Sunny Side Up Nutrition

A cooking, nutrition and family feeding blog to simplify your life

Guest Post

Meal Prep: Without a Side of Diet Culture – Part 2

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By: Jessica Long, Nutrition Masters Student

Guest Post Writer

As promised in my previous post, I’m sharing my favorite meals for anyone with a busy schedule! On days or weeks where you have more prep time available, opt for the ‘make ahead’ recipes. For nights where you need to whip something up quick, look for the ‘time crunch’ recipes. You’ll find ideas for breakfasts and dinners, as I almost always use leftovers for lunches.

In seasons of extreme busyness and a demanding schedule, I find that it can be easier to miss certain hunger and satiety cues, leaving me ravenous or with a headache. This is why it’s SO important to try to plan ahead and fuel ourselves properly when we are “go go go”; tackling a long to-do list is so much easier on a satisfied stomach!

To that end, I try to incorporate protein + fat + carbohydrate + fiber in most meals in order for them to be both satisfying and nourishing. However, there is great flexibility in this! We never want to create rigidity in our meal planning, and every single body has different needs and different combinations that best nourish it.

BREAKFAST

Make Ahead

  • French toast bake: Whenever artisan bread from my grocery store’s bakery is on sale, I grab an extra loaf or two (enough to fill an 8×8 inch baking pan). I whisk 3 eggs, ~2/3 C milk, a splash of vanilla, sprinkle of cinnamon, and a few teaspoonfuls of sugar. Arrange bread in greased 8×8, pour milk mixture on top, and top with a handful of walnuts. I put foil on top, then pop in my fridge overnight. I’ll throw it in the oven for 35-40 minutes at 350 F (or until it’s to your liking!) while I get ready for the day. I love to drizzle maple syrup on top and add scrambled eggs on the side for some extra protein.
  • Muffins: My favorite blueberry muffin recipe can be found HERE.
  • Pancakes are one of my favorite things to whip up on a Sunday afternoon and reheat each day during the week. My go-to recipe for years can be found HERE. They’re made even better by adding blueberries or chocolate chips.

Time Crunch

  • Oatmeal: Combine 1/2 C rolled oats, 1/2 C of whole milk, and 1/2 apple (diced) in a bowl and pop in the microwave for 2 minutes. Top with brown sugar and nuts! Try swapping banana for the apple or adding chocolate chips!
  • Egg scramble: Scramble eggs with whatever you have on hand and pair with PB&J toast. My favorite combination is eggs + cheese + sausage.
  • Yogurt parfait: Top whole milk yogurt with granola (or your favorite cereal!), fruit, and nuts.

DINNER

Make Ahead

  • Baked potato bar: I love to put 5-6 potatoes in the oven to bake while I study on a Sunday. I’m partial to russets, but pick your favorite kind! Possible toppings include cheese, avocado, sour cream, sautéd spinach, ground beef, or bacon. With the potatoes already prepped, browning the beef and sautéing the spinach makes for a speedy weeknight dinner.
  • Chicken fajitas: Place 1.5-2 lbs raw chicken tenders (I cut chicken breasts into tenderloins to save money!), 3 sliced peppers, 1 sliced onion, 1/2 C olive oil, and a packet of fajita seasoning into a gallon baggie. Place in fridge for up to 3 hours. Pour into a 9×13 pan. Cook at 400 F for 20 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway through. Serve in warm tortillas or on top of brown rice! The leftovers make an excellent burrito filling.  
  • White chicken chili. Everyone’s family has their go-to recipe for white chicken chili. This is my mom’s tried and true recipe: in a crockpot, combine 2-3 chicken breasts, 1 can of cream of chicken soup, 2 cans of great northern beans, 1 can of corn, 1 envelope taco seasoning, 1 can chicken broth, and 1 can of green chilies. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. (I’ve forgotten to add cream of chicken soup and green chilies at times, and it’s still good!). Before serving, stir in 1/2 C of sour cream.

