Healthy Burger Recipe for Vegans or Omnivores

One of my favorite go-to meal prep staples that I always try to keep on hand is the “Power Burger,” made from a healthy burger recipe that can be enjoyed whether you eat plant-based burgers or traditional ones! And, the benefits of the power burger for vegans, is that it allows you to turn fake meat like Beyond Burger or Impossible Burger into a more wholesome, whole food. That’s because it adds fresh spinach, whole seeds, and oats, making it more nutritionally complex with added nutrient-dense calories.

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Phytonutrient Rich Foods- Using Colors to Guide You

phytonutrient rich foods

Phytonutrient-rich foods are an important part of any diet. So how do you know you are getting a variety of phytonutrients? Well, if you have ever heard someone use the term, “eat all the colors of the rainbow,” that pretty much sums it up. No, that statement is not just some “hippy wu wu” vegetarian thing to say. It actually has some scientific, evidence based substance behind it. You can take the “eat the rainbow” approach and that

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Why Diets Don’t Work- 5 Possible Reasons

why diets don't work

Are you contemplating a diet, or currently dieting? Or, have you tried several diets only to find yourself back to your old unhealthy or overweight self after a couple months? Do you ever start to wonder why diets don’t work? There is a statistic flying around that 95% of all diets fail. I honestly had to search, a lot, to try to find the origin of this statistic. I could only find one article, The 95% Myth, that referenced a 40 year old study of just 100 participants. What I did find, however, is an overwhelming consensus

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5 Whole-Food Diet Tips for Busy Schedules

whole foods diet

When following a healthier, whole foods diet, busy schedules and between-meal snacks can become a challenge. So I prepared some tips that might help give you the upper hand you need to stay on top of a whole foods diet and keep the processed, convenience food to a bare minimum.

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5 Fabulous, Nutritionally Dense Foods for Spring

nutritionally dense foods

It’s spring at the Farmers Market! If you are like me, you are guilty of over doing it during the Spring months with more fresh, fabulous produce than you can possibly eat in a week. It is hard to reel in, focus and choose from all the stuff that the farmers are bringing us this time of year. So, I have an idea. How about taking some of that “kid in a candy shop” excitement and enthusiasm, and channelling it into getting more nutrition out of your next Farmers Market visit? I used a sampling from the ANDI scale, developed by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, MD, to help identify some of the most nutritionally dense foods that are in season and hanging around the Farmers Market right about now.

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Ketogenic Diet- An Objective Review

ketogenic diet

The ketogenic diet seems to be on everyone’s minds and googling fingertips. This ultra-low-carb, high-fat, moderate-protein eating plan is gaining a great deal of traction on social media. If you search #keto on Instagram, you’ll get nearly two million posts in return.

So what’s all the rage? Is it another fad diet, or is there some solid, evidence based substance behind this diet that you can count on as a real nutrition lifestyle solution? I gave this diet a shot, a couple different times, to find out

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Flu Season Tips for Staying Healthy & Resilient

flu season tips

Flu season is right around the corner! Are you planning to get a flu shot? Or are you on the fence about the efficacy of influenza vaccinations? Whereas I can’t advise you on whether or not to get a flu shot, I can provide some flu season tips on how to nourish and strengthen your body and immune system for the cold and flu months of the year.

This article from the Center for Disease Control & Preventionexplains that although flu vaccines are a good precautionary measure, they can be less than 50% effective across the board. The article identifies, “at least two factors that play an important role in determining the likelihood that flu vaccine will protect a person from flu illness: 1) characteristics of the person being vaccinated (such as their age and health), and 2) the similarity or “match” between the flu viruses the flu vaccine is designed to protect against and the flu viruses spreading in the community.” That means that if you are among the population with a weak or compromised immune

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Healing Carrot, Ginger & Turmeric Soup

Have you ever picked up some fresh turmeric root at the market, just to have it sort of sit in your kitchen and shrivel up? Well, here is an easy, season-appropriate way to put that turmeric root to really good use. This soup will make you want to curl up under a blanket and turn the phone off.

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Brussels Sprouts with Hempseed & Lemon Zest

Brussels sprouts, you either love them, or you hate them. I have both prepared, and eaten Brussels sprouts many different ways: steamed, sautéed, braised in oatmeal stout, grated raw in salads; some preparations good, some not so good. So who knew that the quick and easy, clean and vegan preparation would turn out to be so delightful? Well, not me, but now I am sold. This dish provides the devout vegan with essential B12 from the nooch, essential fats, and a complete amino acid protein profile from the hempseed. But don’t let the word “vegan” put you off. This is absolutely delicious, light, and satiating and can be enjoyed on just about any diet or lack thereof.

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Green Pepita Soup

In between your weekends of sugar, animal fat, and alcohol-laden holiday festivities, on a quiet weeknight at home, when your body is clambering for some real nutrition, try whipping up this extremely easy soup that is clean, vegan, and packed with super nutrition. The pepitas, while delivering a complete essential amino acid profile, also give it that comfort food edge that will surely hit the spot on a cold winter night.

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