Sunday Reset for Moms with Healthy by Heather Brown

Heather Brown shares her raw journey through postpartum depression and how she found her way back to herself through simple steps, community support, and a renewed focus on spiritual connection.

Who is Healthy by Heather Brown?
She is the creator of Healthy by Heather Brown, a podcaster, writer, and advocate for healthy living. Based in Birmingham, AL with her husband Eric and two young boys, she reaches over a million women annually. Through her Sunday Reset, she helps young moms prioritize health- mind, body, and spirit.

Connect with Heather:
IG: @‌HealthyByHeatherBrown
Podcast: Healthy By Heather Brown
Website: http://MyLifeWellLoved.com

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Other Links Mentioned in this Episode:
Worship Playlist
Protein Bars Mentioned

Timestamps to help you navigate this episode:
0:00 Intro
0:24 FREE Self Love & Sweat MONTHLY Calendar
9:46 From Energizer Bunny to Exhausted Mom: Postpartum Self-Care
10:52 Navigating Postpartum Depression
16:30 Finding Herself Through Faith & Community
20:56 Worship as a Mindset Tool: Staying Present with Music
33:04 Simple Meal Prep & Healthy Eating Tips

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:24 FREE Self Love & Sweat MONTHLY Calendar
• 9:46 From Energizer Bunny to Exhausted Mom: Postpartum Self-Care
• 10:52 Navigating Postpartum Depression
• 16:30 Finding Herself Through Faith & Community
• 20:56 Worship as a Mindset Tool: Staying Present with Music
• 33:04 Simple Meal Prep & Healthy Eating Tips
• 39:18 Free Resources for Moms: 7-Day Meal Plan and More from Heather

Transcript

Lunden Souza: 0:00

Welcome to Self Love and Sweat the podcast, the place where you'll get inspired to live your life unapologetically, embrace your perfect imperfections and do what sets your soul on fire. I'm your host, Lunden Souza . Hey, before we jump into this episode, I just want to make sure that you get all the free things possible, if you haven't already. You need to get your self love sweat free monthly life coaching calendar. Honestly, the way to experience deep change in your life is by doing small little things over time, and so that's what you'll find in this free calendar. You can get it by going to lifelikelunden calendar. Get yours for free and let's get into today's episode

Lunden Souza: 1:02

Welcome back to Self Love and Sweat the podcast Today. We have Heather Brown as our guest today and we actually just recorded an episode for her podcast, so we're doing a little podcast swap, which I'm so excited about. You guys are going to freaking love her. Heather Brown is the energetic podcaster, writer, online mama cheerleader and healthy living advocate behind the brand and podcast Healthy by Heather Brown. She and her college sweetheart, hubby Eric, live in Birmingham, Alabama, with two young boys and since starting blogging 14 years ago, Heather is privileged to reach over a million women each year and runs her podcast and business with a team where they daily share ways for young moms to love their life and pursue health in mind, body and spirit through her Sunday reset. Welcome to the podcast, Heather Brown. I'm so excited to have you. Yeah, Lunden .

Heather Brown: 1:56

I'm so excited for the opportunity to talk to you for longer after doing my podcast.

Lunden Souza: 2:00

It was so fun, I know, and I just shared a little story on Instagram of the picture that we took and I was like I love your Southern Belle accent. It is so wonderful and it's charging me up today. You're kind. Yeah, I'm excited to talk with you today.

Lunden Souza: 2:19

As I often say, I'm Lunden party of one, and anyone that listening to this podcast knows I say this because I'm not married, I don't have kids, and I sometimes feel like how and when you have kids and all of these types of things. I have an immense respect for moms. All moms are my heroes, including my own and anyone that's a mom. I just feel like I want to just drop and bow down to them or roll out a red carpet for them on the regular. But I know you're working with moms and on their health and wellness and all the things. But I want to start mostly with women, because I think that, yeah, when it comes to health and wellbeing and I know men have their struggles too, or what they think they should or are supposed to be doing or supposed to look like or whatever but what was? What would be something that you would, that you wish all women knew about health and self-care?

Heather Brown: 3:15

Yeah for sure. Great question. I would just say that, first of all, that like starting small is okay, because I think that so often we think in our health and wellness journey that it's like we've got to go all in, and so I feel like a lot of times, you know, whether it be January, with the new year, or sometimes, especially for moms, it can feel like August is almost like the secondary reset button when our kids go back to school, and so we feel like, okay, that's it, I'm finally going to show up at the gym six days a week and I'm going to do this crazy keto diet or I'm going to do Whole30 or whatever, and it's like you go all in, but it's not sustainable. And so I really would love to encourage especially women or moms that are so busy, just to name a few non-negotiables and start there. I think that if I would have been taught how to start habit stacking and just start with one small thing and build onto it, that would have been such a game changer for me many, many years ago. Yeah.

