Intro: Welcome to The Healthy Catholic moms podcast where we make moving and nourishing our bodies the priority so that we not only fulfill our vocations, but excel in our callings. I’m Brittany Pearson, a Catholic wife, mom, personal trainer, and I’m here to help you build healthy habits that actually fit your life. I am here to teach you how to get the results that you want and maintain the results that you want without spending hours at the gym, or meal prepping all weekend long. I understand I am right here with you getting my workouts done in the nooks and crannies of time, looking up recipes, while nursing babies and trying to prioritize my own health amidst everything else going on. But I have really good news for you, you can get the results you want. In less time without doing hours of cardio and restrictive dieting. I’m going to teach you how to use strength training and eating in a macro balanced way to get you feeling so good and your skin full of energy and strong to carry out your life. Okay, on this podcast, we’ll delve into how to lose fat in a simple, sustainable way. What your workouts and nutrition should look like during different seasons of life, like during pregnancy and postpartum times. We’ll also discuss healthy quick meals and how to get them on the table make foods that kids will actually want to eat. Mom hacks for making your day run more smoothly and so much more. All the while with continuous encouragement to stay the course and live with discipline. This is a place where we’re striving to steward our bodies well in order to joyfully serve. I am so happy you’re here. Let’s dive in.
Hello, beautiful ladies. I’m so happy you are here today. Thank you for tuning in. I cannot wait for you to hear this conversation with Hannah. She was such a delight to talk to. You’ll hear me say several times. “I’d really love to have you back on.” So we talked about this topic and I truly meant it. I felt like there were so many different areas we could have really just taken a deep dive into. So I hope you love this conversation. I truly think you will just want to give you a little bit of background before you listen to the podcast as to just where Hannah is coming from and her experience.
Hannah van Ark is a registered dietitian dedicated to helping people thrive by eating more plants. She holds degrees in physiology, neuroscience and human nutrition from the University of Colorado and Colorado State University. Her work in longevity and heart health nutrition research starting in 2012 inspired her to adopt a plant forward lifestyle which transformed her own health and grew into a passion for helping others do the same. She uses plant forward and flexible nutrition to help her clients lose weight sustainably while improving their heart health and boosting longevity along the way. Hannah lives in the foothills of Boulder, Colorado, with her husband Skylar and lots of pets. She loves trail running, cooking and vegetable gardening. And she and her husband are expecting their first baby girl in April 2023. Ah, alright, so that is Hannah. You’ll hear and learn so much more about her. And she has really great stories, personal anecdotes, as she goes back to my tons of research. So I hope you love the conversation.
Hello, Hannah, thank you so much for joining us today. We have never actually had a nutritionist on the podcast. So this is a very first time we were very excited, especially this year. I think plant based eating is even busier than maybe it has been in previous years. So we are so excited. You’re here. Thank you for joining us.
Thank you so much for having me, Brittany. And I think you’re right, I always like to say like the pendulum swings like every five or 10 years between like low carb and paleo and plant based. I do agree, I think we’re in a bit of a plant based uptick. But you know, I love it. Obviously, I’m a plant based dietitian and super big fan of flexible eating too. So I’m happy to talk with you and share all about that here.
