#73: Building Quality Nutrition Habits with Luke Smidt

Luke Smidt is a husband, father to 2 boys, career firefighter, former traveling nurse, CrossFit coach for eight years, and CEO/head coach of MacroLiving Wellness.  Luke is an avid Plan to Eat user and he joined me on the podcast to discuss how he meal plans and encourages his clients to create healthy habits around food and meal planning. His focus is on longevity and creating habits that will last a lifetime. Enjoy! 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] to the Plan to Eat podcast. Where I interview industry experts about meal planning, food and wellness. To help you answer the question. What's for dinner. 

Roni: Hello and welcome to 2024 and the plan to eat podcast today. I have an interview with Luke Schmidt. He is a husband, a father of two boys, a career firefighter. He was formerly a traveling nurse. He's been a CrossFit coach for eight years and he is now the head coach at macro living.

I got to talk with Luke today a little bit about. Nutrition and a little bit about meal planning. Luke uses plan to eat for himself as well as with all of his clients. So we talked a little bit about how he incorporates plan to eat in his meal planning. We talk a little bit about the nutrition programs that he creates as well as creating habits for [00:01:00] both meal planning and for sustainable nutrition.

So this was a great episode to start off the new year, and I hope you enjoy it.

Luke. Thanks for joining me on the podcast today.

Luke: Yeah. Thanks for having me really, really excited to talk to you today.

Roni: So to get started, why don't you just tell people what you do for a living and who you are?

Luke: Yeah. So my name is Luke Smith. I'm from South Dakota. Uh, currently I'm a full time firefighter and I coach at a CrossFit gym a few days a week. And then I own my own nutrition coaching company as well. Along with being a husband and dad of two young boys. So keep them pretty busy, but, you know, that's the way I like it.

And that's, that's the way I can really relate to people, which is awesome.

Roni: Yeah, that's great. How did you, uh, you know, starting out as a firefighter, how'd you get interested in being a nutrition coach?

Luke: So before I was a firefighter, I was a nurse for about five years. And so I could really saw kind of the spectrum of, you know, people of all ages, [00:02:00] uh, coming into the hospital who were sick and, you know, hadn't taken care of themselves really kind of on that, that, that spectrum of, you know, they didn't know what to do to make themselves healthy anymore.

Uh, so that kind of got me shifted into, I wanted to coach. I wanted to help people learn how to move their body. Well, while coaching people, uh, so many people has had questions on nutrition, what should I eat? What shouldn't I eat? There's so much. You know, information and the internet is just full of stuff based on, you know, don't eat this, do eat this.

And, uh, so then I started out just giving people, this is my, this is what I'm eating throughout the week. Like, here's my plan for my family. And that slowly evolved into making individualized plans for people, in terms of their macros or protein, carbs and fats, uh, which then evolved kind of into a good solid part time gig where I've been able to help a lot of people put on muscle, drop fat and ultimately have, you know, not a diet, but a sustainable eating pattern that can last them the rest of their life.

Roni: That's great. Yeah. I like that your [00:03:00] focus is on sustainability with that, because I think that that is. Pretty much the hardest part about making a change to your diet or your lifestyle is like, how do you do this for the longterm? Cause it's really easy to get stuck in. Like this is just a temporary thing.

And then I'm going to go back to eating cake and whatever, when I get done.

Luke: Yeah, absolutely. And that's what most people are looking for. You know, so many people I've worked with have tried things before it didn't last. And, you know, when I say the word sustainability, they're like, that's exactly what I want. And so much of that comes down to knowing exactly how much you need to eat, what kinds of foods you're going to eat.

But I'm, I'm a nutrition coach, but I tell people I don't have any no foods. I have foods that, you know, maybe eat less of, but there's, there's a time and place for you to have a donut. There's a time and place for you to have a cookie and that should be part of a sustainable diet. And that's, what's going to lead to your success long term is still being able to do those things.

Enjoy those foods that you really enjoy and just knowing how it [00:04:00] can fit into an overall plan, continue through on year after year.

