Looking for a show-stopping healthy appetizer for game day? Make this Mexican Black Bean Hummus for the ultimate snack. When it comes to healthy dips, we’ve got you covered! From this black bean hummus to this baked spinach artichoke dip or this roasted garlic caramelized onion dip, you’ll never be ...
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I love mini wellness challenges or experiments because the short duration is usually doable for most people. Whole30 is a perfect example. It’s only 30 days and then you can go back to your old diet if you want. Easy! What most people find at the end of the 30 days is that they love …
Continue reading I Just Did a Whole 30… Where Do I Go From Here?...
Networking benefits health coaches. Find out how a professional health coach network can help you further your career and increase your job satisfaction.
The post Health Coach Networking: The Benefits of Connection and Collaboration for Coaches appeared first on Chris Kresser.
Make yourself and the family a big bowl of chili this week! Whether you are looking for a classic beef chili, a vegetarian chili, or a delicious chicken chili, we’ve got the recipe for you! No matter what chili recipe you choose, remember to make a big batch of this ...
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If you’re ever visiting southwest Michigan, make a point to stop by Silver Beach Pizza. After you visit the dunes and/or beach, of course. As someone who likes (not loves) pizza, I must say, I LOVE Silver Beach Pizza. My favorite pizza of theirs is the “Sicilian” – sausage, pepperoni, green olives, and fresh basil. It’s heavenly and sadly, packed with salt.
The pizza joint is most certainly a staple in our community. With good reason.
My friend is not a pizza fan, though. Even of Silver Beach Pizza. Blows my mind.
She does, however, love their cauli-bites. She talks about them all the time and orders them every time she’s there. Which is often (in addition to being a popular restaurant, it’s also a fun hangout spot with an adult-only upper level…and great sunset views!).
Admittedly, I’m a bit late to the cauliflower game. I love the stuff, but I don’t necessarily love it any more than, say, any other vegetable. I’m an equal opportunity veggie lover, with the exception of eggplant. I don’t hate it, but it’s not something I’d ever seek out. I may even shove it off to the side of my plate and there’s few foods I’d do that with.
I recently joined the cauli-power party and had fun putting my own spin on cauli-bites. I’m a lover of buffalo any thing and this seemed like the perfect combo. It definitely worked and is super easy to make. Enjoy!
Game Day food is best eaten by hand, am I right? And it doesn’t get better (or easier) than these Chimichurri Street Tacos. They’re easy to prepare and will please meat-eaters, vegetarians, and vegans alike.
Picture this: beef strips (or tofu!) smothered in a zesty chimichurri sauce, with bright sauteed peppers and onions, all wrapped in a fresh tortilla. Pair these with our high-protein nachos, and you’ve got a big game spread that’s sure to be a touchdown (yes, pun intended).
The best part? Just set the fillings out and let your guests build their own taco. Party planning is done.
Makes 8-12 tacos
You can prepare your beef on the grill then slice it or start with slices and bake it in the oven (shown in this recipe).
Makes 2-3 cups
Traditional chimichurri sauces use more oil, however, I scaled back on the oil and replaced it with water. This recipe uses avocado oil in place of traditional olive oil, but olive oil is a fine option. The amount of sauce you get will depend on how much water you add.
In a food processor or blender, combine parsley, shallot, vinegar, garlic, oregano, cumin, and salt. Pulse until the ingredients are combined. Add avocado oil and pulse until coarsely pureed. While the food processor is running, slowly add a small amount of water.
Stop the blade and check the consistency. If you want it thinner, add more water and run the food processor for another 5-10 seconds.
Note: Don’t over processes the sauce or it will be too liquidy. Add a little water at a time and run the blade in 5-10 second increments. The texture should be slightly coarse, not silky smooth.
