You get to decide what to eat, when to eat, and how to get that food. Intuitive cooking honors your time, budget, lifestyle, and desire. It helps to make life a little easier in order to give you room to live it fully.

If you aren’t familiar with Intuitive Eating, you can find a little background information in my article, Everything you Need to Know About Intuitive Eating.

While there is no equation or principles to follow with Intuitive Cooking, there are a few suggestions I have to get you started:

Acknowledge Comfort Foods

The biggest limitation I see to long-term success with Intuitive Eating and Cooking is when people try to ignore, change, or refuse to acknowledge their comfort foods. This plays heavily into dichotomous thinking about food, i.e. good v. bad food. Most of the time I see people struggle with going too far in either direction and they end up forgetting to honor balance, variety, or satisfaction.

On either end of this spectrum, comfort foods play a big role. My hope for you is that you feel empowered to cook meals that truly taste delicious, and make your feel great, mentally, and physically.

The point of acknowledging your comfort foods is to look at the thing that’s keeping you away from balance, no matter which end of the spectrum you fall on, and finding ways to honor your tastes and preferences with both comfort and “healthy” foods. Honoring comfort foods plays a vital role in Intuitive Cooking.

Acknowledge Your Schedule

Recognize the realities and limitations of your day-to-day. The bottom line is: don’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole. If you are trying to achieve “health” by creating drastic changes in your eating and cooking, but fail to acknowledge the realities of your life, nothing is going to stick. Plus, extreme changes won’t serve you in the long run.

Intuitive cooking is about serving your needs realistically with the time and energy you have. It’s about honoring nutrition through variety by making room for all types of cooking scenarios. It means making foods from scratch, buying convenience, and ordering takeout. It means playing and sometimes failing in the kitchen. It means baking and enjoying the pleasure of food.

The key is to recognize your schedule and brain space given your unique lifestyle. Then, realistically prepare with the tools to help you feel empowered to feed yourself and your family in a way that feels right.

Plan for Success

When it comes to Intuitive Cooking, you won’t get very far if you don’t have the tools you need. Your kitchen doesn’t need to be stocked, but it’s important to make the meals you desire as easy and accessible as possible. Cooking at home is so much more enjoyable when you set yourself up for success and take it from this chef, it starts with having the right tools.

A few items that are must-haves in any kitchen:

A sharp chef’s knife.

This should be your most used tool in the kitchen, and you deserve to have a quality knife. Take good care of it, sharpen it regularly, and make the job of chopping to much more pleasant (and safe!).

Quality cutting boards.

I always recommend Dexas cutting boards because they are well made and easy to clean. I like to have a few boards of different purposes. It’s not fun to cut melon on a board that you’ve recently chopped a bunch of garlic on — yuck! I try to keep a meat board for meat, a produce board for fruits and veggies, and a separate board for strong scented or colored produce (like garlic and beets!).

A big water bottle.

Okay, this might not actually be a piece of kitchen equipment, but it helps me plan for success when I have a nice drinking bottle. I find time and time again that I neglect water if I don’t have a bottle to carry around with me. I always make it a point to drink water in my Klean Kanteen when I’m cooking because the kitchen is an easy place to refill and remind myself to drink up!

Mixing bowls.

Go ahead and get a set of nesting mixing bowls. I find that most people have far too few mixing bowls in their kitchen. They can be used for literally anything, and I find that it’s much easier to breeze through cooking when I have plenty of appropriate sizes to pull from. Nothing kills the flow of cooking like having to stop and wash a high-traffic item. Having enough of these is surprisingly underrated, especially when they nest and store away so easily.

A high-speed blender.

I’ve recently changed my mind about this. I used to make the case that a blender was lower on the list of must-haves and above it was the food processor. And while it’s nice to have all the equipment to do all the things, it’s not totally necessary. Especially not with Intuitive Cooking.

I think the tool that will get the most traction is a high-speed blender. You can make simple smoothies, blend hummus, or cream soups. You can chop ice or pulse grains. It can do everything a food processor can, but more. I love the aesthetics of this Wolf blender, and it has a nice wide base to make blending easy.

Spatulas.

Okay another random one, but again, I’m always shocked at the number of people who don’t have this tool. Or if they do, it’s broken, too small or too big. I like to have a classic spatula on hand like this one from Swissmar because it’s a perfect size and is really high quality. It can be placed in the dishwasher and is multi-functional. A spatula will make your life so much easier so you can cook without a second thought.

Wooden spoons.

I find wooden spoons to be so romantic. They remind me of a grandmother cooking her Sunday sauce, wearing an apron, and humming over a bubbling pot. And while that vision is sweet, the point is that they are a timeless, all-purpose kitchen tool. They are softer than metal, thus gentler on the food and your cookware. There are a million options out there, but I think nothing beats a classic size and shape.

