May 26, 2020 By Karen Durbin Leave a Comment

Food Fatigue–4 Easy Ways to Fight It

Food Fatigue

You may be wondering what the heck food fatigue even is…

Do ever get to a point when you just get tired of the food you eat?

Maybe you have been eating healthy for a couple of weeks, and then all of a sudden you just don’t want to eat that food any more. You know you SHOULD eat, but you just can’t bring yourself to do it.

Nothing sounds good any more.

That’s food fatigue.

Sometimes food fatigue happens when you have been eating not-so-good-for-you-stuff too. You just get sick of eating the same things over and over again.

Food fatigue has happened to me recently while doing a round of Whole30.

The first week was exciting and I enjoyed making all the eggs and chicken and sweet potatoes.

But now that I am starting week 3, I find myself not really wanting to eat because–well, because it’s getting boring.

So, what do you do when that happens? You change it up!

4 Tips To Fight Food Fatigue

1) Try some new recipes.

I love using Pinterest as a free resource to find new and interesting meals to make. To help you get started, we found these 3 recipes that sound tasty & interesting!

Sheet Pan Taco Chicken Fingers
Sloppy Joe Bowls
Sticky Asian Meatballs

2) Grab the cookbooks

Pull out an underused cookbook and try some long-forgotten recipes. Or maybe even order yourself a new cookbook to explore.

Early in my healthy eating journey, I LOVED the Hungry Girl cookbooks, and this one published in 2019 looks super interesting: Hungry Girl Simply 6: All Natural Recipes With 6 Ingredients or Less.

And the Nom Nom Paleo Cookbooks are always a great choice: Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans & Ready or Not!: 150+ Make-Ahead, Make-Over, and Make-Now Recipes

3) Try something you’ve never eaten before.

Eating the same ingredients over and over–like beef and/or chicken–can certainly lead to food fatigue. Increase your repertoire by trying salmon or cod. This Everything Bagel Salmon sounds delicious!

Or what about cooking eggplant? Perhaps your family might enjoy Eggplant Parmesan.

Even making just one new meal can help you make food fatigue a thing of the past.

4) Use Prepped Girl.

We have a new lunch menu each week and regularly introduce new meals to the menu.

Having delicious, healthy meals prepared for you can help alleviate some of your food fatigue, plus give you back the time you were spending in the kitchen.

There is no minimum order amount, so you can order as many meals that you need to shake up your current boring meal plan.

You can check out this week’s menu HERE and order yourself some fatigue busting meals to be delivered to your door Sunday morning.

Quarantine certainly made it hard for us to find a variety of foods to eat, especially for those of us who enjoy eating out regularly, but food fatigue can happen even when we have lots of options on our plates. Having some quick, simple tips to bust through food fatigue when it hits can save your healthy meal plan from derailing.

We would love to hear from you!!

If you find success using any of these tips, please leave us a comment!! Or email us at hello@preppedgirl.com.

Or if you have a great tip for fighting food fatigue, tell us!! We love learning new ways to tackle our food issues.

March 26, 2020 By Karen Durbin Leave a Comment

Easy Weeknight Meals for Your Family

5 Easy Weeknight Meals

Since when did feeding our families weeknight meals become so tough?

It seems like in a blink of an eye we went from freely moving about, hitting up the grocery store whenever we needed to, and never doubting the things we need the most–like toilet paper and ground beef–would always be readily available.

Need For Easy Meals

In the grocery store several weeks ago, I saw the hoarding begin.

People were loading their carts with boxes of ramen noodles, cases of chicken noodle soup, lots of soda and chips, and many rolls of toilet paper.

I get it.

That stuff lasts. The expiration date is forever far away unlike the fresh products. And, if we are going to be stuck in our homes with no way to get more food, we NEED stuff that lasts.

But I could barely resist the urge to stand on something tall and yell, “Hey people!! None of that stuff you are buying is going to help you fight off the flu!!”

Even today, several weeks after the onset of our social distancing, I can still find the produce aisle stuffed full everything nutritious, while the boxed goods/ramen noodles/canned soups aisles are like ghost towns.

