Change your food, change your life
Lindsay Melvin

Overcome Your Cravings

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Cravings. They are the biggest challenge we face when trying to eat well.

Each day, we’re torn between what we want to eat versus what we should eat.

And when we do give into cravings we bash ourselves for not having enough willpower.

But when we stop fighting our cravings and start listening to them, we discover they have little to do with willpower or even hunger!

After having two kids, I wanted a brownie sundae...like every night.

But when I asked myself, “What do I REALLY want?” (brownies, damnit!) it actually had nothing to do with food.

Racing through each day, taking care of everyone else, that chocolaty treat was the only way I was pampering myself.

What I really needed was yoga, time with my girlfriends and a pedicure!

Once I started carving out time for what I really needed, my brownie sundae cravings went away.

So what are you craving?

Next time you have a craving do this:

1. Don’t push it away. Get curious. Ask “What do I really, really want?” It might be a nap. Maybe you spend your free time running errands and you need some time for yourself. Maybe you’re lonely and need to connect with other people.

2. Before giving into your craving wait 10 minutes. Spend that time asking yourself what you really want, drink a glass of water and take slow long breaths. When times up, if you still want it go for it. But you may find by giving yourself a little attention, you’re willing to go for the less sinful option or that you’re not hungry at all.

3. When you give into a craving, enjoy it! Eat it slowly and in public. Chew every bite. Make it last. We try to fool ourselves that we’re not eating something by doing it in hiding or eating it quickly. By being mindful you will digest it better and will be less likely to give into more cravings throughout the day.

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Lindsay Melvin

(Gluten-free/paleo) Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins

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Did you ever bake something everyone went crazy over but you knew it was totally healthy and simple to make? 

These muffins are that recipe! 

Sweetened with a little maple syrup and mashed banana, these Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins are the perfect treat.

Make these and then kiss yourself for being so brilliant! 

Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt 
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
1 mashed very ripe banana 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
3 eggs
1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries 

Instructions 
1. Preheat oven to 350F and place muffin liners in muffin pan.
2. Mix dry ingredient (flour, baking soda, salt) in small bowl and mix wet ingredients in separate larger bowl.
3. combine dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix in the blueberries.
4. Scoop mixture into muffin liners, filling half way.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Yields 12




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Lindsay Melvin

How to get a perfect poop. Why you should be going everyday.

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I talk to a lot of people about their poop.

Frankly, you can’t know how to feed your body unless you know what’s happening on the other end.

And what I’ve discovered is what most people perceive as a “normal” bathroom regimen is actually their body waving a red flag.

If your pooper is out of whack, most likely so is your food and lifestyle.

Here’s some signs your poop routine needs an overhaul:
  • You’re not eliminating every day
  • You’re not completely eliminating when you go
  • You're straining 
  • You’re often gassy or bloated

Not pooping right can lead to acne, a hormonal imbalance, chronic infection, weight gain and a lowered immune system.

A healthy person should be having a bowel movement, without strain, one to three times a day.

Ideally, once after each meal.

I know that may sound crazy, especially if you’re only going once a week.

But when you follow these simple steps to getting a perfect poop and experience the increased energy and lightness of being regular, there is no going back my friend!

For most people, it’s not happening because they’re eating the wrong food, not drinking enough water (at the right time) or are living a lifestyle keeping them backed up.

We eat three meals a day and much more.

That’s a lot of food and fecal matter building up.

Pooping is the body’s natural way of detoxing.

How you go to the bathroom is an indication of how well things are going inside your body.

Simply put, if you were a Chevy, your poop would be the engine light.

If you’re not going regularly, it’s time for a tune up!

Steps to a Perfect Poop

What can back you up:

  • Sugar (feeds the bad bacteria in your gut)
  • Dairy products (milk and yogurt that is not organic or pasture-raised)
  • Gluten (wheat, rye, barley and spelt)
  • Most processed food including gluten-free snacks
  • Too much animal protein
  • Too much fiber or not enough
  • Overeating
  • Intense exercise
  • Medication (antidepressants, painkillers, decongestants and even laxatives)
  • And the mother of irregularity… STRESS!

Not pooping everyday is a sure sign that you’ve got toxins building up.

