At Long Last - A New Post!

Whew! Ok, Good Lifers – I am BACK! Please accept my most sincere apologies for the hiatus. My excuses are futile.

In an effort to win you all over and get myself back into your good graces, today’s post is a new installment for the “What’s on Your RD’s Plate?” series.    For more on this topic, feel free to check out these similar posts from the past.

             

I’ve been cooking at home a lot more these days. Please try to conceal your gasps of astonishment but yes, it’s true – even dietitians eat out from time to time! J

Back to the topic at-hand – I have numerous reasons for the spike in home-cooked meals these days: 1) my little family (the Boyfriend + puppy) have moved into a new home with a nice, newly updated kitchen that I love using; 2) cooking at home is SO much more economical; and, 3) I’ve discovered in my recent dining out experiences that I can prepare the same entrée that's just as tasty (and probably healthier!), than the one I’m paying top dollars for in a restaurant. Sure, it takes a little planning but with practice, it gets easier. I promise!  

Today’s meal was inspired by a craving for Thai cuisine and inspired by the following recipes that I found online:

          Clean Eating Magazine Thai Lime Chicken

          Epicurious Thai Cabbage Salad

          CD Kitchen Asian Cabbage Salad

My recipe result = macadamia + almond-encrusted chicken breasts with Thai cabbage salad and wilted spinach over barley. Eater’s final consensus = delicious! J

Take a peek at the plate:



eating the rainbow

What's in Today's Smoothie?

Good morning folks!

It had been a while since I’ve highlighted my favorite breakfast – the green smoothie – so I thought I’d let you know some of what I’ve been tossing in the blender as of late…

Today’s Recipe:

• 1/2 cup Blueberries
• 1 Peach
• 1/2 Banana
• 1 1/2 cups baby Spinach
• 2 Tbsp. Chia seeds
• 8 oz. plain low-fat Kefir

Combine fruit with chia seeds and Kefir. Blend until smooth. Then add spinach and any additional liquid as needed. Blend, pour, enjoy!

For anyone new coming into this, feel free to check out my first post on the benefits of green smoothies and the many reasons why I enjoy them as often as possible! 

So what’s so special about this smoothie? Quite a bit, it turns out. Let’s break down the ingredients and explore what makes this drink such a superhero among a world of bad-for-you beverages.

Food for Thought

Whilst perusing through some nutrition photo files that I’ve saved over the years, I came across one in particular that always strikes a chord:

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After reading this again, my thoughts are brought back to a past blog post on the topic of clean eating. There is and will always be one simple truth about good health – you just cannot get healthy without eating healthy. You can sweat it out at the gym for hours each day, but if you follow that with a trip through your local drive-through, your hard work will be for naught. Food is the biggest ticket in establishing good health. If you fuel your body with garbage, your body will show it. If you eat healthy and fresh foods, your body and skin will glow with wholesome health that gives you boundless energy, a clearer mind and a greater overall feeling of happiness!

Are you considering more about trying to clean up your diet? It can seem a bit overwhelming at first, especially if you have a lot of changes to make. The best advice I know is to take small steps. Make little changes every day and don’t beat yourself up if you make mistakes. No one is perfect and we all make mistakes. The key is understanding that it’s what you do the majority of the time that counts the most.

I don’t know about you, but even something as simple as some text typed over an apple has given me some renewed motivation to do better by me. I suppose the old adage is right – an apple a day… J

What's on Your RDs Plate?

Happy Friday and the 1st day of June, Good Lifers!

The week before Memorial Day weekend, some great friends of mine brought a new, precious little boy into the world! He looks like an angel and according to the new Mom and Pops, he’s been acting like one too – so far anyway. J



Liam Noble - isn't he the cutest?!



What does this have to do with food and nutrition?

Well, I signed up to help the new parents by bringing over some tasty eats. Having a newborn around can certainly throw a kink into what used to be your “normal routine”! There’s an awesome website resource available called Meal Baby – it’s an online FREE meal registry that creates a calendar for friends and family to sign up to bring meals to a family in need – read more about it here: About Meal Baby.