(Speaking of ghost towns, have you ever wondered what it must have been like for the last person to leave the town?? No? Just me? lol)

But, if you aren’t used to cooking so much, you might not know exactly what weeknight meals to make.

Or, if the ideas had the first week and maybe even the second week have run their course…

You might need help.

We have a super useable resource for you for just $1.99!

Easy Weeknight Meals

eBook Contents:

This downloadable eBook of weeknight meals contains:

5 easy meals you can make this week for your family
printable grocery shopping list
meal prepping tips

Weeknight Meals included are:

Paleo Italian Meatballs in Marinara Sauce

These weeknight meals have been family favorites for us, and we are pretty sure your family will love them too!

You can get your copy HERE.

December 19, 2019 By Karen Durbin Leave a Comment

Whole30 Menu for the month of January

Hey friends!! It has certainly been a hot minute since we have shared our stuff on our blog, but we are here today to let you know (in case you haven’t heard) that for the whole month of January, our menu will be Whole30 compliant!!

Whaaatttt???!!

Yep!

If you have ever done a round of Whole30, you know that in order to be successful–meaning, you don’t break one rule for 30 days–you NEED to be prepped and ready.

Eating on the fly while doing Whole30 is tough.

You can’t just run into the grocery store and grab prepackaged food or hit up most drive thrus. You have to read the labels. You have to know your stuff. You have a lot to avoid.

I remember many times during my first round of Whole30 wandering the aisles of the grocery store ravenous looking for something substantial and compliant to eat.

Since most of us are short on time, we decided to help you kick off the new year with a secret weapon–Prepped Girl!

All of our breakfasts and lunches will be Whole30 compliant down to the mayonnaise and the ketchup and the sauces we use. Like our Whole30 compliant Loaded Burger Bowl…

And our Fish Taco Bowls…

And our Tomato Basil Egg Muffin…

And MORE!!

You won’t have to spend time reading labels, planning out all your meals, or prepping ahead of time.

You just need to decide what you are going to eat each day and grab and go!

Since each meal is individually portioned in BPA-free, microwave/freezer safe, recyclable containers, eating on the go and staying Whole30 compliant has never been easier!

The 1st week of Whole30 compliant meals is up on the website and ready for preorder.

All the meals will be delivered Sunday December 29th so you can hit the ground running.

Check them out and order yourself some Whole30 goodness today!!!

June 16, 2019 By Karen Durbin Leave a Comment

What’s on the menu

Next delivery date is Sunday, June 23rd.

As I am writing this, it is a dreary, stormy day. I don’t know about you, but these “summer” days don’t really feel so summery. I can’t wait for the warm temps and the steady sunshine. I would rather be seeking out shelter from the sun rather than from all this rain.

But, despite the dreary weather, we have some YUMMY meals on the menu this week (buuutttt…..we do say that every week!! lol!).

Too many people believe that in order to eat healthy they have to give up food that tastes great.

We believe the exact opposite.

When you eat REAL, WHOLESOME food, food tastes DELICIOUS! The trick is using healthy fats and flavorful spices and quality meats.

Here are a few of our favorites on the menu this week!

Barbeque Chicken Spaghetti Squash

If you are looking for a Whole30 compliant, Paleo, Gluten & Dairy free meal with LOTS of protein, this is the meal for you!

This meal is hearty and healthy and packed full with flavor!

The BBQ sauce is made from scratch and is sweetened with medjool dates.

It also packs a powerful nutritional punch with 44g of protein and it’s served on top of low-carb spaghetti squash!

The BBQ sauce comes on the side so you can add a little or a lot!

Whole30 | Paleo | Gluten/Dairy Free

Turkey Taco Bowl

An awesomely delicious and nutritious way to enjoy your tacos without unnecessary carbs!

Grain free, paleo, and Whole30 approved.

On a bed of Spanish cauliflower rice, this dish serves up a hearty dose of flavor and good-for-your body nutrition that is sure to keep your energy flowing all afternoon long!

Especially with the 24g of protein!

