Hello and welcome to the Intermittent Fasting Gems with Jen Podcast.

I'm your host Jen, a middle-aged Michigan mama, wife, and teacher who

in 2021 stumbled upon this crazy cool thing called intermittent fasting.

And before I knew it.

I've lost 46 pounds in four months and gained an incredible lifestyle

filled with complete food freedom.

If you're hungry for unique, no nonsense fasting tips that actually

work, you're in the right place.

So whether you're walking the dog, folding that last load of laundry or cruising to

your nine to five, let's start fasting.

Our way to freedom together.

Hey there, fasting friends, if you're new to the show.

Thanks so much for being here today, and if you're a loyal listener, I love you

and appreciate you more than you know.

Okay, so in 2021, I made two.

Life changing discoveries.

The first one, of course, was learning about the amazing

intermittent fasting lifestyle and starting my life changing journey.

The second, however, was signing up with the meal delivery service green Chef.

First off, I wanna say.

I am in no way affiliated with or sponsored by Green Chef.

However, I wouldn't turn them down if they came to me and said,

Hey, let's strike up a deal.

Anyways, all of my info today is purely coming from personal

experience and from my true love.

For Green Chef and how this meal delivery service has greatly

enhanced my intermittent fasting experience and my journey.

Now there are a lot of awesome meal delivery services out there.

So in this episode today, I will be highlighting 10 incredible ways.

That a meal delivery service really can help you reach your intermittent

fasting weight loss and success goals.

Alright, let's get started.

Reason number one is affordability.

For years, I had heard about people who'd used a meal delivery service,

and I guess I just assumed that.

This was a service reserved for rich or very well off people only.

Surely I wouldn't be able to afford a meal delivery service on a teacher's salary,

but once the pandemic hit, I became desperate and I was really stressed and

I was like, I'm ready for something new.

Something that didn't require me to waste gas by heading to the.

German infested grocery store, um we were all freaked out about touching the

food and going to the grocery store.

Um, and I needed to provide for my family because my, son was home from high school.

My daughter was home after her first year of college was interrupted by

the coronavirus, so I needed a change.

And let's just say my eyes were opened wide.

And the more research I did, the more I realized just how

affordable a meal service really.

Is I have tracked my grocery spending and I now literally save

hundreds of dollars each month.

Now, I don't save as much now because it's just my husband and

I, but when I first started, uh, I was feeding a family of four.

Um, my two children are grown and out.

It's just my husband and I, but I still save so much money.

Once I added up how much I was spending on groceries, not to mention.

All of the leftover, wasted food from those.

Meals that I made every night, um, to make those three weekly meals for my family.

And then I just compared it to the cost of the three dinner delivery

meals that I started getting.

I really realized what an extreme cost savings.

It was, so I was, like I said, very hesitant for a really long time, and I had

those preconceived thoughts that, no, I'd never be able to afford a meal delivery

service, but that absolutely is not true.

Reason number two, and this is a big one.

Convenience.

OMGI love, love, love the convenience of a meal delivery system.

It is so comforting to know that every Thursday afternoon without

fail, a box of deliciousness will be dropped off on my front porch.

, Each meal comes packaged in its own eco-friendly brown bag, and it takes.

Takes me less than a minute to pop the bags into the fridge

and the meat into the freezer.

And the best part is that it saves me a ton of time on decision making.

Being able to come straight home after a long day of teaching and not have to worry

about what I'm gonna make for dinner.

Absolutely priceless.

And another thing I love about it is if we're gonna be on vacation or out of

town and I need to pause our delivery service for any reason whatsoever.

All I have to do is log into the website, click, skip, and I'm all set.

My account isn't charged.

Delivery is skipped, and then I can just easily resume my service when I want

or I need to with a simple click of a button once we're back in town or back

from vacation or whatever that may be.

Reason number three is deliciousness.

The serious yum factor of these meals is completely off the charts.

I am not kidding you.

Each week I am consistently impressed by the fresh ingredients that are packed

inside each bag, the quality of the meat, vegetables, spices, and sauces.

Truly phenomenal.

I honestly feel like I'm eating at a gourmet restaurant each night when I

sit down to eat my glorious dinner.

And since I'm m mad or one meal a day, most of the time I, I want that one

big meal of mine to be incredible, and I never have to worry about

that because it really always is, um, with my meal delivery service.

Reason number four, sustainable.

Weight loss.

So it was April of 2020 and that is when our family of four decided

to give meal delivery service a try for for the first time.

