn’t start out purchasing these options. I started purchasing meat that wasn’t pastured or grass-fed. It took years, of sourcing and figuring out a grocery budget, to get to that point. My point is, don’t feel like you’re not doing a good job, or you’re not doing enough, just because you’re not purchasing a certain kind of meat or organic veggies. This all comes with time.

In the beginning, focus on ingredients and learning to cook versus packaged, boxed, overly-processed food. Slowly, you’ll start finding sources for pastured meats and eggs.

As you continue on your journey, and you’re cooking and preparing more meals, you may find that shopping at the same conventional grocery store for real food ingredients can be limiting and expensive. That was my experience. Of course, this will depend on your area and your store selections.

While many conventional chains are beginning to carry more real food options, the vast majority of food is still highly processed, and it can be particularly challenging to find quality dairy and meats and eggs from some of these conventional stores. Here are a few of my favorite options for expanding your shopping horizons and sourcing real food ingredients:

• Health/Natural Food Store: Small, locally-owned stores or Whole Foods (yes, can be expensive, but not always compared to regular stores). These stores specialize in real ingredients and packaged foods made with these ingredients. Health food store variations: Earth Fare, Sprouts, Trader Joe’s.
• Farmer’s Market/Produce Stand: Fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, pastured eggs and meat, and locally-made foods (like sourdough bread).
• Local Food Co-op: A co-op is made up of people that come together to purchase real food. To find a co-op, use Google, ask around at a health food store, or ask your friends on social media. For example: A gal who works with me said the other day, “I’m going to stop on my way to pick up my son and get our raw milk.” What?! I had no idea she knew of a source for raw milk in our area. #score
• Online Shops, like Amazon and Vitacost: Vitacost is amazing! Free shipping over $49 on real food pantry items, like: pasta, canned tomatoes, snack bars and chips, etc.
• Befriend a Farmer: Visit a farmer’s market. Get to know the face and name behind food. These connections many times lead to other connections for food. Also, many times this food is cheaper because you’re cutting out the middleman and you’re buying in season.
• Start a Garden

5. Clean out and replenish.

Slowly, as you’re cooking, build up the real food ingredients needed to make your favorite meals. This will be a natural transition as you learn to cook, start building your real food muscles in the kitchen, and start relying more on those favorite recipes.

I’ve created a PDF that includes the real food I keep stocked in my fridge, freezer, and pantry.

Take the Next Step…Get Started with a Real Food Lifestyle

I’ve created a step-by-step guide to help you get started with real food. Grab your guide here. This PDF guide walks you step-by-step through ditching ultra processed food to enjoying real food.

The post What is Real Food? A Simplified Guide appeared first on Live Simply.

Today, on the podcast, I’m talking to Jenny from Nourished Kitchen all about looking to the past to determine what we should eat today.

We talk about:

• traditional eating and what exactly it looks like to eat like our ancestors
• the work of Dr. Weston A. Price and why his research is important when considering traditional eating
• seasonal eating

We also talk about how looking at traditional eating can end the confusion around dairy, grains, and other currently-controversial foods. And what exactly it looks like to eat these traditional foods in our modern day culture.

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• Nourished Kitchen (website)
• Follow Jenny on Instagram
• Jenny’s Cookbook: The Nourished Kitchen
• Jenny’s Cookbook: Broth and Stock 
• Kristin’s story (my story mentioned in the intro, from veganism to traditional food)
• Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
• Weston A. Price
• Kefir Grains: Cultures for Health or Kombucha Kamp
• Homemade sauerkraut recipe
• Homemade kefir ranch recipe

Q1: Tell us about yourself. 

Q2: What does a real food lifestyle look like for your family?

Q3: What’s the food philosophy or mantra you live by?

Q4: When you talk about traditional foods, what exactly does this mean? And why does tradition matter when it comes to thinking about the way we eat?

Q5: How did we get so far from a traditional way of eating? How did we go from a traditional foods diet to a processed food diet?

Q6: I think a lot of people are confused about what to eat. In a world with many diets and fads, how can looking at our culinary heritage and traditional eating help end the confusion about what we should be eating? 

Q7: In your book and on your blog, you talk about Dr. Weston A. Price. Can you share more about Dr. Price and his impact on the traditional foods movement?

Q8: How do you get back to traditional foods and culinary heritage, particularly in our day and age when everything is processed and everyone is so busy?

Q9: Making the switch to a traditional (real) food lifestyle/diet can feel daunting, particularly when all you’ve ever known is processed food. If you had to choose just one thing/one change a person could make, where/what would you recommend focusing first?

Q10: What are some of the foods you believe everyone should learn to cook from scratch? The foundations or basic foods or techniques everyone should learn to cook or master in the kitchen?

Q13: What role does seasonal eating play into a traditional foods diet?

Q14: Talk to us about fermentation. What part did fermented foods have in traditional diets? Why should we get back to consuming fermented foods? What are the benefits of consuming fermented foods? How can we add fermented foods to our diet?

Q15: Talk to us about dairy. What part did dairy have in traditional diets? Are there benefits to consuming dairy? What should we be looking for when consuming dairy?  

Q16: And what about grains. What does it look like to consume grains (and flours) from a traditional standpoint? What role has souring and sprouting played in the consumption of grains?

The post Podcast 040: Why Tradition Should Guide What and How We Eat with Jenny from Nourished Kitchen appeared first on Live Simply.

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• Podcast Episode: What Real Food Is and What Real Food Is Not 
• Podcast Episode: Hormone Health 101 with Dena from Back to the Book Nutrition 
• Podcast Episode: Navigating Non-Toxic Skincare Products and Marketing Labels, Aging Skincare, and Natural Hair Care

I’ve watched over the past year how perfectionism has crept its way into the real food and wellness movement. I’ve watched people nitpick over things on Instagram with comments like, “You shouldn’t use that!” or “I can’t believe you do this…” I’ve watched this trend play out with what and how people share posts on Instagram, too.

It’s become all too much. So much so that people are stressed out and sabotaging the health benefits of this lifestyle, not to mention in the process destroying relationships and trying to live up to a standard that’s impossible.

