I always have such a good time at Show Me St.Louis If you missed it my latest Recipe Of The Day segment on Fox 5 check it out here!

I love this super easy and delicious low carb cheesy cracker recipe:

-Preheat oven to 350
-Cut a block of cheddar into small cubes
-Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
-Spread the cubes out on the tray leaving plenty of space in between
-Bake for ~25 minutes until cheese has formed a crisp cracker.

Serve and enjoy!!

My first job out of college was as a Nutrition Educator. I would go out and speak to groups of people, explaining the impact of diet on health. I would talk about the benefits of cooking at home, how it could help you prevent lifestyle diseases.

Mostly what I got in return was a lot of questions; "How do you cook healthy?", "How do you find the time to cook?", "What do you do if you get all your meals from a drive through or the gas station?". A lot of questions I didn't have great answers for. I knew I wanted to impact the health of our nation in a significant way, but I just couldn't see how my nutrition lectures were helping....at all.

So, I started cooking healthy meals for people and taking them to their home. No time to grocery shop? I'll deliver your meals. Don't know how to cook? I will do it all for you, all you have to do is heat and eat. Find yourself at the drive through too much? I will literally take it to your house thus saving you a trip to the drive through!!

...

"I am sick and tired of getting home from work and ordering another pizza. Help!"

This is a comment I hear A LOT!! After a long day at work, who wants to cook? ‍Not me! However, your only option also is not a pizza. What you really need to do is have some forethought about your week and make a plan. 

Make a plan by:

A. Before you do anything, watch the video I made for you which details 5 items to keep in your house that will yield hundreds of easy meals! Click, 5 Must-Have Ingredients to watch! It is SO helpful!
B. Set aside some time to grocery shop and meal prep.
C. Try a meal delivery service like Basically It Meals!! It can be a lifesaver in these situations (coming from experience).
D. You may also want to look into meal guides to help you out! I have a great one for you to try, done for you meal guide.

Who has time to get a healthy meal when you're busier than ever?

What usually happens is we're forced to get a convenient meal, not a healthy one. This looks like a fast food meal, something from the gas station, a delivery meal, or something you can quickly eat in the car.

Health usually doesn't come into play for these meals! If you look at the decline in our nations health in the last 70 years, you can see exactly how well these types of foods serve your health....not well!

It is so important to take the time to meal prep, or source healthy and convenient meals.

Basically It Meals helps to fill this gap. You pick your meals for the week from our delicious menu that's changes weekly, and we'll deliver them right to your front door, it' doesn't get much more convenient than that! They're all extremely nutritious, each recipe is created with your health in mind. 

If you are in St. Louis give us a try with 20% off your first purchase! Click here to order your nutritious AND...

What do I even put in a green smoothie?

Any smoothie can be green if you simply add a little spinach, which does not affect taste. Smoothies are an amazing way to get your daily nutrients and promote weight loss! 

I recommend trying one of my favorite green smoothie recipes:
1/4 zucchini
1 cup spinach
1/4 avocado
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup water and ice

Blend and enjoy!

"What do I do about my late-night eating?"

Late-night eating is a problem for many! It isn't just you.
Nighttime eating urges are caused by the emotion you are experiencing during that time. Sometimes its anxiety or stress, but pinpointing what you are feeling will help you solve for nighttime eating!

That emotion is caused by a thought. Perhaps you always dwell on the day's failings in the evening, making you feel anxious and so you end up eating. How can you change the thought that is causing anxiety to one that causes more neutrality? If you can work on your thoughts to create more neutral emotions, then you have just taken the biggest step toward eliminating nighttime eating. 

What most people will tell you need to do is work on the actions you are taking; eat something else, go for a walk, take a bath, call a friend.....but you will still always have that negative emotion, and thus nighttime eating, if you don't solve for the thought causing the negative emotion.

Question: "Are vegetarian lentil burgers lower in calories than beef burgers?" -Kelsey

Answer: While calories are a popular measure of healthy-or-not, I encourage you to explore how well the food keeps you satiated as opposed to just looking at calories! Every body reacts differently to foods; some bodies enjoy more protein, some do better with less protein and more complex carbs. That is up to you and your body to find out!

To figure this out: eat both foods in question slowly and on totally separate days. See how the foods feel as you eat; how quickly are you filling up, do you feel energized, sated, queezy, tired? 30 minutes later check in again; tired, nauseous, light, energized? Two hours later; hungry, sleepy, sick, bloated? This simple check in can tell you exactly what foods work well for your body and you can use it as a measure to determine how to eat in general.

I love answering your questions for Ask the Nutritionist! If you have a question you would like answered,...

I was interviewed on Fox 2 Now recently about New Year's resolutions.

Kim asked, "how do you make a New Years diet easy to stick to?"

I told her by not going on a diet! Seriously, you don't need another diet!

No one does. We've all tried one, and rarely do they work.

You need something practical and realistic, especially during this hectic time of year.

What is more practical and realistic than healthy balanced meals, designed by a nutritionist, ready to eat, and delivered to your door?

There really is no reason to get any more complicated than that...If you are in St. Louis, sign up HERE to receive weekly meals that are already prepared, delicious, and loaded with nutritional value!

If you're weighing in today and wondering why the scale seems off, here are a few reasons why:

When we consume a lot of carbs, sugar, salt or alcohol our bodies can hold onto water weight for DAYS! Even though you may feel like it's been a while since New Year's Eve, your body may not have released its water weight yet.

You may feel like you've been on track for a while, but remember that you just got through two months of holiday celebrations, and all those extra treats can really add up. Take it slow, you're on the right path!

Weight can fluctuate from day to day depending on your hydration status, internal swelling (hello, leg day!) etc., don't let the numbers throw you. Stay on track!

PS. These are the types of topics we discuss in No-Diet Diet Club! Learn more and get on the wait list here!

If you're thinking about cutting back on the sugar this year, here are three reasons why you should:

When sugar is a regular part of your diet, it makes it impossible for your body to break down fat! In fact, you're likely turning all of that sugar into fat.

Sugar accelerates aging, causing you to look older faster.

When you consume sugar, your blood sugar spikes and then plummets which leaves you feeling unnecessarily tired and cranky.