Here’s how to keep everything flowing:
 
Water is not enough
Yes, drink water, at least eight cups a day.
But here’s the clincher, there are lots of people drinking tons of water that are still constipated!
It’s because they’re not drinking it at the right time.
The majority of water you drink should be well before every meal.
The worst thing you can do is wakeup in the morning and grab a coffee, eat or workout before hydrating.
Try this: On waking, drink one or two pint-sized glasses of warm water before anything else. Give your body about a few minutes to feel full.
You will probably feel the urge to eliminate at this point. If not, add a teaspoon of ground flaxseed to your breakfast.
(Too much fiber, like flaxseed or chia seeds, can back you up. Less is more!)

Eat vegetables, especially dark green leafy ones
Think kale, collards, swiss chard, spinach. Good for your gut bacteria and a good punch of vitamins and fiber. Fermented veggies, like sauerkraut and kimchi are also great options.

Chew
Those teeth were put in your mouth and not your stomach for a reason. If you don’t chew well before swallowing, you’re leaving a lot of work for your digestive system.

Eat until full, not stuffed
Imagine your stomach is like a blender.
When overfilled, there’s no space for the blades to spin and breakdown the food.
But if there’s room left at the top, it blends smoothly.

Stress less
What are you holding on to?
Feelings of anger and hurt weigh us down.
If you want to let go on the commode, you have to start letting go in life.
When you relax, the gut wall relaxes.
Someone who is eating perfectly can still have issues going to the bathroom if stress is not addressed.
Take a few minutes in the morning to relax and breath. Try closing your eyes and scanning your body for any tightness. Start at your toes and work your way up to the crown of your head.
Slowly breath into the constriction until you feel lighter. Do this throughout the day as needed.
Try it on the toilet!
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Lindsay Melvin

Clean Valentine's Day treat...Chocolate covered strawberries

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Looking for a healthier Valentine’s Day treat?

Try these awesome chocolate covered strawberries.

It's only four ingredients and super simple!

Chocolate is full of antioxidants.

But because of over-processing and toxic ingredients, chocolate bars, chips and other chocolaty treats from the store are usually no good.

Once sugar, soy lecithin and dairy are introduced the benefits are diminished and it becomes just crappy candy.

This treat, however, uses pure chocolate, or cacao, and is sweetened with maple syrup.

I can’t think of anything sweeter to give someone you love.

Especially, if that someone is you!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Ingredients:

1 lbs. organic strawberries rinsed and dried

½ cup coconut oil

½ cup of pure maple syrup

¾ cup + 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. Combine coconut oil and syrup in small saucepan over medium heat.

3. When it starts to bubble, bring heat low and stir in cocoa powder.

4. Rapidly stir mixture until you have a thick silky chocolate sauce. This should take about one minute. Make sure it is not bubbling, so as not to burn the chocolate.

5. Turn heat off and immediately start dipping the strawberries in the chocolate, placing them on parchment.

(If, as the silky chocolate cools, it starts to look clumpy, just heat it up for few seconds.)

6. Refrigerate 15 minutes and enjoy!

Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.




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Lindsay Melvin

Simple healing chicken bone broth

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I was raised in a meat-free home.

Despite a teenage rebellion involving cold cuts, I lost the taste for it years ago.

But recently, I’ve been stuffing my fridge with plump organic chickens, practically salivating as I do it.

So what would make a non-meat eater go chicken crazy?

Bone broth!

Have you heard about this? 

It’s a health trend across the West Coast and New York that has people slurping down mugs of collagen-rich broth like its Starbucks.

But there’s actually nothing new about it.

For generations, people around the world, have been cooking up different versions of bone broth.

Not to be confused with regular soup broth, bone broth uses mostly bones and cartilage (chicken, beef, pork, lamb or fish) and is simmered until the bones break down, releasing a ton of easy to digest minerals and nutrients.

Here’s some of the benefits of bone broth:

  • Keeps you looking young by supporting hair, nails, skin and reducing the appearance of cellulite.  
  • Heals leaky gut, as well as constipation and chronic diarrhea.
  • Strengthens joints
  • Boosts the immune system
  • Natural remedy for respiratory infection

Now you know why I’m hooked!

Supermarket “bone broth” doesn’t have the same benefits as the homemade version but there are some quality homemade bone broths for sale.

However, it’s a lot cheaper to make it!

Use it as a base for soup, simmer veggies in it or add it to stir-fry sauces.

I usually bake a whole chicken, remove the meat and use the bones for the recipe. You can also save up bones in the freezer until you’re ready to make your broth.

Make sure you buy the cleanest meat possible. Organic and pasture raised are best.

This can be done on a stovetop or in a 6-quart crock pot.

