#65: The Connection Between Mindset and Nutrition with Kelly Carter

Kelly Carter is a Certified Nutritional Practitioner who focuses on promoting a healthy lifestyle for the prevention of disease. Through eating whole foods, increasing physical activity, and doing what makes you happy she knows you will become empowered and take control of your health.
In this episode, Kelly shares that your mindset connects, not only with how you feel about yourself, but what you feed yourself. She talks about the power of a daily gratitude practice and its ability to improve your mindset and minimize your problems. Kelly gives tips for practicing gratitude and what she thinks are the two most impactful habits to promote health. Enjoy!

Connect with Kelly:
https://www.instagram.com/kellycarternutrition/
contact@kellycarter.ca
Find Kelly's no-bake oatmeal cups on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CujY4ZBNkE8/

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Transcript

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[00:00:00] to the Plan to Eat podcast. Where I interview industry experts about meal planning, food and wellness. To help you answer the question. What's for dinner. 

Roni: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Plantee podcast. Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Kelly Carter. She is a nutritionist specializing in holistic nutrition, and today I got to talk to her. Not a whole lot about the nutrition side of things, but more about what comes before some of the nutritional changes that you wanna make, which is changing and upleveling your mindset.

So I got to talk with Kelly about some tips that she has for changing your mindset, why changing your mindset is even important at all for your nutrition and what you're eating. We also talk a little bit about meal planning towards the end, but I just love this conversation with Kelly. She's such a lovely person [00:01:00] and I hope that you enjoy this interview.

Hi Kelly. Thanks for joining me on the podcast today.

Kelly: Thank you so much. I'm so excited.

Roni: Why don't you start by just telling us a little bit about yourself and what you do.

Kelly: So my name is Kelly Carter. I founded Kelly Carter Nutrition, which is a wellness coaching program. Um, and I use the term wellness because what I've learned as a nutritionist is food isn't the end all be all. There's so many different layers to actually being able to build habits around your food intake.

I've been practicing for. Oh my goodness, like almost 10 years now. And just the amount of growth in the industry is always just so exciting for me. Uh, I've changed so much as a nutritionist and a nutrition coach, and I'm just really excited to be on here and have a beautiful conversation.

Roni: I'm excited to have you here too. So why don't you tell me a little bit about how you got [00:02:00] started as a nutritionist. Like what drew you to this profession?

Kelly: It's a really great question. In high school. I remember, do you remember The Biggest Loser? Do you remember that show? The

Roni: Oh yeah. Yeah.

Kelly: Yeah. I was watching it and I was in awe at how quickly someone's life could change, um, when they focused on their health. Uh, at least that was my perspective. Like back in high school, when you really dive deep into it, you're like, Might've been a little bit not healthy to do, but it was, I think I was really drawn to, you know, if you, if you move, if you lift weights, if you eat properly, like you can reverse a lot of health issues.

And there's a lot of people in my life at the time that were very unhealthy. Uh, and I never wanted to get to that place. So actually initially, the reason I became a nutritionist or wanted to become a nutritionist was 'cause I didn't want to. Like I saw how hard it [00:03:00] was to like live life and apparently be healthy and I wanted to kill two birds with one stone.

Um, but as I went to university and started really learning about the body and how nutrition affects it and everything, that's when I really fell in love. And I was like, well, you know, there's one thing that we really can't control at the end of the day, and it's what we put into our bodies. So understanding how.

Nutrition relates to so many different aspects of like how we wake up in the morning to how we go to bed. Uh, that's what really, you know, got me through university and then onto the Institute of Holistic Nutrition. Uh, and now I'm on the board of the Canadian Association of Natural Nutritional Practitioners as well.

Uh, just so I wanna make the biggest impact that I can in, in this health industry.

Roni: I love that. Would you say that your philosophy around nutrition is that it's like a preventative for people's health?

Kelly: A hundred percent. The one job that I ever quit in my life [00:04:00] was at a hospital because it was not the people there were so far. I. Into whatever they were dealing with and the treatment of like, well, I guess as dieticians and what they were doing in hospitals was just not aligned with what I felt would actually give an impact.

It was like, here's what you have to do to survive. I wanna show people how they can thrive. 'cause life is so short.

