Maybe you have decided to eat healthier as a family, but you have realized you NEED a meal plan to do it! Now you are wondering, ‘how do I go about developing and incorporating a meal plan for my family?’ That is why I put together this collection of meal planning recourses for you. Now you can find everything you need to start your exciting, fun, and healthy meal planning journey.
Below is a list of my favorite meal plan resources and why?
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The Best Meal Planning Books, Apps, and Products: A collection of meal planning recourses for you. Now you can find everything you need to start your exciting, fun, and healthy meal planning journey.
I LOVE to feel organized. Getting organized takes the weight off your shoulders, doesn’t it?!?! That is why I love this book! The goal of this book is to help you organized your meals for a whole year! This meal planner includes:
One year’s worth of weekly templates to plan breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks
Grocery lists and price comparison sheets
Recipe pages
This wonderful origination tool is written by registered dietitian, Jessica Levinson, MS, RDN, CDN.
Created by a dietitian (that’s me!), The Nourishing Meal Builder shows you how to create anti-inflammatory, anti-anxiety, mood boosting, immune supportive meals that reduce the risk of chronic disease and promote cognitive function, focus, attention, and memory.
The Meal Builder Cards included in The Nourishing Meal Builder takes the stress out of meal planning. In fact, you don’t have to do much meal planning ahead at all!
You simply use the food list to grocery shop! Then when you are ready to cook a meal, you use the included meal builder cards to create a nourishing meal on the spot! It’s so easy and the meal possibilities are endless!
Create anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory, mood boosting, immune supportive meals that reduce the risk of chronic disease and promote cognitive function, focus, attention, and memory.
This book also made an appearance in my “Healthy Living Books Written by Registered Dietitians,” but I thought this book fit well in this list as well. This 6-week guide includes more than 100 breakfast, lunch, and dinner solutions. In this book, you will find simple, realistic solutions as wells as assessments, food tips and meal ideas to help you live a happier, healthier, and stronger life.
If you want your meal plan to be full of flavorful, nutritious plant-based foods; then, this is the book for you. This guide, which is broken down into 52 weeks, provides 125 A-MAZING plant-based recipes!
Our lives are so busy that we often don’t have much time to plan and cook our foods. This is why meal prepping is soooo beneficial! Toby Smithson provides so many meal prepping tips and solutions in her book. This book is perfect for busy families who want to find a way to eat healthy on a busy schedule.
As soon as I discovered this book, I knew I had to include it here. Deciding what to eat on a diabetic diet, can feel overwhelming. This books takes out the guesswork by helping you easily plan your meals. Diabetes Meal Planning and Nutrition for Dummies includes tons of helpful information like healthy eating tips for diabetes, food swap ideas, and of course, yummy recipes!
This IS the ultimate meal prep book! Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals shows you how to prep ALL your meals for a month in ONE DAY!!! I developed this book because, although I LOVE to cook, I couldn’t find the time to cook healthy meals everyday. Life. Gets. Soooo. Busy, and figuring out what to eat everyday is one more mentally draining decision you have to make.
That is why I began prepping and freezing a month of meals in one day. Over time I became extremely efficient at making all of these meals at once. I can now get all my breakfast, lunch and dinners for a whole month prepped and frozen in only 6 hours!!! This book teaches you the tricks and the steps to take in order to prep and freeze your meals efficiently too. When it’s actually time to eat breakfast and lunch, you simply throw one of these meals in the microwave for 2 minutes and IT. IS. DONE!!!! For dinner, I usually put the family-style meals in the crockpot while I am making my kids lunches in the morning. It’s so simple! With Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals, you have one less thing to think about each day. Now you can enjoy healthy meals and focus on your family instead of trying to figure out what to cook!
Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals includes the some of the most popular family recipes. From Pizza Bites and Southwest burrito dip, to Asian Chicken and rice; there is something for just about everyone.
Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals eBook
Healthy Meal Planning Ultimate Bundle
With this Healthy Meal Planning Ultimate bundle, you are able to get a HUGE assortment of meal planning resources all at once for an amazing price! Instead of paying for each resource separately, you pay one price and get a whole collection which includes:
1072 whole food recipes
38 meal plans to choose from
Nutrition information on every recipe
AND it integrates with the Real Plan app!
You can find out more about the Healthy Meal Planning Ulitmate Bundle here.
The Real Plan App
With the Real Plan app, you can customize your meals and grocery lists from your phone! Real Plans even includes easy Instacart integration so you can get your groceries delivered!
Best Meal Prep Products
My favorite is the Baggy Rack!
Meal Plan Checklist Printable (It’s Free!!!)
I developed this meal plan checklist because I wanted to make sure I was incorporating foods that helped improve my mood, immunity, and inflammation; reduced the risk or chronic, autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases like Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Cancer, heart disease, and Rheumatoid arthritis; and helped with stomach problems like cramps, distention, and diarrhea. In other words, I wanted a COMPLETE list of foods that I should include in my weekly meals all in one place.