Chicken Bone Broth
Ingredients

Bones of whole organic chicken(throw in neck, if you have it)
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 whole onion with peel on, cut in half
3 large carrots cut in half
3 stems celery cut in half
optional: bouquet of parsley


Directions

1. Throw all ingredients into a large soup pot and fill to the top with filtered water.
2. Place on lowest heat possible and let sit for 24-36 hours. Make sure the broth is NOT boiling. When broth is done bones should be easily breakable.
Optional: skim fat off the top(I don’t).
3. Strain and let cool.

Fresh broth will last four to five days in fridge and up to six months in freezer. Store extra in premeasured amounts in Ziploc bags or ice cube trays in freezer for easy defrosting.
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Lindsay Melvin

2015 Healthy Holiday Gift Guide

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Not done with holiday shopping? No worries, I’ve done the work for you.

Forget those lame gift certificates.

Here’s a list of cool, meaningful presents that are perfect for kicking off a healthy new year.

And if you order now(like right now!), you’ll have them before Christmas and even before you light your last Hanukkah candle!

2015 Healthy Holiday Gift Guide

Slow Cooker
Wake up to a hot pot of oatmeal. Come home to a hearty chili that’s been simmering for hours. Create healing bone broths without worrying about keeping your stove’s burner going overnight.
Giving a slow cooker is like giving someone a personal chef! I use mine everyday.

Klean Kanteen
Great for that person who always carries a water bottle or worse, a plastic water bottle! We all know about the chemicals in plastic but even bpa-free bottles may now contain hormone disruptors. What’s a water drinker to do? Get them a stainless steel Klean Kanteen!

Essential Oil Diffuser
A few drops of lavender oil and this oil diffuser will make your bedroom feel like a mini spa. Great gift for a little pampering or someone who has a hard time getting a good night sleep.
Best part, Amazon offers same day shipping!

Annmarie Gianni Skincare
I've yet to try a single skincare product from this pure ingredients company that I haven’t loved. But these are my favorites for gifting: The Neroli Toning Mist (great for freshening your face without cleaning it) and the Aloe-Herb Cleanser.

Yogaglo.com gift certificate
I know I said no gift certificates this year but this one is too good to leave out.
Know someone who never has time to get to a yoga class but really needs it? This is for them. After my second child, my yoga studio days were on pause for a while. Enter my sanity, Yogaglo.com. It’s full of amazing online yoga and meditation classes. And the teachers are phenomenal!
Use this site to create a gift certificate.

Clean Slate Cookbook
Not only am I buying this for gifts, I’m buying myself one. This is the perfect cookbook to start the new year with. It’s filled with easy recipes, beautiful photos and spot-on health tips.


Cast Iron Skillet
This is for the long time cook or the newbie. Here’s why I heart cast iron skillets:
Nonstick pans are coated with chemicals that leach into your food and slowly erode your health. Cast Iron is a fantastic alternative. These weighty old-fashioned pans can go straight from the stove into the oven and they actually fortify your food with Iron…something many Americans are deficient in. It actually makes your food healthier! 

Healthy Nail Polish
That noxious odor at the nail salon is exactly what it smells like, chemicals. Chemicals in nail polish often include hormone disruptors and have been linked to cancer.  But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give the gift of beautiful nails. Zoya nail polish is free of a lot of harsh chemicals and scores really well on Skin Deep, the Environmental Working Group’s database that rates the toxicity of cosmetics.

For more gift ideas check out my 2014 Healthy Holiday Gift Guide.   
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Lindsay Melvin

Dealing With Change

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I recently left my home in New York and moved to Texas.

In less than a month, my husband and I sold our house, found a new one, packed up the kids, the dog and all the rest of it.

We landed in 107 degree heat.

I spent that night crying a lot.

Change is hard.

But I’ve made a lot of changes in my life.

I moved to Memphis when I was 24 and I wouldn’t trade that time for anything.

I was a newspaper reporter for 12 years, then I became a mom and then a health coach.

With every terrifying change, wonderful experiences and new people have come into my life.

Without change, life can get boring.

What I've learned is this...When change knocks on your door, welcome it in.

Change might scare the hell out of you but it's always a friend with an armful of gifts.

Here are my three favorite ways for embracing change. 

Talk it out

Talk to someone who will listen to you empathetically without trying to fix your problem.

You might have to tell them, “Just listen.” You can even set a timer and take turns venting.

Make room for good stuff

List all the things you are thankful for about the situation moving out of your life, even if it was a trainwreck.

Then list all the wonderful things you intend to get out of your new situation.

