Real Food. Real Conversations.

Plant-based protein foods are sometimes hard for people to find. My guest today dishes out all the options and how the help you!

Protein is a subject we are obsessed with in this country. But when trying to eat a mostly plan-based diet, getting what you need is always in question by others. Today we are clearing that up!

Dr. Sunana Sohi is a Harvard educated board-certified gastroenterologist with a focus on wellness, plant-based health. She has all the knowledge about how to get what you need on a plant-based diet!

What Does Protein Do For Our Body?

Protein is an important part of our diet. It is what makes up our tissue structure and necessary for the growth and turning over of our cells. Protein makes up enzymes, hormones, keratin, collagen, etc.

We need it to build muscles and can also provide energy. It is made up of 20 building blocks called amino acids. We can make up 11 of those ourselves, and the other 9 we need to get from external sources like food.

Overall, protein is important, but we do not need to overdo it an we also need all the other macronutrients.

Protein Necessity

The general rule of thumb is you need .6-.8 g of protein per kg of body weight. This however can change depending on your goals.

So if you have physical goals (like body building), then the protein you need will increase. But for the average person, the recommended range is sufficient.

The problem is that many overdo it and think they need more. Some studies have shown that 96% of people do not have a protein issue but 96% have a fiber issue. It's important to keep this in mind, as protein deficiency is not something we see much of in this country.

Another issue us that our bodies can get oversaturated when consuming too much protein at once. They think you can't even absorb more than 20-30 grams at one time.

So if you overdo it and try and take in more than you really need at once, you potentially aren't even absorbing it all.

Can You Get Protein From Plants?

There is a misconception that you need to eat meat in order to get a complete protein source. Meaning meat has all 9 essential amino acids.

The confusion lies in that many think that plants are incomplete sources of protein and do not include all 9 amino acids. We know now that is not true.

All plants actually have all 9 essential amino acids, but some have more of one than another. This is why diversity in a plant-based diet is important. If you are eating a diverse diet, you are getting all the amino acids that you need.

While meat can give you the amino acids as well, with meat you are also getting things that may not benefit you like saturated fat and inflammatory stuff. But when you are eating plant-based sources of protein you get things like fiber which is so important for overall health.

Which Plant Foods Have the Most Protein

There are many great plant sources of protein. We can get protein from many plants, but here are some that have a higher amount:

SeitanSoy and EdamameLentilsBeansNutsSeedsOatsQuinoaPeas,Spinach

You can see a great chart on Dr. Sohi's Instagram page. Overall just be diverse and don't stress about focusing on one thing!

Learn how to throw a party for all eaters with less stress and more fun! Get everything you need from planning to when your guests arrive!

I love a good party, but throwing a bash that everyone will enjoy can be stressful! Alli is a party master and she's dishing out all she knows!

Alli Ward is the head Maker behind Made with Happy. She is a color obsessed creative mom sharing easy crafts, Home DIY Projects, Entertaining Ideas and Travel that the whole family will love! We at Made with HAPPY are all about celebrating the HAPPY everyday!

And while you are doing all your planning and prepping, check out Alli's amazing crafts to keep the kids busy!

Planning a Party

When it comes to entertaining, there are so many aspects. But if you break them down and tackle one thing at a time, it's much easier. Here are some questions to ask yourself when you plan your next party:

Who is coming? Is it kids or adults?How many people will you have? How big is your space?Is there a theme? Is it the holidays, a birthday or just any day kind of party?What is the flow? Is it an open house or a scheduled activity party? Will you be sitting or standing?What are you going to serve?Are you going to decorate? Do you need to tidy up?

Tips for Parties

If you get overwhelmed easily, here are some tips to get you started. Throwing a party can be easy and fun if you go into it with the right tools.

Start small. Plan a small dinner party, invite a few close friends or even one other family. A small kids only party is a good start point too.If you know what guests are coming, you can have an idea of where to go from there with the rest of the party planning.Get everyone's dietary needs. This makes it easier to make sure you are serving something for everyone.Decide on drinks. If you're serving alcohol, make sure you have an option for those that don't drink.If you decorate, keeping it simple can go a long way.Having parties is about getting together and relationships, it's not about keeping busy because people just want to spend time with you. So keep it simple.