Yes, thank you so much. Um, we’ll hop right in, because I know that all of our listeners are just gonna want to hear everything from your wealth of knowledge and experience that we heard in your bio, you have so many accreditations behind you in so many years of experience. So tell us just firstly, like why plant based and we definitely talk a lot about you know why even before the what of, you know, what is our motivation for doing this? Why, you know, so many different avenues you obviously could have ventured down and you’ve had so much training and experience so why plant based and why is that what you practice and promote with your clients and one of the benefits? Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that one of the biggest misconceptions about plant based eating is that you have to be vegan in order to eat plant based. So plant based in vegan or 100% plant based are two very different things. Plant based in my book and this is what I practice is just basing my diet and lifestyle on predominantly whole plant foods. So I personally, I’m not vegan or vegetarian, but I’m still a plant based nutrition expert. And I consider myself to eat a predominantly plant based diet, like about 90% plants is my personal preference. Okay, so I think that’s the first thing that we need to understand is that it doesn’t have to be this all or nothing thing in order to eat plant based, but there has been a bit of a journey that has taken me to come to where I am, because it definitely wasn’t always that I was plant based. I was actually gosh, I started studying nutrition over 10 years ago, and I got super sucked into like the low carb dogma of like paleo, and I believe this was around like 2010. So I mentioned that like, I feel like the pendulum swings back and forth with like, what’s popular, and 2010. It was paleo. I
don’t know if all laughing because I’ve told listeners this before that my first entrance into anything, nutrition was whole 30. I was like, healthier, whole 30. So I’m with
and listen, like I’m actually a fan of whole 30 I think it’s like great, you know, if it brings more mindfulness to what you’re eating, if it makes you feel good for a bit great. It’s just there’s some of the principles of that, like grains and beans are toxic. That’s not really based in in science, in my opinion. But I think that anything that gets you thinking about your food more mindfully is probably a good thing. Now, in terms of my own story, I definitely went hard into the low carb thing. And that’s what I did for about four years. And I was studying physiology at the time. So I wasn’t in nutrition in particular, but the lab that I was working in as a research assistant started to study nutrition. So that’s kind of how I started to get even more into it. The the exact thing that we were studying was longevity and anti aging. So it’s very interesting, because we know from the research and from like global research all over the world studying populations, that most healthy populations that live a really long time eat a predominantly plant based diet. So I started to be exposed to this idea that eating more plants could actually improve our health and not kill us, like the grains and beans, were gonna kill us, like I thought wouldn’t paleo. And it was weird, because I was actually like living in these like two worlds where I was like, Oh, I know that the research says this, but I don’t believe it quite yet. You know. And so that went on for like, a couple of years. But through my own research career, I started to realize that the long term health benefits of plant based nutrition are pretty staggering in terms of the research, not only observational studies, but even things called randomized controlled trials where you put people into groups. So it really convinced me over time, and then I started trying it myself, and I felt so much better. And I’d always been trying to find like, my body’s best weight is kind of like how I like to describe this, which is, where do you feel lean, healthy and energized and mentally well, and that’s kind of what I was seeking. And what I was looking for way easier to maintain that weight for me on a predominantly plant based diet, which I was shocked by I was like, how am I eating more carbs than ever before and still feeling that way? You know? Yeah, so that just the personal health transformation, it helped to reduce my anxiety, which I had been struggling with, I knew that the research showed it was a really healthy way to live. So I kind of went in after that and started to look into it more, but never felt the poll to be strictly vegan or vegetarian. And we see that in the research as well. It’s not necessary to eliminate any food from your lifestyle in order to live like a long and healthy life. It’s just talking about portions and percentages most of the time. And so that’s, that’s what I try to teach to my clients now is that flexibility can totally fit within the plan and you don’t have to label yourself one way or the other.
I love that I think that everybody just let their shoulders now and and was that, that stress, I’m like, oh boy, they clicked on the thinking like, Ah, right, but I’ve always leaned this way or that way. I love how you kind of broke that down. It doesn’t have to be labeled, you don’t have to throw yourself in there. I know from looking at your content and all that that you’ve also shared pros and cons of other things like intermittent fasting saying, Okay, if it feels if you feel good on it great, but I wouldn’t promote that I’ve seen you know, that’s my understanding a little bit of what you shared. And I like that. You can also acknowledge Well, if you feel better on this or feel better, like you’re going off so much research, which is amazing. And you can’t lie with research and science and I love that it’s science backed everything you’ve been talking about but but also you felt better at it, you know, and so there’s sometimes just like, okay, also anecdotally like just go for it and if you’re gonna feel better, you know, you’ll see what your body runs best
on. I totally agree. And I think that nutrition is like so personalized and for a while like I’ve gotten on plenty of like swings back and forth for a while I was always like it the science says this than it has to be this for absolutely everybody. I no longer even close to believe that I think that there’s so many different paths that make people feel their best. Yeah, I do think that basing your lifestyle on whole foods and moving a lot is good. Right. So that is something that I think We can all pretty much agree on whole plant foods tend to work really well, for a lot of people. It also depends on your specific health concerns, like maybe you have a really strong family history of heart disease, I might encourage plant based even more for that reason, because there’s so much evidence showing, you know, the that that can be preventative, but everybody has to find their own path. And there’s no one way and no one size fits all. So I totally agree with you. Definitely.