Place beef strips in a bowl. Top with ¼ cup of chimichurri sauce and toss to coat the beef. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
In a separate bowl, add tofu and ¼ cup of chimichurri sauce. Gently toss and coat the tofu. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours. Reserve the remaining chimichurri for a topping.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Remove the sirloin and tofu from the marinade. Discard used chimichurri. Place the tofu on one side of the baking sheet and the beef on the other side (or use two separate baking sheets).
Bake until the beef is cooked through. Approximately 10-15 minutes. (Longer if you like your beef well done).
While the tofu and beef are baking, saute the mushrooms, bell pepper, and onion in a pan on medium heat until slightly tender. Note: To reduce calories use water instead of oil to saute your vegetables.
Once your beef, tofu, and vegetables are cooked it is time to assemble your tacos. On a taco shell, layer up your vegetables, protein of choice, fresh red cabbage, additional chimichurri sauce, and yogurt.
Enjoy!
The post Chimichurri Street Tacos: The Perfect Party Food appeared first on Born Fitness.
Today I’m opening up and sharing about my own inner journey over the past year and how that led to dramatic physical changes without major diet and exercise changes. If you’d told me a few years ago that something like that was even possible, I would not have believed you. My journey involved realizing firsthand just how connected …
Continue reading 309: How I Overcame Trauma (and Lost 50 Pounds)...
These are the ultimate 3 ingredient appetizer perfect for any kind of party including game day, the holidays, or a summer gathering! These Bacon Wrapped Goat Cheese Dates are made with whole ingredients and in under an hour. Best Appetizer Ever Dear, Bacon Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Goat Cheese…Will you ...
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Make your takeout dreams come true any night of the week with this epic Instant Pot Beef and Broccoli recipe. This will give your favorite slow cooker beef and broccoli stir fry recipe a run for its money…and time because it’s made with a cook time of just 9 total ...
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In fact, we boldly say: “There are no bad foods.”
Our stance tends to spark lots and lots of questions, which is why we decided to take a deep dive into the whole “good foods vs. bad foods” debate.
In this article we’ll:
We’ll be honest. The “no bad foods” philosophy can be really scary, especially for people who’ve spent years organizing foods into good and bad categories.
But it can also be equally transformative.
We’ve found that once our clients welcome the foods they love back into their lives—without fear and without guilt—they struggle less, enjoy eating more, and, finally, are able to overcome obstacles that stand between them and their healthy eating goals.
Many people divide food into just two categories.
Good foods: Vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fish, lean meat, and other minimally-processed, nutrient-dense foods.
Bad foods: Sweets, chips, crackers, white bread, fries, and other highly-processed foods that offer little to no nutritional value.
And before we explain why we don’t sort food into “good” and “bad” buckets, we want to be very clear. The nutritional differences between these two categories are quite easy to spot.
Many of the so-called “bad” foods, in high amounts, can raise the risk for a variety of diseases.
They’re also incredibly hard to resist. (The food industry really has created cheap, easily accessible products that our taste buds and brains love.)
But are they bad?
We don’t use that terminology—for six major reasons.
Maybe you’ve heard of a teenager who ate just four foods for most of his life: fries, chips, white bread, and processed pork.1
And then he went blind.
It’s a cautionary tale, for sure, but it’s important to keep one thing in perspective: That teen is an outlier. Most people don’t eat just four foods.
They eat a variety.
And the fries, chips, bread, and pork didn’t cause the teen’s blindness directly.
They caused it indirectly—by crowding out foods needed for good eye health.
What truly matters for good health? Balance.
In other words, you don’t want your toaster pastries, spray cheese-like product, and crescent rolls to crowd out veggies, fruit, beans, nuts, fresh meats, seafood, and other nutrient-dense whole foods.
If they do, like the teen we mentioned, you run the risk of deficiency.
So the question is: Are you in balance?
We experience massive benefits (fat loss, improved health) when we go from poor nutrition to average or above average.
But eventually, we see diminishing returns.
As this chart shows, not only are gains much harder to see after 80 to 90 percent of your diet is composed of whole, minimally-processed foods, you also run the risk of eating disorders like orthorexia (an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating).