Kids Parties

Throwing a party for kids can be a good way to get your feet wet with entertaining. Kids are easy to please and keep happy!

You need to decide if you are just having kids or if you will have the adults as well. This will drive the rest of the decisions.

Also, decide how long the party will be and at what time. If it's in between mealtimes then you do not need many snacks. If the party is only a few hours, you won't need to worry about people being fed too much.

If you have the adults, you'll want a few snacks for them too. But if it's only kids, you can keep it very simple with a few snacks your kids love. You can even buy individual snack bags and put them in a basket for easy grab and go.

Keep the decor simple, kids truly don't care. Heading to your local dollar store is a great way to keep it very inexpensive.

If you have a theme, focus on getting one thing from that theme to save money. Then buy things within that themes color. For example, streamers are lower in cost and can be used in many ways!

Have one section that is theme focused, it can be the food table or even just an entrance decor, and then use pops of color to bring the theme other places. You can keep it simple with one or two banners or get fancier with themed food.

A photo wall can be fun and cheap. Use those streamers by taping them down a wall as the background, add a ballon or two and grab dress up stuff from your kids toys to use.

Prepping Ahead

Making sure you have planned ahead will keep the party much less stressful. Here are things you need to plan:

Food- what to serve and how muchDrinks- alcohol or notSeating- have seats for half the people if it is a flow type of party and not a sit down.Decor- keep it simple and inexpensiveDecide what you can do ahead and what has to be done day of

Drinks

First and foremost,

Eating seasonal produce versus buying things that are not in season can have many benefits. Listen in to learn more about what they are!

Depending on where you live and shop, you may not even realize what produce is in season when. This episode can help you learn the what, how and why of it all!

Benefits of Eating Seasonal Produce

Eating seasonal produce has many benefits. It can help the environment, our own health and wellness, and benefit the community as a whole.

Here are some key benefits of eating seasonally:

Reducing your carbon footprintYou get more nutrient dense foodsThe produce tastes betterThe cost is lowerKeeping your diet more diverseHelping the community

Produce and Carbon Footprint

Back before we had all the technology and access we have today, farmers grew what they were able to for the current season. If it was apple time, they grew apples. If it was peach season, that's what you got.

But as time went on, developments in technology allowed produce to be grown year round. While this can definitely have its benefits for parts of the world where the weather doesn't allow for farming during the freezing cold months, it has also had it's detriment.

Food travels much farther now, not only within the United States but also imported and exported around the world. This leaves a large carbon footprint which greatly affects out environment.

Along with food traveling further than ever before, we have developed other ways to grow food, like inside greenhouses. These alternative growing methods can use more energy than growing the produce traditionally in the outdoors.

Is Seasonal Produce More Nutritious?

Produce that is in season has more nutrients. As produce grows, factors like the soil it is grown in, the amount of sun it gets and other climate related issues all contribute to how nutrient dense the produce is.

For example, the soil of winter seasons give us produce that is rich in vitamin C. So if we grow these things in other seasons, we will not get as much as you would in winter.

Also, in order for the produce to absorb the maximum amount of the nutrients in the soil, it needs to be allowed to reach it's peak ripeness. Out of season produce is picked early so it is not able to get everything from the soil.

Flavor of Produce in Season

Seasonal produce also tastes much better. Since it doesn't have to travel as far, you get a more flavorful result. The longer it is on the shelf, the less the flavor. Flavor can also be reduced when using things to control ripening and freshness on out of season produce.

Cost of Seasonal Produce

It can save you money. When food doesn't have to travel far, or use more expensive methods to grow, the cost can be reduced and sold for less.

Next time you are at the grocery store, take note of the price of fruits and vegetables that are in season and track to see the cost rise as they become out of season.

When the produce is more available, meaning it is the season that they grow in, the costs are much lower.

Eating a Diverse Diet

When you focus on the foods that are in season, you are able to eat a wider range of fruits and vegetables. The reason why you hear a lot about eating the rainbow is because every fruit and vegetable offers us different nutrients.

We get the most nutrients when we eat a variety of foods, and some experts even say eating 30 different foods each week is best. So focusing on seasonal eating allows us to do that with ease!

Helping Local Farmers

When we buy foods that are in season, we are helping the farmers in our community. Visiting farmers markets, participating in local CSA boxes and shopping at stores who sell local produce all helps your local economy.

