Category: Way 4: Right Fats

  • A New View of Healthy Eating: Always Make Your Own Salad Dresssing: Book Excerpt

    by Melanie Albert, Food and nutrition expert, author and speaker. Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC

    For several years I’ve been guiding clients, from young golfers, to holistic practitioners, to former NFL players, to seniors to create a raw kale salad. The key is a simple-to-prepare salad dressing. In my next book to be released in April 2016, “A New View of Healthy Eating,” I share simple culinary techniques. Once you learn the techniques, you can intuitively create your own dishes.

    How to make a basic salad dressing is one of those simple culinary techniques. I’m sharing the draft from the book around creating salad dressings and look forward your feedback when you experiment with your own salad dressings.

    Come and share your photos with us on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

    Excerpt from “A New View of Healthy Eating”

    EXPERIENCE NUTRITION SIGNATURE RAW MASSAGED KALE SALAD
    Make your own gourmet raw kale salad with your favorite fruit, berries, nuts and seeds. Learn how to make a simple salad dressing, massage your kale, and add-in your favorite seasonal fruit and berries, and nuts and seeds.

    “The key to a tender kale salad is a simple dressing and massaging the kale. And, the fun is in creating a beautiful, tasty kale salad is the seasonal fruit and berries. One of my very favorite add-ins in a kale salad is local Arizona organic pomegranate seeds.” Melanie Albert

    Basic Salad Dressing: 3 Ingredients. That’s It
    Three key ingredients for a salad dressing include a fat, acid and salt. Optional add-ins include aromatics (such as garlic and onions), fresh herbs and sweeteners like raw local honey and fresh dates. To make your initial dressing for a kale salad, start with fresh lemon, organic extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and garlic. Once you have learned how to prepare a dressing with this technique, you can use this method to create your own unique salad dressings for a raw kale salad or other fresh salads.

    Simple Ingredients

    • 1 fresh lemon, squeezed, approximately ¼ cup
    • Organic extra virgin olive oil, twice as much as the lemon juice, approximately ½ cup
    • ¼ tsp sea salt
    • 2-3 garlic cloves, minced

    Simple Steps

    • Squeeze a fresh organic lemon into a pint-size Mason jar
    • Pour in twice as much olive oil as the lemon
    • Sprinkle in sea salt and minced garlic
    • Shake the jar
    • Taste and notice if your dressing seems too oily, acidy or too little or too much salt. This is a great place to mindfully use your cooking intuition. Add-in ingredients until the dressing tastes great to you.
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    A New View of Healthy Eating: Basic Salad Dressing

    Create Your Own Salad Dressing

    Learn the simple salad dressing technique and then create your own with different fats, different acids, and add-ins, such as sweeteners or freshly minced herbs or sweeteners. Sweeteners such as honey, can be used to balance a dressing that seems too acid tasting.

    • Fats: Olive oil, grape seed oil, nut oils, such as walnut oil
    • Acid: Citrus (Lemon, limes, oranges); Vinegars (Balsamic, rice red or white wine), stone-ground mustard
    • Salt: Your choice of sea salt or Himalayan salt
    • Optional Sweeteners: Raw honey or dates
    • Optional Aromatics: Garlic, green onions, shallots, red onions
    • Optional Freshly Minced Herbs: Basil, cilantro, oregano, parsley

    Our new “A New View of Healthy Eating, A 55-Card Deck” is NOW available to purchase. Get inspirational shopping, culinary, mindful eating, self care messages to add to your life! CLICK to PURCHASE

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    “A New View of Healthy Eating, A 55-Card Deck”

     

  • A New View of Healthy Eating: Commit to Intuitively Shopping & Cooking: Kumquat Challenge

    By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition Group, LLC, Phoenix, AZ. Nutrition and food expert, author and speaker. Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Holistic Nutrition and Whole Food Cooking Instructor at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.

    These intuitive culinary creations were all inspired by the little 7 foot tall organic kumquat tree in my backyard, which was full of bright orange ripe kumquats when I returned to Arizona from Florida, after the Christmas holiday.

