August 17, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC As a vegetarian, there are some staples you know you’re going to have on hand: tofu, grab-and-go snacks full of protein for your gym bag, and a good bacon substitute. If you haven’t been using the air fryer to make all of the above (and more), your meal prep game is about to be forever changed. Rounded up here are seven vegetarian air fryer recipes that are bound to make their way into your regular rotation. From a bomb four-minute French toast recipe (with no eggs!) to snacks and protein-based meals, you’ll keep turning to them again and again. The best part: Nothing takes more than 20 minutes to make. Keep reading for 7 quick and easy vegetarian air fryer recipes. Photo: Fat-free vegan 1. Italian-style air fried tofu It can be tricky and time-consuming to get tofu perfectly crispy on the stove, but if you put the OG vegetarian protein in the air fryer, all the hard work is done for you. Season with a few key Italian spices, and you have your protein spiced up and ready-to-eat for the next few days. Photo: Fried Dandelions 2. Air fryer Brussels sprouts A plate of perfectly crisp Brussels can set you back as much as an entree now at a restaurant. Well, you can feel just as fancy at home—for next to nothing—by dumping your sprouts in the air fryer. They’ll be just as crisp, and even healthier than the oil-cooked way they’re
Category: Vegetarians
Intuitive eating is all about listening to your body—here’s how to start, according to experts
August 16, 2019 at 09:14AM by CWC When it comes to the healthiest way to nourish your body, there’s a lot of information out there. Between figuring out which eating plan to follow, what the deal is with sugar in fruit, or if buzzy trends like celery juice are worth trying, it all adds complicated layers to the seemingly-simple act of feeding yourself. All the “rules” and guilt around food have led more people in the wellness space to talk more about intuitive eating, aka thinking about food without judgement. “Through the process of intuitive eating, the goal is to understand the difference between physical hunger, the biological urge that tells us that we need an replenishment of nutrients, and emotional hunger, which is driven by hunger and emotional needs,” dietitian Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, RD, explained in a recent You Versus Food video. Watch the video below for more real talk on intuitive eating: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygymXtEaQhY] While intuitive eating seems like a great idea (and it’s backed by many health experts), it can also feel a bit nebulous—especially if you have a complicated relationship with food. Thankfully, some of the panelists at the recent Well+Good TALKS event (aptly titled “We’re All Confused About Food—and Hungry For Some Answers“) had some easy tips on how to start. “Intuitive eating comes back to the simple principles of things we know to be true,” Simple Mills founder and CEO Kaitlin Smith said. “Follow those first and then start to listen to your body.”
I failed #PlasticFreeJuly—and I’m so glad I did
August 16, 2019 at 05:00AM by CWC Last month, the #PlasticFreeJuly hashtag started popping up on some of the Instagram accounts I follow. At the time, I’d been deeply affected by The Guardian‘s series on plastic, and after I learned that that majority of plastic—even the stuff we toss in the blue bin—doesn’t get recycled (only 9 percent does), I made some simple changes (reusable mugs, cotton grocery totes) to reduce the amount of plastic I consumed. But a whole month of aggressively avoiding plastic? Now that was a greater, more daunting challenge. It’s not that I think plastic is the devil. Plastic can be good! It’s used in medical devices, cars, tools, and thousands of other items that make modern life possible. The problem, in my view, is that many of us are careless with plastic. It’s cheap, convenient, and omnipresent. As I embarked on #PlasticFreeJuly to see if I could radically reduce my plastic use, I knew I wouldn’t be able to avoid plastic entirely. But maybe, just maybe, I could avoid buying it or consuming it. Here’s how things went. (Spoiler: not so smoothly.) Photo: Kate Trysh on Unsplash Groceries and food Shopping at the farmers market put plastic-free life within reach. I used Sunshine Series produce bags and brought my own containers for berries. Simple. Although the majority of farm stands still offered to wrap my produce in plastic, I politely declined. I felt like an earth-mama consumerist goddess. At the usual grocery store, things were
8 essential tools every healthy chef needs to master the meal prep life
