Crystal O'Keefe: Welcome to the MetPro Method Podcast. I'm your host, Crystal O'Keefe. Today I am joined by MetPro client Kenlyn Foster and MetPro Coach Jessee Davis. We are going to be discussing Kenlyn's MetPro Journey and hear all of her tips for vegetarian and possibly some vegan snacks. I'm very excited.
Thank you both so much for being here today.
Kenlyn Foster: Thank you for having me.
Crystal O'Keefe: Oh, we're excited. Yeah. I mentioned snacks, vegetarian snacks to Jessee, and she was like, I have the perfect person.
Jessee Davis: She navigates everything.
Kenlyn Foster:Yes, yes. Uh, it is a journey and it's a challenge sometimes. So, um, trying to navigate eating out things like that, but snacks, snacks are particularly difficult.
Crystal O'Keefe: Yeah. So, let's back up a little bit. Let's set the stage. When did you start with MetPro? Give listeners an idea how long you've been with them and how you decided MetPro was like the solution for you.
Kenlyn Foster:Okay, sure. So I've always had a passion for health and fitness and I am in not that field, but I ended up in the hospital for Exertional Rhabdomyolysis in 2012 because I was working out too much.
Crystal O'Keefe: Wow.
Kenlyn Foster:And I decided then and there that I needed to be more educated so I got my NASM CPT and then I went on and got a fitness nutrition specialization and TRX qualification, and I'm a registered yoga teacher, so just keep doing this journey. So I had worked with Stronger U, which was a company that you'd featured on The Clip Out, but way, way before, and then I found Peloton, and then I found The Clip Out, and then I found you
And then I kept listening to Angelo on The Clip Out. So, one day I'm driving somewhere, I'm listening to Angelo and he's talking about running a marathon and training for a marathon, and how your body tries to achieve homeostasis. How it doesn't matter that you're running a bazillion miles, your weight's not going to fluctuate that much.
And he started talking about carb cycling and calorie restriction, and it was a light bulb moment for me and I was like I've gotta sign up. So, I signed up and I got hooked up with Coach Jessee, and I've been on this journey ever since. It's been fantastic for me, as a working professional. I'm sure you both understand.
We sometimes skip meals. We don't eat breakfast. We do. We cut corners, we cut things. And so, what I found is that I was eating much, much more volume of food on MetPro and losing weight and getting fitter and losing body fat. So, it was just a, it was a great, wonderful, experience for me to find MetPro.
Crystal O'Keefe: Wow. Kenlyn, do you ever like stop moving? I feel like between full-time job and like all the certifications you just named, you never are still.
Kenlyn Foster: Don't slow down a whole lot. And it's uh, I think it probably drives my family insane. So you get a lot done. They love me.
Jessee Davis: I love it. It's all good stuff.
Crystal O'Keefe: So Jesse, what's it been like working with Kenlyn?
Jessee Davis: That's why her name popped to mind immediately when you were looking for somebody, because she's an A plus student, especially because she is vegan. So, she has the most restrictive, if you will, guidelines. Plus, her daughter has a lot of other dietary needs.
And so, when her daughter's there, now she's in college. Um, but you know, back in the day when she was in the house, so just being mindful of all these different things, um, that can work. And then again, when you travel, you need non-perishable and you have even more restrictions. And she just was able to find what she needed.
And, she made it work. And it was just a blessing because it's, you have to really. Pay attention. You have to really stay mindful, and you have to make that effort, uh, and plan. And she was such a good planner and it paid off. And I wanted her to tell her story.
Kenlyn Foster: No credit to, to coach Jessee because I. I have learned so much from you as far as other options for eating out. Yes, lots of heart, love , and she did the most amazing thing for me. So my daughter had some health issues and she's in college and she ended up in the hospital in December. Oh, all of a sudden, just an emergency situation.
Ended up hospitalized. I left the courthouse, flew up to Chicago. Didn't take anything, but you know, I don't know if my suit, it was crazy and Jessee like sent snacks to my hotel so I can have-
Jessee Davis: I forgot about that.
Kenlyn Foster:You did it. Wonderful.
Jessee Davis: Anyway we can help right's, so I'm right together. That's right.
Crystal O'Keefe: That's so sweet. Oh my gosh. Jessee really is the best gifter. She's always very thoughtful about people. I'm actually very envious of that. She's very good at that.
