Tag: nutrition

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15 ways you can eat more at home, starting today

But actually, choose one or two. Do not try to do all at once.

I just put the 15 ways in the title because it’s more clickable. This is the world we live in. You can read this blog post, or watch this video about why it’s so important to start small

  1. Figure out one meal you can easily make at home, that you like. Start making it once a week on a day that you have time
  2. If right now you cook and eat at home 1 day per week, try to add 1 additional day
  3. Categorize your days to cut down on decisions – Taco Tuesday or Pizza Friday or Meatless Monday
  4. Make a Brainless Crowd Pleasers List
  5. Make an “emergency meal” list – this is like brainless crowd pleasers, but eaaaaassy (e.g. hot dogs and mac and cheese, PBJ, scrambled eggs and toast, Chicken Caesar salad from a bag), something you can cook at home when you don’t have time or energy. It’s ok if most of your meals are like this. They don’t have to be fancy.
  6. Consider using a snacky meal on a day when you just can’t even
  7. Have a different family member plan or prepare on different days of the week (Age-appropriately of course – your toddler cannot make dinner by themselves). This can be a great way to get kids involved and more excited about food.
  8. Don’t plan to make involved or new recipes on days you know you will be busy! (These are great days for an “emergency meal”. Or for going out, if that fits with your goals)
  9. Pick one new recipe to try per month
  10. Use convenience items if you can afford it and they are available. What parts of cooking at home do you hate? Can buy a product to eliminate that? I hate washing lettuce – I’m much more likely to eat salad if I have pre-washed greens. We eat a ton of frozen veggies. Hate cooking raw meat? Buy it frozen and pre-cooked, or choose meals that don’t involve meat
  11. Don’t mind leftovers? Making a big pot of soup or chili to eat throughout the week works well
  12. Do mind leftovers? Freeze any leftovers for a few weeks from now (this doesn’t work for things like salad obviously)
  13. Don’t get stuck on needing to cook at dinner – maybe cooking lunch or breakfast is a better fit for you
  14. Do half and half – do a takeout entree and homemade salad or veggie. Or reverse – make some baked fish and get some fries from MacDonalds.
  15. Use a meal service or let me get you started with a meal plan toolkit!
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Hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Here are some of the foods I’ll be eating this holiday season (or will have eaten) and some good nutrition news about them.

Christmas charcuterie

decorative plate with various foods arranged artfully on it
Our Christmas charcuterie from a few years ago
  • Cheese: good source of calcium, potassium, some satisfying fat and protein
  • Sausage (or sausage cheese puffs): satisfying fat and protein
  • Crackers: fiber, B vitamins
  • Various fruits: fiber, water, hydration, vitamin C, vitamin A, various antioxidants
  • Nuts: satisfying and heart healthy fats, minerals like iron and calcium

Also, no cooking required. This is what we’re having after Christmas Eve service so nobody gets hangry while waiting for a meal to cook

My grandma’s applesauce

Carmelized cooked apples in a jar
Click the image for the recipe. Not the prettiest applesauce, but certainly delicious
  • Because it’s made with the peels, it’s higher in fiber than the applesauce you get in a jar
  • Fun fact, my grandpa says applesauce made without peels is babyfood
  • A delicious way to get a serving of fruit
  • Includes lots of cinnamon, a powerful antioxidant and delicious flavor enhancer

Donuts

A donut with red white and green sprinkles
This one is from last year too – it’s just so festive!
  • This is one of the first Christmas traditions that is just me and my husbands
  • We usually have it the day we leave to visit family, or the first day off.
  • Donuts are energy dense – rich in carbohydrates and fats!
  • I always try and have scrambled eggs with them (protein) so I don’t get a sugar crash later

Tri-tip/Steak

yummy cut steak served on table in light restaurant
Photo by Geraud pfeiffer on Pexels.com
  • This is a new Christmas meal for me this year
  • Steak is high in iron and B vitamins
  • It’s also rich in protein

Salad

mixed vegetable salad on a black plate
Photo by Valeria Boltneva on Pexels.com – mine probably won’t look this fancy
  • A serving of vegetables
  • Depending on the contents, provides water, fiber, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K
  • Will probably use a dressing to add some satisfying healthy fats
  • And some seasonal fruit for color and texture
  • Probably the traditionally healthiest thing on this list, but just one part of my Christmas nutrition

Hope you enjoy some festive foods! Curious about what nutrition they might be providing you? Leave a comment!

