0:00:00.0 Kimberly King: The advice and informational content does not necessarily represent the views of Mother's Market & Kitchen. Mother's recommends consulting your health professional for your personal medical condition.

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0:00:14.3 KK: Hello, I'm Kimberly King and welcome to the Mother's Market podcast, a show dedicated to the Truth, Beauty and Goodness of the human condition. On today's episode, summer's here, and we all wanna stay healthy and keep in shape. We've got some great tips on meal prepping, eating healthy and getting the right amount of exercise. So listen close. But first up, Kimlai Yingling is a food and travel writer, colliery producer and host, and she can be seen on "Home and Family" on The Hallmark Channel, KTLA, the Today Show and as a culinary expert on the Cooking Channels. Her work has appeared in HuffPo on MSN, AOL, Entrepreneur, The Daily Meal, Dirty and Thirty and eatinAsian.com. Kimlai loves sharing her food and travel experiences and writes, produces and hosts the weekly cooking show called "Chomp On This with Kimlai." She previously wrote and produced and hosted 23 episodes called "Practically Cooking," which were featured on MSN and AOL along with the daily food news content for AOL and The Savory, and we welcome Kimlai back to the Mother's Market podcast. How are you?

0:01:22.4 Kimlai Yingling: Hi, Kim, I'm good, thank you so much. Oh, God, that intro was so long. [chuckle]

0:01:26.9 KK: But look at everything you've been doing, you've been keeping quite busy, and of course, you're in your passion, aren't you?

0:01:33.4 KY: Yes, yeah, I am. Yeah.

0:01:37.1 KK: So, let's talk about that. Tell our audience a little bit on what your mission and your work is before we get to "Today Show" topic.

0:01:45.6 KY: You know, I started getting into, well, I think we're all into food, but really diving into food and what it actually does for the body for a few years now, and the more I learn, the more it's like, I wanna share with other people because it's not an easy venture to get into, especially for those people that try to stay out of the kitchen or don't really pay that much attention to food and nutrition, you know? When they eat. That's what it is. And there's so many things about food that are fascinating and things that like I just learned something about my body a month ago that like, "How could I have not already known that?" I mean, it's my body that I've been living in for quite some time. How do I not know that? It's like, "Dang." And so I told someone else, they were like, What? And so it's that type of reactions I like to get from people when I'm telling them something new or there's a new concept with how to put some food together. I just like to share everything that I'm learning, and I feel that I have so many platforms to be able to do that, it's like I might as well use them and share the knowledge.

0:02:52.5 KK: I love that Kimlai, and obviously, your passion comes right through in everything you do and the fact that you'd like to share it, and I wanna hear more about what... [chuckle] You can't really see this, but she's dancing off camera here [chuckle], but anyway, I do wanna find out what you found out about yourself. So we'll get to that in just a minute, but today we're talking about how we can eat healthy and stay in shape for the summer, at summertime. So what, Kimlai, are some tips that we can start with and how to get in shape and why it's important to be healthy and eat well and eat right?

0:03:25.1 KY: So everyone wants to get in shape for summer, it's like we hibernate during the winter, [chuckle] everyone loves the big cozy sweaters and the sweats, and especially with everything that's happened this past year, everything from the bottom down, I'm not gonna lie, right now I'm really in sweats from the bottom down.

[chuckle]

0:03:42.5 KK: But you look fabulous from the top up.

[overlapping conversation]

0:03:44.6 KY: Yes I do. Yes I do. Exactly.

0:03:46.0 KK: Yeah. I'm all ears on that. [chuckle]

0:03:48.0 KY: They do match. Thank you. But summer's coming and summer is always the time where people think, "Oh my God, it's swimsuit weather," it's beach, we're going to the beach, we're gonna start wearing shorts and cute little summer tops, and it's like," Oh my God, it's time to start taking care of my body," but obviously, we should have started months ago, but some tips for... I mean, to start now is one... Some of these, I know they're pretty obvious, and people say them over and over, but the reason they're said over and over is because they actually matter and they do benefit your body. So the first thing is stay hydrated. I always have people, "Kimlai, I did have two bottles of water today," that's like, "That's not enough?" It's like people, it's half an ounce or one ounce per pound is how much you should be drinking in a day. And I don't think this is something like... Do you know that your body is made up, not you, but people in general, [chuckle] the body is made up of 60% water.

0:05:05.5 KK: Wow!

