Hi Friends!

It’s time for another Foodie Penpals Reveal Day!

 

It’s been a while- December FPP was for Charity-but we’re back! This month I received my package from Debbie at Accidently Delish. She spoiled me with all sorts of goodies 🙂

Let’s take a closer look:

Highlight #1: Homemade Granola

In addition to some lentils (she knows I am the lentil queen), and some store bought granola, Debbie sent me some homemade granola that is to-die-for. I don’t know how she knew, but banana chips are my FAVORITE!! Look how many are in there!!! Happy girl.

Highlight #2: Lentil Chips

I’ve seen Plentils in the store before but never bought them for myself. They were a fun change from regular tortilla chips! Debbie also sent me some Scat bars, which I’d never tried, some Vanilla Cranberry Pomegranate Almonds (how good to THOSE sound?!) and a Valentine. LOVE!!

Highlight #3: Thoughtfulness

She sent me a sick pack, to help me fend off the winter germs and to help deal with them if I do get sick. Great idea!

Hands down best part of the package: Homemade Cookies

I tell all my penpals that I love homemade goodies and Debbie knocked it out of the park with these cookies. They’re not pictured because I ate them all before I took pictures of the rest of the stuff. Seriously, so good. They were Chai Oatmeal Raisin Cookies…you can find the recipe on her blog HERE.

Amazing. Thanks so much Debbie for a wonderful package!!!

————————–

So, if you’re new to the blog, you may be wondering what Foodie Penpals is all about. Here are the details:

• On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
• You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!
• The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
• You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
• Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
• Foodie Penplas is open to US, Canadian & European residents. Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. Same with Europeans. We’ve determined things might get too slow and backed up if we’re trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re from the US or Canada and are in participating for November, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by February 4th as pairings will be emailed on February 5th!

*If you’re from Europe, please CLICK HERE to signup.

————————

So…what are you waiting for?! Come join in the fun!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Hi Friends!

As you guys know, I teamed up with one of my best blogging buddies, Elle from Nutritionella to create the Elf for Health Holiday Challenge. It was a huge success, much bigger than we had ever dreamed of with over 900 elves spreading health & wellness during the holidays! As it turns out, our elves LOVE supporting one another so much they requested we keep the challenge going throughout the entire year. How awesome is that?

Naturally, we needed a new name and logo fit for every season, not just for the holidays.

Our elves voted to rename the challenge Healthy sELF – it keeps the spirit of the original Elf for Health Challenge and also encourages us to make healthier choices for ourselves all year round.

Here are the details!

The Healthy sELF challenge will officially kick off on February 4th. To make Healthy sELF sustainable for everyone, we scaled back to three weekly challenges – Mondays, Thursdays & one on the weekend. Elves will not be paired like they were for the last challenge so we really encourage participants to be active on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram!

That being said, there is a new Healthy sELF Facebook Group! It’s a great place to meet new elves, give encouragement, boost your self-confidence, share recipes, healthy tips, workouts, personal successes – whatever you like! Just request to join and we’ll add you to the group.

A couple of fun things we’ve added to this challenge:

• a new hashtag – use #healthysELF when you’re Tweeting & Instagramming so other elves can get to know you
• a monthly newsletter with the month’s challenges plus short health-related articles & posts from our very own elves
• elf spotlights within the Facebook group
• healthy sELF ambassadors – we recruited some awesome, health-inspiring girls to help with the tasks of running the challenge so keep them on your radar for challenge reminders, social media shout-outs, newsletter submissions & elf spotlights

 

We’ve put together a challenge calendar using the Elf for Health survey results to plan the upcoming challenges through the month of May. We like to plan ahead, can you tell? This calendar as well as the monthly newsletter signup form can be found on the Healthy sELF pages on our blogs.

 

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Hi Friends!

Let’s talk about groceries today, shall we? Over the weekend, while hubby and I were grocery shopping, I realized it had been a while since I did a post about groceries. Turns out, once I looked back through the blog, that it’s been almost exactly a year since I posted Let’s Go Grocery Shopping!

