This post is more about how you eat than what you eat. The fact is that so many people when they start up a diet or try to lose weight put an emphasis on what foods to eat and not eat. The advice that is often touted is eat more veggies and skip the sugar, which is great advice. What if looking at your food or smelling your food could help? How about chewing your food more, yeah there is science behind that one! How about breathing while you eat? Lastly and probably most importantly, thinking about how the food you just ate made you feel. All of this begins with some mental preparation. Changing your mind first is one of the key things you can do make lasting change that is ultimately rewarding and not a fleeting accomplishment.
I would love to take you through the list above and offer up a few tips on how I think you can change your mindset to go from a dieter to a mindful eater. Willpower vs. Trust
I've met a number of people that just try to will their way to losing weight. They fight cravings, HARD!!! They overthink their plans and work out elaborate schemes that someone claims is the cure all. They are constantly having to think about their next step, their next meal or lack of one. Versus... Someone that trusts the process. A mindful eater won't micromanage the scale or measurements. Remember that advice about eat more veggies and less sugar, yeah that's about as complicated as it needs to be and a mindful eater won't overcomplicate things.
We've got a whole separate post solely dedicated to Why Willpower Doesn't Work if you want to check it out. Cultural Conformity vs. Individual Empowerment
This one could be applied to any area of our society today from politics, dieting, religion, you name it. Society is always looking to group people together. If you are a healthy eater than you need to eat "X, Y, and Z." If you are unhealthy than you eat this. My advice here is, if anyone ever says they have the perfect diet or way to eat, run the other way! We are learning that there is no one size fits all diet out there. Food intolerances are on the rise and with that brings a very individualized food landscape where you need to determine what works best for you. This happens through experimenting and really listening to your body cues... which brings us to the next topic.
External Cues vs. Internal Cues
This ties back to the previous in that we allow society to dictate what we should look like and feel like. Rather than look to a number on the scale or measurements, focus on how you feel. Do you feel stronger? Do you have more energy? Is your digestion better? Focusing on the external stuff is a losing proposition, so don't go there!
Weight Loss vs. Health Enhancement
I'm sure I heard this somewhere else but my saying is... "Weight loss is a side effect of being healthy, not the other way around!" Can you lose weight without getting healthy, absolutely, but it likely won't be long term or if it is it will cause stress mentally and physically on you. Put the emphasis on healthy first. Rather than worrying about calories consumed, worry about nutrients consumed! Nutrient deficiencies can cause everything from weight gain, fatigue, to chronic disease.
Avoidance vs. Acceptance
To me this is all about owning your decisions and actions. You are the one that ultimately is responsible. I see this in people all the time in our groups, they come up with an excuse for every situation on why they couldn't exercise or find healthy food to eat. I get that these things happen but the mindful person will be aware of it and accept the decisions then move on. It's not someone else's fault, it's not even their own fault. Excuses and guilt are extremely heavy anchors that will keep you from making progress. Own it and move on!
Rigid vs. Integration
Dieters have lists, eat this not that. Things are off limits! Whereas the person that is successful long term will figure out a way to "integrate" new foods into their current diet. This process takes longer but what happens is those good and healthy foods begin to crowd out the not so healthy foods. Over time you are eating super healthy food that make you feel awesome. Integrate don't discriminate!
Counting Calories vs. Quality Calories
I could write a whole book on this topic, thankfully someone else has, The Calorie Myth by Jonathon Bailor. I've summed some of his work up in this blog post, Stop Eating Less and Exercising More. The idea is here is your body doesn't do math that well so trying to control calories in to calories out just won't work. Your body is really good at finding a healthy weight if you give it the nutrition it needs. Focus on nutrient dense food that is prepared in a delicious way.
Restrictive vs. Flexible
If I tell you that you can't have something, what does your mind immediately do? "I WANT THAT THING!" Being ultra rigid in your food choices won't serve you. It will likely lead to binging when our willpower muscle is worn out. We promote and encourage people to have some treats when they are trying to lose weight. Life is meant to be enjoyed, be conscious of your treats, plan them out and savor every last bite.
Deprivation vs. Fulfillment
Being "hangry" is a thing! If the plan you are on encourages a level of hunger, skip it. Instead eat to the point of being fulfilled but not full. This will likely require you to slow down when you eat and chew your food a little more. Eating nutrient dense food and protein with every meal will also help when it comes to hunger.
Quick Fix vs. Lifestyle
I know lifestyle change is kind of a buzz word out there right now but it is because it is exactly what needs to happen and what does happen when people change in a healthy way, a mindful way. Let's talk about the "quick fix" for a second. It usually revolves calorie restriction and over-exercising. Right there it goes against everything I've mentioned so far without even explaining how the physiological changes won't stick because of the methods. That's why coming at it from a lifestyle change where you integrate new foods in slowly, eat to fulfillment, focus on health and give yourself time to change or reach weight loss goals.
Fight Food vs. Celebrate Food
I love this one because so many people look at food as the enemy, it's calories and calories make you fat. If you focus on the quality of food you eat, then food becomes nutrients not calories. It's something to enjoy in abundance and not tiptoe around. Also along with this comes the actual act of eating. We've become a fast food nation even if you aren't actually eating McDonald's or Burger King. When was the last time you slowed down to look at your food, to smell your food. I mean really smell it like you see judges do on crazy cooking shows. Lastly do you chew your food, not chomp and swallow. Chewing is huge when it comes to breaking down food so that we can absorb the nutrients in it. It is also the point where our DNA starts interacting with the food that will eventually become cells in our body. Slow down, enjoy your food it's more than something to fill you up it's something that gives you life.
We hope this helps you connect to your food and your actual act of eating more. Did something speak to you? What's one area where you need to focus your attention?
I am super passionate about helping women believe in themselves again and have HOPE. So often we (as women) use food to fill voids in our lives without even knowing it. We use it to help us cope when the stress gets to be too much...or maybe we even restrict ourselves from it because it's the one thing that we can control.
That's the thing....Our souls crave something more than food, and yet we keep trying to fill it with junk that won't satisfy us!! So often I see people wanting to make changes to their lives but as soon as they start to make progress they let LIFE and all it's messiness get in the way and derail their plans. I want to help people see that it's not about perfection...it's about perseverance...and running the race even though it's hard because HE created us to lean on HIM and not try to do it all on our own! I want people to STOP striving for something the "world" tells us we need...we don't need to be skinny...we don't need to have a six pack or defined legs or a nice booty. We need to be healthy, happy and we need to have HOPE. If it's really hard for you to open your eyes every day and have hope...I'd encourage you to start your day with GRATITUDE. It'll change your outlook, I promise!! One of the main goals I have as a Team Beachbody Coach is to help everyone we work with to become "FullyFit"...it's the name of our team of coaches because we want to help people create change from the inside out. I believe in health but I think to truly be living a FULL life you have to focus on every aspect of your life and sometimes that means going deep into our souls and getting to the dirty stuff...and not being afraid to dig our hands in. Which is why the next accountability group I'm running will focus on digging deeper into that stuff :) We'll be reading through the book Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst and focusing on getting our heads wrapped around good nutrition. This does not mean restricting yourself or focusing on all the things you can't have. It means completely changing your viewpoint on food...to look at it as something that can HEAL our bodies and something that FUELS our bodies! I can't wait!! CLICK HERE for more information about the group. I have to cut off registration at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow, 1/14/16.
