Episode #332: Food Pairings to Avoid Energy Crashes & Mood Swings

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 food 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.

Main Episode:

Hey there, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today. I’m so happy you’re here. And I am excited to talk about food pairings to avoid energy crashes and mood swings. I think this is a huge topic that we actually touched on a little bit I want to guide you back if you did not listen to, I don’t know the number. But it was an episode on balancing out your mood with fitness, health and nutrition, something along those lines basically, like you might not have a sin problem, you might have a nutrition problem or a basic fundamental needs problem, like you’re dehydrated or whatever. That’s why you’re snapping at everybody. So this is branching off that conversation a little bit and digging a little bit deeper, giving you some really practical advice for how to organize your meals and your snacks to really work best for your body. This was huge when I learned this because there are some foods we just think of as quote unquote healthier, we just kind of take at face value, take ala carte, like, I would read a woman’s health magazine and read Oh, blueberries are really good for you blueberries are antioxidants, like I’m getting blueberries, that’s awesome. But actually having two handfuls or a cup or whatever of blueberries, by itself is not a great move for the way your body’s going to metabolize that and how it’s going to work in your body. So we’re gonna get into some more examples and explain some kind of basics that then you can pair. I don’t, what I do not like, is when you only learned a couple things that’s like very specific, like, Okay, well, Britain, you just told me never eat blueberries alone. So I won’t do that. But I don’t really know why or how to do that. So I’m gonna get more into the nitty gritty of like, the how and why. So you can swap things in and understand it’s not the blueberries itself. It’s what that component is that you need to pair with another different food components. Okay, so stay tuned in just 30 seconds, I just want to tell you first, that I am running a podcast review giveaway. So if you have not reviewed the podcast you are eligible to enter, if you have not reviewed the podcast on your husband’s phone or on somebody else’s, you know access to any of these platforms, Apple, Spotify, Google podcasts, whatever. Or if you’ve even actually didn’t mention this yet. But if you have reviewed the podcast before on one platform, you could also enter on a different platform as well if you just really want a chance to win the grand prize of a $25 amazon gift card. So super simple to enter and I am doing this all of August, but I’d suggest just doing it now because let’s be honest, if it was me, I would forget as soon as I stopped listening this podcast, so please just give a star rating and or a written review. If you have the ability to do a written review on that platform, screenshot it and then email it to me Brittany and healthy Catholic moms.com I will use a random name generator to pick somebody send them a $25 gift card and I’ll announce it on the podcast probably the second episode of September because I think the first is like a Friday and there’s no way I’m gonna I don’t want I want to give it all the way till August 31 to let all the submissions come in. And then I have to obviously record the winner and turn it around to you. So stay tuned a little bit into September. I’ll also email the winner so that you know, if you want but I thank you in advance your reviews and messages and whatnot just mean the world and help the podcast get out to more people.

So alright, food pairings to avoid energy crashes and mood swings to help avoid really. So obviously, there’s a lot to that too, there’s a lot to energy, there’s a lot to mood swings, there’s a lot of factors at play, like how much sleep you got, what your hormones are doing, which are very directly related to sleep. If you’ve been around to your while, you’ve heard me talk about things like that before, about the hormones that if you do not get enough sleep, they do not function properly, you don’t get enough of her, you signals are not being sent to your body. So there’s a lot of foundational things at play here. But then beyond that, what we do nutritionally affects our mood and our energy so greatly. And this is where we really cannot just segment things like Oh, I’m just cranky. Oh, I’m just tired. Oh, I’m just like looking at everything holistically. And you’ll see, it just makes so much more sense when, like, Oh, I’m stressed out. Okay, well, I’ve also been eating a lot more processed food lately, or things like I’m depressed like, I’m having feelings of being like, sad all the time, lonely all the time, like depressed all the time. And then look at your habits. Is your screen time usage gone up? Has your processed food consumption gone up? Have you not been outside as much like, these are things we need to take into consideration, like can’t just isolate one thing and be like I’m feeling this way or I am this way or whatever, like, look at the whole picture. So to help you nutritionally again, we’re not talking about sleep, or hormones or any of that stuff. Today, you can go back and listen other episodes on that. Just the best things to put myself some pillars that you can follow here. Number one, if you don’t want to crash and have crazy mood swings, do not put a car by itself.

