How to Make Healthier Meals With ELEVATE
If you’re wondering how to make healthy meals but don’t know where to start, you’re not alone. While it may feel overwhelming to consider completely changing your food choices and time spent cooking and prepping, it doesn’t have to be. You don’t have to completely overhaul your life to improve your health and reach your wellness goals. You can make a big difference in your nutrition by making small adjustments to your current diet and routines. As a registered dietitian, I’ve found three common blockers (that you can overcome) when it comes to elevating meals from a nutritional standpoint: time, accessibility, and the influence of others. Healthy Meal Blocker #1: Time Busy schedules, work commitments, social calendars—it can be hard to find the time to plan out nutrient-dense meals and muster up the energy it takes to shop, prep, and cook. More often than not, my role as a dietitian is not only to provide nutrient recommendations but to break the meal planning process down into easily digestible chunks that can seamlessly integrate into your unique lifestyle, so the time spent making healthy meals is minimal and realistic for the everyday, busy person. Healthy Meal Blocker #2: Accessibility Accessibility is often overlooked. Setting nutrient expectations for your meals that align with your budget and the foods you can access daily or weekly is important. For example, suppose fresh wild-caught salmon is only available at a specialty store outside your neighborhood shopping center, and the price is outside your weekly grocery store budget. In that case, a frozen or canned option is a great way to adjust expectations without skimping out on nutrient density. If you’re a dietitian or nutrition coach, you can apply this to the suggestions you make for your clients. Ensure that your recommendations are realistic based on your clients’ access to healthy foods—both locationally and monetarily. Healthy Meal Blocker #3: The Influence of Others When it comes to the influence of other people, I’m talking about friends, family, partners, and people outside of your inner circle. Influence from social media feeds, and the marketing and branding of diets and food products also come into play here. All of this influence—both on a micro and a macro scale—can create confusion and chaos when identifying what is “healthy” and what may work best for you. Learn more about your food and what works for your body. Then, commit to sticking to those things—no matter what other people say is “best”—and you’ll be on your way to living your most Nutritious Life. That is exactly what we’re here to help you do. An “ELEVATE”d Approach to Cooking Healthy Meals The Nutritious Life team is so excited to share a course that addresses all of these main concerns. Whether you are looking to easily boost the nutritional value of your go-to meals in a quick, budget-friendly, and educational way or gain tools and tips for how to tackle time, accessibility, and the influence of others with your own clients—ELEVATE is for you. ELEVATE is a four-part video series taught by Andrea Rogers, founder of XTEND Barre, and Keri Glassman, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and founder of Nutritious Life and the Nutritious Life Studio. As two single mamas running busy businesses, they recognize that many people don’t have time to cook elaborate lunches and dinners. And no one—especially those with tighter financial circumstances—should have to spend top dollar at specialty organic markets just to get “healthy” ingredients. ELEVATE will show you how to build meals and start enjoying the energy that comes from empowered eating. The ELEVATE Course Keri and Andrea conducted a nationwide survey and collected hundreds of go-to meals and snacks—think traditional smoothies, salads, and weekday dinners. Using this data, they took each of the top three go-to breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks and gave them a healthy (elevated!) makeover. As they explain the easy changes, you’ll learn the key tips on elevating the nutrient density in your meals and why certain ingredients are better than others. Each meal will contain an ingredient call-out. Keri will explain exactly which ingredients to look out for on a nutrition label or in a “healthy” product so you can cut through the clutter and confusion of nutrition in the media and make empowered decisions at the grocery store. Keri and Andrea will also de-bunk some of the most common nutrition myths so you can further your understanding of healthy meal planning. Each meal will contain a tangible takeaway—a quick tip to help you easily boost your meals’ nutritional value without causing stress on your schedule or your wallet. You’ll also get the ELEVATE guide, an in-depth product PDF with all of the ingredients used in the workshop along with Keri and Andrea’s top picks from major retailers all over the US and from all price points. This course is a game changer for anyone who wants to learn the how AND the why behind healthy nutrition decisions – from grocery store to fork. Join today to start elevating your meals, your health, and your Nutritious Life.