Dutch oven.

An enameled cast iron pot is a wonderful cooking vessel. It is so multi-purpose and can last a lifetime. Make soups and stews, fry, bake bread, use it on the grill, cook rice, beans, grains. The power of this Tramontina pot is in the fact that the heavy bottom of cast iron creates an even cooking environment, while the enamel has a gentle touch for a nice non-stick surface. Luckily there are so many options that you can pick what best fits your budget and style, but I like to have one anywhere between 5 and 7 quarts.

Measuring cups and spoons.

Don’t forget to check your drawers. Do you have a full set of all measuring cups and spoons? If you are missing one or two and try to follow a recipe, you may be setting yourself up for disaster. Measurements are very precise and it’s best to always have what you need to measure accurately. The more you can empower yourself in the kitchen the better. Mistakes are always welcome (even if they are annoying!), but I don’t want you discouraging yourself altogether.

Storage containers.

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to have storage containers to fit your needs. It’s kind of like the goldilocks of kitchen equipment because it can take some trial and error to find the kind the works best for your lifestyle.

Maybe you need plastic so it travels to and from work without adding too much weight. Or maybe the glass is better so you can reheat it in any way necessary. Maybe you need more jars than classic storage containers because you freeze a lot of soups or grains. Maybe you need a diversity of sizes to store bulk and pantry items.

I am loving this Botto Design storage container because it adjusts size, squeezes out any extra air, just fit your needs at any given moment. That has intuitive cooking and eating written all over it.

The beauty of Intuitive Eating and Intuitive Cooking is that the sole point is to help you put yourself back in the driver’s seat of your life. It’s about acknowledging your unique life and body and finding ways to serve yourself first, without too much noise. It’s meant to be imperfect, and it’s meant for you to make it into your own. Happy eating, friends!

Looking for more healthy eating tips?

• Everything You Need to Know About Intuitive Eating
• 3 Easy Steps to Weekly Recipe Planning
• Everything You Need to Know About Flexitarian Eating

The post How to Cook with Intuitive Eating in Mind appeared first on The Inspired Home.

If this article is finding you at just the right time, welcome. If you are familiar with my work in the fight against diet culture, thanks for being here. The biggest thing that I want to say in all of this is, I am in no way against the dieter, I am, however, against the systems that keep us on the yo-yo diet train. I believe Intuitive Eating is the answer.

What is Intuitive Eating?

Intuitive Eating is not another fad diet. It’s actually the opposite of a diet. Intuitive Eating is a framework that helps previously stuck dieters break free from the diet mentality and move into food freedom and body autonomy. It’s about respecting your unique body and your unique life.

There are 10 principles that help guide each individual away from Diet Mentality and into a place of food freedom. These principles include: honor your hunger, movement — feel the difference, and honor health – gentle nutrition. But they also include: reject the diet mentality, challenge the food police, and discover the satisfaction factor.

Intuitive Eating has absolutely no counting, tracking, restricting, or anything that relies on external cues in Intuitive Eating. It is a self-liberating mindset that puts you back in charge of your life and your happiness.

Why We Need Intuitive Eating

Diet culture has become the air we breathe. It’s all around us and it’s almost impossible to recognize until you remove yourself from it. But it’s harmful to us none-the-less (hence my objection to the culture, and not to the people who participate in it), and I want to take a moment to explain why:

Did you know that weight-cycling (aka yo-yo dieting) is more harmful to your health than weight stability? Even if your weight is higher while stable? Or that there isn’t a single valid study that shows long-term dieting for weight-control works?

In fact, the only thing we know for sure about dieting is that it is a predictor for weight gain. Yes, weight gain. The exact opposite reason that the majority of people partake in fad-diets. Not to mention the more time and energy we spend on trying to control our weight, the more dissatisfied we feel with our bodies, and the more we judge other people’s bodies, too. Both of those mindsets negatively affect mental and physical health. It sure sounds like a hamster wheel of problems to me.

But what about health?

The most common response I hear after I share the above information is, “but what about health?” And while the conversation about health, its moral role in our culture, and the ravaging issues of weight-stigma has to be saved for another conversation, I do have an answer for you.

First, of course, anyone who cares about you wants you to be safe and healthy. That includes the Health at Every Size (HAES) and Intuitive Eating (IE) movement. We care about you.

Second, diet culture has so heavily dictated to us what the pursuit of health must look like, most of us wouldn’t be able to recognize any existence outside of these cultural norms.