Roni: Yeah. One thing that, I love, so, you know, we follow you on social media and one thing that I love that you do is on Mondays, you have been doing this for a little while, is you do a, a mindset Monday post, to kind of help people understand more about. Mindset and discipline, and I just wanna talk a little bit about why you feel like that's an important part of your work as nutritionist.

Kelly: Yeah. Oh my gosh. I became a better nutritionist and nutrition coach after I learned so much about the power of the [00:05:00] mindset. Um, when I first started doing work as a nutritionist, my client, I would create programs I would give them to my clients. You know, it, people have great intentions and you know, there's moments in their life where they really wanna change, but two weeks later, they would drop off two weeks later, or two days later.

For some people, they would get uninspired and. I felt, again, it goes like I didn't, I wasn't providing enough value. I wasn't, um, doing things right, but really what it was, I wasn't focusing on their mindset. I didn't understand what they were going through. You know, when you're going through pretty intense, stressful events in life, it's not easy to be like, oh, gotta make my morning smoothie.

But at the end of the day, you can always make an excuse. On why not to go for what you want or strive for the best version of you. And it's not easy. So I remember it was probably like about five years ago that I really started working on myself and what that [00:06:00] meant in terms of being disciplined and overcoming my sugar cravings and, and using food as a crutch and having it, you know, really take over like who I, like.

The food was controlling me. And when I realized that, I like, and, and I realized how like mindset and discipline really was connected to it. Things shifted in a really, really amazing way. So much so that I am, I've never been happier in my life, like ever. And a lot of the people that I coach, a lot of the people that I meet, you just can tell.

They, they, they'll even have like, they'll have all the money, they'll have all of the things and they just. They, they, the mindset behind their health and who they are is just not there. And, it's the reason I do the mindset Mondays, I try to keep them as short as possible, the videos, but as impactful with like little sayings.

Like the one that I love the most is hard choice now, [00:07:00] easier life later when you're telling yourself that, you know what, it's really hard to meal prep this week, but I'm gonna do it anyways and I'm just gonna like, No excuses type thing, but you acknowledge that it is hard and then the rest of your week you don't have to scramble for food, everything's prepped.

It's like you literally made yourself like it just hard choice now, easier life later. That quote, I, I learned, I heard, I don't even know how many years ago now. Changed my life. So it's little things like that that I wanna give back to the world. 'cause hopefully I'm inspiring someone else with it.

Roni: We talk about that a lot with meal planning where we say it's a, a favor to your future self. Uh, that's like, you know, just a, basically a different way of saying the same thing, because it really is true. There's like, there's so much brain drain involved when it comes to food and just like the decision fatigue of what are we gonna eat tonight?

What are we gonna eat tomorrow? It's. Uh, you know, we eat multiple times a day, so these are decisions that we're having to make all the time, and like [00:08:00] frontloading that work and making it easier for yourself makes such a big difference.

Kelly: That's another piece of the whole mindset, and I'm probably gonna do a post on this. Soon, um, decision making. One of the things that holds us back that we don't even realize is the inability for us to make a decision. You know, there's so many choices out there with what recipes, what foods, what diets, going to a grocery store, going through all the aisles, seeing hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of different options.

At some point you just have to make the decision and choose, this is what I'm gonna have, and if I don't like it, I won't make it again, but I'll just like move forward because the decision fatigue is real. There's been like science, there's studies behind it. Um, and it's, it's something that I have to work on with my clients all the time.

Roni: I think there's a thing called, um, Like analysis paralysis. I is, I think is what it's called, um, where basically like when you have too many decisions put in front of you, you are basically unable to make a decision. So having few, [00:09:00] even just giving yourself fewer choices right up front, like say, these are the three recipes that I'm choosing from for dinner tonight is makes the process so much easier than being like, here are the 3000 recipes that I could choose from for tonight.

Kelly: Pinterest, like Pinterest is great until you actually dive deep into it, right? So it's, it's giving, giving you the tools so that you're as efficient as possible. And then I feel like people are so worried about failing. Like if I make a recipe and I don't like it, who cares? I won't make it again. Like I, it sounds silly, but so many people are like, well, I don't know if I'm gonna like it.