Roni: Yeah. So what kind of tools do you use to help your clients, um, either like track their macros or figure out their recipes? What, what kind of tools do you use?

Luke: Yep. Uh, so I partnered up with a company here in Sioux Falls. Uh, called Ekin nutrition. So they're, uh, another, supplement store and they do a lot of nutrition coaching as well. So the owner of that store, he developed an app called Lifebase, which is very similar to a MyFitnessPal, but I would, I would argue it's much more user friendly and that's much more coach friendly as well.

So, uh, I go through, I set up an individual plan for the, for the member and decide how many How much carbs, proteins, and fats they need. I determined those numbers based on an using an in body scan, which is going to show a lot of data, how much muscle they have, how much fat it shows kind of their water distribution, and we can set up a personalized plan for them.

I put that [00:05:00] on the life base app and then every time they track food, I can see what they track on my end. Uh, then I do weekly check ins with them via video and kind of give them some good feedback. You know, Hey, you did a great job hitting your protein. Let's. Uh, work on hitting carbs. Let's add some more fiber into your diet.

So it makes it really user friendly, really put it that way. And then I also utilize plan2eat, so all my members get a year long subscription to plan to eat, where then I put what me and my family are eating for the week. Our recipes are, our meal plan for the week. So they have access to that. And then I input all those recipes into the Lifebase app.

So that way it's kind of a no brainer if they make what's In the plan to eat app, it's going to be in life based. So it's going to make it really easy for them to track and, uh, really easy to stay on target with our goals.

Roni: Oh, that's cool. I. Imagine that the accountability of you being able to see your clients like tracking their macros, uh, is really helpful for people to like actually want to [00:06:00] like hit their numbers instead of just being like, you know, they could tell you instead and maybe they're not always honest about that.

But I, uh, I like that accountability piece of you being able to also kind of monitor that on a daily or weekly basis.

Luke: Yeah, that's definitely the value that having a nutrition coach is going to bring is that accountability. And when somebody can see your stuff and you know that they can see it, I can see it the moment you track it versus them having to send me a log. Uh, every week. And like you said, you can fudge the numbers, like, um, you know, maybe I'm just going to erase that this day.

So when I, when I can see it right away, they know somebody's watching, which also comes back to, you know, honesty and having that trusting relationship is huge. I always tell people right out the gate, you know, like this is a judgment free zone. If you have a complete terrible day and you just go off the rails, put it in there, like it's completely fine.

Because. Us knowing that we can see like, okay, these results came from that day or that series of days versus if you don't track at all, then you have no idea what's going [00:07:00] on. And you're like, well, I'm not getting the results that I want. It's like, well, yeah, because you haven't, you haven't shown me what you've been doing.

So I can't give you any advice based on nothing. But that accountability piece, that's exactly what the majority of people are looking for. And that's really what helps them kind of get over that hurdle with the ultimate goal that down the line, you know, they have enough confidence that they can continue to do it themselves.

Roni: Yeah, I really like that philosophy because I like that you're interested in knowing about people's, off days, you know, the days where they don't like meet their targets, because I think it also brings up the opportunity for like a conversation of like, so what happened today?

You're like, how could you avoid that in the future? You know, like that's also part of that coaching aspect there of like. They have you as a support system to be like, how do I avoid this day happening again? Because, you know, X, Y, Z was crazy in my life and it just threw everything off. Yeah, I really like that.

You're encouraging of that and want that like honest and open relationship with your clients.

Luke: Yeah, I mean, that's where [00:08:00] success comes from. And no matter what aspect of life, if you're not honest with your team, if you're not honest with your coworkers, you're not honest with a spouse, that, that relationship's not going to flourish. And, uh, that's ultimately what, you know, coaching is from personal trainers to nutrition coaches.

It, it's a personal relationship. And if that trust isn't there, if that honesty isn't there, then It's not going to be valuable for either person.

Roni: Right. Yeah. So in using plan to eat for yourself, I like to hear a little bit about how you use it for you and your family.