Is most (80 to 90 percent) of what you eat nutrient-dense and minimally processed? (Think veggies, fruit, meat, fish, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, whole grains.) Then there’s likely room for less nutritious foods.
Is most of what you eat highly-processed and nutrient-poor? (Think sweets and chips.) Consider small actions to make your diet just a little bit better. Slowly add more nutrient-dense foods (veggies, fruit, fish, poultry, and so on) to each meal. Use our “What Should I Eat?” infographic for guidance.
To illustrate this point, Precision Nutrition Master Coach Kate Solovieva often brings up cola.
Many people see it as a bad food. Because it’s loaded with sugar and lacking in vitamins and minerals.
But is cola bad in all situations?
“Let’s say you’re visiting a country with no safe drinking water,” says Solovieva. “In that case, cola—with its air-tight seal—is a much better option than water.”
Or, maybe you’re sixty sweaty miles into a 100-mile bike race and your blood sugar is so low that you’re hallucinating flying pink elephants. In that case, the sugar and caffeine in the cola might make the difference between finishing the race and a DNF.
Our individual physiology and psychology also affect what happens when we eat specific foods.
Added sugar, for example, affects someone with type 2 diabetes differently than it affects someone whose cells are insulin sensitive. And it can affect the same person differently depending on whether they’re sleep deprived.
At PN, we talk a lot about deep health—which describes so much more than our weight, cholesterol level, and blood sugar.
Deep health includes where we live and how we feel and who we spend time with. It’s about every aspect of who we are.
When you consider health in this light, the exact foods become less important, and the overall eating pattern and full context of someone’s life becomes a lot more important.
Lots of people tell us that 100 percent abstaining from “bad foods” is the only way they can maintain any smidgen of control around their eating.
If they say “okay” to one “bad” food, they worry they’ll open the floodgates to a diet swollen with cookies, brownies, chips, and fries—as well as devoid of veggies and other whole foods.
Here’s the thing:
There’s a subtle difference between demonizing a food and merely abstaining from it because you know you tend to overeat it.
When we demonize foods, we “moralize these foods—thinking of ourselves as bad people for eating them,” says Solovieva.
This paradoxically can increase our desire for the very foods we’re trying not to eat. When researchers from Arizona State University showed dieters negative messages about unhealthy foods, the dieters experienced increased cravings for those foods—and ate more of them.2
It’s true that some people can restrict certain “bad” foods for a while.
But, for a lot of people, cravings eventually overwhelm their ability to restrict. And when they eat something “bad”—they feel guilty. So they eat even more—and may even stop trying to reach their goals. This can create a vicious circle, as the graphic below shows.
Now, let us be clear: For some people, certain foods may not be worth the struggle—at least for now. They may decide that, if they’re around certain foods, they’re going to overeat them. So they get them out of the house.
And that strategy can work. In fact, we encourage our clients to do kitchen makeovers and remove foods they tend to overeat.
But it’s not the same thing as labeling a food as “bad.”
When we label foods “something I tend to overeat” rather than “bad,” we’re better able to relax, remain flexible, and, potentially, grow into someone who can enjoy the same food, in moderation.
Having coached more than 100,000 clients, we can say with confidence that “all or nothing” rarely gets us “all.”
Instead, it often gets us nothing.
For example, when someone decides to stop eating “bad” foods, usually they try really hard to stay true to their goal. They’re committed, and they even may stick to avoiding a long list of forbidden foods… for a bit.
But then something goes wrong.
Maybe they go to work and find that a coworker left homemade brownies on their desk.
Or every part of their day goes sideways and, in the evening, they find themselves head down in a gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough as they think “This is bad.”
Or they’re driving for hours to visit relatives, pull into a rest stop, and all they find to eat: the stuff on their forbidden foods list.
Rigidity—good or bad, all or nothing—is the enemy of consistency.
But on the flipside, flexibility helps you stay more consistent. That’s because it allows you to lean into all the solutions available to you.
