2022 Food Planning

Just like how people like to review their year in terms of what they got accomplished and what they hope to get done next year, Laura wants you to do the same thing with your food. Listen in to find out how to review your 2021 food intake, and how to make a plan for 2022.

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Links Mentioned

New Mama Energy Guide
Laura’s Instagram

Transcript

You’re listening to the Love & Lettuce Podcast, episode number 13. Let’s review your 2021 food intake, and then let’s work on our food planning for 2022. Here we go.

Hey, this is Laura Lima, holistic nutritionist and founder of New Mama Nation and host of The Love & Lettuce Podcast. I am here to help mamas know what to eat to give them energy and help them feel fantastic so they can better enjoy life with their littles. And remember, this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and does not replace medical advice from your healthcare provider, and is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition. As always, please consult your healthcare provider to find out what is right for you. With that said, let’s get to the show!

Could you use more energy, mama? I mean, who couldn’t, right? Get my free New Mama Energy Guide, where I’ll give you 10 tips to increase your energy stat. Go to bit.ly/newmamas to get your free copy. 

Before we dive into today’s topic, I wanted to let you know that I’m going to be doing a beta round of my new course called The New Mama Nutrition Manual. That’s going to be happening in January, and I am super excited about it. I’ll be giving you more details coming up this month, so stay tuned to the podcast for that. But if you’re on my email list, you’ll also get more details there. And if you’re not on my email list, get on it, my friend! You can get there by going to bit.ly/newmamas. So watch out for info on my upcoming course… I can’t wait!

Okay, now for today’s topic.

Just like how people like to review their year in terms of what they got accomplished and what they hope to get done next year, and how businesses review their annual goals and whether or not they achieved them, and how to ensure they reach their 2022 goals… and just like how, regardless of who they are, or where they work, or whatever, people review the things they loved about their year, and what could have been better. And then they make a plan of how they want the next year to go and how they’re going to make that happen. I want you to do the same thing with your food planning.

I want you to get really honest with yourself about how you think your food planning in 2021 was overall.

Did you truly eat a good amount of healthy foods? A good variety of vegetables, meats, fish, eggs, fruits, nuts and seeds, beans, lentils, and so on? Obviously, your diet could be different from those foods, but I’m talking about real foods. Did you truly eat a good variety of real food? Did you order the majority of the time, or buy pre-made meals? Or did you typically make your own meals?

So these are all questions I want you to ask yourself. And I also want you to honestly evaluate how you felt, in your mind, in your body, in your emotions. There are so many factors that can influence all of those things, of course, but our food choices are absolutely a huge part here. 

Think about it. If we’re feeding our body sugar and flour, both of which are digested fairly quickly, and they cause a rapid rise in blood sugar, and they can often lead to digestive issues, pain and stiffness, mood swings, cravings for more sugar and high carb foods… and the cycle continues. How do we feel? We’re eating these foods, and they’re making us feel a certain way.

But on the other hand, if we eat foods that feed and nourish our brain, foods like salmon and eggs, for example, how do we feel then? Calm, happy, in control? Mega brain power, right? So when you’re really honest with yourself, and you admit (if this is true for you, of course), that you did focus a lot of your meals or snacks around sugar and flour and other high carb foods, you’ll see that those choices influenced how you felt.

So think about the foods you ate most often, and then think about how you felt overall. Food planning is key.

Try to make connections between the food you ate and how you felt mentally, physically, and emotionally, because they are absolutely connected. But this is actually an amazing thing, this connection. And you know why? Because once you discover that the foods you’ve been eating have caused you to feel how you’re feeling now, or how you’ve typically been feeling, you can then truly understand and realize the power you have to change all of that.

You have the power to choose the foods that will nourish and fuel your body and help you to feel freaking amazing.

And when you are choosing those healthy foods, and not only are you choosing them, but you’re feeling so much better because of the awesome benefits they’re providing, you get so much motivation to upgrade the other things in your life. For example, going to bed earlier and resting more, moving your body, doing more self-care, taking more time for yourself. Maybe starting to meditate, read more books, plan your meals better, plan out your day and week better.

Honestly, the benefits just keep on coming, seriously. All because you upgraded your foods, because you realized which ones were causing issues for you. And you chose to remove them, or at least reduce the amount that you eat, or the frequency with which you eat them. Because you realized which meals and snacks truly fuel you, give you energy, provide mental clarity, keep you full for hours… and you chose to include more of those foods.

So here’s the game plan:

I want you to get paper and a pen, or open a Google doc on your computer, if you’re like me, and start by writing down the foods that you know you ate a lot of in 2021. Maybe it was takeout pizza, maybe it was ice cream, heck, maybe it was homemade soup! Really get your thinking cap on and look back on the year (believe me, I know that’s hard to do), and start writing (or typing).

I then want you to highlight in yellow the items that you know did not provide you with nutrients; they didn’t fuel your body properly, and maybe they even led to negative symptoms and side effects. Yes, side effects from eating food… who knew?!

Then, highlight in pink (because that is my favourite colour) the items that you know did provide you with proper nourishment. They fueled your body and made you feel amazing. This part of the exercise is just for clarity. It’s simply to get you being honest with yourself and to highlight the foods (literally) that made up your year.

Next, I want you to grab a new sheet of paper, or start a new Google doc, and title it “2022 Food Planning”. Add a heading called “Eat Plenty”, and then put those pink highlighted foods from the other page here; copy and paste, or write them down if you are a paper and pen kinda mama. The next heading I want you to add is called “Eat Less”, and that’s where you’ll put the yellow highlighted foods. By doing this, you can see a visual of the foods you want to focus on this year and eat more of, and those ones that you want to eat less of because of how they make you feel.

But the food planning doesn’t stop there.

Oh no, my friend, it doesn’t. I want you to add to your eat plenty list. So you have lots of healthy and delicious foods to choose from. If you don’t already have vegetables on this list, for example, I want you to add that… same goes for eggs (obviously, if you eat all of these foods normally), meats and fish like antibiotic-free chicken, grass-fed beef where you can and wild salmon, nuts and seeds, and legumes, which is lentils, beans, and peas, and fruit.

Now, you may find that some of these foods don’t actually cause you to feel fantastic, since our bodies are all unique, in which case, eat less of those ones. For example, maybe beans cause you bloating and gas, so you don’t want to overdo those, obviously, for yourself. And as a side note, when you do eat them, take a digestive enzyme with that meal to help you break it down and digest it better. Makes a huge difference! Digestive enzymes are amazing.

So you’re creating a list that’s unique to you while still adding to that list the general foods that I want you to focus more on. All while still keeping in mind how foods make you feel, and eating accordingly.

That is your 2022 plan, my friend. When you have those foods written down that you want to eat more of, and you’ve got the foods noted that you want to eat less of, all because of how they make you feel, it suddenly becomes a lot easier to eat better, to choose healthier options more often.

So get to, my friend. Let me know how it goes, and which foods are on your list in both categories. I would love to know! You can send me a DM on Instagram @lauraannlima, and let me know.

Have an amazing week. Make sure you make time for doing this review and creating your 2022 food planning list, and let me know how it goes. Talk to you next week.

And don’t forget to get your free copy of my New Mama Energy Guide. Just go to bit.ly/newmamas for instant access. Thanks for listening to The Love & Lettuce Podcast. To find out how to work with me and for more great info, check out newmamanation.com. This is Laura! Until next time, love and lettuce.