Now, in the past a little bit, when I’ve worked with people who actually have had the label of vegan or vegetarian, and we’ve struggled to, you know, find protein, which we’ll talk about in a little bit, but a lot of times looking through their food logs and seeing junk food, junk food, this process would vary heavily processed food, and also something now especially with, again, plant based being kind of more in, I’ve seen it on a ton of just random processed foods, I was looking at salad dressings the other day, and I see plant based on it, and I was like, pick it up. And like this was always plant based. Oh, we can just stuck that the plant may stick around. It doesn’t make it necessarily healthy.
It’s like gluten free water. You know, it’s like how they label these things.
Yes, keto, you know, this and that. So I’m definitely I know, you mentioned a couple of these, that you you know, like greens and beans and whatnot. But could you just give us a couple of like top foods that you encourage eating or you incorporate? Because you’ve mentioned and I think laid out for us really? Well, you’re talking about whole clean plant based foods? Predominantly, you know, that’s what you’re going for, but And how have you seen that with the people you’ve worked with to have the difference of kind of don’t do this, but this is what you should steer towards?
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that, you know, at its at its core, a plant based diet or predominantly plant based diet, helps with long term health and with weight loss in a few ways. So the first thing is, it’s really anti inflammatory. What that means is that basically, there’s so many compounds within plants like phytonutrients, and all of these great things that can actually decrease overall inflammation. The other thing is that it’s lower in saturated fat. And I know that this one is a little controversial. Some people think that saturated fats not a problem at all, I tend to see in the research that it does cause inflammation, especially in some certain diseases. And so I still incorporate saturated fat, but there’s a portion of it that is a little bit more ideal for health in my stance, and from my standpoint, and plant based diets tend to be naturally low in saturated fat, which also contributes to their anti inflammatory profile, they are high in these, you know, poly unsaturated fats like omega three fatty acids, so as fish, so doesn’t always have to be plant based, right. But the main thing is that this lifestyle combined with a ton of fiber, because fiber is super important for human health, it feeds our healthy gut bacteria. It is really the nutrient most associated in all of science with weight loss, not yet teens actually fiber, and people kind of get confused on that. And it’s only found in plant foods. So animals don’t contain fiber only plants do. So there’s a lot of reasons why plant foods are good. All of that kind of goes away when we’re processing it heavily. Right. So like the Impossible Burger comes to mind. I don’t know. Have you tried the Impossible Burger before?
You know, I have not, my mom went through a heavy phase of this. And I recall her offering we wanted I couldn’t even try it. But I’ve seen it.
Yes. I couldn’t even I know. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, like so when you’re when you’re processing these foods really heavily and making them so, so much tastes like meat that there’s no distinguishable health difference between the Impossible Burger and a regular beef burger in my opinion, you know. And it’s it’s also like Oreos are vegan, you know. So right, I have seen a lot in my practice. And with my clients, a lot of people come to me who are already plant based, whether that’s vegetarian or vegan, and they are basically like the junk food of Tyrians, where they are having a difficult time having really good health, because they’re not quite sure about the whole foods thing, as opposed to just the vegan label. So I do see that a lot. And it can be a little bit difficult to untangle for sure. But let’s just sort of define what are our whole plant foods. So whole plant foods would include things like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, which would include you know, intact whole grains like quinoa, brown rice with a kernel, but also can include flour, grains and flour based whole grain products, things like brown rice, pasta, or whole wheat pasta, things like that. And then beans and legumes and also been products like tofu and 10 Bay, I consider those to be whole foods, and then also nuts and seeds. So those are what we’re talking about with whole plant foods. So if you’re basing your lifestyle on those things, that’s where we start to see the health benefits really shine through. But I think that whether it’s plant based or not highly processed and ultra processed foods, those are just going to be You know, you’re basing your you’re basing your diet on those things that’s going to detract from your health, if it’s in too large of a quantity, for sure.