When you don't feel like proofing a blog post, you just talk! So you get to deal with my "umm's" and "and's", hope you don't mind. I also want to start doing some more video messaging so hopefully these will get better.
Let us know your thoughts? Do you cook? How has it changed your life? 
Here's the thing friends. Health doesn't necessarily come easy in the society we live in today. We are constantly bombarded with temptations of food that will make you sick and fat. You likely go to a job that encourages you to sit in a chair for 8+ hours a day on top of sitting in a car both ways. You come home exhausted from poor food choices and lack of movement and that leads to more poor food choices, then it's taking care of the kids, then you are really wiped out, so you settle in front of the TV for the night. Then you get to do all that again the next day.
When it comes to health, YOU HAVE TO PAY!!! You have to do some tough things at some point. If you are under 50, those things might be:
So ask yourself how much sacrifice are you willing to make today so you don't have to deal with those things later in life? If you've already made some of these sacrifices, we would love to hear what they were and how you created healthy habits around them. Your ideas will help others out, so we encourage you to share. Thanks friends! 
Carrot cake is straight up my jam! Hands down, best cake! I love the sweet and spice! I would eat it all the time if it was available.
Given my new gluten free life, I have had to make some sacrifices and cake is one of them. Just this past weekend at my nephews birthday party I was forced to pass on the delicious Mickey Mouse cake. As hard as that was I was just glad I didn't have to say no to carrot cake. That would have just been tough. Avoidance has been my main course of action. Recently though I just had a craving for carrot cake. Maybe it was the fall weather but something made me think of it and that led to a google search... "Gluten free carrot cake recipe" Low and behold I found a really good one and we had all the ingredients so I decided to do some baking. I usually don't bake, that is more Laura's area of expertise! Measuring is tough! I did it though and this muffins turned out awesome! The recipe that I found and tweaked was on a website, Primarily Inspired. Hats off to Kelly for the inspiration for this recipe! We just did the muffin/cupcake recipe but she has an icing that goes along with these too if you want it to be even more desserty, that's a word right??? The following morning Laura was scrolling her IG feed and stumbled across a pic from a local coffee shop and how they do a Orange, Maple Latte. She tried hard to convince me to drive 30 minutes to go get a coffee. I fought hard and told her I would just make her one instead. Since we don't really do dairy either we opted for a "keto coffee." Although given the maple syrup in it, we probably can't call it a "keto" coffee but oh well you get the idea, it has butter in it and other delicious things. This was super simple and super tasty. I have no idea how it compares the the coffee shop latte but we will do this again. It paired perfectly with the carrot muffins too. Pure breakfast bliss!
I usually try to avoid telling people what not to do and what not to eat. I've learned that we all still have an inner teenager inside of us, so when you say don't do "X" that is exactly what they tend to do. With that in mind... how about I say "I strongly encourage you to avoid a few things to live at an optimal level of health and vitality." Sounds a little less painful, right? So what are these things?
Sugar, Wheat, and Dairy. Or as someone smarter than me coined the term, The 3 White Devils. If I were to tell you that tomorrow you can't eat any of those things, what's your initial response? Would you have cravings, bouts of moodiness, bad temper, poor focus, a feeling of being depressed and empty, frustration, anger, bitterness and resentment? Did you answer yes to any of those? If so, thanks for being honest! But now the bad news...you might have a food addiction, because that list of symptoms were copied and pasted from a website (1) on chemical dependency and the symptoms that someone faces when going through that. Rather than checking into rehab tomorrow we hope to have a better solution for you, but first I want to break down how these things could be harming you. Sugar
Out of the three foods mentioned this is the no brainer to most people. If you don't know yet that sugar is bad for you, I'm glad we could be the ones to let you know this groundbreaking news. Every once in awhile I do come across some blog post that claims sugar is a good thing and we need it to function. I would agree with that to some degree although there is some growing science to suggest organs like our brain can actually be fueled by ketones from fat rather than glucose from carbohydrates. I'll let the experts figure that one out.
The major issue with sugar is it's ABUNDANT use in nearly all processed foods. Food manufacturers have tried to sneak this little devil past us by calling it a whole host of things besides simply sugar. In fact, if I ever do buy something that is processed and contains sugar, I actually prefer the label to just say "sugar." Here is a simple list of other names of sugar that you will find on food labels. I am really excited for the new nutrition label to come out where they actually have to tell us how many grams of added sugar are in the items we are purchasing. I'm sure they will figure out a way around it but it's a step in the right direction. Basically that was the long way for me to tell you it is everywhere. Now why is it bad that it is everywhere? There are numerous things and some of them are well above my knowledge level. I'll stick to a few basics. The first one: blood sugar disregulation. When we consume lots of sugar, especially in the absence of protein and fiber, our blood sugar will spike. This leads to a spike in insulin, a hormone secreted by our pancreas. Insulin basically acts as an usher. Glucose, the form of sugar in our blood, is like the drunk fan stumbling up and down the stairs looking for his seat at a sporting event. If he stays in the blood (stairs) he will certainly cause harm. Insulin kindly tells glucose to have a seat. Glucose has a few different options on where it can sit, thankfully. The majority of glucose will be stored in either the liver, muscles, or fat tissue. You may have heard of fatty liver before? That is basically when your liver becomes engulfed in too much sugar and packs on some pounds. Some sugar storage in the liver is necessary but we've taken it way too far. Next up, muscles...this actually is one good spot for sugar to hang out. When stored in muscle tissue it gets converted to glycogen which is fuel for our muscles. These seats don't open up all that often though, unless you are doing a lot of high intensity exercise or heavy lifting. Lastly, fat tissue is the place where sugar tends to get shipped off to. These are the cheap seats, there's always more room here. You can maybe make the connection, if we don't exercise and deplete our muscle glycogen, yet consume high amounts of sugar and carbohydrate bad things happen. We damage our livers. We increase the size of our fat cells. We slowly build up a tolerance to insulin which leads to Type 2 diabetes and obesity...Bad news!!! On top of all of that sugar, it has also been shown to be highly addictive, pro-inflammatory, and the source of the worst kind of cholesterol, VLDL. I'm glad we are all on the same page now... Sugar is BAD!!! Wheat
When we talk about wheat we really mean flour since nobody eats just straight wheat, it gets processed into different flours, maybe enriched, then turned into so many food times at the grocery store. Once flour gets into the body it actually acts very similar to sugar. We are talking about both white and whole wheat too. Yes, whole wheat is a better option because of the higher fiber content but both have similar side effects on your blood sugar and gut issues. Here is a crazy stat for you: the glycemic index of a piece of white or whole wheat bread is actually higher than 2 teaspoons of straight table sugar. Glycemic index is the measure of how fast a certain food will raise your blood sugar. That just blows my mind that bread will actually be soaked up into our blood faster than actual sugar. NOT good!
