Fresh Food Friday: Caprese Christmas Skewers

The holidays are right around the corner, which means I’ll be going to a ton of holiday parties and potlucks within the next few weeks.  Being everyone’s Healthy Friend, it’s only right that I contribute something that’s just as tasty as it is nutritious which is why  I’m so excited to debut these Caprese Christmas Skewers at my own Christmas party this Sunday.  Not only are they super easy to put together, they combine the flavors of 100% fresh, natural ingredients.  Not to mention they boast all of the beautiful colors of the season.

Fresh Food Friday: Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Rice

We made it through another week y’all!  The past couple of weeks have been jam packed with final projects that needed to be completed, presentations to prepare for, and an unforgiving work schedule. All of that combined with Thanksgiving has left me running in a million directions with most of my meals consisting of whatever I could quickly grab out of the pantry on my way out the door.  Because of this, I wanted to make a simple breakfast dish that’s portable, yet so very delicious.  It combines signature flavors of fall, pairing fresh apples with the robust taste of cinnamon and a hint of vanilla.  Enjoy either hot or cold 🙂

The Secret Behind Burning an Immovable Belly

Q: How do you get rid of belly fat?  I’m 48, I’ve been hiking 2-3 days a week and 2-one hour Zumba classes a week.  I feel great and feel things happening with my body but the belly fat is not moving. Help.

First I’d like to congratulate you on taking the initiative to increase physical activity.  I can’t stress enough how important it is to engage in and maintain consistent physical activity, especially as you get older.  It sounds like your activities are helping to change your mood and body, and that’s a wonderful accomplishment!

Unfortunately, it is not possible to “spot train”, or remove fat from certain areas and keep it in others.  I know there are a lot of people, diets, and products out there that claim to be able to “blast away belly fat”, but the body just doesn’t work like that.

Throw a Party in Your Water Glass: How to Stay Hydrated this Winter

Q: I heard you can get dehydrated even if it’s cold outside but my problem is I never feel thirsty. How can I learn to drink more water?

Hey pal,

The winter season causes most of us to go to great lengths to protect our bodies from the frigid temperatures.  For a lot of people, this typically means an increase in layers and a higher intake of warm caffeinated beverages.  While these things are helpful in keeping us warm, we tend to forget to give our bodies the one thing that they still need most: water.  Our bodies are made of 70% water, and they need this valuable liquid in order to maintain all of the physiological processes that take place inside them.  While it’s easy to remember to drink water in the hot summer months, water intake usually decreases when the temperature does.  However, whether you’re in blistering heat or the frigid cold,  maintaining adequate water intake is vital in preventing dehydration and keeping your body functioning properly.

My Healthy Friend is Now on Twitter!

Follow me at @MyHealthyFriend for quick access to more workout tips, nutrition info, and creative ways to get healthy!

Choose Health! Julian’s Transformation

I’ve always felt my mission in life is to help others become healthier and empower them to take responsibility for their wellbeing.  While some people respond well to being told what to do, I’ve found that people are more likely to invest in their health if they are shown how to do it.  My friend Julian is an excellent example of how possible it is to change your life for the better.  He previously engaged in a multitude of unhealthy behaviors stemming from our college days at UNC Chapel Hill but has since made the decision to invest in his health.  Exercising regularly and being proactive about making beneficial diet choices, Julian has lost over 63 pounds and now has complete control over his previously declining heart health.

Meet my healthy friend, Julian.

Understanding Food Labels: Natural & Organic Foods

The terms “natural” and “organic” are seen a lot these days.  Whether it’s “French fries made with natural potatoes” advertised on restaurant menus or apple juice with “100% organic” on the label, these terms are everywhere.  The clear distinction of foods with these labels often leaves shoppers confused about what they really mean.  Are natural and organic foods more nutritious than foods that aren’t? Are they better for your health?  Are they really worth the higher prices?  Let’s talk about it.

Fresh Food Friday: Coca-Peanut Butter Banana Swirl

Friday is here again, and as I rejoice in pure excitement for the end of the week I thought I’d bring another dessert recipe that is the perfect combination of healthful and satisfying.  If you love ice cream as much as I do, you’ll definitely appreciate the creamy consistency of this sweet treat.  Best part – you only need 4 ingredients!

Cancer Development: You Play a Bigger Role Than You Think

Prior to starting graduate school, I never thought much about cancer. Sure, I had a broad idea of what it was and have heard stories about how invasive medical treatment could be, but I always thought cancer was just a disease that some people were genetically predisposed to. Come to find out, genetics only attributes to a fraction of cancer diagnoses. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, one-third of the 572,000 cancer deaths that occur in the U.S. each year are attributed to poor lifestyle habits, more specifically lack of a proper diet and physical activity.

In other words, being overweight and eating unhealthy foods is the cause of over 190,000 cancer deaths each year.

To me, this is astounding. Not only does your diet and amount of time you spend moving affect things like weight and heart health, but also has a dramatic impact on the prevention of cancer. Every five years, the American Cancer Society (ACS) publishes guidelines to help Americans facilitate healthy behaviors in the hopes of preventing cancer, and as your healthy friend, it’s only right that I pass some of the main points on to you. If you’d like to read the guidelines in it’s entirety, click here.  

Understanding Food Labels: Deciphering the List of Ingredients

 

You are what you eat.

Sure, we’ve all heard this novel cliché before and in some ways its concept is very straight forward; if your diet consists of only ice cream and candy bars, your body will look like it.  However, what we put inside our bodies has a tremendous affect on them that reaches far beyond aesthetic appeal.  The food we eat impacts everything from the body’s ability to produce energy, fight disease, and even the way genes are expressed in our DNA.

Although the status of our health weighs so heavily on what we eat, it can be very challenging to make healthy food choices, especially when product labels are often misleading and difficult to understand.  All of this unnecessary ambiguity inspired me to further investigate food labeling and write a three-part series on the issue in the hopes of providing all of you, my friends, with the knowledge and tools necessary for taking more control over what goes inside your body.

One of the most difficult tasks in assessing how healthy something is tends to be the most basic of them all: determining what’s in it.  If you’ve ever glanced at the ingredients list of your favorite food item, it probably didn’t take long before you stumbled upon something you could hardly pronounce, let alone recognize.  I couldn’t tell you how much time I spend trapped on grocery store isles shamelessly googling the foreign ingredients found on my favorite foods and drinks.  Sure the front of the package says “sliced turkey meat” but unless you’re a dietician, chemist, or have Google readily available to decode the ambiguous ingredients, chances are you don’t really know what you’re eating.