Flexibility also frees people to use internal guidance—rather than someone else’s external rules—to decide what foods to eat, when to eat them, and why.
So, for example, rather than avoiding sugar just because a health site told them to stop eating it, someone might consider:
That internal guidance might allow that person with the brownie to say, “You know, I really like brownies, but I’m going to save this until after lunch, when I’m not as hungry, so I can eat it slowly and truly savor it.”
Or that person who is head down in the gallon of ice cream to say, “Okay, so this was probably more ice cream than my body really needed. True. No getting around that. How can I avoid feeling this triggered in the future? And are there other ways I can comfort myself that don’t involve raiding the freezer?”
And for that person at the rest stop, flexibility allows them to scan their choices and opt for the best meal for them at that moment.
Food serves many purposes far beyond just flooding someone’s body with nutrients and calories.
Some foods aren’t necessarily loaded with nutrients, but they:
In other words, food isn’t just fuel. It’s also love and culture and pleasure—and a whole lot more.
When you think about food in this way, everything—even your grandma’s special black forest cake—can have a purpose and a place.
Rather than a list of foods you can or can’t eat, you instead have choices. You have foods you choose to eat for energy, for pleasure, for health, and many other important reasons.
Rigidly abstaining can teach us to get really good at… abstaining.
And if you’re okay with abstaining from a long list of foods for the rest of your life, there’s nothing wrong with that approach.
But if you’re not okay with a life sentence of no cookies, no brownies, no cake, no bread, and no pasta, then you may be happy to learn that there’s an alternative approach. It involves getting curious about why you struggle to moderate your consumption of certain foods.
Consider:
What leads to feeling out-of-control?
What triggers the “I need this” and the “I can’t stop eating this” thoughts?
When is it possible to eat this food in moderate amounts (if ever)? When isn’t it?
The point: Rather than zeroing in on “bad foods,” look for the underlying reasons (called triggers) that lead you to struggle.
A trigger can be a:
To uncover triggers, we often ask our clients to keep a food journal—writing down everything they eat and drink for a week or two. When they find themselves craving or feeling out of control, we ask them to jot down the answers to questions like:
They approach it with a “feedback not failure” mentality.
The point isn’t to catch them doing something wrong. It’s to help them assess what’s really going on.
Once we understand why our clients are reaching for these foods, we’re better-equipped to suggest actions that truly help them move towards a healthier relationship with all foods.
Dominic Matteo grew up reading bodybuilding magazines. For most of his life, he thought of veggies, chicken breast, egg whites, sweet potatoes, oats, and a few other foods as “good.”
All other foods? Bad.
These distinctions didn’t bother him when he wasn’t trying to shed fat.
But once he started trying to restrict his intake, the label “bad” functioned like a tractor beam that drew him straight to the ice cream.
“That’s when I was like, ‘Oh, this is a problem,’” he says.
For several months, he completely abstained from all sweets. He just didn’t eat sugar—at all.
But he knew that wasn’t a sustainable—or enjoyable—way to live.
After applying Precision Nutrition strategies, however, Matteo started to view his list of bad foods differently. Rather than seeing ice cream as “bad,” he thought of it as “a food I enjoy, but slows my progress.”
That new label allowed him to consider how and under what conditions he would coexist with this sweet treat.
“Now, if I do eat it, it will be under certain conditions that I can feel happy about,” he says.
For example, he loves to indulge in ice cream from shops that make it fresh that day. But lower-quality ice cream isn’t worth it for him.
Today, Matteo is more than 100 pounds lighter and, as a Precision Nutrition Master Coach, he’s helping others to follow in his footsteps.
We hear this a lot.
That’s because some people assume that “no bad foods” is synonymous with “all foods are good so eat whatever you want.”
But that’s not what we’re saying at all.
We are, however, saying this: Rather than sorting food into just two buckets—good and bad—it’s usually more helpful for most people to see food as a continuum of eat more, eat some, and eat less.