The other issue with flour is that buzzword...Gluten. This is a huge topic right now in the health world. The science is still really new on this topic so it is hard to trust all of it. Here's what I've learned and what I believe most would accept as fact: wheat that is harvested today is a lot different than wheat that was harvested 50-60 years ago. This mainly has happened because of hybridization of wheat and has thus increased the size of the gluten protein in wheat. More fertilizers are also used on wheat today than in the past. More products containing wheat are on our grocery store shelves. Here is where the science gets a little murky. Gluten, according to some research, has been shown to cause issues in ALL individuals. Basically what this research has shown is that the gluten protein essentially punches a hole through your intestinal wall and gets into your bloodstream. Your body's immune system then has to neutralize these proteins that shouldn't be in our body and that is what leads to inflammation throughout our bodies and autoimmune diseases. Some people's guts heal quickly and they can continue to consume wheat products while more and more people are having adverse reactions. If you want to read about how I suddenly become gluten intolerant, I recently wrote about that and you can read that article, Gluten, I Used to Love It! Now I'm Allergic! Here's my take on wheat! It provides very little nutritional value yet substantial carbohydrates and calories. Let's be honest, wheat isn't going to make you healthier and based on the trending science it will likely make you more sick. In case you are wondering about the fiber in whole wheat products, that can be easily taken care of by eating more vegetables. Calorie for calorie veggies win in the fiber contest! People today have wheat-centric diets. Everything needs to be on a bun, bread, or noodle...and I think we need to reassess why that is! To me even if you don't have any sensitivities to gluten, I believe any wheat based products should be consumed very sparingly due to their poor nutritional value. Dairy
Oh man, I know I'm going to rub some people the wrong way with this section. Let me try to guess what you are thinking... "I can't give up my cheese!" Was I close? Did you know that cheese actually has similar addictive effects on the body as opiate drugs like Vicodin and Oxycotin. (2) That's just crazy, but I get it! I'm still addicted to it. I know my body doesn't do well with dairy yet the only thing I indulge in from time to time is cheese. It is just so good! Can you relate?
So other than the drug like effect on ourselves, why else is dairy potentially harmful? The main thing is a majority of people can't digest one of the main proteins in dairy, lactose. The % of people varies quite a bit depending on your ethnicity but when you average them all out, 60%+ are intolerant to lactose. (3) Nearly 2/3 of the world population can't process dairy, yet many still do. Talk about digestive distress! Let's dumb down the human species to that of an animal for a second, for some it's not that far of a stretch. All baby mammals consume the milk from their mother. Fact! All mammals other than humans stop drinking milk after a weaning phase. Fact! Why do humans think we have some super mammal properties that we can do something that the entire animal kingdom has learned doesn't work for their species? So not only do humans continue to drink milk past infancy, they drink milk from a completely different mammal!!! Sounds kind of weird when you lay it out that way, doesn't it? Outside of the intolerance issue, another aspect of dairy that is troublesome is the quality of the dairy most people consume. You've probably all heard the line, "You are what you eat!" When it comes to animal products like dairy you have to take that a step further, "You are what you eat ate!" In the case of cow's milk dairy, whatever that cow consumed, you are consuming. That can be things like genetically modified corn and soy. These things are given to fatten cows up faster and increase milk supply, essentially making them metabollically sick. Another thing dairy cows are often given is a substance called rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone) or sometimes called rBST (recombinant bovine somatotropin). This is a synthetic hormone that increases the milk supply of cows. Once again you are what you eat ate! These hormones have been linked to a host of health issues in both cows and humans. (4) My challenge for you would be to test your tolerance for dairy by doing an elimination diet. Take it out for 1 week, maybe 2 then reintroduce it. Do you feel any digestive distress? Gas? Bloating? I believe there is a huge population out there going through life eating foods that cause issues, but they have no idea what they should feel like so they just accept their current health as the status quo. Don't be that person! What Can I Eat Then???
Our goal here isn't to scare you into becoming orthorexic and fear all food. We know that for a majority or people out there life can't go on without pizza, cookies and cheese and that's ok. We hope that if you read this post, you'll take a look at the percentage of your food that is coming from these 3 food items and scale them back. Most people would benefit from limiting these foods and be healthier, happier and probably skinnier.
If you still need more convincing on why these things are problematic we are hosting an online support/educational group on this topic. If you are interested in learning about finding alternatives to these items we will also be touching on that in our free free 5 Day Group. The group starts on Monday, September 28th. It will be setup on Facebook, so you will need an account. In this group we will provide information about healthy swaps, recipes, see if you are sensitive to any of these things and share a little more science on why you should limit these foods. If you are interested in joining us just follow this link and fill out the form.
1) http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/addiction/signs-of-addiction.php
2) http://greatist.com/health/cheese-addictive 3) http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/2009-08-30-lactose-intolerance_N.htm 4) https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/factsheet/what-research-shows/ 
We have always known that KNOWING where our food comes from is really important...but it was still cheaper to get 2 dozen organic eggs from Costco. Just being honest here!! Sue me.
BUT, when a friend of ours (Sara) said she raises chickens and sells their eggs I knew we had to get on her list. We eat SO. MANY. EGGS. Seriously. It's ridiculous. We go through about 6-8 eggs per day. Yes. SO. MANY. Haha!! We love them though and so does Eli, so we have them for breakfast pretty much every morning. As soon as Sara's chickens started laying eggs she messaged us (this last weekend) and said she'd bring 2 dozen to church the next morning and I kinda jumped for joy. My older sister, Sara (as well....weird)....raised chickens for a short time in Colorado so we had tried pasture raised chicken eggs before and they were SO good. Here's a picture of me holding one of her chickens a few years ago:
However...do you know WHY it's important to know where your eggs came from and what those chickens ate? To quote one of our favorite podcasts, The Model Health Show
"You are what you eat ate."
By that we mean any animal product you're putting into you body, you're also ingesting whatever THEY ATE as well. So choose your animal sources wisely!
Sara's chickens are pastured...meaning they have full access to outdoor area that is fenced for their safety. This is much different from "free range" which simply means according to the USDA the chickens have "access" to the outdoors for at least 50% of their lives. ALSO, don't mistake "Cage free" for being all that great...if they came from a big factory farm those chickens were probably just cooped up in a barn with a thousand other chickens...not technically in a cage per se...but not roaming free and able to eat whatever they want. "Cage free" and "Free range" aren't necessarily better...even though we all get misled by the terms sometimes. I know I did!! That's why knowing where your eggs come from (if you have that ability) is really important. Click here for a great article explaining more about this. Sara's chickens are fed non GMO feed with no soy and it's basically organic...just not certified organic yet because she gets it from farmers that are in the process of organic certification. Her chickens also get fresh fruit and veggies all the time and they add kefir, whey etc...when available! They also forage and eat bugs and weeds in their pasture and they sometimes reserve feed until the end of the day to force them to forage more which means they get more variety in their diet! Genius! That's why the yolks are so yellow (see picture below). Here are a few pictures of her beautiful chickens and her toddler terrorizing a few of them...or maybe they're terrorizing her, I can't tell!