So I made a simple, easy Meal Plan Checklist! You can use the checklist to make sure you are getting these amazing nutrients into your daily life! And all subscribers can print and start using the Meal Plan Checklist now! It’s completely free! You can get this FREE Meal Plan Checklist here!
Mindfulnes in Faith and Freezer Meals is a faith-based mindful living and nutriion ebook written by a registered dietitian. This book is so packed full of invaluable information that it is hard to describe it in one sentence (hence the need for this “70 reasons” post). So keep reading the list to truly understand what is in this book. But if I had to describe it in one (or three sentences) I would say this:
Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals is designed to help you live YOUR healthiest, happiest, most meaningful life through faith-based mindfulness and nutrition. This book is perfect for busy families who want to eat healthy and organize their lives in order to follow God and server others more fully. Timesaving, make-ahead healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes, as well as mindful living and mindful eating techniques are included.
This site contains affiliate links (See full disclosure here.)
70 ways that the faith-based mindful living and mindful eating practices explored in “Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals” transformed my life.
70 Reasons you NEED Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals
The Perks to Learning to Live a Faith-Based Mindful Life
1. You want less stress in your life.
Mindfulness techniques have been shown to have a huge impact on stress. Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals provides detailed stress-relieving mindful living and mindful eating techniques. For me, the faith-based mindfulness techniques included in this book provide the greatest impact when it comes to stress relief.
2. You want to improve your mood through mindfulness.
Did you know preliminary observations show that Mindfulness programs in schools may improve social behaviors, mood, stress levels, and even academic performance and test score? Schools are even reporting less suspensions, detentions, violent incidents, principal visits, bullying, and classroom disruptions since incorporating mindfulness programs! If these mindfulness techniques can improve the moods of children in schools, perhaps they can help you too!
3. You want to improve your brain function and focus through faith-based mindfulness.
Notice these school mindfulness programs seem to help with academic performance and test scores as well. Mindfulness techniques help clear our minds of all the other thousands of thoughts preventing us from focusing, and we know that stress can hinder our ability to focus and pay attention. This is where those stress relieving mindfulness techniques can be helpful. Plus, when we practice faith-based mindfulness, we learn to notice God in the present moment. Feeling God’s presence and knowing God is with us, provides peace and comfort like nothing else. Talk about a stress reliever.
4. You want more control over your emotions and actions.
When I practice faith-based mindfulness, I listen to God more. Listening to God helps me make better choices because I’m not letting negative emotions take control of my actions. (At least not as often, anyway)
5. You want to enjoy the present…
6. And have a more positive outlook on life.
One aspect of mindfulness is focusing on being present in the moment. Another aspect of mindfulness is focusing on the positive in your life in that moment. With faith-based mindfulness, you are focusing on how God is present with you in that very moment. While focusing on God’s presence you get to notice all the gifts from God and the beautiful little things in God’s world. Soon after incorporating some of these mindfulness practices, you may begin to notice that you have a much more grateful attitude. (This helps with everyday life situations and annoyances. Sometimes bad things happen and you will, of course, feel sad and upset. Those feeling are completely okay. You should let yourself feel them.)
7. You want to experience those goose-bump, “God is here,” moments a little more often.
When I intentionally focus on God in the present moment, I actually SEE what God is doing in my life and the lives of others around me. By focusing on God in the present moment, I get to experience the feeling of amazement more often, and I WANT TO BE AMAZED!!! (Don’t we all want to be beautifully amazed?)
9. And notice God as God guides you through your day.
10. You want to strengthen your walk with God.
Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals explores not only mindfully pausing and praying before eating, but also discusses mindfully pausing before doing anything! Pausing before eating was crucial for my nutritional health, but I began to notice how crucial the pause was in every aspect of my life. I began to notice the impact of pausing and praying before entering any new environment whether the new environment was a park, a friend’s home, or the grocery store.
Pausing and praying, was life changing. I began to notice the importance of pausing and praying when I felt angry, or before saying something difficult, or before even talking with my children. When I forget to pause, I noticed the difference in MY actions and my strength to endure life. On the days that I do a better job of pausing, I notice God’s presence and God’s guidance more.
The Perks to Cooking A Month of Meals in One Day
11. We have established that life is stressful, but meal planning and cooking shouldn’t have to be.
I love to cook, but I found that I didn’t have the time to cook everyday. Trying to juggle cooking, soccer practice, dance class, volunteer meetings, work, cleaning the house, and all the other “mom duties” was just causing too much stress. Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals shows you how to cook a month of healthy freezer meals in one day. Talk about taking the stress out of cooking! I cook once, and I am done for the whole month.
12. Your life is too busy!
To piggyback on #11, sometimes we just can’t find the time to cook healthy meals. When you prep and freeze them all at once, you have time for the other things you want to do.