Lunden Souza: 4:17

I love habit stacking and I hear you on that, and I've had even just friends. I don't know if you do the audio messages with your friends, but I do that. A hear you on that and I've had even just friends. I don't know if you do the audio messages with your friends, but I do that a lot. And or even sometimes on Instagram, people will send me audio messages and it's like okay, tomorrow I'm going to start doing this and I'm not going to do this anymore, and then this, this, this and this, and then nobody can live up to these expectations that we've set for ourselves.

Lunden Souza: 4:42

Or maybe we can for a few days or not, and then we get in this spiral of guilt and I should have done that and I was supposed to do that. And, yeah, I love. I love the idea of starting small and just doing one little thing at a time. Oftentimes, people will ask me how do you do all that you do? And I was like, oh well, I did them one at a time and I've been. I started, you know, my journey and coaching when I was 17 and I'm going to be 36.

Heather Brown: 5:12

You know, it wasn't just yesterday that I did all these things, but I think we can get caught up in all the things and not remember that it's, you know, one simple step at a time yes, yes, agree, and I think that, especially for women, we we do, um, especially like once you have kids, it feels like you know, even if you were in such a great space with your health and wellness, which I mean, I will say that I felt like I was because, similar to you Lunden , I mean I grew up cheering and playing volleyball and just always was active. I didn't really know life without being active. But then when I had my first little boy and you and I can get into this as much as you want to, but he, um and I'm so sorry to the men that are listening to this Cause I'm like this is a lot of details in TMI but I taught pure bar, which is a ballet bar based workout. It's a fusion of a very athletic approach to ballet, yoga and Pilates in one. I taught it for a decade and I loved it and I still take it and teach it at times. It's so fun.

Heather Brown: 6:06

But anyway, I thought of myself as like I've habit-stacked all these things. I can nail the water, I can nail the 10,000 steps a day, I can nail getting my sleep, I can nail doing my devotionals and working out three or four days a week at minimum, doing my devotionals and working out three or four days a week at minimum. But then when you have a baby, it's like everything resets and I had actually a fourth degree tear, which is the worst that you can have. It's for those that don't know, it's from one end to the other. And so I just remember, after I delivered him or as I like, my doctor sewing me up literally and she was like so you know, you did have a fourth degree tear and just so you're aware, that means that you will not be able to walk past your mailbox for six weeks.

Heather Brown: 6:50

And in my mind, you know, it's like you just delivered a baby and you're hot and you're sweaty and you're all these things and you're like blood's everywhere, all the things. And then it's like that part didn't really register until I left the hospital that I was like whoa, wait what? I can't move my body because, kind of like what you and I were talking about earlier Lunden exercise was such a coping mechanism for me at that point for stress, and so I was kind of like, well then, how do I start at ground zero? I didn't even know. Yeah.

Lunden Souza: 7:21

I'm not sorry for the men listening. I think that the more that men can understand women and all the unique components of us, the better. So I'm not sorry and I'm so glad that you shared that because it is the real thing. And so then what did you do? I know that before we pressed record, you mentioned that you did go through postpartum depression and that you would be open to sharing stuff about that.

Lunden Souza: 7:47

And I would love if you did, because I had an aunt that went through postpartum depression and I mean this was a long time ago, but I remember she came to live with my grandparents and they like had her in the back bedroom and it was like not talked about.

Lunden Souza: 8:06

And I yeah, it's not my story to tell, so I don't want to let too much of that but I had a firsthand experience. I was a young girl seeing my aunt not be the aunt that I knew that she was like a whole different, like yeah, just like not not the fun loving, let's go do fun things type of aunt that I noticed. And then I also just remember my family and I think that's just kind of the older generations too. It was like they would brush it under the rug and like not talk about it, and she was just sick and had to be in the back bedroom. And I just want anyone listening that's maybe gone through that to not feel like that they need to be in the back bedroom. And I just want anyone listening that's maybe gone through that to not feel like that they need to be in that air quotes back bedroom, you know. So whatever you want to share about that experience, I would love for you to share.