Perfectionism is…

• A turn off from this lifestyle (or any lifestyle choice).
• Will keep you from actually making changes and moving forward.
• Brings on unneeded stress.
• Makes this lifestyle feel judgmental and elitist.

We need to view our life as a marathon; not a sprint. And this lifestyle as a journey.

When I first learned about real food I didn’t know about local food, pastured meat, fermented food, or what the heck organic even meant. I didn’t know the difference between the brown eggs and white eggs in the store (spoiler: just different chicken breeds).

And you know what?

That’s okay!

That’s a beautiful thing!

Because it proves that we don’t have to know it all to make choices that build a long-term lifestyle. We don’t have to know it all to begin to change. We simply need the desire to do better. To learn. To take small actions toward a different way of living and eating.

I’m 10 years in now. It’s been 10 years since we learned about this thing called real food. It’s been 10 years and I’m just now learning about things like gut health and microbiome and holistic skincare (aside from just product). And I still have so much to learn…

I have no idea what my son will use for deodorant in a few years, or how to get my husband to switch from Suave to a non-toxic product. I also don’t know much about EMFs (I know enough to know about them) and I still use plastic for certain things. I also make choices today, like my lash extensions, that aren’t the most natural option.

So why do I bring this up and talk about this today?

To encourage you!

You don’t need to do it all or know it all or learn it all, or make all the changes you want to make right now. There is no perfection; don’t let Instagram or anyone else fool you into thinking so or make you think that they have “it all together.” <—including myself!

Perfection will sabotage your lifestyle and joy, and may hurt relationships in the process. Perfection will also make you think that if you can’t do it all, you’re failing or you can’t do anything at all. Do the best you can right now. Take small steps at a time—make a salad dressing instead of buying the same bottle you’ve turned to for years and celebrate that small step! Enjoy the process.

Step by step you’ll learn more and you can take action on what you’re learning. Just now, right now, and throughout your journey, know that you don’t have to know it all or do it all to make changes or live a healthy lifestyle.

Looking back over the past 10 years, I see the ripple effect of small choices. I also see how I’ve grown as a mom and woman. I see how our family has grown in the decisions we’ve made, and are currently making, and what our lifestyle looks like. I also see our outings for pizza (to the place that doesn’t serve organic or “real food”) and ice cream, and the joy that we’ve experienced together by letting go of some kind of perfectionism.

It’s important to have values and to be passionate about things, and as you can tell I’m passionate about real food and getting back to eating traditionally, farmer’s market and supporting local food, and also non-toxic skincare and using safe ingredients to clean my home. I’m also passionate about getting plenty of rest at night and other choices that fit into a wellness lifestyle. It’s so good to have values and passion. But it’s important to not let those values and passion become a standard of perfection–to suck the joy out of living–to the point that we become legalistic and rigid.

Today’s episode is just a reminder: This lifestyle is not about perfection. It’s also an encouragement: You don’t have to do it all or know it all. And it’s also a warning: Be careful not to let perfectionism creep in to your lifestyle; it’s all too easy to let this happen. I continually need to remind myself of this.

Perfectionism, friend, is overrated.

The post Podcast 037: Perfectionism Will Sabotage Your Healthy Lifestyle and Steal Your Joy appeared first on Live Simply.

In today’s podcast episode, Renee shares her real food journey and how she found healing through a real food lifestyle, the importance of gut health in her healing journey and the steps she takes to support her children’s gut health, how to encourage body and food awareness within our children, how mothers can support each other and spread the message of real food without condemnation or judgment, and the importance of self-care for mothers and teaching self-care to our children.

Listen Here

You can listen to the podcast episodes here on the blog, iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Leave a Review

Leave a Review
Reviews are critically important for a new podcast. Reviews tell iTunes that people are listening and also helps new people find the podcast. To leave a review, click on the button above and then click “Write a Review” (you’ll have to scroll down to see this option). Also, while you’re over in iTunes, be sure to hit the subscribe button to be notified when new episodes launch.

Show Notes

• Renee’s website: Raising Generation Nourished 
• Renee’s Cookbook: Nourished Beginnings
• Instagram: @raisinggenerationnourished
• Weston A. Price Foundation
• Live Simply, The Podcast Episode 5 with Taesha from The Natural Nurturer

Renee is a mom, wife, and the voice behind the blog, Raising Generation Nourished. On her blog, Renee shares her passion to raise a nourished generation, by sharing practical tips and real food recipes. She is the author of the popular book, Nourished Beginnings–a simple, no fuss approach to feeding babies and growing children a wide variety of real food, without spending all day in the kitchen.

Q1: Tell us about yourself and your story. 

Q2: What was your greatest struggle in the beginning, when you first started making the transition to real food? How did you overcome this struggle?

Q3: You share on your blog that you had a variety of issues that were of concern before transitioning to a real food lifestyle–weight loss, inability to concentrate (brain fog), feeling sluggish, etc. And that many of these issues were solved after focusing on gut healing. Why did you focus on healing your gut? And what did this look like for you?

Q4: Gut healing is such an important part of your story. How do you support your gut today? And your children’s guts?

Q5: Your mission is to raise a nourished generation. What does this mean?  

Q6: Your mission is to raise a nourished generation, but you also talk a lot about nourishing ourselves as mothers. It’s so easy to put ourselves last. How do you nourish yourself as a momma? 

The post Podcast 014: Finding healing through real food Renee From Raising Generation Nourished appeared first on Live Simply.

Listen Here

You can listen to the podcast episodes here on the blog, iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Leave a Review

Leave a Review
Reviews are critically important for a new podcast. Reviews tell iTunes that people are listening and also helps new people find the podcast. To leave a review, click on the button above and then click “Write a Review” (you’ll have to scroll down to see this option). Also, while you’re over in iTunes, be sure to hit the subscribe button to be notified when new episodes launch.