Time Crunch

  • Pizza: I highly suggest Trader Joe’s pizza dough; it is reasonably priced and freezes well. My favorite recipe for quick pizza dough can be found HERE. My favorite toppings are olive oil, garlic, mozzarella, and ricotta.
  • Pork chops: Thinly sliced pork chops are an affordable cut of meat, and they cook up very quickly in a cast iron skillet. Pair with red potatoes (roasted at 400 F for 20 minutes after tossing in olive oil + spices of your choosing) and a vegetable.
  • 5 ingredient green curry: I have used red curry paste instead of green, and the recipe is absolutely delicious. If you aren’t a tofu fan, add a can of chickpeas near the end of cooking. Recipe is HERE.

Jessica Long is a graduate student at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. She is an avid reader of research, and her interests include eating disorders, intuitive eating, and approaching medical nutrition therapy (MNT) from a weight-neutral lens. She is especially intrigued by the intersection of diabetes and weight neutral care, having experience working with patients with diabetes in a primary care setting. She is currently spearheading a research project investigating intuitive eating in minority undergraduate populations. Jessica can be reached via email at jlong@email.meredith.edu or on Instagram at @jessicalongrd.  

Meal Prep: Without a Side of Diet Culture

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By: Jessica Long, Nutrition Masters Student

Guest Post Writer

As a graduate student, my days are spent reading, writing, and working on my research, and my nights are spent in class or catching up on an ever growing to-do list. As you can imagine, finding time to shop, cook, and prepare meals is a challenge, and I’m certainly not alone in that struggle. Whether a student, young professional, or a parent, we all face difficulties in balancing our schedules and giving our bodies the fuel they need to keep up with everything on our plates (pun intended!).

Meal Prep and Diet Culture

It should come as no surprise that the hashtag ‘mealprep’ has nearly 10 million tags on Instagram. However, one peek into the photos associated with #mealprep and my mind begins to spin. Sure, some of the photos are beautiful, but many of the captions and recommendations are brimming with diet culture. For instance, lots of “eat this, not that,” low carb meal prep guides, and calorie counts next to Tupperware filled with grilled chicken, broccoli, and cauliflower rice. Although it might seem that diet culture has a tight grip on meal prep, there are many reasons to plan and prepare your meals that have nothing to do with weight or weight loss…

  • Save time.
  • Save money.
  • Satisfy hunger.

For many with busy schedules (myself included!), spending copious amounts of time in the kitchen might not be a top priority, and that’s perfectly OKAY! My focus is on simple, quick meals that are both nourishing and satisfying.

Here are my #mealprep tips, without the side of diet culture:

  • Make a master list of your favorite easy meals (Look for a Part 2 post for my “go-to” meals). Anna and Elizabeth wrote about their “go-to” meals at each of their houses: here and here.
  • Take an inventory of your fridge, freezer, and pantry to see what you have on hand.
  • Sit down and make a grocery list. There are lots of free templates out there to choose from!
  • Leftovers are your friend. I rarely purchase food solely for lunches, and I try to use leftovers from one meal as the base for another meal.
  • The freezer section is also your friend; I try to keep my freezer stocked with pizza dough, ice cream, and frozen fruits and vegetables. Check out Elizabeth’s guest post on The Benefits of Adding Frozen Foods to Your Meal and Snack Line Up.
  • If you have the opportunity, take an hour or two to prep items for the week.

Here are some of my “go-to’s” when I have an hour or two to spare…

  • Hard boil half a dozen eggs for an on-the-go snack, to top a salad, or to make an open-faced sandwich.
  • Make a grain to keep around; I suggest farro or quinoa in a time crunch or brown rice when you have more than 30 minutes!
  • Wash and cut up produce. I recently bought several 32 oz. deli containers and I use them to store fruit for snacks and vegetables for recipes during the week.
  • Make a batch of granola. Not only is it cheaper, but you can tailor it to your liking! I’m known by my classmates for bringing a tupperware with granola, yogurt, berries, and nuts.
  • If the recipe allows, brown any meat ahead of time. I like to cook sausage to add to eggs at breakfast and to top pizza.

I’ll share with you my “go-to” meals in a future post!

