Snacking can definitely be a part of your healthy meal plan and I encourage some healthy snacks every day!  When changing your lifestyle, you can often feel deprived, but one to three snacks daily can be included as long as you make healthy choices, watch your portions, and avoid unplanned snacking.  Unfortunately, we are surrounded by food, and not always the healthiest food.  My full-time job is in healthcare and there seems to be an abundance of snack foods in every facility.  Food is in our faces all day:  from donuts, cookies, chips, cakes and then the vending machines loaded with unhealthy options - we are set up to fail.  Try to think about how many times you just pick up a cookie here or there, a brownie, or candy bar.  Those calories add up over time and can lead to significant weight gain.  However, if you plan your snack time, bring your own healthy snacks, and stick with your plan, you'll be much more successful in reaching and mainta...

We've been working on building a healthy foundation by drinking more water and eating more fruits and vegetables.  Now we need to focus on meal planning!  How much easier would like be if you had a personal chef to plan and make all your meals and snacks?  What a blessing that would be.  Unfortunately, for most of us, that's not possible, so we have to modify!  YOU can become your own personal chef and meal planner with minimal effort!  Planning is important for just about every aspect of our lives.  We plan so we can make it to work on time, we plan vacations, outings, family events, kids schedules.  Why  not plan your meals too?  Food is so important to how we feel every day and our overall health, why leave it up to chance?

Meal planning:

1.       Saves time

2.       Saves money

3.       Improves food choices

4.       Improves overall health

5.       Puts you in con...

      Did you know that there are very few adults and even fewer adolescents actually getting the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables daily?    The CDC estimates that only 14% of American adults and 9.5% of adolescents reach the MINIMUM requirement of 2 servings of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables daily!    Why does that even matter?  Disease prevention and overall health, not to mention mental health!  Fruits and vegetables contain numerous vitamins, minerals, fiber, water, and other phytochemicals important in keeping your brain and your body healthy.  If your diet is lacking in this area, you are really missing out on achieving an optimal state of health! 

     The research is conclusive!  Diets that are rich in fruits and vegetables help lower your blood pressure, reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and help to prevent eye and digestive problems! WOW!!!  All these benefi...

     When making healthy changes for ourselves, we must start with what we’re drinking!  We know that drinking water is better for us than drinking soda, even diet soda.  But, you may not know the WHY!  Reducing your soda AND diet soda intake is important for so many reasons, here are just a few:

1. People who drink soda are less likely to get adequate Vitamin A, Calcium and Magnesium

2. Diet soda CAN contribute to weight gain.  When you consume artificial sweeteners, your body craves more sugary calories and if you consume those calories, you will gain weight.

3. Regular soda contains an excessive amount of sugar, which can eventually lead to weight gain, diabetes, and insulin resistance.

4. Soda contains phosphoric acid, which decreases your body’s ability to absorb calcium.  Lack of adequate calcium can lead to softening of your bones, osteoporosis, and cavities.

5. Soda and diet soda have NO nutritional benefits

6. Recent r...