For example, you may be thinking, “but how will stay healthy without counting calories?” Or, “How can I stay fit without tracking movement?”. All of these concerns are valid, and the questions I hear from clients again and again. The common denominator in both of those questions is a reliance on external cues, i.e. counting, tracking, controlling, etc. I’m arguing that it’s time to look inward and learn how to trust your body and operate within it, for it.

Third, we still must think about the pillars of health.

The pillars of health are quite simple. And you probably already know just what to do. You know to move your body. You probably already know to drink more water and less alcohol. I know you know that it’s important to eat a wide variety of foods to help provide balance. And stress? Well, we could all be managing it a little better. These are all things that can be done without focusing on weight, and they can be done without dieting.

Ready to get started? Check out my Intuitive Cooking Tips.

The post Everything You Need to Know About Intuitive Eating appeared first on The Inspired Home.

Plan Your Meals

Carve some time in your week, maybe even add the time in your calendar, to work on building your menu for the week. I prefer to work based on the activities I have in my calendar and map out my dinners based on what I have time for each night. If I have a busy evening, I’ll add a sheet pan or slow cooker meal — this allows me to prep the night before or for minimal prep time that night.

Be proactive with your recipe planning and utilize a tool to give your planning more success. I love this jOTBLOCK combo planner. Not only does it give me a clean weekly view, but there’s enough space to incorporate other activities, notes, and a to-do list! The weekly view gives you the ability to focus on that particular week, and not get overwhelmed by planning for weeks to come. Bookmark or Pin the recipes you’ve selected so that can you return to them during another week.

Build Your Ingredient List

Your weekly meal plan will now serve as the foundation of your grocery list. Pull all the ingredients from your selected meals to start building your grocery list — most of your list will be a direct copy and paste from those recipe ingredient lists. For a more budget-friendly approach, select recipes that aren’t too complex and aren’t packed with special ingredients.

I’m old fashioned and love a good paper list — something that I can hold in the store and mark up as I toss items into my cart! This jOTBLOCK sketchpad is the perfect place for me to jot my weekly list in a vertical view. The sketchpad comes with a variety pack of pencils so that I can map out my grocery list by sections in the store. By listing the ingredient items by grocery section, you’re able to maximize your time in the store, be efficient with your shopping, and stay focused with that you need!

Prep Your Food

To truly maximize your time during the week, wash and prep your foods to allow for more time to yourself on weeknights! Start with something simple like washing and packaging fruit, or pulling kale from the vine and storing it to allow for more space in your fridge!

One of my favorite prep steps is to add these FreshGlow FreshPaper sheets that keep your produce fresh! You can add them directly to your food container or add them to a produce drawer!

By mapping out your meals for the week, you are giving yourself the comfort of knowing you’ve been proactive in your planning!

The post 3 Easy Steps to Weekly Recipe Planning appeared first on The Inspired Home.

Because of the recent health crisis, people have realized that there’s a middle ground of eating. Accessibility, cost (no expensive specialty products for “approved” versions of breads, snacks, etc), and in some cases, a general realignment of some internal values have led people to adjust their diets.

The Flexitarian diet is flexible semi-vegetarianism that includes a moderate intake of animal products. The basic idea is you can get some of the benefits of vegetarianism without making a full commitment, thereby making it a more “acceptable”, lasting change for most people, and one that also happens to align with the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines.

Basic Flexitarian “Rules”

• Focus on fruits, vegetables, legumes and pulses, and whole grains.
• Opt for plant-based proteins, but add animal-based products occasionally.
• Limit added sugar and sweeteners.
• Don’t rely on snack foods or highly “processed” foods (i.e. don’t be a ‘junk food’ Flexitarian).

In contrast, if you look at many rules for other eating plans, the lists are much longer and much more strict, often avoiding entire food groups. The benefit of Flexitarian eating right now is that it makes use of pantry staples (pulses, grains), supporting small growers and farmers (produce, animal products, etc) and is budget-conscious (not main feature dishes of animal protein). It also has a positive environmental impact, especially if you’re sourcing from local producers.

Flexitarian diets have good health benefits too.

• A focus on produce is something many Americans lack. With increased produce, as well as legumes and grains, fiber intake is boosted. This helps you feel more full and satisfied and also aids in digestion
• Higher intake of diverse vitamins and minerals.
• There’s also good evidence that indicates there are health markers that change with a flexitarian diet, including lower levels of blood pressure, improved metabolic health markers, as well as a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.

3 Ways to Get Started on a Flexitarian Diet

1. Make small swaps. Mix mushrooms into your ground beef (it’s called “the blend” and if you look it up, you can find tons of information on how to do this with a variety of recipes!), or try walnuts or lentils.
2. Make meat a topping. Cooking steak? Slice it thinly and serve it over veggies. Take rotisserie chicken and toss it into a slaw or salad. Make less animal-protein-centric entrees.
3. Stock up on pulses. These inexpensive pantry staples that include beans, lentils, chickpeas, and split peas, are nutrient-dense and are super versatile.