Kenlyn Foster:It was lovely. She was lovely.
Crystal O'Keefe: Kenlyn, how long have you been a vegan? And actually before you go into that, can you just explain very briefly for people listening, the difference between vegetarian and vegan, because not everybody knows that.
Kenlyn Foster:Absolutely. So a vegetarian is someone who doesn't eat meat, typically, not animal flesh, but would eat eggs, cheese, milk. And a vegan is a type of vegetarian who takes out all animal products.
So, no dairy, um, no. People are surprised at people, but no, honey. Honey is an animal product and there's no milk, there's no cheese, there's nothing, no eggs. And so, it's a little more restrictive, a lot more restrictive. So it's really plants, grains. That's it.
Crystal O'Keefe: I'll be honest. It sounds hard. It sounds really hard. I think I'm too lazy to be vegan. I really do.
Kenlyn Foster:You know, once you get into it and get into the groove, and, and my reasons for it are, and I've eaten meat in my past. I've been vegetarian where I've had cheese and milk and stuff. And I've been vegan. I've been vegan for about three, four years now, strictly.
Okay. I'm going to say strictly dietary vegan. So I have on leather boots right now, so I'm not a lifestyle vegan. There are, there are people, yeah, there and, and I'm, you know, it's whatever, it's whatever floats your boat, right? Yeah. It's whatever works for you. But there are people who are very, very strictly, they only want to wear, non-animal based products.
So they don't do leather or whatever, but I'm just a dietary vegan and it's really just a lifestyle choice for me. Um, as a personal trainer, when I look at meat, I see fascia and ligaments, tendon and blood vessels, and it kind of grosses me out so, that's it.
Crystal O'Keefe: That's fair. That's fair. All right.
So, so then when you talk about how it's more restrictive, it definitely is, what types of snacks do you eat? This is what I hear from vegetarians all the time. And I know that you're vegan, so it's a little bit different, right? But I hear all the time, how am I supposed to like get my macros kind of all straightened out when I'm only, I'm eating non meat products,
Kenlyn Foster:Right? So, it's hard. So you know, things like egg whites, for example, are great. You know, just protein extras to throw into a shake or scramble up some egg whites. Um, for, for me, so, Justin's peanut butter packets. Yeah. Justin's peanut butter packets are like a lifesaver.
So, I buy these by the case and I have them everywhere. I have them at home. I have them in my gym, I have them in my office. And rice, apples, bananas when I'm allowed bananas. Not bananas right now, but when I'm up. So that missing my bananas. So, that on the Justin's peanut butter on that is fantastic and that is a great because it's a fat and a protein. And then we have, you know, the carb with the rice cake, the apple, the banana, whatever dates.
When I get dates, I'll put a little Justin's peanut butter on it. Um, Protein packets. Oh, this is vegan protein powder. This is Tom Brady's. And then I also have, um, this is a Garden of Life Sport, so blender, bottle and protein packets.
This is great for traveling so that some almonds, um, if you're vegetarian, like cheese sticks. and, and the little yogurt packets if they're not sweetened. So I did an epic cross country trip with my daughter who graduated from high school in May last year. And so Coach Jess and I worked really, really hard on the snacks to take on this epic cross country.
Seven plus thousand mile journey. And so dried fruit. Dried fruit was another something that I had never considered, but prunes, which I love. I know people hate prunes, but I love them.
Crystal O'Keefe: I love prunes highly. I know they're underrated as far as I'm concerned. They're just a big old raisin.
Kenlyn Foster:They are! There's this whole marketing push. They're dried plums. Yes, they're dried plums. So just think dried plums. And they're delicious. So, uh, so. I did some dried fruit. And so the only thing with the dried fruit is you have to look at the carbs and tweak, figure out what your carb serving is for your snack.
So if it's 20 grams of carbs, look at the serving size of the dried fruit and just make the dried fruit match. And so that is a great way to try what's very portable. And I do raw almonds, like I keep raw almonds everywhere and just tip 15 to 19 raw almonds is an ounce. So just, I mean, you can just count.
You don't have to have your scale with you if you're traveling so those are some of my great go-to snacks.
Crystal O'Keefe: Jesse, what about when you guys were planning for this epic adventure? What kind of tips did you give Kenlyn to help stock up that the RV.
