It's Time to Do Something for YOURSELF!

It can be easy to get so wrapped up in work, school, and taking care of others that you forget to take care of yourself. You might deny yourself thinks that you enjoy or that make you happy as a form of self punishment. We have to make sure that we are replenishing ourselves and doing things that bring us joy if we want to be able to do all of the other things we want to do. With that in mind, I want to challenge you to pause and think of some things that you enjoy doing that you aren't doing right now. How can you carve out some time or prioritize something to help you take better care of yourself. I've been working on this a bit myself lately and I'm encouraging you to do the same.

Make Dinner with Me! Beef + Veggie Skillet + Dietitian Q&A!

Come cook with me! In this live stream, I'm making dinner and answering viewer questions. Watch while I make a healthy dinner and see how I put a meal together. You'll also get to learn some knife skills and cooking tips. I call this meal a ground beef skillet. It's a go-to for me in the warmer months as an easy dinner that also helps me use up whatever vegetables I have on hand. See how this meal comes together while I answer questions about emotional eating, sugar, glycemic index, and more!

PROBLEM with What I Eat in a Day Videos

What I Eat in a Day videos are quite popular. I even make them myself, but there is a big problem with a lot of What I Eat in a Day videos: they promote dieting and unhealthy ideas about food and eating. Now, this obviously isn't the case with all What I Eat in a Day videos, but it's something that I see a lot. There are a lot of different ways that these videos do this, from the thumbnails, to the food, to the messages about how to decide what to eat. This is something that I've been thinking about for a while and I've mentioned briefly in other videos, but I think it's time for us to have a dedicated conversation about this topic. What I Eat in a Day videos can be a lot of fun! They can give us ideas and inspiration for meals to make in our own kitchens and it's interesting to see how other people live, but we also need to recognize some of the unhelpful and even harmful messages that some What I Eat in a Day videos contain. If we want to break down the diet culture and diet mentality, we have to recognize it. 

3 Times Healthy Food Swaps AREN'T Healthy

Healthy food swaps and healthy food substitutions always seem to be popular. There are books, cookbooks, and TV segments dedicated to the topic. But making healthy food swaps isn't always a good idea. In fact, sometimes these swaps can be unhealthy. In this video, I'm sharing 3 times when healthy food swaps aren't healthy so you know what to look out for.

September GARDEN Update! It's a JUNGLE Out Here!

It's hard for me to believe, but September is almost over and that means it's time for another garden update! This is going to be the last garden update of the year, so we're talking about how the garden is doing overall, plus some of the plants that grew really well this year and some plants that didn't. At this point in the growing season, my garden is looking pretty wild. The plants are full grown and I've been neglecting the garden a bit. There are things growing over into the paths and it's so bad in some areas that I can't even walk through them anymore. Let's just say the garden has become a bit of a maze when it's time to harvest things. I hope you enjoy this peak at my garden and have liked seeing my garden grow over the course of this gardening season!

For a point of reference, I'm in Virginia in Zone 7. All of the plants in the garden we either seeded directly or started from seed inside. I like to grow a lot heirloom varieties, which means lots of interesting shapes and colors!

WHAT I EAT IN A DAY | Healthy, Intuitive, Balanced

It's time for another What I Eat in a Day video! In this one, I'm giving you a look at what I ate on a day in September. This day includes some of my favorite, go-to healthy meals for this time of year and some meals that are a little out of the ordinary for me. All of these meals were super tasty and I enjoyed them a lot! Sometimes it can be hard to come up with healthy meal ideas and it's also fun to see what kinds of meals other people eat. So, whether you need healthy meal inspiration or are just curious to see what a dietitian eats in a day, I hope you find this peek into my meals interesting!

Dietitian vs Nutritionist: What's the Difference?

If you aren't sure about the difference between a dietitian and nutritionist, you aren't alone. As a dietitian, It's one of my most asked questions online and in real life. A lot of people don't even realize that there is a difference between a registered dietitian and a nutritionist! I'm explaining the difference for you today in this video. It's really important to know the difference between dietitians and nutritionists, especially if you're looking for nutrition information or a nutrition professional to work with. If you've ever wondered "what is a dietitian" or "what is a nutritionist," you're in the right place.

