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whole food nutrition for the body

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Healthy Holiday Tips: Sane Eating and Mindful Celebration

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| Categories: Food and Nutrition, Nutrition

Are you ready to count your blessings and enjoy the feast?

Ready for the ultimate celebration of the table?

This week we’ll enjoy family and friends, make some new memories, practice traditions and then get down to some SERIOUS eating. Food can bring us a lot of joy, but when we over-do it, you know it takes it’s toll! The key is to celebrate mindfully and I have just a few quick tips to help you enjoy this Thanksgiving (and the rest of the holiday season too!) without sabotaging your health, energy and holiday radiance!

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What’s essential for well-being post-election?

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| Categories: Faith, Faith and Purpose, Purpose

In all honesty, I’ve never been a very political person. It’s not that I lack conviction, but that I quickly become VERY cynical when it comes to politics and over the years have generally been apathetic in my participation in the political process. I’m not proud of this, but I blame this on (in no particular order), my sense that I can’t personally make a difference, a blessed life which leaves me grateful rather than lacking, my desire to maintain a positive attitude, my dislike of internal and external conflict, my need to understand and try to relate to…

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What to do when you eat too much sugar

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| Categories: Food and Nutrition, Nutrition

You know what really stresses me out?

Having approximately 8 pounds of Halloween “loot” in my house. Despite my exclamations that they are too old, my teenage boys went trick or treating anyway. Like most normal kids, they happen to love candy. So off they went.

Now, we have a candy “problem”.

And it’s not even the candy itself, it’s the sheer amount! I don’t ever remember bringing home this much candy as a kid! If there wasn’t so much candy, it really wouldn’t be such a big deal. Then there is the age old question…should they just binge and be done with…

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Simple Ingredient Swaps for Cleaner Eating

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| Categories: Food and Nutrition, Nutrition

One of the easiest ways to make every day a little bit healthier is with simple ingredient swaps that don’t sacrifice taste or joy! Below I’ve listed some of my favorite swaps, with a brief description of why.

If you don’t care about the why, just the what, skip to the bottom of this post! I created a PDF list which you can download or print for your reference. Post it in your pantry as a reminder!

Consider replacing some or all of the following foods and step up your clean eating habits!

Artificial Sweeteners: Artificial sweeteners are hugely problematic for many…

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Hearty Pumpkin Chili

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| Categories: Main DIshes, Recipes, Soups

It’s October, so pumpkin everything! Yes, even chili.  ‘Tis the season, and in the effort to eat seasonal we’re going all pumpkin, all the time. I’m making pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes, so why not chili too?

Chili is one of those meals that has endless adaptations and still always seems to turn out just right, even with pumpkin. Especially with pumpkin! Pumpkin is the ultimate fall flavor and works deliciously in a chili! It adds a creamy richness, and just a hint of flavor. It’s also a great source of fiber and nutrients like vitamins A and C…

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Choosing Ease Over Easy

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| Categories: Inspiration

“What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.” Samuel Johnson

Life is so hard sometimes! There is so much stress. The to-do lists never end, life happens all the time and craziness abounds despite our best efforts at control. But a hard life doesn’t mean a bad life! It’s just hard. It takes effort. It’s not carefree and relaxed all the time. And would we really want it to be? Because if life was easy we would never grow. We only grow when we stretch and leave our comfort zone, whether by…

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Weeknight Shrimp and Chicken Quinoa Paella

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| Categories: Main DIshes, Recipes

I have always thought of paella as “special occasion food”. I typically only make it if friends are coming over and I really go all out, making it in the more traditional way, including all the expensive ingredients. Traditional paellas are delicious and honestly don’t need improvement. However, weeknights that we get to sit down together as a family are special too, and this paella comes together quick enough for a beautiful weeknight dinner. I still don’t think my kids appreciate that they get to eat meals like paella on say, a Tuesday night after baseball practice, but I…

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No Carrot Sticks: My Top 10 Healthy Snacks

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| Categories: Food and Nutrition, Nutrition, Recipes, Snacks

Oh how virtuous it feels to snack on carrot sticks…and how unsatisfying. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against carrot sticks and I eat them often, but only paired with something decadent like guacamole! Otherwise, they just don’t do it for me.

So many times we think of snacking as a negative thing, but it really doesn’t have to be. And that’s good news, because as much as we may try to avoid it, snacking is a way of life now. We are on-the-go, running around and in need of energy!

There are pros and cons to snacking, but when…

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Healthy Maple Pecan Blueberry Crisp

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| Categories: Healthy Desserts, Recipes

This has been, hands down, my favorite sweet to make all summer. It has been my go-to dessert, not only because I love it (and so does everyone else), but because (if) there are leftovers, it makes a delicious breakfast the next day! I’m all about cooking once, eating twice and healthy indulgence!

This is just about the easiest dessert to throw together and did I mention, it doesn’t have butter, refined sugar, gluten or dairy (unless you top it with vanilla ice cream, yum!)? Yes, it’s healthy!! It gets it’s delicious sweetness from maple syrup, coconut oil and cinnamon,…

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Fuzzy Vision, Imperfect Action & the Pursuit of Purpose

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| Categories: Faith and Purpose, Inspiration, Purpose

Have you noticed a shift in people? It seems like more than ever, people are seeking their unique gifts and callings and are compelled by a strong desire to live them out. I think its part of the reason wellness is such a huge topic these days. It’s not just that people want to lose weight and give themselves the best chance against disease, although these are huge benefits. They want to be well in mind, body and spirit, so they can function at a high level and have the energy and stamina it takes to live fully into their…

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