Heather Brown: 8:54

Yeah, for sure, and I think that that is one thing that I feel so passionate about sharing is even just making people more aware of it, Lunden , because I do think that it's becoming more common now. But at the time, going into the hospital, I had no idea that postpartum depression was a thing, and so initially, what had happened was, you know, I had the baby, I had the fourth degree tear and you know, she told me you can't walk past the mailbox for six weeks, whereas most people, when you're sent home from the hospital, they're like we would love for you to start walking. The more you can be outside with your baby, the better. You know this, the other, and so it was really, really hard for me. I don't know if you're familiar with the Enneagram, Lunden , are you? Yeah, so I'm a three on the Enneagram.

Heather Brown: 9:46

I find a lot of just delight in being productive and feeling like I'm accomplishing a lot, and all my friends call me the energizer bunny. That's just who I am to them. I'm full of life, full of energy, always on the go. And so then, to be told, you just need to sit on the couch on this donut and literally your only job is to feed and take care of the baby and just be inside. That was like a sucker punch to my soul. Just because I am such a people person, I am such a like I want to be around and see and do everybody. I have FOMO, I'm just like an extrovert to my core, and so to just be at home was so, so hard. And then also my oldest was not being able to gain enough weight from breastfeeding. Initially, I ended up actually accidentally drying up my milk supply, which I didn't even know that you could do, so I just had all these things that just kept compounding. And then the next thing I knew I was like crying every day almost. I mean at minimum two or three times a day, and I just felt lost, like I was like who is this person? I don't recognize myself. I am not Heather Brown. I don't get to work out. I don't get to be outside. I'm not with my people. I don't get to be outside. I'm not with my people.

Heather Brown: 11:04

And when you have a tear that's that bad, you are asked to come back. I think it's for like a two week checkup for them to make sure that you're healing properly. And my doctor was actually one of my Pure Bar clients as well. And so she was like how are you doing? And I really didn't even think that much about it, it was just the first thing that popped out of my mouth. I said I just want to know what I'm going to feel. Like me again. And she goes oh well, that's actually a cardinal symptom of having postpartum depression. I'm going to write you this prescription and we'll, just, like you know, get you going, we'll get you taken care of and you'll be fine.

Heather Brown: 11:39

I kind of was like whoa, whoa, what. I have postpartum depression and I need an antidepressant Again, who is this and what's going on? Honestly, Lunden , I didn't know then, obviously as much as I know now. I really wish that I would have pushed back and asked about are there other options for healthy lifestyle changes or are there things that I can do to not get on an antidepressant? But again, you don't know what you don't know.

Heather Brown: 12:10

And so I got on it and I will say that I mean, within I would say, two to three weeks, I really did start to feel more like myself again and I felt like I kind of was able to like get out of the fog a little bit, if you will. And I told my mom and my husband. At the time. I was like I think that what is so scary is that I feel so unlike me, that I just think, like, am I going to like forget that the baby needs something, or am I going to like accidentally hurt the baby or myself? And so it was just completely irrational thoughts that were in my brain.

Lunden Souza: 12:46

Yeah.

Lunden Souza: 12:47

And it must have been so hard to then be like, oh, you have depression and here's a prescription. I feel like the duration of that. I mean, of course, you're recalling it, but usually it's a very fast appointment, it's just like this and then you're like, oh wait, but I didn't even get to share even more. I feel like that unpacking process is so important that oftentimes, yeah, I find myself and have for the last 15 years, looking through for natural solutions or things that were alternatives to just like, oh, this is what you have and this is what you get. I feel like that's such a fast process and you just are like stamped with this label of, oh, I have this and now I need to take this, instead of, yeah, being able to have the space to unpack that a little bit more. So then, what happened? How did you find yourself again? What did it feel like to find yourself again?

Heather Brown: 13:36

Yeah, for sure. So I would say that the very this is so crazy because I talk all the time about meal planning, but honestly I feel like meal planning was like the first start to what I'm now fully developed as a Sunday reset. But meal planning was the first tangible thing that I thought well, I know how to plan meals. I used to work for emailscom, which is one of the largest meal planning companies in the US, and I helped them with their social media and I wrote meal plans for two and this, that and the other. But I thought, okay, that's something I can do, that will serve my husband, will serve me well, It'll make sure we're getting good nutrition and we're not just eating whatever is brought to us that's fast food or whatever. So I just thought, okay, on Sundays, I want to start listening to a sermon online and I want to start writing our meal plan. And so it was like that first step honestly was such a game changer for me because, again, it like gave me and I don't want to say purpose, because obviously, like meal planning isn't like a massive purpose but it gave me this thing to do that wasn't just about like breastfeeding or like my new role as mom, but it was something that I'd done prior to having babies that I was able to still own, if that makes sense. So I started meal planning and literally my husband and I's anniversary was only about a week after I had the baby, and so we broke the rules and actually went to Sprouts because Lynn and I were talking about that we like to shop at Sprouts and I remember like pushing the grocery cart down the aisle and being like there are grandmothers that are walking faster than me right now, like on their walkers, because I was so like close to how I could like walk my feet or shuffle or what have you. And I mean I just like boohooed the whole way home on our anniversary from that grocery store trip because I was like I'm just so broken. And so if you hear this and that's how you feel, let me just encourage you to look into some alternative methods for what to do for postpartum depression and let me encourage you, with what Lunden and I talked about earlier too, just to like get outside and the natural sunlight, even if you're just sitting on your porch or you're swinging on a porch swing or just doing something to be outside in the sunlight, even if you're just sitting on your porch or you're swinging on a porch swing or just doing something to be outside in the sunlight. It's just such a game changer.