This might, at first, merely sound like another way to sort food into categories.
But it’s not.
Unlike lists of bad foods, which tend to be universally rigid, a continuum “allows everything to be contextual and personalized,” explains Precision Nutrition Master Coach Dominic Matteo.
“If my goal is muscle gain, my continuum will look different than if my goal is fat loss,” Matteo says.
Once people define that continuum for themselves, we then work with them to find ways to include more “eat more” foods and fewer “eat less” foods, aiming to make each meal just a little bit better.
For example, before Matteo became a Precision Nutrition Master Coach, he was a client who wanted to lose fat. This is how “just a little bit better” looked like for him for a specific fast food lunch.
He eventually ended up in a similar place that some forbidden foods lists may have sent him, but he did it in small steps, and in a way that was ultimately more sustainable.
What’s more, it didn’t mean he could never have a double bacon cheeseburger again. Sometimes he does, but he enjoys it—on his terms.
Saying, “there are no bad foods” usually results in a blank stare.
So, pretend you don’t know the answers, says Kate Solovieva.
Assume a poker face, and ask questions that seem obvious.
What follows is a conversation Solovieva had with a client about this very topic.
Client: Bad foods are my problem. I need to cut them out. I just can’t eat them.
Coach: So, can you tell me a little bit more. When you talk about cutting out the bad foods, what does that look like?
Client: Taking sugar out of my diet.
Coach: So when you say sugar, what are some of the things you are thinking of?
Client: Cookies. Pastries. Chocolate—chocolate is my weakness.
Coach: So… you really enjoy chocolate?
Client: I do.
Coach: Help me understand. What is it that you enjoy?
Client: I don’t know if it’s the rush of eating the chocolate bar itself. Or maybe it’s the fact that I don’t have it all the time. I don’t know. There’s something about chocolate.
Coach: So, in some ways, it makes you feel super good. And it obviously gives you pleasure. What makes you label it as bad?
Client: It’s the high-calorie count and the amount—the portion.
Coach: So the high number of calories makes it bad? Can you explain?
Client: Well, for me, it leads to weight gain.
Coach: So what I am hearing is that it’s not the chocolate that’s bad. It’s the weight gain that’s bad. Is that right?
Client: Pretty much. Exactly.
Coach: So I’m curious about something you said. You love chocolate. You enjoy it. You like the taste of it. When I asked why it’s bad, you told me about the calories and the portions. Can you tell me more?
Client: Well, I can’t just have one or two squares. Ideally I should have no more than five squares—half a bar. But I don’t have that control. The moment I taste it, I have to have more and more and more.
Coach: So what happens when you don’t have chocolate at all?
Client: I’ve gone months without it. And it’s great! But then I end up eating it—like on a special occasion. And then I binge. And then everything goes downhill. So I’m better off not having it at all.
Coach: What do you think would happen if you had a little bit… everyday? Like on purpose.
Client: I don’t know…I don’t think I have that control. Should I try that?
Coach: I don’t know. Should you?
Client: (Sounding tentative) Sure, maybe I can try that?
Coach: Well, what I am hearing is that you enjoy it. And it sounds like the bingeing behavior is happening because you don’t have it every day. So maybe you can try this as an experiment. Maybe you see what happens if, every single day, you have this thing that you enjoy. And when you eat it, if you want more, you can just remind yourself that you can have more—tomorrow. Are you with me?
Client: Yes.
Coach: It’s a scary experiment. But if you decide to give it a shot, let me know, okay?
Client: Okay, I will. I’m kinda nervous about it, but I will try it.
And then the conversation can go on to define the experiment: How much chocolate? What time of day? How will you eat it?
And no matter what the client ultimately does—whether the client tries the suggestion or not—“you’re in a position for them to come back to you without feeling judged,” Solovieva says.
For some people in some situations at certain points in their journey: yes.