Thank you very much that makes sense. And even you just laying out those food groups for us, even though again, you’d mentioned some in there. I’m encouraged by that, just hearing that. It’s like, wow, you can eat a lot. And again, saying like this, that don’t eat this, don’t eat this. And, you know, obviously, people work with you. More in depth, they could probably get into the portions in this that have, you know, everything else you should be including, but I think that’s really encouraging. So I love the way you come at it positively of listen, you might feel you know, you will feel better. Here’s the science and whatever. But we don’t have to get so strict with this. No, there’s not a big list of No, this yes, this and super
simple. Yeah, it’s really just any, you hit the nail on the head. It’s all about adding things in before you even think about taking things away, in my opinion. You know, it’s like, and it’s not necessary. I think that once we added enough of these healthy whole foods, it’ll, everybody will find the right balance. And these healthy whole foods, whether they’re animal products or plant products are going to eventually crowd out the stuff that we want to be eating a little bit less of. So
yes, yeah, we were just talking about that. And we’re in an eight week challenge right now and with a lot with Yeah, so we go through and one focus, we can we’re talking about hitting our water targets, and we personalize it a little bit. You know, we give a range based on individuals. But it’s funny, because one of the first questions is like, Well, can I drink this? Can I drink this? And I said, Honestly, don’t worry about that. Because if you’re trying to hit your water target, other stuff falls to the wayside if I tried to drink anything other than water or coffee, like I wouldn’t hit my goals, you know, and everybody’s different. We have the T’s and this and that everybody’s got their priorities. But you know, I see what you’re seeing with it. Yeah, absolutely. There’s stuff.
Yeah, big crowds out the other stuff. So if you’re really focusing on water, maybe there’s not quite as much room for soda as there used to be.
Right. I know, some of the food groups. And I know that our audience will be familiar too with that some of the food groups you already just named, are higher in protein than others. I know, you mentioned tofu, which is, you know, usually touted as a really good protein source, if I’m correct on that. But could you highlight first maybe what you would suggest to clients as higher protein? I know you did, and I appreciate that, too, that you laid out for us that fiber is really important in your overall health. And we’re talking about longevity and, and everything. But protein, you know, is still a concern for many people, especially in trying to hit it in eating mostly plants. So what do you turn to you for higher protein
sources? Yeah, absolutely. And I think that, you know, generally when I work with clients, we’re not focusing on a super, super high protein lifestyle. We’re focusing on protein adequacy, and making sure that we’re getting it multiple times a day, that’s really important for protein absorption, as I’m sure you teach your your followers as well. So in terms of plant foods, and protein, there’s a and I come at this from the context of like sustainable weight loss. That’s my specialty, and primarily like who I work with right now. Sure. So the cool thing about whole plant foods is they’re very calorie not dense. So they’re not very dense in calories. When you’re looking at like the calorie density scale. You got your vegetables, your fruits, even your potatoes, and your beans and your grains are all a lot less calorie dense than animal products. So great, helpful for weight loss, lots of volume, lots of fiber, these can help with weight loss, but and in my opinion, whole plant foods and their unprocessed form are no match for protein density when compared to animal products, like not even close in most cases, right? So when you’re talking about like a half cup of black beans, I believe that’s an eight grams of protein, you’re talking about chicken breasts, even three ounces is going to be way more than that. I don’t know the number off the top of my head 15 or 20. Yeah, right. So yeah, yep. So we’re talking like the density of the protein for the calories is always going to almost always going to be higher in animal products. So if somebody is really concerned with like a high protein diet, that’s somebody who might consider incorporating animal products, you know, strategically depending on their other goals in a way that supports getting to that protein goal, in my opinion. That’s not to say that plant foods don’t have protein and that they don’t have good concentrated sources of protein as well. In this case, I think that like tofu and tambay or in stay tan are probably like your top three. And these are sort of isolates where the the protein has been extracted from beans or grains, and kind of made into a very minimally processed meat like product, or at least a product that reflects the protein density of meat. Yeah,
it’s very interesting. I never knew that. Okay, thank you.
Yeah, and I would consider those foods to be pretty much almost unprocessed right? My My definition of processing is basically nothing i unhealthy added nothing healthy taken away.
Because about Yeah, anything cooked is processed, right?
