As a culture, we are prone to stepping on the scale excessively to see if it went up or down—inevitably making us forget about all the positive changes we are experiencing if the number isn’t what we hoped it would be. It’s okay to weigh yourself once in a while (We would recommend no more than once a month), and many people are stepping on the scale every single day. Don’t let it control you! Here are five reasons to skip the scale today (and every day): 1. Your health is more than just a number. Too often we focus…

If someone were to tell me several years ago that I would be writing a blog on how wonderful fat is, I would have thought they were crazy! I used to believe that fat was the enemy, and we needed to avoid it like a plague. No wonder, since what we’ve been brainwashed to believe is that fat is evil and the root of high cholesterol and heart disease. It’s even what I was taught in school when studying to become a dietitian! If you really think about it though, where has this “fat is the enemy” mindset gotten us?…

Every year, thousands of well-intentioned people internalize their plans and promises that this year will be different. Making New Year’s Resolutions comes from a desire for change. We’re ready to say goodbye to old habits and embrace new ones. We’ll set goals to eat more vegetables, clock in more time in at the gym, and lose that extra baby weight. While these are noble quests, more often than not, our good intentions end up being tossed out with our dried-up Christmas trees. Maybe our goals were too impractical, we lacked the means to carry through, things got too hard, or maybe…

In my last post, The Scary Truth About Stress, I discussed the types of stress (acute and chronic), the different forms (physical and emotional), and the consequences of not managing stress (check out the post for details!) Now that we have an understanding of how harmful stress can be to our health, let’s dive into seven stress management strategies! 1. Embrace PFC. Eating in PFC balance is essential not only during stressful times, but also as a preventative measure. When we’re stressed out, it can be easy to put nutrition on the back burner and even give ourselves permission to eat…

Ask most people if they’re stressed and their answer will be an automatic, exasperated “YES!” While many realize it’s not exactly fun to live with the burden of stress, most of us brush it off like it’s no big deal. Unfortunately, a lot of us don’t realize just how negatively it can impact our health, and in turn, our overall quality of life. Stress can sabotage all of our hard-working efforts to live a healthy, simple life. Even if we ate perfectly PFC balanced 100% of the time, exercised just the right amounts, and consistently took the highest quality supplements, all…

The holidays can be a wonderful time to get together with family, relax, and take some time off from work. We also know the holidays can be very stressful and bring about a lot of temptations. In fact, in our society Thanksgiving and Christmas are usually not just two days. The holiday Thanksgiving feast is usually followed by a month long preparation for Christmas involving gingerbread cookies, hot chocolate, and snacking on peanut brittle. By the time the holidays are over it’s not surprising how those extra pounds packed on. In fact, different studies have pointed that that about half…

Growing up, I always ate my vegetables (usually because my parents were forcing me to), and, like most kids, I also grew up with pop, cookies, chips, McDonald’s—you name it! I still remember how bad my tongue hurt when I would lick off all the cheese on the Doritos chips (YUCK!). Although I felt I had a fairly balanced diet, I always had a love for junk food. Then, when I started my freshmen year of college, I entered junk food heaven! There was an endless supply of cheeseburgers, fries, pizza and desserts. And with that came the freedom to…