0:05:05.6 KY: And I don't think you should underestimate the power of water. It helps with digestion, it helps with your body temperature, it helps with circulation, the transportation of the nutrients that go in, that you feed your body, it flushes out body waste, whoop whoop and it helps our skin, which we all love, that people always say," Oh my God, you want better skin? Drink a lot more water." There's truth to that. [chuckle]

0:05:33.6 KK: I can tell you've been drinking your water, by the way, you have a beautiful skin.

0:05:36.9 KY: Thank you. I actually have upped my water game to a gallon a day.

0:05:41.6 KK: Wow!

0:05:42.6 KY: I'm going on five days a gallon.

0:05:45.2 KK: Oh my gosh.

0:05:46.6 KY: But it was 64 ounces and I would get those tea jars, or no, I think a half a gallon is like the pickle jars, the pickle jars eyes that you buy at the grocery store. I cleaned it out, decorated it, 'cause you gotta do what you gotta do to make yourself drink a lot.

0:06:00.8 KK: I love it. Yeah, right.

0:06:03.1 KY: So every morning it's just become a part of my routine, I drop some tea bags in, I fill it up with hot water, hour later I've got tea, I bought a couple of these in different colors, because again, I have to do things that are gonna make me want to drink water, does anyone just love to drink water? Probably not. [chuckle]

0:06:23.2 KK: Maybe.

0:06:24.7 KY: I fill this up with ice, and throughout the day, I know that once I drink that entire jar, I have drank what I needed for water. I also don't like to spend too much time thinking about it, so I wanna make it as simple as possible for myself.

0:06:41.7 KK: Right. So, you mentioned the tea. Did you or do you put any other supplements in there or any kind of enhancements?

0:06:47.3 KY: You know what? The only thing, I brought this 'cause I wanted to show you. I just started adding a little bit of this because these are just water enhancers. They're natural flavouring, they're these little liquid bottles, you do a little squirt squirt in your water.

0:07:01.6 KK: What is it?

0:07:03.1 KY: This one's guava flavour, they're just called liquid drink enhancers. They have so many different name brands, this is just the generic one that I got, so there's really no name.

0:07:15.7 KK: Right.

0:07:16.1 KY: It's called Tropical Guava Drink Enhancer, and there's no calories, there's no sodium, there's no carbs, there's no protein, there's nothing. There's no nutritional value, it just enhances the flavour of your water and literally like just a little squirt goes a really long way, but I like it for when I need that little extra boost of flavour.

0:07:39.7 KK: Right.

0:07:40.8 KY: The second I start thinking, "Uh, okay, I just had enough with the tea, or with the water, with cucumber water," it's like, "Uh-oh, okay, what can I do next?" Because you don't wanna get bored with what you're doing, so that's why I wanted to show this because, or talk about this for a second because it's just another option. You have to constantly be adding new things, it's what you have to do. The second thing is, this is a perfect time mainly because of the weather to start exercising a little bit, whether it's walking or jogging or running, and I know people say, "Oh my God, I don't have time, it's like I don't know how to fit that into my schedule," but it's like you have to fit yourself into your schedule. So I recommend you gotta get your body moving a little bit. So go up early in the morning. Just take the jammies off, put on some sweats and a sweat shirt and pop outside. No one can see you, no one knows what you look like, be out there for 10-15 minutes. It's a great way to just breathe in some fresh air, to decompress, to relax your mind, to get away from all the chaos that usually starts once you wake up.

0:08:49.7 KK: Right. Vitamin D.

0:08:52.3 KY: Yes. And then in the evening, it's a good way to wind down. Sometimes I feel in the morning and I'm just set like, "Oh, I'm never going in the evenings, I love mornings." And the next thing you know, I'm going in the evenings. "I hate mornings, I've gotta go in the evening." Do whatever works for you.

0:09:07.0 KK: Mix it up, right? Yeah.

0:09:08.8 KY: Exactly. And then another thing is, I think it's so important, and I'm gonna talk about this in a little bit about, I think I touched briefly on a previous podcast about my father, but I'm gonna go into it a little bit more with some more facts in regards to sugar, and I think it's a good idea to take stock of how much sugar goes into your body. I don't think people realise that all the coffees from Starbucks or all of the drinks like the flavoured drinks that you get, the fruits, the yogurts, I don't think there's so much sugar, and people are like, I'm not really eating any sugar, but it's like if you start taking a real good look at the ingredients, you will notice that there is sugar in everything.

0:10:00.8 KK: So learning how to read those labels and knowing those key words of what sugar is too, correct?