August 16, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC You know how people can spend hours falling down the Instagram rabbit hole of Bachelorette conspiracy theories or trying to figure out if Keanu Reeves is truly ageless? I, on the other hand, swoon over all the ways fitfluencers prep their meals in advance. Odd? Maybe. Inspiring? Most definitely. Here’s the thing about meal prep: It looks so attainable, so easy, so perfect, in the gridded world of Instagram. However, the process to actually achieving perfectly pre-packaged meals, however, requires a whole lot of time and effort—and I’ve always struggled to know how to start. To help bring my healthy foodie dreams to fruition, I chatted with registered clinical nutritionist Gabriela Peacock and registered dietician Jennifer Maeng, RD, CDN, of Chelsea Nutrition. They say that meal prep success comes down to three components: recipes, time, and tools. First and foremost, “make the foods you actually enjoy and want to eat,” Peacock says. “If you have a pre-prepared lunch that you hate, you’re way more likely to ignore it and end up browsing the snack aisle of your local shop.” Maeng agrees, saying that it’s best to prepare meals in advance that make your mouth water, versus preparing a boring meal that you’re pre-committing to eat in the future. (Need some ideas? You can’t go wrong with with this healthy meal plan.) It’s also crucial to factor in enough time to get all of your cooking done—and no, that doesn’t mean you have to
Society still has a pretty messed up way of talking about ‘healthy’ eating—here’s why that matters
August 15, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC When I first started writing about food several years ago, I didn’t think twice about referring to mac and cheese as an “indulgence” or using the term “clean eating.” I tried to steer clear of talk about calorie counting, weight, or fad diets (so progressive, I thought!), but my tone in some ways still implied that certain styles of eating were better than others. I’ve since learned that healthy eating looks different for everybody. A promising new study from June even backs this up, finding that 60 percent of how a person’s body reacts to food is completely unrelated to their DNA. Our bodies all have slightly different needs, and while some things are objectively true (everyone could stand to eat some more vegetables!), there’s variation in the details. Some people might swear by the keto diet for revved-up energy levels and mental clarity, for example, while others might say the same about the Paleo diet or veganism. So why do so many of us—writers, nutrition experts, and researchers included—talk about food choices in very, well, judgmental ways? In the wellness world we may have moved on from praising “bikini bodies” and “cleansing,” but the words we choose to talk about healthy food so often imply (or scream outright) that certain ways of eating are inherently good and others are bad. The morality of food choices goes back a long way Nutrition is a relatively young science. The first government food guide, Farmer’s Bulletin,
9 healthy eating experts relive the romance of the first meal they cooked for their partner
August 15, 2019 at 08:28AM by CWC It’s often said that the way to someone’s heart is through their stomach, and there’s something really vulnerable about cooking for someone. You’re spending your time and energy in hopes of making that special someone feel nourished and cared for. And hey, cooking is a skill! All of that makes choosing what to serve a new SO for the first time challenging. Not only is it hard to predict what someone will like, but the whole cooking process is unpredictable, too. No one is immune to the occasional #foodfail. Here, nine people in the wellness space get real about exactly what went down the first time they cooked for their significant other. From what they decided to make to how it was actually received, the stories are both heartwarming and inspiring. Ready for a little dose of food romance? Keep reading to see their stories. 1. “We still make it three years later” Registered dietitian and Well+Good Wellness Council member McKel Hill, RDN, went big with the first meal she made with her now-husband. “We were about a month into dating and we made curry-baked tofu, red peppers with fresh parsley, lemon, and olive oil. We also made a massaged kale salad with nutritional yeast, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and dill,” she says, adding that they ended their meal with some store-bought coconut milk ice-cream. Ambitious as the dish was, it turned out awesome, Hill recalls. “It was perfect for so many reasons,” Hill
25 seaweed recipes that prove it’s delicious beyond sushi
August 14, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC While seaweed may not be the sexiest superfood (It’s green! It’s slippery! It’s texture is meh.), the ultra-nutritious underwater plant has stepped into the spotlight as one of the “it” foods on the market over the past few years years. Yes, it’s often rolled up in rice and served up as sushi roll, but a quick perusing of the World Wide Web shows that its uses go far beyond holding together your California roll. It’s even in breakfast foods now—no. joke. In case you’re not quite sure why the slimy plant should get a spotlight in your diet, listen up. Seaweed’s major claim to nutritional fame is that it contains iodine: a critical antioxidant that helps keep your thyroid up to snuff. It also contains about 4 grams of protein per tablespoon and trace amounts of other nutrients. As you’ve likely observed in all your time splashing by the ocean shore, seaweed comes in many iterations, including salty-savory nori to pasta-substituting kelp noodles. It’s time to deconstruct your sushi into a bowl, or even top your morning oatmeal with nori (trust us on this one). Nori You probably recognize nori as the papery green seaweed that holds your sushi together or the snack taking over shelves at Whole Foods. The member of the red algae family is rich in protein and fiber. Eat it dried as a snack, or use it recipes ranging from risotto to pizza. Sushi Pizza with Miso Ginger Dressing You read that
