Month: December 2015

Here’s to 2016: The Year of Bravery, Kindness and Owning Our Stories

Wow.

Just wow.

Your love, support, kind words, and validation about yesterday’s post have blown me away.

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As I took a few moments to scroll through some of your comments after my yoga class this morning, I was overcome with emotions.

Overwhelmed.

Humbled.

Grateful.

Affirmed.

Accepted.

That’s all I’ve ever wanted to feel.

Accepted. Enough. Worthy. Loved. Supported.

I’ve been so touched that I’ve been brought to tears several times today.

Happy tears.

Healing tears.

Tears that warm my face and my heart.

Tears that give me permission to let go of what has happened and look forward to what is to come.

Tears that remind me how every single step of my journey has been necessary to get me to this place.

As I wrote in my previous post, it was difficult for me to reconcile that the picture of health I saw when I looked in the mirror and the picture that validated my career and identity for several years was not a picture of health at all.

But I now know that I had to go through that journey to get to where I am today, to have this perspective.

Listening to my body and sharing my story is one of the most liberating things I’ve ever done.

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When we care enough about ourselves to look beyond who our careers want us to be, who our families need us to be, or who society expects to see when we put ourselves out into the world, that’s when we’re being real and when self-discovery begins.

As I’ve heeded my body’s wisdom over the past two years to regulate certain systems that weren’t working, I’ve also moved my body less than ever before, as the nature of my job requires me to spend more time traveling and sitting.

Although some of my weight gain has been due to moving less, I’m not going to “punish” my body for losing its physical strength and tone.

I could choose to feel how I’ve felt in the past:

Shame.

Guilt.

Blame.

Disgust.

But I’m not.

I can’t. Not anymore.

Not after all my body has done for me and what is has been for me.

Does this mean I’m “settling” with where I am and how my body is right now?

Have I “given up” or stopped “trying”?

Nope.

Not even close.

I’m just giving up fighting myself and my body.

I’m committing to moving in ways that bring me joy and make me feel good – NIA, yoga, Zumba, walking, hiking, barre, and group exercise classes with fun instructors who inspire me.

If I want to go for a run, try spinning again, or move in any other way, I’ll be doing it because I WANT to, not because I’m punishing myself or because I HAVE to.

But I haven’t given up.

It hasn’t been a perfect year in this body.

But it didn’t have to be.

Through my imperfections, I’ve learned to be grateful for all my body HAS done for me.

This is the body that has brought me through the most transformational and exciting year of my career. I feel more purposeful and intentional than I’ve ever felt in the work that I do. I know I’m doing exactly what I’m meant to be doing.

I’ve felt radiant, alive, and inspired.

I’ve received national recognition for my work and reached more people in the past year than ever before.

I’ve traveled to dozens of companies to speak to leadership teams, human resources professionals, and employee groups about what it means to be well.

I’ve stretched myself by teaching group cooking classes for the first time ever.

I’ve spoken at a women’s retreat.

I’ve even been invited to speak at a national conference in April.

And I’ve started writing my first book.

In those moments when I lose sight of how far I’ve come and creep back to my old ways of thinking about my body, I remind myself again of my nutritionist’s wisdom:

Your body is doing its best for you. It always has.

Yours is, too.

As we enter 2016, can we promise to be kinder, gentler and more compassionate with ourselves and each other and with our bodies?

Can we stop fighting with ourselves and shaming our bodies and start listening to our body’s inherent wisdom and giving it what it needs?

Can we begin to value our overall health, well-being, energy, and vitality rather than define our success solely by the number on the scale?

Can we pledge to move in ways that make us feel alive, playful and strong and move away from what feels like punishment?

Can we honor our bodies enough to nourish and heal them with whole, real, from-the-earth food rather than numbing our feelings with pseudo-food?

Can we make a conscious effort to authentically connect with other people in real life, not just through texts, emails and social media?

Can we focus less on what we don’t have and more on how we can give to other people and bring goodness and kindness into the world?

Can we create space for other people to be vulnerable and safe to share their struggles and their stories?

In her book, Stones of Remembrance, Lois Evans captures the significance of sharing our stories:

“Remembering our own stories helps us; and when we tell our stories, others know they are not alone […] Our stories give others permission to be imperfect, permission to struggle, permission to question their own unknown futures.”

I don’t know what your story is or what you’re struggling with right now, but I know all of us have fears around telling our story, about letting the TRUTH about ourselves be known.