Banana Egg Breakfast Bowl

Traditional breakfast foods like boxed cereals leave us feeling hungry just a few hours later.

This Banana Egg Breakfast Bowl has an oatmeal-like texture, topped off with almond butter, coconut, and apples and lots of cinnamon.

Your belly and your sweet tooth will be satisfied with this meal!

And more!!!

Check out this week’s full menu at Prepped Girl and order yourself some healthy meals for next week!!!

April 20, 2019 By Karen Durbin Leave a Comment

Pomegranate Juice and a Podcast

Recently I stumbled across an Instagram feed that really resonated with me which then lead me to a new podcast. Since I am in the car a lot, I like to listen to podcasts and books on Audible so I can capitalize on that “free” time I have.

The podcast is called “The Doctor’s Farmacy with Mark Hyman M.D.” His main premise is that we can heal and nurture our bodies with GOOD food. He says: “I never get tired of saying it: real food heals. Food has the power to prevent and reverse disease, and the more we know about it, the more power we have to curate a targeted diet to help us reach our health goals. The catch is that we have to choose the right foods, the ones that elevate us, and simultaneously ditch the poor-quality ones that harm us. There are powerful compounds in foods…that have medicinal impacts on the body. That’s why I call the grocery store the drug store; we can literally eat our medicine at every meal.”

I was listening to Podcast #45 Why Food Is Better Than Medication To Treat Disease the other day and was completely blown away with the amount of helpful information this podcast provided.

We hear it all the time…eat this, don’t eat that. Completely change your diet. Eat these rare, hard to find, expensive foods. Fast. Don’t fast. And so on. I don’t know about you, but I get completely overwhelmed at times with all the differing information that’s out there.

But on this podcast Dr. Hyman was interviewing Dr. William Li (“world-renowned physician, scientist, speaker and author of Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself. He is best known for leading the Angiogenesis Foundation), and Dr. Li gave simple to apply suggestions.

One of those suggestions was to drink 8oz. of pomegranate juice a day.

Dr. Li shared the story about how his mother beat stage 4 cancer with immunotherapy. But, he also shared that studies show that the people who are able to use immunotherapy to beat cancer had a particular bacteria (I am not sure how to spell it) in their gut that you can’t get by just taking a probiotic. BUT, you CAN get that healthy bacteria by just drinking 8oz. of pomegranate juice a day. (The flip side of the coin is that people who lacked this bacteria died from their cancers)

WHAT???

Something so simple can literally make the difference between life and death?

So, I had to research more about pomegranate juice.

Benefits of Pomegranate Juice

Here is some healthful information I discovered about pomegranate juice from Medical News Today :

*Pomegranate juice contains more than 100 phytochemicals (which protect cells from damage that could lead to cancer)

*Pomegranate juice contains higher levels of antioxidants which also help to protect cells from cancer and help reduce inflammation

*One pomegranate has 40% of our daily Vitamin C.

*Pomegranate juice can reduce inflammation in the gut.

*“Flavonols in pomegranate juice may help block the inflammation that contributes to osteoarthritis and cartilage damage. The juice is currently being studied for its potential effects on osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other types of arthritis and joint inflammation.”

*Pomegranate juice protects the heart and arteries.

*Pomegranate juice can fight off illness and infection.

*Drinking 8oz a day may improve learning and memory.

Of course, the research suggests that homemade or fresh pomegranate juice is best, which now has me on the hunt for recipes and applications for this powerful juice.

Resource Link:

Here is a link for Dr. Li’s book mentioned in the podcast if you are interested: Eat To Beat Disease

And if you would like to read the full article on pomegranate juice, hop on over here: Fifteen Health Benefits of Pomegranate Juice

Order Your Healthy Meals Today!

And don’t forget to hop over to the website to order yourself some healthy meals for next week!!

We make all of our food from scratch (read: NO PROCESSED FOOD) and package it in recyclable BPA-free, microwave/freezer safe containers, and deliver it to your door Sunday morning (Greater Cincinnati area only for now).

Healthy eating couldn’t be easier with Prepped Girl meals.