The glycemic index pinpoints foods that can mess with blood sugar, but there’s a catch
August 14, 2019 at 09:57AM by CWC When it comes to healthy eating, it’s official: Sugar, not fat, is the “big bad” of the nutrition world. Excessive sugar intake is linked to Type 2 diabetes, chronic inflammation, and other long-term health consequences, and most of us are eating way too much of it. When recommending ways to cut back on added sugar intake, one buzzword is frequently thrown around by nutrition experts: the glycemic index. The glycemic index (GI) essentially assigns scores to various foods with carbohydrates, rating them on how big or how small of an impact those foods can have on your blood sugar levels. This ranking system shows that not all carbs are created equal when it comes to your blood sugar—some have a minimal impact, while some can cause huge spikes that can lead to a rollercoaster crash later on in the day. But while some experts swear by the glycemic index to help people be more mindful of their sugar intake, the ranking system is a bit more nuanced than just determining which foods are “good” for blood sugar and which ones are “bad.” Here’s what you need to know about the nutrition buzzword. How does the glycemic index work? The glycemic index was originally developed for the diabetic community. “It created a numerical index or ranking of carbohydrates based on how they impact blood sugar levels when eaten without any other foods,” says Robert Glatter, MD, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Northwell
Here’s how to know if that snack you’re eating is actually a legit meal
August 14, 2019 at 02:01AM by CWC In this age of I’m-too-busy-for-an-actual-meal, we have become a society of snackers. (Shout out to everyone literally eating a snack right now as you read this.) Walk into any drugstore and there’s at least half an aisle devoted to protein bars. Even avocado toast has transformed into a gym bag-friendly morsel. There are so many snack options that it honestly wouldn’t be that hard to live off snack products alone, instead of taking the time to piece together an actual meal. The lines between snacks and meals is definitely blurred. To help bring some clarity, I called up Jaime Schehr, NP, RD, a nationally recognized expert in integrative medicine and nutrition. Simply put, she explains that a meal is meant to fill someone up longer than a snack. “A meal is meant to fill someone up for at least three hours and is going to have the macronutrients we need, which unless you are doing keto [or another very specific eating plan], that includes protein, carbohydrates, and fiber,” Dr. Schehr explains, adding that this primarily looks like something veggie-based paired with a protein. ad_intervals[‘415114_div-gpt-ad-8891272-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘415114_div-gpt-ad-8891272-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8891272-3’);}); } }, 100); “What I tell my clients is that if you have breakfast at 8 a.m., your meal should be comprehensive enough so that it fills you up until at least 11 a.m.,” Dr. Schehr says. If not, it likely isn’t hitting those macronutrient buckets she details. This doesn’t mean
7 breakfasts for gut health that dietitians want you to eat ASAP
August 13, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC It’s a universally agreed upon truism that breakfast is the most important meal of the day (and there are some studies to back this up). But while most of us are pretty good about making sure our breakfast is high in filling protein and healthy fats, there’s one nutrient most of us are overlooking in our rush to get out the door: fiber. “Nine out of 10 Americans do not reach fiber goals with an average intake at 12-14 grams out of the 25-38 grams recommended by the US Dietary Guidelines,” says Lauren Harris-Pincus, RDN, and author of The Protein-Packed Breakfast Club. And fiber has a lot of health benefits to offer, especially first thing in the morning. “Fiber helps to normalize your bowel movements, preventing constipation and bloating, while also keeping you full for long periods of time. Fiber is also an essential part of healthy eating in general, as it reduces heart disease, regulates blood sugar, and helps to prevent GI cancers,” says Brigitte Zeitlin, RD, and owner of BZ Nutrition in NYC. ad_intervals[‘414600_div-gpt-ad-8891272-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘414600_div-gpt-ad-8891272-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8891272-3’);}); } }, 100); Breakfast is a great time of day to pack in extra fiber, which not only makes your gut happy but also keeps you satisfied and less likely to reach for the office donut tray or candy bowl mid-morning, Harris-Pincus says. The same goes for protein and good fats, so pair them with those fibrous foods.