[PLANNING] Saving Time, Energy, & Stress with Repetitive Eating 😋(aka: how I finally got a handle on my perimenopausal high cholesterol)

I used to be really unhealthy. At one point, a doctor asked me when was the last time I'd eaten a piece of raw fruit and I couldn't answer. It had been over a decade.

When I started on my quest for optimal health, I knew nothing about nutrition. Since then, I've found that one of the best ways to ensure I eat healthy is to eat repetitively. The side benefit of this is that it also saves me lots of time and energy. It also reduces decision fatigue which makes me feel less stressed. 😋

Listen/watch the podcast episode at https://bywdreams.mailerpage.com/128

Here are my tips for coming up with a repetitive eating plan you'll stick with.

1. Pick 1-2 recipes that you like and eat those for breakfast and lunch. I save SO MUCH time both cooking and grocery shopping by eating repetitive breakfasts and lunches. For breakfast it's a smoothie 90% of the time and oatmeal with most of the same ingredients as my smoothie 5% and then "other" 5% of the time. I basically don't have to think about food for the first 2/3rds of my day and I barely have to cook/clean.

2. More vegetables: We could probably all eat more vegetables, and the easiest way I've found to do this is by having a big salad every day for lunch. BONUS: I no longer get mid-day "food coma".

Find vegetables you like and build out a favorite salad. For me it's a bed of kale (pick your favorite dark green, leafy vegetable) + a few stems of cilantro (herbs add so much flavor and other good things, pick yours) black beans (fiber and protein, win/win, pick your favorite bean or legume) + a sprinkling of hemp seeds (protein and fat, yum!, pick your favorite seed) + 2-3 walnut halves (protein and fat again, pick your favorite nut) + goji berries (sweetness is always fun plus lots of polyphenols, pick your favorite fruit) + 1/4 of an avocado (include if you like it, helps with satiety) + olive oil + apple cider vinegar + a dash of salt.

To summarize: dark leafy green + fresh herbs +beans/legume + seeds + nuts + fruit + avocado + light dressing.

I literally eat this salad almost every single afternoon. To mix things up, I have a second salad I like that is red cabbage and carrot based, but it takes more time to make so I do it infrequently. I also have a non-salad based lunch that I make about once a week which is an Ezekiel tortilla smeared with a bit of hummus, avocado, garlic aioli, sprinkled with hemp seeds and crushed walnuts, a few leaves of kale and cilantro, and some tempeh.

3. More fiber, less fruit. If you watch/listen to the podcast, you'll hear me discuss how I unexpectedly went in for my annual physical this year and was told I weighed ten pounds less than the previous year. I don't weigh myself regularly, so while I expected the reduction (my clothes were looser), I wasn't sure. I completely credit this to a few changes I'd made the last year in pursuit of the goal of reducing my perimenopausal-induced high cholesterol (this is explained at length in the podcast). The changes included: eating 2.5 tablespoons of soaked chia seeds every day, removing the 1/2 banana I put in my morning smoothie, increasing my weighted vest (gradually) from 20 pounds to 40 pounds.

4. Have a dinner rotation plan. I love to cook and my family loves to eat, so I have a rotation of about ten healthy recipes that we cycle through for dinner. Figure out what works and then automate it to save time and energy! Even better: if you live with other people, delegate to them to cook at least once a week and give yourself a break. My kiddo started being responsible for one dinner a week when she was eleven.

Listen/watch the podcast episode at https://bywdreams.mailerpage.com/128

Next Episodes

Nov 6, 2025: Thanksgiving Planning (in detail!)

Nov 13, 2025: Interview with Flow Expert Diane Allen

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