13. You want to save money.
This book helps you save money in multiple ways. Because you have food on hand, you eat out less. We all know that eating out is expensive. Since you are cooking everything at once, you can bulk shop and thus get bulk prices. This book also provides money saving tips and tricks that I use while grocery shopping. My grocery bill has substantially gone down since I started freezer meal cooking.
14. I can serve others through food.
Food nourishes, comforts, provides energy, and sustains us. After a long day, sitting down to eat gives us needed rest. Food is a gift from God, and when we eat, we are about as close to God’s creation as we can get. In fact, if you think about it, we are actually taking God’s creation into our bodies. So, I think, when we give someone food, it is the ultimate sign of our love for them.
A benefit to having all of these freezer meals on hand is that we have food ready ASAP when our friends or family could use it. Whether a friend just had a baby or just got home from surgery, you have a freezer meal ready to give.
15. You want more time to serve God and others.
Cooking, grocery shopping, and meal planning can be extremely time consuming. One of my priorities in life is to serve God and others. With all my meals done, I have time to spend quiet time with God, and I have more time to love on and serving others in our community.
16. You don’t have to make all your recipes at once, but if you do want to make them all at once, this book shows you how to do it quickly and Efficiently.
Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals provides steps and pro tips on how to make all the recipes in one day. These “Efficiency Pro-tips” are strategically placed where you would actually need the tip if you were making all the recipes at once.
17. No need to make a grocery list.
Along with the recipes and “Efficiently Pro Tips,” a complete grocery list is included as well! Blank spots are even included in case you want to add snacks, paper products, or other misc. items to your grocery list.
18. You want your kids to eat healthier, and these are kid-friendly make-ahead meal.
Sometimes convenient food is not as tasty as the good ole’ home cooked stuff. Well, this is real home cooked food! But it is still convenient because you fixed it all in one day!
21. You want to eat at home more.
Before I started this freezer meal routine in my home, there just wasn’t enough time in the day to do it all AND cook. We would often find ourselves grabbing take-out, going to a restaurant, going through a drive through, or eating random less healthy stuff for dinner, and yet as a dietitian, I knew needed to figure something out. This make-ahead freezer meal routine was the solution I needed.
22. Meal planning is not only time consuming, it is mentally draining.
We often have such a huge mental load along with our physical load. Our brains have to organize and remember soo much information. After a long day, opening up that fridge, and trying to make yet another decision, is just too much. The meal planning is done when you do it all in one day! Seriously, many times I just grab the first freezer meal I see. They are all yummy so I know dinner is going to be good regardless of what I grab.
23. You get to have one mindful day to yourself every month.
Mindfulness gives your brain a chance to rest. You rest your brain by centering or focusing your thoughts on one thing. Often times that one thing is breathing. Another component to mindfulness is focusing on the present moment. I use my cooking day as a chance to center my brain on one thing- cooking the food from God’s earth.
When I cook, it is just me and God in the kitchen. I say a prayer and thank God for this food, and for all the people who will be nourished by the food.
When I am stirring, I focus on stirring. I notice how the spoon feels in my hand, and how the food moves in the bowl.
You can also practice a little self-care during your cooking day. Turn on the music, or drink a glass of wine. The point is to slow down and be in the moment. Don’t focus on finishing fast. Remember, I provide efficiency tips so you don’t have to worry about that. In fact, frantically rushing often actually slows us down because we make mistakes.
24. You don’t want to keep buying healthy stuff, only for it to spoil before you get to eat it.
This was a huge problem for me before Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals. I would buy, say, healthy fruits and vegetables to make a salad, and I would really enjoy that salad. And I would even eat the salad again for lunch the next day, but then I didn’t want to eat the same vegetables for a third day. I wanted variety, but if I ate variety, my food would spoil. Now I have all these amazing vegetables and whole grains safely frozen so that I can change up what I eat. Now my food doesn’t spoil and…
25. I get to eat a variety of foods. With freezer meals, I can mix-and-match and change up what I am eating everyday.
26. You want to lose weight.
I don’t want to focus too much on this because all sizes can be healthy. Some people are naturally smaller and some naturally weigh more. We have different builds and genetics. Plus, other things like medications, medical conditions, and even uncontrollable seasons in life can affect weight.
But I also don’t want you to feel that wanting to lose weight is somehow wrong. You may want to see if weight loss will help you have more energy or help with a medical condition. Maybe you feel like you could keep up with your children more if you carried less weight, or maybe you want to see if weight loss can help with joint pain.
There are reasons you may desire weight loss, and fortunately mindful eating can help with weight loss while also helping you stop that food obsessing often associated with dieting. The Mindful eating techniques, recipes, and nutrition tips provided in this book will help you feel full and notice your hunger/satiety cues. Moreover, the desire to binge decreases because you are actually enjoying your food ALL THE TIME.
