In today’s coaching call, I had the pleasure of speaking with Krystal, a dedicated mom of four who recently had her fourth baby. We delved into the challenges she’s been facing with maintaining energy levels and establishing healthy eating habits, especially after being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s.
One key takeaway from this conversation is the importance of self-compassion and practical strategies for making nutritious meals manageable, even with a hectic schedule. Join us as we explore how to create habits that not only fit into a busy mom’s life but also help in regaining a sense of self and energy.
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TRANSCRIPT
Monica Packer: Krystal. Thank you so much for being willing to do this coaching call. Absolutely. I’m excited. Oh, good. I’m glad you are. I’m glad it’s not too much of a pressure. Uh, I would love for you to start with an introduction. Tell us about you.
Krystal: Okay. I am, um, mom of four, which is still really weird for me to say that I’ve got three boys who are ages.
I mean almost eight and almost six. Their birthdays are in two weeks. And then a three year old and a six month old. The little girl. So, um, my husband teaches chemistry at a university and here
Monica Packer: we are. Sounds like you’ve been through a lot. That’s a lot on a, on a body, on a psyche, um, everything, everything.
So what brought you to this coaching call today?
Krystal: Well, I, you know, as I mentioned, I just had my fourth baby and I’m not young. I had one of those geriatric pregnancies. And I love because I
Monica Packer: know I have had
Krystal: Yeah, it’s hilarious. I had three very similar pregnancies and then one very from pregnancy.
Everything about my little girl’s pregnancy was different than after she was born. It’s like it’s my mind I entered into it with the wrong idea that I would be able to get back to feeling like myself and everything and my like physical stuff just like how I felt in my body. I would get back to that pretty quickly because I actually lost a lot of weight at the beginning of her pregnancy.
And then You know, I was headed in the right trajectory, and then I realized there were some problems. I wasn’t getting those goals, and my energy levels weren’t coming back. Anyway, long story short, I was recently diagnosed with Hashimoto’s.
Monica Packer: Yeah.
Krystal: And that is a thyroid situation, and it’s basically my thyroid doesn’t work.
Like, it’s under active. And. It messes with your metabolism, slows it down and it kills your energy. So my biggest thing is that I want to feel like myself in my body. However, I find in that that I revert to a new, like nutritionally is where I struggle the most and my goals are to eat, Foods that will support me in that, but I struggle with bad habits of just grabbing whatever’s available, not putting an emphasis on the foods that I know will support me best.
And so guess you could say. My focus would be I’m, I’m wanting help with good eating habits so that I can at least work toward my goals in conjunction with now having this medical support that I desperately need. Okay, so,
Monica Packer: and obviously I mean, I’m just going to state this, so we know, like, I’m not a doctor, you know, it, I’m not here to give you advice with that stuff, nor am I a dietitian, I’m not here to tell you what to eat, I don’t even think you need me to do that, I know that’s not what you’re here for, so what, That’s it.
What, what is it about the nutrition that you’re like, Monica, Monica can help me with this.
Krystal: So what I came up with is that I have, like you said, I have ideas of what I want and what I feel like would, I would enjoy. But lunch is one of my big issues because I
have a three year old that I get lunch for my older to already had their lunch there at school, but I get lunch for my three year old. And I get food that I know he’ll eat so I don’t have to fight him. Sure. And then I get food for my baby , so she’s eating more solids and stuff like that. So I prepped that, get that for her.
And when it comes time to feed mom, I am so tired that I don’t, uh, you know, I’ll eat the macaroni and cheese that I made for my baby. Three year old who I mean, it’s fine. It’s not great. I don’t love it, but I eat it. Um, but I have other foods that I want to eat. I just am so tired that even the idea of getting the food just doesn’t happen.
So there’s one thing. The other thing is the habit, like I’ll just walk through if I haven’t. actually gotten a lunch, no matter how nutritious or filling it might have been. I’ll just walk through the kitchen and say, Oh, I just need a little something. And I’ll grab something that’s going to last me about 15 minutes.
