As promised, this week’s blog post will be a grocery guide. But first, we absolutely could not get through a blog post at the start of Scorpio season without addressing what’s happening in my Sun sign. Which, is actually quite fitting for this week’s topic. Let’s dive in.

Do you feel it in the air yet?

Like everything is crashing down around you? Have you been questioning yourself and your choices? Your relationships? Career? Friendships? Are you feeling like the world is on fire? Are you considering burning your own world down to ashes?

Welcome to Scorpio season, friends! As someone with 5 major Scorpio placements, I feel like this nearly every day of my life  We tend to have a special place in our hearts for the death and rebirth cycle. For chaos. For drama. And for the deep, dark scary things the rest of the world doesn’t like to think about or look at. So if you’re feeling this… allow me to help you out as we plunge into November next week.

There’s a lot of “did I make the right choice” energy happening right now as we turn inward on ourselves and explore the depths of our shadow (aka – the stuff we don’t like to look at or think about). This time of year asks us to go in – as individuals and as a collective – to ask ourselves what needs to burn –

Our beliefs.

Our ideals.

Our values (that’s a spicy one, isn’t it?)

Our relationships.

The way we see ourselves.

Who we surround ourselves with.

Our routines.

The limits we place on ourselves.

Do I think it’s a coincidence that all major elections happen during Scorpio szn? No. I. Do. Not. It’s the only sign that could handle this level of chaos.

So as you reevaluate your entire life this month, I’m going to give you some pantry choices to reconsider.

Burning it all down to the ground – whether that’s in your relationship, career, the way you parent, how you think about yourself, the way you feed your family – isn’t to be feared. It’s our natural cycle. We are here to evolve – whether that’s as big as moving across the country or as small as reimagining breakfast 

What this blog post is NOT is a list of processed food swaps. Look – I buy Simple Mills crackers. We have Seven Sundays cereal in the pantry. I love Just Bare chicken nuggets. But those kinds of swaps are all over social media right now. You don’t need me to reiterate them.

If you can afford to swap those types of foods for “better ingredient” foods – do it! This blog post is asking you to completely reconsider some of the items you are buying and the way you’re feeding yourself and your family. Take what you need. Chuck what you don’t in the f*ck it bucket.

Now let’s recap cereal drama before we dive in:

Tuesday, October 15, 2024: 1000+ citizens, including legislators, presented 400K signatures at Kellogg’s HQ to remove ingredients from their cereals that they promised they’d remove in 2015 and never did. Kellogg’s refused to meet with legislators and basically said, “f*ck off.”

Wednesday, October 16, 2024: Moms across America collectively lost their sh*t.

Wednesday, October 23, 2024: National #BoycottKelloggs officially began

If you want a full recap on why this boycott is so important and why you *can* actually make a difference and why this is the one boycott I’m asking you to participate in even if you’ve never boycotted a company in your life, read last week’s post here.

But beyond Kellogg’s, it’s time to take a stand on ultra-processed foods that are void of – or nearly void of – nutritional value. Our bodies are not garbage disposals. They are our home. And what we feed our cells daily determines our energy levels and the way we’re able to show up in the world, our lifespan, and more importantly, IMO, our healthspan.

When we speak (especially moms – we make the buying decisions) – they listen. This is a food scientist who works in product development in my DMs this week:

My Top Tips

1. Shop at Walmart for more affordable organic products. It is shocking how much Walmart’s food selection has changed over the years and they deserve a little credit here.
2. Shop at Aldi. They do not allow synthetic dyes in their products and they have a ton of dupes for more expensive brands. Aldi is the unicorn of the grocery industry.
3. Buy your produce at Costco. Buy a lot of things at Costco. The savings are dramatic. Bobby Parrish does a great job with healthy Costco and Aldi hauls and always features their deals!
4. Repeat meals and keep them SIMPLE. Less variety, less waste, buy more in bulk, save. Plandy Mandy does this really well – I’ll talk more about her later.
5. Eat like a bro. If you follow me on Instagram, you know this is how I eat – LOL. Chicken or ground beef. A vegetable. A potato or rice or lentil pasta. Some sort of fat like butter, olive oil, or cheese. Done. That’s it. On repeat.
6. Get to know your grocery store’s stocker and find out when they mark down meat. I did this when I lived in the Midwest and it is the ultimate cheat code. (And could just be a Midwest thing because my Dad attempts to do this every time he visits LOL).
7. Snacks are killing your budget!! Your kids don’t need 14 different snack items. Neither do you. Try skipping “snacks” this week and see what happens to your grocery bill. This probably should have been #1.
8. This is such a basic one, but in case you forgot, frozen fruits and veggies are just as good (sometimes better, nutrient-wise) as fresh and less expensive.
9. Stop spending your money on supplements. Stop spending your money on supplements. Stop spending your money on supplements.