Heather Brown: 15:56

But then once I did that meal planning, then it kind of started to open up other thoughts of things that I could do from the couch. I was like, okay, I could also start to text my growth group or my small group. That's kind of like school, if you're not familiar and just say, hey, I'm really struggling and I would so love it if someone just could come visit me once a week, whether it be to bring coffee or, like you know, I can brew a pot of coffee for you guys or if you want to stop by and meet the baby. But I just knew that I needed somebody to come into my house and to have that sense of community and belonging again, somebody to come into my house and to have that sense of community and belonging again.

Lunden Souza: 16:36

So then my Sundays, well, and you asked for it, which is so amazing because so many people would sit at home and be like no one's visiting me and who are my friends, and that's huge of like, okay, what do I need? And then let me ask for it, instead of hoping that people mind read among their busy, crazy life of what I need. So keep going. But I really wanted to highlight that because it's so important to know what you need and when you figure that out, if you need something from someone else, you have to ask for it. If you expect them just to figure it out and deliver, you're going to be waiting for a long time.

Heather Brown: 17:08

Absolutely. I couldn't agree with that more, and I do think that community is so huge. I think that a lot of times, Lunden talks a lot about mind, body and spirit, health too. Community is such a part of that. Whether you even want to believe it or not, and whether you're an introvert or not, it's like community is so huge and that's how we were designed. We grew up, even even you know, from the very beginning, back in the stone ages, of like being in tribes and gathering around fires and like you need community, whether you want to believe it or not. So if you don't have that, I just want to encourage you to step out your outside of your comfort zone and find it somehow.

Heather Brown: 17:44

Um, but all that to say, I just started, slowly, started to build and build until I was able to do the meal plan. I was able to then have somebody coming into my house and spending time with me at least one to two times a week, and then, really, I mean, eric was so amazing. He tried to do everything that he could, while still working, obviously, to support me. But it also, I think, was such a reckoning of my faith as well, Lunden , because I think that I realized, ooh, I actually sometimes utilize my health and my working out and all these things as this idol in my life or as this crutch, when really, ultimately, god just wants me to come to Him and be honest with what I'm struggling with and what I'm not able to do. I couldn't maintain it all on my own and I also think that I was so overwhelmed and lost that I didn't even know how to come to him. I was like I can't go to church, I don't have the energy to open up my Bible and try to understand it right now, because there's this baby sucking on me and it hurts still to breastfeed and I'm bleeding and I'm uncomfortable and all these things. And so that's when I really started to lean into just worship music and finding worship music that I could just turn on, you know, on my Alexa, just to like uplift my heart and my spirit, when I didn't have the energy to like do the deep dives and to be reading and those kinds of things.

Heather Brown: 19:07

Um, and so I think, really just starting to like puzzle piece those few things, and then obviously the medication I'm sure helps them too and then just getting that support system in place, and then I finally hit that six week mark where my doctor was like, okay, you're cleared to work out again. But it's like really having that experience did so much more for me than just like having a baby or just having this reckoning with. You know how I had PPD or how I had the fourth degree tear. It was like it really gave me so much clarity and comfort and knowing how I wanted to serve mamas, going forward in my business, and so that's why I'm just so passionate about it. And any chance I get to talk about postpartum depression, I want to shine a light on it, because if you don't know what you're up against, then how do you even know how to start to combat?