Jessee Davis: Yeah. Yeah, I mean really just looking at those whole, whole foods, right?
If she's going to be really hungry, make sure she has plenty of vegetables. Uh, it's really fun because when you travel, if you can find the local markets and find, you know, the more local, the better. Because you can really know where it comes from and it's probably really fresh. It'll last you a little bit on the trip now.
I can't remember. Kenlyn, you guys didn't have the RV at this time, right? It was just the car.
Kenlyn Foster:Okay, so it's her car. Her face was, it was an suv. Yeah, SUV for me and my daughter and her, my daughter has a medical alert service animal, so it was me and my daughter and the dog.
Jessee Davis: Yeah, she was, because I remember, I feel like I remember it being a cramped like fun. Full of love. It was, it was great.
Crystal O'Keefe: Very cozy. Everybody was snuggly. Yeah.
Jessee Davis: Yeah. So she didn't have, like, she couldn't pack everything from the get go. She was going to have to get stuff on the road. Okay. Um, and so just, you know, being able to find those, those fresh whatever's in season foods. You really can't go wrong with that.
So even if you don't have a scale and you can't measure, you know, you know that fruits and vegetables are going to be good. And then you've got your peanut butter pouches, right? You’ve got your minimal things that you packed that can go with it all to balance it all out, right?
Crystal O'Keefe: Yeah. So, um, back to the, the dried fruits, whichever one of you wants to grab this one.
I love dried fruits, but the thing about those, you said watch the carbs, which I totally agree with, but I think I'm just a serial snacker. Like, dried fruits, you have to really watch your serving size with those. Were there any fruits that you had to avoid? Because I feel like most of those have added sugar in them too.
Kenlyn Foster:They do. So, we, and Jess, I don't know if you want to take this, but we would find like, a decent supermarket. If we found a Whole Foods, we would stop there and buy those that didn't have sugar added. And I started out with some dried fruits.
I started out with some dried fruits, uh, that I knew were no sugar added. So that was just being cognizant. And then dining out is also, you know, a. It's not so hard. It's not so hard. There's almost always a vegetarian option if you're dining out. Um, for vegans, look for the side item menu and find the stuff that isn't laden with butter.
And you can just ask, don't put butter on it. And then supplement. I would supplement with protein powder. Um, so I would, I actually just took on my trip. I took a big old jug of, you know, jar of protein powder.
Jessee Davis: You definitely have more freedom when you in a car. That's one of the main things I talk about with clients is, okay, well how are we traveling?
If we're in a car, yeah, we could take that big jug. You, funny enough, I don't think you can take a big jug like that on an airplane. I think it's very suspicious, but you can take the individual packet. Everything that’s individual and sealed, like the individual apple sauces and individual peanut butters, you know, it's sealed and so they really don't have a problem with that.
Just putting your carry on and move on. So, depending on where you're at in the world and how you're traveling, definitely matters on how you pack that protein. But protein's the most important. If anything, that's what Kenlyn has learned, especially being vegan, you know, it's really hard to find a protein and so it's easier to get the carbs.
So, it's not like something that's we have to look for. So just being mindful, do I have my protein? I know I can find a carb when I'm on the go, kinda thing. Right? But back to the dried fruit.
Jessee Davis: People that are on MetPro probably are like screaming. I don't see dried fruit on the meal plan.
Crystal O'Keefe: I know that they are.
Jessee Davis: So we're talking very specifically about somebody who's on a travel cross-country road trip for two. Plus weeks, right? And so you have to be very realistic in when you're setting your grocery list and your goals and stuff. So yes, if you're sitting at home and you want to munch on something, is dried fruit the best thing to munch on?
No. Grab fresh fruit. It's going to be more filling. It's going to have my fiber, it's going to have water, it's going to have all these other things that dried fruit doesn't have because it's non perishable. So just understanding the why behind utilizing it. So dried fruit can be great. In the app. We have raisins because those are the lowest kind of glycemic and they're the most common, so people can find raisins everywhere.
We want to be able to think of food as something we can get anywhere. Not processed food that we have to make. It's like, oh, I can go find fresh grapes. Grapes are my favorite because you, in the app specifically, it's like 10 grapes, 15 grapes. So, I already know I just need to count my grapes and then, you know, I'll get my little peanut butter pouch and you're like, boom.
