First Week as an OR nurse, and New Food Prep Strategy

Here’s what I’m starting right now to stay healthy while working full time, and honestly, it’s a routine I think I can stick with.

My Simple Weekly Food Prep Routine

Breakfast (grab and go):

Overnight oats! I prep 4 jars on Sunday for Monday–Thursday with: Rolled oats, Chia seeds, blueberries, plant milk... then I add banana and ground flax the morning I eat it so it stays fresh.

Lunch (grab and go):

Ball jar salads! These have been a game changer. I pack: Greens, Chickpeas or beans, pumpkin seeds-, walnuts, crumbled tofu “feta" (I have a simple recipe for this), blackberry balsamic vinegar (from California Balsamic). This keeps me full for hours and I don’t have to think about what I’m eating at work.

After work (on my 25-minute drive home): Green smoothie. I’m trying to build a new habit: drink a green smoothie on the drive home and then go straight into a short workout when I get home before I sit down. My smoothie usually has:- Spinach or Kale- Spirulina- Flax or chia- Frozen fruit- Vanilla protein powder- Soy milk.

Dinner (simple): Soup + sourdough bread.

I’m food prepping:

Vegan onion soup & Miso soup with tofu, mushrooms, Bok choy, and green onions. I’ll have soup with a slice or two of sourdough bread.

After a fiber-packed smoothie, I don’t think I’ll want a huge dinner, and soup sounds perfect, especially since it has been so cold here in Michigan.

Dessert: I still have sweet potato brownies prepped, and I am going drink organic hibiscus tea at night (My mom drinks this to help her kidney function and she gave me a few. It's so tasty).

When you look at it all together, it’s actually a very simple way to eat: Oats- Beans- Greens- Nuts & seeds- Soup- Smoothies- Tea Nothing fancy, just real food and a little planning on Sunday so the week is easier.

New Job Update & Life Thoughts

I also started my new job and I have to say — I think it’s fun. It kind of reminds me of the cath lab in the sense that it’s sterile and fast paced, but I’m not the one doing the sedating and monitoring — the CRNA does that. The people I work with are super nice and very helpful, and I’ve already learned so much about eyes, which is a completely new area for me, so that has been exciting. The OR RN title is new for me too, so I feel like I’m learning a whole new specialty. I’ll be training full time for another 3–4 weeks, and then I’ll switch to part time on Tuesdays and Thursdays — just in time for my new grandbaby to arrive and for my Food for Life classes to begin. And in the middle of all of this… I turn 50 on April 21! Big changes this spring: New job, new grandbaby, teaching plant-based classes, turning 50, building my health coaching business. It feels like a new chapter, and I’m trying to build routines now that will carry me through all of it — simple food, simple exercise, and a lot of gratitude for this season of life.

RN on Plants!