Do Produce-Saver Products Really Keep Food Fresh Longer?
We’ve all had the disheartening experience of having to throw away expensive fruits and vegetables because we didn’t use them quickly enough. No one likes to waste money, of course. But there’s even more at stake with food waste. We throw away a shocking percentage of the food we produce. That’s especially tragic when you consider how many people around the world experience hunger on a daily basis. Hunger and food insecurity are not just issues faced by developing nations. Here in the United States, the richest nation in the world, more than 10% of households struggle to put food on the table. And that number has increased by 66% since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Right now, 50 million people (including 17 million children) in the U.S. do not have enough to eat on a regular basis. No matter where you live, if you’re fortunate enough (as I have been) to have weathered this year-long crisis without worrying about how you’ll feed yourself and your family, perhaps you’ll join me in donating to your local food bank or an organization like FeedingAmerica.org. If you or someone you know is experiencing hunger or food insecurity, you don’t have to go it alone. If you are in the U.S., FeedingAmerica.org can help connect you with resources in your area. Food waste is also a major player in climate change. Rotting food is responsible for almost 10% of greenhouse gas emissions globally. In fact, if food waste were a country, it would come in third after the United States and China in terms of impact on global warming. And fresh produce makes up about a third of all the food we throw away. If food waste were a country, it would come in third after the United States and China in terms of impact on global warming. All of which is to say: If a $10 product could keep us from throwing away so much food, it would be money well spent. And I’m happy to report that there is some solid science to support these products. But their usefulness may be a bit more targeted than the marketing sometimes suggests. What does ethylene do? Ethylene is a harmless gas that is released or “exhaled” by fruits and vegetables. In general, ethylene production increases as fruits ripen and ethylene, in turn, accelerates the ripening process. When we put unripe fruit in a paper bag, the idea is to trap some of the ethylene the produce gives off to hasten the ripening process. This works especially well for apricots, bananas, mangoes, tomatoes, avocados, and melons. But once the fruit is ripe, continued exposure to ethylene can cause it to become overripe and start to rot. Ethylene can also speed the decline of other types of produce. According to horticultural scientist Kathleen Brown of Penn State University, ethylene can cause carrots and parsnips to get bitter, broccoli and kale to turn yellow, cucumbers and summer squash to get soft, asparagus to turn tough, apples to get mealy, and lettuce to wilt. Herbs such as parsley and mint are also sensitive to ethylene gas. Low temperatures reduce a plant’s sensitivity to ethylene, so keeping produce refrigerated will help to preserve it. In addition, you can use something to absorb ethylene gas. If your avocados get ripe before you need them, you can hold them for a few days by putting them in the fridge. I find it most effective to move them to the fridge when they’re still a day short of fully ripe, as some ripening will continue in the fridge. What is zeolite? Zeolite is a complex of minerals, including aluminum and silica, that is highly absorbent. It is used as a drying agent to suck moisture out of the air. (This is the stuff that makes clumping cat litter work.) But it also absorbs ethylene gas. Zeolites are widely used by food growers, shippers, and retailers to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by slowing down the ripening process. Produce-saving products that you may have seen in the consumer marketplace, such as the green produce bags or the hollow ball that you place in the crisper drawer of your fridge, contain zeolite. They are effective at absorbing ethylene and can prevent certain types of spoilage. These bags are reusable, but they will eventually lose effectiveness. You can also buy a rechargeable zeolite-filled ball to place in your crisper drawer to absorb ethylene gas. Do other things absorb ethylene? Gary also asked whether baking soda or activated charcoal might be effective at absorbing ethylene. I can’t find any data to suggest that baking soda would be useful. Activated charcoal can absorb ethylene, but not nearly as effectively as zeolite. Interestingly, the rechargeable ball (Bluapple) contains both zeolite and charcoal, but the manufacturer only mentions charcoal in their marketing. Perhaps they think charcoal sounds more natural and therefore more appealing to consumers. In terms of absorbing ethylene, I suspect the zeolite is doing the heavy lifting here. The charcoal may also have some odor-absorbing properties. Spoilage that produce bags won’t prevent Keeping your produce in special ethylene-absorbing bags may indeed extend its shelf-life. Keeping high-ethylene producers like apples and avocados quarantined from other produce can also help. But remember that ethylene is only one of the things that can shorten the life of your produce. An ethylene-absorbing bag won’t prevent moldy berries or slimy lettuce, for example. The best way to keep fruits and vegetables from going bad is to eat them promptly! Here’s a handy printable chart of the best way to store different types of produce. A version of this article was originally published on Quick and Dirty Tips.