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Q&A: How to make snacks work for you!

This is a Q&A I did with Kaigo to promote a workshop about how to use snacking as a tool for healthy eating.

I’ll also be posting snippets of each question and answer on social media in the next few weeks so follow me on facebook, instagram, or YouTube if you don’t feel like watching the whole video at once.

Some questions asked:

  • How many snacks should I eat per day if I’m trying to lose weight?
  • Is snacking on fruit bad because of too much sugar?
  • Can I eat a snack instead of breakfast?
  • What snacks are good for kids who refuse to eat fruits and vegetables?
  • What are good snacks to eat at night if I’m craving sweets?

Resources mentioned in this video

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Like the Alfred to your Batman (that’s Nutrition for Real Humans)

I’ve always liked the behind the scenes butler-type character (you know, when they’re not the murderer at the end). Alfred from Batman, Jeeves from Jeeves and Wooster, Zhu Li from Legend of Korra. The character in the background who just gets stuff done so the main character can save Gotham, or bumble around society, or execute mad scientist schemes. I want to be that background person for my clients.

My clients are the ones who have to choose their goals and do the work to accomplish them. But I can make it way easier by doing the research, making decisions (collaboratively and respectfully obviously), applying my knowledge and experience, and sometimes by actually doing the cooking or shopping work. That’s my goal – just give you the tools and sometimes the plans, so you can just do it.

Also, those characters are supportive. They aren’t promoting their agenda nor are they critical or judgey of the main person (at least not outwardly). I’m not here to be the food police, make you feel guilty for what you’re eating, or not, or shame you into making changes. I might offer some knowledgeable guidance, or an honest assessment, but you get to choose what to work on and how you want to do that.

Anyway. I’m here to be your Alfred. Are you ready to be Batman?

Are you ready to be Batman? This could be you.

Watch below if you’d rather listen than read 🙂

I talk about how I aim to support my clients by offering guidance, encouragement, and practical help
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Why Honesty Matters to me as a Dietitian

You may be thinking honesty matters to me because if my clients don’t tell me what they really eat I can’t help them. This can be somewhat true, but this is actually about why it’s important for ME, the dietitian, to be honest with YOU.

One of the ways I respect my clients is by listening to their goals, values, preferences, what they feel their limitations are, etc. (Read or watch more)

Another way I respect them is by being honest. When I share evidence-based information, recommendations, practical tips, experienced opinions and advice honestly (but kindly), that means clients can make the best informed decision for them. (A realistic one you know)

And this goes for the way I run my business too — If I think working together will serve you well, I’ll tell you! If I think what I offer isn’t a great fit for your needs, I’ll tell you that too and hopefully be able to point you to someone or something that will be helpful.

That being said, I really appreciate when clients are honest with me, because that helps me help them, but this post is about my honesty.

Watch below if you’d rather listen than read 🙂

I talk about why honesty matters for Nutrition for Real Humans
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Why Respect and Collaboration are Essential to Nutrition

Respect and collaboration are essential to Nutrition for Real Humans because solutions I create for clients (meal plans, recipe collections, etc.) need to be realistic for THEM.

I bring my knowledge and experience about nutrition and practical food selection and preparation, but my client knows best what is important to them, what their limitations are, what they care about, what they’re willing to do.

If I don’t respectfully listen to what my client needs and wants or take their ideas into consideration (the collaboration part), likely the solution won’t fit them. It won’t solve their problem, or it won’t be realistic for them, or they won’t like the food I chose because I didn’t listen to their preferences so they won’t eat it.

That’s what sets Nutrition for Real Humans apart from a meal kit service or other meal plan service – your meal plan or recipes are not just tailored to your needs, they are tailored for what you want them to do for you!

If you want to reduce your environmental impact and reduce packaging while increasing your protein intake – we can do that!

If you hate garlic, it will be hard for me because I use garlic in everything, but we can avoid it! If you want to reduce your prep time and effort because you are super busy and just need something that will feed your surprisingly picky family – we can do that too!

Watch below if you’d rather listen than read 🙂

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Why Realism is Important in Nutrition

Because we live in the real world, not an ideal world.