I’m giving you permission to do it.

To tell your story.

To remind you that you’re not alone.

To encourage you that you don’t have to be perfect.

Brene Brown, whose book, The Gift of Imperfection, resonated with my heart earlier this week, inspired me to close out the year with these words:

Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.

Here’s to 2016.

Here’s to being Kind

Compassionate

And Brave.

Here’s to owning our story and loving ourselves.

The Courage to Be Vulnerable: My Untold Story

The story I’m about to share is the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever done.

Fear tends to accompany vulnerability, especially when we’re putting our WHOLE selves out there into the world.

Fear of rejection.

Fear of judgment.

Fear of being “too much.”

But I have to share this.

Because what I’ve experienced over the past five years has been a gift.

It has happened for me, not to me.

It’s my responsibility to be open enough to find meaning in my journey and to use it for good.

So, with that, here’s the story I’ve never told until now.

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I swore it would never happen again.

That I would never gain back the weight. That I’d never wear “those” clothes again.

I remember five years ago when I started proudly packing up all of my old clothes that no longer fit. I’d lost so much weight that I had gradually amassed a brand new wardrobe.

I hadn’t thought it was possible to get back to the weight I was in high school, but I had. The last time my body was this size, I was playing competitive soccer. I couldn’t believe it. I thought my body was destined to be the size it had become, but I had proven myself wrong and surprised myself.

In addition to losing weight, I had uncovered the root causes of other nagging body issues like congestion, allergies, acid reflux, and other digestive discomfort and had adjusted my diet to get rid of the triggers.

My body was more adaptable than I’d ever thought possible.

I felt good – better than ever. I was happy and for the first time in years, I loved going shopping to try on clothes. Nothing was tight. I had dropped a size or two.

I was proud of what I’d accomplished.

And I was convinced it was where my body was meant to be.

For years, I didn’t even think about my weight. I naturally maintained my weight and even lost a few more pounds, without much effort. In one of my most read blog posts ever about how I lost 20 pounds and kept it off, I wrote about what I did to lose the weight.

I had never gotten attention for my body before.

I welcomed the praise.

The “You look great/so good/amazing!” and “Have you lost weight??” comments fed my ego and my sense of worthiness. I had been employed as a Corporate Wellness Specialist for years, but now I looked the part.

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I started to tell my story of how I had lost weight and gotten off of acid reflux medication after a decade of taking it every day.

My story became my identity – “Wellness Consultant Drops 20 Pounds and a Decade of Taking Medication.”

But, as the body tends to do, mine started to change.

During the winter and spring of 2013, I hit my lowest weight. I had completed coursework about the benefits of a plant-based diet, which I had adopted years earlier when the weight loss began. What I learned caused me to stop eating animal products. I had cut out dairy a few years prior, as I found out it was one of my trigger foods, but now I wasn’t eating meat, poultry or even eggs.

My body started whispering to me, sending subtle signals that something wasn’t quite right.

I had lost weight everywhere, including my chest.

I looked more like a 14-year-old girl than a 28-year-old woman.

My libido was MIA.

My menstrual cycle was irregular.

Then, in August 2013, my body ceased whispering and started shouting.

“That time of the month” stopped coming.

For 7 months.

Seven long months.

And, no, I wasn’t pregnant.

Bill and I knew we wanted to have kids one day, but if that system wasn’t working, I wasn’t sure how it would be possible.

I switched OB/Gyns. I met with a natural fertility specialist.

I started seeing Dr. Mary Jo Fishburn, an acupuncturist and integrative medicine doctor. She had me complete a series of tests called Genova NutrEval to help us arrive at some answers about what wasn’t working in my body.

The tests would give us key information about five core nutrient areas: antioxidants, B vitamins, digestive support, essential fatty acids, and minerals.

The results came back.

I was devastated.

They were coded stoplight-style – red, yellow, green – and I was “in the red” on over a dozen key nutrients.

My body wasn’t breaking down and absorbing proteins.

We started looking at the food sources of each of those nutrients.

“But I’m eating most of those,” I responded. I ate plenty of spinach, kale, almonds, quinoa, and other nutrient-rich foods.

I was so confused.

What was happening inside my body?

I had just about stopped eating animal products, a major source of B vitamins and amino acids for most people, and the decade of acid blockers had messed with my body’s ability to properly use vitamin B12.

Years of taking antibiotics and acid blockers and consuming foods that were compromising my immune system had interfered with my body’s ability to break down and absorb nutrients from my food.

