Food
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4 Ways to Crush Your Labor Day BBQ
low stress * whole food * gluten free As written: Gluten-free, Whole Food, Paleo; with options for Whole30 and Keto diets Labor Day is truly the last hurrah of summer. We Pacific Northwesterners are getting in the last cookout and camping trip before the chill and structure of fall pulls us from our summer dreams back to the reality of short days, flannel layers, and hot drinks. Plus, it’s a 3-day weekend! You can have a BBQ on Sunday evening and people might actually attend. This means you (or Chris and me – the host(s)) have an extra day to wrap your head around having people in our house and…
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Back to School Snack Traps: Top 4 Healthy Not Healthy
And better alternatives for backpack snacks Parents across the nation are singing the praises of the back-to-school season. Because, no matter how painful and tedious back-to-school shopping is, every parent knows that the reward for this effort is that his/her kids will be back in the classroom and out of the house soon. If you aren’t a parent with kids in school, you may be unaware that, these days, kids are allowed – nay, encouraged – to bring snacks to school … for consumption during non-lunch times of the day. I don’t know about you, but when I was in elementary school, snacks brought from home were straight up contraband…
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Protein-Packed Lunches
Easy add-ons for a boost in protein and healthy fats Lunch: the meal that is often treated as an afterthought. In our busy lives, lunch is a meal that we “grab”, “pick up”, eat at our desks, or consume while doing something else entirely. Increasingly, lunch is simply a means to an end – a way to prevent hangriness – so we can keep going through the rest of our day until dinner. This relegation of lunch to the sidelines of life just makes me sad. My ideal would be to sit down at a table, maybe with other people (what?!), and enjoy each bite of a simple, fresh, and…
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10 Healthy Snacks Under 200 Calories
Being hungry is the pits. That gnawing, empty, relentless feeling of your body wanting food is hard to ignore. If you’re like me, you’ll be irritable, have a hard time concentrating, and give the dirtiest of looks to anyone who causes you to be late for lunch. While not yet in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word “hangry”, or, irritable due to hunger, is a feeling I try to prevent every day. Snacks are the antidote to hangriness, but if you’re not careful, snacks can be unhealthy, meal-sized, and leave you feeling like you need a nap. Whether you work in an office, are at home during the day, or out…
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Magic Sauce – Salad Dressing, Dip, Simmer Sauce
Salad dressing can be many things – creamy, tangy, sweet, chunky or smooth. When it’s good, salad dressing makes a salad. Think fresh Caesar dressing made with egg yolks, anchovies, lemon, and a great olive oil. The flavors meld together in a velvety, briny goodness. A great salad dressing evenly coats the greens and vegetables it is served with. It makes greens, vegetables, and other toppings taste better and compliments their textures. In addition to tasting great, salad dressings made with quality ingredients are fabulous sources of healthy fats like olive and avocado oils. When made with nut and/or seed butters (think tahini or peanut butter), salad dressings and sauces…
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Thinking Vegan?
The pros and cons of eating animal-free Years ago, a health-conscious aunt of mine recommended I watch a documentary entitled “Forks Over Knives”. If you’ve not heard of Forks Over Knives, it is a film that examines the idea that chronic disease can be controlled or reversed by rejecting animal based and processed foods. The film follows individuals with chronic conditions (eg, heart disease, type 2 diabetes) as they attempt to reduce their dependence on medications through adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet. If you haven’t watched the film, it is a compelling case for adopting a vegan diet. In fact, after watching it eight years ago, I did just…
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Vegetable Roundup: 10 Recipes For a Veggie Boost in < 30 Minutes
Nutritional powerhouses but famously avoided and disparaged by both children and adults, vegetables tend to be viewed as the least exciting part of any meal. Some view vegetables as something that they “have to” but don’t particularly “want to” eat. Yes, I’ve had vegetables that were bland and off-color, but I would argue that comes not from an inherently untasty food, but poor preparation. In the suggestions that follow, my aim is to offer quick and super-tasty vegetable dishes that will have your taste buds singing and your body fortified with vitamins, minerals, and fiber. From cold salads to cooked and mashed to grilled – vegetables are diverse and wonderful…
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Healthy In-flight Snacking
7 carry-on friendly alternatives to cookies and pretzels For our family, summertime is travel time. The kids are out of school and the weather is less blizzardy; thus, making it the ideal time to trek across the country to see our far-flung loved ones. With our relatives anywhere from 1100 – 2500 miles away, we find ourselves on several flights every year, just to visit family. Add in work-related trips and the occasional vacation, and I might average a roundtrip flight once a month. If you travel even a few times a year, I’ll bet you’re familiar with the challenges of eating well while traveling. Often, you can’t control where…
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4 Ways to Slower, More Mindful Eating
What I’ve learned from having braces (again). I’ve been studying food and nutrition for over 20 years, but the last six months of wearing braces on my teeth has taught me some new things. Braces have also reminded me of some key mindsets for successful and joyful eating. Having adult braces comes with a unique set of challenges (mostly of the self-conscious, embarrassing sort) compared to having braces as a kid or teenager: fear of judgement from others, eating in professional settings, none of your friends are “doing it”, etc. I’ve experienced all of these and more. However, I am surprised at how wearing braces has changed my relationship with…
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Just Say No: 5 Foods to Avoid for Better Health
We all live in a world where delicious temptations are everywhere – the coworker who brings pastries to the office every week, a restaurant menu that is 100% melty sandwiches and fries, the grocery store freezer aisle stocked with a hundred flavors of ice cream. Outside of a medical condition, no food is completely off-limits. However, if most of your diet is made up of highly-processed, sugar-laden foods, it will be more difficult to reach your wellness goals, and you’ll be putting yourself at increased risk of conditions like type II diabetes, stroke, cancer, etc. I’ve put together this list of very unhealthy foods, not to disparage certain foods or…