You may come to realize you’ve really been eating a Flexitarian diet all along! There is no “perfect” when it comes to this diet. See if you can shift your habits and focus little by little for some health benefits.

The post Everything You Need to Know About Flexitarian Eating appeared first on The Inspired Home.

The Inspired Home team polled virtually every air-fryer junkie we knew for tried and true air fryer comfort foods. Here is a list of our favorites:

Air-Fried Fish Tacos

These Air-Fried Beer Battered Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa by Chef Billy Parisi have consistently been a fan favorite here at The Inspired Home. While fish tacos are generally thought of as a Taco Tuesday treat, this version is much less indulgent. We pair our air-fried fish with almond flour tortillas from Siete for a mindful meal anytime.

Air Fryer Baked Potato

“Baked Potato” night has been in heavy rotation for a while now amongst many of The Inspired Home staffers. It’s the perfect foundation for building a DIY baked potato bar with lots of creative toppings (think Pizza, Taco or Chicken Parmesan Potato… you get the idea). So when we found out that you can make a “baked potato” in an air fryer our minds were blown! These Baked Garlic Parsley Potatoes by Courtney’s Sweets will be the easiest and tastiest non-baked “baked potato” you’ve ever had! Game changer.

Avocado Fries with Lime Dipping Sauce

Fries + avocado + healthy = pure genius. We are obsessed with all things avocado, and this Avocado Fry recipe by SkinnyTaste is obviously no exception. Don’t skimp on the lime dipping sauce because it puts these “fries” over the top.

Air Fryer Chicken and Waffles

If you want to indulge a bit without going overboard, try this Air Fryer Fried Chicken and Waffles recipe from Just Destiny. As Destiny reminds us, “The pairing of warm, sweet waffles with crispy, savory fried chicken is one of the world’s BEST combinations.”

Crispy Air Fried Potatoes

These perfectly seasoned potatoes are Whole 30 and Paleo approved – so you can indulge even while following a strict diet plan. The secret is giving the air fryer basket a quick shake every 5 minutes or so. You’ll have crunchy potatoes in 15 minutes or less.

Air Fryer Pickles

If you love deep-fried pickles, then this healthier air-fried pickle recipe created by Plated Cravings is for you. These dill pickles dredged in spiced batter and panko breadcrumbs are much tastier than the oily “state-fair” version — with a fraction of the calories.

Air-Fried Spicy Chicken Fingers

This grown-up take on a sure-fire kid-favorite has some spicy surprises. A touch of cayenne pepper dusted on the chicken strips, and a sweet and spicy Sriracha honey mustard dipping sauce is comforting food at its finest. Our air fryer chicken strip recipe is prepared with virtually no oil and ready in 15 minutes for a healthy and easy weekday dinner.

Easy Air Fryer Donuts

If these recipes haven’t convinced you yet that you need an air fryer in your life, these Easy Air Fryer Donuts should do the trick! All you need is a can of biscuit dough, cooking spray, an air fryer and 10 minutes to spare. Brush with a bit of butter, dip in cinnamon sugar, serve warm, and the bakery down the street will be a distant memory.

Looking for more delicious air-fryer recipes?

Check out all of our air fryer recipes in our featured Air Fryer Collection. Additionally, here are some quick and easy air-fryer recipes you’ll love:

• Air-Fried Mixed Veggies
• Air-Fried Pumpkin Spice Churros
• Air Fryer Sesame Fish Fritters with Thai Chili Aioli

The post 8 Game-Changing Air Fryer Comfort Foods appeared first on The Inspired Home.

As an added bonus, this menu is entirely gluten-free for an inclusive meal for all your guests.

1. Mustard Herb Potato Salad

Swap the standard ‘way too much mayo’ potato salad for a mustard herb dressing instead. Blend chopped herbs (I used parsley and chives here with a little lemon thyme) with olive oil, cider vinegar, whole grain mustard and salt and pepper. Mix into the cooked potatoes of your choice for a flavor packed, not bland side dish. Want to add more color? Try this with purple potatoes!

2. Fresh Corn Salad with Lime Dressing

Swap buttered corn on the cob for a fresh corn salad with lime dressing. Corn on the cob is an amazing summer classic, but it’s a bit messy for a picnic. A fresh corn salad requires no cooking and no butter. Just a little crumbled salty feta cheese, the juice of one lime, red onion and some pepper. Feta cheese packs a major flavor, and you only need a little. Word to the wise: this also makes an excellent taco salad topping.