And then I’ll be hungry again, because I just, the habit of just grabbing Something for the ease of grabbing it, and it takes no thought, which is about what I’ve got to give right now. So,
Monica Packer: and I’m curious about, I mean, we’ll, we’ll talk more about the specifics later and kind of dig into this next step, but just like an initial thought I’ve been having there is I’m curious about how much the.
Getting the quick snacks is more about like your body needing energy and you not obviously having the energy to create like an actual snack, like build it and put it on a plate kind of thing. But it makes sense that that’s what your body’s asking for. Like, I need energy because I am so low energy. So this is how I’m going to do it.
It’s like this biological push, even more so than it is maybe a bad habit or a character flaw. Um, I hadn’t even thought about that. So what is that little shift there? What is that changing for you?
Krystal: Honestly, what that thought actually does is it helps me see that grabbing something as I walk through the kitchen isn’t necessarily the problem. Mm-Hmm. . The problem is, am I putting what will help me? Got it. What’s available to me? So that I can quickly grab something that will boost my energy. Okay.
But I can do more forethought. It’s not so much in the moment. I can give it more forethought .
Monica Packer: Good. And I’m also wondering, like, does it help remove, like, I’m thinking about your diagnosis, like, I’m sure that was, you know, In many ways, very validating to hear that it wasn’t a you problem.
Does that help maybe validate even what you perceived as maybe a bad habit when really it’s like a biological need that just is trying to get met? Does that validate?
Krystal: Absolutely. It does. In your mind, you say, well, I’m a little broken because I just am going back to these things without thinking about it, but really it’s.
It makes sense that I just need. Something. Yeah. You need energy. I need the energy. And it’s like, you have low energy.
Monica Packer: Yeah.
Krystal: I have four kids and I have thyroid
Monica Packer: issue.
Krystal: So
Monica Packer: for small kids, yeah, that’s, that’s a whole other ballgame. You know?
Krystal: Yes.
Monica Packer: Yes, it is. So the reason I think that’s really important for us to just make sure we’re taking some time on is because just like.
Exercise, the way we eat is so loaded. It’s so loaded by shame, pressures, prescriptions, you know, shoulds, like all those things that make it kind of difficult to untangle where a bad habit is or where actual needs are. And when we remove that self blame, we actually are able to look at things with more objectivity.
And get clear information on what’s at play here so that we can work with it better instead of it just becoming another character issue. Um, which I think helps. So because that’s actually part of the brain loop is a shame is actually driving that brain loop and you even more like, it’s like driving it in your neural pathway.
So it’s just about like, let’s listen that a little bit and let’s work on rewiring it. With that big picture, why does improving your nutrition in this way about having more of an energizing lunch and or snacks available for you? Why does that matter?
Krystal: It matters because first of all, I don’t feel like me.
Okay, and I know I’m gonna feel different than I did before I had kids because they’re gonna take the energy But I don’t even fully know how to explain it, but it doesn’t feel like me Like it’s not even that I’m looking at my body. I mean even that that’s that’s not so much the issue Yeah, of course there are things I want to change But it’s just that I don’t feel like I can accomplish the goals that I have throughout the day like I’m, really tired of just Being tired.
Yeah, honestly, I want to be able to meet my family where they need me. I want to be able to meet my house where it needs me. I want to be able to meet myself where I need to be. I want to be able to give the time to myself and right now all my time to myself goes to a nap because that’s what I have the energy for and while that’s great.
Mm hmm. I want to do the other things too.
Monica Packer: That’s hitting me. That’s hitting me. Like I am tired of being tired. And as part of that, you’re tired and not feeling like yourself. So when you think of having energy, what you’re really saying is feeling like me. Okay.
Krystal: I think so.
Monica Packer: So with that, that is actually going to be a compass for what we help you do, because we know the standards here is that you want to feel like yourself.
You want to have energy. And that means you need foods that are energy boosting for you, which is going to look different for each one of us, but made with low energy in mind.
Krystal: Yes.
Monica Packer: Okay. All right. So with those, I would almost say like guardrails of what this is really about. Okay. Um, let’s just get into a place of potentializing.
