Breaking cycles - health

Please please please listen to what I’m about to say We honestly sucked at meals. No one was eating anything and we ended up resorting to lots of snacks because we just didn’t wanna cook when we were done with the day. We started using the cutting board method. Just fill up a cutting board like a charcuterie with whatever you want to eat (the other night we had kilbabsa, onions, steamed Brussels sprouts, and a cut up apple on ours. It works A FREAKING MIRACLE. on the weekends I usually just pre bake cinnamon rolls and muffins, boils some eggs and maybe do a couple pounds of bacon so all I need to do is make like a sunny side egg for my son in the morning

This doesn’t help for specifics right now but with your insurance see if it’s covered for you to get a nutritionist. I use the app nourish and it’s amazing. And if you have an HSA card to can pay for whatever with that. But that has helped me a ton on how to be better with food. But I’m like you I barely have time to do anything and I have never had a great relationship with food or learned how to eat healthy so this is helping me a ton.

I’ve dropped 15 pounds, and actually have a really easy time in the morning (couldn’t wake up without help before like 8:30… now I’m up at like 6:45 every morning because my body wakes me up. And I always have a giant jug of water (I use those everything free water packets that flavor your water and it really really helps)

Have you tried therapy? Could be a form of depression or anxiety. Sounds like you’ve got the “want” you just need the ability to start. Sometimes starting is the hardest part. And staying consistent is the second hardest part! And sometimes our emotions and mental health prevent us from doing those things. If I was in your situation, hiring a nutritionist is a great idea for the info but you’ve also got to have the mindset shift to use the info you learn from the nutritionist.

The charcuterie method also helps with my 2.5 year old. He’ll lick off “our “ plate cos he thinks it’s delicious because weee eating it

@Lizzie thank you for the idea. ♥️

@Gabrielle I go through the VA so maybe they can help here. I didn’t think about, this thank you.

@Lizzie that’s amazing. How did you get started?

I’m sorry you are feeling so stressed about this. Within the last year, my husband and I have decided to switch to a carnivore-based diet, which has made meal planning so much easier. We aren’t 100% carnivore, because sometimes we like to have pizza, ice cream, or a burger, but most days we stick to eggs with meat for breakfast and either a steak or bunless burger, chicken, fish, or shrimp for dinner. I only do grassfed beef, elk, venison, and bison, and my chicken is hormone-free, antibiotic-free & pasture raised. I only eat wild caught seafood as well. I know this isn’t always a viable option for some people, so just do your best. Our bodies need animal protein, and lots of it. I highly recommend reading The Carnivore Diet book by Dr. Shawn Baker. Be sure to follow him on social media. Just my two cents, but you should do your own research and find what works best for you and your family. This way of eating has been life changing for us.

@Lindsay I really have the want I just don’t have any initiative. I have no idea how to do this with my kids always around either.

Honestly I involve my kids with making dinner. My oldest is 5 and I have an almost 4 year old and a 1 year old. I don't let my one year old help yet, but I'll just give her a bowl and spoon so she has something kind of like what I'm doing. My kids love to help pour in ingredients and mix. Sometimes it's messy, sometimes it's slow, but we have good healthy meals and good bonding time. Some thing I like to do is find a new cookbook and go through it to find new recipes I would like to try and that I think my kiddos would like. I'll take an hour or so on the weekend to plan what we will have the next week.

@Belinda see it’s these kinds of diets and advices stressing me out. I hear how veggies and fruits are bad for you from social media and then I hear from my in laws how meat is toxic and extremely bad for you. Then if I go on some kind of diet/lifestyle change I have to get my whole family on board and I just can’t figure out what the best choice is. And I’m still breast feeding so that adds onto the stress because idk what’s going to hurt him. Trust me I know that way I’m eating now is 100% terrible but it’s easy and takes away the decision. Just totally stuck. I’ve already read both GAPS books too btw and listened to endless podcasts about the carnivore diet.

I resonate with the fear when it comes to food. We just decided if you can't read the ingredients it's most likely not good to eat. Luckily Target now has a brand called good and gather. With organic options. Their 90 second rice has been so great to use and helps with making meals, or adding their steam mix bags. Then add chicken or beef. You can choose to meal prep certain items ahead of time so you can just grab and go like snacking but with better food options even chicken. No more box stuff to much saturated fats and sodium. Add more veggies and even fruits throughout the day. Trail mix, nuts, quinoa, chia seed pudding (currently eating a momma chia right now)

Sorry I just got back on peanut. There was no real start. We kept throwing out meal food and eating snacks, and it was a really expensive and repetitive cycle and I think I was just tired of it. I also noticed that my kid just basically stopped eating everything and only wanted what would be considered like a classic kids meal. We were always so tired and irritable to. One day we made a dinner on a cutting board and we never went back

This looks so good! I’ll show you what we do for like a Sunday breakfast (usually we don’t have this many carbs but I made rolls for the week so whatever lol)

I totally understand how confusing all this nutrition advice can be. I just remember a time when I could eat veggies with no issues but I started experiencing GI issues after eating them so I figured I would go carnivore to see if it got better, and it did. I have almost zero GI issues now (only issues are when I go off track and eat unhealthy on occasion) and feel far more energetic now. I know it’s not easy to make such a big change, but maybe try one day at a time (or one meal at a time) and document how you feel after each meal, so you can get a better understanding of how each food affects you. Just do what’s best for you and your family.

@Belinda can I ask if you switched to growing your own veggies before fully switching to carnivorous diet? Just asking because maybe it was the pesticides grocery stores use on their fruits and veggies, as well as other chemicals they put into it (one day my garden will be big enough I won’t have to go to a grocery store 😪)

I don’t have a way of growing my own. I was buying only organic, though I realize they can also contain pesticides. I’m actually thriving on carnivore so I plan to keep doing it as long as my body reacts positively.

Don’t meal prep but prepare you ingredients once a week I make salad bar , wash all the fruit and take it with yogurt Same breakfast everyday And marinate protein for the week So my dinner takes me 30 min to be done Still too much but I don’t slip alot through out the week because I always have easy option and I still sometimes eat frozen fish or nuggets with salad