Since my friends are not picky eaters and frequently enjoy vegetarian, I signed up to bring a roasted vegetable enchilada casserole – something fresh, but also easy to freeze and save for later in case their fridge was already packed. As a small addition, I threw together some no-bake energy bites to serve as something quick and easy to grab up during some late-night or early-morning baby feedings.

Both recipes are chock-full of nutrients to nourish the recovering and breastfeeding Mama – and super tasty to boot! So naturally, I made enough for my own little family of 2 to have some for our own! J

Check out the recipes after the jump...

Lifestyle Makeover: REVAMP that MOTIVATION!

Sound familiar? Was this you?

It’s been nearly six months since we started a new year with the best of intentions to get back in shape and clean up our plates. Six months… do they feel more like six years?? Perhaps back in January you did have some success in jump-starting your health goals, but your enthusiasm has waned. This is TOTALLY NORMAL. Without the motivation to keep going, it’s not likely for anyone to keep on track. Don’t let me be misunderstood – motivation is not someone yelling at you to run yourself into the ground. It's about identifying some very good reasons to do something, and to light that up inside you.

What motivates you? What doesn’t? Today I’d like to offer you a few ways that help me keep motivated and be successful in accomplishing my goals...

April Showers bring May Flowers, more Farmers’ Markets, and a crowd of Holidays to boot!

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Well for some reason, the last few weeks of April felt more like the normal temperatures for March, unlike the March temperature which soared into the 80's and even the 90's on more than one occasion! Nevertheless, our flowers are blooming and thankfully we’ve gotten some very much needed rain over the last few weeks.

Back in March, I listed for you all of the Farmers’ Markets that opened up in April. A few were left off that list, so I’m including them all for you now. Just in time for the First of May! Check out this link here for all of Richmond’s Farmers Markets.  There’s bound to be fresh, local produce near you!

What about some other exciting events in May?

How about Cinco de Mayo!

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Translated as the Fifth of May, this holiday is a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride and to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War. Contrary to widespread popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day—the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico—which is actually celebrated on September 16.

In any case, I’m a huge fan of Mexican cuisine so in celebration of this Saturday, here are a few tasty (and healthier) versions of some classic Cinco de Mayo recipes...

Spring into the Season!

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I could never say that I prefer one season more than the others, with each having their own special qualities; but Spring is definitely one of the most exciting to me. It’s exciting because, along with the warmer temperatures and longer days, the earth starts to come alive again. Trees and flowers blossom, gardens are reborn… there are signs of transformation everywhere and promises of abundance to come.

It’s something about Spring that brings people back to life as well. Everyone becomes cheerier, perhaps from a little extra “spring in their step” (pun intended)! J Moreover, maybe it’s more than a coincidence that with the Spring season also comes Easter and Passover – two holidays that highlight messages of hope and renewal.



http://gosoutheast.about.com/od/tripplanningmaps/ss/springtrips_8.htm



So with these rejuvenating thoughts in mind, I’d like to present to you with some healthy, Spring-inspired recipes (some with some traditional holiday flair). Check them out after the jump, then post a comment and let me know what you think! J

Farmers’ Market Openings

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It is officially the first day of Spring! Also known as the Vernal Equinox, this is the time of year in which the daylight hours become increasingly longer than the dark. Hooray for more after-work sunshine! 



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The arrival of Spring means different things to different people. To me, it means balmy daytime temperatures and cooler nights, with beautiful blooming foliage giving home to cute chirping birds; it’s that time of year to dust off my fishing rod and get outside more often in general. But perhaps one of my most favorite reasons for loving Spring is… (drumroll)… the reopening of local Farmers’ Markets! Hooray for fresh, local produce!