I had become malnourished.

It sounded like such a harsh word, but my test results supported it.

“You might need to gain some weight,” she suggested.

I had never been told by anyone that I was underweight. I never thought of myself as being “too thin.”

But I was. I appeared to be doing everything right from the outside, but my body wasn’t okay on the inside.

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But what would happen if I gained weight?

What would people think??

I had lost weight, kept it off, and was telling my story everywhere I went.

It had become part of my identity.

If I gained weight, people would notice.

Would they question my credibility to speak and teach about what to eat?

Would I lose their trust in me and my position as an “expert”?

Then, the internal name-calling began:

Imposter.

Fraud.

The fears began to overwhelm me, but I knew I had to keep moving forward.

I couldn’t keep ignoring my body’s signals.

My doctor referred me to a nutritionist, Kasia Kines, who I started seeing in January 2014.

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She put me on therapeutic doses of high quality supplements to begin replenishing and rebuilding my body’s stores of nutrients.

I slowly began reintroducing animal products into my diet. I made sure they were high quality – grass-fed, organic, pastured, etc. It started as a once a week thing and then built up.

Because of what I’d done to my body, my stomach acid production was deficient – something that is common among people who have acid reflux – but is misdiagnosed as excess acid. I was put on a hydrochloric acid supplement to take with protein-containing meals.

My body began responding.

My appetite returned.

I didn’t realize it, but for years, I hadn’t felt true hunger. I had been taking some form of medicine for acid reflux since I was 19 and had essentially shut down my stomach acid production. With the acid reintroduced to my stomach, my body could properly break down proteins into building blocks for the first time in years.

The ultimate gift came a few short weeks after starting with Kasia.

In January 2014, after waking up early one morning to use the restroom, I ran into our bedroom and shouted to Bill, “I’m a WOMAN again!!”

I couldn’t believe it.

I had hope.

My body was starting to cooperate, but I was still very irregular.

I brought my concerns back to my nutritionist.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to have kids,” I told her, as a tear rolled down my cheek.

What she said next hit the deepest part of my being. She told me to repeat this phrase to myself whenever I was feeling discouraged:

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Oh, how I needed to hear that. 

And, oh, how it broke me.

She had no idea how profound and inspiring those words would be for me for years to come.

As my body started absorbing nutrients and with the guidance of my doctor and nutritionist, I started to gain weight. I opened myself up to the possibility that doing so could help me reach my ultimate goal.

My cycle finally regulated itself in October 2014 and has been on track on a monthly basis ever since.

But with it has come weight, something I’ve emotionally struggled with over the past year. I now wrestle with the fear that losing too much weight will send me back to the female issues I’ve recently overcome.

I’ve been making a conscious effort to shift my mindset about what has happened and what it means. Insights from books by Brene Brown, Geneen Roth, Marc David, and Elizabeth Gilbert have helped and have inspired me to face my body fears.

Instead of judging myself and feeling self-conscious or crying in the mirror when I don’t fit into an outfit I wore a year ago (been there, done that), I’m trying to focus on recognizing and appreciating everything my body does for me.

It wakes up each morning, so I can take on a new day.

My heart beats and my lungs bring oxygen every second.

My hair and nails are strong.

My cycle is back on track.

My skin has improved.

My reflux is still gone.

I have energy all day long.

RD Tossing Kale Looking Up

Photo cred: Laura Toraldo Photography

I’ve had the best year ever in my career.

My nutrient levels are back in healthy ranges.

In the midst of pushing myself physically, mentally and emotionally, my immune system kicks on to fight the bad guys trying to slow me down.

I can’t remember the last time I was sick.

I’m more in tune with my body and what it’s trying to tell me than ever before.

I’m doing my best to love this one precious, beautiful body I’ve been given.

Even when it confuses me.

Even when it frustrates me.

Even when I catch a glimpse of a picture of my once malnourished body in a dress that no longer fits.

In those moments, I remind myself of my nutritionist’s words of wisdom:

“What a journey you have had!

We are human. We do have to honor our bodies.

They are not at fault.

Other things are.

Just be gentle and forgiving.

It is doing its best for you!

It always has.”

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‘Tis the Season to Pay It Forward: The Gift of Giving Back

I saw this sign outside of a local salad placed called sweetgreen a few weeks ago.

But I didn’t really feel it until this morning.

Something special happened at work today. Something very special. Something all of us will remember for the rest of our lives.