Didn't even need a scale. And I can eat that on the go. Um, but yeah, so for the, and then the higher glycemic, dried fruit, would be the ones that you don't want to eat too much of. Like the bananas and the mangoes. Like, oh, I love dried mango. Yep. That's pretty much sugar. Yeah.
Crystal O'Keefe: I think that's my problem. I love the high glycemic stuff. I love sugar, so, and I think dried fruit. I'm like, Ooh, dried. Banana chips. Yummy.
Jessee Davis: And then you count out your 10 and you're like, oh, this was so sad.
Crystal O'Keefe: It's not nearly as satisfying. It's not. Why eat things like prunes? Because that's a lot more satisfying. Uh, it is. It's okay. So you've traveled cross-country in a car you have an rv. Do these snacks that you take do. And do they differ depending on the kind of travel you're doing or are they kind of the same no matter?
Kenlyn Foster:So, it differs if I have, you know, so the snacks, like the grapes, the grapes are a great thing. I love grapes for snacks because as Jess said you can, you can count them out. It makes them easy. Um, so I'm traveling Sunday. I'm flying. So, the snacks I'm taking are much more restrictive.
So, it's going to be, um, the peanut butter. I will not buy rice cakes till I get to Dallas. When I get to Dallas. I. You know, go to the closest grocery store and buy my rice cakes. Um, and that's the other thing is having the flexibility if you do, to stay in places that have a microwave or have a little mini fridge so that if you can look as you travel, as you plan to do that.
To try to find. Um, so I was at a judicial conference a couple weeks ago and you know, I had made sure I had a refrigerator, and I had my microwave and I got there and I went straight to the grocery store and I bought berries. I love berries and berries are great I use 'em for my meal carbs almost every morning for breakfast, but they don't travel well.
No. So that would be something I would not take as a snack. Don't take berries, don't pack them in your suitcase. So the heart of like almonds, peanut butter. and, and like rice cakes are kind of my go-to for traveling when I'm flying and I can pack a few rice cakes in my carry-on, but they're going to get mushy.
So you just have to plan. And planning is so hard. Yeah. And I mentioned, you know, a little while ago, we're all professional women and we're not only managing our own lives, but we're managing children and spouses and whatever. So it's really, really hard to plan. Um, and that's where MetPro's been so helpful to me to say, here are the things you need to go get.
This is what you need. And then I can say, oh, I can do that. I can follow a list. Coach Jess has been great about providing that here, here are your parameters, right? Go do these things. And I'm like, okay, I can do that.
Crystal O'Keefe: Now, are you, have you always been a natural planner, Kenlyn?
Kenlyn Foster:Yes. Okay. So, you know, I have a list for today of things to talk about.
Jessee Davis: That's why she gets her A plus!
Crystal O'Keefe: Yeah, that's, that's a woman after my heart right there. Yeah. I am a planner myself, so I love it. Yes. But I, but I do find, and, and maybe Jesse, you might have some thoughts on this, uh, I do find that a lot of clients that I talk to, planning doesn't come easy to everybody.
And so this, when we jump in and we start telling 'em, you know, you can't necessarily get it, be as successful eating like pre-packaged foods. You really need to go after these whole Foods and here's why. And we explain all that. The why makes sense, but it's difficult to change your habits to suddenly get to the store every week if that's not a thing that was happening before.
So do either of you have any suggestions on how people can get more in the mindset of planning if that's not something they were good at before?
Jessee Davis: Well, the first thing I would say, if planning is not your forte, don't try to plan every three days really try to plan once every two weeks, once every month.
So, when you set up your game plan, you know that you don't have to do it again for a little bit of time. For example, you're going to buy your peanut butter pouches. Buy two cases of peanut butter pouches. Know that you have your pantry full of food for that whole month no matter what emergency arises.
So, if you don't have time to plan, you know you have your pantry full. So, I would, that's a non-planners need to have a loaded pantry. That's why Amazon allows you to do reoccurring subscription. It's like, just get your peanut butter on reoccurring order. It's okay. If it backs up, you'll eat it. Uh, you know, and just being able to utilize those tools, right?
If you have an Instacart or something, your shopping list really doesn't change very much, right? You have your food items and then, you know, you can even make different food items, travel ones and, you know, regular grocery lists and just click and order and, you know, the amount of planning can be different, but you still have to make that effort.
