Lots of food faces going on in my new weekly segment “What’s in your pantry?” With Rene Knott of KSDK news!

Every Monday at 5am and 6am (record it, only Rene is up that early during quarantine ) we share awesome recipes using items you already have in your pantry (hello, fewer trips to the store!)!

It’s fun and funny mostly because Rene is hilarious and I make faces like this! See you on channel 5 on Monday!

When I decided I wanted to lose 10lbs in January, I had no idea I was going to learn so much about cravings and where they come from.

Turns out, cravings were what was preventing me from living at my ideal weight! Cravings and emotional eating are what prevent most of us from reaching our weight goals.

It's now my mission to help others learn how to manage cravings, so they can get to their goal weight. 

I'm now working on offering a class that is going to be incredibly helpful and give you all the tools I didn't have when I got started with my weight goal. I can't wait to see you there!

We are all meal prepping right now because that is one of the few options we have!!

It might feel like you're missing something, or you're not doing it right.....there really is a process behind the madness!

If you're struggling, my first suggestion would be to plan ahead!

• Know exactly what you're going to make
• Know exactly what you need to buy
• Make enough time to get it all done, start to finish, in one go

My second suggestion is try The Meal Prep Course! I break down the full process, walk you through step by step, and then we get to cooking in the kitchen together! It is really incredible.

Click HERE to sign up!

These "what I ate in a day" are a lot of fun (for me ). This was a typical day for me:

I started with a green smoothie; this one was zucchini, spinach, flax, avocado, spirulina, and collagen.

For lunch, I mixed half a can of tuna with whole grain mustard and Trader Joes everything but the bagel seasoning. I used sliced zucchini like chips and dipped it into the tuna salad alongside some hummus.

Ever since I brought the cheese cracker recipe on Show Me St.Louis I have been eating them non-stop. So good! I snacked on those in the afternoon. They are perfect when you want something salty and crunchy, but don't want all the carbs.

For dinner, I had sliced romaine, the other half of the can of tuna mixed the same as at lunch with steamed broccoli (topped with parmesan cheese ).

This is my favorite way to eat; tons of green veggies balanced with protein and a little cheese

Planning is everything, especially right now as we continue to live in quarantine! If meal prep has been challenging for you in the past, it is not because you are not a good cook, it's because you lacked planning!

Right now especially there may have been very little planning in the food you have in your house, so let's put some new skills to use!

Sign up for The Meal Prep Course (available NOW!!) and put that food to use!

There could not be a better time to learn a new skill, especially one that is going to save you time, money and benefit your health for a lifetime. Get the discount by clicking HERE and signing up! 

Let's rock this out!

My first job out of college was as a Nutrition Educator. I would go out and speak to groups of people, explaining the impact of diet on health. I would talk about the benefits of cooking at home, how it could help you prevent lifestyle diseases.

Mostly what I got in return was a lot of questions; "How do you cook healthy?", "How do you find the time to cook?", "What do you do if you get all your meals from a drive through or the gas station?". A lot of questions I didn't have great answers for. I knew I wanted to impact the health of our nation in a significant way, but I just couldn't see how my nutrition lectures were helping....at all.

So, I started cooking healthy meals for people and taking them to their home. No time to grocery shop? I'll deliver your meals. Don't know how to cook? I will do it all for you, all you have to do is heat and eat. Find yourself at the drive through too much? I will literally take it to your house thus saving you a trip to the drive through!!

...

When I decided at the beginning of January to lose 10lbs, and committed to doing it by taking a look at my habits and making real changes, I honestly thought it would be an easy journey.

Heck, when the first week I lost almost half of the weight I planned to! Not to mention, I am the FOUNDER of a healthy meal service- I have access to healthy balanced meals!

But, it wasn't about the healthy meals I was eating, it was about the times I was eating and wasn't actually hungry and the "why" behind that. When you start digging into that, you start discovering yourself (which is crazy because I thought I already had).

It's different for everyone, but for me I am facing up to the uncomfortable moments of life without a snack to keep me company. It felt impossible before, but now it feels liberating!

My weight loss journey continues!! At the beginning of 2020 I committed to losing 10lbs without "going on a diet". I wanted to lose it by eating real food (thank you, Basically It Meals), living my life and changing my relationship with food in a real way.

Week 1 - I dropped almost 5 pounds, which meant I was halfway to my goal in only 7 days. I was so freaking excited and thought "that was easy!".

Week 2 - Reality set in. During week 1 motivation was high, but week 2 it waned and life returned to normal, I realized I was eating a lot of times that weren't lunch and dinner, and for a lot of reasons that weren't hunger.

I had to figure out how to stop eating for all the emotional reasons. This is where most of us get stuck. Forever! It is really difficult to get beyond this.

Self-awareness is the first step. You have to be able to recognize what emotion you are experiencing when you're eating off plan. For most (and for me) it is stress, anxiety, worry and boredom.

Week 3,...

What happens if you "screw up" your diet this weekend?

The quickest way to recover from a "diet blunder" is to just do the next best thing; wait until you're hungry to eat, grab a salad, skip dessert, include a healthy snack.... You will be back at it no time!

It's important to remember that just because you had a few days when you weren't nourishing yourself properly, it's ok. We all fall off and get back on. It's about consistency, give yourself permission to forgive yourself for eating pizza and taking a few days off from the gym, and start again!

It's a lifestyle, not a diet. When you mess up, let it go, and make the next meal healthier. All you have is the current moment, there is no need to dwell on what happened, as long as you're trying to make the healthiest decisions right here and now that's all you can do!

Lesson 1 on healthy grocery shopping:

The problem isn't that you don't know how to grocery shop, the problem is you are going to the store with no plan!!

I am going to teach you exactly how to make that plan with the Meal Prep Course launching in March, but first, go watch the quick video I made that goes over a few items to keep in your house at all times so you can always throw together a healthy meal.

Click HERE to watch!