Honeysuckle’s Dzung Lewis’ Weeknight Remix Changes the Leftovers Game
Growing up in a Vietnamese household, YouTube star chef (and now author!) Dzung Lewis was constantly surrounded by family preparing delicious food. “We express love through food. The more you ate, the more it showed your appreciation for your grandma’s or parent’s cooking,” Lewis tells Nutritious Life.“ It works in a similar way for me now, but I show my love through cooking a delicious meal for my friends and family. I love seeing people enjoy my food!” When she took up baking as a hobby after college, Lewis started a YouTube channel to share her creations. Once born as a creative outlet, Honeysuckle has now blossomed into a thriving business. Through her channel, Lewis strives to inspire young women to use food and lifestyle choices to develop creativity, self-confidence, and community. Her new creation, The Honeysuckle Cookbook, will help you do just that. It’s filled with exciting ideas for approachable, Asian-influenced cooking at home. She shares with Nutritious Life how COVID-19 has actually sparked more creativity, ways she takes time for herself (with two little ones keeping her busy), and her trick to jazz up leftovers. How have things changed for you since COVID-19 hit? Once we figured out what our priorities were and managed our time better, we started finding a rhythm. Nate and I juggle our time between work and watching the kids. It’s been a bit of a struggle with an infant and an overactive toddler, but we’re trying our best to adapt and make things work for our family and our business. What are some of your tips to stay focused…especially now. As tired and frustrated as you are about the current situation, look beyond that and take this time to focus on yourself and what you want for your life. Even though I’m so busy with the kids, the pandemic allowed me to slow down in a way. I wasn’t driving to and from the store multiple times a week getting supplies, I wasn’t seeing friends, or going out just to be out. Before COVID-19, I felt like I was in a tunnel just churning out content, but didn’t take the time to really think things through clearly. I take the extra time I had to research and hone in on how to improve our channel and watch more youtube (as funny as that may sound, but it’s our business). How often do you exercise, and what’s your workout of choice? I try to move my body at least 20 minutes a day. So whether it’s doing a workout video or walking the dog, I feel so much better after. We live on a hill and there are some intense peaks. I can get a pretty good workout in just walking our dog. How do you motivate yourself to workout? I’m trying to lose the last of my baby weight. The second time around is so hard and to be honest, I just want to fit in my old clothes again. Working out is also the only time I get to myself these days, so going on that 20 minutes walk alone is when I can clear my mind, take deep breaths, and do something for myself uninterrupted. If you had to name your healthy diet, what would you call it? The Weeknight Remix! We’ve been cooking a lot and with a picky toddler, I have to constantly try to remix last night’s leftovers into something interesting. For example, if we had meatballs the night before with pasta, I can’t guarantee she’ll eat the same thing, so I will make a meatball wrap for her…and for me, I’ll add it to a salad. Salads are easy during lunch with whatever protein available from the night before. It’s quick, easy, and fast! Has it been hard to stay on track with your nutrition while in quarantine? The first month (or two) were the hardest since I was stress baking and eating my feelings away. After we realized this was going to be our new normal, I started to get back on track. Dinner every night consists of protein and veggies with a small side of carb. Grain bowls became a favorite to make because they’re heavy on veggies and I could change the flavors simply by swapping out the sauces that get drizzled on top. What’s your go-to breakfast? I love oatmeal—a bonus right now is that it helps with making more breastmilk (i’m still nursing). What’s the one food you always have in your fridge? Eggs. They’re so versatile and I can use them for