Welcome back to The Simplicity Sessions, I'm delighted that you’ve joined us today. My name is Jenn Pike, your host, registered holistic nutritionist, medical exercise specialist, the best-selling author of the Simplicity Project, and the creator of the women's revolutionary health program, The Hormone Project.

This is a conversation with Kristin Dovbniak. Kristin is a holistic health coach and founder of Healthy Balanced Mama. This is a podcast and a brand designed by Kris to help moms stress less about the food that they are prepping and to help them understand and embody balanced, healthy eating and confident cooking. She encourages mothers worldwide to uncomplicate their eating and to find joy via her digital courses, meal planners, cooking classes, and more.

Today, Kristin and I are going to discuss meal planning, demystifying the word balance when it comes to your health and the kitchen, and hopefully inspire confident cooking for you, your family, and your overall health. 

You can find links to Kristin Dovbniak’s multi-platform publishings, as well as social / websites below in the ‘Connect with us’ section of the show notes. You will also find below-linked info about our partners and recommended products to try.

If you have a question for me and my team, send it on over to [email protected] or via Instagram at @jennpike and I'll do my best to share helpful insights, thoughts, and advice. 

Here are the main topics of today’s episode:

• Introducing our guest, Kristin Dovbniak
• Jenn’s seasonal recommendations 
• Finding the balance
• Creating simplified, balanced meals
• Digestive supportive ingredients
• Variety and balance = satisfaction
• Scheduled meal prep and front-loading
• Resources for flexibility, convenience, and balance

Connect with us - 

Thank you for joining us today. If you could do me the honor of hitting the subscribe button, leaving a review, and sharing this podcast with a friend or on social media tagging me when you do @thesimplicityproject on Facebook, @jennpike on Instagram, @simplicityjenn on Twitter, I would be forever grateful.

To connect with Kristin Dovbniak and find direct links to her programs, meal planners, and additional resources,, go to her website https://www.healthymamakris.com .

To follow Kristin on social media and join her weekly cooking classes - Instagram @healthybalancedmamapod and Facebook group healthybalancedmamas

To listen to Kris’s podcast, the Healthy Balanced Mama podcast, visit the link here https://www.healthymamakris.com/podcast 

You can connect to this episode on iTunes, Spotify, or Stitcher by searching The Simplicity Sessions, or visiting www.jennpike.com/podcast.

Join our growing community via Facebook The Simplicity Sessions Community.

Online work with Jenn: 

Register for my signature program The Hormone Project and work with me 1:1 to support your health, hormones, and more via the following link www.jennpike.com/thehormoneproject.

Sign up for The Synced Program to learn how to tune your body to the lunar cycle and acquire a multidisciplinary approach to balance your body in less than 30 minutes a day! 

Interested in registering for the upcoming Audacious Women program? Send us a message via our website at https://jennpike.com/contact/ 

To learn more about the products mentioned in this episode, visit the link I’ve shared on my Instagram @jennpike. There you can discover where you can purchase these products and how you can start to make them part of your everyday simplicity approach. 

Learn more about the products I recommend and some of our amazing partners 

• Skin Essence is Canadian-founded, organic, non-GMO, not animal-tested- this company is one that we love and have around the house. Pure is a gentle cleanser that has been specifically designed to effectively clean the skin without leaving it feeling dried or damaged. If it’s your first time ordering from Skin Essence, use my code JENNPIKE20 for 20% off. Use code JENNPIKE15 at check out and save 15% off your order for every order after that.
• GoodJuju makes all-natural, plastic-free home & body products that are good for you, and good for the planet. Use code JENNPIKE at check out and save 10% off your first order 
• Saint Francis Herb Farm Allergy Relief with Deep Immune provides symptom relief plus addresses the underlying cause of an overactive immune system without drowsiness or dryness side-effects. You can use the code JENNPIKE15 at check out and save 15% off your order.

Quotes

• “Having this really hard relationship with food, I really wanted to share how food can be delicious and it can be nourishing and we can find that balance.”
• “I realized that the old ways of doing things of me just coming home after a long day, and either throwing something together really quickly or, um, you know, just eating takeout all the time, wasn't going to work anymore. I wanted to nourish myself, I wanted to nourish my family”
• “You need your meals to be satisfying and to balance your blood sugar so that you actually stay full and fueled.”
• “We have taste buds for a reason. If we're not enjoying our food, then it doesn't matter how healthy the meal is. We're not going to stick to whatever plan we're on if it doesn't actually taste good and it's not delicious’
• “Fruit is great for a smoothie, delicious and nutrient-dense. But if you put so much in there that. Spiking your blood sugar up to a million and then it's dropping down. You will be hungry really soon after. So having that balance in there, making sure there's some sort of a protein in there.”
• “Breakfast and lunch are important too. Especially if those are busy times of the day and you're not actually getting balanced meals”
• “ I think that midday fuel really sets us up for the rest of the day.”
• “I'll prep a Mason jar salad for lunch, and I'll just layer things in there”
• “I love having those options on hand that does have a good amount of protein in them to keep you satiated, that are easy to grab and throw together, and don't require a lot of cooking.”
• “Oftentimes in the afternoon, we might want something sweet because we're feeling a little bit low energy so having something in the fridge that I can grab, that's got a little bit of fat, a little bit of protein, and that tastes delicious.”
• “Whenever I talk about food, I love talking about the concepts of variety and balance. So we know that variety and balance are really important for nutrition, but they're also really important for satisfaction when it comes to food.” 
• “I always recommend when you are doing your meal planning, especially if you're not used to meal planning, or you're just starting to meal plan, or you're just meal planning for a busier week - to look at your week, to look at your schedule and ask yourself where you need the most support.”
• “ Front-loading with those foods that make us feel really good because we show up as the best version of ourselves and we're feeling good throughout the day when we're not showing up at our meals super hangry.”
• “ Allowing that space for flexibility, but also creating that place where you can create that convenience.”

Additional Information About Jenn:

Jenn studied and graduated with honors in Human Anatomy and Physiology with such a passion that it propelled her to continue her education over many years. Jenn is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Medical Exercise Specialist, Registered Yoga Instructor and Faculty of the Toronto Yoga Conference, Pre & Post Natal Yoga Expert, STOTT Pilates trained instructor, Twist Sport Conditioning Coach, Spin Instructor Crossfit Level 1 Coaching, among other certifications she got along the way. She is also a guest Holistic Expert for Breakfast Television, Global, CHCH, Rogers Tv, and writes columns for STRONG Fitness Magazine, iRun magazine, Savvy Mom and contributes to Inside Fitness Magazine, The Toronto Star, and Sun. She is also a proud educator and ambassador to Genuine Health, Nature’s Emporium, and Juice Plus.

Jenn is a proud mama to two beautiful souls and her best teachers of life. She resides on Lake Simcoe in Keswick with her husband and two children.