I don't know if it's gonna be something my family's gonna like. And then I just, you have to stop and you have to be like, you just have to go for it. 'cause 90% of the time you'll be in love with it and it'll change your life.

Roni: Well, and I think that everybody kind of knows generally, like here are the flavors that, that I enjoy, that my family enjoy. You know, like here are the cuisines and the like [00:10:00] different main ingredients that we enjoy. So I feel like there's like a narrowing down that you can do to be like, I. I've never tried this recipe before, but it has the components that we like so you can kind of make your best educated guess on that.

Now, certainly there are times, there was one time I made these like brussel sprout tacos and the picture looked so good and so beautiful. It was like beautiful, bright green brussel sprouts and I was like, what a cool, like fun way to have a different kind of a taco recipe and they were not good at all.

Kelly: But

this 

Roni: there are certainly times when.

Kelly: Yeah, and it's okay. You kind of wanna write to them being like, can you maybe. Change the picture, be

Roni: Yeah.

Kelly: But at that point it's like, okay, move on. Because I think, you know, there's so many different flavors and recipes out there that you, at the same time, you wanna try everything, but if you get too much into your head, then you're trying nothing and you're ordering out again.

And it's actually like a crazy, crazy thing. And that's why, again, I, I love my [00:11:00] mindset Mondays. I think it puts people into just a place to think, you know, I feel like a lot of us don't get a chance to be like, you know what? That's like, it's true. It is. Change is hard. But I mean, for myself, if I am the exact same person I was a year ago, that's my biggest fear.

I, I need to be growing. I need to be moving. I need to, I. I just, I need to be making a difference. And that's the reason why I was going through depression, you know, several years ago because I was stuck in a place where I thought the world wanted me to be and it was nowhere near like aligned with what I wanted.

And it's hard, like I'm an entrepreneur, right? Like my days, I don't know what. To expect in my days, but at the same time, I don't know what to expect in my days. Like I, the people that I meet, the relationships that I have, um, like I, I connect with a ton of different brands, a ton of different people that are like creating as well in this world.

And it's, [00:12:00] um, it's very, very difficult when I tell people how much I work or what I do, they're always thinking that I'm crazy. But I, like I said, I've never been happier. I've never felt more fulfilled in my life.

Roni: Yeah, but I think that that to me shows such a strong correlation between. Changes in your mindset and how you can be, you know, working long hours and working really hard, but you still love it because you've been able to make some of these, like upgrades in your mindset. Um, and I know there's always a certain amount of work required in order to change your mindset or maybe like create new habits.

But do you have, yeah. But do you have like strategies that you use with your clients that maybe like ease that process slightly? I.

Kelly: Yeah. You know, I actually created a mindset journal on, um, I put it on Amazon because it was, it's something that honestly I wanted to create for myself. And I was like, you know what, if anyone else wants to buy it, great. Gratitude is the number one thing I would get people to focus on first. [00:13:00] It's, it's something that I've literally known all of my life.

It's very close to prayer. A lot of people ref, connected to prayer and it's very close to that. But I didn't understand the power of it and, and, and just being like, when you're actually in a place of gratitude, There's no room for any negativity or any loneliness or any, like, anything negative at all.

Um, and you know, at first my gratitude started with like, I'm grateful for my family, I'm grateful for my house. And now it's, it's developed into like, I'm so grateful that I have a car and I can afford gas to drive an hour to work and back, and I'm so grateful that. I have access to hot water at any moment of the day.

'cause there's so many people who don't like, it's just, it is gotten so specific now because when you really, when when you understand gratitude and you believe and you trust in the process, you realize that a lot of the things that we complain about, a lot of the things that we worry about is. First world, [00:14:00] problems, and there are so many other people that are going through so much more.

And relating that back to that mindset, uh, like, 'cause, mindset really is, um, like there's always like a positive spin. You work on a, your mindset to become something positive, and that's the first step that I would take is understanding, gratitude and practicing it every day.

Roni: So when you do that, what does that look like? Do you have a specific number of things that you're writing down? Um, or are you just thinking about them, like meditating on them? Like how does that work?

Kelly: I need to write things out personally. Um, I don't. I, I don't tell people they have to write it down or they have to think about it or whatever. I'd say whatever works for you, but it has to happen. Um, when I write it down and it's visual, well, 'cause a, a while ago I learned about writing down your goals and them seeing, or like vision boards, right?