0:10:04.7 KY: Yes, and I know it's a lot of work. Everything is a lot of work. Everything you do in life, you don't get to become an accountant without going through a lot of work, you don't get to become a lawyer without educating yourself, and you don't get to do what you're doing without studying, how to be a host and know how to present and talk, you know what I'm saying?

0:10:21.3 KK: Right, right.

0:10:24.0 KY: Everything takes work. And so learning about your body and learning about food, it takes work. The last thing, well, I mean, obviously there's a lot more tips, but the last thing, I wanna say something because I know people always say, "Oh, you wanna feel better for summer? You wanna fit into that bikini?" Which honestly, you're not gonna fit into it in a week, but if your goals are a little crazy, but it's like, yes, drink your water, yes, eat better, yes, exercise, but you know what? Take a look at your body like I'm not kidding. Go into the bathroom and see what other people see. A lot of times we don't look... Do you ever go stand in front of a mirror like naked?

0:11:06.9 KK: Never, no.

0:11:07.9 KY: Holding up here, and looking at your back side?

0:11:10.8 KK: Oh my gosh. That would give me a nightmare. [laughter]

0:11:13.5 KY: Who does that?

0:11:15.6 KK: That's a good advice though. You never hear people say that and it's literally, you have to see it, so I love that advice. Not that I wanna do it.

0:11:25.3 KY: But a lot of times people are like, Oh, you know, especially your BFFs, they're gonna tell you, you know like, you've got a little bit of a muffin top, you should probably wear a different kind of jeans just to cover it up. Good deal, thank you. Thank you friend because who wants that? But we don't necessarily see what other people see. So it's just like, okay, so for instance, like you are a host, say you're going to hosting school, the most important thing they teach you is, one of the tools that they teach you is, to videotape yourself and watch yourself because someone's critiquing you like you're saying umm too many times, you're using your hands too many times, and your first thing is like, "No, I'm not," but it's like you don't really know you are because you don't see yourself. So it's like, seriously, take off all your clothes, go into the bathroom, look at yourself. If you like what you see, awesome. If you don't, it's time to make some changes, but that visual might be what you need, not you, but people in general.

0:12:31.6 KK: Right, right.

0:12:32.7 KY: That visual might just be what it will take to make you go, "Oh my God," I'm...

0:12:39.1 KK: [laughter] I'm not eating for a year. Yeah.

0:12:44.0 KY: I wanna change up my habits just a little bit, you know?

0:12:47.7 KK: Right. Yeah, that's a really good, you don't hear people talk about that so much, and it really is right out in front of you, so that's the main thing.

0:12:54.5 KY: I know. Why don't we tell it, it doesn't make sense. It's our own bodies, look at it more from every angle.

[laughter]

0:13:03.8 KK: Under the microscope. So you said drink water and mix it up with your natural flavoring if needed, exercise more, get that fresh air, vitamin D, take stock in how much sugar we're eating, I think that's huge. And I do wanna know more about your father's story, too, and then look at yourself naked. Oh, my gosh, insane.

0:13:24.4 KY: Yeah, I'm telling you, yesterday I did it, and I'm just like, "I look like that from the back?"

0:13:31.3 KK: Oh, my gosh.

0:13:32.1 KY: "What? Oh my God." It's like, "Wow!" I don't look at myself that often, so it's like, "I'm gonna start looking at myself because... " Yeah, I scared myself a little bit, I'm not joking.

0:13:44.7 KK: Oh, my gosh, that makes me laugh. But it really is, it's right up in our face, so we've gotta get around that and nothing else can do that, other than looking at ourselves. Tell me a little bit about the fad diets, they are so many keto, paleo, everything, there's Mediterranean. What is your take on fad dieting and does it work?

0:14:04.6 KY: Okay, I do have a strong opinion about this, and I actually did the Cabbage Soup diet a month ago, just to see if it worked and dang it, it was so delicious, I think I overate the cabbage soup. [laughter] What the heck, it's like, "This is a diet, but I mean... "

0:14:24.9 KK: So is it only cabbage soup that you eat for a week, or what is that? Just tell me a little bit of it.

0:14:28.7 KY: No. Okay, well, first up, fad diets, yes, okay, do I think they work? Of course, they work for that time that you're on them, if you follow them, you're basically being told what to eat, your diet is really restricted, so whether you're cutting out calorie... Whichever fad diet you're on, you're cutting out calories or maybe you're cutting out everything that's white, or maybe you're doing the cabbage soup diet, you're being restricted to eat a certain amount of whatever it is for a limited amount of time, so obviously your body, if you follow it to a T, is going to lose weight, it is mostly going to be water weight. And I guarantee you, this is why you see so many people like celebrities toting these diets, and then two years later, it's like they're not toting those diets no more. Once you get off a fad diet, if you don't already have the tools in your will well to actually eat better, you're gonna go right back to the way you were eating before, and all that weight is gonna come back quickly.