This is so big in America, because we love carby breakfast foods. Like if you think of the classic American breakfast that a lot of people are having at their homes, like even thinking it’s healthy. There’s a lot of clients who when I first look at their food logs for working one on one together, or they’re in the eight week challenge is when I’m looking at their food logs. And the first thing I see there thinks they’re doing something healthy, you know, and it’s like Special K breakfast. Well, you’re starting the day with basically straight carbs, like there’s very little protein, very little fat or no fat. There’s also just not enough calories in general all that stuff. Not great food quality, whatnot, but cereal is a huge one across the board. A lot of people even if it’s different kind of Cheerios, Raisin Bran, whatever, sir today very carb heavy or even other foods that you might consider healthier like oatmeal.

Okay, great. You start the day with oatmeal and you think you’re doing something healthy. If you’re just eating oatmeal by itself, you are setting yourself up to have this nice full feeling and have this nice energy high and then crash about an hour later. I mean, obviously that it can go even into unhealthier foods like a doughnut or like a bagel or whatever and you know if you’ve been around here while I don’t say good foods and bad foods, there’s you know sometimes foods there’s always foods there’s definitely better foods or not as great foods you know I don’t consider anything really off the table I think that’s personal like there’s certain things I will be okay if I never eat again like McDonald’s. But I should caveat that because I do I have shared before like healthy drive thru choices and I definitely have had like grilled chicken salads from there if i That was the only option in the world but I’m talking like Big Mac like that’s probably something I hopefully will not eat again. My time otter, but otherwise, like bagels or not, you know where I’m not demonizing bagels. The idea here is you need to balance them out. So what does that mean? It means balance them out, balance it out with a protein or a fat or both.

