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“Brownie Batter” Chocolate Chia Pudding
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Low Sugar Granola (Raw, Grain Free, Low Carb)
Do you eat granola because it’s touted as being healthy? As a functional medicine dietitian, I don’t always consider granola as a “health food”- but this one is. Learn more about this original healthy low sugar granola recipe.
Is Low Sugar Granola Good For You? Let’s Get Some Answers
A lot of store-bought granola can be a sugar bomb 💣 and should be considered dessert, NOT breakfast. And at the very least, not eaten with additional sugar (aka no sugary yogurts or more fruit).
Is granola good for weight loss?
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Are Supplements Good For You?
How do I know if I need to supplement? And really, are supplements good for you anyway? I make sure that my clients know exactly why a supplement may or may not be helpful.
Reasons to Take Supplements
Nutrition supplements, when used safely and appropriately, can be an effective strategy to complement dietary and lifestyle changes. For my clients with PCOS or gut health conditions, I always make sure that we first focus on implementing the most supportive nutrition and lifestyle changes. However, changing behaviors can be difficult to do. So one reason to take supplements is to support progress in the early stages while my clients are still learning to form new habits.
Another reason to take supplements is that some conditions require more potent support than nutrition and lifestyle changes alone can provide. For example, women with intense period paid can experience significant relief with supplementation of good, high dose fish oil, but they might find it hard to get a high enough dose through diet alone.
Lastly, some medications can deplete essential nutrients. With medication use, nutritional supplementation can help replete insufficient levels of nutrients in the body. For example, common medications prescribed to women with PCOS may include hormonal birth control or Metformin, both of which can deplete nutrients and would be a reason to take supplements.
While there are many reasons to take nutritional supplements, choosing the right ones for your health needs is key.
How to Supplement Smartly
Three important criteria I use when choosing supplements for my clients include efficacy, quality and dose. Personalized care from a nutrition or health professional trained in safe and effective supplement use is essential.
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Essential First Step to Enable Weight Loss
Going Beyond Calories for Weight Loss
Have you ever tried restricting calories (i.e. eat less food) to try to lose weight? How did that go for you?Well, you may have heard that calories aren’t the only important part about nutrition for losing weight. You also know that some type of eating healthy food is probably important along with reducing calories to lose weight.
What I want to share with you today is the essential first step to take to enable weight loss. And it’s not just about less calories— it actually has very little to do with calories!
I’m talking about blood sugar balance.
Blood Sugar Balance for Weight Loss
What do you think of this idea that your weight loss efforts are hinging on blood sugar balance? You may think that it can’t be true, that it’s rather about willpower, or all just about dropping calories. Or you might even say, Victoria— my blood sugar is always normal when I see my doctor!
I want you to know that blood sugar balance really is critical. We can’t lose weight unless we start with supporting blood sugar balance. This is essential for EVERYONE, not just people who already have prediabetes or diabetes. Blood sugar balance is also the most fundamental need in treating PCOS, which is much more a metabolic type of syndrome at the root that has reproductive hormone side effects, rather than a reproductive hormone issue as a root cause.
Because this is so important, I made the YouTube video about weight loss above to literally draw this out for you (whiteboard time!) so that you can see how blood sugar balance and weight management are tightly connected. And not only weight, but also cravings, energy levels, and mood.
Your Step by Step Plan
- Start here: watch the video above to understand why blood sugar balance should be your first priority in your journey to lose weight.
- Download my FREE step-by-step guide to the Protein + Fat + Fiber Method. This is the essential first step to enable weight loss. This method is the first step in my process I’ve developed called— a sustainable framework to unlock weight loss & get your energy back.
FREE GUIDE download: Protein + Fat + Fiber Method.
Join my metabolic health & weight loss program, The 4 Method, that gets to the heart of the blood sugar / insulin / weight connection!
The 4 Method Program is an online, live group program and community for people who want to lose weight by a better method. The 4 Method helps people overcome weight loss resistance & heal a tired metabolism through a sustainable approach that offers structure, consistency, and a clear framework to achieve progress daily so you can finally start to take back your control over this process of blood sugar balance & weight management.
Additional Resources:
Check out my recipes balanced by the Protein + Fat + Fiber Method.
Learn more here about why I am so dang passionate about root causes solutions to health issues.