In a nutshell, with Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals, you don’t need to focus on weight; you can just know that you are eating well by developing a routine using recipes and tips in the book.
27. You want to maintain your weight.
Maybe you don’t want to lose weight, but you do want to maintain a healthy weight. The techniques, tips, and recipes in this book can help you maintain your weight as well.
28. So we have established that this book shows you how to efficiently make all your breakfast, lunches, and dinners in one day, but what of you just want to make a month of dinners?
You can! The recipes and a complete grocery list for just dinners are also included.
29. And guess what. A complete grocery list for just the breakfast recipes is included too.
So if you have your dinners covered but want more breakfast meals ready to go, your can just make a month of breakfast meals if you prefer.
30. A complete grocery list for just the lunch recipes is included as well so you can also just make the lunches.
31. You are about to have a baby, and you know you are going to be sleep-deprived and time-crunched soon.
I have had so many people report that these meals have been lifesavers when they were in the newborn phase of parenting. I even had a couple of moms tell me that they ended up having to be on bed restat the end of their pregnancy, and these meals were everything!
32. When you are ready to eat breakfast or lunch (or even dinner if you want), all your need to do is microwave.
The breakfast and lunch recipes are pre-portioned because many of us eat our breakfast or lunches on our own. When it is time to eat, you can just put one of your meals in the microwave for 2 minutes, and it is ready!!!
33. Dinners are perfect of family meals.
In the ebook, I recommend packaging your dinners family style. That way you just simply throw your meal in the crockpot or oven, and your meal for the whole family is done!
34. You have healthy food ready to take to work.
These pre-packaged home-cooked microwavable lunches are PERFECT for work!
35. Meal prepping is one of the keys to weight loss.
Most of us need to get a little organized and form some sort of easy to follow routine in order to make real lasting changes. Well, Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals IS the ultimate meal prep book because the ebook shows you how to prep ALL your meals for a month at once!!!
36. Another cool thing about having these freezer meals on hand is that you can host guests anytime.
Lots of these recipes work great for parties and socials! Having the girls over for a brunch? Just heat up some crustless quiches. Did you decide last minute to have people over to watch a football game? Throw the burrito dip into the crockpot, and you are ready to host!
37. Enjoy more family time.
I am free to play with my children or help them with homework in the afternoons because I’m not cooking!
We are now consistently having family dinnertime together! I get to have even more quality family time while sitting at the dinner table.
The Perks to Mindful Nutrition and Mindful Eating
70 ways Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals Transformed my Life through Faith-based mindfulness and nutrition: mindful eating techniques and healthy make-ahead recipes included.
38. Learn mindful eating techniques as well as…
39. Learn about the one prayer before a meal that stopped me (a dietitian) from overeating.
There is something about turning on the music and just spending some uninterrupted time in the kitchen one day each month (My meals last 3 months for my family, so I only cook these freezer meals once every three months!)
42. Sneak in more vegetables.
Having vegetables mixed in as part of your main meal, definitely can up your vegetable intake for the day!
43. You want to enjoy your food.
Many times, dieting and food rules, take the joy out of eating. Mindful eating brings the joy back tenfold.
44. You want to stop binge eating.
With mindful eating, you are always mindfully enjoying your food; thus, you never feel deprived. Therefore, your desires to binge eat decreases.
45. You are tired of mustering up enough willpower to diet.
Remember if you are always enjoying your food, then you don’t need willpower.
46. You just want healthy, delicious recipes, but you don’t want to cook all your foods in one day.
You can still make these recipes one at a time whenever you want. There is no rule that says you have to cook them all at once if you don’t want to.
47. Healthy Snack Ideas are included.
Chapter 22 provides a list of healthy and EASY snacks!
48. A registered dietitian wrote the eBook.
A registered dietitian, by definition, is considered the expert in the field of nutrition science. The term Registered Dietitian is actually different than a nutritionist. In fact, the term nutritionist is not a regulated term and has a more general meaning. The term, registered dietitian, however, is regulated much like the terms doctor or lawyer. In other words, you are not allowed to call yourself a doctor unless you are a doctor, and you cannot call yourself a registered dietitian unless you have completed all the academic and professional requirements.
To become an RD you must complete a bachelors degree at a college accredited by the Commission of Accreditation of Dietetic Education; complete 1200 hours of a competitive internship; pass the CDR Exam; and by 2024, all register dietitian will be required to have a master’s degree as well. Many RD’s already do. Registered dietitians are required to complete Continuing Education Units throughout their career to keep their registered dietitian credentials.
You can find amazing nutrition books by non-dietitians, but you can see why seeing that RD or RDN beside an author’s name in a nutrition book is a plus.
49. Mindful eating demo video is provided.
You don’t have to just read about mindful eating. The ebook also provides a link to an actual mindful eating demo video so you can actually SEE what mindful eating looks like.
50. Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals not only discusses mindful eating, but also discussed how to mindfully plate your foods to prevent over-filling your plate.
51. A collection of over 300 dietitian-approved healthy eating and fitness tips and tricks are included like…
52. Snacking Tips (Chapter 6)
53. Dining Out Tips (Chapter 7)
54. Portion Control Tips (Chapter 8)
55. “How to Make Your Own Recipes Healthier” (Chapter 9)
56. “Health and Fitness Tips for Vacationers and Frequent Travelers” (Chapter 10)
57. “When my Work Environment Causes Weight Gain” (Chapter 12)
58. “Eating Healthy at Social Gatherings” (Chapter 12)
59. “Developing an Exercise Routine” (Part 1, Chapter 13)
60. “How to Exercise when Your Kids Are Always Around” (Part 3, Chapter 13)
61. “But What if I am Too Busy to Exercise” (Part 4, Chapter 13)
62. “Ways to Sneak Exercise into your Day” (Part 5, Chapter 13)
63. You can use your results from the included interactive quiz, to determine which tips and tricks you think would make the biggest impact in your life.
64. A “Putting it All Together: Routine Planning Worksheet,” is also included in the book.
You can use this worksheet to figure the habits you would like to implement into your routine.
65. Learn how to organize your kitchen to promote lasting changes
66. Feel satisfied and full after eating these freezer meals.
These meals are hearty, delicious, comfort classics done in a healthier way. They are also abundant in fiber, which helps you feel full.
67. Along with fiber, these meals are full of essential vitamins and minerals.
68. Mindful eating can aid in digestion.
How? Although most digestive enzymes are released in the stomach. Digestion actually starts in the mouth. In fact, one enzyme, called Salivary Amylase, is released in the mouth. This enzyme starts breaking down carbohydrates. Cool fact, if you let a piece of bread sit in your mouth for a moment, you may notice a sweeter taste. That taste occurs because the more complex carbohydrate breaks down into a simpler sugar. Also chewing thoroughly gives those other enzymes in your stomach more surface area to do their work, which again promotes healthy digestion and absorption.
69. Mindful eating can reduce the risk of many chronic diseases.
We established in #68 that Mindful eating aids in digestion. Healthy digestion promotes gut health. Poor gut health is related to inflammation and reduced immune function. Gut health, inflammation and immunity are all linked to many condition including IBS, Crohn’s, Autoimmune Disease, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, stroke, brain function and focus, mood and even depression and anxiety, to name a few. So anything that promotes a healthy gut is something worth looking into in my book. (Fortunately, a mindful eating guide IS included in my book!)
Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals is designed to help you live YOUR healthiest, happiest, most meaningful life through faith-based mindfulness and nutrition.
What Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals is NOT
This Freezer meal plan is NOT a rigid “you must eat these freezer meals” plan. This isn’t about strict rules or dieting. Not eating these meals is NOT wrong. In other words, you have not messed up if you go out to eat one night or if you decide to fix something other than your freezer meals one night. If your routine changes sometimes, you have NOT broken a rule or failed. In fact, I provide eating out tips as well as other helpful tips about portion control, snacking, and more.
You can use these provided tips along with your freezer meals to customize a routine that works for your family. I have also provided a chapter on mindful eating. You can incorporate mindful eating everywhere and anytime. You will see how mindfully eating, in my opinion, is one of the number one ways to maintain and lose weight if this is one of your desires.
So read the step-by-step mindful eating guide and incorporate it even when your routine is out of whack. You can mindfully eat at home, at work, at restaurants, and on vacation. Mindful eating techniques travel well, so to speak. This meal plan is meant to make life and eating healthier and easier for you and your family. This plan just makes it easy to eat healthy meals when you are too busy and overwhelmed. This is for families who just want a simple routine to relieve the stress of meal planning and cooking.
How has Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals Helped You?
Has the Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals ebook changed your life in some way? Email me your transformation story by using the Contact Me form on mindfulnessinfaithandfood.com. Maybe you have even experienced another benefit from Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals that I haven’t even thought of. Please email me any of your stories and experiences. I would be so thankful that you took the time to tell me. 🙂
What do you want your life to look like? What about your children’s life? Are there things you would change? What does YOUR healthiest, happiest, and most meaningful life look like?
I am a list person, so when I am asked this question, my immediate impulse is to make a list.
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My Mindful Living Checklist (Does your list look similar to mine?):
1.My greatest desire is to glorify God in all that I do. I want to show God’s love through kindness and giving. My prayer is that I listen for God’s guidance in every situation because when I listen to God, amazing things happen, and I WANT TO BE AMAZED!!!
2. I wish to have a peaceful and positive life and a grateful attitude. I want to enjoy the little moments by taking the time to notice God’s world and soak it up!