Like writing down what you want, seeing them and it works. I don't. I, I'm sad for the people that don't believe in it. I'm sad for the people that think it's woo woo, because it is [00:15:00] crazy. Like you obviously have to put in the work to get what you want. You can't just magically wish it comes, but when you put something down for me, it's just super powerful.

So that's what I do every morning. I write about four things down. Um, and it, the, I think the biggest thing for me is I don't overthink it. It takes me. Less than probably, like, it takes me like about 10 seconds each. So like 40 seconds in the morning. If I'm starting to overthink it, then I just stop and I stop at three.

Or like, it's not supposed to be this stressful thing. Um, and that's really worked for me.

Roni: I love how doable that feels. Just to be like, okay, it takes you a minute to write down just a few things. That's amazing.

Kelly: Yes. But the thing is, is people still don't do it. So my job as a coach is to really like, Not, not be rude or judgmental or anything, but like if you wanna change, you have to do it Like there's no excuse. So one of the things that I told myself earlier and that I will tell clients as well, not in a rude way, but the reason why you're not doing gratitude or you're not changing is because it's not important to you.

[00:16:00] And when. Like if you were like, when you stand up and you say, my health isn't important to me, it's a weird feeling. You're like, okay. But it is. But it really isn't. Because if I were to tell you, I, like if I said I would give you a million dollars if by the end of the week you showed me that you wrote down three gratitudes, like every single day I'll give you a million dollars.

How many people do you think would actually accomplish that? Probably everyone who didn't already have like millions of dollars in their account. Right? Like, it's not important to you and. The second that you can actually like, sit in that and rethink your priorities, that's when you'll change. So again, my coaching is very, like, I'm a very, I'm a very nice person, I swear, but I'm also very like, matter of fact, because we're wasting our time.

There's so many diets out there, there's so many, there's so many people that say that they can help you change. Trillions of dollars a year is put into our, um, we're spending on our health and we're getting sicker and sicker and sicker. Every decade that something comes out, I'm just like, [00:17:00] We're worse than before.

What's going like it? That's what frustrates me. So that's why I'll be a little bit more tough, with the mindset piece because I work on my mindset every single day. I'm never gonna stop working on it. There's ne I still get times where I feel like I'm not worth it or, um, like I don't wanna do this anymore.

Like, I still go through those times. It's very minimal now, but it still happens. So in terms of the work that you have to put into it, it's forever. But I wouldn't trade all of the work. I would've done double the work if I knew this is how, like happy and content and like in love with life, I would be.

Roni: Hmm. You saying that, uh, you know, somebody standing up and saying, actually saying, I don't care about my health. Uh, it makes me think I don't, I think it was in a book that I read a while ago that was talking about the difference between. Who we actually are and who we desire ourselves to be. And a lot of the times when we describe ourselves or [00:18:00] describe our, the things that are important to us, they're more aligned with the person that we desire ourselves to be.

And we're not really being honest with the person that we currently are. And I found that so interesting. I'm, there's probably like a psychological term for it or something, but, um, that, that feels like what you're talking about right now is where people, they claim to have their health as their number one priority, but when it actually comes to putting in the work, they're not really willing to do what it takes.

Kelly: Oh my goodness. There's so much psychological background to, and the thing is, I'm not a therapist. I honestly don't want therapy training. I don't wanna become a psychologist. I, I don't want it because I'm, it's. Not that it's too much work, but it's way too much work. Um, but I can't tell you how often because of the conversations that I have with people just like really candid, they'll tell me like, this felt like therapy session.

And I'm like, well, I'm, all I'm doing is asking them questions. And it is just questions that the average conversation, the average conversation with me is pretty intense. [00:19:00] Um, but it's because I've seen, I've been in this industry for almost 10 years and. I'm not going to work really hard at what I do and not impact people and not see change.

Like it's frustrating to me. I don't want, I won't want to continue being a nutritionist and in this health industry if I can't actually support people in the best way possible. So that's what, again, that's what's sparked, there's something deeper than just telling someone. You know, add your protein or get more veggies or whatever.