But this need to abstain doesn’t have to be a permanent situation. Once they develop a range of habits, many people can shift from abstaining from certain foods to moderating them.
That’s why we like to ask our clients to consider two questions about the foods they think of as bad:
What does this food do—for you?
What would you like it to do?
For example, maybe, right now, certain foods make you feel out of control because you struggle to stop eating them once you start. But you’d like them to merely become foods you enjoy in moderation.
What are all of the possible ways of going from point A (out of control) to point B (something I enjoy in moderation)?
There are dozens of other possibilities that we didn’t even list on the chart above. You might try one. You might try several. You might try all of them.
The point: You may find that liberating yourself from the good vs. bad mindset frees you to see more possibilities than ever before.
And, along the way, you may also discover that this broader, more flexible mindset allows you not only to enjoy every meal a heck of a lot more—but also to reach your goals more quickly.
Click here to view the information sources referenced in this article.
Learning how to coach clients, patients, friends, or family members through healthy eating and lifestyle changes—in a way that gives them flexiblity based on their personal preferences—is both an art and a science.
If you’d like to learn more about both, consider the Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification. The next group kicks off shortly.
What’s it all about?
The Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification is the world’s most respected nutrition education program. It gives you the knowledge, systems, and tools you need to really understand how food influences a person’s health and fitness. Plus the ability to turn that knowledge into a thriving coaching practice.
Developed over 15 years, and proven with over 100,000 clients and patients, the Level 1 curriculum stands alone as the authority on the science of nutrition and the art of coaching.
Whether you’re already mid-career, or just starting out, the Level 1 Certification is your springboard to a deeper understanding of nutrition, the authority to coach it, and the ability to turn what you know into results.
[Of course, if you’re already a student or graduate of the Level 1 Certification, check out our Level 2 Certification Master Class. It’s an exclusive, year-long mentorship designed for elite professionals looking to master the art of coaching and be part of the top 1% of health and fitness coaches in the world.]
We’ll be opening up spots in our next Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification on Wednesday, April 8th, 2020.
If you want to find out more, we’ve set up the following presale list, which gives you two advantages.
If you’re ready for a deeper understanding of nutrition, the authority to coach it, and the ability to turn what you know into results… this is your chance to see what the world’s top professional nutrition coaching system can do for you.
The post We’ve told 100,000 clients, “There are no bad foods.” And we’re not about to stop. Here’s why. appeared first on Precision Nutrition.
I love healthy, homemade condiments because they add flavor and excitement to familiar dishes. I’ve always loved the yum yum sauce (if you’re not sure what that is, read on!) at our local Japanese hibachi restaurant, but wanted to make my own healthy version at home. This condiment is well named… it turned out so well …
Continue reading Easy Yum Yum Sauce Recipe...
Looking for a delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe that packs whole grains and other real ingredients? Have your cookie and eat it, too! Get the best of both worlds with these Healthy Oatmeal Cookies — something healthy and something sweet. Cookie lovers, we’ve got DOZENS of healthy cookie recipes ...
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In this episode of Revolution Health Radio, I’m joined by Dr. John Berardi, co-founder of Precision Nutrition and an expert on health coaching. We discuss Dr. Berardi’s client-centered approach to health coaching and talk about how to ask the right questions, use positive psychology in coaching, build a well-rounded base for your practice, and much more.
The post RHR: What Makes an Effective Health Coach, with Dr. John Berardi appeared first on Chris Kresser.
Hello delicious Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs! Serve these sticky Instant Pot chicken thighs with your favorite veggie and grain for a quick weeknight meal. Think takeout meets chicken thighs meets Instant Pot! We’ve started to get ultra-creative with our Instant Pot Chicken recipes and that’s because the world is our ...
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This is hands down the BEST guacamole recipe on the internet and it only requires 5 ingredients and 10 minutes! Is there really anything better than eating guacamole with tortilla chips? Oh, wait, eating it with one of our homemade frozen margaritas! In 2015, Linley and I went on an ...