You peel your peanuts and you’re processing them. It’s like let’s not, you know, make sure that we’re talking about what what processed food actually means. When we talk about like processed foods, we mean Ultra processed foods, right? Typically, where there’s like a lot of stuff added to it that maybe isn’t as helpful like sugar, fat, things like that. A lot taken away, mostly fiber, you know, can be stripped away from these foods. But when you’re talking about stuff like tofu, and tempeh, I don’t consider those foods to be processed. They’re great concentrated sources of protein in my opinion. And let’s not forget that there’s actually a lot of protein in all plant foods, even though they’re not predominantly or the majority of the calories don’t come from protein. Beans are an extremely high protein carb. So if you wanted to incorporate beans, which is one of the foods that I recommend is like so helpful if you can tolerate them well. And if you can’t eat, there’s ways to work up to it. You know, when it comes to being some people who aren’t used to eating a lot of beans can cause some digestive distress and stuff like that. Or if you can get to the point where you can tolerate beans, which I’d say 99% of people can super great carb source because they’re high in protein. Keen was high in protein. Broccoli is high in protein, like a cup of broccoli is like four grams of protein. So it’s a lot you know, and that stuff adds up over time. And you can also find certain plant based foods that are a little bit higher in protein that have been like altered just slightly. So like one of my favorite foods is a high protein granola. Oh, yes, these before but they’re like the oats and honey, one from Nature Valley, or the kind of granola from, or the Peanut Butter Granola from kind of like, you know, 10 to 15 grams of protein per half cup serving. Sure, pretty good. So like yesterday, I was doing a breakfast. And this is an example of like a predominantly plant based breakfast, it’s just like some granola, a third cup of Greek yogurt, hemp seeds and some protein, flax milk, that made it 34 grams of protein with only a third of a cup of Greek yogurt, right? And so 34 grams of protein is pretty high for breakfast.
That’s a great example. And that’s right around. And I know, you even just touched on how much you know, protein, we’re actually synthesizing of each meal in the windows, and you don’t get to, you know, really go beyond that most people are not going to do much with that anyways. But those are that was a great example. And I like again, going back to how when you stripped away the labels, this seems doable, and I think is again, an encouraging conversation of okay, so you don’t have to worry so much about like, how much broccoli do I have to eat to get to 30 grams, like, have your broccoli, have your beans with it? And maybe you’re making a big soup with bone broth, which is Yeah, crazy protein. It’s like, I don’t even want to say it on here. Because I’m thinking nine grams a cup or nine? I’m thinking something
like that, too. Yeah, I think it’s like around eight or nine. And you’re right, it’s very high in protein. And that’s another great tip that you just kind of brought up is that you can incorporate tons of whole plant foods, while incorporating some concentrated sources of animal protein as well. There’s nothing wrong with doing both, it’s still predominant. I mean, like, gosh, what did I do the other day. So you can you can add in, like I almost always use chicken broth and soup. So just pretend to prefer the flavor I make my own, you know. And so you can you can do that kind of thing. You can add bone broth for more protein. But you can add targeted amounts of meat to a really bean and whole grain heavy dish to make it even more protein rich, if that’s within your goals. No problem with that.
And you know what, you’re leading us right into my next question for you. But it all pairs really well. We talk so much, especially the past six months on here about stretching budgets, because many of our listeners have three, four or five, six kids and they’re like, Brittany, some of your tips, especially started this podcast, I think I was pregnant with my second and say, oh, and I can make a chicken and then this time I get four meals out of it like pretty, like, hold my water over here because that is not working over here. Like okay, all right. So, you know, now seeing obviously prices on the rise, and we’re all trying to find ways to prioritize. And that’s another kind of, and I’m sure you get this, but a not a complaint, but you know, a rebuttal against healthier eating, which is legitimate of oh, it’s way too expensive. We can’t do that. So we’ve talked a little bit about you know, things that we can pick and prioritize. So I’m curious what you personally prioritize, but also just the way that you mentioned, you like your breakfast, or just that soup or whatever we’re making up and talking about kind of together. That is going to help you stretch your grocery budget as well. Just the tip that you just gave about kind of just peppering your meals with animal products sometimes and stretching combining with that. I think not only is that going to get you, you know, more plant based, but I could see that as a positive for the grocery budget. So could you lead us down that road a little bit?