There has to be something more to this and it really, like, that's where it comes down to. It's the mindset and the psychology behind it. I'm so, um, like the human brain I'm in, I'm in love with it. Like, it's just, it's such an interesting thing to me.

Roni: So one thing that you mentioned earlier was that all of the mindset things are focused on kinda like creating positivity, changing towards the positive. So I'm curious what that correlation between that those [00:20:00] positive thoughts are positive thinking and food and your food choices are, what's the connection there?

Kelly: Oh my goodness. When you are. When you are in a really good place and you are, you know that again with the whole mindset. It is, it is. It really goes back to like being really confident in who you are, not worrying about what other people think. Um, understanding, you know, that you are prioritizing your health.

You're going to want to treat your body better. Like it, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to explain it right, but when I was. In that like kind of depression and not in a good relationship and like, I still obviously I wanted to be like, back then I was like, I wanna be skinnier and blah, blah, blah. I wasn't doing anything with the food because the food was my comfort.

The food was the only thing making me happy in that moment, right. When you actually have, like you're, you're. Embodying like this positive, happy human. It translates into what your food choices will be. When you know what's really good for your body, it's completely correlated because the second that you don't feel good about yourself or that [00:21:00] you're anxious or depressed in any way, you know, you, your brain actually goes like, I don't care.

Just I don't. Chocolate cake chips, like just something easy. Something that's gonna give us joy. Because that's what we crave. We really do crave it, and it's, we also crave like instant everything. So that's why like the chips and the cookies and stuff like that are, are probably like, they're never gonna ultimately go away.

But it's such a, it's such an easy fix. But then again, I'm reminding like my clients and even myself, like, you don't feel, you never feel good 10, 15 minutes later. So it's that. It's that cycle, right? But the more that you work on your mindset and the positivity and feeling confident and focused, you don't have.

Like you, you want to wake up earlier, you want to make breakfast, you wanna make sure that there's that protein, uh, at lunch and you're going for a walk or like you're working out afterwards. Like you want that stuff because you wanna continue feeling [00:22:00] good. And you have that correlation too between when I eat this junk food or fast food, I don't feel good afterwards and I don't want, I don't wanna even, like, I don't want that feeling around me at all.

Does that answer the question?

Roni: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, It makes me think, um, when you have like this innate sense of positivity and wellbeing, you're not seeking it from like the external means of food, right?

Kelly: Exactly. And it's not about being positive all the time, like rainbows and butterflies all the time. It is going through a situation that is, I'm trying to think of a really good, example is, It's basically like if you have a confrontation with one of your friends or someone at work and like you would let it kind of eat at you because you're like, they're out to get me.

Or they don't think I'm a good person or whatever it is. You're gonna go home and you're probably going to eat whatever. You're gonna pick up fast food on the way home. Um, but if you are [00:23:00] in that situation and you realize that the reason why this human reacted that way to you or came up to you that way is.

99.9% them projecting onto you or maybe you actually did mess up and you gotta take responsibility for it. I'm very big on self-awareness too. So it's either, I find that in with interactions it's either someone projecting their, whatever they're feeling onto you, so it actually has nothing to do with you.

So the second that you can let that go, If you're gonna go home and make a nice dinner versus buying one out, or you gotta be self-aware. Oh, shoot. Like say, I'm sorry I didn't get x, y, Z to you or something. Now I'm just like making stuff up. But, it's, it's, the more that you can look at it in a po more positive way, not that person hates me or I'm stupid or anything like that, you're going to know, like, that's, that's the positivity thing that I'm talking about.

Right. It's um, because life is really, it's really intense. Like people are, everyone's going through their own thing, and the thing that I've [00:24:00] learned a lot over the last five years too, is you can't judge anyone, but you also don't absorb their negative energy because a lot of the time it has nothing to do with you.

Roni: It's so interesting because, uh, plan to eat. We often talk a lot about, you know, uh, cooking more meals at home. For various reasons, of course. But you know, one of the things that we talk about is like, you know, if you want to, getting away from more of those like takeout meals, fast food meals, and I guess I've always equated it mostly to like, I'm stressed and I don't have time, but I really like this idea of being more self-aware and realizing the nights when you're like, You know, screw it.

