dani

I get it. Breaking the soda habit is hard. If you’re like me, you grew up on the stuff. It was at every birthday party, ever soccer game and every school cafeteria. America really sets kids up to be soda chugging adults. It’s time to break the habit with the healthiest soda alternatives – which you can skip to below if you don’t care about all the reasons why soda is bad for you. Seriously. It’s gross. Soda is just a can of empty calories, filled with sugar that’s almost like from genetically modified sugar beets and caramel color – which is carcinogenic. Meaning it’s been shown to cause cancer. Yes. You might literally be drinking cancer-causing sugar bombs. Am I being dramatic? Kind of. But not really. This is the reality of soda. Let’s explore some soda facts. Soda and cancer. Dr. Pepper, Coke and Pepsi contain caramel color.…

This caprese shrimp lentil pasta was SO DELICIOUS. I never knew about lentil pasta either, but yes, it’s now a thing. I’m really loving all the healthy, gluten-free alternatives that are coming out. And while gluten-free alternatives often get a bad rap for being overly processed and full of junk, depending on the brand you get, this lentil pasta contains at most two ingredients: lentil and quinoa, and sometimes just lentil. Both are healthy, whole foods! No additives, no preservatives, no sketchy ingredients. But I have a confession. Until I made this pasta, I didn’t really like lentils. They don’t have a ton of flavor and even though they have a decent amount of protein for a plant-based food, they never had as much (or a complete amino acid profile) when compared to, say, chicken or salmon. So I never ate them. But I was in Whole Foods the other…

You guys. I’m not exaggerating when I say that meal prepping saves me thousands of dollars. THOUSANDS. And THAT’S how you meal prep like a boss. $$$ Consider this: I’ve been meal prepping every Sunday for years. That’s thousands of meals I’ve grabbed out of my fridge instead of grabbing out of Chipotle. I love me some Chipotle, but that shit gets real expensive. Not only does meal prepping save money, it’s infinitely healthier, ya’ll. When eating at a restaurant or fast food places, you never really know what you’re getting. You don’t know if there’s olive oil or canola oil in the salad dressing, you don’t know if they’ve cooked your food in soybean oil, or if there’s soy hiding in the ingredients (soy is in almost everything, especially at restaurants). When you make food at home, you know not only the ingredients but the quality of the food.…

So, you think by buying a Beyond Meat Burger, you’re doing yourself and the environment a favor? Think twice. I took a look at the ingredients and here’s my honest review! You may have heard about that new Beyond Meat Burger. This new plant-based burger that tastes and even bleeds like a real burger. If that isn’t enough to weird you out, I don’t know what is. Weird as it seems to me, I’m much more concerned with the actual ingredients of this beyond meat burger. Especially when the product touts itself as not just healthy, but sustainable. Is Beyond Meat actually healthy? Is it actually sustainable? After taking a look at the ingredients, the answer is hell no. Not even close. Let’s examine. The original Beyond Meat burger: The Beast Burger: Grilled Chicken Strips: Beefy Crumble: There are many ingredients in these products that are both unhealthy and unsustainable. Soy…

I am IN LOVE with this drink. Not only is it delicious, it literally helps improve anxiety. Which to be honest, is something I need right now. Winter, less sun, less movement, just spent four and a half months in the NICU and have a new baby at home after a hard birth. I need all the anti-anxiety help I can get. For me, I have to take steps daily to keep my anxiety at bay. It’s kind of like skincare. If I didn’t keep a routine, I’d start to see acne. If I don’t keep up with my routine, I start to have anxiety. And I’ve found this is true for the majority of people. If you don’t take the steps to take care of yourself, that’s going to manifest as depression, anxiety, unhappiness, etc. I recently spoke with a friend who told me about someone she knew who…

What better time to write this, than at five in the morning, with my beautiful boy sleeping on my chest? Truth be told, I’ve been putting off writing Everett’s birth story because it was honestly just so traumatic. But it’s something I want to remember and document, it’s something I want to share with other women who had less than ideal births. If you planned to have a certain type of birth and weren’t able to or if you have any negative feelings surrounding your birth – that’s okay. Your feelings matter. You matter. I’m tired of the “You have a healthy baby, that’s all that matters” rhetoric. Our feelings are valid and shouldn’t be discounted because we are now mothers. Your feelings surrounding your birth are valid. Buckle up, this is a long one. At the end of my twenty-second week, my husband and I headed to a restaurant…

Breastfeeding is serious business. Another tiny human is depending completely on you for their vitamins, minerals and overall nourishment. If you’re not eating well – then the baby isn’t eating well. If you’re not getting enough vitamin A, the baby isn’t getting enough vitamin A. And yes, of course, it’s best to get your vitamins and minerals from food and that should absolutely be the top priority when it comes to healthy breastmilk, but let’s face it. Eating the number of vitamins and minerals necessary to obtain an optimal amount for you AND baby is freakin’ tough. It’s really hard. I am a nutritionist and it’s even hard for me. In light of that, it’s still important to eat well and supplement. You cannot out-supplement a bad diet. A bad diet is just that and no amount of vitamins is going to change that. Eating well is the foundation, mamas.…

After my water unexpectedly broke at 23 weeks and I had my son at 24 weeks (he’s now 40 weeks!), I’ve been exclusively pumping for the last 16 weeks. I’ve got a second freezer full of breastmilk and at this point, I consider myself a pro at pumping. I always thought I’d just breastfeed, and I still plan to when my son is out of the NICU, but the reality is that the best-laid plans often go awry. Shit happens, our kids won’t latch, they’re born early, they have a tongue tie, who knows. And then you have to pump. And that’s okay! In fact, that’s amazing. Because pumping is hard. It’s a process. It’s not just putting your kid on the boob – it’s assembling parts and being tethered to an actual pump, it’s cleaning and steaming those parts, it’s a lot of freaking work. And it’s not the…

Hi guys! I’m kind of obsessed with online shopping. I loathe shopping in person and I’m a total champ at finding amazing deals online, which allows me to justify my online shopping habit. So I thought I’d pop in and share some of my favorite deals with you. The first, of course, being my own deal. ANCESTRAL ORGANICS – 25% OFF First, my line of organic skin and body care products are 25% off – this is the highest discount I have ever or will ever offer. Just use code BlackFriday2016. Got acne? Try the Clear Collection. Got wrinkles or aging skin? Try the Youthful Collection. Got anxiety? Try the relaxation essential oil blend. Got scars? Try the scar and wrinkle essential oil blend. PERFECT SUPPLEMENTS – 45% OFF Next, my absolute favorite supplement company is offering insane deals. Perfect Supplements is a company I trust fully – they make truly…