Lunden Souza: 19:59

it and I, I love what you said in the beginning in terms of like a tip for all women, was like one step at a time. And then, as I hear you telling your stories about all the struggle and the pain and how you pulled yourself out of it, it was like one step at a time. Okay, I'm going to watch a sermon and then I'm going to make our meal plan and then I'm going to text one person and invite them to come over and we don't have to get into this, but I'm sure when you got the, you know it's, you're the green light to work out. It was also one step at a time. And, you know, reconnecting with your body and all of that because, um, so yeah, I just I love moments where we practice what we preach and we do what we say and, um, and then help others do that too, what we say, and then help others do that too. And I also love that you said, yeah, like just leaning into, like worship music.

Lunden Souza: 20:56

And there's one song that I love by Jeremy Camp that's called Keep Me in the Moment. I don't know if you know this one, but it says like oh Lord, keep me in the moment, help me live with my eyes wide open because I don't want to miss what you have for me, and I love those lyrics because it's just like being in the present moment and being in pursuit of like right now is so huge for my life. And so, yeah, if anybody needs some oomph in their life, I think Keep Me in the Moment by Jeremy Camp is such a great song.

Heather Brown: 21:25

But I want to talk about Can I interrupt you before you finish? I'll send this to you if you want to share it in the show notes. I actually have a worship playlist on Spotify that I started those many years ago and I've just kept building onto it and I mean I seriously turn it on almost every morning with me and the boys on the way to school. It's just like a way to set the tone for the day and to be in an encouraged state, versus being like I'm just not a morning person and so like when I wake up I really struggle to be like upbeat and happy and perky. So it's a good way that I feel like I can still let my boys feel encouragement and uplifting in the morning on the way to school, even though maybe my like eyes aren't fully awake yet when I open playlist on.

Lunden Souza: 22:08

Yeah for sure, share it. I'll definitely put it in the show notes and, yeah, thanks for listening to this. You guys can, yeah, have a good new playlist. So, thanks, Heather. But yeah, I want to talk about meal prep and maybe some tips that you have for those that want to.

Lunden Souza: 22:23

I always it's so cool chatting with you today because I know we've kind of rescheduled and try to find time to do this, but I'd been traveling every single weekend for pretty much for work. For the last seven weeks I was on an airplane. The last weekend was for my grandma's 90th birthday, so that was different. But I went home yesterday and I told you about how I went to Sprouts on your podcast and how I just talked to myself through it and I got stuff and I like set up my fridge and it just felt so good to have that all together. And also, like everybody's different. But I'm more inclined when I'm go, go, go to just like spoonful of peanut butter, like just turn off the hunger and keep going. I know everybody's different, so, but then I noticed like okay, feelings of angst and stress are so much more heavy when you're not eating nourishing foods and of course I know this. I've been in the industry for 17 years, you know, and just cause you know better doesn't mean you always do better, and so I'm getting back into that flow.

Lunden Souza: 23:22

I like prep some things. I prep things in a Mason jar, um, you know, uh, baked some sweet potatoes, made some organic ground beef, made veggies, whatever. So I'm definitely re-reminded of something that I've lost over the last month and a half because I was just eating more bars than I care to admit. I told my friend Lindsay I was like I feel like I've had spoonfuls of peanut butter for meals way too often lately, but it was just like onto the next one and you're hungry and I just would eat that and drink some water and maybe have a protein shake and keep going. So like I didn't feel hungry but I definitely was undernourished and not eating enough and not enough variety and all of that. So like what would be some tips for meal prep and um that you have for moms? Listening, for everybody listening, because it's so powerful and I think I forgot that and so I'm remembering now.

Heather Brown: 24:16

Yeah for sure. Well, Lunden , let me just say that I actually watched your Instagram stories last night of you showing your fridge and how you were doing, and I was like I just love the way that you presented it and it made me be like, oh, I haven't seen that brand before. I want to look for that in my store or what have you. So keep doing those, because they're very inspirational as I was flipping through my stories. But all that to say, yes, I'm a really big, passionate meal planner and I just want to say that, the first and foremost, I started meal planning out of a need to be cheap. My husband and I lived on $40 a week for the grocery store in the beginning of our marriage which, granted, we've been married for 16 years ago, so, I mean, this was a while back, obviously a little more doable back then, and it was just him and I. So let me just encourage you that, whether you need a meal plan for budget, whether you need a meal plan for health, whether you need a meal plan for a combination of the both, or whatever your version of meal planning is, first you just need to name it, and I feel like Lunden , you talk about this all the time you need to be intentional. So some weeks I have to look at my meal planning techniques for the week and I'm like, oh okay, Things are a little tighter than I would like them to be. We're going out of town next week. This would be a really great week for me to save a lot of money at the grocery store, because y'all everything else in life is pretty much fixed your mortgage payment, it's fixed, your car payment is fixed. So many things in your life are fixed. But your grocery budget is somewhere where you really have room to play. We need to save more money. Budget is somewhere where you really have room to play. We need to save more money.