So when I just mentioned oatmeal, like we do think of oatmeal as more of a health food and you might think like well I start my day with oatmeal and coffee that is like carb and caffeine gonna set yourself up to be nice and high and full of carbs and jittery and then crash. So what else is going on in that oatmeal like but I actually don’t feel this morning. So we’ll go off it. I have shared before that I like a combo of oatmeal, flax seed ground flaxseed, some kind of nut butter today was peanut butter. And then I put half a scoop of protein powder in it for more protein. I don’t do a full scoop just because it gets very chalky to me then and in my personal opinion, so I’ll do half scoop of protein and then in a perfect world if I have zucchini, I also put in shredded zucchini. I did not have zucchini today so I just made sure that I have vegetables at other meals and snacks. I do have zucchini growing in my garden. I’m recording this a little bit early so if you’re like this is not zucchini season. I am recording this in July, trying to get a little ahead For the baby and my zucchini are out there, but they’re not ready for my oatmeal yet. So that is what I’m talking about. Same thing with protein shakes. i That’s not exactly the example of a straight card that’s gonna make you crash. But a lot of times I’ll have clients say like, well, I start my day off with a protein shake, like you say, but I’m like, Okay, well talk to me like what’s in it? And they’re like, no, no, like the pure protein, little carton, that’s 180 calories or whatever, make up the calories. 2025 grams of protein. And that’s it. I’m like, No wonder you’re hungry. Where’s the car? Where’s the fat? So we’ve got it, I talk a lot about evening things out. But think about it even beyond, maybe you’re really good at this with meals. No, like, No, my breakfast does look pretty good. My lunch is pretty much it looks pretty good. Even your snacks like, if you I mentioned the blueberries have a cup of blueberries, that’s gonna give you a good sugar spike, being a good mood, and then you’re gonna crash and be cranky, and maybe be in a bad mood and things like that, too. So we want to even apply this to our snacks. practical example, if you like a mid morning or mid afternoon yogurt, and say you usually get like a more sugary yogurt, or one of those like flips or something with extras, make sure you’ve got some protein and fat going on or pair it with something else, you could have a yogurt and a handful of nuts or something like that. Greek yogurt is usually a nice mix of protein, fat and carb. If you’re doing like no fat nonfat Greek yogurt, that also might work. Okay, because it has the protein in it to soak up the carb. This is also really big, I am not a diabetes specialist. I’m not a certified nutritionist. I just have my sports nutrition certificate, and have done a lot of you know, reading and listening to podcasts, things like that. But I do know from going to holistic nutritionist and things that this is something big that they talk about for people who are diabetic or pre diabetic is not to have just carbs alone. So but it’s again, it directly affects the moods of those who are not, I know, we might not need to worry about it as much if we’re not pre diabetic or have diabetes, but it’s just to our benefit, to not have those blood sugar spikes and crashes. So yogurt example, another one is
I’m gonna give a disclaimer to this after but like if you just have a minute, a banana or something like that, like three o’clock, you’re going to have a banana before dinner or whatever, a couple hours for dinner, I would still pair a protein or fat with that, that’s gonna be straight carbs. So pair some trail mix with that or a little I really liked they have I used to I haven’t purchased these in forever, I should get some for the car as a good car snack if obviously, you have no not allergies. But I used to do this. When I was working full time I would buy they have like little pre package nut butter pouches. And I would just put those on my desk, it was a really easy little like, Oh, it’s a good bang for your buck calorie wise to help you be full. Can you get some fat and protein. So I would do that if you’re looking at a banana or an apple, that’s something that I used to do, I used to just do an apple by itself. And now I do like an apple of peanut butter or an apple with almond butter is my favorite combination. I think it’s super good, just and there’s something to eating apple slices. So it’s like the ultimate treat sometimes with my afternoon coffee, I will cut up an apple and put the almond butter on it and you’re just ready to rock. And then another example would be instead of like say strawberries or raspberries or filling the berry, pear or something with it. Like I mentioned the blueberries, add a cheese stick, add something that’s got some fat and protein help suck it all up. You know, you just want to slow down the the blood sugar process like the you don’t want it to metabolize so quickly in your bloodstream. And carbs do most simple carbs do especially like some things will slow it down. Like if you were having a piece of wholegrain toast, that’s going to metabolize a little bit slower than say an apple. But the protein and fats still help slow the process down. Now the only disclaimer caveat I’m gonna say here that I can think of maybe there are more. But is that this does not matter as much pre workout because you might have heard me before say, Britney, you’ve said before we’re out to just have an apple or just a banana. That’s totally true. Because if you are just about to workout, you don’t really have to worry about your blood sugar spiking and crashing because you want to actually put that simple sugar to use right away. And then it’s assuming after your workout, you’re going to have some protein which I have talked about if you’ve I know I have a podcast episode of that like fueling properly your proper nutrition for before and after working out. You want to pair you know some have some protein around at least protein after your workout. So that’s the only time I would say there’s like a little asterix there. I used to just eat an apple before I taught a spin class. Or sometimes in the morning I wake up and I’m going to do a workout with like all our live workouts a lot of the times we’re chasing green is Cooper 5:45am So I’ll just eat a banana and then head down there because it’s something in the two I think, especially when I’m pregnant, because I will feel sick if I go on an empty stomach for too long. So that’s the only time I’d say those rules don’t apply. And then last tip to avoid the big energy crashes and mood swings is not to have caffeine just by itself. If you do some kind of creamer that is substantial enough. Like if you only do a dash of half and half, I would not count that I put heavy cream in my coffee currently. So and I’ve been all over the place with this I’ve had times when I only put in protein powder times and I’ve only put in like non dairy creamers times when I’ve done all kinds of stuff. Right now, I’m doing heavy cream. And it’s great, I will say. And it does have fan protein, so that I feel better about if I do just have that on its own at some point. But I will still usually pair it with a handful of knots or something along those lines, it’s going to help soak it up. Because again, like just look at our habits if in the morning, you start off with coffee by itself. And the next thing you have is like a bagel and butter, which you’re getting some fat but you’re not getting a lot of protein and things to help soak all that up, like you’re gonna be on this high, then you’re going to crash and actually, that mid afternoon slump is real. And it’s usually most real for the people like that one to 3pm or whatever. It’s usually because they have a higher carb lunch without an offene protein and then they are feeling that effect at 3pm then they want another coffee and they want a Milky Way or they want whatever because I think that’s like very relatable and we’ve seen that in different I’m thinking like candy bar commercials and stuff where it’s like oh yeah, like we can all relate to hitting that wall. So pair something with your caffeine intake as well. All right, I hope these were helpful and that you can just directly apply these to how you’re eating tomorrow seriously personalize it plugin and just think about if you know your basic This is a curb. This is a fad This is a protein roughly and that is what I teach you to do in the eight week program. You can just swap things in and out you know, it could be a peach doesn’t have to be berries, but like ah I probably shouldn’t eat this peach by itself. I should probably grab a stick of beef jerky or I should probably grab I keep saying handful of nuts because it’s just easy. But you know if you’re not free sunflower seeds and those kinds of things, but makes a huge huge difference and it’s not always wow I’m so short tempered or wow I’m so tired like no I’m just not putting the right elements together does make a difference. Alright friends, I hope this was helpful. Go into the podcast review giveaway please. And we are going to be talking next episode about oh, I’m actually very excited about this. We’re kicking off kind of a healthy fall prep series and talking about all of the things that that entails your schedule your this or that so stay tuned for that and until then have a great rest of your day.

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