0:15:33.0 KK: True, yeah.

0:15:34.4 KY: So do I think fad diets... Listen, I know a lot of people that they're getting ready to go somewhere, they're already sort of in shape, they're already leading a healthy lifestyle, they're eating well, they're exercising, but they have a few pounds, maybe five or 10 pounds that they wanna get off in a quick amount of time, a week, a week and a half, they're gonna do one of those fad diets. Are they gonna knock off the weight? Yes. Will they probably keep it off, yes, because it's a good booster for them to then continue to eat healthy, and they're going to keep it off, because they maintain a healthy lifestyle. So I did the Cabbage Soup diet, because I wanted to knock off five pounds, I don't even know why, I think I just did it, because I had to see if it worked. If I'm gonna talk about it, I wanna make sure that it worked.

0:16:17.1 KK: Did it work?

0:16:18.2 KY: It did work. And it was delicious, but I thought to my... You know what I mean? I forgot now I'm eating, you're eating all fruits one day, and then as much of the cabbage soup as you want, and the cabbage soup has cabbage, carrots, celery, mushrooms, green peppers, chicken broth, spices.

0:16:40.3 KK: Yum.

0:16:40.7 KY: "What the heck?" But the stuff that's going in has no calories. So it's like, "Oh, okay." So then the second day you can do all vegetables and the cabbage soup, and then like the third day, you can do a little bit of meat, vegetables and cabbage soup. So it's like, "Oh Dang, it was just so good. Obviously not healthy, nobody recommends to stay on a fad diet for longer than you need to stay on it, you know? But so many people lead very unhealthy lifestyles, and they want the quick fix, "Hey, how can I lose 10 pounds in like seven days, I'm going to Florida?" It's like, "What?" It's like, "That's impossible. No, I can do it." It's like, "Oh, okay." When I did the cabbage diet, I thought to myself, "Okay, this is a great diet for people that want to shed some pounds." And whether or not... It's not my business, if they're gonna gain it back or not afterwards, but if someone was making it for them, that's another thing, I think it's simpler when someone's making the food for you. I enjoy cooking, but when I saw all the prep work that needed to go into it, someone who does not enjoy cooking, they're probably not gonna stick with the diet, because it does require prep work.

0:18:07.6 KK: Right, right. And that's such a good point. All these meal prep talk about in all these fad diets, but if you don't like to do it, then What's gonna motivate you to continue with the prepping?

0:18:19.9 KY: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I was thinking about that, I was like, "Oh, my God, I should sell the cabbage diet, and just cook it for everyone, and go to their house and deliver it, and make sure they eat what they need to eat."

0:18:31.0 KK: Oh, my gosh, I would hire you. [laughter] This is great information, we have to take a quick break, Kimlai. But right now, just more in just a moment, we'll be right back. Welcome back to the Mother's Market podcast, and we wanna remind you that if you missed any portion of today's show, you can find us on iTunes by searching Mother's Market or download the show from our website, www.mothersmarket.com, click the link for podcast and listen to past shows, plus download our healthy recipes and money savings coupons, all available at www.mothersmarket.com. And now, back to our interview with Kimlai Yingling, and we're talking about how we can eat healthy, stay in shape for the summer, I can't believe it's summer. But we were just talking about meal prepping a little bit and at first of, I wanna find out why is it so hard to eat healthy and eat right, be healthy and eat right? And then how do you plan your week to eat healthy?

0:19:27.2 KY: Okay, yes, the meal prep. Meal prep is huge right now because people don't want to really think about what they need to do to eat healthy. It's a lot of work, I will be honest with you. I'm fascinated by all of this stuff, but at the beginning, it's consuming and it's overwhelming and it's like... Well, first off, I just don't understand why we don't innately just know this crap already, it is our body. [laughter] It really does suck that we have to learn all this stuff, but meal prep is huge for that reason. Because it's easier, it's so much easier for someone to order meal prep, they don't have to think about it, they don't worry, like if they're gonna mess up or not because they're not gonna mess up because the stuff is already prepped for them. They just grab and go, they can focus on whatever else they need to focus on, and that is fantastic. You just don't have to think about it. But what's not good about, well, I'm not gonna say what's not good about meal prep. I'm going into... Another thing though, is when you don't have the tools and you don't have meal prep and you're out and about, it's so easy [laughter] to just stop at a fast food place and get stuff.