We're just gonna, you know, go to McDonald's or whatever, and realizing that like maybe there's something more internally that could be going on. Like it's maybe not just the stress or just feeling like you don't have time to make a meal. Like maybe there's other stuff that needs to be worked through there.

Kelly: [00:25:00] Some of my most successful clients, um, they changed the environment in their home completely. They changed their relationships around them, and they changed their place of work. Like it is when I tell people that, like, again, I'm not your typical nutritionist. When I'm new, when anyone ever has a consultation with me, they always walk out being like, what is that?

But I am, again, if you're not going to, like, you have to live differently. If you really wanna change the, the, like your composition or, or how you feel or anything. Where you are right now is the sum of whatever your environment is. So you actually, you have to essentially change that if you want long lasting change.

And that's why diets don't work because no one talks about this. Like you have to change the way you show up into the world. And that is really, I don't even wanna say it's tough, but it's not taught so that, so then people don't even know that's what they're missing. And it's, um, but when you realize that, [00:26:00] Again, my most successful clients, they literally changed their life and it's the coolest thing to see.

It's just very, it's very challenging to to do, but again, hard choices. Now they have an easier life and an easier future on themselves.

Roni: So I love all of the things that you're saying, and I'm curious if of all of the things that you work with your clients and teach your clients, if you had only two, like I'll say quote unquote healthful habits, um, that you could have people implement every day that would improve their quality of life, what would those two things be?

Kelly: In terms of like nutrition specifically,

Roni: Uh, I, I mean, I think it could be anything. I think it could either be related to nutrition or mindset. Like what do you think are the two, uh, most bang for your buck Things.

Kelly: oh, for sure. Then I wanna go back to gratitude is like the biggest thing you will when you believe in it, and when you work on that, you're gonna notice. So many things change and it's honestly [00:27:00] gonna open up. It. It is a really good entryway to the world of what your mindset is and what you're capable of.

And then the second thing that's gonna be the biggest bang for your buck is water. We're not hydrated nearly enough. Um, like bad. It's bad. We're just not. Um, when you're able, and it's not about. What I find too is a lot of people are like, oh, I, I get my like eight glasses, like I drink it all at night. You need water throughout the day.

We're busy humans. We do a lot physically and mentally. You need to sip on that water throughout the day. It needs to become an established habit or nothing else is gonna work consistently. So those would be the two things that I would like. If you're, if you wanna make a change right now and be really serious about it, gratitude and getting in your water.

Roni: I love that. I'm over here sipping my water right now as you talk. Uh, So how, I guess you could talk either about what your process is or what you recommend for your clients, but what are some of the ways that you might help them implement? Just like these two things. Like [00:28:00] do you have 'em put reminders in their phone?

Uh, do you have 'em, you know, like write it down somewhere. Like what's the best way? Because I could just imagine, particularly with the gratitude piece, if people aren't used to doing something like that, just getting to the end of the day and being like, I totally forgot.

Kelly: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, so with my programming personally with my clients, I check in with them every day. So they get like a personal, like they know I'm looking out for them. They know that there's that text coming. The, like, the accountability piece of what I do is extremely valuable. That's what people want.

You can look up. You can look up any recipe in any like, health tip or like, I mean, Google is ridiculously crazy and that's why I'll always have a job too. But, you know, people pay me for the coaching and the accountability piece because you know, they've probably, everyone's probably heard drink more water, but like, why aren't you doing it?

Why hasn't it become a habit? Like how are we gonna make sure that this actually sticks and that you actually see the benefit? Um, so personally I do, daily [00:29:00] check-ins. I always tell my clients, oh, I have one client right now who's literally putting reminders in her phones on timing of eating, because when she goes too long without eating, she gets, she gets emotional and it's, she's noticing it even more now because she'll have days where she's really good and then if she has a day where she skips it, like the, those emotions are just even more intense.

So it's really cool. Um, like reminders are such a great thing in terms of like water, my, my biggest thing with water is having. Like having at least a liter water bottle that's clear with a straw. There's something about a straw that makes it easier to drink, and there's something about seeing that water go down that makes it more, I guess, like, of a challenge and you feel like you're succeeding.

But at the end of the day, it's that reminder. And that's why I do, I do daily check-ins. I get like, I don't know, 60 to 80 minimum text messages a day from my clients just going back and forth.