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“I said to my body, ‘I want to be your friend.’ And it took a deep breath and said, ‘I’ve been waiting my whole life for this.'” You’ve heard me talk about the importance of optimizing our circadian rhythm with food and light, but as women there’s another all-important cycle we all know well… that monthly …
Continue reading 308: How to Use Your Hormones to Your Advantage With FloLiving...
It’s Monday morning, following a late hockey game. Of course I’m up ahead of my alarm and finishing up what I didn’t yesterday – this post. I was too busy working away on the 1,000 piece puzzle that will occupy much of my “free time” between now and when it’s done.
I debated playing in my game last night after a tennis injury. I rolled my ankle pretty good, didn’t listen to the pain, completed a Peloton ride, and have been suffering since. I did lots of icing and elevating on Saturday and Sunday and probably shouldn’t have played last night, but, but, but…I scored a goal! It has been wayyy too long. Felt great.
I’m the worst patient, I know.
Other than that, the weekend was good. SOMEHOW, we made it through the day yesterday with zero plans and zero use of technology. The girls were driving me insane at some points in the day, but we made it. We hopped right into the day with games of Uno and moved into art and puzzles before running errands. By 4pm, we were wanting a nap but no one ended up doing so.
Too bad, it was the perfect day for it!
I made somewhat of an impulse buy last week while at my book club. My friends were talking about vegan cookbook, Thug Kitchen, and I knew I needed it. While this recipe is not from the book, much of my meal plan this week is. This recipe is from one of my favorite blogs, Pinch of Yum. They’re awesome and all I can say is #goals.
In summary, 2020 and health is all about plant-based eating. Obviously, I endorse this through and through. I’m hopping on board and am trying to incorporate at least 2 vegetarian meals a week. Others in my life are doing the same and swapping recipes has been fun. This one, you guys – a keeper. So much flavor. Not so sure about broccoli in enchiladas? Don’t give it another thought…delish!
Be well,
This Vegan Street Corn Queso Dip is the ultimate healthy appetizer for your next get-together! Made with our delicious vegan queso + sweet corn and black beans, and then baked to cheezy perfection, this queso dip can’t be beat. The Ultimate Appetizer If you ask us, this Mexican street corn ...
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Make this winning chili cheese dip for the big game and your guests will gobble it up. It really is the best chili cheese dip recipe! The Best Game Day App Chili cheese dip really is the greatest game day appetizer of all time. It’s cheesy and eaten with a ...
The post Healthy Chili Cheese Dip appeared first on Fit Foodie Finds.
These dry rub wings are flavorful, perfectly crispy, and the perfect appetizer for any occasion! Throw them in the oven for your next party, you won’t be disappointed! Wondering what to serve with these amazing dry rub wings? We like to serve our wings with crunchy celery and dip them ...
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Raspberry Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal Cups make for the most perfect healthy breakfast that packs in whole grains, fruit, and a few chocolate chips! Can you even with how beautiful these little oatmeal cups are? They make for the PERFECT Spring (cough cough Valentine’s) breakfast if you ask me :D ...
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I’m a day late on my Family Friday update. I had it all mentally mapped out but after a crazy week at work and evening committments after work, it just never happened. I hate weeks like that, but I didn’t mind a 5 course meal served by a local chef with a wine pairing for each course. I mean, that’s never a bad Thursday. The 2017 Caymus Cabrinet Sauvignon was life-changing and $90 bottles of wine may end up on my birthday/Christmas wish list. I’m eye-rolling myself right now. Seriously, it was that good.
My book club met on Wednesday night and we watched the Amazon series Modern Love in lieu of reading a book. The series was good and good discussion for anyone looking to change things up in their book club, or just for their next series to binge on. It’s a short binge – 8 episodes of about 30 minutes each. Lots of great actors and actresses, too.