Heather Brown: 25:54

So my general go-to is that I am shopping based on what's on sale. So I'm going to kind of walk through that process first and then, if you need to instead be thinking about predominantly just for a certain way of eating, you can take some of my nuggets and work from them there, when Lunden and I both shop at Sprouts. What I love about them is it's a good and a bad thing. The bad part is you don't know what's going to be marked down there for manager specials or what have you, but I feel very confident that, unless I just hit a bad day at my Sprouts, I'm going to be able to walk the perimeter of the store and I'm going to be able to see what um produce and what um meats are on sale and they also Lunden . I don't know if this is every store. Does your store have a separate clearance room?

Lunden Souza: 26:36

I'm not sure because I haven't specifically looked for it, but I am now. I remember when I walked in yesterday it said organic sale from the 16th to the 29th on specific marked things. So I saw that and then, um, but yeah, I don't, I'm not specifically sure, but I'm going to look for it because that's yeah, it's important.

Heather Brown: 26:58

So they have a clearance room in our store, which maybe it's like this at all the stores, but it's where you go back to the bathroom. It's like you turn a corner and then like it's in a separate area.

Lunden Souza: 27:06

Okay, I don't know, I haven't seen it.

Heather Brown: 27:13

Yeah, so that's where I buy a lot of like um teas or um breakfast cereals for my boys or things that are like organic, that are shelf stable. I find them on sale back there a lot Um and that kind of. I let that dictate what we're eating, typically for snacks or breakfast or what have you, or like lunchbox throw-ins for my mamas that are listening, um. But then I'm planning my meals based around what meats are on sale. And at Sprout specifically, they'll have some meats or some seafoods on sale, but they'll also have packages that have an orange sticker on it that says manager special, and y'all these meats will be marked down 30 to 40% off, which is crazy because they're like organic, grass-fed, like high quality meat, which is incredible. But then, same thing, if you have a Publix where you live or wherever it is that you shop, you can look at their store sale prices and kind of start to almost like match. I call it the circle principle. So back in the day I would get out the Publix store ad and I'd see, oh, they've got Raoul's meat sauce on sale. So I'm going to circle that. And then I see, oh, they have their lean ground beef on sale or their ground turkey on sale, so I'm circling that and then I'm like, oh, they have a pasta that's buy one, get one free, and it's like the kind that I want, or it's gluten free, or it's wetter Yay, we're having spaghetti this week. So I think you can do it, that sales template, or some weeks I'm like I'm just really busy and so I know that we need to plan to eat out two days a week.

Heather Brown: 28:36

Y'all, it's still meal planning if you plan what you're eating. So, like some nights, I'm like we're going to have Chick-fil-A on Tuesday night because it's soccer night and we're crazy. But if I plan it on Sunday, then I have the intentionality and the game plan in place to be like I want to order grilled chicken with this salad and I'm going to drink an unsweet tea, whereas if I'm stressed and I'm in the moment and I'm like running through the drive-thru, I'm like give me the number one, it sounds great, because I'm like stress eating, you know. So I would say I would just encourage you to don't be afraid to plan it out, don't be afraid to put in. You know leftovers. Don't be afraid to put in. Um, you know Chick-fil-A or your fast food of choice. Um, don't be afraid to say, oh great, salads are on sale at Whole Foods, so I'm going to grab the salad that's on sale and just rip up some rotisserie chicken. Um, anything, you want to comment on that before?

Lunden Souza: 29:29

I get into meal prepping. Well, I love it, because you said planning to eat out too and there's definitely been times where I'm driving home and I'm trying to think in my head of what do I have at home? And then I think I have something there, but then I don't. And then I'm like, oh, do I want to get back in the car. And then do I want to order Uber Eats? And to your point of like, I think, being mindful of your money, that you spend period regardless of anything is so important. So it's like sometimes I'm like, yeah, but Uber Eats is going to be like, by the time I order and it gets here, it's going to be like $40 for just me, you know.

Lunden Souza: 30:02

So I like that you said plan to eat out because, yeah, like I said, I'm like driving and I'm like wait, do I have that in the fridge, do I not? And then you get. Yeah, anyways, I love the plan for that, so it's all good, keep going.

Heather Brown: 30:21

Yes. And then I always make sure that I am assessing on Sunday, like what healthy snacks do I have on hand If I know it's gonna be a busy week if I don't have healthy eating on the go bars? And I'm buying more of those on Amazon and just have them delivered. And I love them because they don't have any processed oils, they're only sweetened with honey and those kinds of things. I can send you my link if you need it. I think I have a discount code.

