olive oil

Is there any food in the world with a worse rep than bacon? People really hate on bacon (from a health perspective, definitely not a taste one). It’s one of the first foods people eliminate when trying to lose weight and become healthy. But how did bacon become known as an unhealthy food? It’s an ancestral food. Any culture with access to boars and pigs would have eaten them. It’s thought that the first pig farms started in Asia around 1000 BC. The Romans ate the backs of the pigs which they boiled with figs. And bacon has been eaten for centuries in Europe. So people have been eating bacon for a really, really long time without rampant heart disease, obesity or cancer. As it turns out, if you look at the facts, bacon isn’t an unhealthy food. Most people consider bacon so unhealthy because of its high saturated fat…

I am beyond over this “skinny” trend. “Skinny” cupcakes made with refined wheat, genetically modified sugar, low-fat vegetable oil and fake eggs? “Skinny” chicken made with margarine? All so we can continue eating genetically modified, processed junk but stay within a calorie limitation? Please. Counting calories will not help you lose weight or make you healthier; the body thrives on calorically dense foods like pastured meat, wild seafood and grass-fed butter. These are health foods. And can I say I’m over the word skinny in general? Call me trim, call me toned, call me strong, call me muscular, but do not call me skinny. I don’t want to be skinny, I want to be healthy. If we shift the focus from weight loss to actually being healthy, maybe women wouldn’t count calories. Maybe little girls won’t go on diets. And maybe when we shift the focus to health, people will…

Eating healthy is not too expensive. This is a huge misconception, and a lot of times it’s an excuse that people make to not eat well. Of course, there are some people who genuinely cannot afford to eat, much less eat well; I’m not talking about these situations. For most of us, eating well is completely affordable. It just requires a bit of extra planning and effort. Each week I plan out my meals and make my grocery list based only on the ingredients I need to make each meal that week. This saves a ton of money. Ya need a plan at the grocery store! Another money saving tip I love is roasting a whole chicken. One chicken is so easy to make and can be made into so many different meals. Here’s how I do it. Step 1: Buy an organic chicken. My chicken was five pounds and…

First of all, let me say that I respect the choice of an adult to make a diet decision. But I recently read an article in which actress Jenna Dewan said of her daughter, ”She eats fruits and veggies and nothing else.” Nothing else? Where is this baby going to get her EPA and DHA? What about healthy fats in general? And vitamin A (retinol)? What about B12? Babies have died from lack of vitamin A and B12! To be clear, I don’t believe that any parent who feeds their child a vegan diet means to hurt them. I don’t think they’re even aware of the dangers tied to feeding a baby a plant-based diet. As a society, we often equate a vegan diet with health while turning up our noses at animal products. But eating a vegan diet is not the same as being healthy. As a result, there…

Go check out some holiday lights. Every year Scott and I go to nearby Annapolis to have an amazing dinner near the water, then to check out the boats. Local boat owners string lights on the boats, decorate like crazy and really go all out. My favorite boat every year is the A Christmas Story boat; complete with big, lit up leg lamp lights. We also live by the National Zoo so we usually walk over to their light display, aptly named Zoo Lights. Most towns have light displays, just check out your local newspaper or Google it. Even if you’re just cruising around your hood and looking at people’s holiday lights, it’s tough to NOT be in the holiday spirit. Volunteer! I plan on volunteering with the elderly this season. Consider how many elderly people are in nursing homes with either no family left, or just family that doesn’t…