Like that means we just, you know, are inserting potential into this and there are no wrong ideas. You can say it all, let’s just wave a magic wand here. And you tell me what would a lunchtime habit, we’ll talk about the snacks in a bit. What would a lunchtime habit or a lunchtime food look like for you that make you feel like yourself provide energy, but with low energy in mind?
Krystal: Honestly, the, my lunchtime foods that I find that I enjoy the most are salads. Okay. So I, if we have a salad. That has to have protein in it because my husband has to have his protein. Honestly, it helps me as well, but he’s very adamant about those proteins. But I love salad and so having a salad available, like leftovers from dinner or something, I will eat that too, or, you know, two times later in the week recently gone salad kits.
But sometimes the idea of taking that out of the bag and putting it all together, I’m just like, no, not up for it. . Um, smoothies. I like the lighter lunch foods. I don’t really go for the heavier stuff. So salad smoothies, even if I make a sandwich, like a picnic lunch type thing.
So like almost like a charcuterie board kind of thing. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Like a sandwich with some fruits and some cheese or yogurt or whatever. Those kinds of things. I love the idea of a picnic lunch. That sounds fun. Yeah. Okay. Is there anything else that you can think of that? meets our guardrails that we have these parameters in place that maybe you just haven’t thought of quite yet or other ideas out there.
Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything. That’s okay. But my brain doesn’t work either, so. That’s okay. And it’s not because I’m like, you’re missing a big one, and this is a test and you must answer. But let’s just leave a little open space here because maybe some more ideas will come up. There’s very possibly other things.
Okay. But I just can’t think of them. That’s fine. And maybe I almost don’t want to, like, Give you the answers, because again, I don’t think there are right answers here. But I mean, some other things I’m thinking that come to mind are, you know, carrot sticks and crackers or cottage cheese or slices of cheese, like
I haven’t even thought about things like that for lunch, honestly, but something like that, even.
Like a simple situation. Yeah. Cottage cheese doesn’t take much opening. One thing I really like is opening a can of peaches with the cottage cheese. Oh, awesome. And that’s more of a grab it and take it. But forth little effort. Yes.
Monica Packer: So something like that could be good for a very low energy day. So maybe we have our grab foods. Maybe we have our make foods, or maybe we have our make ahead foods. And I don’t know if it’s helpful to have those divisions, but no, I, I think that could be really helpful. Okay, so let me write down what I just said.
So I don’t forget. So we have our grab foods. We have our make now foods. Or the make ahead foods or the make aheads. Oh, what about like scrambled eggs or fried eggs or any, I mean, I’m trying to think. Other stuff like that for you. Oh yeah. Those could work. That would be in that make now foods, but yeah.
Krystal: Yeah.
Monica Packer: Now we have the, we have the option to go through those three categories and. Add a whole lot there, and we, you know, we could do that. I think it’d be pretty easy to do though. Um, maybe how about we just run through it really quick. Okay. So, like, under grab, we’ve got so far. You said the cottage cheese and peaches
Krystal: some leftover thing that all I have to do is put in the microwave.
Monica Packer: Perfect. So leftovers. Also like, um, veggies that are already prepped, like carrots, like carrots, baby carrots. Yeah. Yeah. Or like baby tomatoes or something like that. It’s just, yes. Okay.
Krystal: Or other like fruits.
Monica Packer: Yes. Fruit. Uh huh. Any type of fruit. Yeah, banana, like all that kind of stuff.
What about cheese? Do you like cheese? I do like cheese. Big sized cheeses? Okay.
Krystal: Yeah.
Monica Packer: What about crackers? Do you like crackers?
Krystal: Yes, I do like crackers. I don’t get those as much because they leave my kitchen very quickly.
Monica Packer: Yes, I get that. Mine is, they end up everywhere.
Krystal: All the crumbs! Over the whole
Monica Packer: house.
Krystal: Yeah. They’re gone fast and the crumbs are everywhere. Yeah, yeah. And I got like three of them.
Monica Packer: Yes. Okay. I so get you at this. Okay. No, this is good. I also like those late July tortilla chips. Um, oh yeah. The multi grain ones. And I like dipping those in cottage cheese. I don’t know if that’s something you would like.
