bonus

Nutrition Nugget: Slowmaxxing

Published on: 17th July, 2026

Nutrition Nugget! Bite-sized bonus episodes offer tips, tricks and approachable science. This week, Jenn is talking about slowmaxxing, the viral trend that flips hustle culture on its head. Is the answer to burnout really found in 48-hour chocolate chip cookies and 15-minute coffee rituals, or is that taking things a little too far? Jenn breaks down what slowmaxxing really means, why it might be the antidote to internet brain rot, and how it connects to the priorities we already claim to care about. Does slowing down mean getting less done, or could it be the missing piece that makes everything else work better? Tune in to hear how Jenn is putting this trend to the test in her own life, and whether she thinks it is worth adopting or just another wellness fad dressed up with a new name. Like what you're hearing? Be sure to check out the full-length episodes of new releases every Wednesday. Have an idea for a nutrition nugget? Submit it here: https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/index.php/contact/

RESOURCES:

Become a Happy Healthy Hub Member

Jenn’s Free Menu Plan

A Salad With a Side of Fries

A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch

A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram

Clearing Up Brain Fog and Powering Up Brain Energy

There's Not Enough Time in the Day (feat. Megan Sumrell)

Feeling Off Track? Follow the CURVE (feat. Anna Dearmon Kornick)

Morning Routine Checklist

Nutrition Nugget: Senobi Breathing

7 Types of Rest

KEYWORDS: Jenn Trepeck, Nutrition Nugget, Salad With A Side Of Fries, Health Tips, Wellness Tips, Slow Maxxing, Slow Living, Hustle Culture, Burnout Prevention, Protein Maxxing, Fiber Maxxing, Weight Loss, Wellness Coaching, Mindful Living, Self Care, Morning Routine, Single Tasking, Multitasking, Time Management, Digital Detox, Screen Time, Stress Management, Anxiety Relief, Emotional Wellness, Sleep Issues, Digestive Health, Gratitude Journal, Presence Practice, Mindfulness, Nervous System Regulation, Breathwork, Sunobi Breathing, Work Life Balance, Productivity Tips, Calendar Blocking, Buffer Time, Rest And Recovery, Seven Types Of Rest, Nature Connection, Glimmers, Nutrition Coaching, Healthy Habits, Overwhelm Relief, Intentional Living, Coffee Ritual, How To Avoid Burnout Naturally, Slow Living Tips For Busy People

Transcript
[:

[00:00:27] So Keith, not to put you on the spot, have you heard of this one?

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[00:00:38] Jenn Trepeck: Kind of. So-

[:

[00:00:41] Jenn Trepeck: so we had protein maxxing for a long time, which was the idea of, you know, getting all the protein we can.

[:

[00:01:08] Keith: I have. Or like even back to Gattaca where you're getting taller through bone breaking-

[:

[00:01:13] Keith: your legs.

[:

[00:01:33] But so fiber is now having a moment because protein had a moment, so there's this, you know, thing. Now we have this slow maxxing, and when I started to dig into this, I was like wait a minute, we've been talking about this for years on this show, we just didn't give it a name.

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[00:01:53] Jenn Trepeck: So we'll go through what it is, what it looks like, how to do it, and if we're jumping on board.

[:

[00:02:23] That mentality. This is the opposite. It is the opposite of optimizing, and it tends to be showing up especially online, the irony here, go with me, as the antidote to internet brain rot. You know when like you're so in internet culture they call it brain rot? Slow maxing is potentially the antidote to that, and I appreciate that I just said all the things that it's the opposite of, which doesn't actually tell us what it is, and I get that.

[:

[00:03:40] And for all of the Type A people, I feel you, I am you, I know this is very difficult. I think what I like about it is that it's a bit of a shift in priorities, or maybe the better way to say that is that slow maxing pushes us to consider our priorities [00:04:00] and whether how we're spending our time reflects those priorities.

[:

[00:04:32] So when adopting this, people tend to notice a difference. So what does it look like? Okay, going back to the original like TikTok about it when it went viral, which also I think was based on something else, but anyway, the TikTok, when it went viral, said, "You need to be reading long, fat books. You need to be making 48-hour chocolate chip cookies.

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[00:05:15] Keith: Yeah, you got... How many times is it baked over as a 48-hour chocolate chip cookie?

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[00:05:28] Keith: Yeah.

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[00:05:41] Keith: Mm, yep.

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[00:05:49] Keith: Right

[:

[00:06:21] Maybe it's more of saying to yourself, "I no longer do back-to-back meetings or appointments."