3. Cranberry BBQ Sauce Chicken

Swap store bought BBQ sauce for antioxidant packed cranberry BBQ sauce. BBQ sauce might be one of my favorite condiments, but if you’re buying it at the store, it typically relies on sugar as a main ingredient.

To make a balanced, better for you sauce, I use a convenient pantry staple you probably wouldn’t expect… cranberry sauce (honestly everyone needs to it year round). Cranberries add more color, flavor and health benefits (hello polyphenols). Add half a can of cranberry sauce to cider vinegar, liquid smoke, Worcester sauce, tomato sauce with chipotle spice and onion powder and whisk.

4. Naturally Sweet Cantaloupe Juice

Swap lemonade for fresh melon juice. Melons are coming into season which means they’ll be flavor packed and inexpensive. Remove the seeds and rind and juice or blend with a little water in a blender.

Strain through a fine mesh sieve and serve over ice with mint. It’s naturally sweet, hydrating and uniquely flavored. Store it in an ice bucket (not just for wine!) And serve with a fun straw.

5. Fresh Fruit Pavlova

You just can’t skip dessert for a picnic. To take advantage of fresh berry season, my default solution for a gluten-free dessert is a pavlova. A giant (or individual size!) meringue is topped with whipped cream and tons of fresh fruit. We like to joke it’s “mostly air” but it is a nice and light dish that’s easy to make but brings visual drama to the table. Get the pavlova recipe here.

Want more healthy lifestyle tips or summertime fun inspiration?

Find a mix of summer party inspiration and healthy living how-to’s below:

• Try incorporating 10 Easy Healthy Habit Add-Ons into your everyday.
• Get into gear as the host with most by learning How to Throw the Best Summer Fiesta.
• Concoct the best Cocktails to Bring You Into Summer
• Throw the party of the season with these 5 Steps to a Simple Summer Seafood Boil

The post 5 Healthy Swaps for Your Summer Picnic Favorites appeared first on The Inspired Home.

Instead of deleting bread, sugar, nightshade vegetables, or whatever else the fad diet community can dream up, I try to add in the wellness component instead. Think about it this way: adding something into your life naturally squeezes out something else. Give it a try—there’s nothing to lose (at first)! By adding any of these 10 things, you just might find you naturally remove something not serving you in life. Without guilt. Without pain. Let’s see.

Add pulses:

Lentils, beans, and peas (a.k.a. pulses) are an amazing food choice that’s an inexpensive, environmentally conscious source of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Adding as little as a half cup per day can help improve your heart and gut health while reducing your risk for chronic diseases and helping you maintain a healthy body weight. Add chickpeas to your salad or black beans to your tacos. We’ve got a recipe for a lentil salad that will keep you coming back for more.

Add walking:

Movement matters. We sit too much, but instead of focusing on reducing screen time or whatever it is that makes you feel guilty, figure out how to add more walking. Park far away. Get off a subway stop earlier. To make movement breaks more tempting, call a friend to chat at the same time or download a great podcast (#SSDGM).

Add a salad somewhere:

Please note the absence of the phrase “eat less of your favorite food” anywhere in this article. Have the pizza! I sure will. But add a leafy green salad somewhere in the day too. If you want to go all in, you can do what we do: have “salad pizza.” Make pizza, and either add salad on top or cut up the pizza and use it as a salad topping.

Add water:

Most of us are mere shriveled raisins of humans lurching from coffee to wine with nothing in between. Just drink some water. We all know we’re dehydrated. Buy a water bottle you love. Make this one a double-add if you’re so inclined, and drop in some lemon for extra flavor and vitamin C.

Add veggies in interesting shapes:

Blah, blah. No one actually digs steamed broccoli florets. But you know what I am into? Produce in interesting shapes that makes eating fun (this works for not only small children, but also adults). Use a food processor, mandolin or even a spiralizer tool to take veggies and make them texturally and visually interesting. For us, shredding cabbage finely along with carrots makes it so easy to finish an entire batch. Throw it in with snap peas cut on a bias and diced red peppers. You might just find you love a food that you didn’t find appealing before. We love this easy recipe for pan-roasted cabbage.

Add flavor:

Since when did wellness become all about suffering? Add flavor to healthy things. Don’t be a martyr and eat dry dull salad. You won’t win any awards! Fresh herbs and citrus can completely change a dish. So do a little bold feta, a pinch of flaky salt, umami seasoning, and even bacon. A few chopped lardons will make a dish of Brussels sprouts disappear. My husband Chris and I call these additions“salad confetti” because they are the fun in the salad. My brother, who used to adhere to a strict nacho-only diet, can vouch for this. We tried these recipes on him.