That’s a fun idea. Okay. So we’ve got a good list here under the grab, the grab section. Absolutely
Krystal: we do. Um, we’ll
Monica Packer: come back to this, but this seems like the grab section to me feels like a good baseline. Yes. On your worst of days, I can heat up some leftovers, or I can grab some maybe carrots and some cheese, maybe some tortilla chips, like I can, I can grab, a baseline day, I can grab, okay?
Make now foods, I put eggs down, smoothies, I’m referring back to the list, like the salad kits.
Picnic lunch? Yes,
Krystal: that one for sure.
Monica Packer: Did I miss anything there?
Krystal: I think that those are what I would probably do. And that’s,
Monica Packer: and
Krystal: yeah.
Monica Packer: What about, do you like toast? And I know like sometimes with thyroid stuff like they advise you to maybe Take out gluten or anything like that. So I’m not sure if that’s
Krystal: okay to do.
I’m not to that point yet because I know
Monica Packer: we
Krystal: still have to figure out where the hormones all need to be. So got it. Okay. Until that settled. I’m not changing my diet except to like put more emphasis on it.
Monica Packer: You know what? I honestly think that’s very smart. Because we also don’t need to add to your stress right now.
Um, and like eliminating whole food groups. The goal is to just eat food. Yes. Like eat food groups. Okay. And get energy. Yeah. Energizing food groups. I love it. Okay. So I did put eggs. I put toast, smoothies, salad kits, picnic lunch. Okay. Make ahead. And this is me kind of thinking about like the potential habit of meal prepping.
I don’t necessarily think you need to do that. Um, but that can involve like maybe more complex, maybe not even complex salads, but salads of things that you like, like a kale. Kale lasts a long time in the fridge. Like with other ingredients with it. You know how other salad just gets yucky. Yeah,
Krystal: they get
Monica Packer: mushy really quick.
Yeah, kale doesn’t, but that also may not be. I love, by the way, let’s make sure with your guardrails, enjoyment is on that list because you, I think that’s a vital, vital. So I just won’t eat it if it’s not. I think you’re smart. Yeah. No, no need. Okay. So are there any potential make ahead? Like if I were to meal prep the lunch for a week, what kind of things could that be?
Krystal: You know, it could be something like, like a rice bowl or, or a salad, like the salad ideas where you can have it all mixed together. Yes. Have it like kind of together in the fridge. So I just take it out and dump it and eat it.
Monica Packer: Yes. Yes. Add your dressing.
Krystal: Yeah. Maybe cook up some, grill up some chicken or something.
Yes. On the weekend or something or whatever. But yeah, like, so rice bowls and salad, salad to me is my automatic go to of the things that I would think of.
Monica Packer: I love both of those. That’s great. So rice bowl, salad bowls. Um, so you’re reminding me like one thing I did after I had my baby last year, 2023 is I got in the same place.
I’m like, I, I don’t have time or the energy to make myself food, but I’m also Like I can’t function without it. And I’m just grabbing things that I don’t even want or that I like filling, I was having the same issue. So one of the things I made was egg sandwiches. And the weird thing is you can actually put them in the fridge and they’ll be fine.
Like you can make like four egg sandwiches with like, um, English muffin. And you just heat it in the microwave just a little bit when you’re ready to eat. And it actually was really good. Like I was surprised. I even froze them too for a bit there.
Krystal: You can freeze them. I, I would do that. I love a breakfast sandwich.
Yeah. I love breakfast sandwiches.
Monica Packer: Well, and the funny thing too is I did love the kale salads. I really went through that. Stage a lot, but it actually took a long time to prep those , surprisingly. I was like, oh, like toasting nuts and then straining beans and chopping up the kale and massaging the kale and cooking the chicken, making the dressing.
It, it, it was a little bit more time intensive than I realized it would be. So it’s still a good one though. Okay, so we’ve got breakfast sandwiches, rice bowls, salad bowls. I think that’s a great list. I don’t really see you needing much more than that. It could also be like, um, like breakfast casserole, you know, like, where it’s like hash browns and eggs and some veggies in there.
Yeah. All right. Forgive me for giving suggestions. I hope that’s okay that I offered up some ideas.