And now the big reveal...we wanted to do a side by side comparison of the organic Costco eggs and Sara's pasture eggs...check it out. Can you tell which is which?? We won't leave you hanging...the one on the left is the pasture raised egg and the one on the right is the organic, cage free egg from Costco.
Egg from a pastured chicken (left) versus a store bought organic egg (right).
SO...if you don't have the option to pay a little more for quality eggs...that's fine!! I just challenge you to think about the foods that you eat ALOT of on a daily basis and think about slowly starting to swap IN a higher quality version!! Your health will thank you in the long run!!
Who else loves Thai food??? Yeah I could pretty much eat it everyday. I love the flavor profiles of sweet, salty, sour, and spicy...it's just so good! The noodle dishes are probably my favorite when we go out to Thai restaurants. My go to's are Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, or Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodles). Given my new intolerance of gluten, I am a lot more cautious when it comes to ordering food at restaurants. I know most asian noodles are made from rice flour, but I guess I just have trust issues, especially when you add the sauce in on top of that. For example I had no idea soy sauce had wheat flour in it, prior to becoming allergic to it...and most Asian kitchens use soy in everything...so it just makes me a little nervous!
With all of that, I decided to try to recreate a Drunken Noodle dish to ensure that it is 100% gluten free. It's not a perfect representation of the authentic dish but it was pretty tasty.
Download Recipe Card for Drunken Zoodles
Breakfast has typically been thought of as the most important meal. I'm pretty sure the cereal industry started that saying anyways. If you are looking to read more on why breakfast may not be as important as once thought, here is a great article. With articles like this one and more science out there that says breakfast isn't a must for everyone, we would like to propose another option, WATER!!! It's hard to argue that water isn't important and we will share just how important it is to stay hydrated.
Water is what gives us life. Without it we would LITERALLY shrivel up and die. Did you know that about 80% of the population doesn't drink an adequate amount of water. So why aren't more people dying of dehydration??? I would argue they are...just not directly! When you don't drink enough water your body will pull it out of other cells and tissue in your body in order to hydrate your brain, that's first priority. Since your brain is the thing that controls your entire body, it gets to dictate who gets what and when within your body. And just like the bully on the playground at school, your brain is going to make sure it gets taken care of first. Your brain is like, sorry liver we need it more than you, thanks; sorry skin we need it more than you, sorry intestines you figure out a way to get that waste out I need more water. If those other organs and body systems aren't functioning at their highest level that leaves us prone to disease and sickness. Another key area where dehydration comes into play is in your blood and cardiovascular system. When you are dehydrated your blood volume decreases, which limits the amount of oxygen that reaches the various parts of your body. Without oxygen your body struggles to produce energy at the cellular level. If your cells don't have energy, they can't do all the things that they need to do to function at a high level. That is where fatigue and disease become an issue. Not to mention dehydration raises your BP which increases your chance of a heart attack. 
Sooo....what is the appropriate amount of water to drink? A general rule of thumb is a 1/2 ounce per lb of body weight. If you weigh 200 lbs that would mean you should drink 100 ounces per day. That equation is on the low end if you are doing any type of physical activity. We would recommend you up your water consumption to 3/4 - 1 ounce/pound if you are exercising hard or sweating a lot due to physical activity. There is also the quality of your water that comes into play. We are just learning more and more about structured or vorated water, which is super interesting to us. Something else to consider...is it packaged water, and if so is the material that it comes in BPA free? The deal with BPA is that it is an endocrine disruptor, which essentially means it is going to mess up your hormones. Most plastic containers out there contain BPA unless they are stamped otherwise. So that means bottled water is off limits. There is also some emerging evidence to suggest that straight tap water isn't the best option either due to all the toxins (PCBs, pharmaceutical drugs, heavy metals) that have leaked into our water system plus the flouride that is added. Yeah the thing that helps our teeth may not help our bodies. Sounds kind of doom and gloom doesn't it??? To some degree it is, the most important thing we put into our body is being tainted from all different directions. Now are we saying you shouldn't ever drink bottled water or tap water? Heck no...if it's your only option, go for it. We definitely do if it's our only option!
According to some experts, the best option is distilled water with a pinch of pure Himilayan pink salt. The other option would be to look into a more thorough filtration system that will eliminate some of those toxins plus flouride. We are just starting to do some research into some systems or a home distiller. If anyone has recommendations on what they use we would love to hear from you. For others, we will definitely keep you posted on what we choose! Anyone else just run to the water cooler? I know I just refilled my water glass after typing this!
So this is a topic that comes up a ton for us in our Challenge Groups and some of our coach's challenge groups so I wanted to just put together a video on the subject of Calorie Deficit Diets.
There is so much bad information out there about how to lose weight. Unfortunately the magazines and talking heads out there preach an unhealthy way of losing weight, cut calories, whether that be through appetite suppression pills or powders or just by telling people to be hungry all the time. So this is my effort to raise the volume on the other side and I would argue the healthy way to burn fat. I probably don't have to argue that point since there is science to back me up. If this message resonates with you please share it so that your friends might hear it and understand that there is a better and healthier way to lose weight. We can't change everyone's mindset on this but hopefully we can at least start building some curiosity in a few people's minds.
Written by Danielle Lochow with Take Charge Fitness
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Now that I have all that shouting out of the way allow me to present to you these photos. I've been doing a LOT of thinking lately about calories and pounds and maintaining weight and how my own journey with fitness and food and weight has evolved over time. These are pics from every day this week. As you can see, I weighed in different each time I stepped on the scale. My weight fluctuated five entire pounds within a couple days. Why is this??? Did I gain? Did I then lose? And then gain again? If you struggle with trying to make the scale come up with that one special number, please know that your weight will change based on...