The girls are good — healthy, unlike everyone around us. ::knocking on so much wood:: The evenings have been a bit touch and go. When I walk in the door from work, every day one of them is in tears. On Tuesday, I had to take Shea to another room and just held her as she cried uncontrollably. I think it’s a combination of being over-tired, hungry, and emotional by nature. As soon as I correct her or use a tone of reprimand, she immediately jumps to “why don’t you love me?”. Man, does she have my number. Heartstrings pulled. Piper has been similarly challenging in the early evening hours and in many ways, I feel as though the “witching hours” of infancy are back in full force. In a perfect world, they’d both nap and would go to bed a bit later…but Shea won’t nap and Piper won’t nap consistently, especially at home. Long, busy days are tough on us all.
Note to self: sign both girls up for swimming lessons. I’d like to think summer is right around the corner 
I did something to my right foot yesterday at tennis. It REALLY hurts. I’m currently icing it and will use some KT tape. I should probably not play hockey tomorrow, but, but… 
I am the worst injured person/patient ever.
Next month, we’re booked to go to Great Wolf Lodge with my pocast co-host, Gina, and her family. Can’t wait! It’ll be the perfect little getaway to break up the winter. A 2 1/2 hours drive it totally doable. I’m yet to drive further than 3 hours with the kids and I’m proud to say we’ve never used technology in the car. We always encourage books, sleep, singing, and taking toys with. My car may looks like a giant toy box by the end, but I want to hold off on technology as a babysitter as long as possible. I reserve that for the times I have to take the girls to work with me on random Fridays and it works like a charm.
On the topic of the podcast, I have to pat ourselves on the back a bit. There’s a week left in January and our downloads are already up 60% from last month. After 13 months of consistent content and hard work on the podcast, it’s so rewarding to see others finding our show…and loving our show! We have received so many amazing messages on our Instagram and over email – please know it means a lot! And thanks to our friends and family who support the show (and my blog, too!). You guys are the best! Even my MOM is a listener now. And my (guy) friend from hockey this week goes, “I learned a lot from the breastfeeding episide, it was really interesting!”. Should he have a child someday, he’ll be much better prepared, haha! So anyway, thank you for all of the support and love poured out for our show.
Work has been insane and great. Historically, my team has operated as an out-patient diabetes and nutrition service line. A year ago, we started rounding on diabetics in the hospital with an A1c > 8%. The pilot was a huge success and we justified a full-time Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) in the hospital. HUGE. We’ve now hired that position and am in the process of prioritizing projects and procedures, coordinting with nursing, pharmacy, hospitalists, etc. We want to start involvement on the discharge planning side of things to see if we can improve med management (less use of insulin, more use of AACE guidelines — SGLT2’s, GLP-1s, DPP4s, and even metformin, etc) and improve the transition of care from in-patient to out-patient using CDEs. AND…just this week, pre-surgery planning approached us about CDE involvement in the pre-surgery care of the diabetic in the way of intensive insulin management to improve glycemic control in the days/weeks leading up to surgery. We know this reduces complications and reduces healing time and length of stay. In summary, we’re going from out-patient only to out-patient, in-patient, and involved in the transitions of care from out-patient to in-patient AND in-patient to out-patient…and doing this with no additional staff. For now. Whewwwwwww. All good, but man, work has been insane.
We’re also getting a point-of-care A1c analyzer next week in our clinic. I’M SO EXCITED!
In totally unrelated news, I bought the Thug Kitchen cookbook based on a friend’s recommendation. I posted it on my Instagram and it ends up everyone loves the book. I plan to cook from it lots in the coming weeks so stay tuned!
Today we’re heading to a local beer fest – very excited for that! Lots of friends going and should be a great time.
Laundry, brunch, and ice-skating for Shea before then, however. Better run. Have a great weekend!
Be well,
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Spice up the game with these delicious game day appetizers! All of your favorite game day flavors now with a better-for-you twist. Bring on the healthy appetizers! Want to know our favorites right off the bat? Our top two favorite game day appetizers are these Everything Bagel Seasoning Chicken Wings ...
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