5 Favorite Healthy Dinners Right Now!

Coming up with healthy dinner ideas isn't always easy, so today I'm sharing 5 of my favorite healthy dinners right now! These easy meals have been in heavy rotation at my house here lately, and you might like them too! All of these dinners use the yummy veggies I'm getting out of my garden and from the farmer's market this time of year. That means lots of summer goodies, including tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, peppers, and tomatillos. I hope you find these meal ideas helpful in your meal planning. They're some of my favorites! 

Taco Night! Make Dinner with Me + Dietitian Q&A

It's taco night! Come hang out and make dinner with me. :) In this live stream, I'm chatting with you and answering your questions while I make tacos for dinner. See how I make homemade corn tortillas using a tortilla press, how I make my guacamole, and all of the toppings I put on my tacos. I also answer lots of your questions, including ones about weight loss, dieting, healthy lifestyle.

Are You ACCIDENTALLY Dieting?

I talk a lot about diets and the problems with dieting, but those discussions are usually focused on conscious dieting: when someone is making a conscious choice to restrict the amount, types, and/or timing of the food they eat. There's another type of dieting out there though, and that's accidental dieting. Accidental dieting happens when we aren't trying to diet, but we end up doing it anyways. Accidental dieting can happen because of dieting behaviors that have stuck around from previous diets or they can work their way in with all of the dieting messages we're surrounded with. So are you accidentally dieting? Let's talk about it!

New Study: Fat is Good and Carbs Are Bad?!

A new study out of Canada has gotten some attention. Actually, it's a few studies using the same set of data. Researchers used data from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study to look at the relationship between fat and carbohydrate intake and cardiovascular disease and mortality. They also looked at the association between fruit, vegetable, and legume intake and cardiovascular disease and mortality. At the end, the researchers found that higher fat diets were associated with a lower risk of death and weren't associated with cardiovascular disease and that higher saturated fat intake was associated with a lower risk of stroke. They also found that higher carbohydrates diets were associated with higher mortality, but weren't associated with cardiovascular disease. When looking at fruits, vegetables, and legumes, they found that 3-4 servings of these foods per day was associated with lower mortality. These results have some people saying that this means fat is good and carbs are bad and that we need to eat more fat and reduce our intake of carbohydrates. But is this really true? And what else should we keep in mind when looking at the results of these studies?

Associations of fats and carbohydrate intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality in 18 countries from five continents (PURE): a prospective cohort study

Fruit, vegetable, and legume intake, and cardiovascular disease and deaths in 18 countries (PURE): a prospective cohort study

Moderate consumption of fats, carbohydrates best for health, international study shows

August Garden Update! AWESOME Production!

August is coming to an end, so that means it's time for another garden update! I've been getting some awesome harvests out of the garden this month and, overall, I'm really happy with how things are growing. With that said, a few plants have struggled and died, so I'll be showing you those too.

One thing I'm really happy with is how well the peppers have been growing! I have several new pepper varieties in the garden this year and they're all doing great!

For a point of reference, I'm in Virginia in Zone 7. All of the plants in the garden we either seeded directly or started from seed inside. I like to grow a lot heirloom varieties, which means lots of interesting shapes and colors!

Healthy Eating vs Dieting | Dietitian Q&A

We know that diets don't work and that they can cause a lot of problems for us, but what's the difference between a diet and healthy eating? And can what some people describe as healthy eating actually be just another diet? In this live stream, I give my thoughts on this topic and discuss it with the live viewers. We talk about things like the sneaky diets that pretend to be something different, intuitive eating, and getting back in touch with your body's own signals. I also answer viewer questions.

