I am such a donut freak. And yet I am also a super-healthy, super-low-sugar, low-fat baker. Can all that work together—and still make a moist, cakey, donut-like baked donut? YES! For my plain chocolate cake donuts, I used the excellent Minimalist Baker 30-minute vegan chocolate doughnut recipe. However, being a chronic recipe tinkerer who can’t leave things alone (sorry, Dana!) and a sort of Less-Sweet. Low-Sugar Challenger, I made a number of modifications that cut the sugar by more than half (just 3.9 g per donut!), the fat by a third, and the calories by …
5 delicious, energizing, soothing adaptogenic cocoa recipes from a health coach-fitness trainer-herbalist
Think cocoa is for winter only? Think again! Sure, it’s most appealing to face into a steamy cup when it’s frosty outside. But a rich, deep cocoa drink is so satisfying year round. And while in Arizona now I do tend to switch from cocoa to smoothies by late spring, when I lived in Seattle a hot cup of cocoa was pretty much welcome year round! As a “joyful nourishment instigator” (integrative health coach, fitness trainer, fitness nutrition specialist, herbalist and motivation specialist), one of my specialties is inspiring people to LOVE fueling their healthiest …
Smart Summer Snacks—Cool, Quick, On The Go!
With the weather heated up and many of us spending more time active outdoors—and planning summer travel—it’s a great time to put a little thought into making sure you’re prepped to be well-fueled wherever you go! Whether you’re road-tripping, flying off to visit friends and family, backpacking, hiking/biking, or just headed to the pool, it’s important to be conscious of including snacks among your essentials. If you value your health and energy, you don’t want to be at the mercy of an airline meal, a roadside fast-food joint, or a concession stand. Worse, you don’t …
I’m a plant-based health coach, fitness trainer, and author—this is what I eat in a day
I’m a certified fitness trainer and plant-based health coach, everyday amateur athlete, and a passionate proponent of aging beautifully, slowly and healthfully through radical joyful self-care. I wrote the bestselling Bodyfueling when in was just in my 20s, in the 1990s, and now 20+ years later I’m writing NOURISHED: Radical Self-Care and a Sustainable Life—Made Joyful, Easy, Smart and Delicious (Field Notes from a Fit and Fearless Quarter-Century). I love food and love to eat. In the spirit of an explosion of Well + Good and MindBodyGreen “what I eat in a day” articles—usually featuring …
A Simple, Heartfelt Mini-Manifesto for a Healthy Happy Fit Fueled New Year
Try THIS in 2016: Banish the meaningless, diversionary, tired and unappealing words “weight loss” “thin” “slim” and “slender” from your vocabulary. Steadfastly ignore them when New Year’s headlines dribble and spew them. Dispense with “regimens.” Forget “sticking to” anything. That includes any “diet.” Eradicate these words and ideas. Boldly, resolutely, ebulliently. Instead, focus on eating and moving your body to feel amazing and to gift yourself with care. And sure, why not, to look good as well (but accept that “looking good” is not “thin” and no special number on a scale ever ensures it—please! “Thin” …
What’s Weight Got to Do With It? Why “Weight Loss” is a Diversionary Goal
Watch your words—and stop conflating “lose weight” with “eating healthy.” It matters—in a whole bunch of ways. Updated and adapted from Bodyfueling by Robyn Landis; revised version due 2018 (https://igg.me/at/get-NOURISHED-the-book/9304232) Body weight is irrelevant. The pursuit of losing it, gaining it, maintaining it or otherwise manipulating or measuring it is utterly disconnected from a healthy, fit, nourished life. The non-thinking, mostly unchallenged idea that it’s connected is leading the vast majority astray. The use of weight to define, determine, and measure health and fitness is one piece of what I call “diet thinking.” I defined …
Hot Cocoa-Turmeric Milk—An Antioxidant Love Child
Yes, I have a tendency to wonder if adding chocolate to things will make them even better. I mean, give me some credit. I don’t do it to everything. I don’t add it to, say, cornbread or apple pie or tomato soup. (Now, black bean soup would be another story. Mole, right?) But I’ve long wondered if my turmeric milk (also known as “golden milk”)—based on a traditional Ayurvedic recipe—could be made a little more appealing with the addition of cocoa. I mean, I drink hot cocoa in nut milk. I drink turmeric in nut milk. Why not …
15 ways to keep sugar to 50 grams a day, still enjoy sweets, and be healthy
Sugar has emerged in recent years as a more insidious and dangerous threat to our health than we had previously thought. Accumulating scientific evidence is revealing the role sugar plays in the persistent obesity epidemic that plagues our nation—as well as in cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, dementia and depression, infertility and impotence, and the inflammation that is also implicated in these and many other diseases. Accordingly, health and nutrition experts have increasingly urged government and health authorities to set limits for (if not regulate) sugar consumption. The momentum and gravity of …