The day started with a typical monthly All Hands meeting. As a company, we come together, celebrate successes, appreciate each other, and strategize for the future.

Today was different.

Each of us had just finished opening our very own Fitbit Flex with our new company branding on it. It was amazing to look at, I’ve got to be careful with it, I don’t want to break it or cause it to be damaged in any way, luckily I can go online to Mobile Mob and check out their Fitbit bands on there in case I need a replacement! Got to keep this beauty safe.

We’re going to be participating in a company-wide movement campaign called On the Move this spring. Integrating our Fitbits into the challenge will be one more way for us to come together for some healthy competition, something our close-knit group enjoys.

Moments later, Richard Silberstein, our CEO, pulled out a pack of handwritten thank you notes. He had personally written one to every employee at our organization. He requested we open them later.

As we approached the close of the meeting, Richard, a man I’ve known for half my life and worked for for over a decade, did something totally unexpected.

He pulled up a slide with a picture of an older bearded man wearing glasses and a hat, who was sitting in an armchair.

“Does anyone know who this is?” he asked.

“Santa Claus?!” was the response.

Laughter ensued. Then the room grew quiet, as Richard invited us in to what was the most emotional, authentic, and memorable moment of my career here.

He explained how he has befriended this man, Scotty, a Vietnam vet, who hangs out at the Starbucks in Rehobeth Beach, Delaware – a place Richard vacations throughout the year and has a family home.

Richard is a social guy and one of the most well-connected, relational people I know, so it’s no surprise that he would buddy up with and get to know someone he sees regularly.

He told us how Scotty was one of those people who is often misunderstood and who might be passed over by the average person. But Scotty and Richard have formed a connection and a bond. I’ve heard Richard talk about him before, but the story he told moments later forever changed how we will see this man.

Richard started to get choked up as he reflected on his friendship and conversations with Scotty, a man who has regularly attends AA and is often in “a bad place.”

He reminded us of how fortunate we are, how we have so much.

Richard told us how he decided to Pay It Forward and give Scotty $100 as a gift. Scotty was speechless but grateful. He wasn’t going to use it for himself, even though he surely needed it. He was going to share it with his fellow army vets, so they could at least have something for Christmas, since none of them has any family or even homes in which to live.

At that moment, Richard pulled out an envelope.

“I’m going to give each of you $100 to pay it forward. Give it to someone else – anyone you want.”

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Silence.

Gratitude.

Presence.

That’s what I was feeling.

All of us were.

The wheels in my mind started spinning, “Who would I gift my $100 to?”

The cleaning crew? The maintenance men? A mother at a toy store? The janitor at my husband’s school? The pastor on a teacher’s salary with three kids?

You could tell everyone was thinking the same thing, “How will I share this gift? With whom? When? How will they respond?”

By this point, there was barely a dry eye in the room.

But Richard wasn’t finished yet.

“I’m going to give each of you another $100 as a thank you. This has been a challenging year and you’ve worked hard. You can use it for yourself or give it to someone else.”

Each of us sat there stunned, overwhelmed with gratitude for what we had just experienced.

Anyone who knows Richard knows him to be a generous man.

Have a college kid looking for a job? Send Richard their resume.

Have a daughter applying to Richard’s alma mater, where he serves as a board member? Call Richard.

Have a family member who just received a devastating diagnosis and needs the best medical care possible? Give Richard a buzz.

Everyone in that room this morning was humbled by what happened. Very few people ever have the opportunity to experience feeling that way. But we did.

It’s something we’ll never forget.

What I experienced today reminded me why where I work truly is one of the best places to work and one of the healthiest companies, in every sense of the word “healthy.”

SIG Best Places to Work

SIG was recently honored as one of Baltimore’s Top Workplaces by The Baltimore Sun

As I returned to my desk to reflect on what had just happened, I remembered one of Richard’s mottos, something passed down to him from his grandfather about the importance of being generous and caring for other people:

“If you take care of Baltimore, Baltimore will take care of you.”

Thanks for taking care of us, Richard, and for helping us take care of others.

Thank you for making this the best place to work.

I extend this charge to YOU. Take a moment to reflect on how you can give back to better someone else’s life. Feel free to share your story below!

Rachel D’s 30-Minute Meals: Veggie Pasta UNrecipe!

I’m usually a bit more on top of the whole Christmas shopping thing, but with all that has been on my plate this year, I really fell behind and started doing the bulk of my shopping on Friday.