As we've discussed before, there are many great reasons to shop from a Farmers' Market: (1) Buying foods locally helps support local farmers and local economy; (2) They can inspire you to try new foods, as you'll likely see various varieties of produce that you may not find in the conventional supermarket; (3) Purchasing your foods locally increases awareness of where your food comes from (freshly picked from a nearby farm!); and, (4) Buying from farmers eliminates the cost of the middleman and pricey shipping, so you get more value for your dollar! Hooray for extra savings in my pocket!



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So after three great reasons for some extra "Hooray" in our lives, I have listed some of the Farmers’ Markets, CSA’s and local farms open for business now or starting in April, 2012

Follow the link below to see the complete list.



Better than Sugar?

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Good sunny day everyone!

For today’s post, I’d like to shed some light on several “natural” sweeteners that have been brought up frequently during class discussions. I'm so glad I looked into this as the answers I found were quite surprising!

Let’s jump right in...

A GLC Philosophy

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So perhaps you’ve attended some of our classes, perhaps you’ve had a private consultation with me – Chloe, RD – or, perhaps you have only checked in here once in a while to read my blog (Thank you! I appreciate it J). If simply the latter of the three is true, you might find yourself wondering a little about what all we stand for at the Good Life Center. Today, I’d like to take a little time to explain a part of what we advocate, an eating philosophy that supports our efforts in helping you achieve a healthy lifestyle. I’m talking about CLEAN EATING.

  



Front-of-the-Box Misconceptions Revealed



This term has become a bit of a “buzz-word” lately among wellness communities and with good reason! Today, our supermarkets are riddled with products that (to be honest) are not even real food! They are products of science, not nature, and they are injected with dyes and other chemicals not meant for the human body. If you can’t pronounce the words in the ingredient list, do you think your body really knows how to digest it? So this brings us to the concept of clean eating. Clean eating is all about choosing foods that are natural and wholesome – particularly foods that are free of chemicals, additives and preservatives, and devoid of refined, processed ingredients.

This eating style has some distinct benefits which include: advancing your chances of maintaining a healthy weight; gaining better control of blood sugar; and, improving blood pressure and cholesterol levels. There are some additional perks that come along too, like increased energy, clearer skin, improved sleep and enhanced clarity of mind. I’m intrigued – how about you?

It’s National Nutrition Month® !

Welcome to March everyone!

There’s a traditional expression that says, “March comes in like a Lion and out like a Lamb." The reverse seems to be happening here in Virginia. If you remember on Thursday March 1^st, it was 80 degrees and now we have snow?!? Ah, that’s the classic pattern of Virginia weather for ya… classic pattern as in, there is no pattern! (Although, I am very grateful that we did not experience the tornado trauma that occurred in the Midwest - my heart goes out to anyone with family or friends who have lost their homes!)  




In less than a week, we went from this...



...to THIS! I prefer the sandals :(

 

Weather aside, the month of March is known as National Nutrition Month®! 

This year, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics named the theme: “Get Your Plate in Shape!” The key message revolves around the importance of balancing your plate. Too often, we load up our plates with refined carbohydrates and high-fat proteins, pushing the nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables to the side. Boost your nutrition and reduce calories by filling at least half of your plate with a variety of vegetables – especially dark, green, leafy ones like kale, chard, and spinach + red and orange vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, squash and peppers! Fill the 2^nd two-thirds of your plate with a lean protein like skinless chicken breast, seafood, beans or lentils + a wholesome, filling grain like brown rice, quinoa, bulgar, barley or wheat-berries. This will ensure adequate intake of inflammation-fighting phytonutrients from healthy food sources, along with increased fiber for satiety and portion-control.Treat yourself afterwards with a ripe and sweetly refreshing fruit for dessert, perhaps drizzled with your favorite yogurt.






Does your plate look more like plate A or plate B?

Plate B demonstates the principles of what it means to "Get your plate in shape!"

 Be sure to check out these other Nutrition Education Resources for information on boosting your daily intake of fruits and vegetables, healthy eating on the run, the 2012 NNM® Fact Sheet, plus 2011-2012 NNM® recipes and more!     

