PROJECT VIBRANCY NEWSLETTER
by Stephanie Meyer
March 23, 2025
"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level
of your systems.”
- James Clear, from Atomic Habits
Did you make a New Years resolution or sent an intention for the year?
Whether you set a goal to...
- Walk more steps per day
- Eat breakfast
- Cook more vegetables
- Order less takeout
- Start lifting weights
- Spend less time on your phone
- Go to bed earlier
- Meditate for 10 minutes a day
...or some other great idea (I kinda love that list, ha), if you don't have a system in place to make your new habit as simple and almost invisible as possible, it likely failed to become integrated into your life.
Clear goes on to say, "Your goal is your desired outcome. Your system is the collection of daily habits that will get you there. Spend less time focusing on outcomes and more time focusing on the habits that precede the results.”
Put another way, with a Stephanie twist, fall in love with the habits that precede the results. In fact, romanticize the hell out of them because as great as it is to reach a goal, if you didn't fall in love with the process that got you there, you'll never maintain your success.
We know this, right? We've all tried various fad diets and exercise programs , and lost some weight...but not didn't maintain the loss.
And we know why.
Eating super low carb or super low fat or counting points sucks.
Doing an hour of hard-core cardio per day sucks.
Drinking pre-made shakes, eating pre-made energy bars, fasting for days on end, and/or skipping entire food groups sucks.
I personally have found it much more rewarding, fun, and successful to fall in love with the process of preparing simple, filling meals that make it easy and fun to eat the right number of calories, without having to think too hard about it.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I flipping love food routines and systems.
I enjoy studying what works to create satiety and nutrient density and translating it into habits that are delicious and doable and change health. I want people to experience results and enjoy simple cooking and knowing how to manage their appetites for the rest of their lives.
I think of the strategies for managing our nutrition - arguably the most important skill we acquire, since without good health and energy we can't do much else - as a tool box.
Not everyone needs or wants to use every single tool, but here are ideas for your toolbox:
- Three fast, real food breakfasts to rotate that 1) keep you full until lunch, 2) prevent afternoon sugar/snack cravings, and 3) naturally improve your food choices the rest of the day. (Because yes, a properly designed breakfast will do all three of those things.) Aim for 30 grams of protein, 25-35 grams of carbs, two colors of plants, and some healthy fat.
- A system for packing (or making) lunches either from dinner leftovers or from easy-to-assemble pantry/freezer ingredients you always have on hand. If you work in an office, you have to work ahead.
- A system for grocery shopping that strikes the balance between having plenty of fast and healthy ingredients on hand without buying too much food that ends up thrown away.
- Knowledge about what ratio of macros - protein, carbs, and fats - you should be aiming for per meal based on your appetite, activity level, age, calorie needs, and health goals. Getting this ratio right, every time you eat, is the secret to having a controlled appetite while eating plenty of nutrients without overeating. Aim for whole-food sources (vs. protein powders or fiber supplements) as often as possible.
- Knowledge about which foods, and in what combination, turn off your appetite. If you can't manage your appetite, you can't manage your weight. Period.
- An arsenal of batch cooking recipes so that you can do simple prep once or twice a week to work ahead.
- An arsenal of fast, cook-to-order recipes so that if you haven't batch cooked, you can still put together a delicious and healthy meal. Having great condiments on hand helps enormously.
- An arsenal of foods that you've frozen for quick meals: a couple of protein-and-veg rich soups, meatballs or braised meats, egg bites/bakes.
- A "protein pantry" since protein foods are the hardest to keep on hand as they're often perishable and need to be cooked.
- High-quality packaged or prepared foods to support your fast meal prep. That's right, it is not only unnecessary but kind of silly to turn away the assistance of well-made frozen, packaged, and prepared foods for getting fast and healthy meals on the table. There are many excellent products out there, so learn how to evaluate and find them.
- Three favorite, healthy takeout meals that meet your macro goals. Are these meals going to be more caloric and sodium-heavy than the meals you prep? Yep. But that doesn't mean you can't learn to recognize good choices from restaurants and work them into your rotation. It's fine to wing it and just enjoy yourself from time-to-time, but if you want results that you maintain, you need a plan for restaurants.
Work with that toolbox, have fun with it, in fact fall in love with it, teach it to your kids, and you'll be off and running away from the standard American diet and toward good nutrition, healthy weight, and good health.
If you want guidance to get this right, work with me and we'll nail this all down in four 1:1 sessions + recipes + meal plans.
INSTAGRAM LIVE TOMORROW NIGHT!
I'm going to do an Instagram Live Q&A session tomorrow night, Monday, March 24, at 7pm Central.
If you have questions you'd like me to answer, hit reply and let me know before noon tomorrow!
Questions I'm planning on right now because I get them often in my DMs:
Are seed oils bad? Is it safe to eat saturated fat?
I'm eating more protein, but not losing weight?
Why am I gaining weight in perimenopause when I eat healthy food and workout?
I'm really struggling with bloating, what's going on?
Do I need to track food to lose weight?
I always love to see your friendly faces pop up when I go Live so I hope to see you there!
Recipe time! Although this isn't much of a recipe. It is, however, a very delicious way to make sure you're eating more fiber and nutrients in the form of legumes.
Most Americans eat very little fiber. I realize you're not most Americans, or you wouldn't be here. However, it's always a good idea to be conscious of fiber intake and be actively seeking out naturally high-fiber foods.
Legumes really are a magical fruit. (Did I google "are legumes fruit?" Yes, yes I did LOL. And they are!) But they're not magical because tooting is great for you. (Except for creating laughs and fart joke fodder - in that case, tooting does contribute to health, ha.)
They're magical because our gut bacteria, liver, pancreas, brain, weight, and heart all looooove the soluble fiber and polyphenols in legumes.
If you're a perimenopausal woman, adding more legumes to your diet is a great idea because they're also associated with better hormonal balance.
If you haven't been eating legumes often, start slowly so your gut bacteria can adjust. Add 2 tablespoons to your morning sautéed veggies or your lunchtime salad or soup.
If that feels great, work up to 1/2 cup or more per day. There are cardiovascular benefits at 1/2 cup. And many, many benefits at 1 cup.
I myself put legumes in the carbs camp as I'm planning meals because more of their calories come from carbs than protein. They're a nice source of protein though! A 1/2-cup serving of lentils has 12 grams of protein and 23 grams of carbs, for reference.
Canned beans are delicious and so simple to work with. Add the to salads, soups, hashes, mash them and eat with crackers for a snack.
One caveat though: they do need a little flavor boosting to taste really great.
Here's what I do, it works like a charm:
Tarted-Up Canned Beans
Three 1/2 cup servings
1 can chickpeas, black beans, navy beans, or pinto beans (I rotate for variety)
1 small clove garlic minced or 1/2 teaspoon garlic granules (or onion granules)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, or dried thyme, or dried oregano (this is optional and depends on how you plan to use the beans)
1 teaspoon olive oil, butter, or bacon fat
2 tablespoons water
Sea salt to taste
Squeeze of lemon (optional)
Drain and rinse the beans and add to a small saucepan. Add all ingredients except salt and lemon.
Bring to a boil, turn heat down, and simmer until water is mostly evaporated. This takes 3-4 minutes.
Season with salt and lemon. Cool to room temperature and transfer to an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Have a fabulous week! If you enjoy my newsletter and would like to subscribe, I would so appreciate your support.
I hope to see you tomorrow night on Instagram!
xoxo Stephanie