Show Notes

• Episode 003:  What Real Food Is, What Real Food Is Not, and What Real Food Looks Like (Real Food 101)
• Episode 009: Reader Question, “How Do I Get Started with Real Food When My Family Loves Processed Food?”
• Real Food Planning Challenge
• @livesimplymom
• Homemade Veggie Spaghetti Sauce
• Simplified School Lunch Kit Use Coupon Code: simplelunch at checkout for 25% off
• Episode 007: Organic Produce 101 with Little Pond Farm: Farming, Organic Certification, Pesticides, GMO’s, and Keeping Organic Produce Affordable
• Episode 008: Seasonal Eating, Community Supported Agriculture, and Organic Produce Q & A with Little Pond Farm

The journey away from processed food to a real food lifestyle looks different for each family, some families went cold turkey with cutting all processed food, while others took it slowly. But everyone had the same goal: enjoying real food and getting away from a Standard Western Diet of overly-processed foods. For some families, allergies or dietary restrictions are at play, which has made the switch look different than other families who didn’t have the same allergy restrictions. I think this shows just how unique this real food journey is for each family.

Before I share the responses, which I’m going to try to do without messing up on everyone’s Instagram user profile–some profile names aren’t easy to pronounce–I want to remind you that you can learn more about what real food is and what it looks like by listening to episode 3. And you can hear my answer to this question by listening to episode 9.

I hope listening to the community’s response inspires you along your own real food journey.

The post Podcast 010: Community Response, “How Do I get Started with Real Food When My Family Loves Processed Food?” appeared first on Live Simply.

Listen Here

You can listen to the podcast episodes here on the blog, iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Leave a Review 

Leave a Review
Reviews are critically important for a new podcast. Reviews tell iTunes that people are listening and also helps new people find the podcast. To leave a review, click on the button above and then click “Write a Review” (you’ll have to scroll down to see this option). Also, while you’re over in iTunes, be sure to hit the subscribe button to be notified when new episodes launch.

Show Notes

• Episode 002: My Wellness Story, From Kool-Aid and Velveeta Cheese to Natural Wellness
• Episode 003: What Real Food Is, What Real Food Is Not, and What Real Food Looks Like 
• Food INC
• Cooked
• In Defense of Food
• Fed Up
• Sustainable
• My Must-See Food Documentaries
• Chicken Nuggets
• Chicken Tenders
• Skillet Lasagna
• Slow-Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup
• Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
• Chicken and Veggie Noodle Soup
• Stove-Top Mac and Cheese
• Homemade Granola Bars
• Made Good Bars
• One Degree Brand Cereal
• Episode 006: Practical Steps That Will Help You Make The Transition from Processed Food to a Real Food Lifestyle
• Episode 004: Making Real Food Work with Taesha from The Natural Nurturer
• Episode 005: Raising Kids Who Eat a Variety of Real Food, Picky Eaters, and School Lunch with Taesha from The Natural Nurturer
• Green Smoothie
• My Favorite Containers for Storing Real Food in the Fridge
• Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Crispy Treats

What’s your greatest challenge when it comes to creating a real food lifestyle?

The food budget?

Stocking the pantry?

Time?

For many families, family members are the greatest challenge.  While the budget can be tackled and kitchen time reduced and conquered, changing the minds and taste buds of a family used to the addictive pleasures of processed food can be difficult and frustrating.

At the time of our lifestyle change, Piper (my oldest child) was a toddler. Yes, we ate “healthy” before he was born (if you remember from my story, I was actually a vegan), but much of our healthier eating revolved around processed soy products and nicely packaged organic food. I’m not sure if my constant paranoia over food (mainly animal-based foods) caused his pickiness at such a young age, or he was just naturally a “picky” eater due to texture issues. Whatever it was, he would turn his nose up at most of the new foods I wanted to incorporate into our real food lifestyle. And as a new mom, new to real food, I usually gave up on these foods and offered him bunnies or something that seemed more “kid-friendly.”

I knew cooking separate meals was not sustainable, so I decided to take a more creative and hands-on approach. I had to figure out how to make real food work with a husband that was used to processed food and a child that seemed so picky.

Now, let’s talk about practical tips you can start using on your own journey. These tips are gentle ways you can nudge your family toward loving real food, even if they’re really into processed food right now.

1. Communicate what real food is and is not with your family.

2. Talk about favorite meals.

3. Recreate favorite foods with real ingredients.

4. Make food enjoyable.

5. Introduce new food experiences alongside favorite foods.

6. Don’t give up! Be creative.

7. Model by example and encourage a one-bite rule.

8.  Be prepared and make real food accessible.

9.  Encourage participation.

10. Don’t stock processed food.

11. Realize that we live in a processed food world.

The post Podcast 009: Reader Question, “How Do I Get Started with Real Food When My Family Loves Processed Food?” appeared first on Live Simply.

Listen Here

You can listen to the podcast episodes here on the blog, iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Leave a Review

Leave a Review
Reviews are critically important for a new podcast. Reviews tell iTunes that people are listening and also helps new people find the podcast. To leave a review, click on the button above and then click “Write a Review” (you’ll have to scroll down to see this option). Also, while you’re over in iTunes, be sure to hit the subscribe button to be notified when new episodes launch.

Show Notes

• Episode 002: My Wellness Journey, From Kool-Aid and Velveeta Cheese to Natural Wellness 
• Episode 003: What Real Food Is, What Real Food Is Not, and What Real Food Looks Like
• Favorite Live Simply pancake recipe
• Favorite Live Simply muffin recipe
• Favorite Live Simply salad dressing recipes: Ranch, vinaigrette
• How to Cook a Whole Chicken: spatchcock, Slow cooker, Instant Pot
• Live Simply chicken salad recipe
• Live Simply chicken broth/stock recipes: Instant Pot or slow cooker
• Live Simply recipes
• The Natural Nurturer: Taesha for sheet pan, slow-cooker, Instant Pot real food meals
• Real Food Whole Life: Robyn for easy real food recipes
• Raising Generation Nourished: Renee for allergy-friendly, dairy-free, family-friendly, and gluten-free recipes
• Back the Book Nutrition: Dena for family-friendly breakfast and dinner recipes
• Cookie and Kate: Katherine for easy real food recipes with a vegetarian twist
• Book: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
• Real Food Planning Challenge
• Vitacost: online “health food store” with free shipping over $49
• Made Good Bars
• Jackson’s Honest Chips

First, before we talk about practical steps, I want to say thank you so much! Thank you for subscribing to the podcast, and joining me for another episode. Last week was the official launch of Live Simply, The Podcast. Your response to the launch has been so incredible–thank you for messaging me, sharing the podcast with your friends and family, and leaving a review on iTunes.