Add fruit on the counter:

We eat what we see. That’s why a candy dish in the office needs to be constantly refilled. Add a fruit—or three—of your choice to a pretty bowl on the counter and make snacking easy.

Add nature indoors:

Adding some nature indoors has a lot of health benefits. Studies abound on why forest bathing works and why a nice house plant can help with air quality. For big visual impact with low maintenance, get large branches in a large vessel for the floor. Get a low-maintenance cactus if you’re chronically traveling. My personal plant drug of choice is orchids. When you add in the nature, remove something in your home that stresses you out. Hate that weird picture frame your aunt gave you? Get rid of it and put your new plant-lady swag there instead.

Add a self-care habit:

Be it acupuncture, massage, a warm bubble bath, or even a magazine subscription, add something special into your life that is just for you and that brings you joy. Wellness has many forms, but happiness is a big part of it, however you look at it. Schedule a self-care habit into your day and treat it like an important appointment.

Add people you care about to your life:

There are some sorry excuses for people out there, but once you find YOUR people, never let them go. Call them. Visit them. Connect over more than a text. Make time for them and boost your mood at the same time.

Photography by Constance Mariena

This story appeared in the Spring/Summer 2019 issue of The Inspired Home Journal, titled “dditive Wellness.”

The post 10 Healthy Habits for Additive Wellness appeared first on The Inspired Home.

My husband will attest that gut health and *ahem* digestion results have ALWAYS been a topic at dinners with dietitians. (Many apologies if you happened to be dining near a group of dietitians, nothing is gross to us). When it comes to nutrition and health, the status of your gastrointestinal (GI) tract and any symptoms related to digestion are big signs for us to figure out what’s going on.

Why does gut health matter?

According to NIH, about 60-70 million Americans are affected by digestive diseases like IBS or gastroesophageal reflux disease as well as bloating or heartburn. Since your GI tract is responsible for taking food and beverages and turning them into usable bits of energy and nutrients, you want your gut to work the best it can. If something is wrong, nutrients may not be properly absorbed causing a ton of problems.

Beyond that there’s the less obvious connection your gut has to your brain! Research is showing what happens in you GI system may be connected to certain aspects of your brain, including mood. In fact, about 90% of serotonin is produced in your gut. Serotonin is best known for working to boost feelings of happiness and well-being.

What’s the gut microbiome?

There’s a whole world of microbes that live in your gut, and it’s a good thing! The gut microbiome has big impact and you should be on the lookout for more and more research over the next few years. Some research suggests your gut microbiome may impact your weight and your overall immune system (NIH says this could include some conditions like asthma). Based on what we know now, a diverse microbiome is a good thing.

What impacts gut health?

Genetics do play a role, but luckily lifestyle changes can have a big impact. Being constantly stressed out at in sleep debt are big problems. Chronic antibiotic use is also a negative since these medications kill the ‘bad’ bacteria…but also the good (you might want to take a probiotic if you’re taking an antibiotic-talk with your doctor about finding the right fit for you). And of course, your diet has a big impact. We’ll cover that later.

How do I know if I have a healthy gut?

Everyone’s baseline of digestion and excretion is different but if you’re constantly experiencing diarrhea, constipation, bloating or heartburn, it’s time to see a professional. Sometimes, with the help of a food journal, you can find out on your own if it’s a specific food that’s causing issues. In fact, that’s how I found out I cannot tolerate sugar alcohols (those things in most gums, toothpastes and ‘sugar free’ items).

Sometimes an ‘unhealthy’ gut can manifest in other ways, so if you have other symptoms, talk with your health professional about everything that’s going on with your body.

What are probiotics?

Probiotics are the ‘good bacteria’ that can help gut health. You can take probiotics as a supplement, but they also naturally occur in foods like yogurt and fermented veggies. Research suggests that probiotics may help some people more than others (eg if someone is sick, it might help them more than someone who is already healthy). If you’re looking to take a probiotic, find one that contains diverse strains. Gut microbiome diversity is good!

You may have also seen the term ‘prebiotic’ in conjunction with probiotics. Prebiotics are food for your gut microbiome. You can find them in lots of foods that are part of a healthy diet like garlic, leeks, onions and even bananas.

What foods should I be eating to improve gut health?

Fiber (a huge category)

In general, most Americans aren’t eating enough fiber, so if you need to up your fiber, do it gradually (or experience some uncomfortable side effects). You can find fiber in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and pulses. I’m not going to bore you with a giant list but let’s just leave it at that and YOU pick your favorite produce items.

Yogurt and kefir

Fermented foods like yogurt and kefir naturally contain probiotics. Some strained yogurts also advertise added probiotics that could help increase good gut bacteria. Yogurt and kefir are easy things to add in to dressings, smoothies and morning routines.