This deserves more attention. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from my clinical dietitians who work with weight loss patients that they try to educate their patients on inexpensive, whole foods (chicken, frozen vegetables, fruit in season, potatoes, beans) and they come back with the latest overpriced weight loss supplement. Supplements do nothing for you if you’re not covering the basics, and they are one of the most marked-up products on the market.

Inexpensive foods that are not ultra-processed…

Someone messaged me this week and said, “not processed” and “budget” don’t belong in the same sentence”.

But a new study from the USDA (yes! The USDA!) tells us otherwise.

This is only a belief many of you hold because you’re only thinking in terms of processed foods. Cheap processed foods vs better-processed foods. Kelloggs vs Lovebird. When you see other influencers posting alternatives, they’re simply posting more expensive brands of processed foods with better ingredients.

But what about God food?

The food that comes from the earth?

The food that our bodies – our cells – were designed to metabolize? The food we ate before our metabolic health was sucked down the toilet?

1. Beans and lentils
2. Frozen fruits and vegetables
3. Canned seafood
4. Chicken
5. Ground beef or turkey
6. Eggs
7. Greek yogurt (in large containers vs individual)
8. Cottage cheese (in large containers vs individual)
9. Potatoes
10. Bulk shredded cheese
11. Milk
12. Peanut butter
13. In-season fruit in bulk
14. Oatmeal

Some quick and easy breakfast and snack combos:

1. Greek yogurt + frozen fruit + peanut butter
2. Cheesy eggs w/ frozen veggies and/or roasted potatoes (make in bulk)
3. Sheet pan eggs – make egg sandwiches in bulk
4. Ground turkey + eggs + frozen cauliflower scramble (make in bulk)
5. Hard-boiled eggs + in-season fruit

I am not going to pretend that I’m a chef or a cooking-on-a-budget expert in this Letter because 90% of my diet is Factor Meals, Bro Meals, or Just Bare Chicken and frozen sweet potato fries. But I will give you some resources:

1. I wrote this 10 years ago (holy sh*t have I been doing this that long??) – is it still relevant? Top 10 Foods on a Budget 
2. Plandy Mandy. My latest Instagram obsession. This woman is a GENIUS at healthy budget shopping!! Her meal plans are great and they’re super helpful. Her Instagram content is really helpful, too.
3. How to spend $30/week at Whole Foods. I love articles like this. They’re so helpful!
4. 7 Healthy Meals for under $25
5. Google and AI are at your fingertips now. “High-protein meals on a budget” “Healthy dinners on a budget” “Quick, easy meals on a budget”. I just ran these through ChatGPT and got a million ideas.

There have been quite a few questions about swaps for high-protein items like bars and the bain of my existence – Premier Protein shakes. I will cover this next week bc I need to wrap this up – I’m currently up in the mountains in hermit mode working on a project that will go live in 2025 and I need to get back to “work.” Talk about a death and rebirth cycle. I’ve been in tears – both from joy and frustration – over this project the last couple of weeks. I don’t think I’ve ever stretched myself so far in my life. I can’t wait to share this with you.

I’ll share a *few* more details next week.

Until then, I launched a November program yesterday to support you through the holidays and the tornado that will inevitably blaze through the collective in November.

Keep Calm + Eat PHFF is not a collection of stress management practices. You can read my book for that. I’ve begun working on this program this week and all I’ll say is –

1. It’s going to take you on a journey of self-discovery when you need it most.
2. It’s probably going to trigger you.
3. How brave of me to put this content out right before and after this election .

Keep Calm this week. ILY.

Megan

PS – Happy Halloween! No candy swap content this year. Too busy fighting Big Food. Sorry!

Ways to Work Together:

1. Metabolism Makeover: our signature 30-day program, helping you to feel better and lose weight by increasing your metabolism instead of decreasing your calories.
2. VIP: high-touch, customized nutrition coaching for those who need 1:1 support.

P.S. If you want to read messages like these, delivered straight in your inbox, subscribe to my weekly newsletter here.