Heather Brown: 30:37

But Chomps protein bars they're so great because they're not added sugar and they're not processed or too much with seed oils or what have you as well. And just knowing the things that you need to have on hand that week to be successful, if you're busy and go ahead and order them, if they need to come in from Amazon or go ahead and add them to the grocery list. And then Eric and I always do a double batch of jasmine rice. We rinse it twice to try to get off as much of the excess what is it called? I'm blanking on it, lyndon. Why do you rinse your rice?

Lunden Souza: 31:09

I'm blanking right now? I'm not sure. Is it the pectin? No, that's the inside of an apple peel. I'm not sure what we're rinsing off.

Heather Brown: 31:16

It's like some kind of like extra starchiness that you're getting out or something, but anyway. So we make a big batch of rice so that way we can make bowls all throughout the week and we've got it just ready to go. If we were talking about fasting earlier, as a health and a spiritual practice, I try to fast one time a week for 24 hours, dinner to dinner, because that's your autophagy fast that helps your cells renew from the inside out. And then I try to do one ketosis fast a week. That's 18 hours. So then I'm thinking man on those days.

Heather Brown: 31:48

If I intentionally plan them in, I want to make sure that dinner is so nutritionally sound. I want really good healthy fats, I want lots of proteins. I'm making sure I've got my protein powder on hand, but I mean honestly, I feel like if I can know three to four meats that I'm going to have on hand and cook up, we mass grill, typically on Sunday or Monday, so then we can just have that rice, we have those meats that are ready and then, other than that, it's like well, I just toss together a salad or whatever, like broccoli or asparagus or whatever our favorite veggies are that are in season from the grocery store to go on the side and we just keep it so simple, like the simpler the better. We have breakfast for dinner almost every single week because we know we can eat whole foods, our whole family will eat it and it's fast.

Lunden Souza: 32:33

Yeah, I love breakfast for dinner. I often tell myself I love the bowl thing too, because I always make bowls or meals in a mason jar, but I'm always like rice beans and greens, that's what I need. And then I was vegan for nine years and in 2021, I smelt beef jerky and it sm smelled so good so I started eating that. And then I'll eat ground beef carne asada. I haven't got on back on the chicken train, I just don't like the texture of it.

Lunden Souza: 32:59

I was vegan because I worked for a vegan chef in college and then I got a bunch of free food. So then I was like, oh, I felt great. And I felt fine the whole time, up until I smelt beef jerky one day and I was like, oh my gosh, that sounds great. So, anyways, my staples are usually rice beans and greens and then like maybe avocado or some other oil on it. But yeah, lately I've been having some ground beef and just I echo what you say about having this stuff ready for like bowls or just like rice beans, greens, whatever protein on top, like there's so many good, like dressings and sauces. I love sauces and dressings. Oh time out.

Heather Brown: 33:34

I love hearing from people their favorite olive oils and sauces that don't have seed oils in them. Do you have any favorites that you know about?

Lunden Souza: 33:47

Well, I like the Primal Kitchen. They have a lot of good ones, so I love their um, the one I put on my meal today. So in the fridge right now in my office I have a sweet potato with um organic ground beef and then like a whole load of broccoli sprouts on top, and then I brought the. I brought the. I guess it's their like Italian dressing Okay, they have. And then they also have another one that's like their buffalo sauce, and that is so good I love their buffalo sauce I do love their spicy buffalo sauce.

Lunden Souza: 34:22

So those are like my two favorites that I usually get from. I think it's Primal Kitchen, right, that's the name of the brand.

Heather Brown: 34:31

They have a new. It's called. They're called like their new sauces, one's called like chicken dipping and one's like green avocado or like avocado. Goddess, they're so good, Like to me, they blow their salad dressings out of the water.

Lunden Souza: 34:44

So if you haven't seen those yet, pick them up next time I'm going to check Cause I feel like, well, they're right where I, where I get my bone broth, it's right above, it's in like the same section, but there's like a lot of options. I think that's an American grocery store thing in general. I remember living in Austria and it's like there was like 13 things in the same aisle, whereas for us it's like all chips and all dressings, which there could also be healthy options too. But Americans for sure like their variety. But I love sauces and I love things that crunch too. So sometimes even like chickpeas in the air fryer or I'll take like siete chips and just crumple them on top Saucy crunchy. That's usually what I go to. But I'm with you on that.