Some people love the adrenaline rush of waiting until the last minute…I’m definitely not one of them!

After spending a few hours shopping on Friday with all the crazies, Bill and I were hungry and ready for dinner. Since we’d just spent money on gifts, I didn’t want to spend more money on food, so I was determined to make something using what was already in our fridge and pantry.

That’s how this (under) 30-minute meal came to be!

We had a box of Tolerant Foods’ red lentil rotini pasta, so I threw together a bunch of veggies from our fridge and a few simple add-ons like lemon juice, sea salt, and olive oil to give the dish some flavor.

tolerant rotiniTa da! Dinner is served 🙂

When I posted the picture on instagram and Facebook, a friend of mine asked the question, “Where’s the recipe??”

Short answer?

There isn’t one!

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Consider this an “un”recipe (you know, just like those “un”birthdays in Alice in Wonderland?!).

This is one of those dishes that I literally pieced together based on a template that works no matter what you have on hand. Check out the basic process below.

<30-Minute Meal Basic Ingredient List

  • Base: Quality, gluten-free pasta of choice (We use Tolerant Foods pasta because it’s packed with fiber and protein or brown rice pasta. Both are gluten-free and contain only ONE ingredient, which is ideal!)
  • Cooking Broth or Fat: Veggie broth, ghee, olive oil, coconut oil, or grass-fed butter
  • Aromatic Veggies: Onion (red, yellow or shallots), Garlic (2-4 cloves)
  • Simple Seasonings: Sea salt (coarse grain), Black pepper
  • Flavor Burst: Lemon
  • Finishing Fat: Extra virgin olive oil
  • LOTS OF VEGGIES! (cherry tomatoes, broccoli, bell peppers, squash, kale, spinach – add leafy greens at the very end)
  • Any add-ons like chickpeas, cannellini beans, chicken, fish, etc.
  • Top with fresh herbs like basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme, etc. And if you like other herbs and spices, add them in along the way!

Here’s the foolproof process to follow:

Cook the pasta – saute the veggies – blanch the broccoli – toss everything together – top with lemon juice and zest, olive oil, sea salt and pepper.

And for those of you who like more detail…here you go!

  1. Bring water to a boil in a medium pot. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. During the last 90 seconds of cooking, add the broccoli florets to blanch them (quickly cook!).
  2. While you’re waiting for the pasta water to boil, heat a large skillet to medium-high heat. Cut onions into thin half-moon slices. Add a few tablespoons of veggie broth or cooking fat of choice to the skillet. Add onions and saute 5-7 minutes until they soften. Add more veggie broth as needed to prevent sticking. Add tomatoes and garlic and saute until you can smell the garlic.
  3. Once pasta is cooked and broccoli is still bright green, drain the water in a strainer and add the broccoli and pasta to the veggie skillet.
  4. Add sea salt and black pepper to taste and finish with the zest of one lemon and the juice of one lemon. I used half a lemon to start and added more as I tasted. Finish it off with a few drizzles of olive oil.

We topped ours with some paleo parmesan cheese 🙂 The combination possibilities are endless, so HAVE FUN with it…and get cookin’!

Melt-in-Your-Mouth, Pan-Seared Curried Scallops {Paleo}

My dad is allergic to seafood, so we never had it in the house or ate it much when I was growing up.

Since I was born and raised in Baltimore, a city known for its steamed crabs and crabcakes, the fact that I didn’t like or eat seafood of any kind was a little strange. 

It wasn’t until my freshman year of college that I tried fish for the first time.

Spending a semester abroad in Spain as a junior was what really opened me up to trying and (much to my surprise) LIKING so many different kinds of food, especially seafood. I’ve enjoyed it ever since!

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Enjoying one of many meals in Granada, Spain in 2004!

Wild caught salmon and sea scallops are my absolute favorites.

There’s something about a perfectly cooked, silky scallop melting in your mouth that is unlike any other food experience.

I’ve become a big fan of culinary translator and food-as-medicine guru, Rebecca Katz, lately and have been trying lots of her recipes. I admire and appreciate all of the work she’s been doing to “spread the YUM” and bring excitement, flavor and nourishment to the plate. 

When I saw that one of her recipes included my #1 flavor blend (curry powder) and my favorite seafood (scallops) and I saw how simple the ingredient list was, I knew we had to try it!

We had it for dinner a few weeks ago and l-o-v-e-d it 🙂

(Oh, and we enjoyed it SO much that I forgot to take a picture, so don’t mind the pic below of another sea scallop dish we’ve made! I’ll update the image the next time we make it.)