If we each try and support local, we are helping those that live in our community and as a whole it brings an aura of support to those around us.

What is in Season?

So what is in season when?

Is it possible to change your story? Can we erase all the experiences, especially the trauma, that have shaped who we are? Listen in and see!

How we think about food and our health starts with the experiences we had growing up. But some of those no longer serve us and who we are today, it's especially hard to work through past trauma. Emily Marquis talks about how we can make a change and use it to better our wellness.

Emily is a Clinical Health and Wellness Coach, board certified NBC-HWC. She is an RYT200 Yoga Instructor and Mindfulness Consultant. She works with individuals and groups in support of creating healthy habits for sustainable lifestyle change.

Drawing from her professional training and personal health challenges; she has experience in preventing, reducing, and managing chronic illness from stress to sleep to weight loss to work life balance.

With her combined coaching and corporate HR background, Emily works with organizations in creating cultures of wellness and is NAHU certified. Emily also works with clinics and fellow practitioners to create a village for clients to best support their well-being.

She is an Instructor at Emory University in their graduate Coaching certificate program. Emily lives in Colorado, USA with her family and loves the balance between a good TV show and an outdoor adventure.

Grab her FREE 7 Day Gratitude Challenge here!

And you can also grab her FREE health Quiz here!

Our Personal Stories

Stories can be a sentence, a whole experience and even an identity we attach to. These can affect how we live, the decisions we make.

We are an onion and make of layers that create the human we are today. We experience and tell ourselves things that can pave our future and decisions.

We have both narratives about ourselves and those for others. We even have stories about situations. These form biases that integrate into our every day life.

Sometimes we can pin point where our stories came from, but other times we don't know.

Making sure that the stories we created serve us and our goals is important. Even as parent we want to be an example for our own kid's narratives.

The Meaning of Changing Your Story

When our stories do not benefit us, we can change them. This means that we can make the stories that do not serve us weaker and eventually replace them with new stories that benefit us positively.

The pathways from our negative stories have been created since birth and the more we say things to ourselves they get deeper and stronger. Then they affect every part of our lives.

Neuroplasticity (the ability for the brain to form new connections) tells us that our brain is soft and flexible, which gives us the ability to change our thoughts and behaviors.

The Science Behind Our Personal Narratives

The brain has trillions of connections. When you have a narrative, there is a pathway for it. This is how your command center works.

Your repetitive thought have strong connections because the more you repeat something to yourself, the stronger it gets.

You can even make connections between things like a type of food and a physical symptom. Perhaps you had a bad experience once with something, and when you see it that memory comes back. Making that connection stronger every time.

The less you use the pathway, the weaker it gets. Therefore, by changing the thought you can focus on the pathway you are trying to strengthen.

This is like getting better at sports the more you practice. It's the same for your thoughts. Our brain is so powerful and has so much impact.

Personal Narrative and Trauma

Stories and narratives can have deep impact in fighting and healing. Trauma is trauma, but it's what you do after that matters.

Science is showing that we can battle trauma and even relieve physical symptoms by changing the way we think and talk about our experiences.

This shifting of our story has a great impact in our recovery...

These food hacks for kids are all you need to turn meals from something you dread to something you look forward to!

Getting veggies into your kids can be a nightmare. But there is hope! I'm here to share my best meal hacks to get more plants in without the added stress!

Feeding Kids

Meal times can be, well stressful. Between kids who won't eat anything, to those who only eat one thing depending on the day, having a meal that pleases everyone is tough.

Every kid can be a picky eater, and so can adults. And while I fully encourage exposing kids to all the fruits and veggies in whole form, there are also times when you just want to get them in without a fight and know they have some sort of nutrients in their body.

Nutrition for Kids

The number one thing my pediatrician told me was: They won't starve.

It's something I always keep in mind when one decides they aren't eating what I made. Because I am not a restaurant, I am pretty strict when it comes to catering to each of their individual requests.

We all get to pick something we like during the week, but we also say that they won't love everything. However I always try to have at least one thing on their plate they will eat.

But kids are moody and you never know. As long as they are eating somewhat of a well rounded balanced diet with all the macronutrients, they will survive.

Always check in with your own pediatrician if you have any concerns!