Roni: Wow.

Kelly: Yeah. I love, I like it. It's extremely busy. But if my clients [00:30:00] weren't doing it, I wouldn't wanna work with them. Like, you know, people say that all the time. But if you're not busy too, what else are you gonna do? I don't.

Roni: I wanna pivot a little bit because I know that you are a meal planner. Um, you also have two little kids, and so I'm curious how you meal plan for you and your family, and kinda like through the lens as a nutritionist, what does that look like for you guys?

Kelly: Yeah, I mean in terms of a nutritionist, I keep it really basic. Every meal that I make, protein and veggies, and then if there's a carb, they're great. Um, 'cause carbs are for people who move. So there's times that I'm not moving a lot, so my body doesn't need. Them. But we usually always have, um, either bread, pasta, rice, or something for the kids.

I, what I'm doing now is like, I've dedicated time blocks Sundays for my meal prep, and I'm making at least two different meals for the week, uh, in terms of like lunches and dinners. My husband is really good. He is home in the evenings and we'll just make sure that he understands, you know, he's doing a crockpot [00:31:00] meal one night or like we, we, you have to plan it out.

You can't. Unless you have pre-cooked meals in the freezer, which sometimes we do, um, it's, it's, you have to plan it out. There's no way of getting around it. I say, you either plan it out or you make enough money to pay someone to do it for you, or you're going to be eating crappy food and you're never gonna see the results you wanna make.

And I think the biggest thing, and what I'm going to do, We're gonna start doing videos about this as well. We think that the meal planning is gonna take so long. We think that the grocery shop is gonna take forever. We think that actually doing the meal is gonna be like six hours. Um, when I time myself doing it and like it is always, it, it just, we're in our heads too much and that's why there's no excuses.

On Sundays I book off. I just book off time. I make my meals. I actually do a lot of, I'm kind of inspired for my, um, Instagram posts as well, so [00:32:00] they're really, like, I, I, I have a little bit of an extra motivation, but at the end of the day, like I'm, I, I'm extremely busy with what I do. I work. 10 or 12 hours in a day.

So during the week, I do not have time to cook. I don't, and it's a and a, I know a lot of people are in the same boat. So you just, you have to make time. And if you wanna put a little nutrition spin on it, making sure that every meal that you create, where's the protein coming from, and where's the veggies coming from?

'cause then you typically have a really balanced meal.

Roni: And does do these meals that you prep ahead of time. Are your kids also eating these meals? Do they eat the same thing that you and your husband eat?

Kelly: So we do a lot of food board type things too. I love to make sure that there's fruits prepped, veggies prepped, like proteins prepped. We'll do. Nuts. Like there's just so many different things that it can be grab and go. So if the kids don't [00:33:00] like a certain thing, then we will make sure that we put like boiled eggs on their plate or something like that.

I'm really like, I'm with, with the kids in eating, what we do is we always put it in front of them even when they say they don't like it. Like they end up eating it after 20 minutes anyways. Like we don't force it, but we just don't really acknowledge it too, too much. Um, but we do, like, my kids eat mac and cheese and they'll have like little pizza things.

Sometimes it's, but. I, I, I can't feed my kids that, 'cause I know what goes in it and I'm sorry. They become little monsters afterwards. Like when, when we have a, like a, my kids loved, we have a smoker and they love smoked chicken, but we just smoked chicken legs. Like they eat, they, they eat like all, I don't even get enough chicken when we, um, do that.

So we're, we're constantly trying to figure out ways for them to get. To like food, but like, honestly, when they eat chicken and they have like the sweet potato fries we would make [00:34:00] in the air fryer and broccoli, they are so calm versus having candy, and I'm not against it because like, you know, convenience and stuff, but I'm, I'm definitely going to be a little bit more strict with the food because it's one's for their own wellbeing.

Like it's. It's definitely important to me that my kids have good nutrition. Yes. Physically, but also mentally. It's crazy when they're on sugars in these artificial foods.

Roni: I think it's, uh, Positive thing that you're even just able to notice that the difference between like, oh, they had, you know, popsicles today and that was the wrong choice, versus, you know, like, oh they had, you know, fruit and some carrot sticks or whatever with their lunch. And that was a way better option for them, because I think that they're, I don't have my own children, but, I think that there is a tendency to just view younger children in particular as just like, they just have so much energy and they're crazy.