What I Eat in a Day | Healthy Meal Ideas from a Dietitian

It's time for another What I Eat in a Day video! I know sometimes you need some healthy meal ideas and inspiration to get you out of a healthy eating food rut. You also might be curious to see what a dietitian eats in a day. In this video, I'm showing you a full day of eating for me in August while on vacation at the beach. I like making these videos when I'm away from home, because I think it's fun to show you what my meals look like when I'm outside of my normal routine. This What I Eat in a Day video includes some of my favorite beach meals and foods. As a reminder, this video is not here to tell you what to eat or how much to eat. It's just an example of one day of eating for one person (me). Every person and every day is different! I hope you enjoy seeing what I eat in a day at the beach!

A DIETITIAN'S Thoughts on What The Health Vegan Documentary

What The Health is a vegan documentary on Netflix that has gotten a lot of attention here lately. The documentary promotes a vegan diet as the singular solution to our health problems, including diseases like diabetes and cancer. What The Health also compares the consumption of meat, and processed meats in particular, to cigarette smoking in terms of effect on health. So what do I think as a dietitian about What The Health? Well, there aren't too many good things I can say about it and I have a lot of criticisms.

Eating for Healing After Injury or Surgery!

Healing after an injury or surgery is quite the process, and what you eat plays an important role. Nutrition matters when it comes to healing and there are certain nutrients that are important in the healing process. In this video, I'm sharing the important of food in healing, including the nutrients that help with healing.

Nutrients Mentioned

Protein - found in meat, eggs, dairy, nuts, seeds, beans, and lentils

Vitamin C - found in citrus, strawberries, peppers, peaches, tomatoes, kiwi, pineapple

Vitamin A - found in eggs, liver, sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, winter squash, leafy greens

Zinc - found in oysters, beef, other meats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, cashews, and lentils

Are You Making Healthy Eating Too Complicated?

Eating healthy doesn't have to be complicated, but, sometimes, we make it that way. Recently, I was working at a health fair and had an interesting conversation with one of the people there. The woman approached my table and started talking to me about her food and nutrition struggles. As the conversation went on, I saw in her experience what I see happening to so many other people: confusion about nutrition and the negative impact of food rules. Food rules are everywhere and the black and white thinking that comes with them can actually be bad for our nutrition and well being. The good thing is, it doesn't have to be this way.

Make Dinner with Me! Rice Bowls + Dietitian Q&A!

Come make dinner with me! In this live stream, I'm chatting with you and answering your questions while I make rice bowls! This is one of my favorite go-to summer meals, especially on nights when I want something easy or if I have veggies in the fridge that need to get used up. Watch me go through the process of making this healthy meal from start to finish and get some ideas for your own dinners! My husband, Jasen, also makes an appearance in this one. :)

Coming Up with Healthy Meal Ideas | Meal Planning Tips!

One thing about eating healthy and meal planning that can be a challenge for people is coming up with healthy meal ideas. I think this is something that most people come across at one time or another. If you're new to cooking, you might not know where to start. If you're more experienced in the kitchen, you can still find yourself in a food rut and lacking new meal ideas and inspiration. In this video, I'm sharing my top tips for coming up with healthy meal ideas. These are all things that I find really helpful when it comes to meal planning and figuring out what meals I want to make that week.

Resources mentioned

• Kylie Mitchell's Instagram: @immaeatthat
• Diane Sanfillippo's Instagram: @dianesanfilippo
• Meal Maker Machine from the Doctor Yum Project

Less Sleep Linked to Weight Gain?

Sleep is important for overall health, but how does sleep affect our weight and health markers like cholesterol and blood sugar? That's the subject of a new study out of the UK. In this study, researches used data from 1,615 participants that was collected as part of the UK's National Diet and Nutrition Survey. They analyzed this data to look for relationships between sleep duration and BMI, waist circumference, diet, blood lipids, blood sugar, hemoglobin A1C, thyroid hormones, and C-reactive protein. So what did these researchers find and how does it fit in with previous research about sleep and weight? More importantly, what does this research mean for us?

FULL STUDY: Longer sleep is associated with lower BMI and favorable metabolic profiles in UK adults: Findings from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey