Madison: In other seasons of just having an online business, when I’ve tried to maybe not show up in that way, it doesn’t encourage me to want to do it more. It’s kind of like this healthy eating thing. It’s like, if I don’t do it the way that makes me feel good, I’m not going to do it at all. And so I think it’s really twofold. One is being able to show up in the way that feels right to you. For me, that meant maybe having some hot takes on things or some controversial stances, maybe that I’m not sharing often, but I had to get confident in those, in just internally, so that when I showed up, I didn’t misspeak or say something that I didn’t really mean or something like that.

Madison: And then the second part, I think, is really tapping into, like, who you’re helping and why I. That’s another thing that’s really shifted for me. I think at the beginning stages of having a food blog, it’s tempting to want to, like, be everything for everyone. And I’ve had to get to the place where I recognize, like, my type of eating, my type of recipes that I share isn’t going to be for everyone. And some of those controversial takes on, like, things that I may or may not use in a recipe or things that I would maybe look at somebody else’s recipe and say, that’s not actually healthy. I had to get okay with that and be able to show up for the people that I’m trying to help and really know, like, where they’re at, you know, who.

Madison: Who is the exact person that I’m trying to speak to. I think for a lot of people, they don’t usually realize that person is usually you. But a few years ago, there’s so many things that people are doing on the Internet that you could be like, well, I have to do that to be successful. But you probably don’t. You probably just need to do the thing that your audience needs you to do.

Stacy: Welcome. Welcome. I’m really excited about this book week’s episode, the conversation that I get to have with today’s guest. Because you know, I have talked about health and wellness a lot on this podcast. If you’ve been a listener for any length of time, you know that I have a child that has had a lot of medical issues and that is what inspired our wellness journey. And it really has been a journey. It’s, it’s. Our journey has been a little bit different than our, the journey our guest suggests, which I think will make for a rich conversation.

Stacy: And if you are interested in eating well, living a balanced well life, this is the episode you will want to listen to. I know you’ll leave with some really practical information, hopefully some inspiration to go and up level your eating and make it easy. So let me introduce you to this week’s guest. Madison Wetherill is the woman behind Cook at Home mom, where she inspires busy families to embrace wholesome, delicious cooking. Based in sunny Arizona, Madison Jungle’s life as a wife and mom to three energetic boys. Blending the chaos of family life with her passion for creating meals that nourish the body and soul. Her blog is a trusted resource for approachable, flavor packed recipes that cater to a variety of dietary preferences. Welcome Madison.

Madison: Thank you so much for having me. I’m like, so excited now hearing your intro. I’m like, yes, let’s get into this.

Stacy: Yeah. And I, and it’s a really, I’m excited about this conversation because when went into our wellness journey, we had a medical need that inspired it. And so for us, it was all or nothing. Like we jumped in and replaced all our cookware, we emptied our cabinets, we redid everything. And, and it was very intense for us, which is not what most people should do. And that’s like the opposite of actually how you advise people that are moving into this journey. But obviously we had this unique circumstance. So for most people that’s like a recipe for disaster. Right? To just jump in and try to overhaul everything. Why should families take it slower? Like what is it about that slow movement into a healthy home that makes people successful?

Madison: Yeah. And I think for a lot of People, they maybe don’t have the burning desire or need like you guys did and that. So basically I, what I see happening is it’s kind of twofold. When you try to kind of go in headfirst into your health journey, whether that’s in your home or your food or a combination, it’s. You get really excited at first and you’re like, uncovering all this, maybe research about this isn’t healthy and this isn’t healthy, and so you’re really motivated. But what ends up happening at some point is that motivation really fades. And when that motivation fades, you’re going to default back to what is normal and what your brain deems as safe. And I think we often forget that is our brain’s, you know, number one job is to keep us safe.

Madison: And our brain doesn’t really know the difference between like actual danger and perceived danger within like our nervous system. And, and so for a lot of people, if they kind of go in headfirst and they’re just like, throw it all away and, you know, I’m just gonna go completely all in. When that motivation, you know, fades or it gets hard because it is hard, then all of a sudden it’s like, nevermind, I’m going back to what I know.

Madison: And so the flip side of that is if you can sustainably make changes or this concept of like 1% better every day, and just along the way, start to make healthier choices and make better choices that kind of fit your goals, that’s gonna be what kind of can have that compounding effect so that, you know, three years down the road, you look back and you’re like, wow, I can’t believe how many changes we’ve made in a perceivable, like a short amount of time, you know, versus maybe like trying to make all those changes in three weeks and then feeling really like deflated when maybe you can’t keep up with that pace.

Stacy: I love that you went right into neuroscience. The first thing you did in this conversation, and it’s so true. And you know, for us, our journey started about, gosh, it’s been at least four years ago. And I think what was really important for us was learning the fundamentals of cooking, like really going, learning how to make soup, learning how to make ferments, learning how to, you know, to make. And we make kombucha and we make our own yogurt and those sorts of things. And it was really overwhelming in the beginning, but. And obviously I think it would have been better to do it slower. But again, it was a unique circumstance for us. And I’m kind of also like an all or nothing kind of person. I’m like, okay, I could jump in and get results quickly.

Stacy: And you know, and again, we had a medical need that made it very inspiring and motivating for us. But what I learned is, even though we did jump in and were very intensely learning for about a year, once we learned how to do things, that made all the difference because it wasn’t now learning all these new skills. We had the skills now and we also really retrained ourselves in how we think about food. And in fact, what was interesting, and I, I want to hear more about your story and how this worked in your life. But our whole family culture changed, actually when we changed our food and it wasn’t really something I was expecting when I went into that. Is. Was this your experience as well?

Madison: Absolutely. And I think it’s. It’s always one of those things. You look back and you didn’t know what you didn’t know or you maybe didn’t realize what maybe the family culture was like or like, for example, I don’t necessarily look back on, like my childhood and I’m not like, thinking about what. There’s all these things I want to change about the family culture. Like, I look back and I have very fond, like, memories of our family culture even around food. Even though that wasn’t necessarily the food that we eat now. I still have great memories of like, our family sitting around the dinner table, going out to eat and being at the table for three hours. Like, we always kind of had this culture around food.

Madison: But yeah, I think there’s so much kind of intertwined into eating and into food that we don’t realize. We think it’s such a simple, like you just sit down for dinner and you eat dinner and then you move on. But there are so many parts of your day that are like, in process to get to that moment of sitting down for dinner. And we probably won’t go into this too much, but one of the things that I love about like, cooking and eating healthy and teaching your family and your kids that is that it does create this like, communal experience around the cooking. It isn’t just mom slaving away in the kitchen or dad, whichever, you know, however your family works, but it isn’t that. It’s. Everybody’s involved in some way, even if it’s a small way.

Madison: Even my almost three year old, like, he’s involved in the cooking process cuz he’s helping me chop vegetables and things like that. So I definitely think that as we have changed, maybe our like perspective or our outlook on just food as a whole, really looking at it as something that is like fueling our bodies and nourishing our bodies, it’s almost, it’s like taken away any like demonization of the food, if that makes sense. And it’s made it just neutral and just something that is a part of our lives, not this good or bad or even healthy or unhealthy. I mean, we’re gonna probably get into some of those specifics, but I think the language that we use around food, it affects so much of how like our family culture is impacted by that.

Stacy: Yeah, I think there’s so much shame around food as well and the language that we use. You’re absolutely right. And certainly I want to get back into some of these more practical things and things that people should be thinking about in their lives. But I want to hear about your story because you describe yourself as a former picky eater and I would like to know what inspired you to, I mean, honestly overcome that. Because I think when you’re a picky eater, it’s easy to go, well, I’m just a picky eater. I mean, I know, you know, 60, 70 year olds that have very limited diets because that’s how they identify as picky eaters.

Stacy: So what was it about your life, your journey that inspired you to become an explorer of food rather than somebody that avoided certain foods and then to bring that to your family and then to grow this blog and your social media presence.

Madison: Yeah, it’s funny, when I look back and again, you don’t like necessarily see all of these things and these pieces working together, but now that I look back, I can see such like a clear journey. So like I’ll kind of hit the highlights. When I was growing up, I grew up in a family that, like I said, we loved food. We ate, you know, together as a family most nights had a really good culture around food. However, my mom growing up really didn’t enjoy cooking at all, partially because she was usually creating multiple meals for the family. Because my dad might have been on some kind of diet at the time, she was maybe following that or she was eating what were eating, which was usually like very kid food, chicken nuggets, Mac and cheese, like all those types of things.

Madison: And so that was kind of my experience growing up. And I didn’t, it wasn’t a Bad experience in that sense, but just was what it was. And then when I got to college, kind of two things happened. One, I all of a sudden had the ability to be able to cook for myself. And that started to make me realize I didn’t have a lot of those skills. I didn’t know how to cook much of anything. And I remember growing up, I had some friends that were more into cooking, and they would do things that now are so simple to me, like making a box mix of brownies. Like, they could just do that without even, like, thinking about it. And to me, that was so foreign. I’m like, I don’t know how to do that.

Madison: And so in college, I started experimenting a little bit with cooking, but not a ton. But at the same time, I also started working at a steakhouse we. On the college campus that I went to. We had a steakhouse on campus, and it was part of our meal plan. You could go once a week, and it was like a formal dining experience. And I was a waitress there. And I just got exposed to so many different things. And part of my job as a server was being able to describe the foods because. Because it was part of the college campus, it was meant to be a learning experience. And so we would feature foods from different cultures, different countries and things like that.

Madison: And I kind of had to force myself to try things that I maybe wouldn’t have tried in the past, because I needed to be able to explain what they were to people, you know, to the guests at the restaurant. And that opened my, like, world, honestly, to food, because I had never, I guess, put myself in that position to force myself to try something, even if I didn’t like it. I at least needed to be able to describe the flavors. And so I think that combination of that experience in the steakhouse and the experience of just having a world opened to me where I had to cook for myself and kind of wanted to at the same time, was the start of.