Krystal: Ideas are helpful. Ideas are
Monica Packer: helpful. So. Okay, good. I’m glad to hear that. So we’ve got the grab meals, we’ve got the make now meals, and we’ve got the make ahead meals. Now of these, I think We could strategize on maybe you doing a make ahead day and what that could look like so you have the energy to do that.
Like maybe it’s a day where your husband doesn’t work so you can have some time, like an hour. Like if we make, make sure these meals are makeable within an hour or less to just prep your lunches for a week, or even for like a couple of weeks. Like if you do the freezer route on some of these things, like the breakfast casserole or the egg sandwiches, um, so we could do that.
And then we also can have like on the other days where you just have a little bit of energy you can make now, but. I think more than anything, I want you to be in the habit of a baseline where you’re putting yourself on the list, just like you do for your two other kids that you’re feeding lunch to every day.
What do they like? What do they need? And it’s the same thing with you. Like, what can I grab today? That I like, and I need that is simple, but it feeds me. It makes me on the list. How does that feel to you?
Krystal: It feels really good because even just like making a list of ideas, just even those, like those grab things is just, I can see how it benefits me.
I don’t have to have energy to do all of it. I can. I can dump stuff in a bowl that I would enjoy that would boost my energy. I can do that very easily.
Monica Packer: So one thing I’m thinking, I’m thinking about the hurdles that we have, especially if you are dealing with like a new diagnosis, still very young children, a six month old.
I mean, that’s so much right there. Like that is so, so much in terms of draining energy. So, um, One thing that could be an obstacle is when you get to that moment and it’s just another decision and decisions take energy or trying to recall the different categories and the different options. So if I could encourage you to just write on a piece of paper, the make now meals.
And the grab meals and just tape it up on the inside of a cabinet door.
Krystal: Yeah.
Monica Packer: You know, that was right by in your kitchen. So that way, when the moment comes that you’re opening those cabinets to make the food for your kids, you can see that and remember, well, what can I grab now? Look at that list. What can I make now?
Cause I have a little bit more energy today. So that way you don’t have to remember, you don’t have to really make a decision. You can just choose from one of those decisions. Thanks.
Krystal: Yeah. I mean, that’s what I do for my three year old. I have this ideas of what he’s going to eat. So I just, you know, just take something that I know I’ve got the list.
So yeah, just have the list for me too.
Monica Packer: Well, and having that list is another, it can help with another hurdle too, which is having the food. And yes,
Krystal: yes.
Monica Packer: So when you’re grocery shopping, if you make a list before you can reference that, that paper and just say, well, what do I need on here that I don’t really have on hand and, um, or maybe that’s part of what the habit is that we’re getting you into is making that list of, I mean, in terms of shopping and making sure these things are on there, but hopefully it can be a reference that way.
Krystal: Absolutely. So we definitely do the list, the shopping list and having that as another reference. I mean, we know what we get for the boys lunches. We know what we get for the baby’s lunch.
Monica Packer: We
Krystal: know what we get for dinners and breakfasts. He usually eats leftovers. I’m the one that I don’t think about. So
Monica Packer: here we are
Krystal: making it
Monica Packer: a point.
So Well, and I mean, this is all going back to a bigger picture for me of, it’s not about the food. It’s about putting yourself on your list. And I mean that quite literally. Yes. Quite literally, Krystal. This is like, so, this is cool to me. Like, this is what we’re doing. And
Krystal: thinking about it before, because if it’s going to be in the same place where I’m going to grab something for my little boy.
I’m going to be able to think about what I want earlier on, rather than after the fact. I’m like, okay, I’ve got to eat, but I am so tired and don’t want to do anything. But if I can think about it earlier, I’m also more likely to
Monica Packer: follow through with it. And this also goes back to the third category, the make ahead category.
If it’s made ahead, it becomes a grab food. Yes. Which is really convenient. So we’re going to talk about that, like how to strategize that. But I actually think the grab section can be the same as your snacks. That is true. That’s an easy way of
Krystal: doing it.
It doesn’t have to be a quote unquote lunch to count as lunch. It can be a vegetable and a protein or whatever.
