Article + Excellent Recipes by Guest Blogger

Greetings! I hope you had an excellent weekend, and have been enjoying a great start to the week!

Today I am excited to feature an article, "5 Steps to Overcoming Guilt with Food" by guest blogger, Reshma Sinha, + links to amazing recipes!

Reshma's mission is to inspire others to start taking out the emotional negotiation from eating. I absolutely adore her blog... as well as her balanced approach to preparing and enjoying delicious cuisine!

"5 Steps to Overcoming Guilt with Food"

by Reshma Sinha

Dried Figs Topped with Goat Cheese 

1. Take the word “guilt” out of your mental dialogue around eating.  Think of it this way: would you put guilt-trips on your children or loved ones when they make the wrong choice? Then don’t do it to yourself! Nature did not mean for us to have such a guilt-ridden relationship with food in the first place. Nature mean for us to be free.

2. After you’ve made that promise to yourself, monitor the other ways you “emotionally negotiate” with eating (examples: giving yourself “cheat” days, “rewarding” yourself for being “good”, etc.). Nature did not intend for eating to be such an emotional headache.

3. Monitor the re-occurrence of any of these mental and emotional patterns. If you find yourself slipping into them, don’t berate yourself. Just observe them and lovingly nudge them away. Over time as you re-engineer your palate to desire only foods close to their natural state, new patterns will permanently embed themselves in your consciousness and you will reach a place of lack of desire altogether for processed foods (so eating that sugar-laden chocolate cake won't be a matter of "indulging" but rather a matter of just not wanting it).

Ginger Peanut Brittle

4. Understand what “real” food is. “Real” food is what nature has given us. Yes, most of us can’t grow all of our food in our backyards, but be mindful of only eating those foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. For example, instead of rolled oats, opt for the steel-cut variety.

5. Introduce yourself to the wondrous world of spices and fresh herbs.  Spices and fresh herbs are usually dried bark (ex: cinnamon), seeds (ex: cumin) , leaves (ex: rosemary), and other plant parts that work wonders in elevating the natural flavor profiles of almost any food.

Reshma is a whole-foods culinary enthusiast and avid cook. Her style of “EatFree Cooking” evolved out of the challenge of creating exciting meals for myself that were both nutritionally sound and that would finally put an end to the eternal “diet train” that many of us seem to be perpetually riding. Her original recipes for savory dishes rely on an abundance of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains. And, her dessert recipes are free of refined sweeteners or flours. Reshma's mission is to inspire others to start taking out the emotional negotiation from eating one recipe at a time in order to…EatFree!

I hope you enjoyed Reshma's article as much as I did! Have an amazing week! xoxo
Ashley

Sweet Potato Fries + Mega IIN Conference Contest!

Greetings!

Today I wanted to share one of my all-time favorite recipes... tropical sweet potato fries! Seriously, I love them. Sometimes I will enjoy them almost every day for a month!

Tropical Sweet Potato Fries

How to Make:

*note: I am not going to include exact ingredient measurements, as it's not necessary for this recipe. This is more of a 'how-to' v. an actual recipe. :)

Ingredients:

• sweet potatoes
• coconut oil
• salt (I use Himalayan salt)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Slice sweet potatoes into pieces that are about 1/4" x 1/2" x 5" in dimension. Melt coconut oil in a pan on stove (enough to evenly cover the fries). Toss the melted coconut oil with the fries in a bowl, sprinkling salt to taste. Lightly grease a baking tray with leftover coconut oil. Arrange fries on the tray, making sure that they are not touching each other. (Use more than one tray if necessary.) Bake for 40-45 minutes... until fries are slightly crispy on the outside.

And... now a contest!

#MegaIIN

Interested to experience for yourself what the Institute for Integrative Nutrition* is all about? As I mentioned in a previous post, I was excited to receive the opportunity to bring 5 guests with me to the by-invite only Integrative Nutrition Mega Conference in Long Beach this March! As I have 3 2 1 0 2 tickets left... with many health and wellness lovers contacting me about this, I decided to have a contest!

It's pretty simple... just e-mail me at TasteforHealthy@gmail.com with a short introduction of yourself + why you want to attend the conference!

Conference Details!

At this empowering, energizing holistic health and wellness conference, contest winners will:

• hear from some of the best and brightest experts in health and wellness
• connect with our passionate, positive community
• turn your dreams and goals into reality
• enjoy time in sunny California

Learn from extraordinary health and wellness experts including:

Joshua Rosenthal, the founder of The Institute for Integrative Nutrition, will bring his nutritional magic to this unprecedented  weekend. Known for encouraging people to take action towards  lofty goals, Joshua will rev your healthy engines so that you leave  the conference excited to do the work you love, earn major income,                        and live a life of passion and prosperity!