Jessica Long is a graduate student at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC. She is an avid reader of research, and her interests include eating disorders, intuitive eating, and approaching medical nutrition therapy (MNT) from a weight-neutral lens. She is especially intrigued by the intersection of diabetes and weight neutral care, having experience working with patients with diabetes in a primary care setting. She is currently spearheading a research project investigating intuitive eating in minority undergraduate populations. Jessica can be reached via email at jlong@email.meredith.edu or on Instagram at @jessicalongrd.  

How to Pursue Movement for Wellness, Not Weight Loss

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By: Brittany Guerin, MS

Guest Post Writer

As a fitness professional, I see how much diet culture infiltrates the fitness industry. I can’t look at fitness marketing or a gym billboard without exclusively seeing bodies that represent the thin or muscular “ideal.” It’s no wonder fitness can trigger over-exercising, eating disorders, and feelings of body dissatisfaction. Often, when we workout or go to the gym, we think we are doing something good for our bodies, but, sometimes, we end up feeling worse than when we started. (This makes me very upset with parts of the fitness industry!)

The good news is, it doesn’t HAVE to be this way. I am a fitness professional and promote movement for wellness, not for weight loss. I’m a firm believer that movement can be extremely healing if we are doing it the right way, for the right reasons.

Not Everything Your Fitness Instructor Says is Good for You

First, we need to take a critical look at the messages we are receiving from the gym, fitness instructor, yoga teacher, #fitspo, or other components of the fitness industry. Often, this even includes comments from friends and family.

If a message involves movement to burn calories, to earn what you will eat or drink later, to punish your body, or if you leave a workout feeling beaten up and inadequate, that is a really good sign to stay away from that environment. For a list of 10 fitness messages to ignore in social media, check out this blog post. There’s also a really great podcast on #fitspo from “Stuff Mom Never Told You” that critically analyzes when fitspo is unhealthy.

Movement for the Right Reasons

As I said, movement is SO amazing for our minds and bodies. Instead of focusing on breaking down and shrinking our bodies, let’s focus on everything movement does to build us up. Here are just some of the benefits of movement:

  • Improved sleep
  • Increased energy
  • Stronger immune system
  • Maintained or increased bone density
  • Reduced chronic disease
  • Improved mood
  • Decreased stress

Notice I said nothing about weight loss. How much we weigh tells us nothing about our health. If you’re interested in more information on Health At Every Size®, I wrote a blog post on it or you can go directly to their website for tons of resources.

Final Tips on Pursuing Movement for Wellness

  1. Focus on what movement adds to your life: endorphin rush, stress relief, being with friends, sleep aid, etc. (Scroll up for all the amazing benefits of movement!)
  2. Avoid trigger phrases like exercise as punishment, exercise to burn calories, exercise to burn off food or earn food later.
  3. Avoid instructors who mention these trigger words and phrases. If you hear these phrases, perhaps let the instructor know how it made you feel or email the manager of the studio. You are not being rude, you’re just passing on valuable information! This is how we slowly change culture…
  4. Report instagram posts that mention these things so they won’t show up in your feed anymore. (Click the 3 dots on the top right box of the post, click “report”, and click “it’s spam”)
  5. Add in more gentle and brief movement. This could be walking for 5 minutes or take a stretch break if you have been sitting for awhile.
  6. Avoid really intense workouts until you feel like movement does not trigger a weight loss mindset, disordered eating or disordered exercise.
  7. Avoid working out in front of mirrors. Focus more on mind-body awareness and tuning into how movement makes you feel.
  8. Incorporate more gentle, non-heated yoga where you can really slow down and pay attention to your breath. This does wonders for your stress!

For more information, please head over to my website. You can also send me questions by contacting me here. I look forward to connecting with you and wish you the best on your wellness (sans weight loss mindset) journey!

About Brittany Guerin:

Brittany Guerin is an anti-diet movement and wellness coach. Using principles from Health at Every Size, she promotes body kindness, movement for wellness, mental health awareness, and self-care. In May 2019, she will finish her Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health and open a private practice in Raleigh, NC. Check out her website for more information! 

Follow her on Instagram: @britguerin