3. We humans seem to have a natural desire to work and create. We want to have meaning and purpose in our lives. This is true for me too. In my ideal life, I want to learn, grow, and work. I want to create something new, and in some small way make the world better. I want to challenge my mind through reading and learning from God and others, and I want to challenge my body through physical activity.
4. Just as I desire to work, grow, and be challenged, I equally want to have time to rest, relax, and play. Sometimes finding the time to relax is the most difficult challenge in life, and yet so important for our health and our ability to serve God and others.
What Do We Want for Our Children?
Of course, I want these things, even more for my children. One of my greatest joys is watching my children as they feel God’s presence. They look so peaceful and content. My 2ndgreatest joy is seeing my children show kindness to others, and my third greatest joy is witnessing my children living in the moment and appreciating the little things.
We may all have different wishes and desires, but when we break them down, I’m guessing that this list is at the heart of most of our desires…
Live YOUR healthiest, happiest, most meaningful life through faith-based mindfulness and nutrition. For busy families who want to eat healthy and organize their lives in order to better follow God & serve others. Time-saving make-ahead meals, mindful living, mindful eating techniques included
But How Does Mindful Living Help Us Become This Person and Live this Healthy, Happy, Purposeful Life?
Well, I don’t fully know all the answers, but I do know a few things that help, and those are:
Spending time with God
Practicing faith-based mindful living techniques including Mindful eating
Mindfully eating foods from God’s earth that nourish our mind, body, and soul
Getting adequate rest, sleep, and physical activity
So that is where my book, 18 weeks to a Healthier, Happier, More Purposeful Life comes in. This book is designed to help you live YOUR healthiest, happiest, most meaningful life through faith-based mindful living and nutrition.
The Life Changing Benefits of Mindful Living
There are many benefits to incorporating the mindfulness techniques discussed in 18 weeks to a Healthier, Happier, More Purposeful Life. In fact, mindfulness techniques are so beneficial that schools have even started implementing mindfulness programs.
Although more research is needed, current research indicates that implementing Mindfulness programs in schools may improve social behaviors, mood, stress levels, and even academic performance and test scores. Schools are even reporting fewer suspensions, detentions, violent incidents, principal visits, bullying, and classroom disruptions since incorporating mindfulness programs!
The Benefits of Faith-Based Mindful Living are Overwhelming
If you think about it, these results make since, don’t they? Practicing mindfulness techniques can relieve stress and help us have better self-control. When we have less stress and learn to have more self-control, we tend to make better choices. Less ideal choices can sometimes cause even more stress, which brings us full circle. Furthermore, aren’t we better able to focus and learn when our brains are calm verses stressed?
So you can see how mindfulness activities can be so impactful, but for me, the most profound impact happens when I combine faith and mindfulness.
1. Mindfully focusing on God’s presence in every moment. One aspect of mindfulness is about focusing on being present. But with faith-based mindfulness, you are focusing on how God is present with you in that very moment….
2. …And while focusing on God’s presence you get to notice all the gifts from God and the beautiful little things in God’s world.
Let’s go back to that “Healthy, Happy, Meaningful Life list” because Faith-based mindfulness helps me fulfill that list like nothing else.
Here is How My Life Has Been Transformed Through Faith-based Mindful Living:
I listen to God more: Listening to God helps me make better choices. I’m not letting negative emotions take control of my actions. (At least not as often, anyway)
Now I am more at peace and filled with comfort because I am noticing God is with me everywhere.
I get to have more goose-bump-“I’m awe-struck” moments because when I intentionally focus on God in the present moment, I actually see what God is doing in my life and the lives of others around me. By focusing on God in the present moment, I get to experience the feeling of amazement more often, and I WANT TO BE AMAZED!!! (Don’t we all want to be beautifully amazed?)
Mindful Living Translates to Mindful Eating: The Prayer Before a Meal That Stops Me from Over Eating and Other Mindful Eating Techniques
Did you know learning to pause and pray is what finally helped me (a dietitian) stop overeating?
When you mindfully eat, you get to experience ALL these faith-based mindfulness benefits and more. Mindful eating gives us the opportunity to focus on God’s presence, feel gratitude for God’s gift of food, and rest our brain! We get to have mini mindfulness moments with God EVERY. TIME. WE. EAT!
With mindful breathing, we are pausing and centering out minds on one thing-breathing. When we are mindfully eating, we are still pausing and centering our brain on one thing, but this time that one thing is eating. With faith-based mindful eating, we are resting our brain by focusing on God and the food God provided.
Some of the Other Benefits to Mindful Eating Are:
Weight Loss
I don’t want to focus too much on this because all sizes can be healthy. Some people are naturally smaller and some naturally weigh more. We have different builds and genetics. Plus, other things like medications, medical conditions, and even uncontrollable seasons in life can affect weight.