Luke: Yeah. Uh, so I got introduced to plan to eat. I was working with my cousin and she was looking for some nutrition coaching and she's like, Hey, this is what I've been utilizing with my family for years and got me introduced to it. And honestly, it was exactly what I needed. I was somebody who I would look ahead and plan out my meals for the week.

Like I generally do like four or five dinners. Um, I have dinners for leftovers and you know, you go through on the internet, I would scour the internet. I had a Google doc that just had tons and tons of recipes on it.[00:09:00] Which just was super inconvenient when I was trying to figure out what I wanted and I would end up just finding more new ones anyways.

So then I started using plan to eat, uh, which just saved me a lot of time, even in terms of making a grocery list. And, uh, so the time it has taken me is just, you know, probably been cut in half and then I can go back. I can favorite my recipes, which I really like. So I have two young boys. I got a six year old and a four year old, so I try to find recipes that they're going to like.

And, I actually asked them like to pick out a meal, something that they want once a week, add it to our menu. And, my favorite feature is that it makes a grocery list for me. So I can go on there and check everything off that I already have in my, have in my pantry, I can go through, look right in the store and know exactly what I need when I get there.

If I, you know, don't think of something, I can quick pull up the recipe again and look through that and make any changes I need to, to adjust it for, uh, to fit my macros and, Yeah, honestly, it's been a time saver, which is why I've incorporated into my business is. Uh, being able to share [00:10:00] recipes with people and showing them that planning isn't hard.

It takes some routine. It takes some practice. But once you get that practice down, plus utilizing the app, I mean, I've had multiple members be like, this is exactly what I've looked for when planning out meals. And this is exactly, uh, even after they stopped working with me, they continue to use it, which is awesome.

Roni: Yeah, that is great. Do you have any tips, maybe for anybody listening who is maybe struggles to make meal planning a habit or a regular routine in their life?

Luke: The biggest part, and this is what I encourage a lot of my members to do is just, you have to set aside time to do it. And whether that's, a lot of people, you know, they'll do it like Sunday afternoon or Saturday afternoon. They're like, Hey, this is what I'm making for the week. And then, you know, Sunday they go out and get groceries.

How I start a lot of people out is telling them to look at two, three day chunks at a time. So that way it's not as overwhelming as looking at a whole week, you know, just sit down and be like, Hey, what am I going to eat for the next three [00:11:00] days? And then looking in your pantry, seeing what you have.

I've had really good success with people who will look in their freezer and then base their meal planning off of that. They'll see what they already have, because there's so much food that just gets wasted. Myself included, I'm pretty sure I have like eight things of tomato paste, because I never look.

And then they just stockpile, so I'm like, well, now I gotta figure out how to use this. So looking in your freezer, figuring out how to do it that way. I've also had people who, uh, you know, as a younger couple, their routine was every Saturday, they'd go to the farmer's market and see what. What they could find what looked good and then they built their meals around that, uh, which is also, you know, it's kind of a fun option.

It makes you think outside the box a little bit, but biggest piece is just taking it in small chunks and, you know, looking one, two days ahead, even if it's just looking ahead to what am I going to do for breakfast and lunch tomorrow. You know, that's a start and then you build off of that.

Roni: Yeah. I like that you encourage scheduling it in because that's what I do with my meal plan is I just have like a reminder on my [00:12:00] phone that pops up every Sunday. That's like, Hey, it's the day to make your meal plan. Um, and I just find that so helpful. And I know that there are some people who maybe aren't, motivated by the notes on their phone.

Uh, that's the type of person my husband is. He has like 74, you know, notes that he hasn't, or reminders that he hasn't taken off of his phone. But for me, I'm very motivated by the reminders on my phone. So that's really helpful for me. And, yeah, we encourage our customers to do that a lot too. Like just on your regular calendar, like block out a little section of time.

That's like, today's the day I'm going to meal plan and either grocery shopping that same day or grocery shopping the next day. I just think it's really important when you create a little bit of that. Priority around it. And even in some cases, like a little bit of urgency, cause it's like, okay, well, I don't have any more meals planned after today.

So if I, like, if I really want to avoid the stress of that for tomorrow, I should get this done.