I took a quick social media poll and determined that you guys were pretty interested in seeing what’s in my grocery cart! So here we go:

Hubby and I usually grocery shop every two weeks or so. Sometimes we pick up a few items one weekend without doing a full trip, but I usually averages out to about 2-3 trips a month. We also go to a couple different stores. We buy some things at Costco, and some things at the regular grocery store (usually Meijer or Kroger).

Costco

We go through a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and for us the best place to buy them is usually Costco. Not always, but most of the time their prices are cheaper than the grocery store. We also go through a lot of nuts and hummus and Costco has great deals on those.

So what did we buy?

• Avocados– $4.79 for a bag of 6 (we bought 2 bags) so $0.79 each
• Red Peppers– $5.99 for a bag of 6 = $1 each
• Gala Apples– lost my receipt but something like $1.25 a pound
• Sabra Hummus– $5.99 for a 32oz container
• Blackberries– $ 3.79 for an 18oz container
• Almonds– $12.89 for a 3 pound bag
• Pears– $6.29 for 12 pears
• Clementines– $5.99 for a 5 pound bag
• Spring Mix Lettuce– $4.49 for a 1 pound container
• Wild Caught Cod– $18.69 for 2.65 pounds = $7.05 per pound

Costco food total: approximately $80

Other things we often buy at Costco:
(Sorry I don’t have prices for everything)

• 10lb bag of carrots– $6.99
• 3 dozen eggs– $3.79
• Starbucks Coffee Beans– only when it’s on sale so it’s about $16 for a 2.5 pound bag
• Quinoa– $7.99 for a 4 pound bag
• Oats– 10 pounds for something ridiculous like $6
• Frozen Bean and Cheese Burritos– $9.89 for 8 burritos
• Cheese- Feta or Goat cheese
• Fage Plain Greek Yogurt– $4.99 for a 32 oz container
• Nature Valley Protein Bars– $11.69 for 24 bars
• Peanut Butter (for the dogs)– $11.99 for two 48oz jars
• Raisins– $7.99 for 4.5 pounds
• Olive Oil 
• Toilet Paper– only with a coupon
• Paper Towels– only with a coupon
• Ziploc bags– $8.99 for 500 sandwich bags
• Laundry Detergent– only with a coupon
• Cat Litter– 11.79 when it’s on sale for a 40 pound bag

Since they come in bigger quantities, we buy them less often.

Meijer

Like I said, I alternate between there and Kroger depending on what I need. There are some things I like better at each store…Even so, I usually just pick one of them to go to per weekend, not both. Here’s what we got this time:

The Breakdown

• Onions- ($0.99/lb) $2.11
• Leeks- ($1.69/lb) $1.28
• Cauliflower- $2.99
• Green peppers- ($1.99/lb) $2.33
• Garlic- (2/$1) $1
• Bananas- (1.22/lb) $0.65
• Green Beans- (1.69/lb) $2.62
• Sweet Potatoes- (0.99/lb) $5.1

• Shrimp- ON SALE for $4.99 (usually $8.99)
• Cod- ON SALE buy one, get one free- $5.99 for a 1 lb bag

Usually I wouldn’t have bought this much in one trip but those were huge sales so I stocked the freezer!

• Kashi Heart 2 Heart Cinnamon- ON SALE- $3.00/box instead of $3.79
• Sweet Thai Chili Sauce- $2.29
• Soba Noodles (no salt added)- $3.29
• Black Beans- $1.65/bag x 2
• Lentils- $1.25/bag x 2
• Low-Sodium Tuna- $1.75 x 6
• Cream of Mushroom Soup- $1.49
• 50% less sugar dried cranberries- ON SALE $2.00/bag x 2

I buy dried beans/legumes instead of canned to eliminate the sodium. They super easy to make on the stove and freezer to use during the week. I always keep one can of cream of mushroom in the pantry for when I want enchiladas but don’t buy it often because it’s high in sodium. I’m so excited they’ve started making reduced sugar dried cranberries! I use them in hubby’s Quinoa Breakfast Bars.