And any other number of things. It is physically impossible to gain five pounds in a day or two. It's also impossible to gain it in a WEEK. Why do I share this? Because I know that for some people this relationship with the scale is a negative thing. It has a negative impact on their life. When I decided I wanted to lose weight I strictly counted calories. I tracked my calories religiously in MFP (My Fitness Pal). I weighed every Friday morning and when I got to record a loss it was FABULOUS. It was working!! For the first time in my life this weight loss thing was working. I eventually met my weight loss goal when I saw that number I wanted to see. And then I knew that I could keep tracking calories and keep weighing that number. Understand that when I was religiously tracking, I didn't always necessarily care WHAT the calories came from. 400 calories from a salad was the same to me as 400 calories from a sandwich cookie. I learned very quickly that tracking to only net around 1500 calories (that's what mfp says a person of my height and weight should eat to maintain) was kind of unsustainable. And I hadn't figured out yet that fluctuation in weight is NORMAL. So it was making me crazy. If I went a couple hundred calories over one day, and weighed a half pound heavier the next day, I thought I knew exactly why. Too many calories. So dumb guys. So dumb. Eventually I got plugged in with a great fitness community online and started learning about how to clean up my diet. I leaned that the quality of food is important and that even if something is higher in calories it doesn't mean it's unhealthy, or that it will make me gain weight. And I learned that if I do see a "gain" it's probably any number of things my body is doing that has nothing to do with a couple hundred "extra" calories. I weigh myself randomly. Sometimes it's once a month, other times it's every day for a week but gaining confidence in my diet and my habits, growing in my physical strength and understanding more about how bodies work gives me SUCH FREEDOM AND PEACE. I am not married to my special number. I admit to being interested to seeing how it fluctuates and know why it does, but it cannot and will not ever bother me like it once did because I have confidence and faith in my daily habits! Bottom line is this: your number does not have to define you. No one sees a number when they look at you. When you follow a lifestyle that is rich in healthy, nourishing foods, regular exercise and movement, and you are surrounded by people who encourage you to live your best life every day...you will not need to stress about maintaining weight. People always say that maintaining weight is harder than losing it, and that may be true but ONLY if you are looking at it as though once you hit your number you all of a sudden want to go back to bad habits that got you heavier in the first place. When you are COMMITTED to living healthy, your healthy weight will find you. And you will be FREE of your number. If you like what you've read we encourage you to follow Danielle on Facebook at Take Charge Fitness or you can email her directly.
July 16th - 19th we packed our bags, left Eli with my parent's and headed to Nashville, TN to spend 4 whole days with our Beachbody family...to say we were excited was a bit of an understatement!
This event is something we look forward to every single year for quite a few different reasons:
I won't bore you with all the details of what we did since I have pictures of most of it...but to summarize: there were workouts with Shaun T and Autumn Calabrese, listening to Simon Sinek speak and also DeWitt Jones who is a photographer for National Geographic, delicious food, amazing trainings, knowledge, insight and inspiration shared and LOTS of walking! "Every One Matters" was the theme for this year...and that couldn't be more true. We're in this business to help people live HEALTHY and FULFILLING lives. Your health really is one of the cornerstones of your life and it impacts every area of your life. If your health is suffering, everything else seems to go downhill as well, right?? So our goal is to get people to focus on health...and how it's a lifestyle and not a diet or a short term fix. It can't be if you want to live life to it's fullest!!
We are already looking forward to next year...and can't wait to have so many more people from our team there!!
We're heading to Nashville tomorrow to spend 4 days with our Beachbody friends (EEEK!! Can't wait!!) so we are stocking up on some snacks for when we're traveling but also for when we're racing around town going to training sessions, live workouts and general sessions! It's going to be a packed schedule so we need to make sure we have the right fuel and enough of it, to get us through each day. We are staying at a condo we found via Airbnb, so we'll be using the kitchen a little bit to make eggs and such...but most of the time we'll be running around so we need things that are portable and can be kept in a small cooler or even just a backpack.
Here are the things we've picked up so far:
We will probably pick up some fruit and eggs and things for salads when we get there!! What do you guys pack when you travel? Or do you just wing it? 
I'm a sucker for chicken salad...always have been and always will be!! Needless to say, I've tried a lot of different varieties, but I've never made it or had it with mango before. I've always liked the versions that have grapes in them for that little extra sweetness so when we had a mango leftover on the counter, I figured why not try it out instead. It worked!!! It was delicious and sweet and salty, with a little bite from the red onion. This will definitely get made again.
Not to completely change topics on you, but one thing I hear from people ALOT is how expensive it is to eat healthy. One thing I want to start doing with some of our blog posts is to add a price component and show you guys what it would cost to make some of the dishes that we make. One of the most important things when it comes to shopping on a budget is buying things that are in season. For example mangoes right now are selling for 80-90 cents per mango. Also buying in bulk is important. If you follow us or have been in an accountability group with us, you know that we love Costco. You can get so much great stuff for pretty cheap! Most of this meal came from Costco but you could easily throw it together for roughly the same price buying everything at a regular grocery store. Here's the breakdown:
That's a better price than anything you will get going through a drive thru and SO much healthier! You could totally eat this on it's own or put it in a Flatout wrap with some spinach and have some veggies on the side you and you have a completely healthy meal for under $4. Also as far as nutrition goes (if you like to watch your macronutrients like I do) each serving will provide you with 381 calories, 19 grams of fat, 19 grams of carbs, 39 grams of protein.
If you are like me and you grew up with the Food Pyramid as your reference to what a healthy diet should look like, then I'm sure you will follow my logic in this post. That pyramid told us to eat a certain number of grains, pastas and cereals. It also mentioned meat and protein, listed dairy as a food group and told you to limit fats. Although if you look closely at the pyramid, fruits and vegetables are separate, but the advice you hear all the time is, "Eat your fruits and veggies." If you follow anyone in the health world, I'm sure you've heard that statement before. If you do a quick google search on the subject you will get results like these:
Experts Recommend 5-9 Servings of Fruits and Vegetables Per Day
Then if you click into some other links from what I would consider well educated institutions like WebMD or Harvard School of Public Health you find that they have articles that lump the two groups together as if they are interchangeable.
So why is this bad advice? Instead of the saying, "Eat your fruits and veggies" it should actually be "Eat your fruits" and "Eat your veggies." The problem comes when you combine the two. Especially when that advice is what we teach our children. If these two food groups are lumped together - like they almost always are - and you have the option to eat sweet fruit versus slightly bitter greens like kale or arugala, which are you going to choose? Which are your children going to choose? The difference between eating 9 bananas in a day versus 9 cups of broccoli is pretty significant.
By comparing these two, the intent isn't to say that fruit is bad or even worse than vegetables, they're just different. It is easy to see though that if a person were to consistently eat a lot of fruit that they would be consuming a lot more calories and a lot more sugar. It is a "natural" sugar but it is still sugar that your body will either use as energy or store as fat if it isn't needed.
My advice would be that you aim for a minimum of 5 servings of vegetables per day...and preferably non-starchy varieties. So that means things like broccoli, cauliflower, various greens (kale, spinach, chard, romaine), carrots, sprouts, jicama, celery, onion, garlic and so on. I know things like avocado, tomatoes, peppers, and squash are technically fruit but for the sake of getting nutrient dense, low calorie foods we will call them fair game for your 5 servings per day. As far as the popular advice out there that says you should eat 9 servings of "fruits and vegetables" per day...that total number is fine in my opinion. If you want to eat more that - even better. I would always strive though to keep your veggie to fruit ratio to be 2:1. So take the 5 servings of non-starchy veggies, add in maybe a sweet potato or regular potato and that gives you 6 servings of veggies. Go ahead and eat three servings of fruit to get that that 9 number! Some advice on fruit selection: if your goal is weight loss try to keep 2 of those 3 fruits lower in sugar content, so things like melons, berries, citrus fruit. Your higher sugar fruits would include things like bananas, apples, grapes, dates, figs, and mangoes. Once again if you don't use that sugar you will store that sugar for energy later in the form of fat. Continue to eat your fruit and continue to eat your veggies but stop lumping them together as one!