You still have to put it on your books. You have to say, I'm going to spend five minutes to plan yeah. Whatever that looks like. I'm going to plan. I'm traveling and I'm not going to take my food and I'm going to eat out every day. Okay. That's the plan. So now we can work around that plan. We don't have to feel guilty about it, but what, you know, what is that plan going to look like?
Can you bring some peanut butter patches so I know you're getting your snack in between these meals you're eating, eating out, you know, what can we do?
Crystal O'Keefe: What a great point. Kenlyn, you know, all of the things you've been talking about have been very on plan snacks. Do you have any snacks that you're just kind of like, you're, they're still vegan, but they're things that you enjoy that aren't necessarily a hundred percent MetPro approved.
Kenlyn Foster:Um, probably yes. Um, I also love cookies, so, you know, um, around the holidays I bake, so sometimes I'll add in extra carbs. Around the holidays I was making these pumpkin protein shakes that I just, there was too much pumpkin and probably a little extra maple syrup in there. So those are, but those are, you know, it was good.
Those are kind of things that I like to have and I, um, I don't know why, but I like, this is so weird, so weird. I'm so sorry to confess this, but I really like vegan margarine. Like I can just eat it by the spoonful. I don't know why.
Jessee Davis: I don't think I've ever tried that in it.
Kenlyn Foster:I know it's the weirdest thing ever. My husband thinks I'm so bizarre, but so like I could have some extra margarine, vegan margarine spread on some rice cakes or whatever. So that's kind of where I cheat is usually with the vegan margarine. Like, oh, I get a tablespoon let me have a little more on my green beans. So, that's typically where I cheat.
Crystal O'Keefe: You were probably a little.
Kenlyn Foster:Somewhere else. It's weird. And I love dark chocolate, Crystal. So, I love dark chocolate, so I keep it in my nightstand.
Jessee Davis: I was going to say, what about your s'mores? Because I feel like that's for one thing, like, cause you know when people are camping and they travel, I mean summer summertime's coming up and, you know, we don't wanna feel guilty.
Kenlyn Foster:Yeah. Vegan smores. Well, I do vegan graham crackers, so no honey and the graham crackers. And then vegan marshmallows, because the ones you buy, it's still have gelatin. So, I don't like gelatin and never have.
But anyways, so that, and then dark chocolate, so don't do the Hershey's because Hershey's had, even the Hershey's special dark has milk in it. So, you have to look and really be careful. A lot of dark chocolates still have dairy or whey so I look and I have an issue with dairy. That's part of the reason that I don't do dairy. I can't do dairy.
Crystal O'Keefe: So, do you, do you get all those ingredients like from um, whole Foods? Is that a Whole Foods type of grocery run?
Kenlyn Foster:It's Whole Foods type of thing? Absolutely. Whole Foods go to Whole Foods or Amazon has it. If you can't buy it at your local Whole Foods.
Jessee Davis: do, I remember she bought an extra big bag of the marshmallows last summer. Like that's what I remember.
Kenlyn Foster:I did, I divided and sent half to my daughter who's also vegan. So, my daughter in Chicago and she's in college. So, I sent half to her and I show the love.
Crystal O'Keefe: I have to say, as a traditional Midwesterner, I get overwhelmed when I walk into Whole Foods. I'm like, what is happening in here?
There's so many products I don't recognize, I don't understand. They just like all of the sites overwhelm me. I feel like it's, it's just really intense in there.
Kenlyn Foster:It is, and, and I don't, I don't do a lot of analogs. I don't do meat analogs. I don't do cheese analogs. I just don't do those things.
I don't like them. If that's what floats your boat, do it. If you want to eat lower on the food chain and do that, do it. It's whatever works for you for me. My, you know, my family calls my food really, really bland. I guess it may be to some people, to me it's absolutely delicious. Cause my palate's so clean.
So, I mean, I'll have steamed brown rice and steamed veggies and my vegan margarine. But you know, that's, I mean, that's my, gotta have the vegan margarine . But that's, you know, that's my thing. I love the veggies. I love fresh berries. I love the fresh food. And I think once you get away from a lot of processed foods, and that's the problem with vegan meat and cheese analogs, you know, those replacement products is that they're so processed. They're so full of fat with little, little protein value. So not having those things in your diet.