We’re talking a lot about food during these first few podcasts. Food is where many people begin their natural wellness journey.  

If you’ve been on a real food journey for a number of years now, some of these episodes may be more review for you. I would encourage you, share these episodes with family and friends. If you’re just getting started with a real food lifestyle, or you’re struggling with feeling overwhelmed on this journey, I hope these episodes are a source of encouragement and practical guidance.

Before recording today’s episode, I thought back to my own wellness journey and asked myself, “How exactly did my family make the transition from a lifestyle of overly processed and drive-thru “food” to one of real food? What small steps did we take that made the greatest impact on our journey so far? As you heard in Episode 2, we didn’t start out purchasing pastured meat from a farm or shopping at a farmer’s market, or making homemade meals.

We started with what we knew: shopping at Publix, the grocery store down the street from our apartment, and my limited cooking knowledge and skills. We knew one thing: what we had been eating wasn’t what we wanted our future to look like, so we took small steps to replace the processed food.

Looking back I didn’t know we were taking these steps, but now, I can see that each step got us closer to where we are today. These small steps didn’t seem significant at the time, but they have certainly added up over the years to long-term lifestyle changes. Many of these steps took months and years to navigate; they certainly didn’t take place overnight. 

Now, let’s talk practical steps you can take to live out a real food lifestyle: 

1. Change your mindset about food.

When it comes to food, many of us have been influenced by marketing, food packages, food company slogans and commercials. Before we make any physical changes to what we purchase or how we eat, we must first change our mindset. This was the greatest struggle I faced when first thinking about a real food lifestyle. Still, to do this day, I find it’s so easy for negative mindsets–based on past influences from marketing–to creep into my head. 

Stop looking at food negatively with a fear mindset. Food is about more than just fat and calories. And remember, fat and calories are good for you–they are vital and essential. Also, stop thinking: Ugh, I have to cook. Start thinking: I get to cook, I get to nourish my family and care for myself.

Start thinking about food in a positive light: food is nourishment, food is a celebration, food is delicious, food is fuel and makes me feel good.

I recommend going back after this podcast and listening to episode 3. In that episode, I share what exactly real food is, what it is not, and what real food looks like.

2. Focus on making changes to one meal at a time versus focusing on everything you eat.

Focus on making over one meal at at time versus tackling all meals. Maybe this is breakfast or dinner, or lunch.  

Focus on preparing one or two of real food breakfasts in a week. Weekends tend to be easier for our family, since they’re less hectic. So based on this, I would focus on preparing a homemade breakfast on Saturday or Sunday. This will give you time to learn how to cook a homemade breakfast. And for some foods, you may find that you have leftovers–like pancakes, waffles, muffins, granola, or hard boiled.  The leftovers can roll over to another breakfast on a different day. During this time see what your family loves and responds to–keep notes of this.

Slowly, when you feel ready, add an additional day where you serve real food versus relying on a box of Pop Tarts. Slowly build up your real food cooking muscles.

Here’s the thing. In the beginning, everything is hard. When I first started working out and doing push-ups I could only do one. I wanted to do fifty. Slowly, over time, I’ve worked my way up to five, then ten, and now I can do fifty pushups. Transitioning away from relying on boxes and packages for every meal is the same way. You won’t start out eating real food for three meals a day, seven days a week. Just thinking that way feels exhausting. But one meal a week, now that’s doable. And slowly build on that success.

Your palate will also change during this time. And your family won’t feel like you’re taking all your former processed food away at once–which generally makes the transition smoother. 

Remember this is a journey–it’s about a long-term lifestyle. Focus on the small step you can make right now!

3. Focus on learning to cook, particularly basic recipes you can rely on over and over again.

As we talked about in episode 3, real food is about taking responsibility for our food, and learning how to prepare food so we can nourish our bodies with simple ingredients. You can’t enjoy a real food lifestyle without learning how to cook. In fact, learning to cook is the very foundation real food is built on. Both simple ingredients and learning to cook go hand and hand to create a real food lifestyle.

People say, “I don’t have time to cook.” But we all find time for what matters most to us. If nourishing our family is important, we will find the time. This doesn’t mean you need to spend all day in the kitchen. Food prep, doubling recipes, etc. 

Now, as I mentioned in episode 3, there is a rise in real food companies who are making convenient options that are made with real ingredients. This is a blessing and curse. I believe the majority of our diet should come from home-cooked foods, made with simple ingredients. These real food convenience options are amazing and can be sprinkled in to help us simplify and reduce overall cook and prep times, when needed. But we shouldn’t exchange processed food for more boxes and packages, just because we can.

While individual and very unique recipes are great, I recommend focusing on basic recipes that you can rely on over and over again. And as you think about these basic recipes, think about the food your family currently loves. Does your family love pancakes? Focus on finding an amazing pancake recipe you can use every single week. Master that and then focus on a good muffin recipe. And then a great salad dressing or how to cook a whole chicken or burgers or how to roast veggies. As I mentioned before, build your muscles in the kitchen and slowly build a list of recipes you can confidently cook, rotate, and your family loves.

Now, to do this, you’re going to need to gather real food recipes: keep a list of recipes you find that are made with real, simple ingredients. Avoid recipes calling for things like: canned biscuits, condensed creamed soups, or anything that isn’t a single ingredient or a condiment (like mustard) that is made with single, recognizable ingredients you would use in your own kitchen.

