Hey, hey, in this episode, we're going to talk all about some practical ways to prepare and plan what you're going to eat for the week, your meals for the week.

And I know when you hear meal planning, typically we think of something different than what I'm going to be talking about today.

It sometimes feels like a lot of work.

And I want to do it and make this as easy as possible because as I've been on my own journey to figuring out how I can really nourish my body and leaning into learning about my own health and my own wellness.

And taking that responsibility seriously, I reflect on a lot of different points of my journey where I had a really unhealthy relationship with food and I can tend to become really obsessive.

And so as I've had to lean into, okay, what does it look like to be intentional, be prudent, plan ahead of time so that I know what I'm going to be nourishing my body with rather than just reaching for something random when I get hungry.

What does that discipline look like in tandem with not feeling overwhelmed by the process, not becoming obsessed with the process, not spending my entire weekend preparing meals ahead of time.

How can I do this in a way that actually fits my lifestyle?

So I look at this episode kind of as a deep dive into how can we really plan to nourish our bodies well with a busy lifestyle in practical ways.

And I certainly don't have all the answers. I'm not a meal, meal planning bro, but over the last year or two, I really leaned into how can I do this well and try a bunch of different things.

And I think I found some great and doable ways to do this that fit my lifestyle, which is pretty busy and pretty full.

And so if you find yourself in a similar space and just feeling overwhelmed by this process, but also wanting to be intentional about how you're eating and nourishing your body and doing it regularly, this is an episode for you. Let's dive right into it.

You're listening to She, with Jordan Lee Dooley, a personal development podcast for the everyday woman. Come invited, leave ignited.

Here's your host, Jordan Lee Dooley.

Okay, so I don't know about you, but when I hear the words meal planning or meal prepping, I often envision tasteless chicken breasts, some sort of green veggie like broccoli or green beans and rice in

and tapoware containers stacked up and taking space in the fridge. And for that reason, I often avoided the whole concept of meal planning or preparing for so long.

Actually, one time I tried to do it, one time I did this way, you know, the whole like prepare a bunch of meals and put them in tapoware and stack them in your fridge and heat them up, which, you know, was nice in some ways, went later in the week, but I spent an entire day cooking and preparing every meal and snack for the whole week.

And as much as it was nice to be prepared, come Wednesday or Thursday, I hated it. I felt like it took up my entire Sunday and I realized that wasn't super realistic for every week.

Like it was fine for that week, but my life's busy. And like, I don't know, yes, I appreciate preparation, but I also appreciate being a human and having a life on the weekends, having time to rest and nap and read and go to brunch with family and to church and not feel like I'm wasting, you know,

taking up six to seven hours or four to six hours, preparing meals for the week and meals that aren't even very tasty. So I just kind of realized like, okay, I need a little bit of a better plan here.

And then I realized that that's not how it has to be at all. This has been a journey over the last couple years, but, you know, I decided not to do that. And as I explored different ways to, okay, how can I still be more prepared, but without maybe having to do it this way?

I kind of learned that that's not the only way to do it and that planning meals ahead of time can help you avoid things like wasting food and time and money by scrambling, but also it doesn't have to be like you have every meal prepared and ready to go ahead of time.

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