0:20:38.5 KY: I have people tell me all the time, "Kimlai I didn't have time, so I had to run to McDonald's" or, "Oh I didn't have time, so I just went here to the convenience store and grab" Whatever icky is in there. I don't mean icky as in their food is icky, I mean [laughter] not nutritionally good for our bodies. And when you're driving and eating you don't really pay attention, you just grabbed the stuff from McDonald's, you're eating it on the go, yum yum yum yum, you're not thinking really about what you're putting into your body, you just think, "Oh my God, that quarter pound was so delicious."

0:21:13.5 KK: So good. And you're talking about being intentional though, literally thinking about it ahead of time as, at the meal prepping.

0:21:22.7 KY: Yes, but that as well, takes a lot of work, you know?

0:21:26.0 KK: It does.

0:21:26.7 KY: Who wants to think about that all the time? But if you're gonna start making yourself a priority, you will start thinking about that all the time. And it honestly does become second nature to where you don't have to, "Oh my God, wait, wait. Am I allowed to eat that? Am I not allowed... Should I put that into my body?" It also gives you a chance to learn about your body more because you really start to tune into what makes you feel sluggish and tired and just not good, and this is where... Okay, I mentioned this before in a previous podcast, where my dad was 220 pounds, No, I'm sorry, 320. And I asked my mom the other day what he was at, and she said, at 200. Now, left on his own devices, Does he know anything about nutrition and about food? Absolutely not. So we created a meal plan and my mom has had... She makes the breakfast, lunch and dinner, and she's basically prepping all of his meals for him. So he gets a grain, he gets a carb and he gets a protein, but staying on this plan and no exercising. He just doesn't wanna exercise, so you gotta pick your battles. Just eating smaller portions and eating healthier food, this is what happens.

0:22:47.7 KK: So I think that's a really great example, Kimlai, and you just gave your dad as the example, but meal prepping and how we do that is whatever works for us, but even maybe even packing a little snack bag or something, so we don't have to run off to McDonald's or fast foods?

0:23:03.2 KY: Exactly, exactly. But again, it's just making yourself a priority. Honestly, we've got bodies that we apparently are not equipped to handle them, we have these bodies that, we have to make these function for 100 years. Because everyone's living up to be 100 and people are having babies at 80, so we have these bodies that we have to manage for at least 100 years. I wanna make it last as long as I can, so I'm gonna put in the right gas, do the right maintenance.

0:23:42.0 KK: What did you find out about yourself? Or could you share?

0:23:47.0 KY: Well, it stems around your womanly monthly... [laughter]

0:23:53.5 KK: Gotcha, okay. Enough said. [laughter] I went personal on that, sorry, you put it out there, and I was just getting to...

0:24:00.0 KY: I know. I was not gonna say what it is, but it was just something like that. Like how would I know... What? And it was just like, "Oh my God, it's rude, it makes sense! No wonder this happens with that and that, but now I know what to do to make that not happen." So it's stuff like that.

0:24:20.2 KK: Yeah, because we don't come with an instruction manual, but you're finding out. And I'm in my 50s now, but it's like, sometimes you just go, "Woah, I didn't see that one coming." And you're just getting to know, yeah, getting to know your bodies. Is it expensive to eat healthy? It seems like fast food, it's gonna be cheap, whatever but... I love that you say, "Make yourself a priority.", but there's an expense with that too, isn't there?

0:24:47.0 KY: Okay, look, fast food is expensive. I mean, the other day I took my little niece and her friend, we just finished eating dinner actually at home. They were still hungry, so they were like, "Auntie Kim, can you run us to the fast food?" and I'm like, whatever. Again, pick your battles. [laughter] If that's what you want. It's your money, all good. And they were like, "We'll take... " It was some Asian restaurant, and they were like, "Well, we'll take a plate with three sides, three this, three that." and I'm like, "You're each getting that?" And I'm thinking to myself, "That's $11 each. These are 15-year-olds, you have money?" [laughter] But it's like that's not cheap. That was 20-some bucks that obviously could have been used on something else, we just ate, there's food at home. And then I'm like, "Do you guys just want one plate and you can share it." "No".

0:25:37.2 KK: Yeah. Oh my goodness.

0:25:40.4 KY: It's not cheap eating out either, and I think there's a misconception that you have to spend a lot of money to actually eat healthy, and I do feel that people have not-so-good role models when they see things on TV, like, "Oh my God, one of the celebrities is doing this diet", and I remember some girl did this diet that a celebrity had, and she was like, "I spent $250 in a week trying to do this diet."