We signed up with the company HelloFresh and we fell in love with it right away.

We stayed with HelloFresh for about 10 months and enjoyed it very much, however.

I wasn't losing much weight, and that's when we kind of fast forward to January

of 2021 when I discovered intermittent fasting and started on my journey.

Most of you know this, but once I started my fasting journey, I also

began eating low carb as part of my weight loss, um, journey there.

So the meat and vegetable quality was fantastic, but almost every

Hello Fresh meal at that time came with potatoes or rice, both of which

I avoided during my IF journey.

So I did some searching and I found Green Chef, which is actually owned

by HelloFresh Green Chef, offered.

Meal options that had so much variety, including keto

options, paleo and vegetarian.

Even though I wasn't counting macros or following what you would say a strict

keto diet, I knew that the keto meals would be low carb and that they would

match up well with what I was trying to accomplish with my intermittent

fasting and weight loss goals.

Anyways, long story short, we switched to.

Green Chef.

And with the help of this meal delivery service, I went on to lose 46 pounds in

just four months, and the best part is that it's been something sustainable and

consistent that's helped me to keep that weight off for the last four plus years.

So yes, I absolutely attribute a great deal of my weight loss and weight

maintenance success, uh, to using a meal delivery service, especially Green Chef.

That one worked for me.

I, hope they never go out of business because I truly plan to stay with them

and continue meal delivery services.

Until I die or I can't cook for myself anymore.

So reason number five is simplicity.

Okay.

Warning, incoming, overused, corny teacher phrase about to be used.

But honestly, I love how easy peasy lemon squeezy having a meal delivery services.

It significantly reduces my.

Dinner related stress and it makes mealtime truly hassle free.

Let's just say I wasn't exactly born with the most dominant domestic gene,

so, so much so that my mother-in-law, Sharon, who is an awesome cook and

housekeeper, she was a bit worried at the beginning of my marriage to her

son, um, so worried that she thought.

She should buy me.

And she did all sorts of pampered chef tools and kitchen gadgets,

um, to help me up my domestic game and provide well for her son.

So I, all my birthday and Christmas gifts were, um, tons of great pampered

Chef tools from my mother-in-law.

Uh, I love you, Sharon.

You're the best.

Um, but anyways, I, I have been lacking that domestic gene.

I gotta say though, I have really gotten better in the kitchen over

the years, but after Green Chef, my kitchen abilities exploded with the

help of the beautiful full color, step by step, easy to follow recipe

cards, that they put in your, uh, box.

Every week it makes dinner.

A breeze to make, and I honestly, I can't help but be

a rock star in the kitchen now.

So, um, I may have already mentioned this, but all of the ingredients come

proportioned, which significantly reduces wasted food, and most meals can be

easily made in just 20 to 30 minutes.

Boom, that's it.

20 to 30 minutes.

You're in there.

Get it done.

It's on your table, you're enjoying.

So I put all of my awesome meal cards that they send in this big binder,

and then it's really cool because you have an instant super healthy weight

loss cookbook for years to come.

And you can remake all of your favorites.

Yes, it's simple, simple, simple.

Easy peasy.

Reason number six, satisfaction.

The satisfaction of having a meal delivery system really is unbelievable.

I, I leave the dinner table every single night feeling completely satisfied.

How satisfied.

I'm gonna answer with a quote that my son who will soon be 21.

Oh.

How can that be a quote that my son said after his very first day

of kindergarten when he came home and I asked him how his day was.

He said, well, mom.

If I had a hundred thumbs, they would all be up.

I love that quote by him.

I still have that hanging up in my, my office, uh, my PE office.

So yes, meal delivery services can be so satisfying and although I've only had

experience with HelloFresh and Green Chef.

There are a ton of meal delivery services out there, and I'm sure.

Most of them are probably fantastic.

So do a little research on your own.

Find out which one works best for you.

And give it a try.

Moving on to reason number seven, they are healthy.

I just love knowing that the meals that I'm eating are super healthy

and that they include foods that help me maintain not only my

weight, but my overall good health.

The built-in portion control is another major bonus that helps keep me on

track with my intermittent fasting, uh, weight loss and my journey.

And I am certain that my taste buds have absolutely changed for the better too.

Um, because now I seriously only crave healthy nutrient filled

delicious foods that fuel my body.

All right, number eight, variety.

I love this one.

They say that variety is the spice of life and Green Chef's meal service does

not disappoint when it comes to variety.

I really am blown away by the many food options.

Um, there are still some that we haven't even tried, and we've been

doing this for, you know, years now.

So, um, sometimes I find myself dreaming about their pork tenderloin

meals, the pork tenderloin, and I was never a pork person really until I

started, with a meal delivery, but.

Ugh.

Green chef's pork tenderloin meals.

So, so good.

I know it's weird, but they are really, really good.

I also love that I can just hop on my computer and then choose from

dozens of different meals each week.

You can switch it up.

You can, um, you know.

If you're not feeling meaty for the week, you can, you know, pick

more vegetarian or, I can just go in there and hand select them.

It's, it's really actually fun to do.

We are, uh, on the three meals a week plan that works for, us.

It's just my husband and I, and then we take turns picking and choosing

our favorites in picking out our upcoming menu for the next week.

We usually go in there, plan it out, and I think they let you pick it.

It's like four or five, maybe six weeks in advance.

So we just go in, set our choices, uh, for the next, you know, four or five weeks.

And it's kind of fun to do, just sit down and do together.

It doesn't take long.

And I dunno, it's fun.

Uh, it's the little things when you get older.

Reason number nine is quality.

Okay?

So the meals, they're not just delicious, but.

The quality really is amazing.

The meat, vegetable, spices, sauces, seriously, second to none.

We have ordered over 300 meals now from Green Chef, and I swear

to you, we have literally almost loved every single one of them.

There've been a few that have been like, yeah, those weren't our favorites,

but, um, honestly, there's never been one that we're like, we can't finish.

And we're like, oh, this is, this is nasty.

They're all just so, so good.

And we have made it to reason number 10.

I have become a cooking queen, and actually, I don't mean to to brag, but

especially since I already mentioned this a few minutes ago, but I really must say

with the help of meal delivery services.

I really have become a pretty darn good cook, and you can too.

So if you're like, I'm not so awesome in the kitchen, if

I can do it, you can do it.

It's like getting a super fun cooking lesson each night.

Super fun and simple cooking lesson each night, and I really

have learned so many unique.

Simple cooking tips, tricks, and fancy techniques that I was completely

clueless about for most of my adult life.

My poor husband, he's suffered through some fairly awful dinners for the

first, uh, two decades of our marriage.

Things have definitely improved and they are really looking up.

So now I thoroughly enjoy my time in the kitchen and it's not long.

Like I said, it takes 20 to 30 minutes to make these meals.

I I dance around the kitchen while I'm listening and singing to my favorite.

Country music or maybe some maroon five.

I like maroon five and I'm sipping on my apple cider vinegar fast breaking

drink while I make dinner for my family.

And it's actually pretty fun.

It's a pretty perfect stress relieving end to my teaching day activity too.

All right, so what do you say if you are looking to up your

intermittent fasting game?

A meal delivery service might just be the if F tip.

That tips the scales for you and gets you back on track, especially if

you're coming off a summer like me of indulgences and all that laid back.

Stuff that comes with vacations and, um, routines that are a little

bit lax during those summer months.

If you are looking to lose weight, get healthy, save some money,

save some time, reduce stress, and start eating like a king or queen.

Every single night give meal delivery a go.

I am certain that it will be a life-changing decision that will

improve the quality of your life and.

Your IF success.

Remember, if you're ready to take the IF plunge, you can get my

intermittent fasting and weight loss masterclass for just $39 when you

use the Code GEMS 10 at checkout.

And let's see, I guess that's about it.

Alright, so thanks again for hanging out with me today.

Um, I've had a great time and I really do hope to catch you in the next episode.

Until then, spread plenty of kindness all day long.

Have an awesome day.

Hey, thank you so much for choosing to spend part of your day listening

to this episode of the Intermittent Fasting Gems with Jen podcast.

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Tune in for new 15 to 25 minute episodes released on the 10th,

20th, and 30th of each month.

Episodes will feature solo shows filled with if F hacks that

have worked for me, as well as episodes where I get to chat with.

Fun folks of all ages who've experienced incredible success

with intermittent fasting.

If you have questions or want more unique intermittent fasting health and

weight loss tips, tricks and recipes, please visit my website and blog at.

So what if with jen.com?

Finally, we'd love to welcome you into our free intermittent.

Fasting Facebook support group.

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Find all of these links in the show notes below.

And as always, I hope you spend your day loving without fear and

laughing until your cheeks hurt.