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Servings: 4

Ingredients
12 dry-packed sea scallops
Sea salt
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, ghee or coconut oil
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon snipped fresh chives, or 1 minced scallion, for garnish

*Click here for the full recipe and directions from the cancer-fighting kitchen expert, Rebecca Katz!*

25 Energizing Breakfast Recipes {Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free}

For most of my life, the back of the cereal box was the highlight of my first meal of the day.

As much as I enjoyed starting my day that way, I’ve learned that typical breakfast cereals and other breakfast foods like donuts, bagels and granola bars are not the most filling or nourishing choices.

We’ve heard that breakfast is an important meal, and it’s true.

Eating breakfast helps us stabilize our blood sugar levels throughout the day, which affects things like our energy, alertness, and mood.

Not hungry when you wake up? You might have eaten too late the night before and spent your night digesting instead of repairing and resting. Another possibility is that you might not have gotten enough quality sleep and could still have some stress hormones floating around that are dampening your appetite.

When we grab something to “break the fast,” the key is to make sure we’re eating the most filling and satisfying combination of food to keep us going throughout the day. The secret to lasting energy and feeling satisfied after a meal is eating a combination of…

PFF

Fiber only comes from plants, so that would mean we want to include something that was growing in nature at some point. Protein can be plant-based or animal-based. Examples of healthy fats include things like nuts, seeds, avocado, wild caught salmon, and coconut.

Remember, breakfast is a time of day, not a group of foods. Anything is fair game!

Check out this video I put together that walks through some of my favorite breakfast ideas. Then, take a look at the links below that direct you to a bunch of the recipes I mention in the video!

Smoothies

Smoothies are a great way to jam pack nutrition in a glass, but drink them slowwwwly instead of downing them in 90 seconds, as I have a tendency to do. Smoothies are so easy to make as well and can be done in minutes with the help of the Best Juicer! Getting nutrients from veg and fruit has never been so easy.

Make sure you follow the guidelines of the PFF combo – protein, fiber AND some healthy fat in each smoothie. Most of the time when we make smoothies, we put in lots of fruit and juice and very little protein or healthy fats, so we spike our blood sugar and end up feeling hungry a couple hours later.

My basic formula for making smoothies looks like this: ~2 cups veggies (spinach, baby kale, lettuce, cabbage), 1 cup fruit (berries are best!), 1 -1.5 cups liquid, 2 tablespoons protein (nut butter, hemp seeds, protein powder) and then some add-ins like coconut oil, flax seeds, chia seeds, dates, cinnamon, or cacao powder. My preferred protein in smoothies are hemp seeds, sprouted pea protein, or sprouted brown rice protein (you can get all of them on Amazon). Sun Warrior and Vega are two good brands.

These are some of my favorite smoothie recipes, especially the Ultimate Pumpkin Pie Smoothie, Chocolate-Covered Cherry Smoothie, Caribbean Island Breeze, and this Snickerdoodle Smoothie.

Whip up a smoothie in the morning and put it in a thermos. It should stay cold for about four hours.

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You can also find lots of free smoothie recipes here at Simple Green Smoothies.

Here’s a link to an awesome and FREE downloadable smoothie guide from the Academy for Culinary Nutrition that you can print out and put on your fridge.

I like smoothies, but I don’t drink them every day. Sometimes my body wants something warm or something a bit more savory like a frittata, so I pay attention to my cravings and eat accordingly!

Gluten-Free Grains

Sugary cereals aren’t the only bowl-based option for breakfast. Check out some of my favorite hot and cold cereal recipes below. I serve them with some almond milk or coconut milk. Yum!

PS Oatmeal Banner

Granola Aerial

No-Bake Bites

Enjoy these as a side to some fruit and/or veggies or oatmeal. If you make a lighter smoothie based mostly on veggies or fruit without fat, try these as a side to that, too. They also make a great snack!

coconut chai biteslacto cookies

Egg-Based Dishes

For more savory options, the dishes below are some of my absolute favorites. As the weather gets cooler, my body tends to crave these warmer, veggie-packed, nutrient-dense meals.

Beet Shakshuka Recipe from Two Moms in the Raw cookbookMexican Black Bean Scramble

Leftovers

Who says breakfast has to be a boring bowl of cereal? Have some leftovers from the night before? Heat them up for breakfast!

currycrock pot chili

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