Monica Packer: Yeah, and I think it goes both ways. Like maybe for lunch, you take a couple of those grab items, you know, but maybe you’re, you need more energy in a little while, then you can take one or two of those items and that’s.
Your snack. So, okay, good. Let’s talk about the make ahead thing. I just want to help you think that through, get more specific on what that could look like. So you tell me what kind of day or what kind of preparation would be suitable for you right now in your time?
Krystal: One nice thing is that if my husband’s home, he would definitely do it with me. He is all on board for me meeting these goals. So I’m grateful for that.
Monica Packer: Yeah.
Krystal: Um, so I would probably do it on a day that he’s home. He works from home pretty much every Friday. So I wonder even if Fridays would be the best or maybe like a Sunday afternoon after going to church and having just a quieter afternoon and stuff.
Those would be my go to times
Monica Packer: okay. I think that’s great. does your baby nap? She does.
Krystal: Okay. She does. And my Three year old. He’s hit and miss with naps, but he does go to his room and he’s very independent playing.
So, I have time in the afternoons.
Monica Packer: Love it. Okay. So we know for sure it’s either Friday during nap time or Sunday during nap time. Yeah. And when I’m thinking through those options too, I think they’re both great. I always like to design our habits around our hurdles, meaning our obstacles, what our limitations are.
So I’m wondering, like, is the end of a week, is that a very low energy time for you? Like, even though it’s a Friday afternoon and your husband’s around, is that still a big factor? Or is that like the best time? Because Sundays you just need to rest, like, You just need to hang out or you like to go for a family walk.
Like, I’m just trying to think of what the obstacles could be to either of those.
Krystal: Both of them, because it could be that Sundays are exhausting. So really I’d probably have to approach it as if I have. The energy on Friday. Yep. We can do it. If we don’t have the energy on Friday, I will try for Sunday, but we go shopping on Saturday.
So I will make sure we have more of those grab foods that I can’t prep it on Sunday. If something happens in Sundays, just too much of a. needing rest that day. So actually give myself multiple options over a few days to kind of just feel through what happens with life.
Monica Packer: And so this is great. I love the thought process here.
So let’s stick with Fridays and what we can do is have you like move forward with this. You try it out, but your whole point is to just be curious about it. Does this work? And if so, how? If it doesn’t work, if so, how? So that way I can try something else, whether it’s a different day or I have a different process that makes it easier or it’s a simplified way of doing it.
Proceed with curiosity. That’s what we’re going to say.
Krystal: I like that
Monica Packer: one other potential obstacle I thought of as you were talking about is like, would you have enough food on Fridays to make to meal prep ahead? Oh, that’s true. If you’re shopping, if you typically shop on Saturdays.
Krystal: Which we do.
That is questionable. Because you don’t want to have to shop twice. No. Unless you do grocery, , delivery or pickup. And maybe it would be nice to do that for just your Friday meal prep. That’s
what it would be for my meal prep. I would do, if I were to, like, go on a Thursday or Friday morning, pick something up or whatever.
It would just be a pickup that day. Saturday’s grocery shopping is, one of us takes a kid and we go do a day. So, okay.
Monica Packer: Yeah. It sounds like a fun traditional thing. Yeah. Okay. Um, so what I want this to be is not a give a mouse a cookie habit where it’s causing more problems, but the idea of just doing a quick delivery or pickup, that’s just about your Friday meal prep.
If that feels doable then great go with it. But I also want to give you permission to change your mind. And for you to decide, yeah, I think even though Sunday’s exhausting, if I’m doing it during nap time, I’m getting help with my husband.
He’s doing it with me and we got the food the day before. So I’m not doing two rounds of list making and still shopping, even if you’re doing it online and it’s getting picked up or whatever. Um, then maybe that will,
Krystal: I’m almost wondering if Sunday would be better because of that.
Monica Packer: Okay. Well, how about we just start that for now?
Let’s just say Sundays. Shoot for Sunday. I like that. We’ll shoot for Sundays. And again, proceed with curiosity.
Krystal: But we’ll make sure that we have enough of the grab stuff from the shopping list, from the shopping on Saturday as well.
