6 Tips to Help You Pack Lunches Like a Pro

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By: Amanda Schroeder Though it seems to have just begun, summer is officially coming to a close and, for many of us, this means settling into a school-time routine. Even if you are child-free and/or not in school, this time of year also signifies earlier mornings to accompany the reemergence of school zone speed limits, school buses, and overall heavier morning traffic. Waking up with the roosters can be quite the challenge and, let’s face it: sometimes that snooze button feels like an absolute necessity! Despite the busy… Read More →

The Common Avoidance Diet and Why It’s Not Sustainable

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By: Rachel Nannola There are so many common fad diets that revolve around eliminating one or more food groups from your diet. Some examples are the Paleo Diet, gluten-free diet, Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet, and many more. These types of diets can result in weight loss, but 95% of dieters regain the weight lost within 1-5 years after concluding the diet. Usually, elimination diets involve food groups that we enjoy eating (e.g., carbohydrates, fats). The problem with this is that those are important food groups to include… Read More →

The Difference Between the Dates

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By: Rachel Nannola Ever wonder what the date on the side of a food package means? The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that Americans throw away the equivalent of 162 billion dollars in food every year. The dates on the sides of packaging can be confusing, which is probably why people are throwing away food unnecessarily. So let’s talk about what each type of packaging date means: “Sell by” date tells the store how long to display the product, which means you should buy the product before… Read More →

What are Omega 3’s and 6’s?

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By: Rachel Nannola An omega 3 is a polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA). There are three types of omega 3’s: alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Omegas 3’s are found in fatty fish, walnuts, flaxseed oil, canola oil, and some other seeds and nuts. There is also another type of polyunsaturated fatty acid named omega 6. There are two types of omega 6s: linoleic acid (LA) and arachidonic acid (AA). Omegas 6s are found in meat and vegetable oils. Both ALA and LA are essential fatty acids,… Read More →

Plant-Based Diet Benefits

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By: Rachel Nannola Unlike other “diets”, there is good reasoning behind switching to a plant-based diet. Plant-based diets have been proven to prevent and even reverse multiple nutrition-related diseases and conditions, including type 2 diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and high cholesterol. A plant-based diet is essentially what it sounds like: a nutrition plan that revolves around eating mostly non-animal products, including whole grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. A recent study conducted by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, however, found that not all plant-based diets do well for… Read More →

What Are Your Cravings Trying to Tell You?

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By: Rachel Nannola I’ve never met a person who doesn’t deal with the occasional craving. Cravings can happen at all times of the day and can stem from much more than seeing a box of doughnuts in the office or walking past the vending machine. In just a few seconds, you can go from not being hungry to feeling like you need the doughnut. So why do we get cravings, and what do they mean? There are tons of different reasons behind our cravings, so let’s talk about… Read More →

The Power of Whole Grains

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By: Amanda Schroeder Have you heard about all of the benefits that come from eating whole grains? Sure, the gluten-free trend has permeated our society, and you might even be eating that way and loving it, but research shows that whole grains are fantastic for your body! They are great sources of complex carbohydrates, low in fat, and contain a variety of vitamins and minerals. Plus, research has suggested that eating whole grain foods can reduce your risk of certain cancers, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity! Recently, the… Read More →

Goal Setting the SMART Way

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By: Rachel Nannola So you know you want to make a change to benefit your overall health and wellness, but you’re not sure where to start. Setting goals is a great way to get started with a plan, and it helps keep you motivated because you’re working toward something specific. When setting a goal, you want to make it something that’s achievable for you because, if it’s not, it’s much harder to stick to your plan and achieve it. If you were to make a goal to become… Read More →

Could Your Weight Be Affecting Your Health?

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By: Amanda Schroeder Obesity has reached epidemic proportions, not only in our country, but all over the world. In 2014, 70.7% of American adults over the age of 20 were considered either overweight or obese. That’s nearly ¾ of our entire nation! But, here comes the really sad part. A survey from 2012 shows that adults are not the only ones affected by this epidemic. In the survey, 20.5% of adolescents from 12-19 years old, 17.7% of children from 6-11 years old, and 8.4% of children from 2-5… Read More →

Micronutrient Monday: What Is Iodine?

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By: Amanda Schroeder Of all of the minerals we readily consume, I’m sure I think about iodine the least. (And, weirdly, I think about minerals a lot!) The media hasn’t gone into a frenzy over it, like it has for other minerals (e.g. calcium). And since it isn’t the topic of too many of our everyday conversations, it’s easy to overlook. Iodine is a trace mineral, meaning we need it in very small quantities, but it packs a punch! It is a vital component of certain thyroid hormones… Read More →