We love eggs!!! We eat them daily, which means we cook them daily. We like our eggs over easy to over medium, there is just something about that runny yolk that just makes eggs so good. I'm not sure where I picked up this trick on cooking the perfect over easy egg but it is so awesome and easy to do. You don't have to worry about breaking the yolk open when you flip it or try to get them out of the pan. Once you master it, which won't take long, you will have a super simple way to cook your eggs perfectly every time.
How long have you been on your healthy eating journey? 6 months? 2 months? 1 week? Starting tomorrow? This post is to help you out in those first few days, weeks, and months so that you can stay on track. If you are an experienced "clean eater" why the heck are you reading this, didn't you read the title? Ha, just kidding hopefully you can even learn something too. The advice I want to share is something I wish someone would have told me when I first started out on my healthy eating journey, so hopefully you can relate.
Here are the 5 tips that I hope will help you stay on track and continue down a road of health, happiness and straight up awesomeness. Because we all know you can't be awesome unless you eat kale... 
Tip #1: Spice is the Spice of a Healthy Life
Healthy food doesn't have to taste like you are chewing on styrofoam. One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they are preparing healthier foods is forgetting the seasoning and spices. There is nothing wrong with a little salt and pepper in your diet.
Another key is stocking up on tons of dried spices, they last a long time and can add a ton of flavor. Some essentials in our pantry include: garlic powder, onion powder, basil, oregano, parsley, cumin, tumeric, curry powder, paprika, ginger, tarragon, sage, thyme, rosemary, 5 spice, cayenne, and chili powder. I'm pretty heavy handed with these spices and herbs, most recipes out there get pretty shy with how much spice to add. My tip is to season, taste, then re-season!!! Other flavor enhancers include fresh citrus and fresh herbs. We almost always have cilantro, lemon, and lime laying around. They are super cheap and will elevate the taste of a dish. Tip #2: Don't Fear the Fat
Fat doesn't make you fat, just like blueberries don't make you blue! Fat has gotten a bad reputation. If you walk down any grocery store aisle you will find products that claim to low fat or no fat. It's a sad state when food manufacturers are well aware of the health benefits of fat but they simply market products this way because consumers have been brainwashed into thinking fat is bad. Usually when a package says low fat, it means high in sugar (or fake sugar) or high in chemicals. Avoid these products. Yes low fat foods usually have fewer calories but for every 1 gram of fat (9 calories/gram) that is removed they can add 2 grams of sugar (4 calories/gram) and still cut the total calories. Sugar is more likely to be stored as fat, raise cholesterol, raise blood sugar and cause inflammation than fat. Also I'm not a fan of counting calories. If you want to know why, check out our other blog post, Stop eating LESS and exercising MORE.
Another reason to eat fat: it's ESSENTIAL to helping your body function. You may have heard of essential fatty acids. Those are fats that your body can't produce and they NEED to be consumed in the food you eat. The key one here is Omega 3 fatty acids, which are found in foods like salmon, sardines, shellfish, grass fed beef, walnuts, flax seed, and chia seeds. The goal would be to get your ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 fats below 4:1. The current American averages around 16:1. This means getting more of the Omega 3 rich foods and less of the processed oils that are found in nearly every packaged food item (soybean, canola, grapeseed, cottonseed, sunflower, corn). Don't be afraid of saturated fat either, the science is now showing that saturated fat doesn't have the negative side effects once thought...as long as it is balanced with other healthy fats. The visual that people usually have is that if you eat butter, it will harden and coagulate in your arteries. Well by that same logic shouldn't bananas and carrots also harden when they enter your blood stream, I mean they were solid at one point too. Cooking with saturated fats is actually a lot healthier than using unsaturated fats due to the higher smoke point. The fat won't become oxidized and oxidation is the one of the leading causes of inflammation in the body. Tip #3: Protein Doesn't Make you Big, it Makes You Lean
I have to be honest and say that this tip isn't really one that I was scared of when I first started eating healthy, but I DO see it from a lot of the women that I coach. I'm sorry to pick on the ladies, but eating 3 healthy servings (30 grams each) of protein a day will not make you look like a body builder. In order to get that "muscley" look, your job needs to become eating protein and lifting weights...not to mention the genetics you'd have to have lined up on your side. So if you are the 1/2 of 1/2% of people that those things all line up and you take my advice, I'm sorry.
For the rest of you: protein will help you maintain muscle mass which boosts your metabolism and your awesomeness. If you want a flat stomach, work on getting strong legs. Healthy servings of protein will also help keep you full longer. It digests slower than carbs and therefore won't trigger hunger hormones as quickly, which means less running for the donuts that your coworker brought into the office. Tip #4: Be Adventurous
If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again...and then try one more time. If you've been at this healthy eating for a bit, I'm sure you have had some terrible tasting "healthy" food. Or maybe the consistency was way off. If your first experience with broccoli was a terrible one, don't write off all broccoli. Try a different way to cook it!! Try it steamed, try roasting it, or sauteing it, or whatever. Try some new seasonings. I'm not just talking about broccoli, this goes for anything and everything too. Don't give up on foods if your first attempt wasn't a home run.
Also step outside your comfort zone and try some NEW foods. Try some chia seeds, or kale, or tempeh. Don't rule anything out because of what you've heard or read somewhere. Once you've given something a fair shake and you still don't like it, then it can go on your food blacklist. Tip #5: Learn a Little Bit
I think this is REALLY important in sticking with your new diet. I use the word diet to focus in on the things you eat...not some calorie restrictive term that has been hijacked by magazine covers. I would credit my education in nutrition for getting me to give up certain foods and desiring to eat other foods. I mean once you know that hydrogenated oils have almost the exact chemical makeup as plastic, you will put down the margarine and go back to real butter. Once you learn that broccoli sprouts can actually cure and prevent you from getting cancer, you will find ways to add them to your daily diet.
If you want to find some quality nutrition advice, talk to some of your "nutrition friends" and ask them who they trust and follow. Don't ask just one either, there are a lot of viewpoints out there and it's good to get some info from a few sources. If you don't have any "nutrition friends", you can just follow us, and we will provide everything you ever need to know...or at least we'll try! Honestly though if you need some help navigating the nutritional world, we would love to help you find some quality resources that are out there. Just hit us up with an email or comment below. I hope some of this stuff is new advice for you if you're just getting started on your new healthy lifestyle. Or maybe if you've been at it for a while, these are just some good reminders! My hope for you would be that you continue to learn and grow and become an influence to the people that are closest to you. If you have other thoughts on what has helped keep you on track, we would love to hear what has helped you!! 