Hacks for Easier Meal Times

If you have a family that has different likes and dislikes, making one meal for everyone can be tricky. But there is hope!

I like to use what's called Component Meals. This is when you make various food parts and then put them together in many ways to create meals.

It can look a little but like a taco bar. Everyone is able to build their own and therefore choose what they like. But it doesn't stop at tacos. You can do this for pasta, grain bowls, pizza, even soup!

If you're looking for a little trick to make a super fast and easy dinner that your family will eat, here is one that is a weekly go-to. Boil pasta. Add a chopped veggie or veggies that your kids will eat at the bottom of a pasta strainer. We usually do a mix of spinach, mushrooms, zucchini and broccoli.

Once the pasta is done, strain it over the veggies hot water and all. Then put the cover of the pot over the top and let it sit for a few minutes. The heat from the water will blanche the veggies so they are cooked just enough and do not get mushy. Serve with parmesan and enjoy!

Sneaking in Veggies

I do think that kids need to see and experience veggies in their whole form. However, sometimes you just need to know they got some nutrients and you don't want to fight about it.

So there are a few things I do to make it easy and stress free!

Add greens to your smoothies and milkshakes. Spinach is a great choice because it is nutrient rich and mild in flavor. It blends well in chocolate especially so next time you want to get in an extra dose of greens, whip up a chocolate milkshake and add some spinach!Blend veggies into pasta sauces. I take the easy route and use our favorite jarred marinaras. Simply add them to a blender, and add in a few mild veggies, then puree and viola! Some great ones are zucchini, carrots and cauliflower. You can even pulse in a few greens if your kids are used to herbs because they look the same.Blended soups. These are a super easy way to get in an extra dose of veggies!Mix cauliflower rice with regular rice. Start with a small amount and slowly increase until you're 50% of each.

These are just a few ideas of things we do to make life easier. If you want more tips and tricks for getting more plants into your school aged kids, you can check out our Plant-Based Parents class that gives loads of amazing info!

Also, don't forget to grab your free guide on getting in more veggies below!

Learning how to be vegan in a non vegan household takes time, patience and compromising. But according to our guest expert it can be done!

It isn't easy being the only one to eat a certain way in your house. I learned this when I began my gluten-free journey. But it is possible!

Stephanie Dreyer is a meal planning expert and the founder of Batch Cooking Club™, a weekly plant-based meal prep membership. She helps busy parents make dinner easier by providing weekly plans and recipes without time consuming prep.

Stephanie is also the award-winning author of the vegan picture books, Not A Nugget and Not A Purse, (both available on Amazon). Stephanie lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children, who are not vegan.

She’s a pro at balancing her vegan lifestyle while feeding her omni family, and loves to help other families juggling the daily challenge of making healthy, homemade meals.

Try her free mini email course, Meal Prep Magic here!

Living with a Non Vegan

Stephanie has been vegan for 11 years. When she changed her diet, the rest of her family (including her kids ages 1, 4, and 6) did not. Her oldest daughter went vegetarian about 5 years after, and then the rest of her family continues to eat a mix of everything.

Stephanie didn't feel good in her body and wanted to change. She made the change overnight and told her family she was going from vegetarian to full vegan.

Even though her husband was very supportive, there was tension due to how Stephanie approached food within the family. It started as a forced lifestyle, but she quickly realized that wasn't working.

Now, she doesn't force her lifestyle on them, but instead educates about her choices.

Over time, her husband has slowly started to eat more plant-based and her daughter has gone vegetarian.

Change can be hard, but having an open conversation with your family will help. Especially with children who may not understand. Different people view things differently, so it may be hard to understand why others may not make the same changes.

Others may also not understand the nutrition behind it and can give advice based on misunderstanding. However judgement can go both ways, others judging you and you judging them.

Differences in Ethical Values

When you transition to eating vegan based on ethical values, it makes it harder. Everyone has different opinions and views, so it can be hard to understand why your family doesn't see things like you do.

Getting together with your family to talk openly without judgment is helpful. Dictating rules can make others defensive and make it harder to live in harmony.

Setting up some ground rules is a good first step, things that help everyone feel comfortable. Showing respect for each others choices is really important, even if you don't agree.