• Lots of recipes on Live Simply
• The Natural Nurturer–Taesha.
• Cookie and Kate (vegetarian)–Kathryn
• Real Food Whole Life–Robyn
• Raising Generation Nourished–Renee
• Back to the Book Nutrition–Dena
• Book: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat 

Keep a list of your favorite recipes, and your family’s favorite recipes. You don’t need to know how to cook a million different dishes, or have 30 cookbooks or 100’s of recipe at your disposal. As you learn to cook, and slowly build up your real food muscles, take note of the recipes your family loves and the recipes you love cooking. Keep this list somewhere safe so you can refer back to this list. Or, keep a Pinterest board, or a note in your Notes app on your phone.

4. Shop the outer aisles of the grocery store.

The outer aisles of the grocery store, whether you’re shopping at a conventional grocery store or Whole Foods, is where the bulk of your food should slowly should begin to come from–you’ll find this a natural transition as the recipes you’re beginning to try will/should keep you in these aisles. Remember, this is a journey–this will be a slow transition. One that may feel scary at first, but you’ll build those muscles and soon you’ll find those outer aisles are your go-to source for food.

Now, the inner aisles aren’t evil, they also have real ingredients: oats, flour, barley, beans, rice, canned tomatoes, frozen fruits and veggies.

And what about organic?

In the beginning, I wouldn’t even worry about organic, or pastured meat or eggs. If you can find this stuff right now, great, make the switch to the pastured eggs or the grass-fed meat. Many stores are now carrying these options. I didn’t start out purchasing these options. I started purchasing meat that wasn’t pastured or grass-fed. It took years, of sourcing and figuring out a grocery budget, to get to that point. My point is don’t feel like you’re not doing a good job, or you’re not doing enough, just because you’re not purchasing a certain kind of meat or organic veggies. This all comes with time.

In the beginning, focus on ingredients and learning to cook versus packaged, boxed, overly-processed food. Slowly, you’ll start finding sources for pastured meats and eggs. 

As you continue on your journey, and you’re cooking and preparing more meals, you may find that shopping at the same conventional grocery store for real food ingredients can be limiting and expensive. That was my experience. Of course, this will depend on your area and your store selections.

While many conventional chains are beginning to carry more real food options, the vast majority of food is still highly processed, and it can be particularly challenging to find quality dairy and meats and eggs from some of these conventional stores. Here are a few of my favorite options for expanding your shopping horizons and sourcing real food ingredients:

• Health/Natural Food Store: Small, locally-owned stores or Whole Foods (yes, can be expensive, but not always compared to conventional stores). These stores specialize in real ingredients foods. Also, health food store variations: Earth Fare, Sprouts, Trader Joe’s.
• Farmer’s Market/Produce Stand: Fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, sometimes local foods. Our local produce stand sell local goodies made by food vendors in the area. 
• Local Food Co-op: Google, ask around at a health food store, or FB example: A gal who works with me said the other day, “I’m going to stop on my way to pick up my son and get our raw milk.” What?! I had no idea she knew of a source for raw milk in our area.
• Amazon and Vitacost: Vitacost is amazing! Free shipping over $49–pasta, canned tomatoes, cleaner snack bars and chips, etc.
• Befriend a Farmer: Visit a farmer’s market–get to know the face and name behind food. These connections many times lead to other connections for food. Also, many times this food is cheaper because you’re cutting out the middleman and you’re buying in season.
• Start a Garden

5. Clean out and replenish.

Slowly, as you’re cooking, build up the real food ingredients needed to make your favorite meals. You’ll probably already have been buying these ingredients. This will be a natural transition as you learn to cook, start building your real food muscles in the kitchen, and start relying more on those favorite recipes you’re keeping.

6. Find real food alternatives for the processed food your family loves and just can’t ditch.

The post Podcast 006: Practical Steps That Will Help You Make The Transition from Processed Food to a Real Food Lifestyle appeared first on Live Simply.

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Show Notes

• Michael Pollan, Food Rules
• Real Food Fats 101 
• Real Food Sweeteners 101 
• Environmental Working Group 
• Printable Chart (available in the free Real Food Crash Course)
• How to make your own yogurt
• Subscribe to Live Simply

What’s Wrong With Food Today? 

First, let’s consider what exactly food is. I think the best place to turn is the dictionary. Food: Something that nourishes, sustains, or supplies, used in the body of an organism to sustain growth, repair, and vital processes and to furnish energy.

In his book, Food Rules, Michael Pollan offers us a few facts to consider when thinking about the food we put in our bodies. The first fact concerns the Western diet. The Western diet, also referred to as a Standard American Diet (SAD), usually consists of a lot of processed food, processed meat, lots of added sugars and added fats which are found in processed food, along with refined grains (white flour, etc).

He writes that societies that have adopted such a way of eating “invariably suffer from high rates of the so-called Western diseases: obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Virtually all of the obesity and type 2 diabetes, 80 percent of the cardiovascular disease, and more than a third of all cancers can be linked to this diet. Four of the top ten killers in America are chronic diseases linked to this diet.”

In fact two, presented in the book, he writes “Populations eating a remarkably wide range of traditional diets generally don’t suffer from these chronic diseases. Traditional diets run the gamut from ones very high in fat (the Inuit in Greenland are an example which subsists largely on seal blubber) to ones high in carbohydrate (example: Central Indians have a diet largely made up of maize and beans) to the ones high in protein (the Masai tribe in Africa live off cattle blood, meat, and milk.)”.

Pollan points out that these are extreme examples. But these serve a point. This new western diet, a diet that’s made up mostly today of highly processed food is making us sick.

Real food makes you feel good. At least that’s been my experience, my families experience, and the experience of so many other people–from the guests I talk to on the podcast to readers who write me and share their journey. This isn’t to say that we won’t get sick even when consuming real food. We don’t live in a perfect world, and illness happens. But real food supports our bodies, it nourishes our bodies and supports our hormones and growth. Real food contains vital nutrients, like vitamins and minerals, that our bodies need to support it and keep it going and functioning in a healthy way. Processed food doesn’t offer us this. It leaves us undernourished, and lacking the basic nutrients we need to thrive.