baking or for a quick meal. The kids have eggs every morning too. What causes you stress? Right now, making sure that I’m keeping the family safe and healthy. I try to take proper precautions by wearing a mask when we’re out, sanitize my hands, etc. Sometimes I tend to worry and stress too much about little things. Taking a deep breath and talking through things logically with Nate always helps. He or my sister always bring me back down to earth when I feel overwhelmed. How do you pamper yourself when you need it? I used to get a mani or pedi as a way to pamper myself, but since we can’t right now, I try to do it myself. On nights when the kids go down easily, I like to do a five to seven step nighttime skin care routine (wash, exfoliate, tone, add serum, moisturize). My skin always feels so refreshed and smooth after. What is your evening routine to wind down at the end of the day? Lately, I’ve been really into watching experiential travel videos. Seeing vloggers travel and what they ate or how they spent their time is really enjoyable since we can’t travel right now. Lightning Round Meditation or massage? Massage A hot shower or a soothing bath? Soothing Bath Almond butter or peanut butter? Peanut Butter Coffee or tea? Coffee A long run outside or a dark spin class? Dark
Simply Cooked Well: How to Make Delicious Roasted Shrimp in 15 Minutes
Erin Parekh is teaching us how to cook proteins, simply.
2-Minute Kitchen Tricks for Better Health
From the easiest homemade salad dressing to a morning smoothie that does double duty.
3 Ways to Waste Less Food, According to Chef and Activist Tom Colicchio
Tom Colicchio knows a thing or two about food waste. “My wife likes to joke that I’m a Depression-era housewife,” Colicchio shared at Food Tank’s Food Waste Summit. The celebrity chef and activist, who is owner of Crafted Hospitality restaurant group, was referring to his obsession with not wasting food, which is a topic that’s been getting more and more attention due to some staggering stats. In the U.S., the USDA estimates that 30% to 40% of food produced is wasted. That added up to 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food in 2010, when the USDA last offered stats. (And you thought Sweetgreen was expensive.) Why should you care, though? After all, you’re now old enough to know that clearing your dinner plate won’t, in fact, help feed starving children in Ethiopia, despite what your mother told you. First, you’re basically throwing your money in the garbage. The most recent stats from Nutrition Connect, an initiative of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), found the average American family spends more than $1,600 a year (that’s a vacation!) on uneaten produce alone. Most importantly, food waste is the largest category of garbage filling landfills. Once in the landfill, it generates methane, a greenhouse gas that is a major contributor to climate change. It’s also bad for the planet since it’s not just wasted food, it’s a waste of all of the resources (like water and transportation) that go into its production. RELATED: The One Simple Diet Change That’s Best For the Planet “The real cost of food isn’t understood,” Colicchio said, referencing how cheap the end cost of food can be in America, a fact that confuses our perception. “We don’t value food.” Ready to start trying? Here are a few simple tips from Colicchio that will help you cut food waste, save the planet, and put money back in your pockets. Win-win-win! 3 Tips to Cut Food Waste 1. FIFO your fridge. There’s a rule in restaurant kitchens referred to as FIFO, and it stands for “first in, first out.” Every time you stock the fridge, you take the older stuff out and move it to the front, putting the newer, fresher foods behind. This prevents you from forgetting about things that are hidden before they go bad. It’s a super simple strategy that adds a couple of extra minutes to your post-grocery routine but makes a huge difference. RELATED: Genius IKEA Kitchen Hacks that Make Healthy Cooking Easier 2. Get to know your freezer. Our collective obsession with fresh ingredients in restaurants might have steered us a little too far from our freezers, according to Colicchio. Everything fresh all of