0:26:09.8 KK: Oh my goodness.

0:26:11.3 KY: And that's impossible, and that's ridiculous, you shouldn't have to spend that kind of money. I think as long as you stay on the outer edges of the grocery store, especially if you're trying to do fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, you're doing your meats and your dairies, everything is on the outer edge. And everyone gets the circulars. Oh wait, is that even what they're called? Ads? Circulars?

0:26:32.3 KK: [chuckle] The ads, they are, not everybody knows that, but you're right, they are.

0:26:35.9 KY: Circular. I've actually never said that word before.

0:26:39.8 KK: You were probably hanging out with your parents, right? [chuckle]

0:26:42.0 KY: The circulars. So you grab whatever groceries, you can see all the sales that are going on, and I get excited when I see that, 'cause it's like, "Woah, tomatoes three pounds for $0.99. That's great." I don't necessarily follow the rules when it comes to buying in season. I'll ask my contact at the... My produce supplier was like, "Hey, can you send me some of these? I'm gonna do videos on that." It's like, "It's not in season, Kimlai." I'm like, "But what does it matter? I can go to my grocery store a block away and they have them." It's like, "I don't care." So I literally cater my meals around what is available at the grocery store. If they don't have... Whatever's on the circular... What's on sale this week, that's gonna be my menu. What's gonna be until next week? That's gonna be my menu, so maybe there's tri-tip this week. Fantastic. Maybe there's salmon next week. Fantastic. If it's not on sale, I'm not gonna get it.

0:27:48.1 KK: Let me ask you about body types or types of those, and I don't wanna say fad diets, you kind of already covered that, but how do you know what's best for your body type? If it's meat, protein, probably not a lot of carbs or pasta or whatever, but how do you find that balance?

0:28:07.0 KY: One, I think the more educated you become about food, you start learning what makes you feel good and what makes you not feel good. You start realising like, "Okay, I just ate a bunch of bread." It's not that you need to give up pasta. I don't think you need to give up pasta if you're trying to lose weight, I don't think you actually need to give up anything, I think you need to cut back your portions and just pay a little more attention because you need carbs in your life, but like you take a loaf of bread and you take a pound of broccoli, they both contain carbs, but the broccoli carbs are gonna be better for you, so why don't you just eat a little bit... I'm not telling anyone to give up anything, I don't really... "Oh my God, you have to give up pasta for the rest of your life." Take a little bit of bread, start incorporating a little bit more of the healthier carbs. There's compound carbs, refined carbs, simple carbs, the ones that are healthier. I know for me, I love bread, in college, I would literally run to Albertsons to get an entire loaf of French bread, I'd go to 7-Eleven get a 32 ounce of Diet Coke, that was in class. It's so stuck in my brain, I would rip off the end, I would put my hand in, it was so warm, and I would pick all the insides out, and then I would just eat it. It was so good.

0:29:31.2 KK: My daughter does the same thing, that's so funny. Maybe it didn't show up on you physically, but I was just thinking, look at you now, knowing that you eat healthy, have you done a comparison? You were in college. So whatever, I think you could kinda almost eat anything in college, but have you noticed that?

0:29:49.7 KY: Well, yes. I'm not gluten-free, and I don't have celiac disease, but I have noticed that I eat bread very sparingly. Anything with like just regular all-purpose flour, I don't like how it makes me feel. I don't like how pasta makes me feel after I eat it, and obviously, maybe I'm eating too big of a portion, I don't know, but I'm okay with it, I'm okay eating something else. Bread makes me not feel good, cheese does not make me feel good, pasta does not make me good, white sugar does not make me feel good. I know this just from trial and error. I also know that they don't really bring a whole bunch of nutritional value to my body. I know when I drink a lot of half and half, I know where it goes, I can see it on my thighs. It goes and it sits there, and it's like, "I know what it's from." So I think the more educated that you become about what you're putting into your body... Now listen, there are some people that very well have intolerances to certain things and you can go and get tested by your doctor and find out. There's some people that have thyroid issues, and so they're doing everything possible and weight's not coming off, then it could be their thyroids.