Also, don't forget to RSVP for tomorrow's GLC Grocery Tour at Whole Foods! This month, there will be emphasis on where to find a good value as well as making healthy selections. Weight check-ins are from 5-5:45PM at the Glen Allen office, the tour begins at 6PM sharp in the covered entryway of Whole Foods in Short Pump. See you there!

Happy and Healthy Eating,

Chloe RD and the GLC

p.s. Interested in other weather-related sayings of yore? The Farmers’ Almanac also mentioned these three rhymes and expressions pertaining to the month of March:

            A dry March and a wet May, fill barns and bays with corn and hay.

As it rains in March so it rains in June.

March winds and April showers bring forth bundles of May flowers.



Say “I love you MORE” with a Healthy Valentine’s Day Dinner

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February is American Heart Month, which could appear to be appropriate given this month’s most celebrated holiday: St. Valentine’s Day! Unfortunately, this romantic holiday, like the ones that came before it, is not exactly supportive of a healthy heart. Dinner invitations and chocolate-infested work places can easily distract us from our daily healthy eating plans. Let’s not sabotage all our New Year’s resolutions with Hershey’s kisses and conversation hearts!

Let your Sweetheart know you love them (and their heart) with one of these healthy dinner menus (I've included meat and vegetarian options)...

Super Bowl Snacks Made Lighter

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Did you know that Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest eating day of the year after Thanksgiving? According to the Calorie Control Council, this Sunday Americans will be eating 30 million pounds of snacks! That's 11.2 million pounds of potato chips, 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips, 4.3 million pounds of pretzels, 3.8 million pounds of popcorn and 2.5 million pounds of nuts. And did you know that the Monday after the Super Bowl, there’s a huge spike in sales of antacids? That’s no surprise given that Super Bowl party foods are usually high in fat, sugar and sodium...

But your Super Bowl spread doesn’t have to feature only high-fat, high-calorie, indigestion-causing foods. This year, let the players beat themselves up on the field and save your own waistline from injury by making a few lightened-up dishes with nutrient-rich ingredients.

Below are some recipes I found online. (I’ve even included some desserts!)

Nutrition Tip of the Day

Happy first day of February! (or is it April?!) It's entirely too beautiful a day to be cooped up indoors... But alas, duty calls. So what better reason do I have than to give you the GLC Blog's very first Nutrition Tip of the Day!

Enjoy!

Nutrition at Your Fingertips

Attention all smartphone users!

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics just released a great article highlighting different Consumer and Lifestyle Apps available to help you manage your health. Each are ranked and reviewed with categories including weight management, diabetes care, and eating gluten-free. Check ‘em out:

EatRight.org App Reviews

 Track your progress and empower yourself with increased self-awareness to carry you forward on your path to wellness!

Here’s to happy, healthy living,

Chloe RD & the GLC

What's Cookin'?

In preparation for tonight’s cooking class, I thought I’d provide you all with some handy cooking conversion charts I came across on one of my new favorite cooking blogs: http://chasingdelicious.com/. Please note: I can say right now to anyone who chooses to delve deeper into the masterpieces found in Chasing Delicious’ recipes – they are not advertised as healthy!    

What I love is the author of this blog, Russell van Kraayenburg with his decadent recipes, is he inspires me to dive into my own inner-foodie. An inner-foodie with fantasies of one-day becoming a pastry chef, healthy pastries of course!! I LOVE baking. Always have, ever since at around 8 years old my mom let me take over the reins to make her most prized indulgence: chocolate chip cookies. Since then, I have enjoyed making many a baked good within which I like to think I am baking in a little bit of my own joy for others to savor with every bite. (Is that cheesy or what?!) J

So, enough of that cheese! Here we’re talking cooking conversions Made Simple. Check these out:

Volume is a measure of how much space it occupies.



Mass is a measure of the quantity of matter present in an object.



Anyone else having flashbacks from middle-school science class?? Simply put, the volume conversions refer to measuring liquids (oils, water, juice, etc.), while the mass-to-volume measurements refer to measuring out solids (flour, sugar, grains, etc.). Neat huh?