• 100% Whole Wheat Bread- $2.99
• 100% Whole Wheat Tortillas- $2.50
• Low-fat shredded Mexican cheese- ON SALE $2.50/bag x2
• Havarti sliced cheese- $2.99
• Brummel & Brown Yogurt spread- ON SALE $2.00
• Butter- ON SALE $2.00
• Low-fat cottage cheese- ON SALE $1.79
• Chobani- $1.25 x 6
• Chobani tub- ON SALE $2.79
• Skim milk0 ON SALE $2.50/carton x 3

Meijer Food Total: approx $110

For the bread and tortillas, I look for 100% whole wheat and the lowest amount of sodium I can find. The tortillas I buy have about 250mg per tortilla…some brands have up to 600mg for the same 8 inch size! We like cheese. I stock up when it’s on sale and never buy it regular price. The yogurt spread is what I use on my toast. That’s about all I use it for. I probably buy about 1 tub a year and wait til it’s on sale. Butter is always good to have on hand- I only buy it when it’s on sale. That also lasts quite a while in our house. Hubby likes cottage cheese and I also use it in my Sweet Potato Cranberry Cottage Cheese muffins. I already have a couple tubs of plain Chobani in the fridge and I like to mix in a few spoonfuls of flavored when I eat it. When I make Frozen Yogurt Trailmix Bars, I usually do half flavored, half plain.

A few things I usually buy but didn’t buy this weekend:
Fresh salsa
Garden of Eatin’ Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
Frozen veggies
Canned no-salt added chickpeas
Triscuits

————————

So…we don’t have an exact grocery budget but the way it averages out, we probably spend about $100/week on food. Sometimes more, sometimes less. We used to eat out 1-2 times per weekend but lately we’ve been eating all our meals at home. I pack my lunch for my internship and hubby comes home from work for lunch every day…so that’s 21 meals a week x 2 people = 42 meals for about $2.40/meal on average.

We don’t throw away a lot of food. We eat pretty much all our produce and stuff in our fridge before we shop again. We keep our pantry and freezer well stocked by keeping track of things we run out of and buying them when they go on sale. We also don’t buy a lot of processed food, which helps keep our costs down.

 ————————–

If you’re interested in reading more specifically about Grocery Shopping and Eating on a Budget, I’d highly recommend checking out the posts I did for the Survive on 35 Challenge I did this summer. I blogged for one week while we ate for $5/day. Here’s the link to my Final Recap and Thoughts about the challenge. It has links to ALL the post I did during the challenge, including how I planned my menus and grocery shopped and a breakdown of the groceries i bought and the prep work i did.  Plus there are links to a recap of each day of the challenge that include everything we ate, plus recipes! I ended up winning this challenge and I’m super proud of all the posts because I think they really show that you CAN eat healthy on a budget with it being boring or gross!

Here are some other posts I’ve written about healthy eating include:

How to Eat Healthy In College
How to Eat Healthy During the Week
Stock Your Pantry with Staples
Healthy Eating on a Budget

Please check them out! I hope you find them helpful!

So there you have it. Stocking your fridge, freezer and pantry with healthy foods is the first step to healthy eating. Up next- Weekend Prep! I address this in my How To Eat Healthy During the Week post (link above) but am thinking about writing another post. I made it a goal this year to get back into the habit of weekend prep- I fell off the wagon for a while- and so far i’m doing really well. If you follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook you may have seen a few photos of my weekend prep work over the past few weeks.

• Are you guys interested in a Weekend prep post? 
• What other questions do you have for me about grocery shopping/menu planning/weekend food prep?

Leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them in an upcoming post!

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

Did you like this post?! Please PIN IT, TWEET IT or SHARE IT ON FACEBOOK using the buttons below so others can see it as well! Thank you!

 

Hi Friends!

It’s Monday. But not just any Monday. My break is over and today is my first day at my school food service rotation. This rotation is 4 weeks long and i’m hoping it will go by quickly. Actually I’m hoping the whole rest of my internship will go by quickly.

My mom posted this quote on my fb wall the other day:

It couldn’t be more true for me. Almost exactly 4 years ago, I left work early and drove down to the local community college to attend the first night of my “going back to school” adventure. It was a Sanitation and Safety class and it bored me to tears.