0:31:14.7 KY: There's people that have celiac disease and don't realise it, and so every time they eat gluten they get really sick. Somethings, yes, go get tested, go get some bloodwork done and find out if you do have... Maybe you can't eat nuts and you didn't even realise it and you tend to get a little sick every time you eat nuts. So, get tested. Get your bloodwork done, find out if you have any allergy? Think about your thyroid. Oh you know what? The other day I was... I literally Googled why do I have jelly-belly? I couldn't figure it out. One of my friends, he has a little bit of a pot belly, but it's hard, and then I'm like, "How come in the morning when I wake up, it's flat, but then I'll eat things during the day and it literally is jiggly, like jello." And then I found out that there's two different types of fat, see, I didn't know this, and it's like, "God, there's two different types of fats." There's the fat that's hard, that makes you have the pot belly, and there's... It's sub-something, the fat, more prominent in women that sits right underneath that first layer of skin, that's just very liquidy.

0:32:21.3 KK: Ew! I mean really another reason as women, right? We get this.

0:32:25.3 KY: You can literally... You pinch it, it's like, "Oh my God." And it literally is jiggly bigly belly. So a few days ago, I actually googled that because I'm just like, "This is just weird." And I'm not comfortable with it. Okay? I don't like it. I don't like that it doesn't fit well with my pants, so it's like, what am I eating? What am I eating that's making that happen? 'Cause clearly something that I'm putting in my body is doing that. So now I'm more aware and I can re-do some of the things that I'm eating. But it's all trial and error, and again, you have to learn these things. A minute ago, we were talking about that people going out to fast food because it's so simple, maybe let me try to put this into a perspective, so say you have a baby and you're taking the baby out for the day, you have a baby bag, right? And you fill that bag up with diapers, and I don't have babies so I'm guessing on this, diapers and feet cream and little ribbons for their hair and maybe some snacks and those binky thingies that you put in their mouth and then extra blankets, you're providing everything in a bag to prepare for them, to take care of them throughout the entire day. Right?

0:33:38.8 KK: Right.

0:33:39.8 KY: Why wouldn't you do that for yourself?

0:33:43.2 KK: And that's such a good point, and I think it's making ourselves, like you said, really making yourself a priority, and that goes with the meal prepping, it sounds very like what you're trying to say, is about, we do that with our kids with prepping the bags and everything. What specifically when we meal prep, what kinds of things, I know everybody's different, but do you have any advice, general advice about what does meal prepping look like and is it organic? What does that look like? And especially for those on the run or that don't like to cook. Do you have any advice there?

0:34:15.5 KY: Yes, absolutely. I know for me, meal prepping, I tend to try to do it on Sunday evenings. I don't necessarily like to think about, okay, so I'm making food for other people throughout the week, so I don't necessarily want to have to put a lot of thought into what I'm eating, I know I wanna eat healthy, but I want it already done. So I like to on Sundays, it's very relaxing for me. So on Sundays, I will go... I know that I like to start... I don't usually eat till after 12:00 because I do do intermittent fasting, so I'm just so used to it, I eat when I'm hungry, and so I'm eating after 12:00 and I will usually do an egg, I will do oatmeal with just some un-sweetened almond milk and I throw in half of a banana. That's just my routine. Obviously, I will change it up sometimes, but I don't have to think about that, and those three things right there are very easily accessible and they're very inexpensive, and then like I'll do salads with chicken, I like to go to Costco and get the chickens from Costco and I like to cook them up, and I can make a chicken sandwich or I can make a chicken salad, or I can make chicken wraps.

0:35:31.8 KY: If you put a little thought into it... I do like to spend that a little bit of time to put some thought into it, because if I'm setting that time aside to focus just on what I'm gonna eat for the week, my creations can get a little more creative, where if I'm trying to think on the spot, "Crap, I'm really hungry, I need to go get something." I might not necessarily make the best choices. And so this is another one, I'm not gonna say the name or anything, but these little bars, I just grabbed these last week, I won't usually do this, I will go for these... I don't even know what you call these, just like bars on the go? Because a lot of them, a lot of them are loaded with a whole bunch of extra stuff that you don't need, and you can honestly make these quicker, healthier, but these literally have what you see on like, "Oh, egg whites, almonds, cashew, dates." That's all that's in it. That's it. So I do like to carry these around, especially if I'm traveling, I mean now, but I didn't do this before, but it's like, "Oh, this is a great little... Oh, I think I'll take this." And this was by accident, someone gave me one of these and it was like, "Ooh, I don't usually to do those bars, but thank you. I'm just gonna wait to eat until I to get home." And then they're like, "No. There's nothing in that, this is all natural."