Luke: Yeah, that's something like even today, like I know, like me and my family are going out to eat and [00:13:00] then tomorrow I'm like, I have nothing planned. So I need to kind of get my poop in a group so I know what we're eating tomorrow night. Cause yeah, when you don't take this time, like even now, like me not knowing what to eat tomorrow night, I know that we're not just going to go grab fast food quick.

Like that's just not, you know, something that's on our radar, but that becomes so easy for people where you can just quick go grab something. It's a lot easier. But at the same time, you know, it's not sustainable. And plus I know some people don't like leftovers, but leftovers are a game changer. So when even just planning one meal, you make enough, you got two, three meals right there, which again, is going to be a time saver

Roni: Yeah, absolutely. So I would, uh, guess having been a nurse and being a firefighter that you work some pretty different hours than most people work. How do you make your, uh, I guess like nutrition goals work around kind of an obscure schedule?

Luke: that I would say. That's one thing that I really kind of, I would say I'd pride myself on and encourage, You know, I work with some firefighters, work with a lot of nurses, [00:14:00] people in the medical field, people with shift work schedules, because I understand that. So for me personally, what I've always done is it's a priority.

Even when I was working on the floor now at work, there's times where you can't eat, but there's times you can. And if you're efficient with your time, You can get all the things done you need at work. You can take 5 10 minutes to eat. Also figuring out snacks and meals that you can eat fairly quickly on the go.

I try to not, I try to only do like a protein shake once a day. Uh, that's what I encourage my members to do as well. So figuring out, you know, can I eat this sandwich? Whether, maybe it's, how do I bulk up like my Greek yogurt? So I have enough protein, can get some good quality carbs in there. And it's something I can eat within a few minutes, cause that's all I have.

So helping people work through that process, a lot of times then to working on for nurses, for example, you know, they work 12 hour days, 12 hour nights. So the biggest question is how do I, you know, fit in a five meal [00:15:00] day, which is something that I work my clients towards when I'm working overnights and my schedule is completely wonky.

So I work with that, uh, through them with that. Generally, I have them focus on, you know, it's midnight to midnight, that's one day. Focus your day on that. So if you're looking at like eating a breakfast, it might be at two in the morning. So just little things that we can work through there for firefighters, there's days you're running and you have no option.

So then it's just trying to make up those calories later and choosing foods that aren't going to completely pack you. So if you have to eat 120 grams of carbs, maybe don't eat. Five potatoes. Cause you're going to feel terrible. What's something that we can get good quality cars without like a ton of volume.

So encouraging people through that. So having the experience that that definitely helps a lot. And it kind of validates what people are feeling. Cause I've been there. I understand that where in the past I've had members who have come, they're like, yeah, like they're telling me I have to eat five times a day, but I can't do it.

So. But the coach is like, Nope, [00:16:00] this is exactly what you need to do. There's no other option. So having that flexibility as a coach to work with your members and meet them where they're at is something that I definitely pride myself on. And I think is why I get really good results with my members.

Roni: hmm. So I would say maybe different coaches have different philosophies on things like this, but, can you explain why you help your, your clients and your members do like a five meal a day system?

Luke: Yeah, that's, uh, that's a big question. I get from a lot of people. That's something we try to get people to build up to again. I do want to meet them where they're at. So I just met with somebody this morning. He's twice a day. And I'm like, all right, that's, you know, there's, there's a purpose for eating five times a day that I encouraged.

But let's start out with three. So you're not completely bombarded and build off of that. The reason for eating five and I even have people eat six is getting that constant source of fuel is going to be. Important for, building muscle. That's primarily the people I work with is they want to build [00:17:00] muscle.

They want to drop fat. So if you constantly have that, uh, drip of food coming in, you're going to have carbohydrates and protein coming in. So your muscles constantly have something that they can feed off of and they can continually build throughout the day. Then, you know, versus like even just two times a day, you get a huge influx of food and your muscles use it, use it.