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[00:06:32] Jenn Trepeck: Right. A little bit of buffer. I think there's also a piece of stepping back and looking at your day big picture or having a perspective on the whole day and where you could find time.

[:

[00:07:09] Some talk about blocking time to breathe. I would say let's put maybe a couple minutes a couple times a day in the calendar that are nothingness breaks or a stretch break or a breathe break. I know one company, I do some business coaching with them, you know, for them, and they start all of their meetings five minutes after whatever the time is.

[:

[00:07:58] It doesn't have to be five.

[:

[00:08:01] Jenn Trepeck: I would recommend going back to, to our episodes with Megan Sumrall and Anna Dearmon-Cornick. Those were a lot about, like, time management and thinking about how we plan our day. For me, ditching the to-do list has been an incredible piece of this. Because instead of putting something on a to-do list, it ends up in my calendar with a block of time.

[:

[00:08:51] So again, we have an episode about morning routines. Could you not rush to the phone and take a couple [00:09:00] deep breaths? We did a nutrition nugget on Sunobi breathing. Maybe check in with that one and start your day with that kind of breathing, or maybe you do that before you eat. The idea of 15 minutes to make your coffee is borderline sociopathic to me.

[:

[00:09:53] Or maybe you just drink your coffee a little slower while looking out the window, taking a minute. [00:10:00] Maybe you light a candle. Maybe you just sit in the sun for five minutes and people watch or nature watch, and not spend time with our head in the screen. Give yourself extra time to get somewhere. Then that commute becomes leisurely and you have a moment to notice what they call the glimmers, which is like the opposite of triggers.

[:

[00:10:38] Keith: Yeah. So you look for them. Exactly. You're looking for the positives instead of being always negative.

[:

[00:10:46] Do we notice, you know, how the sun is reflecting off the water? You know, watching the birds sort of, I don't know, walk around, hop around, whatever. I'm thinking of things I see in New York City that qualify as nature. [00:11:00]

[:

[00:11:02] Jenn Trepeck: Glimmers. I think it's, again, it's just this idea of like intentionally looking for the small moments that can bring us little pieces of joy and awareness and presence.

[:

[00:11:34] If you see flowers, what if you smelled them? It's the little things. I also think consider activities that you'd wanna do that would feel restorative to you. We did an episode, Seven Types of Rest. Maybe that gives you some ideas of things or maybe where you need or would feel supported by a different kind of activity.

[:

[00:12:25] Keith: Right.

[:

[00:12:27] Keith: And you don't need to be a different person, you can just incorporate into your mix, right? Like, you can take a slow morning and then get to the to-do list or calendar. And then, like you said, move something in your calendar which shows, like, you schedule it, but you can be flexible to adjust.

[:

[00:13:03] I will say that over the years of playing with some of this, not knowing that it's called slow maxing, I feel better, I feel calmer, I am happier. I think I'm a kinder human. I mean, I am better able to handle the things that come at me, like my capacity is higher. And I even notice it. Like, the other piece to me that's really been meaningful is the idea of priorities.

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[00:13:56] Not to say that certain people aren't important, but to [00:14:00] say my parents are going to be a greater priority most of the time than the client who's calling to ask about reading a label. Like, we can read that label in 10 minutes. I wanna make sure that my family is okay. So I think that piece of prioritizing and noticing where I spend my time and how I spend my energy, you know, even whose incoming call can interrupt what I'm doing, that's been really powerful, and I think that's connected to this slow maxing thing

[:

[00:14:34] Priorit- prioritizing, uh, I don't know if you'd call it leveling, but, like, that is inherent in the word prioritizing. But you're also saying that you... I like the way that you're saying play, 'cause play, like, means you're trying things out. And you, I think you've been doing the new term slow maxing because you're talking about your whole, like, life you need a vacation to reset.

[:

[00:15:13] So it's like that balance.

[:

[00:15:38] Keith: Sam Adams, yeah.

[:

[00:15:46] Keith: Maybe that's the human part. You have the variability and let the AI machines- Yeah ... take care of the constant maxing, optimizing.

[:

[00:16:01] what happens. Yeah, exactly. Let's play. I love it. All right, friends. As always, I'm Jenn Trepeck. Connect with me on Instagram or all social media. I'm @jenntrepeck, J-E-N-N-T-R-E-P-E-C-K. Website is asaladwithasideoffries.com. Pick your platform, send a message. Hearing from you is literally the highlight of my day. Your questions, your ideas, your takeaways.

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[00:16:31] Keith: Thank you for having me, Jenn.