David Wolfe, world authority on raw foods; author of best-selling books Superfoods, Naked Chocolate and Eating for Beauty.

Geneen Roth is a pioneer in distinguishing the link between our emotions and hunger. She has appeared as an expert in her field  on Oprah, NBC and 20/20 and is an author of eight books including  When Food Is Love and Breaking Free from Emotional Eating.

Julia Ross, pioneer in nutritional psychotherapy, food/mood expert and author of The Diet Cure and The Mood Cure.

Gary Taubes, investigative American science writer known for exposing controversial beliefs in nutrition and health. He is the author  of Why We Get Fat and Good Calories, Bad Calories.

Seane Corn, internationally celebrated yoga teacher known for her impassioned activism, unique self-expression, and inspirational style of teaching.

FAQ

I can't wait to hear your stories and give away complimentary tickets to 3 individuals!

Have an excellent day! xoxoxo

*Integrative Nutrition® and Institute for Integrative Nutrition® are registered trademarks of Integrative Nutrition Inc.

Integrative Nutrition! 2011 Reflections

Greetings! 

And happy 2012! I hope the new year is treating you well so far!

As I sit here this afternoon, having just opened my official IIN certified health coach diploma in the mail... I realized something! Exactly one year ago today, I opened my beautiful big red box with all of my course materials + more, and officially began my journey as a student at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition!

Love.

*Yes, I received my coursework via the iPod Nano. However, as of January 2012, all new students started receiving their IIN material on an iPad! I am a little jealous... lol. read more about it in this post

Getting started

I had been contemplating my decision to enroll at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition for weeks before I picked up the phone to speak with an admissions advisor. I don't remember how I came across the school... but I remember that out of the several nutrition and natural health schools I was looking into, IIN immediately seemed like the perfect fit for what I wanted to do: start my own health counseling practice supporting individiuals to improve their overall health and happiness in a fun and enjoyable way!

Blindly, I 'leaped in,' enrolled, and made a promise to myself... 2011 was going to be 'the year of amazing!' After a somewhat rocky start (getting laid-off from a job at the beginning of the year)... things just kept getting better and better! I have never been happier, had a greater sense of purpose, nor have been more enthusiastic and passionate about everything! The glass ceiling that I had experienced at previous jobs was completely shattered. I was amazed at how quickly I was able to launch my holistic health coaching with IIN's support and guidance. It seemed like I blinked, and all of a sudden I had 6 clients enrolled in my 6-month program!

In May, I even got to meet Joshua and fellow IIN students from the Los Angeles/Southern California area at the W Hotel! posted about it here

Goals

Integrative Nutrition greatly stresses the importance of setting goals. At the beginning of the year, I had heard that it was possible for students to earn back their tuition by graduation. Immediately... Bam! That was going to be my goal. And, I can happily say... I've definitely accomplished it. :)

Additionally, of course, my other goal was to have clients. Check. I also started my monthly newsletter, presented several seminars and webinars including "Sugar Blues", "Healthy Kids," and 'Veg 101: Plant-Based Basics," published several articles on health + wellness topics, and had several recipes featured in Integrative Nutrition's seasonal recipe collections.

Looking ahead... 2012 Excitement!

I am so excited for what the future holds! I can't wait to spread the ripple effect of health and happiness into the lives of many more individuals!

Also... the Integrative Nutrition Mega Conference #MegaIIN is coming up!

The Integrative Nutrition Mega Conference is going to be held in Long Beach this March! It's going to be different, but totally exciting... returning to the Long Beach Convention Center for a professional conference that is completely unrelated to the last one I attended there! I am a firm believer that holistic nutrition is the way of the future! And, I can bring 5 guests with me to the conference, completely complimentary!

Something else I am excited about in 2012... the IIN Health Coaching Practice Management app is going to be released! I am definitely elated about this and can't wait to have a paperless practice! I adore that IIN continues to support their graduates even after graduation!

Have an excellent rest of the week! xoxo

P.S. If you are interested in learning more about exactly what an IIN education is all about, I highly recommend reading "Integrative Nutrition: Feed Your Hunger for Health and Happiness" by Joshua Rosenthal, the director and founder of the school. It's listed on Amazon for about $25. You can also download it here, completely complimentary!