But I also don’t what you to feel that wanting to lose weight is somehow wrong. You may want to see if weight loss will help you have more energy or help with a medical condition. Maybe you feel like you could keep up with your children more if you carried less weight or maybe you want to see if weight loss can help with joint pain. There are reasons you may desire weight loss, and fortunately mindful eating can help with weight loss while also helping you stop that food obsessing often associated with dieting. Mindful eating helps you feel full and notice your hunger/satiety cues. Moreover, the desire to binge decreases because you are actually enjoying your food ALL THE TIME.
Relieves Stress
Like the mindfulness practices above, Mindful eating is a stress reliever. Stress can cause weight gain so this is yet another way mindful eating helps with weight loss.
May Reduce the Risk of Many Chronic Conditions
Mindful eating can aid in digestion. How? When you mindfully eat, you take your time chewing your food. Chewing thoroughly gives your stomach enzymes more surface area to do their work, which again promotes healthy digestion and absorption.
Mindful Eating and Gut Health
These reasons, along with the ability to relieve stress, are how mindful eating can aid in digestion. Healthy digestion and stress relief promotes a healthy gut. Poor gut health is related to inflammation and reduced immune function. Gut health, inflammation and immunity are all linked to many condition including IBS, Crohn’s, Autoimmune Disease, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, stroke, brain function and focus, mood and even depression and anxiety, to name a few. So anything that promotes a healthy gut is something worth looking into in my book. (Fortunately, a mindful eating guide IS included in my books!)
How Can Nutrition Help You Live a Healthier, Happier, and More Meaningful Life?
Okay, this feels like a good place to talk a little about nutrition, and how in the world nutrition helps my family and me become those people and live that life listed in the opening paragraph. Healthy foods can help us focus, improve our moods, and give us the energy we need to serve God and others; learn and grow, and live a more positive life.
In 18 Weeks to a Healthier, Happier More Purposeful Life you are provided with a list of nutrients and foods that promote cognitive function, boost mood, support the immune system, and reduce the risk of chronic disease and some autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases. I know our children’s learning, behavior, and mood are important to us, so I picked ingredients that can help with focus, attention, behavior, and immunity. These amazingly beneficial foods are included in the Meal Builder Table in this book. With this table, you will be able to build a healthy meal on the spot. The possibilities are endless! You will be amazed at how easy it is to throw together a nutrient-packed meal!
Be Inspired to Take that Mindful Living Step
18 Weeks to a Healthier, Happier, More Purposeful Live takes you on an inspiring and uplifting journey with me, a dietitian who has lost 50 pounds through faith-based mindful nutrition. Thanks to faith-based mindfulness and nutrition, I went from being weight obsessed to feeling healthy and happy in my own body. Ironically, during the process, I ended up, not only losing weight but also strengthening my walk with God. Now she feels healthier than ever, AND she truly enjoys eating! I am able to feed my mind, body, and soul nourishing foods and feel good in my own body without weight obsessing.
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Top Meal Prep and Meal Planning books written by registered dietitians
Nutrition Books for Specific Conditions Written by Registered Dietitians
I hope you have found this series an invaluable resource of nutriton information.
This is the fifth post in the series…
Best Books Written by Registered Dietitians
(Note: At the top of each post in this series, I have provided a description of what a dietitian is; therefore, if you have read any of the other posts in the series, you may want to skip down to the list portion.)
You may be asking…
So what exactly IS a Registered Dietitian, and why do I want to take note when a health and wellness book is written by a Registered Dietitian?
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A registered dietitian, by definition, is considered the expert in the field of nutrition science. The term Registered Dietitian is actually different than a nutritionist. In fact, the term nutritionist is not a regulated term and has a more general meaning. The term registered dietitian, however, is regulated much like the terms doctor or lawyer. In other words, you are not allowed to call yourself a doctor unless you are a doctor, and you cannot call yourself a registered dietitian unless you have completed all the academic and professional requirements.
Requirements for Registered Dietitians
So what are the requirements? Is there some kind of certification you need to be a registered dietitians?
Actually, you cannot just get a certification to become a registered dietitian. Whereas there might be certifications available for nutritionists.
To become an RD you must:
Complete a Bachelors Degree at a college accredited by the Commission of Accreditation of Dietetic Education. Some of the required courses generally included are:
Microbiology
Medical Nutrition Therapy
Biology
Chemistry
Organic Chemistry
Anatomy and Physiology
Evidence Base Nutrition
Human Nutrition and Metabolism
Nutrition Counseling
and more
2. Complete 1200 hours of a competitive internship (The internship is usually completed in hospitals, community service agencies, medical clinics, etc)
3. Pass the CDR Exam
Just like a lawyer can’t practice law without passing an exam, an RD cannot become a registered dietitian without pasing the CDR.