Here is our second installment of "Brunching in the MSP"...even though our brunch spots will be all over the Twin Cities, we'll just say MSP for the sake of ease and the fact that there are no hashtags with that name :)
A few weeks ago it was a GORGEOUS day so we decided to hit up a spot for brunch and then walk around Lake Calhoun. A few of my favorite things to do on the weekends: walk around a body of water, go to a farmers market and go to brunch. Do all 3 and then sit outside and read books and I'm a happy camper!! We had been to Lake & Irving before when they had first opened and it was pretty delicious then and it did not disappoint this time either.The service was spectacular, the food was tasty and the bloody mary was delicious...although I could have used a few more "additions" to my bloody. I love them loaded with a beef stick, pickle, cube of cheese, bacon...and this was just kinda plain. Oh well, the actual bloody itself was delicious. 
My cute date
My other cute date
Dan and I tend to gravitate towards the same things...so we often get two things and then share them, but today we didn't do that. I ordered the open faced kalua pork torta, which had duroc kalua pork, sourdough, guacamole, poached egg, chile japones and a mixed green salad.
And Dan ordered the brisket hash, which had smoked brisket, poached egg, herb potatoes, carmelized onions and roasted red peppers.
They were both a perfect way to start the day! I know you're thinking...aren't these people supposed to eat HEALTHY all the time and be good examples for everyone? Umm no. We are REAL. We're people. We love bloody mary's...heck...that's basically vegetables isn't it? :)
We know eating out can be hard so we really do try to be intentional about where we choose to go eat. We stay away from chain restaurants and try to go local as much as we can. We love farm to table restaurants and places that serve fresh, real ingredients. We do tend to also gravitate towards the healthier things on the menu and stay away from the sugary, sweet, because we know how much better they'll make us feel. Peace out. Make it a great day! 
So this week was an experiment for me on our quest to make a new meal for a Monday post. We've tried cauliflower crust pizzas in the past and really haven't had any luck with flavor or texture. We love the idea of pizza that we can eat without any guilt so we wanted to give it another try.
So this time I thought it would be fun and tasty to add sweet potato to the cauliflower. This would give it a bit of that sweet flavor that you get from regular dough when you add honey or sugar. I was also hoping it would help crisp up the crust a bit more. If you can't tell by words like "experiment" and "hoping" this didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped. Although tasty it didn't quite have the texture that I was hoping. The outside got crispy but the interior stayed a little on the soft side. It was definitely a fork kind of pizza. Feel free to make some suggestions if there are any bakers out there that know a way to add more of crunch and firmer texture. I'm thinking maybe a little more tapioca starch and a higher heat when I bake it next time. 
Once I master this crust I will post the recipe cards that you guys can download. Until then I would appreciate any feedback on how I could improve this recipe and process.
Make it a Great Monday! 
Yesterday was the first time that Laura and I hosted Easter dinner for either her family or mine. It was my family plus Laura's brother, Michael, that joined us for our Easter festivities this year. I have to be honest and say it is difficult to cook for my family, we have a few picky eaters. We are from a small town and didn't grow up eating a lot of different foods. My mom always made good food but it similar in flavors and familiar so that is how the taste buds of my family developed. Meals became traditional. Just like the sun always rises in the east, we always have ham at Easter. I love tradition and there is something comforting about knowing what you will be eating and those foods will remind you have times long ago. Part of me though loves to take the traditional and tweak it and that is what we did this year with our Easter dinner.
So of course we had to make a ham, but instead of traditional oven baked ham I got the idea to grill/smoke our ham. I love smokey foods. This would also free up our kitchen oven to do other things and not have a giant ham taking up half the space. I did a little research and found that spiral cut hams tend to dry out when cooked on a grill, so opted for non-sliced ham. The process of smoking the ham was actually pretty easy. Prior to putting it on the grill, I did a light rub on it. I first added a layer of dijon mustard and then rubbed in some brown sugar to almost make a paste around the outside of the ham. This helped create a nice layer sweet and smokey on the outside. We have a pretty big grill, so I just turned on the two outermost burners on medium, and placed the ham in the middle of the grill. This provided indirect heat, similar to an oven. As you can see in the picture I used a little smoker box that I picked up at Home Depot and kept it stocked with apple wood chips. This setup kept the temp of my grill around 250. I smoked the ham in a disposable aluminum foil tray for an hour and forty minutes, checking it every 20 minutes to make sure the temp was steady and occasionally add some more wood chips. At the 1:40 mark I added a little apple juice, maybe a cup, to the bottom of the tray, and covered the top with aluminum foil, to essentially steam the ham and keep it from drying out. After 40 minutes or once the ham got to 135, I removed the foil and begin the glazing process. I cheated and just used the glaze that came with the ham, which was a currant glaze and pretty tasty. I turned the heat up to medium high on the two side burners and glazed it twice, keeping it on the grill for another 25 minutes. That was all for the cooking process. I just let it rest for 15 minutes before slicing and serving. 
As for the sides there was one side that I had to keep pretty close to the original, my moms Scalloped Corn. Think gooey cornbread. We did modify a little bit and used greek yogurt instead of sour cream and almond milk instead of regular cow's milk. Sorry this is the one thing that isn't pictured above.
The other sides included mashed potatoes. Obviously I had to do something to dress up just regular mashed potatoes. I added a couple parsnips to the pot of boiling potatoes. I also sauteed some leeks and garlic in some butter, which I added to our Vitamix and blended with some more butter and almond milk, which I added as we mashed the potatoes. I couldn't sneak these past my older brother however, he knew something was up with his "regular" mashed potatoes. Fail on my part. I also did a really easy roasted carrot that I tossed with a little honey and ground ginger. If you make the carrots make sure to toss them in the honey after they are done cooking otherwise you will have a sticky burnt mess in the oven. Baked beans aren't a traditional side for our Easter dinner but I thought what goes better than ham and beans... Also I have always wanted to make some beans from scratch. This process involved soaking dry beans and then I cooked them in the crockpot overnight. I quasi followed a recipe by The Beeroness for her Slow Cooker Maple Bacon Beer Baked Beans. I did tweak the some things in the recipe. I added some beef broth instead of water. I also ended up adding a small can of tomato paste and a little brown sugar after tasting them in the morning. I like the tomato flavor and richness that the tomato paste added. 
The last couple of items in the picture above are what we refer to "individual" corn and a broccoli salad. The individual corn is named for my younger brother that never liked the Scalloped Corn so my mom always had to make a little side dish of regular steamed corn for him. That tradition has continued. The broccoli salad was a spin on the traditional broccoli salad with a mayo dressing. I opted to make a clementine vinaigrette, then added bacon, clementines, dried cherries, slivered almonds, and fresh mint. Flavor-wise I really liked it but the dressing got a little thing so it didn't coat the broccoli quite as well as I hoped.