And then they're kind of just in, you know, almost just in a state of waiting and they can't really use, use anything because they don't have anything. So that's when you start to store things a little bit easier, you store fat a little bit easier. Uh, so keeping food continually coming, your body's, you know, it's anticipating it's knowing it's knowing like, okay, I got food coming soon so I can use what I need and don't, and then just kind of excrete the rest.

Roni: Hmm. That's really interesting. Yeah, I feel like that would be, I could see how that would be challenging routine to have having like a. Like a different schedule, having a shift work schedule, or even thinking like if you have [00:18:00] kids and like trying to find the time to feed yourself when you're also, you know, trying to like feed kids and take them to activities and stuff like that.

How do, how do you manage that with your two kids?

Luke: Yeah, I was, I think my kids eat more than I do. I mean, they're all, you know, that's how kids work like what dinner like my four year old he's home with me today so he had lunch and then 10 minutes later he's like I'm ready for a snack and I'm like you just have house like two hot dogs.

But again, it's just routine, just building that into building that habit in of, okay, like at this time I eat lunch and, you know, unless there's some crazy circumstances where I can't eat lunch, we're going to build our day around that somewhat. You know, not to the extreme where we're going to, you know, completely stop what we're doing if we're in the middle of something important, but building those habits in so.

I mean, everybody at work knows that at like 11 o'clock, somewhere in that timeframe, Luke's probably going to eat at three o'clock. He's probably going to eat again. And [00:19:00] I've even had people that, uh, I've never worked with before. And I start eating in the afternoon. They're like, Oh, I've heard you eat in the afternoon.

And I'm like, yeah, it's just what I do. So instead of looking at it as I have to eat now, looking at it as, you know, I get to eat now, this is the opportunity I have, changing that mindset and. Once it's routine, it's just something that kind of happens. And you know, like your body will start getting hungry.

That's the biggest part I've had from a lot of members is they get to the point where they're like, I was never hungry before, but it gets time. And I'm like, all right, I need something soon. Uh, so I don't turn into a huge bear. Um, so once you get the routines established, your body's starting to look for that food.

It's, you know, it's burning. It wants to build on more muscle and, uh, it's excited when it gets it.

Roni: So oKay. So you have all these recipes in your PlantEat account that you use that it sounds like you've taken a lot of them from the internet, based off of your Google Doc situation.

Do you then [00:20:00] imagine these recipes into a healthier version of them, or do you just try to incorporate the recipes how they are into somebody's macro profile?

Luke: a Lot of them, a lot of, I find websites that are fairly, um, fairly balanced. What I'm looking for is something that is just balanced in terms of protein, carbs, and fat. So it's going to have, generally I look for something that one serving is going to be over 20 grams of protein. It's going to be somewhere in that like 30 to 40 grams of carbs, and it's going to be somewhere around like 10 grams of fat.

That way, Uh, you know, no matter who you are, where you are with, you're like whatever nutrition macros that I kind of prescribed you, uh, generally it's for a meal, it's very few people that I have less than 10 grams of fat and that's where people can get burned. So if I find something I like. That is higher and maybe I can make some adjustments to, I'll make some adjustments once I put it into the plan to eat, uh, I still try to reference [00:21:00] that website so people can go back and see the original recipe, um, so I'm not stealing credit from somebody who made it themselves, but I will tweak things a little bit, you know, maybe changing it from, uh, like a full fat cream to, I use a blend of reduced fat cream cheese, skim milk, and flour, which when you add it into recipes, Tastes nearly identical.

It was a little higher in protein, a little lower in fat. But it really adds a creaminess to recipes. So things like that, that I know can just make it a little easier for people to put into their macros. But overall I try to find recipes that fit. So I have some go to recipes or go to websites, uh, like skinny taste is one of my go tos.

I'm trying to think of another few off the top of my head, but there's like five or six that I check pretty regularly and they're always updating the recipes and especially seasonally. I'm somebody who's very basic when it comes to like fall recipes and Christmas recipes so this time of year I get excited with all the, you know, the different soups and the different like casseroles and stuff.