Pickles, kimchi and sauerkraut

This is my personal favorite category. You can pickle and ferment so many vegetables paired with great flavors like garlic, spices and herbs. Since we are starting a garden this year, I’ll be fermenting or pickling a ton of produce. If you’re in the same boat, find a great glass jar or crock that you can ‘burp’ to allow gas to escape from fermented items (hinged glass jars like the ones pictured are ideal for that). Check out YouTube or even talk to your local Extension Agency to learn how to safely ferment or pickle items.

Kombucha

Kombucha has been around for thousands of years. This fermented beverage is now so popular even my local grocery store stalks a store generic brand! Kombucha begins with a starter culture (a SCOBY) that can be shared with friends who also want to make their own batch.

Miso

This fermented soybean base is my go to for so many sauces and dressings. It’s ultra umami making it the perfect start to a comforting dish. Check out the different intensities to find one that you love. Just starting out? Try ‘blonde’ miso.

There are many facets to gut health and a diet that helps with gut healing. When in doubt, connect with a dietitian or GI specialist. Remember, no one should have to suffer from chronic digestive discomfort. Don’t be embarrassed, let someone help!

The post Gut Healthy Foods 101 appeared first on The Inspired Home.

Now please note…I say juicing, but it doesn’t even have to be with a juicer. A blender and a nut milk bag or cheesecloth works well too. These recipes can be done with a high-powered blender of your choosing with a straining method or a juicer.

To keep these recipes as relatable as possible, I looked at the Produce Marketing Association’s list of top 20 produce items purchased by Americans and embellished with other fridge items like herbs and ginger. But the best part of these recipes is that really, they can be tweaked to fit what you have.

If you have an orange, it would be great with the carrot cayenne juice recipe. Have a grapefruit? Throw it in with the ginger beet juice! A juice is easy to tweak by simply adding one more produce item to the blender or juicer.

Be creative. It’s easy to ‘fix’ a juice that goes awry with a little more acid (citrus) or sweet (beet, carrot, fruits).

And one last note before you go: to me, temperature and serving vessel matter. I like my juices cold (pour over ice) and yep, I like a straw because I can say with a relative degree of certainty, I’ll stain whatever I’m wearing with beets. You just might find that a specific glass makes green juice more of a pleasing ritual served along with a nice pat on the back for not wasting something. It works for kids with fun shaped plates and you’d be wrong if you said it didn’t work for adults in the same way. Shout out to the bistro glasses I’m using in the beet juice photo for being stackable and space conscious in our kitchen. It makes me just as happy as six-year-old Carlene with a cat-shaped plate.

Here are three recipes for combinations of the most commonly purchased produce items and how to juice them so they don’t go to waste.

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The Green Juice

What do you do with the fruits and vegetables in your fridge that are still good but aren't a quantity in which you can make a full side dish? You juice it. Here are three recipes for combinations of the most commonly purchased produce items and how to juice them so they don’t go to waste.

Course Drinks & Cocktails

Cuisine American

Keyword Fruit, Juices, Juicing, Vegetables

Cooking Method Juicing

Skill intermediate

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Calories 97kcal

Ingredients

• 2 peeled lemons
• 2 large celery stalks
• 2 small cucumbers
• .5 bunch kale (about 7 leaves)
• 1 handful of watercress or lettuce of any kind
• 1 small handful of herbs on hand like dill, mint or parsley (I used all three)

Instructions

• Juice using your preferred juicing method (juicer or high-powered blender with straining method).

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 97kcal | Carbohydrates: 22.5g | Protein: 4.5g | Fat: 1.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 118mg | Fiber: 7.9g | Sugar: 9.1g

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The Orange Juice

What do you do with the fruits and vegetables in your fridge that are still good but aren't a quantity in which you can make a full side dish? You juice it. Here are three recipes for combinations of the most commonly purchased produce items and how to juice them so they don’t go to waste.

Course Drinks & Cocktails

Cuisine American

Keyword Fruit, Juices, Juicing, Vegetables

Cooking Method Juicing

Skill beginner

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Calories 430kcal

Ingredients

• 4 small carrots
• 3 apples
• pinch of cayenne pepper added after straining/juicing

Instructions

• Juice using your preferred juicing method (juicer or high-powered blender with straining method).

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 430kcal | Carbohydrates: 112.1g | Protein: 3.4g | Fat: 1.2g | Sodium: 144mg | Fiber: 21.1g | Sugar: 79.4g

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The Red Juice

What do you do with the fruits and vegetables in your fridge that are still good but aren't a quantity in which you can make a full side dish? You juice it. Here are three recipes for combinations of the most commonly purchased produce items and how to juice them so they don’t go to waste.