Heather Brown: 35:25

Oh, and I love this for people who don't like to cook. This is what my girlfriend taught me. This it's just chickpeas. You obviously rinse them out of the can and then you do diced celery and you do whatever kind of mustard you want I like a Dijon mustard and you can either do avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, pepper and then any additional seasonings. So it's almost like a chicken salad or a you know tuna salad, but with chickpeas, and you just shake it up in your Mason jar and you have it all week long for lunch and it takes you like 10 minutes or less. It is so good. That's a staple for me.

Lunden Souza: 36:00

And what I'm realizing in this conversation now is it's so much easier once you do it. I think also over the last month and a half I wanted to, but then I was like thinking about it made it the monster bigger than it actually was. You know, it was like the it was, you know. And then I, when I went shopping yesterday and just told myself and got the stuff, I'm like, oh, it didn't even take me that long and I still got a nap in and I, you know, took a bath and you know, and I know I'm by myself. So I know that not always the day-to-day luxuries are available when you're a mom and have a lot of those things. But I just was like, oh yeah, it was more, I was literally creating a mountain out of a molehill and just if you are consistent about it, and that's why I love podcasting and love meeting people like you, Heather, because it's like we know this stuff, we coach on this stuff. Even on your podcast episode we just did for yours, there were some things I shared that helped remind you of this and vice versa. So I just I'm also reminded that like, just because we have a podcast or we're coaches doesn't mean we're perfect in all of these areas, but like connecting and community, like you mentioned, is huge, and I choose to connect with people that want to talk about things like meal prep and spiritual growth and you know how to live your best life and all those types of things, and so I'm grateful for all the reminders that you've shared with us today.

Lunden Souza: 37:26

I feel like I'm going to call this episode Mom Life. I think that's what it's going to be called. Love it, Love it. Anything else that you want to share. Tell us about your Sunday reset and like the things that you offer for for young, busy mamas, and we'll kind of close it there, If that's cool for you, For sure.

Heather Brown: 37:44

And I actually think that, as you were talking, I was like she's also bringing it back to what we talked about earlier in the episode, which was just one step at a time, and I don't feel like I did a great job saying that, but I'll say it now. When you're meal planning too, start one step at a time. If you're like I am not a great cook and I don't like to cook and I don't want to get into all that stuff, you do not have to meal prep if you don't want to. But maybe you just start out with your baby set up of like I'm going to cook two meals a week, so start there, and like that's a vast improvement than eating out every single meal, so just start small with your baby. Steps again in that. And then, like Lunden alluded to yes, I have a podcast, it's called Healthy by Heather Brown podcast. Lunden will be on. Her episode is fantastic and she'll take you through box breathing and I just love having people on the podcast that encourage you in mind, body and spirit.

Heather Brown: 38:33

Health I try to do the whole season around a certain health topic that I feel like the Lord lays on my heart. So the first season was on physical health. The second season was on mental health, the third season was on spiritual health and then we went into actually kids health this past season and I am so excited about it. But anyway, and then I do the Healthy by Heather Brown membership, which is online. I'll give you a link, Lunden , there's a seven day free trial where you guys can check it out. You can get into my workout library. I provide a meal plan for you each month and then I also let you get into my podcast recordings early so that you can watch me do live trainings and you also get to just be encouraged daily in your health. And ultimately, I just want moms to feel uplifted and encouraged.

Heather Brown: 39:18

Lunden , since we talked so much about meal planning, I will send you my seven-day free meal plan too. So if you're like I don't even know where to start, that way they can at least use that for free this week as a resource and their tool belt. And then y'all come say hey to me on Instagram. I'm at @healthybyheatherbrown. My website is healthybyheatherbrown. com and there's so many freebies and resources. I've been blogging for 14 years now, so there's lots of resources to dig into for free there. So, yeah, thanks for having me, Lunden , it was a joy.

Lunden Souza: 39:47

Yeah, thank you so much. Healthy by Heather Brown. We loved having you. I feel like I want to say healthy by Heather Brown. I feel like it's contagious and I'm not sure if I'm speaking with my real voice. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you, guys for listening. All the things that Heather mentioned in terms of yeah, links and the meal, free, seven day trials, all that kind of stuff I'll link in the description, so check that out and we'll see you at the next episode. Bye, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Self Love and Sweat, the Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode or were inspired by it or something resonated with you, do me a favor and share this episode with a friend, someone that you think might enjoy this episode as well. That's the ultimate compliment and the best way to make this podcast ripple out into the world of others, and also, you can leave us a review up to five stars wherever you're listening to the podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll see you at the next episode. I appreciate you.