Over the next 4 years I went on a whirlwind ride. I went from just going back to become a Diet Tech to deciding I wanted to take it all the way to becoming an RD. I took more math and science classes than I ever wanted to. I spent more hours studying for those classes than I care to admit. I worked full-time while taking 3 classes a quarter. I quit my job to go to school full-time. I got accepted to Ohio State. I took classes at two schools simultaneously while working a part-time job. I graduated. I gave a speech as valedictorian. I passed my Diet Tech exam. I made new friends. I learned A LOT about nutrition. I took tests. I did so many case studies that if I never have to do another one again, it will be too soon. I worked my ass off to maintain a 4.0 GPA. I applied for internships. I spent dozens of sleepless nights stressing about internship applications. I got matched to my first choice internship. I graduated again. I started my internship. I completed 16 weeks of said internship.

It’s been a LONG road, friends. And I’m tired. I’m tired of being a student. I’m tired of being an intern. I’m ready to be done.

You’re probably wondering why I’m tell you all of this…but there is a point!

The point is this: There were so many times on this journey when I could have given up. When I could have taken the easy way out…done something that would have taken less time. There were so many times when I could have done less, not worked as hard, just slid by. But here’s the thing:

So I didn’t give up. I worked harder. Because I’m doing this for me. So that I can spend the rest of my life doing what I love. And yeah, 4 years seems like a ridiculously long time…but like the quote says, those 4 years would have passed anyways. And if I HADN’T made the choice to follow my dreams, it would still be 4 years later, and I’d still probably working the same job- no better off than I was before.

Instead, I DID take those risks. And I’m HERE now. I’m happier. I’m smarter. And I’m less than 3 months away from finishing my Dietetic Internship!

It’s time for the final push.
3 more rotations.
1 big exam.
One dream COME TRUE 🙂

And then what happens?

Then it’s time for new dreams! Bigger dreams.
Stay tuned, friends- big things are coming!

So for those of you out there that are sitting around giving up on dreams just because you think they’re too big, or too hard, or that they’ll take too long…Remember this:

Dreams are meant to be scary.
They’re meant to push your limits.
And some of them may take a while to achieve.
But you know what?
That just means that when they do come true,
they’re that much sweeter!

 Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

PS. The winner of my Oakley Sunglasses giveaway has been chosen!

Congrats girl! I sent you an email 🙂

 

Hi Friends!

Happy New Year’s Eve! Can you believe it’s almost 2013?! I’m just popping in today with a fun little giveaway for you guys!

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Jess over at  The Sunglasses Shop with an offer to send me a brand new pair of sunglasses. And not just any sunglasses…my very first pair of Oakleys! (Free sample. All thoughts and opinions are my own).

Let’s talk about me and sunglasses for a second. I’m the type of person that buys $10 cheapo sunglasses because I always seem to be losing them/breaking them/etc. In fact, that explains why my current pair is looking oh-so-attractive with half the color peeled off the front of them. It also explains why I’ve been known to wear a pair of sunglasses with one side missing. Yep…it’s true. Very fashionable. So to say I was excited about some high quality sunglasses would be an understatement!

Anyways, if you haven’t checked out The Sunglasses Shop….you’re missing out. They sell all sorts of  designer sunglasses at reasonable prices. I was so thrilled to get to try out a pair of Oakley Sunglasses! Jess even let me pick the pair I wanted. After MUCH deliberation…I settled on these Oakley Women Sweet Spot Sunglasses:

Aren’t they beautiful?! I can’t say enough good things about them. They’re super lightweight and they fit my face perfectly. I picked this pair specifically because I loved the shape..and I love they don’t have a separate nose piece like some glasses have- those always get stuck in my hair when i push them up on my head. My order from The Sunglasses Shop came VERY quickly and the sunglasses came in a protective case, which is perfect for me because it keeps me from just throwing them unprotected into my purse like I usually do:

Plus, I feel a little bit like a movie star when I wear them…
and that’s never a bad thing:

I’m in love with them!

And now for the good news! The Sunglasses Shop is letting me give away a pair of these Oakleys to one lucky reader! The winner will receive a pair of Oakley Women Sweet Spot Sunglasses in this fun Rose Metal color:

How’s that for kicking off the new year in style?! Enter below via Rafflecopter for your chance to win! Mandatory entries including following Sunglasses Shop on Twitter and tweeting about the giveaway…plus there are a few optional entries!