Madison: And I know you described it this way before we jumped on, like, the learning experience of building these cooking skills and building this desire. And then the last kind of highlight in the cooking journey, I guess, was when I was. This was my first and only corporate job. I was in kind of more of, like, a warehouse type of industry. And so I would come home, and all I wanted to do was just make something with my hands. Like, I had been stuck in this little cubicle with no natural light in front of my computer all day, and all I wanted to do was just use. Use my Hands to make something.

Madison: And then once I started having my kids, my oldest especially, I think having him started to open up this world of, I mean, obviously birth and childcare and breastfeeding and all of these different components that started to make me just not even ask questions, but just be curious about things I had never learned about before. And then on that journey, I started to question, you know, the things that I was feeding him or thinking about feeding him. And as soon as he started solids, I remember being very committed to like doing no sugar for him, you know, Cause at six months, people start feeding solids. And I was like, I’m not gonna give my six month old sugar. And then I started to question, well, like, why am I eating so much sugar?

Madison: And like, you know, you have a toddler who’s next to you and they want everything that you have. And I kept having to be like, nobody, you can’t have this. And it just made me question everything. And then a couple years later, I did a whole 30, which is like an elimination diet. And that was really eye opening just in the. It helped me to understand, I guess, my relationship with food. And I didn’t have anything that I was like severely reactive to in that elimination process. But it just really opened up my eyes to whole foods and a lot more cooking skills because you have to cook a lot during those types of elimination diets. And yeah, so that’s kind of. Those are the highlights of the journey.

Madison: But again, looking back, I can like see the thread between all of those, you know, moments in time.

Stacy: I feel like there’s a lot of alignment in our story, but then ours is just compounded by medical. Right. That medical layer. And we did do the early part is very similar in that like, you have the baby, you start thinking a little bit more about, like, oh, what am I feeding them? Oh, wait, hold on. Why am I eating this? And then eventually with our kids, we did go through a diet called gaps. It’s a. I don’t know if you’re familiar with it, but it’s really around restoring gut health. And that was really hard. It was one of the hardest things we had to do because you really strip away everything and you very slowly add in foods, like one food every few days for months. Like it was many months.

Stacy: But we had to do it because of the situation that were facing. So it was very different for us. But that also. The nice thing about that is it was very slow so we could learn each skill and each new Thing at a really slow pace because were slowly integrating things over time. I think one thing that I, I’m very interested in gut health. People hear me talk about this a lot on the podcast, and one of the things that I’ve learned about gut health is that when you are a picky eater, like, you’re not. Not a picky eater. Just, I mean, like, a truly picky eater, like, you cannot stand certain foods, and you’re very limited with your diet. That’s usually a reflection of poor gut health and expanding your. Your. The bio. Bioavailability for your gut flora.

Stacy: So eating more plants, exposing your. Your body to more whole foods, that slowly makes you less picky because the bacteria in your gut starts craving the healthy stuff and not like, screaming at your brain to get the unhealthy stuff. And I think that was a really interesting point of awareness for me in this journey and learning about gut health, because I, you know, a lot of times we think, like, if you’re making food choices that aren’t in alignment with how you would like to be, it’s easy to go, oh, I’m just not disciplined. I’m failing. I’m, you know, doing things wrong. But actually, there’s a lot of biology that’s at play that is influencing. That is sending signals to your brain to crave certain things.

Stacy: And to your point, over time, it’s like, you don’t have to go hog wild like me and my family did. Over time, slowly integrating healthful choices into your family is what retrains. Well, it. It fixes your gut flora over time if it’s not really bad and you start to crave those foods. And I think that’s a really hopeful message for people because there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s your gut, it’s your brain. Like, this body is causing also these cravings and making you want foods that maybe aren’t the best choice.

Madison: Yeah, absolutely. And I think it’s interesting because at least I find this with my own kids. I am so much more likely to get curious about maybe something that they say where, you know, like, I have one son who, he really doesn’t like onions. And I’ve asked him multiple times, like, what is it about them that you don’t like? Or, you know, things like that. But when it comes to my own picky eating, like, especially growing up. But there’s some things that I still am not super into. I would say they’re more like preferences now than, you know, like, a very limited diet. But you know, like, we’re so hard on ourselves that we don’t even get curious about. Like, well, why is that?

Madison: More recently, within the last, like couple months, I actually did another it kind of elimination style diet, but it was to support my liver. And one of the things that I found is I was really not eating a lot of vegetables. And I would have said I was, but when I, like, actually looked at it, I wasn’t. And you’re totally right that through that process, all of a sudden I started craving, literally vegetables. Like, I just wanted a salad. And I’m someone who like, has never really. I mean, I will eat salads or maybe enjoy them, but they’re not like my first choice. And through that part, that whole process now they’ve. I found that they’re the things that I’m craving.

Madison: And I can tell my body doesn’t feel fueled as much when I haven’t had a lot of those, like, raw vegetables and things like that. And so I say all that because I think it’s important for us to just get curious and just ask ourselves, like, what is it about that? And I, I remember I just had a conversation with someone recently and she was saying she has a really hard time with eating meat. And I kind of was like, well, why is that? And she’s like, well, it’s always like dry and tough. And I’m like, okay, well, you’re not, I didn’t say it quite this way, but like, you’re not cooking it correctly. That’s why it’s like dry and tough. And sometimes it’s like that easy for us to be like, you know, I don’t like it because it’s not being prepared correctly.