0:36:41.6 KY: It's like, "What?" And I'm like, "Oh great." So I went and grabbed a few, and they're really good, like really good. So I don't ever eat a whole bar, for me, I use it like if I'm getting a little... I never have chocolate cravings, I have bread cravings, so when I'm getting a little craving for just something unhealthy, I'll just take a bite off of this, a bite or two and I don't ever eat the whole bar because it's what, I don't know, I just don't. And it fixes it. So it's just finding out what works for you. But with meal prep it's... Well, I think it becomes more interesting, people get more interested when they realise there's so many more fruits and vegetables out there that maybe they didn't know about before, this is why I think it's good though too, if you wanna do a meal prep service, it can introduce you into the world of food, and you see all these different meal prep, a friend of mine does meal prep, he's got the different menus and it's like some of the things, "Wow, I would have never thought to put those two things together and oh, the protein and the carb, they balance each other out. Oh my God, that would be a great way."

0:37:48.3 KY: I think meal prep can get expensive, so if you need to do it maybe just for a few weeks just to kinda educate yourself and then take some of those items that you've been given and then you can make them yourself and start preparing your own. I know a lot of people the past year spent a lot more time than usual in the kitchen, and I've seen on all social media sites that people have such a more appreciation for being in the kitchen and making meals because they didn't have to before. So this past year kinda forced them into the kitchen and learning about food and nutrition and feeding their families, which they didn't have to do before.

0:38:31.1 KK: That's such a good point. And why not do it in a healthy way? My last question, I wanna talk to you a little bit about, is just organic. Is there's a any key, or any reason we should be looking at eating organically besides the healthy part? I don't know what your suggestion is there?

0:38:49.6 KY: Okay, well, No, you do not have to eat organic to be skinny. To be skinny? To be healthy.

[laughter]

0:39:00.4 KK: Or skinny, or both, right? [chuckle]

0:39:00.4 KY: Yes, you do not have to eat organic to be healthy. Organic food, there's the perks and there's the not perks, and so organic food, they have lower levels of pesticide residue. So, the bad part is though, that organic food does tend to be 20% higher in cost. Organic just means it's being grown without pesticides and fertilizers. But the other side of that is, that it is being fertilized with manure and the manure that's being used can also increase the risk of contamination by different organisms like E-coli. So another concern is that plants may produce more natural toxins, which ultimately can be harmful to us, so I know there are some people that just are die-hard organic folks, and there are some people that are like, "Why do I have to eat organic?" Because there's a ton of benefits to farmers to grow organic because... But if you're not sold on a 100% organic, it doesn't matter, but you can easily purchase and mix both of them. I was always told like, if something has a real hard outer casing like watermelon or cantaloupe, it doesn't matter if you get it organic or not, because the pesticides aren't gonna penetrate through that rind enough to actually get to the core of the fruit.

0:40:23.7 KY: But honestly, me personally, haven't really paid too much attention to the organic, but I want to tell you that EWG, which is the Environmental Working Group, they produce a list every year of the Clean 15. It's called the Clean 15, and it's a list of non-organic foods, fruits and vegetables that are very low in pesticide residue. So what made the list, which actually surprised me, especially after I just told you about the thick rinds of some fruits, eggplants, frozen, the sweet peas, honeydews, melons, kiwis, mushrooms, onions, papayas, pineapples. I wouldn't have even thought. I honestly thought that, Okay, if I'm gonna actually eat the skin on something like an apple or a cucumber, maybe it's a good idea to buy organic because I don't want pesticides, but how much pesticide is really on all of this fruit? Does it warrant having to buy everything organic?

0:41:26.5 KK: Organic, interesting, thank you. That's a great piece of advice right there, the Clean 15. Alright. I could talk to you forever and ever but we've come to the end of the show. [chuckle] I'm gonna call you later, but thank you so much for your time, Kimlai, and some really great advice. Some really great advice that we can jump into with the meal prepping and just the knowledge of making ourselves a priority. If you'd like to get more information on Kimlai, the website is EatinAsian, no g, eatinasian.com. And you can also check her out on the Instagram, Kimlai Yingling. It's been a pleasure having you on today. Thanks for joining us.

0:42:07.5 KY: Thank you so much, it's always a pleasure, Kim.

0:42:10.5 KK: Okay, have a great day.

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0:42:17.9 KK: If you wanna learn more health information check out www.mothersmarket.com. Get delicious recipes and health guidelines to keep your body in great shape. Thanks for listening to the Mother's Market podcast and for shopping at Mother's Market. The advice and informational content does not necessarily represent the views of Mother's Market & Kitchen. Mother's recommends consulting your health professional for your personal medical condition.