Healthy Soul Meal Prep & Catering Steps Up to the Plate for Healthy Living

Tawana Gulley, owner of Healthy Soul Meal Prep & Catering, creates nutritionally balanced meals with local ingredients. Photo credit: Nathan Lambrecht

After being diagnosed with diabetes and chronic asthma in 2018, Tawana Gulley knew she had to make drastic changes in her diet and lifestyle and these changes eventually led to Healthy Soul Meal Prep & Catering.

“I was working a job where I was sitting 12 hours a day,” says Gulley, an Indianapolis mom of two. “After I was diagnosed with diabetes, I set out on a weight-loss journey. I knew I was getting older, and the diabetes scared me straight. My grandma had suffered from diabetes and lost limbs, so it affected me deeply.”

Advertisement

Gulley researched and realized she could take control of her fate as long as she took her diet seriously, watched her carbohydrate and sugar intake, and stayed mobile. To stay on track, Gulley began prepping meals in advance each week using lean proteins and fresh vegetables. Soon, her co-workers noticed the artfully prepared, healthy meals she was eating daily.

“A couple ladies I worked with also had been diagnosed with diabetes, and they asked me to meal prep for them as well,” Gulley recalls. “At first, there were six of us, but it grew. Five months later, I was meal prepping for 20 people.”

Within 90 days, Gulley lost 20 pounds and lowered her A1C from 12.7% to 6%. When Gulley’s fitness trainer tasted her prepared meals, she was so impressed she encouraged Gulley to start a business.

See more: La Scala Italian Restaurant Offers Homegrown and Handcrafted Dishes

Photo credit: Nathan Lambrecht

Healthy Soul Is Born

In August 2019, Gulley launched Healthy Soul Meal Prep & Catering, making her meal prep company official. Her goal was to help people eat healthier by providing nutritionally balanced meals that taste delicious and incorporate fresh, locally sourced ingredients.

Starting a food-based business was a natural fit for Gulley, who grew up in a family of restaurateurs and chefs.

“My uncle worked with Ivy Tech Community College and helped build their culinary curriculum, and he studied in New York as a chef,” she says. “My grandparents owned a restaurant, and I had a great uncle who worked as a chef for the University of Wisconsin and was known for his chocolate pie – they even named a food hall after him. I’ve always cooked with my aunts and uncles. It’s in my blood.”

Photo credit: Nathan Lambrecht

Customers can fill out an online questionnaire about their likes, dislikes and food allergies. Then, they select a package option, ranging from seven to 14 days or an entire month of meals. Lastly, they build their meals online and choose whether to pick them up, have them delivered within a 30-mile radius or have them vacuum-packed and shipped on dry ice.

“You build your own package,” Gulley explains. “You choose two proteins, three veggies and two healthy carbs, like brown rice or sweet potato. For example, if you choose chicken or shrimp with black beans and corn, then we might make you a Southwest shrimp bowl. You also choose your sauces. Our sauces are low carb and have little or no sugar. We want you to know what you’re eating and make it taste good, so you’ll eat your vegetables and not hate them.”

Healthy Soul uses halal meats, which are raised humanely and free from antibiotics or growth hormones, as well as wild-caught seafood. Whenever possible, Healthy Soul uses fresh and local vegetables as well.

“We source vegetables from farmers close to us. We have a farmers market every Saturday, so I get a lot of my zucchini, squash, greens and tomatoes from local growers,” Gulley says. “We buy herbs locally, too. The Indianapolis winter market is where we buy power greens, and our microgreens come from another local source. We know where our food comes from and have a relationship with our growers.”

See more: Kazan Japanese Steakhouse Brings an Eruption of Flavor to Each Dish

Making Comfort Foods Healthy

Photo credit: Nathan Lambrecht

Along with meal prepping, Healthy Soul provides catering services that focus on turning comfort foods into healthy fare.

“My go-to comfort foods are chicken wings and fried rice, so I modified those recipes to make them healthier,” Gulley says. “For example, I make chicken wings that don’t have any flour, but they are still crunchy.”

In 2020, Gulley’s customers nominated her for a social media contest sponsored by Discover called “Eat It Forward.” To her surprise, she won the contest and was awarded $25,000. In July 2021, Gulley used the prize money to expand her business by opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant inside The AMP @ 16 Tech, an Indianapolis marketplace and food hall. Gulley’s daughter, Ajeshna Payne, joined the business as kitchen manager.

Healthy Soul Meal Prep & Catering, located inside The AMP in Indianapolis, offers delicious, nutritionally balanced meals made with local ingredients. Photo credit: Nathan Lambrecht

“Our restaurant menu is made up of the same concept I use for meal prep, so customers can build their own bowl by mixing and matching their own food choices,” Gulley says. “There’s something everybody will enjoy. We just introduced a new turkey tenderloin that we get locally.”

One of the restaurant’s bestsellers is Gulley’s House Fried Rice, a blend of brown, Thai and jasmine rice packed with vegetables such as onion, carrot and zucchini and cooked in olive oil on a hibachi flat-top grill.

“The flavors are all balanced, so you don’t even know you’re eating all those vegetables,” she says. “I’ve learned how to make comfort foods healthier. Being a chef and creating new foods makes me happy. Seeing the reaction on people’s faces when they taste the food I make gives me so much joy.”

Chef Tawana Gulley’s Tips for a Healthier Lifestyle

Photo credit: Nathan Lambrecht

1. Enjoy everything in moderation. Don’t try to quit something cold turkey. Narrow food choices down one by one to adjust to healthier eating.
2. Plan your meals in advance, even if it’s just breakfast and dinner – the beginning and end of your day. You are the least mobile and winding down for the day at dinner, so don’t eat super heavy food.
3. Incorporate some type of exercise, even if it’s a 20-minute walk on your lunch break. Being mobile is a key to being healthy, so get moving. If you cannot walk 20 minutes, do chair exercises – anything to get your body in motion.
   

See more: Sisters Korean Restaurant Owners United By a Love for Food