Madison: And then we can go back to that cooking skill of like, okay, you know, something that happens with chicken a lot. There’s a lot of people out there who just like, do not like to eat chicken, but it’s so high in protein and it’s so lean. So it’s really good for a lot of people in a lot of diet situations. But oftentimes it’s like you just need the skill of learning how to cook chicken correctly so that you’re not like suffering through it. Because, like, no one wants to suffer through, like, their dinner or eating it.

Madison: And again, it’s like when you come back around to maybe like thinking about your meal plan for the week, you’re not gonna pick the thing you didn’t enjoy eating last week, even if you know in your core, like, it’s what is best for your body or it’s like what your body needs from like a protein perspective or whatever. So yeah, I would just encourage people to like get curious and like be gracious enough with yourself. Like you would be with another loved one to just say like, instead of being shameful about, gosh, I just never can eat anything healthy. Well, like why is that? What is it about those things, particular things you’re calling healthy that you don’t like? And is there another way in, another avenue to get to that goal, you know, with something else?

Stacy: Yeah, I like that point of curiosity. And the other thing that brought up for me is being willing to change your mind about your eating preferences. And when went through all of this, I had been a vegetarian for 13 years when we started all of the, all these diet like this whole adventure we, this food adventure we’ve been on. And my daughter was also a vegetarian and we, when you’re following gaps, you like, you cannot be a, like, it doesn’t work on gaps. You have to eat meat. And so because I was asking my daughter to do this as part of this process, both of my kids, I decided I was going to start eating meat. Cause that was only fair and that it’s still, I’m years now into this, like a couple years.

Stacy: And since, well, I tried in the beginning, I couldn’t really do it. And then I took a little break and I came back to it. So probably it’s been like two or three years since I’ve really been eating chicken and fish. That’s it, that’s all I can do. But it took me like, I would have like the tiniest little bite. That was what I started with. And also the other thing that people often don’t know is that if you haven’t been eating meat or a certain type of meat, like red meat, for example, regularly, your stomach acid is not prepared to handle that food. So you have to actually train your body to digest meat. And that’s again, that’s that curiosity piece. And, and that took me some time to learn all of those things and also to be okay being wrong.

Stacy: Like I’d been doing something for 13 years and then I started reading some different things that changed my mind about it. And that’s okay.

Madison: Yeah. And I think that’s part of the journey. Like, and that’s why I always, you know, equate this healthy eating. Like it isn’t meant to be these like elimination style diets where it is all or nothing in most cases. Again, your case was Very different. But you know, even for you, like, there were some things that you had to slowly adapt to and slowly change. Like you couldn’t just go and eat, you know, 200 grams of chicken overnight. Like your body wasn’t ready for that and your mind wasn’t ready for that either.

Madison: And, and you know, I just think there’s so much that’s connected between like, this eating experience and our mind and our soul and all of these things that we often just like, oversimplify and just like, you know, get mad at ourselves because we’re not doing the quote unquote right thing when there’s so many other factors like we’ve mentioned that are playing into that and making it more difficult than it may seem like it can be. You know, another thing I, I see people do a lot is they want to be able to make these healthy choices, but they’re not planning ahead to make those healthy choices.

Madison: And you know, like, for me, with the example I was just sharing when I started that like, liver support diet, I had to make sure I had like lettuce and vegetables around that I could like easily go to because otherwise I was going to go to other foods that I was used to snacking on and that wasn’t going to support what I was trying to do during that time. And sometimes it’s just the combination of the awareness of, like, why am I doing this, why is this my goal? But also making the plan for it so that you’re not scrambling. You know, one of the things I share a lot is someone recently said this to me that, you know, if we don’t plan ahead or if the decision isn’t planned ahead for us, we’re not going to make the right choices.

Madison: It’s very hard to make those like, right choices in the moment when, you know, you’re up at the clock at 5 o’ clock and it’s dinner time and you’re trying to get dinner on the table before everyone melts down and all of those things, or you’re in between work meetings or something and you need a snack and you know, there’s a drive through on the way or whatever. There’s, there’s so many, like, I guess, temptations, for lack of a better word, of things that are easier if we don’t make a plan ahead of time.

Stacy: Yes. Yeah. And I want to talk about some of those practical things because this has been a huge game changer for us. A couple things that we’ve done that have made a big difference. One is we get all of our. Almost all of our produce at once from a farmer. And we come home and we wash everything, like, immediately and get it all put away so it’s always ready to eat. That’s made a huge, huge difference. And also having prep days. So, you know, at any given point in our fridge, we have cut up chicken in a big jar. We have homemade chickpea wraps ready to use to, like, make things out of. You know, we’ve got cheese grated, we have. And my husband does all this, by the way. This is not my doing. He does all of this.

Stacy: So I don’t want to. I’m not taking any credit here, but again, that took us a lot of time to get those systems. I do make the ferments. Okay. So I do contribute a little bit.

Madison: That feels like it’s the hardest part. I will be honest. Ferments.