I, myself, have already printed out these bad-boys and stuck them on my fridge for quick access & reference. Perhaps they'll come in handy for tonight's cooking class as well!

Join us tonight at 5:30 in the GAIM break-room for a seasonally delicious meal!

Don't forget, we'll also be starting our new monthly incentive!!

Check out the details here: GLC Incentives Info. Hope to see you!

Happy eating (and baking!),

Chloe RD and the GLC  

GLC ANNOUNCEMENT!

Next Tuesday, January 24, 2012 we will be initializing a new promotional feature to help boost motivation…

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Starting January 24th through February 28th, the one lucky GLC participant to have the most significant improvement in body weight (percent weight change) in 5 weeks wins a prize! J The only rule is that you must check-in every week for a weigh-in and waist circumference measurement.

Come check out our next Cooking Class on January 24^th

to find out more and get started!

Happy goal setting,

Chloe RD and the GLC

P.S. By the way, the giveaway is MUCH better than a flimsy blue ribbon!

What’s in today’s green smoothie?

So we’ve seen green, I’ve shown you brown and now we have… ta dah: PURPLE!

 

A much more pleasurable color for a beverage over brown, I agree. What did I do to get such an exciting color? Read on to find out…

What's on your RD's plate?

For installment number two of “What’s on your RD’s plate?” I’d like to highlight a meal I made last week which received rave reviews from my boyfriend, Harold. For those of you who have attended some of GLC’s cooking classes, you may have heard me say that I like to test out new recipes on Harold, and when he gives a thumb’s up I know the recipe will likely be a big hit with others. He’s generally quite picky, but thanks to my influence, he has slowly broadened his food-horizons (a little bit). My poor guinea pig boyfriend! J

This recipe was inspired by Cooking Light's Greek Pasta with Meatballs recipe. Of course, I had to modify it. I almost NEVER make a recipe completely by the book. So instead, here’s what I did:

I sure could stand for some
pointers on food photography...

mo•ti•va•tion

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Per Merriam-Webster, motivation is:

1. The reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.

2. The general desire or willingness of someone to do something.

In psychology, motivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It’s what causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge. It involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage, the term motivation is frequently used to describe why a person does something.

In terms of weight-loss, motivation is the force that propels us to move forward on a positive track to better ourselves. It’s what gets you off the couch and to the gym. It’s the strength that helps us to say no to that brownie and yes to fresh fruits and vegetables.

During my research, I came across an article “How to Get the Motivation to Lose Weight,” by Joshua Wayne, MA, a Personal Development Coach and trained psychotherapist with an emphasis on weight loss motivation and mind/body wellness. This article really put some key concepts into perspective for me, in a clear and concise manner. In other words, I could not have said it better – so I won’t! Not only is this information helpful, but it’s structured to be the first step in a series of other articles on motivation, such as: sustaining motivation; small changes; plus, emotions and motivation. I may not agree with every sentence, but some had to be included in order to maintain the context. Follow the "read more" link below for the article content and information that I felt was most relevant for initializing that first spark:

Quote Inspiration

Happy Friday Everyone!

I'll admit I've been slacking on getting my next blog post up but it's going to be a great one!

The topic will center around... MOTIVATION!

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Until then, I thought I would leave you with a little inspiration that will perhaps ignite a little extra of your own motivation to stay healthy through the weekend J

"Promise me you'll always remember:

You're braver than you believe,

and stronger than you seem,

and smarter than you think."

~ A.A. Milne

Have a wonderful weekend,
Chloe RD & the GLC

What's in today's green smoothie?

Or should I say, brown smoothie??

I’ll admit – the eye-appeal of these drinks is not always there. As you can see from the 2nd picture, the smoothie started with a lovely berry-red but after adding the greens… Well, you already saw the result! :P

Strange colors aside, I could still taste the strawberries with a hint of the clementine. And it’s the nutrients within that matter, after all. Remember the benefits I listed in last week’s Green Smoothie post? I see a clearer mind in my future as we speak… J