4. By 2024, all register dietitian will be required to have a master’s degree as well. Many RD’s already do.
5. Complete Continuing Education Units throughout their career to keep their registered dietitian credentials.
So you can see why it is a plus when a health and nutrition book is written by a registered dieitian. I want to preface here that just because an RD is considered the expert, doesn’t mean you can’t get great nutrition information and advice from non-dietitians. People who have a passion for nutrition or people who have discovered something that works for them can write insightful nutrition books.
Many health and wellness enthusiasts have done extensive research on their own and have valuable information, but if you are getting advice from non-dietitians, I would recommend looking for the following:
Are they getting their information from a Registered Dietitian? Are they seeing what multiple registered dieitians have to say about the topic before giving advice?
Do they know when it is time to refer their clients to a registered dietitian? Many informed people have general nutrition knowledge, but when a client or customer needs medical nutrition therapy; then, a dietitian may be needed. Dietitians are trained in nutrition as it relates to diseases, drug-food interactions, tube feeding, enteral nutrition (nutrients through the veins), and various other medical conditions. These topics can get complicated and even be dangerous if incorrect information is given.
For example, someone may tell a client to eat more bananas because bananas are healthy, after all, BUT if a person has kidney failure and is on dialysis, too many bananas could put someone in the hosptial or worse!
One Final Note..
So one final thought before we move on to the book lists. If a book is written by a non-RD, you may want to see if a registered dietitian has written a review about the book, recommended the book, or even written a forward for the book.
Nutrition books written by non-dietitians are not a deal breaker, by any means, but you can see why seeing that RD beside an author’s name in a nutrition book is a plus.
Okay now for the good stuff…
The fifth post in this series is…
Meal Planning & Meal Prep Books by Registered Dietitians
I LOVE to feel organized. Getting organized takes the weight off your shoulders, doesn’t it?!?! That is why I love this book! The goal of this book is to help you organized your meals for a whole year! This meal planner includes:
One year’s worth of weekly templates to plan breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks
Grocery lists and price comparison sheets
Recipe pages
This wonderful origination tool is written by registered dietitian, Jessica Levinson, MS, RDN, CDN.
This book also made an appearance in my “Healthy Living Books Written by Registered Dietitians,” but I thought this book fit well in this list as well. This 6-week guide includes more than 100 breakfast, lunch, and dinner solutions. In this book, you will find simple, realistic solutions as wells as assessments, food tips and meal ideas to help you live a happier, healthier, and stronger life.
If you want your meal plan to be full of flavorful, nutritious plant-based foods; then, this is the book for you. This guide, which is broken down into 52 weeks, provides 125 A-MAZING plant-based recipes!
Our lives are so busy that we often don’t have much time to plan and cook our foods. This is why meal prepping is soooo beneficial! Toby Smithson provides so many meal prepping tips and solutions in her book. This book is perfect for busy families who want to find a way to eat healthy on a busy schedule.
The Meal Builder Cards included in The Nourishing Meal Builder takes the stress out of meal planning. In fact, you don’t have to do much meal planning ahead at all!
In this ebook, you get a list of anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory nutrients and foods that support the immune system; boost mood; reduce the risk of chronic disease; and promote cognitive function, focus, attention, and memory. You simply use these list to grocery shop! Then when you are ready to cook a meal, you use the meal builder cards to create a nourishing meal on the spot! It’s so easy and the meal possibilities are endless!
Create anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory, mood boosting, immune supportive meals that reduce the risk of chronic disease and promote cognitive function, focus, attention, and memory.
As soon as I discovered this book, I knew I had to include it here. Deciding what to eat on a diabetic diet, can feel overwhelming. This books takes out the guesswork by helping you easily plan your meals. Diabetes Meal Planning and Nutrition for Dummies includes tons of helpful information like healthy eating tips for diabetes, food swap ideas, and of course, yummy recipes!
This IS the ultimate meal prep book! Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals shows you how to prep ALL your meals for a month in ONE DAY!!! I developed this book because, although I LOVE to cook, I couldn’t find the time to cook healthy meals everyday. Life. Gets. Soooo. Busy, and figuring out what to eat everyday can sometimes be one more mentally draining decision you have to make.
That is why I began prepping and freezing a month of meals in one day. Over time I became extremely efficient at making all of these meals at once. I can now get all my breakfast, lunch and dinners for a whole month prepped and frozen in only 6 hours!!! This book teaches you the tricks and the steps to take in order to prep and freeze your meals efficiently too. When it’s actually time to eat breakfast and lunch, you simply throw one of these meals in the microwave for 2 minutes and IT. IS. DONE!!!! For dinner, I usually put the family-style meals in the crockpot while I am making my kids lunches in the morning. It’s so simple! With Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals, you have one less thing to think about each day. Now you can enjoy healthy meals and focus on your family instead of trying to figure out what to cook!
Mindfulness in Faith and Freezer Meals includes the some of the most popular family recipes. From Pizza Bites and Southwest burrito dip, to Asian Chicken and rice; there is something for just about everyone.
