“Icon Meals make life easier. No matter where I am or what I’m doing, I’m set for success and can stick to my goals with ease.”

Jewels, who recently received 3rd place at the national level at NPC North American Championships, sat down with Charn from Media Stream to discuss her love for Icon Meals and her inspiration for building a healthy body.

What inspired you to start eating clean?

It’s fun to look back and see all the areas of my life that have changed. My understanding of my body in relation to the way I fueled it was one. When I was in my mid-twenties I had a bad relationship with my body. I believed as a woman I was expected to have a slim physique and to eat very little. Starving myself in a sense was my meal plan. “Don’t eat too much or you will get fat”, was ingrained deeply in my mind.

One of the beautiful things is now, I have the opportunity to unlearn the false facts of the past and right at my fingertips, I have an abundance of resources to learn what’s really the truth. After I started training with a coach, I learned a lot of diet and how my body functions best.

I’d always admired people who ate healthy. They looked good, seemed happy, and full of energy. I would love to have that! But I thought I had to have a garden in the back yard and a chef in the kitchen to have such a lifestyle. So I wrote it off and stuck to my salads and protein bars.

As I moved into a more health-conscious lifestyle I started eating more efficiently. I’d prep my food on Sundays for the upcoming week. Everything was measured out and labeled. It was a great. I stayed on track and consumed jusst the right amount for my fitness goals. But it was getting to be a lot of work! I could easily spend all day in the kitchen. And being that Sunday was my day off from the gym, I’d rather be spending it other ways. Then I learned about Icon Meals, and my life got a whole lot simpler. 

How do you incorporate Icon meals in your training or workout plan?

As a competitor I have times when my diet is super strict and other times it’s more lenient. During off-season I have a little more flexibility in my diet and love splurging on Icon Meal’s PB&J. This may look like your average peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but think again. The bread is Icon Meals own high protein bread packed with 15 grams of protein each slice. The peanut butter is super creamy and the strawberry is sugar-free. I love to put it in the microwave for 30 secs to give it the fresh out of the oven taste.

When I’m preparing for a show my schedule is very regimented and again, the last thing I really want to be doing on my day off is cooking in the kitchen. So instead, I’ll order from the custom meals menu. I can create each meal exactly the way my coach suggests and order for the week.

When you travel, did you still order from Icon meals?

Another great thing about Icon Meals is they will ship my meals anywhere I travel in the US. I’ve had my order shipped to the Hyatt in Manhattan for the week I’m working.

My husband and I enjoy sailing and have enjoyed the beautiful waters in the Caribbean over the last few years. Staying on my meal plan had always been my challenge. That and the lacking of a gym would really make me uneasy. I didn’t like the way my body felt. So this last time I ordered my proteins from the A la carte menu. Once I got it home, and instead of putting them in the refrigerator, I froze them instead. The following morning I put them in a soft-sided cooler and was able to bring it on the plane as a carry-on. Wa La Our meals were set for the entire trip! Aside from packing some rice and oatmeal we were set!