Course Drinks & Cocktails

Keyword Fruit, Juices, Juicing, Vegetables

Skill beginner

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Calories 512kcal

Ingredients

• .25 red cabbage (core removed)
• 2 pears (I used Anjou)
• 2 small beets (tops removed)
• 1.5 inches of ginger

Instructions

• Juice using your preferred juicing method (juicer or high-powered blender with straining method).

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 512kcal | Carbohydrates: 126.6g | Protein: 13.1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Sodium: 313mg | Fiber: 29g | Sugar: 78.6g

Looking for more healthy drink recipes?

• Cherry Cacao Be Well Smoothie
• 3 Green Smoothies to Detox, Energize and Feel Better
• Rainbow Wellness Milkshakes

The post A Zero Food Waste Juicing Guide appeared first on The Inspired Home.

For some people that works, and that’s great! But for me, it doesn’t. I like variety and I enjoy the process of cooking to wind down. For others, you might be lazy (hey if you’re self-aware, you’re not backing down from a label), or just incredibly short on time, or hate taking an entire day to cook. Like I said, it doesn’t work for everyone… so drop the guilt. If I’m especially busy one week, here are some of the hacks I use to make healthy, homemade meals a reality with less work. As a hint, it involves a head start with ingredients.

There’s a general misconception that prepared foods or convenience foods are ‘bad’ or ‘unhealthy’. It’s a blanket statement that’s simply not true. Over the past five or so years, the market has opened up to have boutique brands and well known companies alike, that are more ingredient and flavor conscious while being time savers. You’ll see everything from salad kits to gorgeous refrigerated pastas, frozen grain salads to perfect pantry soups and beyond. Having a few meal starters like the ones below for when I’m feeling busy, uninspired or sick is such a relief.

All hail the rotisserie chicken.

While I tend to keep some proteins in the freezer, if I forget to defrost them all bets are off. A rotisserie chicken is ideal for one or two people especially where it can serve as several meals. It’s a great add in for salads, wraps and sandwiches but also soups and grain or veggie mixes. The best part? Use the carcass and make leftovers when you’re finished to make soup or add into sauces. Freeze in an ice cube tray for perfect little portions instead of a big block of stock.

Canned beans.

I cannot begin to tell you how often I end up adding a can of chickpeas to some kind of sauced veggies (curry for example) or with salad or soup for extra fiber and protein. Yes, I know you can cook them dry but to be totally honest, I tend to just buy the canned version. One of our dinners in constant rotation is our Sweet and Sour chickpea recipe method using various sauces.

Another option is to take one can of beans and divide into multiple re-sealable containers (like the Lenox ones pictured) and add different sauces. I like a balsamic dressing with chickpeas to add to salad but you could throw in some olive oil, feta, olives and parsley to top your quinoa salad.

Stock up on frozen and refrigerated starters.

Shops like Trader Joe’s, Costco, Whole Foods, etc. have a good selection of partially prepared foods. Think of them as meal starters. I like to have a handful for when I’m too tired to do a full meal or am just uninspired for what to make. Usually I can use this and build off of it it to add produce on hand. Refrigerated pasta can be a great starting point with some pre-chopped broccoli and butternut squash with a sauce you have on had. Trader Joe’s has solid curry chicken salad in the fridge and don’t even get me started on their bountiful freezer aisle. As a reminder, if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can get extra discounts at Whole Foods (and order online in some locations for delivery) which is a great way to make sure you have them on hand at a great price.

Pre-made soups.

There are so many canned and boxed soups available I can’t keep track! One of our hacks is to take something like a red pepper tomato soup and add a bold cheese like feta or cotija along with a protein and fresh herbs. You don’t have to serve something straight up as packaged.

Pre-cut produce (and blends).

Is it less expensive to buy every item as is and break it down? Definitely. But if you’re look to save time and work, many grocers are selling prepared veggies. Cauliflower rice, shredded Brussels sprouts, cubed pineapple and even blends like ‘Asian stir-fry’ or ‘mirepoix’ are available in fresh or frozen form. If that’s you, you’ll need a simple paring knife as your go-to tool for making quick cuts for tasks like making broccoli florets smaller. You could also use a set of kitchen shears if you’re looking for something to chop herbs, break down that rotisserie chicken from earlier, or even just open a package (make sure you can take them apart for the dishwasher).

Plan a day of leftovers.

If you’re meal planning, leave a day open for finishing leftovers or think about using them at lunch. It doesn’t get better than using something you already made for a time saver (and food waste saver).

There should be no guilt over how you choose to use your time in the kitchen. Have a smart time saver hack? Let everyone know!

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