But going back to what Coach Jess said about planning, So don't try to plan. Like she said, don't try to plan every few days. So, for me, when I started with MetPro, it was like I was overwhelmed. I was trying to do all these fabulous veggies and things, and she said, stop. Just do pick your grain, pick your veggies, and stick to that for a week. And I am a planner, so that was fine. And so, I was like, oh, okay, so I'm having brown rice every lunch, you know, and every dinner for a week.
And that's fine with me. I don't need to mix it up. I know some people do, and so if you do, you know, make some, I don't know, barley groats, farrow something else. So quinoa, whatever you want. Yeah. And then the big pans, sheet pans of veggies. And I will go, and so when I'm in a pinch, I'll go to the grocery store and buy the precut, like the precut butternut squash and the precut, whatever, and I just spread 'em in a pan.
And pop 'em the oven and roast them. And Coach Jesse sent me at the beginning of this journey, sent me all these fabulous Trader Joe's, spices. And so, I'll say, oh, this is a good chili lime thing and this will be great with this other spice. And so we do that, pop 'em in, and then I have the veggies for the week.
And so I can add, you know, if I want mushrooms and I want onions, and if I want, um, my better nut squash, or if I want brussel sprouts, I've got all those things ready to go for the week.
Crystal O'Keefe: Oh, I love that. So many great tips. Okay. Yeah. You talked a lot about, um, how to add carbs into your snacks.
Do you have any tips on if you need a snack that's on the low carb end of things, but you've got your, your peanut butter, maybe your Justin's peanut butter packet. How are you gonna keep that low carb? Just eat less of whatever you're eating?
Kenlyn Foster:It's typically that I don't, Jess help me here. Like the apple sauce is a good one. Like a single. Cause it says it's a half a cup on the package. It really measures out to like just under a half a cup. And so that's a really good, easy thing. And I also, so I get up really, really early. I get up at 4:30am to work out.
So I can't eat very much before I work out cuz I just don't feel like it. So the applesauce, like a little applesauce before I get on the Peloton or the tonal or whatever that I'm doing. So, um, treadmill, whatever it is, it's, you know, that, that doesn't make my stomach upset. Okay. So, I think apples, I don't know what else.
Well, what else do we do that's low carb? That's really, really low carb.
Jessee Davis: Um, well, yeah, I mean, basically. We always have a little bit of carb at snacks. So that's the, that's the one important thing I do. Um, I would, I was going to ask you, do you, because I can't think of any that you've actually asked me, and I was looking through photos that, you know, you've sent me approved items, um, but a bar, do you have a bar that you have that you go to that has like a protein bar or you know, something like that Kenlyn? Or you don’t usually do?
Kenlyn Foster:I used to use the Garden of Life Sport Protein bars. Um, they have really, really high protein, but their carbs are still a little on the high side. But those are great also. I mean, if you're traveling and you need a snack and you're at a pinch, I'd rather, you know, I'd rather have that than go out here and look in the vending machine in the hallway.
Jessee Davis: Don't go to the vending machine guys.
Crystal O'Keefe: It's dangerous out there.
Jessee Davis: It's a whole nother podcast.
Crystal O'Keefe: For real. If you're already hungry, do not go near a vending machine. It is not going to end well.
Kenlyn Foster:No, no, no, it's not. And um, here's one other thing I thought about is, um, the Ezekiel bread.
Yes, because that will pop up on my meal carbs for my snacks. And um, so I actually keep a loaf of Ezekiel bread here in the courthouse and one at home. And so if, I don't do it very often, but if I need some carb and I realized I don't have my apple, I don't have my, whatever, I'm pretty well stocked.
But if I don't have it, cause I'm a planner, right. But if I don't have it, it’s frozen so it stays in the freezer. You can pop one out. We have a toaster oven. It works.
Crystal O'Keefe: Yeah, no, that's a great idea. I love that. Yeah. It's like a backup to the plan. So, you've got, you are still gonna be covered. I love that.
Kenlyn Foster: Plan A through Z.
Jessee Davis: That's right. I was just going to say that is something we talk about. Not only do we need to have a plan A, but we got to have at least a B and most likely we need a C. That's back up, back up.
Crystal O'Keefe: So, um, alright, is there anything else that we should cover about vegetarian or vegan snacks that we haven't already?