So, that's something I'm always looking for is how can I take. [00:22:00] Something that, you know, is maybe a little unhealthy and turned to healthy. So it turns into a fun little challenge too.

Roni: Yeah, that's cool. with, um, your multiple times of eating during the day, do you do a lot of meal prep in order to make that easy or are you cooking five times a day?

Luke: Yeah, I don't do traditional meal prep. That's just, I've tried it. It just doesn't function for me. I get sick of eating the same thing over and over. Uh, so I do, when I make it, like I plan out my dinners for the week, generally four or five of them. And then I make sure that we have enough that like me and my wife can eat leftovers for two or three days.

So, like this week I made a cheeseburger soup and that's lasted us two, three days, but we also have, like, we had to bake spaghetti and like two other things in there so that way you can. Add some variety to your lunches. Sometimes they fit in for snacks. Otherwise for a snack, I'll do something simple like Greek yogurt with some fruit or cottage cheese and fruit.

I'm also odd where I, I was kind of mixing [00:23:00] match stuff where, uh, like I'll do some chicken breast with sugar free barbecue sauce. With like a blueberry bagel on the side because I know it fits my macros that I need. So, but I like just to do the leftover thing. It keeps the variety. Uh, I know with my schedule, I'm fortunate where I'm off days.

And, so I can make longer recipes. So when I, I always try to find recipes that are either Instant Pot, air fryer, slow cooker friendly, something that's like 20 to 30 minutes. So when people do get home from work, they can, uh, you know, quickly make that and still have a good, healthy meal without having to spend two hours cooking.

Roni: Yeah, I'm a big fan of my crock pot for that reason. It's just really nice to be able to come home and be like, I don't have to think about that at all.

Luke: Right. And your house smells good when you come home.

Roni: Yeah, true. Um, well, let's see, was there anything that we missed that you wanted to talk about today?

Luke: No, I don't think so. You know, for people who are just struggling, trying to find like the time to plan, you know, just making their priorities, [00:24:00] huge, taking time to figure out what you want to eat is going to set you up for success. You know, if you're, if you're kind of stuck in a spot, ask some friends, I mean, friends always have great recipes and I can guarantee you that they want to share them with you.

So if you're looking for something new and then just start scouring the internet, if you're looking for some fun recipes to try and then try to tweak them to make them your own, there's always things you can do that, you know, on recipes to make them something that you like. And there's. Really easy ways to, you know, make them healthy, add in some veggies.

I mean, you can toss, uh, rice, cauliflower to pretty much anything and not taste it. And you add in like a ton of veggies. So making it a challenge and not a chore, you know, telling yourself I get to cook and make food at home versus I have to do this shifts that mentality and makes it a little more fun and not so much of a hassle every night.

Roni: I love that. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. So why don't you tell everybody, uh, where they can learn more about you and connect with you if they want to.

Luke: Absolutely. So my company is macro living wellness. Uh, you can find me Instagram is probably the place I'm most active on. So macro [00:25:00] living wellness is going to be my Instagram. Uh, you can DM me on there. That's where I get a lot of messages through. That's the easiest way to get in contact with me. I do have a website, macro living wellness.

com. You can check that out. Uh, it has some just kind of great general info, but I would, I always like talking to people and messaging people in person that just makes it a little more personal and I can kind of set up a plan for them. Facebook macro living wellness is there as well. So yeah, if you're looking for me, check me out.

I'd love to hear from people.

Roni: That sounds great. Yeah. I'll make sure we link to that stuff in the show notes so they can find you. And thanks so much for joining me today. This has been nice.

Luke: Yeah. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

Roni: Thank you for tuning into another episode of the Plan to Eat podcast. There is links in the show note of this episode where you can connect with Luke and learn more about him. You can support the Plan to Eat podcast by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. You can leave us a reading and review on both Apple and Spotify.

And I just want to say thank you [00:26:00] for joining me in the new year for another podcast episode. Hopefully this upcoming year, I'm going to have some great interviews with different people and give you a lot of thought provoking conversations, lots of practical advice and tips and tricks. So stay tuned for what's to come.

Thanks for listening.