Monica Packer: Yeah, no matter what on Saturdays, it’s mom’s on the list. Yeah. Okay. For grab stuff and for the make ahead stuff, and also the make new, which it seems like you have that stuff already.
Yeah, make, make sure my stuff’s there. Yes. Yeah, your stuff’s on there. So from here, we’re going to have, you’re going to make that list. Yes. Yes.
Krystal: Yes.
Monica Packer: I would actually do all three categories on there just so you don’t have to wonder like, wait, what was the make ahead? Thing I was thinking of, um, put that list, hang it up.
If you want me to be your accountability, buddy, you can take a picture and you can email it to me. I’d love. Oh, I
Krystal: can do that.
Monica Packer: Absolutely. It doesn’t have to be pretty. Cause if you’re like me, sometimes I’m like, but I want it to look nice and it has to be nominated and don’t do it in order just right now.
Just put it up. Yeah. You can do the cute stuff later. if and when you want to or have the time. So right now I want to see an ugly piece of paper. Okay. Great. And with this, what I love is In this conversation, we basically taking care of three big problems. One, your energy to how you’re feeding yourself at lunch and, and three of the snacks.
Right. Um,
Krystal: so
Monica Packer: this is encouraging and at the same time, just remember it may not be fixed overnight and it’s okay to be patient with yourself because what you’re looking at here are a couple of habits and even systems that are new. So if all you can tackle right now. I’m going to the baseline of making sure you have grab food, like the grab food.
That’s really where I’d encourage you to start the most is being in the habit every single time at lunchtime. At the bare minimum, having food you can grab for yourself.
Krystal: Okay, that’s a, that’s a good place to start. I like the idea. And I like the idea of making that the baseline because if I have the list right there visible, I can always just get it
Monica Packer: it is important to name as a baseline because you know, like this is the baselines are the smallest and simplest versions of our habits. I know, you know, this whole part of the baseline is, is designed to be done with your lowest amount of energy.
I say that to everybody. So it’s really applicable though, to your situation. So that way you always know, even on these worst of days, I can grab a piece of cheese. Okay. Or an apple, like on a worst of day, I can, I can even, maybe you want protein bars on there that you really like or something else like that too.
That can be part of your grab foods, but
Krystal: yeah.
Monica Packer: And the final thing I would say, Krystal is. It’s okay if this is messy too. So like we talked about, it’s okay to stick with the baselines. Even with that, let’s say you forget one day, it’s a new habit. And you didn’t, like, you didn’t think about it. You don’t have that grab food.
So you’re grabbing other things. It doesn’t really feel great. You can still take a deep breath in that moment and say, how can I put myself on the list now? Even if I feel like I already did this and this and this. I already ate these things that didn’t even fill me up or give me the energy.
So the day’s lost. It’s not, you can start right there. You can grab an apple or a banana. Yeah. And say, I did it. Absolutely. I did it. I was on the list.
Krystal: Yeah, absolutely.
Monica Packer: This has been so wonderful. I have loved my time with you. What is something that you wanna make sure you remember from this call?
Krystal: Honestly.
One of the biggest things was that focus on why it’s been so hard for me even it’s just that need that I know I, I have, but I don’t feel capable of meeting. But it’s not because of the way my brain is thinking, it’s not rewiring habit wise that I need to break or whatever, but it’s that I’m listening to my body in the, I need the energy.
Monica Packer: Yeah,
Krystal: so now I need to listen to what will give me that energy. Rather than the quick fix that will last a few minutes.
Monica Packer: The compassion there is a big difference.
Krystal: Absolutely. That was a definite mind shift for me.
Monica Packer: I’m so happy to hear that we have enough guilt going on
We don’t, yeah. We don’t need to layer it on with all these things. Well, I’m really hopeful that these changes can help you get the energy you need in addition to the medical support that Yes. You are already getting. And I’m so glad. But I hope that those shifts can, you can see a real effect real soon.
’cause I know that takes time too.
Krystal: I’m feeling hopeful about it.
Monica Packer: Yeah. Well, I do too. Thank you, Krystal. This has been a wonderful session. I appreciate you and your willingness to do this with me today. Thank you.
Krystal: Absolutely. Thank you.