Kenlyn Foster:I think that yes, there is actually. So if you are traveling and if you're traveling by car or you're pulling your, your new RV , you can stop at a gas station. So now lots of gas stations have fresh fruit. So like, don't go in and buy the Oreos, which you can also have if you're vegan because they're vegan.
But buy bananas. Buy apples, buy the fruit. And if you're really, really in a pinch and you can't find something that hits your macros. Exactly. Still choose the more whole foods. Right. Coach Jesse. Right. Choose the more whole foods.
Jessee Davis: That's right. That's right. I mean, I feel like at any gas station they usually have almonds or peanuts, and we know those are the highest protein nuts.
So find one of those and then if they have fresh fruit, great. And if they don't, at least you have something with the nuts. Mm-hmm. , at least you've gotten your body some sort of fuel. And then really on the road and traveling, especially if you're in the rv. Cause I could just think, um, you know, you're trying to get to your destination and you don't have your snack.
And now, now our blood sugar's starting to tank and so now we're more likely to not make that right choice. So, stop early, be proactive. So, when you stop at the gas station to get gas, even if it's not snack. Think ahead, right? That planning and being like, oh, I know that we need to get, you know, whatever you have, but you gotta plan ahead.
Crystal O'Keefe: Yeah. That's the key, fuel your body as well as the vehicle.
Kenlyn Foster:Yes, exactly. Exactly. And the eating more frequently. I think also when you eat really clean Yeah. And you eat vegan foods, they don't hold you as long. So eating every couple hours. So I'm on, right now, the plan I'm on, I'm getting breakfast in the morning and afternoon snack, lunch and dinner.
So, and that works really, really well for me. Just because it's like, I don't know, it's like babies and formula, you know, or breastfeeding like, you know, like every two hours, right? I mean, yes.
Jessee Davis: Like that's how our bodies are made. They're not made to go long bouts without food.
Crystal O'Keefe: What about, um, is there anything that you would like to share about your MetPro journey in general?
And, and that's for either of you, Jesse, working with Kenlyn. Kenlyn, working with Coach Jesse that you haven't already shared.
Kenlyn Foster:God love her because she's been through some ups and downs with me. She'll send me like, I've had some like family issues recently and so she'll send me some texts. She's like, you haven't logged anything today.
I was like, I can't eat cause I'm so sick at my stomach cuz you know, they're whatever. But, so she's become a really good friend and very supportive. Very supportive. Like I said, when my daughter had her emergency, I mean like the next thing I knew, snacks at my hotel and just very thoughtful and sweet.
And so I've been delighted with MetPro. I would love to sign my whole staff up for MetPro. Um, I can't afford it, but, you know, I'd love to. I'd love to. So, and my whole family, right. Um, it'd be great. But we, I think we've done really well together for the last couple years. It's been a good journey and I have really found, I mean, I thought I was a healthy eater before, but I have really found myself, um, just my body feels amazing.
I celebrated my 55th birthday last week. And I feel great and I'm, you know, just, I feel fantastic and I think a lot of it's my nutrition.
Crystal O'Keefe: Well, you look fantastic.
Jessee Davis: And she's eating all the time. That's like the key to everything, right? It's just like the secret was not eating less or you know, it was eating.
Kenlyn Foster:It was eating more and eating more frequently.
Jessee Davis: No, it's been, it has been such a fun journey to, to travel and I think that she hit it on the nose when she said, you know, the ups and downs, every single one of us has ups and downs, right? And so, really, I believe what my job is as a coach is to get you through those ups and downs. Make sure that you don't stay down.
We're, we're all going to get down, so just get back up. Um, and I applaud Kenlyn for fighting through everything and persevering. And look at her now. She is, you know, feeling at the top of her game at 55, right? That's right. Yeah. You, she's not going to let those hormones get her down.
Crystal O'Keefe: That's incredible. That's incredible. And I have to tell you, Kenlyn, coach Jesse is just great, she cheers on all of us coaches. She supports all of us. I think she's just a natural support system.
Jessee Davis: I'm so glad. That's good. Just a little love fest here. Well, it's like a thing. Women support each other.
Kenlyn Foster: We need to support each other.
Jessee Davis: That's right. That's right. We got to make sure those around us are the same uplifted finding that positive, positive energy. I know Kenlyn because she can't hire me for everyone. Um, she uses my wisdom and she does pay it forward.
She's got her little I do gym that she's starting up. And how many weeks has it been operational now?