Bad things happen. Unexpected things happen. We have limitations in our time, motivation, energy, physical strength, knowledge.

Any solutions/goals/steps we plan need to take those very real limitations and roadblocks into account.

If a goal is ideal and perfect but we can’t do it, it won’t help us.

If you want to watch me talk about it, you can watch it here:

I talk about why realism is important in nutrition and how I’m applying realism to running my business.
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Meh Nutrition News: Peachy Champagne Popsicles

This is the first popsicle I’ve tried that I would neither recommend or make again. But in the name of science, I’m sharing all of my results

Leftover champagne + peach + honey popsicles

Half eaten popsicle - icy with peaches

I didn’t use a recipe for these (which may have been part of the problem), I just googled to see if it was feasible to use leftover champagne as a popsicle.

I added some sliced peaches, a drizzle of honey and filled the rest of the mold with champagne. Thankfully, I only had enough champagne for 2 popsicles so we weren’t stuck with meh leftovers.

Meh because 1) the champagne just got really icy and made the pop taste mostly like alcohol, 2) because they were icy they just fell apart while we ate them, 3) the peaches were in big chunks and you definitely had to bite into them – not good if you have sensitive teeth.

Many of those problems might be improved if I had blended everything up? But I probably won’t try it again.

For popsicles, I would try again, see the previous posts about avocado chocolate popsicles and rapsberry coconut chia popsicles

Nutrition qualities:

  • As peaches make up the majority of this popsicle, you will get a good portion of fruit
  • Peaches themselves are a good source of fiber, vitamin C, and vitamin A
  • As alcohol is not classified as a “food” legally, it’s hard to look up any micronutrients present in champagne. It will provide some carbohydrates and calories for energy. Moderate intake of alcohol which has been shown to have some benefits, but enough drawbacks that most experts won’t recommend starting to drink for the health benefits. Anyway. Don’t drink champagne for the health benefits 🙂
  • Technically dairy-free and gluten-free

My personal rating:

1/5

It gets a 1 instead of a 0 because it was edible, and I did eat the whole thing, plus, got to use up extra champagne? However, taste was very alcohol-y, texture too icy, made a mess and hurt my teeth. Would not make again

Feel free to try, if you’re of age, of course and share your results!

Take care and happy eating!

This post is intended to be informational only and is not medical or nutritional advice. If you have questions about your unique needs, ask about a custom meal plan or speak with a registered dietitian-nutritionist near you.

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Good Nutrition News: Popsicles (or whatever their generic name is)

This summer my parents gifted me popsicle molds for my birthday, so my mission is to try many many popsicle/ice pop recipes.

I figured I would share my adventures and talk about how these summery treats can be another way to get some good nutrition!

First edition – these raspberry swirl chia pudding pops from Happy Kids Kitchen!

A pink and white ice pop full of chia seeds

These are made with fresh or frozen raspberries, coconut milk, and chia seeds (and sweetener; I used maple syrup). You can visit Happy Kids Kitchen for the recipe.

These interesting-looking popsicles have a combination of creamy, mild sweetness from the coconut milk, bright tart-sweetness from the raspberry, and an different but not unpleasant texture from the chia seeds.

Nutrition qualities:

  • Some fruit towards your recommended 5-9 fruit and veggie servings/day (raspberries) that provides a decent amount of vitamin C
  • Fiber from: raspberries, chia seeds, and even a little from the coconut milk
  • ALA (the plant form of omega-3 fatty acids) from the chia seeds
  • A little bit of protein from the chia seeds
  • Because it’s homemade, you control how much added sugar (and the type) you would like to add
  • Creamy without dairy, in case you’re lactose or dairy intolerant
  • also gluten free and vegan if that’s your jam (haha jam)

My personal rating:

3.5/5

Packed with nutrients, pretty tasty, easy to make, would probably make them a little sweeter next time, raspberries and chia can get expensive so probably wouldn’t make them often.

(Also if you are looking for ways to get kids – even little kids – excited about cooking and food, spend some more time on Happy Kids Kitchen. Heather knows what she is talking about and has so many great ideas and tasty recipes! I will be probably trying several of her popsicle recipes which she has collected here)

Take care and happy eating!

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