Drea Howes never considered herself a chef. With two kids, a full-time job, and a heart health scare that caught her off guard, she was looking for solutions that were more practical than perfect. “I didn’t have time to become a dietician overnight,” she says. “I just needed meals that wouldn’t stress my heart—or my schedule.”
That’s when she made a simple rule: no more than five ingredients per meal.
“It wasn’t about restriction—it was about sanity,” Drea says. With fewer items to prep, chop, and clean up, cooking became less of a chore and more of a rhythm. She leaned on what was available: oats, greens, legumes, olive oil, and seasonal produce. She started roasting, blending, and steaming rather than frying. She even found herself enjoying the process.
What surprised her was how good she started to feel. Her blood pressure stabilized. Her sleep improved. And her family, who once rolled their eyes at “heart food,” began asking for seconds.
“I realized that food didn’t have to be fancy to be healing,” she says. “Just intentional.”
Drea’s approach wasn’t flashy or trendy. But it was sustainable—and it worked. “Simple food helped me listen to my body again,” she says. “And that’s more powerful than any recipe.”