And, and that's just

Kelly: I know there, [00:35:00] yeah, my kids have energy, but then there's the manic energy that. Like if you can't tell the difference as an adult, that's scary. And that's like, it is. It's one of those things where it's, it's affecting them in a really negative way. And as a parent who understands that I'm not, again, they went like, my kids go to birthday parties and stuff, and I don't say, you can't have this, you can't have that.

But on a daily basis, it's just not part of our lifestyle. And I'm, I'm just really fortunate that we're able to do that.

Roni: Yeah. Well, and hopefully you're helping them also form some of these positive habits that they will, you know, grow up and like, you know,

Kelly: Oh yeah.

Roni: you know, they'll like foods that are, you know, more whole foods, foods that are generally healthier for them. Um, instead of gravitating towards some of the other stuff.

Kelly: Yeah, my, my little guy knows all about proteins and like, I, I really want them to know that all food, like all real food is good food. Like those whole [00:36:00] carbs are bad for you. Like, I'm so against that. It is. Yeah, process refined, not even real food. Carbs are bad for you, but when you start looking at like certain pastas and breads and rices, like we're, I just don't want them.

I, I just still can't believe in this day and age that people are still kind of promoting that. So, um, I'm really careful when it comes to like, making a big deal about food in my house because, I don't want them to grow up thinking that certain things are good and bad. We just, like our environment will have.

90% real food and 10% not real food. And then that's hopefully what they'll grow up expecting.

Roni: Great. Yeah, I love that. Okay, well, I don't wanna take up too much of your time, so why don't you just give a shout out to everybody of where they can connect with you, find you on online and all that stuff.

Kelly: Yeah, so right now I'm really like pushing my social media. So it's Kelly Carter Nutrition on Instagram. And then the other way to connect with me right now, [00:37:00] my website is down, um, and I don't know when it'll be back up. My email is contact@kellycarter.ca. That's for anyone who's really. Like, Hey, I'd love to chat first.

Like, I, I always do free consultations 'cause I really love chatting with people and understanding, you know, where they are, where they wanna be and, and how I can support that. But follow on Instagram, 'cause I do a ton of mindset stuff and then I always try to figure out recipes that are going to be just really simple, really easy to execute and something that you can, um, kind of apply to your life if you really wanna.

Roni: Awesome. I'll make sure that we link to those things in the show notes too, so that people can connect with you and contact you if they want to. And before we go, it would be really fun if you talked about a recent recipe that you had that you just absolutely loved and would like to share with our listeners.

Kelly: Oh my goodness. It's my, those, I don't know if you saw them. They're like these oat cup things. I'm not really selling the recipe right now, but it's like this yogurt oat cup, and [00:38:00] it's stupid. Easy to make. It's a no baked recipe, which I love. It's a one bowl recipe, which I love. But basically all it is is you're now, um, your oats and then you chop up, I chopped up bananas and, um, strawberries.

And then you add a little bit of honey for moisture and you mix it all up and you put it in a muffin tin about a, like, just under a quarter cup. Uh, and then you top it with, I top it with a high protein yogurt, so skyer yogurt. So if you're having two of them, you're having 20 grams of protein. Think. It was like 28 grams of carbs.

So it definitely is a perfect like post-workout post, like let's be moving type meal. But so easy. 'cause once you make it, you just put it in the freezer and keep them there until you wanna eat them.

Roni: Oh, that sounds really good. Yeah, I'll find that on your Instagram. And we'll link it in the show notes too.

Kelly: Yeah, thanks. It got a lot of, um, shares on Instagram, so you know, that's when a recipe's good when you have all that like interaction.

Roni: Totally. All [00:39:00] right, Kelly. Well, thanks so much for joining me today. It was really lovely to talk to you.

Kelly: Thank you so much for having me. I. 

Roni: Thanks for tuning into this episode. Links to connect with Kelly as well as that yummy recipe are going to be in the show notes. And if you'd like to support the plan to eat podcast, please share this episode with someone and subscribe on whatever platform you listen to your podcasts on. Thanks again for listening and see you next time.