Of course we had to finish off with some dessert. We didn't go crazy, with anything elaborate even though my mom was mentioned she wanted us to recreate a salted caramel cheesecake that she recently had vacation. We kept it simple with angel food cake and berry syrup, some fresh strawberries and fresh whipped cream. 
If you have some picky eaters in your family, I would encourage you not to shy away from foods that they might not like but instead try to find ways that you can "sneak" them into dishes. Chances are their distaste for a food is probably based on either a poor preparation of it or memory from when they were 9 years old and they lived off of Fun Dip instead of broccoli. If you are a picky eater, I encourage you step out and try some new things. It's not going to kill you, unless it is sushi made from raw chicken, don't do that it might actually kill you. Who knows you might actually really like something and be missing out. Just like life you tend to regret the things you didn't do/try versus the ones you did do/try. If you want specific recipes for anything I mentioned I would be happy to share, just comment below.
Have a Great Monday!!!  I found this on Pinterest and made this when Dan was out of town a few years ago but haven't made it since. I've told him about it...and raved about it...but he thought it sounded weird so we never tried it again! UNTIL last night :) We buy whole chickens at Costco because they're so cost effective and delicious. We then stick them in the freezer to use at a later date. Earlier this week Dan took one out of the freezer and was going to throw it in the crockpot, but then forgot about it...which gave me the perfect opportunity to cook something for him for a change! Plus, it gave me a chance to prove him wrong and show him that this is actually a delicious way to cook chicken. Win-win! Here's the original recipe: Jamie Oliver's Chicken in Milk It's pretty simple...but here's what I did: 1. Preheat the oven to 375 2. Season the chicken with salt/pepper. Brown the entire chicken in 3 tbsp of butter & 2 tbsp of coconut oil. Brown one side and then use a tongs to flip it and brown every side 3. Put all these ingredients into the dutch oven with the chicken.
4. Bake for 90 minutes Wa-lah!!  I also figured I'd throw in this sweet picture...just because. A boy and his dog. They're so sweet!!  
We wanted to switch it up for you guys this week and give you a great breakfast option for a meal. I know we've focused more on dinner type meals but everybody loves breakfast, right? This would be a great dish/meal to throw together Saturday morning for the whole family. Feel free to scale the spice level to the people for which you are cooking. You could also double this recipe and have leftovers for the entire week. This recipe will give you about 3-4 servings of the hash.
We really love our breakfast hashes because they are super easy to prepare and usually just involve throwing together whatever ingredients are available. Some easy swaps even with this recipe would be to use regular potatoes. You could also throw in some leftover taco meat from last night. We love adding greens to our hash, so some spinach, kale, or chard would be a great add on to this dish. If you want to go vegetarian you could easily leave the bacon out of this dish and you still get a serving protein and veggies. So many options! If you are new to hashes, start with this recipe and feel free to venture out and get creative with ingredients you like. The key is adding veggies to your breakfast. It is easy to add fruits and breads to breakfast and start your day on the sweet side and also high in carbohydrates and low in protein. This is one of the keys that we promote with our coaching clients to burn fat and manage hunger throughout the day.
Download Recipe Card for Sweet Potato & Black Bean Hash with Eggs
I like brunch...a lot.
It's one of my absolute favorite things to do on the weekends so we've been trying to make it more of a habit lately. So we figured why not document our brunch journeys and share them with you guys?? Because honestly...who doesn't like pictures of breakfast food??! This last weekend we went to Blackbird Cafe - a "farm to fork" cafe in Minneapolis. It's one of those places where no matter when you go (lunch, brunch, dinner) it's ALWAYS delicious and the service is always great. Pictured below is one of my favorite breakfast items, the Oxtail Hash: oxtail & root vegetables topped with two basted eggs & hollandaise. with toast and homemade jam. 
Dan ordered the Veal Sweetbreads Benedict which came with two poached eggs, fresh baked english muffin, steamed spinach & hollandaise.
If you go there for dinner there are some really delicious options as well...a few of my favorites:
The Twin Cities definitely has a lot of delicious, local restaurants. We'll be sharing a few of our favorites every week...so stay tuned!!
It's been about a year since we started our blog. When we first started our focus wanted to be on sharing recipes with all of you. Personally when I search for recipes, food pictures are usually what draws me in to read more and see if sounds like something I want to try making. I would like to think that I am pretty normal on this one, so if I like pictures other people probably do too...right? We made every effort to take quality consistent photos early on. Living in Minnesota where the sun goes down at 4:30 in the winter time this made lighting an issue 6 months out of the year.
Laura's sister, Sara, a fellow blogger and photographer, mentioned to us that we should consider using a light box to create some consistent lighting for photos. Oh by the way if you don't follow her blog you should, check out The Nesting Gypsy. So I did some research on light boxes but then never did anything with it until this past weekend. I stumbled upon this image on Flickr and thought it sounded pretty easy to make. I made a few modifications to my box for the space that I had and also added an extra bar that I put a roll of heavy duty paper on. I added this since a majority of our pictures would be food pictures I knew that we would stain the paper and rather than have to run to the store to get new cardstock, I just bought a roll. I don't have the exact cost on everything but I would guess it came out to be around $50 and that includes a tool that I bought to cut the PVC pipe. 
Paperroll on the top of the box
So here is the finished product, and I'll be honest...I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
Materials Needed
I've provided links to the items just in case you might not know what they look like.
PVC Cuts
Assmbly
This should be pretty self explanatory based on the PVC cuts and the pictures. If you do have any questions feel free to reach out. I would say the only tricky part for me was getting the fabric to the right dimensions and sewing sleeves to slide the PVC into. If you have any sewing equipment this will be a piece of cake. For the sleeves, I folded over a 2 1/2" piece of fabric and sewed the length. You could also tape the cloth to the PVC if you don't want to go to the trouble of sewing.
Good luck making yours and we would love to see what your final product ends up looking like. Shoot us an email with a pic of your final product!  So this is our first #MakeANewMealMonday recipe and dinner idea. The idea behind this hashtag is twofold: we want to try some new stuff and have gotten into a rut with food and we hope to help you out with some new meal options too! So what can you look forward to? Most of the recipes we will post will be healthy, made from scratch meals. Sorry no shortcuts here, we eat real food. A majority of the recipes will likely be dinner type meals that you can scale up or down depending on how many you have to feed. Some meals will be kid/family friendly, some will be a little bit more sophisticated for the adventurous types. I can't promise that all of them will be crazy delicious because they are going to be brand new creations for us too, and sometimes you don't get it quite right the first time. We will post these recipes on our Facebook Page, The Cook & The Coach on Mondays so feel free to follow us over there. If you want to make sure you get all of these recipes delivered to your inbox just plug your email address into the section below and we will email you once a week with our recipe from that week along with any other blog posts we put out. This first meal was a bit of a throw together meal but it turned out pretty tasty. This dish had a bit of a Moroccan feel to it. We had a rotisserie chicken in the fridge so it made this pretty easy to throw it together. Depending on who you are cooking for, you can either keep the spice level on the low side or really kick it up.
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