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3 Ways to Make Healthy Chicken Salad (or Tuna or Egg Salad) – 3 Steps, 3 Sauce Options
Healthy Chicken Salad Without Mayo
Chicken salad is a common lunch time food – quick and tasty. But most chicken salads, as well as tuna, salmon, crab & egg salads (also all known as “bound” salads since they are bound together by a thick sauce that hold together when scooped), are made with store-bought mayo that contain unhealthy ingredients and other strange additives. But making a healthy chicken salad on your own means you can make the choice to use healthier ingredients. And as you’ll see, the recipe formula makes for a super simple & quick meal!
Why This Healthy Chicken Salad Recipe Rocks
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Healthy No Bake Buffalo Chicken Dip Mini Pizzas {secret ingredient!}
Balanced, healthy buffalo chicken dip
These easy no bake buffalo chicken dip appetizers are perfect for a party or balanced enough to eat as a healthy meal! Classic buffalo chicken dip is so tasty & it keeps you coming back for more. But usually the recipe leaves you feeling pretty lousy, due to sky high levels of sodium and excessive amounts of cheese and fat. Don’t get me wrong- I am all about adding healthy fat to meals. But it can be an indigestion nightmare to eat loads of cheesy ingredients that are typically found in buffalo chicken dips.
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How I Built a Faith-Inspired Nutrition Business
“I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”
~John 10:10
Where I am now is a complete work of the Holy Spirit. I am an entrepreneurial dietitian pairing my message of “faith-inspired wellness” with functional nutrition to help women optimize their health and fertility. But there is no way that I could have stepped into such a call if not for God’s initiation and my receptivity.
I have come to understand that God wants to enliven every part of our lives and radically guide us at every turn. Our role is to be receptive and persevere in prayer to daily recommit ourselves to his way. There were three pivotal seasons of my life where God enriched my journey and led me to my faith-inspired business.
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Can you give up something you crave?
Last Spring I was giving a talk to a women’s club. It was during Lent (as it is now). One woman said that she gave up alcohol for Lent. The woman next to her blurted out, “Oh! I could never give up anything!”
This gave me great sadness. I wanted to stop giving my talk about anti-inflammatory eating & just sit with them to dig into this great topic of attachment. But alas, I moved on.
I’m sure this woman though, if she really thought about it, could give up something. But her response, as is ours so often, is that we do not believe we have the capacity to give up anything.
The problem: changes are necessary but hard.
The problem we face is that we need to make changes for the sake of our health of body & spirit. However, we find it hard to do so because we…
- Are attached to certain foods & the sensations they provide
- Are attached to the way we currently live
- Fear we won’t be capable of achieving our goals
- Fear of emptiness if we let go of attachments
- Fear of the unknown in that new life
- And so many more.
If you desire to live a healthier life (eat nutritious foods, be more physically fit, prevent/manage/reverse chronic conditions, etc) but find it difficult to do so, think about this:
Could you give up ONE thing you are attached to?
I ask because making changes in our health is a journey that evokes more and more daily moments of discipline. And I have seen in my own life & in the lives of many clients that freedom from attachment is so key in our health journey.
Giving up just one little thing, bringing in discipline in one little area of our life gives us the strength and virtue needed to progress toward more discipline & growth.
How to make changes to your health
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One Pot Pumpkin Ground Beef Skillet {Paleo, Keto, Low FODMAP}
Use this healthy ground beef skillet recipe to create a healthy lifestyle
This healthy ground beef skillet recipe is my go-to meal when I want something quick, wholesome, and really satisfying. It is comfort food as it should be- tasty, hearty, and nourishing.
It contains real food only (as all of my recipes do!). It’s perfect for those who need or choose to eat paleo or a real food, wholesome keto diet. And for those needing Low FODMAP modifications for gut health reasons, this recipe is Low FODMAP and goes great with additional Low FODMAP veggies and carb sources.
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Personalized Vitamins for 2020: A Dietitian’s Review
I hope you love the products I recommend. Just so you know, Wonderfully Made Nutrition may collect compensation from the brands I recommend, but I only write about products I believe in. If I love them, I hope you will too!
I’m a registered dietitian who works with clients 1:1 to help them reach their health goals, and supplements are a big part of the equation. When recommending a supplement, it’s important that I find a brand that is both high quality and intentionally practical.
Supplements can be expensive, and while efficacious, it can be difficult to know what to take, let alone build a consistent daily habit.
My Care/of experience
Enter Care/of. They provide a personalized, high quality vitamin plan in convenient daily packs, at a price point that’s under $2 a day. It’s truly a game-changer.
I recently tried Care/of for 30 days. Here’s a few of the reasons why it’s my new gold standard for a supplement provider.