Yeah, absolutely. And this is I mean, there’s a lot of reasons why personally, I am plant based, it’s for the long term health thing, it’s because it helps me to maintain my body’s best weight. One of the things is I want to be a good steward of my resources. And this is a helpful way to do that. And I know you have a lot of families and obviously moms listening to your podcast, I’m in the same boat, I’m pregnant with my first and we’re recording this in January, and she’s due in April. And so we’re already like looking at the budget being like, oh my gosh, like this, and things are not gonna go as far as they used to. And I know that that’s a huge shift. So I totally understand that concern. What I would say is that plant foods are cheap, my friends, like they are way cheaper than animal products. I’m not sure if in especially like even the protein sources like I went to my store. And then organic tofu is 299 for a block of tofu, which gets you about three servings of protein. Wow, compare that to three servings of grass fed beef is 2499 Oh my gosh, talk in a pretty huge difference in terms of like the price here. And soy tofu is cheap, dried beans are a while not the most concentrated source of protein, still a very decent source of protein. And even cheaper if you buy them dried and make them in a pressure cooker. They’re also extremely cheap if you buy them canned, you know. So these things are super inexpensive. And you can actually one of my one of my top tips that I give for just increasing overall fiber and plant foods. And this also works we’re cutting the grocery budget is to swap half your meat for beans and a lot of different meals. Yeah, so I like to call it a bean for every cuisine, because they’re pretty much is one. But you’ve got like black beans for Mexican and Caribbean inspired food. You’ve got edamame a for Asian inspired food, you know, white beans for Italian food, chickpeas for Mediterranean food, whatever you’re cooking, you can find it being that kind of like goes with that meal. And so say we’re going to make like, so like I said, I’m planning predominant, but I’ve got a freezer full of venison because my husband’s a hunter. So that’s one thing about me is that I do incorporate red meat, we incorporate it in, you know, what makes us comfortable in terms of like the health benefits of that. But we’ll do venison tacos with a ton of black beans and kind of just use for the two of us for four meals, a pound of venison, plus black beans, you know. And so by combining them, you can increase the fiber, increase the antioxidants from the black beans, and then also get a pretty concentrated source of protein. So that’s, you know, part of what we do. So just splitting it and kind of splitting the amount of meat and reducing that can really help with the grocery budget. So that’s for sure one of my top tips.
I think that’s gonna stick with everybody that being for every cuisine. That’s excellent. I love it. I love again, it’s not all or nothing, you know, I think a lot of us do when we’re cooking for a lot of different people. And a lot of different tastes if I just you know, I’ve talked about that before of like, oh, salad night, you know, on the menu, which we do, typically pretty seasonal, so fall, and when you know, I know that you plant a vegetable garden. Very tiny one,
I have a huge I am such a huge fan of vegetable gardening. So anytime anybody wants to chat about that, come come chat with me.
I know I think we’ll have to have you back on for that because I’m super amateur and we talked about a lot but you know when the romaine is flowing and stuff like in salads, and it’s kind of that idea of I’m like, Okay, it’s salad night, then you’re no one’s gonna get excited about that. But what you can do with the sale of like, you know, packing it in and all this stuff. It’s just how you present things. And so my point being if I slip something down, and it was predominantly beans and rice, my husband’s like, Okay, where
is the meat? Yeah, I think that’s encouraging. Again, the idea of mix it up little half and half. I love that.
You gave us a lot of great examples that actually talked about your breakfast and whatnot. But what’s maybe just give us one go to dinner that you have, that’s something you guys have on the regular, that’s tasty. And that’s the bill here have you know, such as a grocery budget and whatnot?