the time is “a great strategy for restaurants, but not necessarily for home,” he said, where it’s often hard to finish foods in the quantities they’re sold in. His tip: Freeze stuff! When he buys too much kale, for example, he blanches it and freezes it. When tomatoes are popping at the farmers’ market, he freezes a bunch and then turns them into sauce at a later date. 3. Eat out. This may sound a little self-serving coming from a chef, but it’s true. While we recommend cooking at home as much as possible to ensure healthy ingredients, restaurants are better at managing food waste than consumers are. (Makes sense since every food item purchased equals dollars on a spreadsheet for restaurants). So, consider this your one good excuse to dine out a little more often than you should. Tell your friends about how you’re working on reducing food waste, too. “We’ve got to get this message out to more people,” Colicchio said. “Nobody wants to waste money. Nobody wants to waste food.” (Images: Shutterstock)
Genius Ikea Kitchen Hacks that Make Healthy Cooking Easier
When you sit down at a clean, organized desk, doesn’t it make you feel like you’re about to conquer the world (or at least your to-do list)? These Ikea kitchen hacks will give you that same feeling—just in relation to healthy cooking. RELATED: How Staying Organized Helps a Busy Nutritionist (and Mom) Eat Well The truth is, if you’re trying to make more nutritious meals on a daily basis, it’s really going to help to have your space to set up for success. You don’t want to come home revved up to make Thai Zucchini Noodles with Pan-Roasted Halibut only to get hung up on the fact that you can’t find any of the spices you need or that you’re going to have to move 15 other appliances in order to get your Spiralizer out. And by tapping Ikea, you know you won’t break the bank (so you can spend more of your hard-earned dollars on organic veggies, naturally). RELATED: Budget Healthy Eating Tips You’ve Got to Try Here are five super affordable Ikea kitchen hacks that will help you get organized for more fast, fresh, stress-free meals. 5 Genius Ikea Kitchen Hacks 1. Organize your spices and seeds. You want the spices and seeds that you use the most often ready and within reach at all times. Use Rajtan glass jars to store them on your counter or a close shelf. They’re simple and sleek and will match any kitchen decor. You can also premix spices you use as blends and store them in the jars, like a curry blend or a taco seasoning. 2. Put potted herbs in a wine rack. This blogger came up with a genius way to use the Vurm wine rack. Pot fresh herbs like basil, rosemary, and parsley in pint glasses and stick them in the rack for an easy indoor herb garden that takes up no space at all. Better yet, buy one rack for your red wine and one for herbs…they’re both great sources of antioxidants. RELATED: What Are Antioxidants, and Are They Really That Important? 3. Use bins in your fridge. Pluggis bins are made for recycling, but you can also use them to organize your fridge in ways that make it easy to find things. Put all of your condiments in one, for instance, or give breakfast foods like eggs, yogurt, and berries their own box. As you can see from this blogger’s tutorial, it makes your fridge look prettier, too. 4. Hang up your fruits and veggies. Fruit bowls take up lots of counter space, but there’s plenty of produce—like bananas, apples, and tomatoes—that should really stay out rather than going in the fridge. Solution: Use the Fintorp collection of rails, hooks, and bins to hang your produce on the wall, like one blogger did, here. You can also hang a rail near your stove and put cooking tools like your go-to spatula and whisk in the Utensil Holder for easy access. 5. Put your cookbooks on a shelf, and hang your pot holders. This wall shelf with hooks may look more like an item made for hanging coats by the door, but put it on a kitchen wall near the stove and it’s super useful. Your favorite cookbooks can lean on the shelf for both access and decor (or you could stock a row of spices there). Then, hang dish towels and pot holders from the hooks, so you don’t have to be rummaging through drawers while paying attention to multiple pots.