Stacy: Ferments are very easy, actually. Like, they’re a little scary at first, but I find them to be, like, super easy, especially if you have a food processor. But there’s an example. So I make ferments. Ferments every two months, it’s done, and then we just open it when we need it. Those are, like, those types of food prep items we had to learn over several years. But our listeners, I’m sure, would like to start with something they’d like to know. How would I. You know, I. It could be a family. It could be a single person, it could be an older couple. It could be somebody with young kids. And they. They know that they would like to make some changes to start living a healthier but realistic and balanced life. What are.

Stacy: What’s something that you would recommend for them to do to get started on this pathway?

Madison: I think first it comes down to a little bit of what you’re talking about with, like, the curiosity. But I find that with a lot of healthy eating, just diets in general, it’s a lot of don’t eat this, don’t do this. And I find it much easier to instead kind of flip that on its head and say, what do I want to do? So maybe I want to eat more vegetables. Or maybe went through a period of time where my husband was having a lot of gluten sensitivity. And so for us, it was, I want to eat less pasta. I want to, you know, use other grains or sides instead of pasta type of thing.

Madison: And once you decide maybe on those one or two things that you want to do, then it just comes down to looking Ahead at, you know, the week that you have coming up and kind of deciding, like, when can I do that? If you’re not meal planning at all, you might just start with, like, let’s plan two meals this week. And, you know, you mentioned a little bit of the meal prepping that you guys do, and I love that you actually didn’t mention, you know, we prep all seven of our meals for the week ahead of time. That works for some people. I’ve never found that works for me. I like to do more of what’s, like, considered ingredient prep, kind of like what you do. Whereas, yeah, you’re like, prepping a couple proteins or a couple sides, or you’re prepping the vegetables.

Madison: But I think if you’re just getting started, start with that question of, like, what do I want more of in my eating? And then maybe that’s protein, maybe it’s more veggies, maybe it’s more diverse veggies or diverse side dishes or something. And then look ahead at the week and find two days that you can make a plan for that day. Maybe it’s a dinner, maybe it’s even lunch. I mean, I think a lot of us default to dinner. I think dinner is the hardest meal to, like, coordinate and plan for breakfast and lunch. I feel like we can be scrappy and no one really, like, minds, but dinner, it’s like everyone’s together and we need a plan.

Madison: But whatever meal is easiest for you, pick that meal and just make a plan for that one or two days for that week and just start there, start building that habit. And then you can add in a third day and a fourth day or whatever, you know, you need for your life.

Stacy: Yeah, I love that it’s step by step, the practical stuff. And I think that point about prepping ingredients is big because that you can also be doing all of that simultaneously. You know, while we have the produce washing in the bowls, then we have the chicken, and I do help with the produce washing. We have the chicken in the. In, you know, in the oven, and we’re kind of doing all of these things at the same time on the same day. I. I think for us that repetition has been very important. So we have the same breakfast every single day. You know, my. We largely eat similar ingredients for lunch every single day. The dinner will change to your point. Like, we do have more variety in dinner. My husband will get creative and try different things for dinner.

Stacy: But I do feel like having you want, obviously, that the diversity in your diet, but having things that are like, you don’t have to think too hard, and it’s there. I think for us. The other thing I was, you know, as you were talking, I was realizing because we’re in southern Portugal, we actually can’t, like, grab easy meals. Usually there is one McDonald’s, which is not our place to go, and there is nowhere, really nowhere else. Oh, there is a Burger King as well, but there is nowhere else to just pick up a meal. You can’t just stop somewhere. And you can, but you have to park in Old Town and walk across the square. And, and then you’re going to wait a long time because it’s Portugal.

Stacy: So for us, that’s been a gift, actually, because it’s not like we can like, easily grab something. It’s not so simple as it was, like, let’s stop at Chipotle on the way home, you know, so that’s been helpful. But how do you. How do you think about that then? When you have so much accessibility, it can be still so tempting. Even if you have your ingredients prepped at home. What has kept you know, just driving past and, like, getting home and doing the thing and sticking with that, well, healthy lifestyle that you want for your family?

Madison: I think a big part of it is just being, like, dedicated to it. I mean, you could go so far as to be like, I’m not even gonna bring my debit card, like, if I know I’m just going to the office or something. Don’t even bring your debit card or, you know, something like that so that you literally can’t go and stop. But really, it just. It takes making that plan and thinking ahead. I think so much of it is just the intentionality with it, you know, And I. I have this. Most of the time I’m at home. We homeschool, work, we work from home, we’re at home a lot. But the few times that I go into a co working space that I go to, I really have to think ahead because I know I’m going to get there right before lunch.

Madison: I need to bring my lunch with me. And. And there isn’t enough time in the shuffle of, like, the morning stuff and the work stuff for me to make a meal. And so I have to really think ahead on the night before, usually, what am I gonna have for lunch tomorrow? And I think that’s. It’s so simple. But I think we are not doing it enough of, like, looking ahead at our calendar and saying, okay, even thinking about, like, when am I going to Eat lunch. Because I know a lot of women, especially for whatever reason, struggle with this, like, just eating between meal. Not between meals, sorry. In just. They struggle with just eating meals because they’re so on the go or they’re busy with meetings or they’re busy with kids stuff. And it’s one of those, like, super simple things.

Madison: Just decide or put a reminder in your calendar at 12 o’ clock, like, time for lunch. Again, it seems silly. You can put an audible alarm on your phone that’s like, time for lunch. But you can even go one step further than that and put an alarm on your phone for the night before that says, pack your lunch. And. And, you know, probably the first couple of times you might do that and be like, I have nothing for lunch. What am I gonna do? And then you’re gonna get better at like, making the grocery order ahead of time or picking up the ingredients that you need. And you start to figure out what works for you. But it’s really those like, anchors in your week, in your schedule that are gonna help you to make those decisions.

Madison: So, like, for us, it looks like our weekly grocery delivery. Usually on Sundays, I’m doing some sort of ingredient prep. It looks different every single week. A lot of the times I’m looking at my fridge, like, what needs to be used up and I’m using that and making whatever it is. But for some people, it might just be like, okay, I ordered the produce, I’m gonna prep the produce, or I’m gonna make a batch of whatever it is. And then again, having that routine for yourself of like prepping the night before or thinking ahead the night before of what you’re gonna eat that next day.

Madison: So then that way if you are out of something or you need to make a shift, you can do that ahead of time rather than in the moment or when you’re probably already running late and you’re probably already like, stressed out or whatever it is. I think the more we can think ahead, the more we’re going to set ourselves up for success in making those decisions that align with what we’re trying to, like with the goals that we’re trying to reach.

Stacy: Sounds like it’s any other goal achievement, right? And what I’m hearing from you is it’s really around your food systems and creating systems for yourself and your family that just eventually put it somewhat on autopilot. And that’s. It’s not like you’re not still. Obviously you always, you eat it, then you have to do it again. But I do feel like after now several years for us of this food adventure, we now have the systems in place. Like, it’s just how we operate. It didn’t feel that way in the beginning. In the beginning, it was super hard, and it felt really overwhelming. Probably it didn’t. Won’t feel that way for anybody listening or watching because they’re gonna listen to you. Hopefully they don’t have a unique situation like ours.

Stacy: You can do it more slowly, but I would think still, as you’re building habits, it’s to your point earlier, it’s easy to go back to the default. I like your point about the alarms. And this is when I’m coaching people writing their books, we put writing time on the calendar. It is on the calendar. It is space that you’ve created for yourself. So I like that idea of those. Those alarms. And eventually you don’t need them anymore because you will program yourself to. To know the cues. You know, it’s time to eat. And, and. And I like your point also about women making sure to eat, because although I will say my husband does the same thing, probably, it’s like the person that’s making food in the house is the one who forgets to eat. Yeah, I think that’s what it isn’t it?

Stacy: I would love to talk summer specific because we’re in the summertime, and this is the time where it’s. You’re out a lot. You’re, you know, going to the splash pad. We don’t have a splash pad here, but if you’re in the US you’re going to the splash pad.

Madison: You have beautiful beaches there, though, so.

Stacy: Yeah, it’s true. Okay, fair enough. Yes, we do have the beach, so we’re going to the beach. Are you doing things you’re out all day for a lot of the time, and those are the times when it’s just easier to stop for the pizza or to get the snack that isn’t really what you want your kids to have. What advice do you have for families over the summer as they are prepping families, couples, individuals, as they are planning for all the fun ahead?

Madison: Well, you just kind of answered it, which is making a plan. I hate to keep, like, using that, like, very simplistic answer, but, you know, think through, like, what are the, you know, easy to grab snacks that you can take on the go? In the U.S. You know, we have places like Thrive Market where you can, like, place a grocery order with, you know, some healthy alternatives. And things like that. We, I will say the rest of the year when we’re not maybe as busy and on the go, we don’t rely as heavily on some of those, like, packaged snacks. But maybe in the summer, like, that’s a time where you can maybe use a little bit of your extra budget towards that. There’s lots of healthy, like, alternatives.

Madison: You don’t have to go and buy, you know, regular kind of snacks that aren’t gonna fit into your healthy eating goals. But I also think, like, use that meal prep time or ingredient prep time to chop extra veggies, chop extra fruit. I know, like when my kids are out in the sun, they are like, you know, obviously they’re not dehydrated, but they want more of those, like crisp, you know, cucumbers or peppers or apples and oranges and things like that. I think it’s also important to invest in things that can help you to keep certain foods cold. So my kids have like an insulated lunchbox that they’ll take to their co op that they go to. And sometimes we’ll borrow that for the day and just throw some cucumbers in there. Because, I mean, I’m in Arizona, it’s very hot here.

Madison: We can’t just like keep stuff in the car, you know, or get just like a little cooler that you would take like to a picnic or something. And don’t be afraid to do that and maybe be the one person who’s like not eating, you know, chick fil a at the slash pad or whatever. Bring the snacks that are going to fuel you guys because it’s going to set you set yourself up for success the rest of the day. So I mentioned, like, the fruits and veggies we like to do. If you can tolerate dairy, like little cheese sticks or beef sticks, chicken like chicken sticks, or you can do beef jerky, that type of thing. We try to focus kind of on like simple ingredients in those packaged goods and then just trying to do like fruits and veggies.

Madison: And there was another thing I had in my mind, but you could do like hard boiled eggs. My kids love hard boiled eggs. And so we’ll prep those ahead of time and then you can just pack those with you. Or even like the chicken that you mentioned, like you can pre cook some chicken and just bring that maybe with like a sauce that you make. Or maybe they’ll just eat it by itself. I’m always really surprised at what my kids will eat when I’m out and about, like, things that they maybe not won’t eat at home for a snack, but when we’re out, they’re just like, I’m so famished. I will eat whatever you give me.

Madison: But, yeah, it really comes down to just making that plan ahead of time, because when you’re out and you have no other choice, you’re going to have to default to getting something on the go if you don’t have something with you. But it just takes, like, an extra maybe 5 to 10 minutes of intentionality before you do that to be able to be like, no, we don’t have to get snacks, because I have all the snacks we need with us.

Stacy: Yeah. I also was thinking as you were talking through these different things, this is what I do when I travel as well. I bring myself a bunch of snacks, and when I get to my location, I go immediately to the closest, like, real grocery store. I get myself a bunch of snacks and things that are healthy and fuel myself in that way. So there’s all these different scenarios. We have summer here, but it’s also all the things that we’re doing all the time that we can just make sure to be prepared for. So awesome tips.

Madison: And we do the same thing if we’re flying, too. Like, my husband has been known to have a stake cut up on the plane ready to eat, because that’s what he, you know, wants to be eating. He doesn’t want to have to get, like, even a burger or something, like, in the airport. So these. These tips, they can work for whether you’re on the go, whether you’re just a busy person, like in between work meetings or, you know, even traveling on a plane. Obviously, you have to adjust kind of exactly what you’re bringing if you’re doing that. But I think a lot of people don’t realize you can actually bring, like, a food bag with you on the plane. It’s, like, totally allowed.

Stacy: Yeah, yeah, totally. It’s. And it’s like a hack, because who wants to wait in those lines and.

Madison: Spend 25 on a burger? That’s not good. Like, no.

Stacy: Yeah. And we. We will usually. We’ll always bring a cooler. And we also make jerky before. I don’t eat jerky, but my kids do, so my husband will make jerky, which is very easy to make, by the way, if nobody’s. If people haven’t made that before, it’s, like, super easy.

Madison: How do you guys make it?

Stacy: Just in. Dehydrated in the oven.

Madison: Yeah.

Stacy: So it’s like you marinate it and then you just dehydrate it in the oven. We don’t have a dehydrator, but you can use your regular oven. So yeah, so we just bring a bag of beef jerky, hard boiled eggs, muffins that my husband will make, you know, like high protein muffins. Yeah, those types of things. And it’s like, it literally is a game changer when you’re on the go. I used to, I used to always be so hangry when I was traveling and you know, to have just like not to have to think about food and that. Now I do that as just an adult by myself, not just with our family.

Madison: And I think too like from the traveling perspective, like people sometimes will think when they’re traveling like, oh, I’ll just eat a salad or oh, I’ll just eat, you know, something healthy at the restaurant. But it’s just different. It’s very different than like fresh food that you’re making for a variety of reasons. But I, one thing I found when I’m traveling is that I don’t eat as much fruit because I’m just not around it. And so if I do go to like the grocery store, that’s what I try to pick up is like some apples, some blueberries, some strawberries, like something that I can easily eat to kind of keep my like, digestion relatively normal from like what it is at home.

Madison: But yeah, I, I think it’s one of those, for some reason we’ll be like literally walking past, you know, a grocery store if we’re like in a downtown area or something and we don’t think to go like, just grab some pre made, you know, healthy options and instead go like to a restaurant and order something that you know, may not be exactly the same as what you’d cook at home.

Stacy: Yeah, for sure. I really feel like it makes such a big difference when you’re traveling just to like have real nourishing food. I want to ask you a little bit of a different question so off the nutrition piece. But I’m asking this because this is, I know, so interesting to our listeners and viewers that you have grown a successful blog and a strong following on social and you’ve been able to do it from yourself, like from this like authentic personal brand that you have built. I’d love to know a little bit about. I guess what I’m trying to ask is what tips you can offer for our audience. These are. We have a lot of aspiring authors, we have a lot of founders, consultants, Coaches, speakers, people that are doing similar things. You know, they want to build a personal brand.

Stacy: And I’m curious if you can offer some thoughts to them as they’re looking to grow their brands.

Madison: Sure. I think, you know, I don’t like that this word is thrown around a lot, but, you know, it really comes down to, like, that authenticity and being able to show up in a way that feels authentic. I feel like in other seasons of just having an online business when I’ve tried to maybe not show up in that way, doesn’t encourage me to want to do it more. It’s kind of like this healthy eating thing. It’s like, if I don’t do it the way that makes me feel good, I’m not going to do it at all. And so I think it’s. It’s really twofold. One is being able to show up in the way that feels right to you. For me, that meant maybe having some hot takes on things or some controversial stances, maybe that I’m not sharing often.