Kenlyn Foster: Well, it got finished Friday. So I'm in the courthouse. It’s really old and they built a justice center.
It's a long story. You can edit out whatever you need to, but they built a justice center about 15 years ago and they moved the jail. So, they took the old jail that was at the courthouse and made it a juvenile detention facility. And that's what I do. I do kids. I do all the kids. I'm the only judge that's here at the courthouse.
And I have two magistrate judges that work under me and I have a staff. So their Old juvenile detention facility. They use a shelter care for like runaways and, and it's got three bedrooms and it's three jail cells. That's really nasty. So, it's been sitting vacant because it's not up to code for the Our Department of Children's Services.
So what I wanted is I wanted to go run in the park, which you can see out my window sort of at lunch or go walk in the park, but I needed to shower. So I called the sheriff, and said, “Hey Sheriff, can I use your old defunct detention shower?” He says, “Yes, sure.” And then I said, “Well, hey look, I'd really like to stretch and you've got that old day room and could I use that to stretch?”
And he said, “Yeah.” I said, “And if I want to teach my yoga to some of my staff, could I do it there?” And he said, “Sure.” And I said, “If I wanna bring him some equipment, would you be okay with that?” He said, “Judge, you can do whatever you want to with that room.” And I said, okay. So I took that little inch he gave the full mile and maybe more.
And so I put down rubber flooring, uh, commercial gym, rubber floor, I repainted. And I have to say, this is all of my own money and my elbow grease. There's no county funds expended for anybody.
So, but like after hours painting, my, my two magistrate judges, they did the painting. They repainted the whole room. Um, I scrubbed that bathroom. It was disgusting, but I scrubbed it. It's got a little kitchen in there. We put down the flooring. I called; I got a commercial Peloton. I got a light commercial treadmill.
I put in a TRX multi mount with TRX. I got a half rack of weights of weight bench. Um, I've taught yoga classes down there to my staff. So anyway, I gave. My staff love it. It's all my own nickel, but my staff access to the commercial Pelotons that you can all get on the Peloton. And a lot of them have in the last, we got the Peloton a couple of weeks ago.
So we started our, we got it like right before, I think the Friday before March. And so then my magistrate judge and I started that crazy challenge. And he's eight years younger and he's much fitter and he's killing me. But I'm clinging on by my fingernails cause I'm going to win.
Crystal O'Keefe: That is truly incredible.
Kenlyn Foster: He’s Titan. A cool story. So we're so excited. So yeah, I've been, I've been doing, I did like a chair yoga for my staff, uh, last week and some meditation and. We're loving it and I've got people, I've got two employees who are, um, actually both scheduled for hip replacement surgery, but they've been getting on the Peloton.
Wow. Oh, nice. And moving. And moving because movement is medicine, as we all know. Yeah. And, um, there's change in action. There is change in action.
Jessee Davis: Yep. Yep. And it really is just the smallest little thing. Right. This started with just needing a shower and then I just wanted a little bit of space to stretch.
Right, right. And so, you know, just planting a seed for all you out there that, you know, need a little better work environment or, or don't have time to go to a gym and you don't have. At home, you can't do it because you have 5 million kids. You know the work is a good place to do it. So I love that you're doing that Kenlyn.
That makes me so proud of you.
Kenlyn Foster: Thank you. Yeah, it looks fantastic. I'm going to send you pictures. Jess, I'll send you pictures. Okay?
Crystal O'Keefe: Yeah. So you get a chance. Kenlyn send me a picture. We can include it with your, um, your episode when it goes up. That'd be cool. Fantastic. I will, I'll alright, anything else you guys wanna add before, before I wrap up?
Kenlyn Foster: No, just other than this has been so fun. I've been a fan for so long. So I'm just delighted to be in your presence. Thank you so much.
Jessee Davis: I'm glad I thought of you too.
Crystal O'Keefe: You're so sweet. Wow. I need to talk to Kenlyn every day when I'm having a bad day.
Well, thank you both so much for your time. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank. And listeners, that's all for this week. You can find all the MetPro Method episodes anywhere you get podcasts, or you can go to metpro.co/podcast. Please be sure to follow the show and rate and review that lets other people know what they can expect.
You can also learn more about MetPro at Metpro.co. I'm your host, Crystal O'Keefe and I will be back next week. Until then, remember, consistency is key.