I know that some folks argue that we live longer today than traditional cultures but I would point out, as Pollan does in his book, that this is due to improved infant mortality rates, as well as improved modern hygiene advancements.

What Real Food Is Not…

1. Real food is not a trend or fad.

While we may be hearing more about real food due to the internet, books, and documentaries, real food isn’t new. It’s not a trend that will be popular for a few years and then replaced with a new fad. Real food has always been around, since the dawn of time. It’s the way generations before us ate, and the way of eating that future generations will hopefully return to. Overly-processed food, which lacks nutrients and is made with manipulated ingredients, hasn’t always been around. If anything, processed food is the new kid on the block.

Now, there are certainly trendy real foods. Kale has been having a spotlight moment, along with chia seeds, cassava, almonds, and cauliflower (cauliflower pizza). While blogs may be making these particular foods trendy, they are simply real ingredients that have been around for ages.

2. Real food is not a restrictive diet, or even a diet at all.

A real food lifestyle is not about limiting food. It’s about saying yes to actual food (ingredients) versus something that’s trying to look and act like food. And here’s the thing, once you begin eating real food, your palate changes and you realize just how amazing real food tastes and how good you feel.

3. Real food is not about depriving yourself.

As Harry Blazer, a food and beverage trends researcher says, “Eat anything you want, just cook it yourself.” Processed food has made it easy for us to effortlessly grab chips, cookies, muffins, and other foods that should require spending a fair amount of time in the kitchen to make. Making food yourself means you’re probably not consuming cookies at every meal–it lends us to eat more variety.

There is a rise in real food companies who are making convenient options that are made with real ingredients. This is a blessing and curse. I believe the majority of our diet should come from home-cooked foods, made with simple ingredients. These real food convenience options are amazing and can be sprinkled in to help us simplify and reduce overall cook and prep times, when needed. But we shouldn’t exchange processed food for more boxes and packages, just because we can. Real food is about taking responsibility for our food, and learning how to prepare food so we can nourish our bodies with simple ingredients.

4. Real food is not about counting calories or eliminating naturally-occurring fats.

Calories naturally occur in food, along with fat. We need calories and fats to thrive. Since we’re eating a lot of variety when consuming real food, we don’t have to worry about consuming too much.

5. Real food is not keto, paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free, or vegetarian.

There are variations of a real food lifestyle. Sometimes certain foods need to be avoided due to healing a leaky gut, a food allergy or intolerance, the way you personally feel after consuming an ingredient, or a lack of a source for something like dairy, or another reason. But real food isn’t a labeled diet. Real food is the foundation on which these modified lifestyle choices come from.

6. Real food is not an elitist lifestyle. Real food is for everyone, not just people who make a certain amount of money or can shop at a certain store, or have a certain size kitchen. Real food can be found in just about every store if you know what to look for, and can work for any budget. It’s easy for people to get the idea that real food is an elitist and expensive lifestyle. That in order to enjoy good, nourishing you have to buy fancy ingredients: special powder options, collagen, quinoa, “superfoods”, and speciality nut milks. That’s simply not true. Real food is about getting back to the to the basics–simple, nourishing ingredients.

What Real Food Is…

1. Real food is traditional.

Real food is about food that has withstood traditions. Food which previous generations ate and enjoyed in their unprocessed state. In the past, people didn’t rely on big companies to tell them what to eat, or how much to eat. As Pollan says, “Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.” Looking at traditional societies, we know that historically, we are omnivores, eating both meat and plants. We’ll talk about the specifics of consuming plants and animals in a few minutes.

2. Real food is intuitive.

Our ancestors ate when they were hungry, and stopped when they were full. Food that isn’t full of additives, but rather is full of beneficial nourishment that our bodies recognize, allows us to eat intuitively. There isn’t anything added to real food–like added fat (there is naturally-occurring fat that fills us up) or sugars that are altered from their original state by food scientists in a lab– to make us addicted to the taste of the food or tricks our body into think that we’re still hungry.

Real food also allows us to become in-tune with how our bodies react to food. You may notice that you don’t feel good after eating a particular food, like dairy or gluten or a particular vegetable. Eating real food teaches us to listen to our bodies versus marketing.

3. Real food is ingredients.

Ingredients that are as close to their natural state as possible. Jamie Oliver says, “Real food doesn’t have ingredients, real food is ingredients.” Oats, almonds (almond flour), yogurt, cheese, meat are all ingredients, used to create meals or at times enjoyed on their own.

4. Real food is full of variety and tastes amazing and different. 

5. Real food is seasonal.

6. Real food has a face and name.

Real food is grown by someone, raised by someone, cared for by someone. Food is not just a substance. Real food has a story.

7. Real food is nourishment and should make you feel good.

What Does Real Food Look Like? 

While everyone defines “real” in various ways–there are variations of real food, like paleo, vegetarians, pescetarians, dairy-free, gluten-free due to personal beliefs, allergies, or maybe an intolerance–here’s the foundation of what real food looks like…

• Grass Fed, Pastured Meats: Animals that have been raised and fed as they were intended when created, with grass underneath and the sun overhead. We use all parts of the animal, including the bones for nourishing stock. Chicken, beef, lamb, pork, and wild game.
• Eggs: From chickens that have been raised on pasture, roaming free with lots of sunlight.
• Fats: Such as: butter from grass-fed cows, coconut oil, ghee, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, tallow, and lard.
• Grains, Nuts, and Seeds: Whole grains and minimally-processed with an emphasis on ancient grains and variety: spelt, kamut, einkorn, even whole wheat. Also, ancient practices, such as: sourdough and sprouting grains, if possible. Also: beans, nuts, and seeds.
• Fruits and Veggies: Preferably in season and grown as local as possible, using organic practices. Including lots of fresh herbs. While organic produce is encouraged, I don’t always buy organic produce. I use the EWG list when shopping at the store. And if purchasing from a local farm or market, many farms aren’t “certified organic” but use organic practices.
• Dairy: Raw or pasteurized and full fat from grass-fed cows, or goats or sheep. Anytime you see the words low-fat or fat-free you know a lot of junk has been added to compensate for the loss of nourishing fat. This includes: milk, cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, yogurt, kefir (a fermented milk-based drink), cottage cheese.
• Salt: Real, unrefined salt that hasn’t been stripped of its nourishing minerals.
• Seafood: Raised in the wild versus a fish farm.
• Sweeteners: As close to the natural state as possible, such as: raw honey, pure maple syrup, and minimally-processed sugars.
• Beverages: Water, and beverages that come from basic ingredients: teas, coffee, kombucha (a fermented tea), milk (from nuts, seeds, or dairy). Even wine and beer and cocktails–just watch the ingredients and stick with crafting your own cocktails using simple liquors and fresh ingredients.