Madison: But I had to get, like, confident in those, in just internally, so that when I showed up, I didn’t misspeak, or say something that I didn’t really mean or something like that. And then the second part, I think, is really tapping into, like, who you’re helping and why. I. That’s another thing that’s really shifted for me. I think at the beginning stages of having a food blog, it’s tempting to want to be everything for everyone. And I’ve had to get to the place where I recognize my type of eating, my type of recipes that I share isn’t going to be for everyone. And some of those controversial takes on things that I may or may not use in a recipe or things that I would maybe look at somebody else’s recipe and say that’s not actually healthy.

Madison: I had to get okay with that and be able to show up for the people that I’m trying to help and really know, like, where they’re at, you know, who. Who is the exact person that I’m trying to speak to. I think for a lot of people, they don’t usually realize that person is usually you. But a few years ago. And I’m actually lucky, too, that my best friend who lives in town with me, like, she is also that person, but she’s kind of in that current state of that struggle. And so it’s easy for me to, like, I hear things that she’s struggling with. She’s the one that I mentioned with the chicken. But I hear things that she’s struggling with, and then I can be like, oh, yeah, I remember when I struggled with that, too.

Madison: Or I remember, you know, overcoming this thing. So really being yourself and really tapping into, like, who is your audience and how can you help them and kind of putting your blinders onto everything else, I think, is another important thing, because there’s so many things that people are doing on the Internet that you could be like, well, I have to do that to be successful. But you probably don’t. You probably just need to do the thing that your audience needs you to do.

Stacy: Great advice. It aligns a lot with what I say to authors when they’re working on their books. It’s really understanding your niche, showing up as yourself, like, finding your voice on the page, not trying to be everything to everyone. I think those are all such good tips. And also, a lot of authors are writing books for themselves, essentially a few years or longer back. So great advice. All right, I’ll ask you our last question that I always ask listeners. If you could recommend one book to listeners and this is one that has profoundly impacted your life, what would it be?

Madison: This was such a hard question for me. I actually keep a note in my phone of the books that I’ve read, and so I had to go back and reference that. But when I was looking at that list, there were two that stood out. And I may add a third one in there, actually. But more recently, I read a book that’s called the Unplugged Hours by Hannah Bernard Renker. I think it’s how you say your last name, and it’s essentially just about, like, the use of screens and kind of detaching yourself from that and creating healthy boundaries around that. And it was the way that it was told was just a beautiful story, but you could just really, like, connect and resonate with her journey in kind of unplugging.

Madison: And then the other one that I will mention that I read years and years ago is called Do Less by Kate Northrup. And it’s a combination of, like, a productivity and time management with, like, cycle thinking. So if you’re a woman, it’s a really helpful book for just, like, understanding how your body interacts with time and time management and productivity. And it’s something that has, like, really changed the way that I treat myself, even in, like, setting goals, being a high achiever, like, trying to reach those things. So highly recommend that one as well.

Stacy: I just bought that one last.

Madison: Did you? That’s great.

Stacy: Yes, I did. Yeah. She was one of my clients podcasts actually. And, and then after I listened to it, I was like, oh, I should go buy her book. So I did. So I, I have it in my, I’m listening to Outlive right now. I don’t know if you’ve heard that one, but I, I have hers next in the queue. So I’ll look forward to listening. I, I usually, I tend to listen to a lot of audiobooks, so it’s on audible for that one. Yeah. Thank you for those recommendations. I really appreciate it. I know that it’s like for me too. I get together my reading list. So I appreciate it. Tell our listeners and our viewers where they can find you, follow you, check out all your delicious looking recipes.

Madison: Sure. Well, I love connecting with people over on Instagram and I always tell people that if you have something that you’re like, you said this thing and I need help with that one thing, come have a conversation with me over there. That’s the username over there is Cookathomemom. And then Cookathomemom.com is where you can find all of our recipes. We have, I think almost 500 recipes now, all kinds of different diet preferences, but also just like everyday, you know, easy family dinners that I hope will kind of help you to transform, you know, your healthy lifestyle over time. And then I also have something new that’s coming. It’s called the Balance Dinner Club. And essentially what it’s going to be is a weeknight meal plan for busy families. And so really it’s designed to take the guesswork out of it for you.

Madison: So if you’re kind of thinking like, I don’t know what to eat, I don’t know what to feed my family, I’m not making any meal plan right now. Like this is going to take the guesswork out of it for you and also have some, you know, cooking instructional videos and things like that just to help people get into this, you know, healthy eating journey, but with tons and tons of support along the way.

Stacy: That sounds very valuable. And we’ll be sure to link to your website and social media. I imagine they can learn about that club on your website as well. Thank you so much for joining me today. I really enjoyed this conversation. I got to explore an area that I’m very passionate about as well. And I really appreciate you coming and sharing your wisdom with our listeners and viewers.

Madison: Yes, thank you so much for having me.

Stacy: I loved chatting and thank you to you, our listeners and viewers, for being with us. I hope that you’re feeling inspired to take whatever that right next step is for you with your health and wellness. Maybe check out Madison’s website and social media to get inspired. I also, as always, have to thank Rita Domingues for her production of this podcast. She is the reason you’re listening to this or watching this right now. She does everything after I record it and I am grateful and I will be back with you before you know it.