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What if you never had to go to the grocery store again?
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I’ve got a special treat for you today. One of the biggest complaints I get from the ladies in Live More Weigh Less Mastery is that they hate grocery shopping, they never know what to cook and they feel like they are constantly wasting food.
So today, I called in an amazing Blog Babysitter, Christina Bognet founder of PlateJoy, a company that sends you fresh ingredients with recipes based on what you love to eat, so you never have to go to the grocery store, and you only receive exactly what you need for each recipe so no wasted food! I love it. I can’t wait for you to learn how to get this part of your life completely handled.
I know you’re going to love her.
From Christina:
Hello all!
Like many of you, I’ve been following Sarah for quite some time. I’ve always been so impressed by the beautiful community of women that seems to have effortlessly collected around her. A few months ago, I shared a discount for my company, PlateJoy, with Sarah’s LMWL participants, and the response was incredible. Now, Sarah has asked me to share PlateJoy with her entire tribe, and she (caught me a bit off guard!) asked me to share my own personal story as well. So I’m allowing myself to drift away from the “biz” for a moment to do so. Yes, it’s after midnight, the lights are low, and I’m listening to Bon Iver. 🙂
Four and a half years ago, I was finishing up my junior year at MIT. I’d spent the previous three years working very, VERY hard to learn as much as possible. MIT was and is great, but like most rigorous college settings, it wasn’t conducive to eating healthily and exercising on a regular basis. By the end of my junior year, my BMI was a 32 – which put me square in the “obese” weight range. I distinctly remember the point in time when I looked in the mirror and thought, “Losing weight is no longer an option, it must happen. I have no choice.” But I didn’t know where to start. So I turned to a diet delivery service, and for one full year, I ate frozen meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I lost about 25 pounds during that year, but I still had a long way to go. I also learned nothing about healthy eating aside from how to microwave like a pro, and the meals were becoming increasingly disgusting and monotonous. They were also hella expensive, and I could no longer stop my cravings for fresh, real food.
During the summer after I graduated, I slowly realized that I could shop for myself, and eat fresh, healthy meals. And, I could do it all while spending half what I spent on diet delivery. Over the course of the next year, I lost another 20 pounds, in sum, losing 45 pounds and finally dropping my BMI into the normal weight range.
BUT in order to do things on my own, I had to find great recipes, calculate their nutritional content, tweak them to make them healthier and easier, grocery shop, avoid temptation at the grocery store...it was super overwhelming. I managed, until I started my new job as a consultant, all while taking organic chemistry classes at night. As you can imagine, “free time” completely disappeared from my life.
This all made me really mad. I knew what to do, I had done it before, but once again being busy was ruining everything. I believe that eating well can change your life.
So I created PlateJoy, which is a company that sends you fresh ingredients with recipes based on what you love to eat. Our goal is to make it easier to eat exactly the way you aspire to, every single day. More information on PlateJoy below, but first, some tips based on what I’ve learned is critical for a healthy lifestyle:
1. Reframe the way you think about food that’s not good for you.
So often we look at a Snickers bar and think of it as a special treat that we’re depriving ourselves of if we don’t indulge. In fact, I came to be fifty pounds overweight because I felt strongly that I shouldn’t deprive myself. Luckily, we all know that eating junk food actually keeps us from much more than if we had made a healthful option instead. Pro tip: The next time you’re eyeing a candy bar, see it for what it really is: a temporary sugar high that will leave you feeling pretty crappy in about 20 minutes and that, over time, will contribute to weight gain and health problems — all of which will hold you back from being the ultimate version of your wonderful self.
2. Rethink your spending.
For years, I would always try to choose the cheapest option when eating out. I wouldn’t even consider the more expensive fish or steak dinners, usually opting for the $11 pizza (er, “flatbread”) instead. Now, I try to take price out of the equation and first determine what I would order if everything were free. It’s almost always one of the healthiest and highest quality items on the menu. Ask yourself, what could be more important than what you put into your body? Eating out doesn’t need to be the notorious experience that leaves you stuffed, guilty, and reaching for the Pepcid AC. It can be healthy and happy every time. Pro tip: in order to not completely liquidate my savings, I rarely order a drink with my meal, which makes the cost very similar to what it would have been with a glass of wine. Priorities!
3. Make it Easy
I wanted to make eating healthy incredibly easy for people…forever. Really, forever. Not just for however long you can manage to stomach a frozen meal delivery service. So I started PlateJoy, a company that makes healthy eating easy. We personalize a meal plan specific to your dietary preferences and partner with local grocers to deliver the necessary ingredients and recipes to prepare these meals directly to your door. Pro tip: search for solutions that will make what you want to achieve easiest. Maybe it’s taking that spinning class that secretly feels like a Tuesday night dance party or maybe it’s deciding you’re never going to go grocery shopping again!
Whatever it is, learn what the easy but impactful wins are in your life, and stick with them.
Since the launch, we’ve been covered everywhere from the Boston Globe to Fast Company, and the service has become so popular that we’re at capacity in most cities. But if you sign up using this link, we’re going to keep track and bump you up a few thousand spots on our wait-list.
I’d love to hear from you, regardless, and wish you nothing but the best as you share in our own quest to live fuller, happier, and healthier lives.
Love,
Christina
[email protected]