To grab a handy printable chart of what real food looks like (pictured above), along with a downloadable and printable crash course to get started with a real food lifestyle, go to livesimply.me/subscribe.

The post Podcast 003: What Real Food Is, What Real Food Is Not, and What Real Food Looks Like (Real Food 101) appeared first on Live Simply.

Listen Here

You can listen to the podcast episodes here on the blog, iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Leave a Review

Leave a Review
Reviews are critically important for a new podcast. Reviews tell iTunes that people are listening and also helps new people find the podcast. To leave a review, click on the button above and then click “Write a Review” (you’ll have to scroll down to see this option). Also, while you’re over in iTunes, be sure to hit the subscribe button to be notified when new episodes launch.

Show Notes

• Food INC
• Joel Salatin 
• Michael Pollan
• Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions
• Weston A. Price Foundation
• EWG Dirty Dozen List
• Peach Cobbler Post: original, first post on Live Simply
• Real Food Planning Challenge

I think it’s so important to hear other people’s wellness stories, because it reminds us that this lifestyle is something we must actively pursue, by taking one small baby step at a time. Lifestyle changes don’t take place overnight. You’re going to hear this echoed throughout the future guest episodes in this podcast.

Whether you’re just starting to think about things like real food, natural cleaning, simplifying your home life, or natural body-care, or you’ve been on your own journey for several years now, my hope is that my story encourages and inspires you.

I grew up in the ’80s and ’90s– a time of Kool-Aid, freezer meals, margarine, Velveeta cheese, and packaged chocolate chip cookies. And a time when fat and cholesterol were feared, which meant that we grew up with a fear of food. Packaged food was commonplace in our homes, along with some home-cooked meals.

Growing up, I dealt with crippling headaches when I’d eat certain foods. At the time we never associated food with having any consequence on our bodies.

As a teenager, my family moved to Ghana, West Africa. It was the first time in my life that I was exposed to open-air farmers markets, and also the idea of cooking from scratch. We brought a few cookbooks along with us: Joy of Cooking, Betty Crocker, and an old Amish cookbook. For the first time, I learned how to make a few recipes “from scratch” using these cookbooks.

After Ghana, I returned back to college. Due to a lack of time and knowledge on how to cook, college turned my taste buds toward a heavily processed diet of fast food and packaged snacks.

Dustin and I got married during my last year of college. He had just graduated. I told him that I wanted to assume the role of cooking. I wanted to serve healthy meals, I was just confused as to what exactly healthy was. My knowledge of healthy came from marketing–what I saw on Oprah, read in Magazines, and what the labels on boxed food told me. Lean cuisine? 100 calorie packs? Heart healthy granola bars? Yep, must be healthy! If a company can put these words on a package food, they must truly mean something.

Our typical meal consisted of chicken breasts, rice (from a box), and a veggie (usually from a microwave package). That was pretty much all I knew how to cook without relying on a box. Due to boredom from eating the same home-cooked meals, we would quickly turn to ready-made dinners to add more “variety.”

In 2008, Food INC was released. I highly anticipated watching this documentary. One night, Dustin and I went down to Blockbuster to check it out. Remember those days? When you visited the video store instead of turning to a Netflix account?

For the first time ever, Dustin and I were challenged to think about the food we consume. We had never thought about food before, or if the food we consumed was even food. The idea of real food intrigued me, but after watching the movie I didn’t know what to do next. I felt crippled to act on this new knowledge. I lacked the basic knowledge about how to cook, where to source simple ingredients, and how exactly to do this within a budget.

A few weeks after watching the documentary, Dustin issued a challenge during dinner, “I bet you can’t shop, cook and eat from just the produce department for one week.” I’m not one to turn down a good challenge so I responded, “Sure, I got this!”

The next week was difficult. Beyond difficult. We survived. I don’t remember what we ate that week, and I’m pretty sure pasta and rice were part of our meals–the kind of rice that you microwave in a plastic pouch. But we did it!

We started eating from the produce department regularly, and within a few weeks embraced veganism. Being vegan means I didn’t eat any animal products. I didn’t know there were options; alternatives to the processed and industrialized meat and eggs shown in Food INC. I also brought with me a fear of fat and calories, which made for a very unhealthy mix. Processed food crept back into our diet at this time, in the form of fake meat products, soy milks and alternative cheese products, and highly processed “organic” junk food.

Dustin still ate meat and dairy when out with friends for work lunches, but at home we were strictly vegan. Processed food vegans sprinkled with a side of veggies and fruits.

Due to our lifestyle change, I began to dabble in meal planning. I realized that planning our meals was the only way to successfully follow a special diet. But meal planning didn’t come naturally for me. I struggled with meal planning, thumbing through my limited supply of wedding present cookbooks (this was before Pinterest and most blogs) for hours each weekend.

In 2009, I found out I was expecting our first child, a baby boy. After an exactly 40 week pregnancy, Piper was born.

Since we were following a vegan diet at this time, when it came time for solid food, I decided to feed him strictly vegan as well.

At two, I began to notice issues with Piper’s language development. He just wasn’t blossoming with new words and sounds like the other kids his age. This raised a flag of concern for me.

Free speech screening-> therapist > nutritionist. I started doing my own research and discovered the Weston A. Price Foundation and Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. The idea of eating traditionally made so much sense. For the first time ever, I felt a sense of food freedom. I didn’t need to fear food, or count calories or stay away from fat. Food was nourishment, and the fat and calories found in naturally-occurring, naturally-raised and grown food, was vital for my body and my growing child’s body.