If it’s a new job, do you want to get paid more? Have closer friends in the office? Have time to workout?

This is a great way to let go of the past and get a clear picture of what  you want in your future.

Be in the moment

Stop obsessing about the future.

When stepping into the unknown, we often start fixating on the future because it’s our way of not dealing with the real situation right in front of us.

When we’re not present, our mind usually creates horrible outcomes that keep us in fear. 

When you find yourself slipping out of the moment into fear, take 10 slow breaths.

Then deal with what’s really in front of you.  You may find it’s not as terrifying as you imagined.
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Lindsay Melvin

Black Bean, Avocado, & Corn Salad with Lime Dressing

Black bean, avocado & corn salad with lime dressing

I throw this salad together every barbecue season and it never fails to please.

It’s easy and delicious, yet super healthy!

Forget all those white, mayo-drenched “salads” that usually take over the bbq buffet. 

This one’s da-bomb!

Even your unhealthy friends will love it!
 
And for those still trying to shed the last few pounds of your winter coat, it's perfect.

The healthy fats from the avocado and olive oil will keep you satiated, while the fiber and protein from the beans regulate your blood sugar level… keeping you from overdoing it on those other "salads"!
 
Black bean, avocado & corn salad with lime dressing

Ingredients:

3 cups canned black beans rinsed

2 cups or 10 oz. of frozen corn cooked

½ cup red onion diced

2 ripe avocados diced

1 red bell pepper diced

1/3 cup cilantro chopped (optional)

Dressing:

1 garlic clove minced

3 Tablespoons lime juice

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ teaspoon chili powder

1 ½ teaspoons salt

Directions:

1. Mix together dressing in small bowl and set aside

2. In a large bowl add remaining ingredients

3. Pour dressing over salad and mix gently, making sure not to mash the avocado 

Serves 15-20 people

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Lindsay Melvin

Maple Pecan Quick-ola Granola (gluten-free)

Quick-ola Granola

The quickest yummy granola you’ll ever make!

Serve with Cashew Cream Parfait for ultimate goodness.

Maple Pecan Quick-ola Granola

Ingredients:

4 cups of gluten-free rolled oats

1 cup roughly chopped pecans or nut of choice

½ cup unsalted sunflower or pumpkin seeds

3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup

2 Tablespoons raw honey

4 Tablespoons coconut oil

pinch of salt

Optional: ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut 

1. Preheat oven to 300F .

2. Place all ingredients in large bowl and mix with your hands. Really need to get your hands dirty here to melt the coconut oil.

3. Spread mixture over two foil-lined cookie sheets and bake 15 minutes.

4. Stir the granola and bake for another 10 minutes. If stacking the pans in oven than switch the one that cooked on the bottom to the top rack and vise-versa.

5. Let completely cool and enjoy!

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Lindsay Melvin

Healthy Cashew Cream Parfait (gluten-free, vegan)

 

Healthy Cashew Cream Parfait

My first time at a raw vegan restaurant, I was expecting some seriously bland food.

Instead, I got the most delicious parfait I’d ever tasted.

The sweet cashew cream, layered with fresh local fruit and granola, was to die for.

I asked two different servers if it had dairy because I couldn’t believe it.

No refined sugar, no heavy cream?

It blew my limited idea of what health food could taste like.

Years later, I’m still amazed at how simple it is to create sinfully tasty treats without the toxic ingredients.

This Healthy Cashew Cream Parfait is one of my favorites.

It’s super easy….just six ingredients and one is water!

I make it for dessert but you can totally eat it for breakfast.

Healthy Cashew Cream Parfait(gluten-free, vegan)

Ingredients:

2 cups of raw cashews

1 cup water

Zest of ½ lemon

3 Tablespoons of raw honey (vegan option: 2 Tablespoons of agave)

1 ½  teaspoons vanilla

2 pinches of sea salt

Optional: chopped fruit and Maple Pecan Quick-ola Granola 

1. Soak cashews for two hours*.

2. Drain and place in blender or food processor with remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth.  If you have a high-speed blender, this part will go quick. Otherwise, pause to scrape sides until it’s smooth.

3. Taste and adjust with more sweatner or zest if needed. The cream will be a bit runny but will thicken in fridge.

4. Cover and refrigerate overnight. You can eat it after an hour but it’s best to wait.

5. Optional: Layer in glass with granola, cut up mangos and raspberries or fruit of choice.

Serves 5

*No time to soak? No problem. Boil the cashews for 15 minutes and let them cool. 

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