Good luck!
–Lindsay–

Disclaimer: I received these sunglasses for free and was compensated for this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Happy Holidays!

From my family to yours 🙂

Hope your day is filled with lots of laughter and love.

–Lindsay–

Hi Friends!

Remember how I’m a Dietetic Intern and I used to be really good at blogging about all the things I was doing in my rotations? Yeah, I do too. Not quite sure what happened there. Anyways, today is the last day of the rotation I’ve been at for the past 8 weeks so I figured I should get my act together and fill you guys in on what I’ve been doing!

I’ve been interning at the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition, an outpatient clinic at Children’s hospital here in Columbus. The center works with overweight and obese children and teens. Here’s how it works: patients are referred by their primary care physician. They meet with the CHWN team (a doctor or nurse practitioner, plus an RD and Physical Therapist) and  the team and the family decide their course of action together. They can keep coming for follow-up visits with the team, they can enter an evening nutrition education and physical activity program called New U, or they can go the route of bariatric surgery.

Patients that choose to come back for follow-up visits are seen in the Healthy Weight Clinic. Each time they come in they see an MD/NP, an RD and a PT. There are three RDs that work with the CHWN- one has 30+ years of experience and the other two were closer to my age so it was nice to be able to see a range of different counseling styles and approaches from the three of them. Everyone at the center works well together, and they take a very collaborative approach to patient care, which you don’t see everywhere.

I started out shadowing for a couple of weeks, but after that I was fully able to counsel patients on my own. I got A LOT of practice counseling and was able to really develop my skills which is something that I needed help with.

Almost all of the patients struggle with the same 4 main problems:

1) Not eating breakfast
2) Not having a snack or having an unhealthy snack
3) Drinking lots of high calorie drinks
4) Not eating enough fruits and vegetables and eating too large of portions of starches and meats

When we met with patients, we obtained a typical day of eats from them and then provided nutrition education based on the problem areas that came up during our discussion. At the end of the session we set goals for them to work on until their next visit.

We spent a lot of time educating about the importance of regularly scheduled meals and how they affect metabolism, encouraging healthy breakfast options and emphasizing the importance of combining a carbohydrate and a protein source for breakfast and all snacks. We also spent a lot of time reviewing the MyPlate diagram, reviewing age-appropriate portion sizes and encouraging them to use the 20 minute rule.

Finally, we emphasized the importance of keeping sugar out of their drinks. We had test tubes full of sugar to show them how much sugar was in the regular sodas they drink. Many families were also drinking whole or 2% milk so we tried to get them to switch to at least 1% milk and eventually to skim.

Some typical goals we set for patients were things like:

1) Have a healthy breakfast daily that includes a protein + carbohydrate
2) Have a healthy snack daily that includes a protein + carbohydrate (Keep snacks between 100-200 calories)
3) Choose all sugar-free drinks and limit juice to 4-6 oz per day
4) Aim for 1/2 plate fruits and vegetables with meals (Use measuring cups and downsize plates and bowls to help with portion control, use the 20 minute rule and encourage vegetables only for second helpings).

———————————-

Two days a week, the clinic sees patients that are interested in or who have already had bariatric surgery. On those days I spent a lot more time shadowing because it is a more specialized area of dietetics. I learned a lot about the surgery itself, the process leading up to it and the bariatric diet plan that the patients follow starting 2 weeks before surgery and continuing for 8 weeks after surgery. In addition to MD/RD/PT, bariatric patients also see a psychologist and a social worker at each visit.

—————————————-

Finally, two nights a week I assisted with and taught the New U  and New U Jr. classes. New U is geared towards teens. They come with their parents and both attend a nutrition education session where a different topic is covered each week for 10 weeks. Following the nutrition lesson, the teens do 45 minutes of physical activity with the athletic trainers. New U Jr is geared towards younger kids and the parents come and get a nutrition lesson while the kids get some activity in with the physical therapists.

————————————–

Whew! So there you have it. A recap of where I’ve been spending my time for the past 2 months. Up next? A three week break and then I head to a local school district to do a 4 week food service rotation.

Happy Friday!
–Lindsay–