Compromising with Different Diets

Setting up some ground rules and expectations can really help avoid arguments and resentment. Here are a few things that Stephanie and her family do that helps:

Having separate pots and pansSetting separate sponges for cleaningWhen planning dinners make sure everyone feels included"Don't yuck each others yums" meaning do not say negative things about what the other person is eating

If we want to spread our message, we need to step back from the extremist views. This pushes people away and can actually produce the opposite effect.

Leading by example, teaching and showing will help others make their own decisions and perhaps allow them to move more towards a plant-based diet on their own.

Adapting Meals

It is possible to make one meal and satisfy all types of eaters! There are many strategies starting from the planning process that are helpful.

When planning meals, each person can contribute. Making the meal plant-centered and building upon that for those that eat meat or dairy will help.

If the person who doesn't eat animal products isn't comfortable cooking them,

The wellness continuum is a sliding scale with no end. The goal is to move towards wellness, but each moment can take us in any direction.

Wellness isn't simply the absence of disease. It's a multidimensional continuum that encompasses both sides of health. The goal is to move towards optimal wellness, but the reality is we move up and back with every situation.

What is Wellness?

The National Wellness Institute defines wellness as "an active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence."

Basically it means you are practicing habits that move you towards better mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing so that you can achieve your full potential.

The illness-wellness continuum shows a visual interpretation that shows how wellness is not simply the absence of disease, in fact there is a neutral point that depicts neither illness or wellness.

The Illness-Wellness Continuum 

This visual of the concept of wellbeing was first proposed by John Walton Travis in 1972. People generally associated wellness with the absence of illness. But through his illustration he showed that overall wellness includes many factors.

Not only is there the absence of physical disease, but it takes emotional and mental health into account as well. Just because someone doesn't have physical disease, it doesn't mean they don't suffer from mental disease.

Dimensions of Wellness

There are many factors when it comes to wellness. While many focus on the physical and mental aspects, other areas come into play as well.

Physical Wellness- the state of your physical health meaning how you eat, sleep and move your body affects your overall wellbeing.Emotional Wellness- the state of your feelings and emotions and how you cope with relationships and life in general.Social Wellness- how you interact with others.Spiritual Wellness- using your beliefs and values to live a meaningful life and develop a world view.Intellectual Wellness- keeping your brain stimulated by engaging in activities that are creative and challenge you.Environmental Wellness- making sure your environment allows your well-being to thrive.Occupational Wellness- enriching your life through work that is fulfilling and rewarding.

The Importance of Wellness

Being able to live life to your full potential requires you to be in a positive state of wellness. Our body cannot function at it's best if we are in a state of disease, whether it is physical or emotional.

As we move towards wellness, we start to see many areas of our life improve. From our physical health, to the state of our relationships.

Like Newton's First Law of Motion states that a body in motion remains in motion. This can be applied to the motion towards wellness. If we start with one are and work to improve on it, then we are motivated and able to work on other areas.

This will come together to affect all areas of wellness and will help our overall wellbeing.

Examples of Wellness

There are many ways that you can work on your overall well-being. Here are some examples for all dimensions of wellness.

Focus on eating wholesome nutritious food.Move your body each day.Meditate.Participate in activities that challenge you and make you step out of your comfort zone.Do something nice for a friend to show them that you care.Practice mindfulness.Surround yourself with people who contribute positively to your life.If you belong to a church, attend activities.Get at least 7-8 hours of sleep every night.Monitor how much social media you take inStart a new hobby.

These are just some examples, there are many things you can do to improve your overall state of health in order to live your best life.

Don't forget to download this healthy habits guide to help you along the way!

While some may love to eat their favorite food over and over, we need to recognize the great benefits that food diversity has for our health.

This post was sponsored by Cool Beans but the content and opinions expressed are fully my own.

I too am a creature of habit. I love to get into a routine of eating the same thing for breakfast, and even lunch, as it makes my day easier. But varying those meals is so important for many reasons.

Tyler Mayoras is giving a glow-up to the world’s most under appreciated superfood: the bean. A passionate impact investor and entrepreneur, he co-founded Cool Beans with a vision of bringing sustainable, whole-food goodness to the frozen foods aisle.

Inspired by his own journey to a plant-based diet, he’s making it easier than ever to eat clean, minimally-processed food that's good for your body, your soul, and the planet.

What is Food Diversity?