I also found out around this time that I was pregnant with our second child, Londyn. I began sourcing pastured meat and eggs from local farms. The only grocery story option I knew about at this time was Publix, a conventional store in our area, and the selection was limited or non-existent. I had to begin sourcing food outside the grocery store.

I found pastured meat and eggs, although it wasn’t easy. I met farmers in parking lots, purchasing meat and eggs, and even milk, from the back of vehicles. And even found a co-op for local fruit and veggies, along with meats and eggs and cheese and raw milk that met in the room of a bowling alley twice a month. One of the members owned the alley.

Our diet slowly changed, as I began to learn how to prepare grass-fed beef, cook whole chickens and even make broth, how to prepare eggs in various ways, and consume raw dairy. I also began to learn how to cook basic recipes during this time, like muffins and pancakes, roasted veggies, and soups. Foods that I never once thought I could make with my own two hands. More and more of our meals came from basic ingredients that were combined to make nourishing meals.

As we added fat and other vital nutrients to Piper’s diet, along with cod liver oil, we saw significant language growth. A testament to the impact our diet can have on our health. I also began to feel better, as I had felt sluggish, had put on weight, and experienced crippling headaches for the past few years.

My knowledge of real food deepened during this time. But I quickly realized that I was spending way too much on food.

Our grocery bill was way over budget at this time, so once again I had to learn a new skill on this journey: how to make real food work on a single-income budget. Quality food, particularly pastured meat, eggs, and dairy were priorities, so we made cuts in other areas, like entertainment and clothes. But we still needed to work on getting the budget down, so I started to learn how to use ingredients to make multiple meals within a week, like rolled oats for oatmeal and then blended up to pancakes. And using meat more for flavoring or pairing the meat with fruits, veggies, grains, or beans to stretch that pricey meat over multiple meals. And this meant that my meal planning skills, through a ton of trial and error, were tweaked and modified to work for our family.

During this time, I also learned about farmer’s markets and using seasonal veggies and fruits to build our meals instead of purchasing expensive produce from the store that was out of season. I also cut back from buying all things organic, and began prioritizing what to buy organic based on the dirty dozen list from the Environmental Working Group, when shopping at a grocery story, in order to enjoy real food on a budget.

With new changes happening in the kitchen and healthier meals being served at our table, I began to dabble with making my own household products– from cleaners to makeup. As a stay-at-home mom, I had more time on my hands to dabble with making stuff. There weren’t a lot of options on the market at this time.

I was so excited about the changes happening in our family, with our diet and what I was learning, that I was constantly sharing information and recipes on my personal Facebook account. Friends were asking for recipes and noticing the changes we were making in our life, including family. People began suggesting that I start a blog. I honestly hadn’t read blogs before this time.

Finally, one weekend in 2013, after visiting a local peach farm, I asked Dustin, ‘Will you make me a blog?” He set up a free Wordpress theme for me, we purchased LiveSimply.me (not knowing how popular this name would become years later…good thing we trademarked this name!), and created a menu and about page. I stayed up half the night writing my first post, a post about my mission and heart behind my new passion project. I came out with a second post just a couple of days later, sharing about our peach farm visit and a peach cobbler recipe. The photos were shot with my iPhone 3 under my very-yellow kitchen light, at odd angles.

The blog was created to be an online space that helps families embrace real food and natural living with a simplified, practical approach. I’ll link to my first ever post (see Show Notes, above)–yep, you can still find it online, although it’s hard to find without a direct link.

I poured my heart and soul into Live Simply, sharing everything I could to help other families eat real food and learn about natural alternatives for cleaning and body-care. I also thought it would be fun to talk about motherhood, but I soon realized that I didn’t have much to say about being a mom. I was just learning as I was going, and had no advice to offer people when it came to potty training or co-sleeping or anything like that. The blog slowly grew, and by the end of the first year thousands of people were reading the blog, and by the second year, hundreds of thousands were reading. And just like that, the blog grew and grew.

The goal was never to make money from the blog. We didn’t even know that was an option with a blog. After a couple of years in, we began to realize that blogging to a large audience wasn’t cheap–food had to be purchased to test recipes multiple times, we purchased a real camera to improve the photos on the blog (because I wanted food to be appealing and aesthetically-pleasing), we had to pay for an email service to connect with readers through email, we had to upgrade servers multiple times due to how many people read the blog, and I was spending the equivalent of a part-time job working on the blog. We put ads on the site, and I also created a paid resource to help families who wanted to start living a real food lifestyle.

Fast forward to today, 2018, the blog is now my full-time job, along with freelance food photography. I have a few amazing moms who work with me part-time helping with recipe work, social media, photo shoot cleanups and photographing recipes, and editing photos and blog posts. Running a blog isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I’m incredibly thankful for where Live Simply is today–for the opportunity to interact and share in this journey with so many other moms, parents, caregivers, and families from all over the world. Live Simply is still a passion project for me.

As I’ve learned how to run a business, and be a mom to growing children who are now in school, and also find time for myself and my husband, I’ve been on a journey to simplify life over the past few years. This has meant decluttering and embracing more of a minimalist attitude (not in a own-nothing way, but more in an intentional about life and things way), and learning to take care of myself. I’ve also been learning how to simplify our real food lifestyle by embracing food prep, strategically meal planning with rotating meal plans, and creating routines in our home.

My journey has been exactly that, a journey. Small baby steps over a long period of time. This is a journey I’m still on, a journey that I get to share with you through the blog, Instagram and Instagram Story, and now this podcast.

I want to remind you of that. Slowly, over the past 10 years (and even before that) my family started making small changes to lead us to where we are today. One small change at a time.

My hope is for this podcast to be an encouragement to you as you live out your own journey, as well as a source for practical tips to help you live out this lifestyle.

The post Podcast 002: My Wellness Story, From Kool-Aid and Velveeta Cheese to Natural Wellness appeared first on Live Simply.