Nutritious choices made simple®
There is nothing like returning home after a long day to a slow-cooked meal that’s ready to savor or waking up to a warm, ready-to-eat breakfast. Ahh yes, your BFF, the slow cooker…doing the work for you while you’re usually doing, well, other work. That said, there are a few things to keep in mind to make sure that all that ready-to-go awesomeness that your slow cooker provides is also nutritious. Here are a few pitfalls to avoid that ensure it is.
I’ve written about snacking a few times including how to snack when you travel and fun snacks that engage kids. It’s easy for me to write about snacks because I love them for sustaining energy and maintaining metabolism. That said, I don’t recommend grazing, which denotes images of grabbing food throughout the day without a plan or consideration of the timing. Snacking, in my view, is deliberate, purposeful, and planned eating that can be built into our day to ensure we meet our daily needs. Since I recommend that snacks be planned just like meals, I also suggest getting the family involved in prepping snacks for the week. With a bit of effort, you’ll have balanced options ready for your family when you need them.
Living in a home where our weekday evening “schedule scramble” means simple meals eaten on the fly and often not together, my family has grown to love a weekend morning meal or long lunch that lets us spend some time together. We’ve turned weekend breakfast and lunch into family time, which gives us all a moment to slow down…together.
When it comes to preparing food, college dorm living can seem two steps away from camping. It only worsens when daytime dining hall options are limited to a scarcely stocked canteen or a busy schedule that requires a dorm room to be stocked with actual food. My colleagues have shared dorm room hacks and tips for turning your dorm room into a kitchen. As college students make the move to dorm rooms for another year it’s a good time to revisit these ideas and more.
These days it’s just assumed that you when you sign up to bring food to your child’s school function, it will have to be allergy friendly. As a mom of a celiac son, I have to say that seeing the transformation that has gone on in classrooms to make them more inclusive is not only welcome but frankly, long overdue. The even better news? Making allergy-friendly foods isn’t hard to pull off or “less fun.”
For all the benefits of the plant-based diet, and especially for those on a vegetarian diet, there is still one very important consideration, which is the lack of B12. Our bodies can’t produce B12, the essential, water-vitamin found mostly in meat and dairy foods, and therefore we must seek it in our diet. For those on a plant-only diet, there are many fortified foods and supplements available to help them meet their B12 needs. This raises the question as to how easy it is to become deficient in B12 and whether supplements and fortified foods are an adequate replacement.
The popularity of the plant-based diet means that products are appearing on supermarket shelves in increasing numbers. This is great news for consumers seeking to embrace this beneficial and sustainable way of eating. We know that a plant-based approach to eating has many health benefits, but what about those individuals with sensitive nutrition needs? Does this way of eating make it easier or harder to follow a safe, healthy diet when you have unique dietary concerns?
When the school year wraps up, the organization and structure that comes along with it wraps up too. Whether at camp, home, or a friend’s house, kids are on their own more and this independence can make keeping track of their eating a challenge. However, caregivers need not worry if they’ve put into place solid snacking strategies.