Food diversity basically means having a diverse number of plants in your diet. Each have different fibers and nutrients that are beneficial for your gut.

When we eat a wide variety of nutrients, we more easily move toward better wellness. Some experts say we do best when eating up to 30 different types of foods a week!

Cool Beans wraps gives you 24 of those! Between all five flavors, you get 24 different types if food.

The Importance of Food Diversity

The farming industry 200 years ago looks different than it does today. Farmers would grow 7-10 different types of crops and they would rotate each kind.

This is because every plant takes something from soil and gives something to soil. Healthy soil is rich and biodiverse, having a variety of nutrients. So when we have a variety of plants growing, we then get a variety of nutrients from them.

Healthy soil also holds moisture better. The moisture gives back to the environment and helps with getting us more rain. This helps grow plants better overall.

Having a diet diverse in many foods is also really important for your physical health. Our gut is like soil. We are actually more bacteria than we are human.

Bacteria helps tell us what we crave to eat based on what it wants and needs. You can actually replace your entire gut in a week by changing your diet!

Eating more diverse foods helps you crave more nutritious food. Which overall even helps improve your immunity.

How it Affects Health and Wellness

Having a wide range of nutrients helps keep us moving towards optimal wellness. And this isn't just focused on our physical wellness, but it also helps our mental state.

90% of the seratonin in our body is created in the gut lining and comes from high fiber foods. We need serotonin to maintain a happy state of mind.

When we feel our best, this also helps with our self esteem. While eating a diverse amount of food can certainly help us maintain a healthy weight, self esteem is not just focused on the way we look.

When we are happy and filled with energy from all the nutrients we are eating, we are more successful and productive. This helps us feel good about ourselves and raises our self esteem.

This isn't about a certain diet, or limiting one type of food or another, this is about a lifestyle where you bring a diverse amount of foods into your diet, focusing on more plants and less overly processed foods.

Culture and Food Diversity

Culture also plays a role in food diversity. Every region in our world includes different foods as staples. If we exclude ethnic foods, and only focus on our own culture, we are missing out on a many food options.

Cool Beans started their business with a focus on cultural flavors. Both because they do not include sauce in order to avoid a mushy texture in the wraps, but also to have a diverse amount of ingredients in their wraps.

The spices of each flavor of wrap really brings an amazing taste, along with all the incredible nutrients. You can find the following:

These unpopular opinions about food may not be what you want to hear! There are so many trends in the food space, and we're weighing in.

There are SO many opinions in the online food world! Listen in as we tackle many of them and chat about where we stand.

Chelsey Amer, MS, RDN is a New York-based registered dietitian, cookbook author, creative recipe developer, food blogger & photographer, and owner of Chelsey Amer Nutrition.

When she's not playing in the kitchen, dreaming up delicious recipes, or guzzling coffee, she works with clients in 1:1 and group settings to answer the question "What should I eat?" to help eliminate restriction and promote inclusion of the foods that help you feel your best.

Check out her free Balance Your Plate Guide here!

Food Trends

The online space gives us so many things that people take as hard fast rules. It's overloaded with opinions, what you should and shouldn't do.

We have this lens into peoples lives and many think that if it's working for the one person then it must work for all people. But this is far from the truth.

You need to do your own research, and in doing so making sure you are looking at actual peer reviewed studies is important. However many of those are hard to read and understand for the average person, which then leads them to look at sources that are misleading or even untrue.

We need to stop polarizing foods and focus on what works for us to feel our best. We often listen to so many people that we forget to listen to ourselves.

As Chelsey says to her client, our internal cues should be strongest with the external cues coming in secondary. But the problem is that many people have this as the opposite.

Why Do People Jump on the Bandwagon?

In the diet and wellness space, there is not so much room for grey, it seems to be very black and white. However it's that grey that what works for people overall.

But that black and white set of rules can give people a sense of structure and even belonging. So it can be attractive.

Another issue is we apply one person's success to mean it will be successful for all. Many diet trends have started this way.

Take keto for example. It was originally developed for one population, dealing with epilepsy. But now the concept has been spread over a wide group of people.

Overall, even when things may work short term, they are not usually sustainable for long haul, so we find ourselves jumping on the newest trend.