For sure. Yeah. And when it comes to like meal planning, it can really it can really help to kind of have that broader picture if you’re trying to be predominantly plant based, or even just eat more plants of what you’re doing every week because we don’t you know, eat plant based every single night or anything like that, like, you know, we’ll have venison bratwursts one night, but then most of our meals will be vegetarian or plant based. And then sometimes we’ll sprinkle in a little bit of meat. But I think that another quick tip that I would give the listeners is that if you do want to eat more plant based meal planning is pretty key to that in my opinion. Because you got to know what you’re eating you got to know like what the rest of your week looks like if you really want to make that a goal. So in terms of meal planning, I’ve always been a big meal planner. It’s something that I love to do, and we typically have been eating recently. Let’s see. So we made these buffalo chick peoples that were awesome. So think back buffalo chicken. Think about it with all of the fixings. like celery and chopped carrots and some red onion and a little bit of ranch dressing and some blue cheese on top. But chickpeas, so you’re mixing chickpeas. And so that’s the protein source that we were using. But you know, plant predominant, so we were still doing a lot of blue cheese for the flavor. And it was just
Yes, we are still getting the seasoning. That sounds awesome. Exactly. You’re
getting the buffalo seasoning. We started that with quinoa and romaine. Right. So that’s one thing and that we do, we’ll do like black bean quesadilla is with whole wheat tortillas and tons of vegetables and just like a sprinkling of cheese to kind of hold it together. Not too much of that and then serve that with a romaine chop salad on the side. We’ll do a lot of soups recently. So like in the wintertime, we do a crispy tofu ramen. So you make the ramen in a crock pot with some beef with some chicken or pork broth. And then you chop up an acorn squash with curry seasoning and you bake that in the oven and with some really crispy tofu. And then you use that with noodles and all of the seasonings. So that’s almost entirely plant based, except for the broth and you still get amazing flavor. And it’s cheaper. So there’s like stuff like that, that we can do all the time. To make it more plant based but not doesn’t have to be 100%
I love it, Hannah. Thank you because I think everybody is furiously taking notes over here like and that’ll also I’ll give you a lot Hannah share her contact in a moment because truly I that was above and beyond you just gave me ideas truly extends everybody wheel spinning. So thank you so much. And this has been so great. We’re gonna have to have you back on but
oh, I would love to come back on anytime.
So good maybe with a little babe next unit.
I can give you some tips about what I found for like the the whole kid thing right now that I’m going to explore that world.
Yes, I know my that’s where we dabble in condiments, because it’s so funny that 98% of our conversation has been about beans. And that is like the hill my five year old will die on the other two, I can sneak it and he’s like just this have been like, we’re just gonna have to get over this, like I have worked or eaten chili. Like you just got to deal with it. But okay, where can we find you? Where Where do you like to hang out is Instagram website? Just give us all the details? Because I’ll link it also sure notes.
Yeah, absolutely. And thanks for having me. This has been super fun conversation. I love talking with you. Um, yeah, so I’m planning forward nutritionist on Instagram. And that’s mostly where I hang out. So it’s plant dot forward dot nutritionist pretty easy to find me there. My website is the plant forward nutritionist.com. So just as at the at the very beginning. And in terms of like the Getting Started with plant based eating and a little bit more of the plant forward lifestyle, I did create a free resource for meal planning, I just mentioned about how crazy important meal planning can be. I mean, like, I think it’s important for healthy eating in general, to stretch your grocery budget to actually plan to eat the food that you buy. But then also, if your goal is to eat more plants, we have to kind of know what that where you’re coming from and like what other things you’re eating throughout the week. So I created this resource called making your first plant forward meal plan. And it walks you through the steps that I do to make my 90% plants meal plan. So that’s one option. And then there’s another option for people who just want to dip their toe in and I call it the added end approach. And so there’s two little options in there. And so basically, you can download the resource, you can pick your path, and then I teach you exactly how to very quickly estimate 90% plants, or how to just get started by doing the edit in approach. So that’s a good starting point for people. I feel like sometimes. And then what else? Oh, right now I’m actually so we’re recording this. In January, I’m launching a course right now. And it’s called the plant forward plan. So that is a course that basically distills all of my knowledge from the 10 years and teaches people how to lose weight sustainably and gain confidence in more plant based eating in eight weeks. So that’ll be around I don’t know when the next launch is going to be because the doors will close before this, I think airs. But keep in touch. Keep in touch with me if that sounds interesting to you, because it’s a great course man. Great plan.
Absolutely. And you know what the the other word that you said multiple times today that we’re going to have to come back to and I think like wheels are spinning, we’re gonna have to have you for multiples here is longevity, because we’ve been talking a lot about that. And I think it’s as I cleared 30 It’s like, very present on my mind as well. So we will definitely have you back. Thank you so much again for your time and for joining us. And ladies, if you have any trouble, I will put her links in the show notes. But I follow Hannah on Instagram for my own inspiration as well. So just can look at who I’m following in. She’s there. So thank you so much and we’ll talk to you again soon.
All right, thanks so much Brittany can’t wait to come back.