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[00:16:42] This shows your support for this podcast, this community, and above all, your health. On top of access to the community board, where we can interact, ask and answer questions, and so much more, you get discounts, curated content, and then of course this week's recipe for the 15-minute pesto shrimp. Well, [00:17:00] friends, that's it for today's episode of Salad with a Side of Fries.

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About the Podcast

Salad With a Side of Fries Nutrition, Wellness & Weight Loss
Nutrition tips that actually work. Real-life healthy eating, balanced diet tools, and weight loss tips you can use today with coach Jenn Trepeck.*

If you have searched for nutrition tips, tried to keep a healthy lifestyle, or felt stuck following popular weight loss tips, this podcast is for you. Get straightforward wellness advice that works in real life, plus strategies for a balanced diet, sustainable healthy eating, and a smarter approach to fitness and nutrition. Is your diet making you hungrier, crankier, or less healthy? Tune in and find out.*

Free gift: Schedule a 15-minute curiosity call with Jenn to explore what is possible for you. https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/contact/

Welcome to Salad with a Side of Fries, where wellness meets real life. Award-winning host Jenn Trepeck, health and lifestyle coach and author of Uncomplicating Wellness, cuts through the noise with clear answers you can trust. Ranked in the top 1.5% of podcasts worldwide, the show won Ear Worthy’s Best Health Podcast in 2024 and 2025 and was nominated for Best Independent Podcast both years. Jenn also won Women Who Podcast’s Stellar Interview award in 2025 after being named one of Podcast Magazine’s 40 under 40 in 2022.

Jenn’s motto is “wellness without the weirdness.” With more than 17 years coaching after solving her own food struggles, she knows how confusing the industry can be. Each week you get the foundations of a balanced diet, sustainable healthy eating, metabolism basics, and long-term holistic health, plus straight talk on fad diets and supplements.

What you will get by listening:
✅How to eat and how to cheat, guilt-free
✅Nutrition tips that work in the real world
✅Weight loss tips that are effective, never restrictive
✅How to build a balanced plate at home, on the road, and eating out
✅Smart strategies for sustainable habits that include your favorite foods
✅Evidence-based insights on fitness and nutrition
✅Conversations about holistic health that go beyond food
✅Wellness advice you can use right away


About Jenn Trepeck:
Jenn is a health coach, speaker, and consultant who blends humor with practical science. She has helped thousands improve energy, metabolism, and confidence in their choices through one-on-one coaching, group programs, her book, and this podcast.

Connect with Jenn and the show:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenntrepeck/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saladwithasideoffriespod
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jenntrepeck
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferTrepeck/
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/425796548337541/
Website: https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/

If you are ready to trade guilt for freedom, confusion for clarity, and boring salads for fries on the side, press play. Health gets doable here.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This podcast and its guests are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

About your host

Profile picture for Jennifer Trepeck

Jennifer Trepeck

“My passion for nutrition and helping others stems from “kicking my food issues” with my own weight management saga.” ~ Jenn

I believe that the greatest accountability is paying it forward! That’s why I teach the nutrition education we are all supposed to know but no one ever taught us, along with the science behind food, fitness, and health.

After I graduated from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, I founded Better Life Now LLC while working full-time in hedge funds. In 2019, I took my practice from side-hustle to full-time self-employment and launched my podcast, Salad With a Side of Fries. On the show, we offer science-based tips and tricks for how to achieve wellness and weight loss for real life – because who wants a life without fries or dessert?!

Topics we tackle on the podcast include debunking fad diets, food myths, misinformation in marketing, bad science, and general nutrition. I encourage guests whose expertise is different from my own focus on weight management to bring their unique, fact-based perspectives to talk about subjects they are educated in and passionate about.

Due to my decade-long experience of working with clients, I have gained insight into the health and food industry and the how-tos of building a business.

Some specific health and wellness topics I can speak to include debunking fad diets, exposing the BS we are fed by the food and diet industry, how the people around us can positively and negatively impact our health journey, and shifting mindsets in order to overcome inappropriate barometers of success to instead achieve happy, healthy, and meaningful change.

On the subject of business, I can help you by teaching my critical pieces every entrepreneur should know, how to make your side-hustle into your full-time job, ways to sustainably achieve success without burning out, contemporary networking, and how to prioritize wellness while pursuing your projects.

When I find some free time, I’m typically working out at Physique57, discovering hidden gem restaurants in NYC, or traveling to spend time with friends and family.

I’d love to have an in-depth conversation with you, whether it’s leveling up in business or debunking food myths!