Unpopular Opinions in Top Trends

Here are some of our unpopular opinions and the reasoning behind them:

Eating sweets daily is healthy for you

It is actually good to allow yourself to eat real sweets. Things you crave with added sugar, butter, oil, the whole nine yards!

When we don't allow ourself to eat something we crave, it tends to lead to binging which is a very unhealthy habit. Eventually you'll even see that you adjust and may not even crave sweets often anymore.

You should not have cheat days

Calling something you eat a "cheat" is an unhealthy habit. It's bad for your relationship with food as it attaches morality to your food. Food should be described in facts like delicious, nutritious, hard, soft, crunchy, salty, etc.

Describing food as good, bad, clean, cheat, etc adds emotions to the food and creates an unhealthy relationship. Eating a balanced diet is the best way for you to enjoy eating, and keep your mental wellness at it's best.

There is no food police to answer to. It's important that you sometimes eat for your body, and sometimes you eat for your mind as food can bring comfort and feelings of happiness.

A vegan diet is not necessarily healthier or morally superior

Eating a plant-based diet is not the end all be all. While eating a diet rich in plants can add a lot of nutrition to your diet, there is no reason it needs to be an all or nothing thing.

We are all different and while a plant-based diet can be life changing fo...

Is gluten free healthy or is it just a smoke screen? Listen in to hear the hard truth and how to make sure you aren't falling for tricks!

Marketing on food packages leads you to believe that if something is gluten-free then it's healthy. Unfortunately this isn't always the case, and you can in fact be hurting yourself if you don't actually need to avoid gluten!

Ale Zozos is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and the founder of the Mediterranean Nutrition School - virtual nutrition coaching private practice geared towards helping clients with insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and heart conditions.

In addition, a Mediterranean diet can also be applied as preventative medicine for individuals and their families by learning the importance of good nutrition early on. She wants to empower her clients to ask themselves how their diets can improve by what they can ADD to their plan rather than by restricting foods and food groups.

She also comes from a large Greek family and has lived the Mediterranean way since a young age. She found a love for cooking while watching her Yiayia cook with traditional Mediterranean ingredients growing up.

She's also studied the Mediterranean diet and culture in Italy and has taken many trips abroad to further her knowledge and authenticity in this field. She hopes to show you that good food doesn't have to be sacrificed for health and that food can promote a better quality of life.

What is Gluten?

Gluten is the name for the protein found in some grains like wheat, barley, and rye. Basically it's the glue that holds everything together.

While it is found in many grain products, there are also many grains that don't have gluten. Some gluten-free grains are:

ArrowrootNut floursQuinoaAmaranthBuckwheatCassavaMilletRiceSorghumTapiocaTeff

Also, oats are naturally gluten-free. However while they don't have gluten, cross contamination while they are grown is very high, so you should look for oats labeled as certified gluten-free.

While many people think you have to give up carbs to be gluten-free, it's simply not true. There are many other ways to get carbs other than grains!

Why Some People Can't Eat Gluten

The main reason you cannot eat gluten is if you have a wheat allergy. Essentially, your immune system fires up in response to the gluten protein. This causes inflammation.

Inflammation is the immune systems way of protecting you from things your body doesn't like. So when you have an allergy, that's how your body reacts.

Some people also have a gluten sensitivity. They may not have a full blown allergy, but their body doesn't react great to it, so they avoid it in order to feel their best.

It is also reported that some people that can't eat gluten in the United States, are able to without issue in Europe. So there is some questioning about the processing of gluten containing grains in different countries and whether that has something to do with it.

All our bodies are different, so just because one person reacts to gluten doesn't mean it is bad for everything. If we applied that principle to things, we wouldn't have many things left that are ok to eat.

Benefits of Gluten-Free

For those people that react to gluten, cutting it out can be life changing. I myself have seen miraculous things happen by cutting gluten out of my diet.

The biggest thing that I have seen is less inflammation. I was on allergy meds for seasonal allergies my entire adult life. At times, I had to use 2-3 medications just to breathe.

Once I cut out gluten, within 6 months I was off all of my allergy medications without issue. This was a shock to me and I still can't believe it.

Since gluten can cause inflammation all over the body, things like allergies can go away when cutting it out. But there are other benefits you can see too:

Anxiety lesseningBloating decreasingConstipation clearing upBeing more regular with bowel movementsOverall feeling be...