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    A New View of Healthy Eating: Arizona Organic Kumquat Tree

    Very excited, I challenged myself to create different dishes with the kumquats, rather than getting stuck in the rut. And, I was inspired by the card in my new “A New View of Healthy Eating, A 55-Card Deck”: Commit to Intuitive Shopping & Cooking.

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    A New View of Healthy Eating: Commit to Intuitive Shopping & Cooking

     “All of the creations with the kumquats were intuitively created with local Arizona organic farmers’ market produce. These kumquat creations are definitely a “new view,” as this was the first time I have ever created these dishes and smoothie. The point is, when we shop and cook intuitively, with a few basic cooking techniques and a few fresh whole foods, we can create quick delicious drinks, salads and breakfast meals.” Melanie Albert

    Kumquats are a little tangy, sweet and spicy at the same time and remind me of a little sour orange. Since kumquats are so small, about the size of a large olive, and do not have a lot of juice, I slice them thin and eat the skin.

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    A New View of Healthy Eating: Arizona Citrus Fruit Salad

    Kumquat Challenge: Day 1: Arizona Citrus Fruit Salad. Inspired by the kumquats, along with our Arizona in season sweet cara cara oranges, this fruit salad was built layer by layer, first with the cara cara orange, then the local Arizona apple, the kumquats, a few sprinkles of fresh pomegranate seeds, and topped with freshly ground cinnamon and nutmeg.

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    A New View of Healthy Eating: Kasha & Kumquats. Perfect Warm Breakfast.

    Kumquat Challenge: Day 2: Kasha & Kumquats. Perfect Warm Breakfast. Perfect for a chilly day, kasha (or buckwheat), which is a gluten-free pseudograin, topped with apples, kumquat, walnuts, raw Arizona honey and the aromatherapy of ground cinnamon and nutmeg.

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    A New View of Healthy Eating: Kumquat & Raspberry Smoothie

    Kumquat Challenge: Day 3: Kumquat & Raspberry Smoothie: Blended raspberries, bananas, and slices of kumquat with coconut water and topped with goji berries and this week’s signature kumquats. Love the fresh, refreshing sharp taste of the kumquats.

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    A New View of Healthy Eating: Avocado Kale Kumquat Salad

    Kumquat Challenge: Day 4: Avocado Kale Kumquat Salad: Dinosaur kale massaged with avocado, fresh squeezed lemon and sea salt, tossed with kumquats and Arizona tomatoes and celery for a fresh, crunchy lunch salad.

    There are still plenty of kumquats on my little tree, so next on my Kumquat Challenge are dehydrated kumquats and kumquat sorbet. I invite you to join us on Facebook and share your intuitive cooking creations.

    Click to Purchase: If you are interested in my “A New View of Healthy Eating, A 55-Card Deck” for your personal inspiration around farmers market shopping, simple culinary skills, quick whole food recipes, intuitive cooking, mindful eating and self care.

  • A New View of Healthy Eating: Broil Wild Sockeye Salmon

    By Melanie Albert, Nutrition and food expert, author and speaker. Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition Group, LLC

    A New View of Healthy Eating: Broil Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon

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    Today’s “A New View of Healthy Eating, 55-Card Deck”Broil Wild Sockeye Salmon was influenced by the memory of teaching former NFL player, Arizona Cardinal, John Bronson, to cook wild Alaskan salmon, and shooting a video with him 3 years ago at The Legacy Golf Resort.

     “Often people ask me what kind of eater I am: Melanie are you vegan? Are you vegetarian? I respond that I’m a pescatarian, that I primarily eat plant-based vegetarian, with the addition of fish, primarily wild salmon. I love the mild flavor of wild Alaskan salmon and it’s so simple to very quickly prepare salmon by broiling or grilling it with organic extra virgin olive oil and a blend of dried herbs.” Melanie Albert

    Wild Alaskan Salmon on the Grill (or Broiled) Recipe
    In 2011, as an Official Health & Wellness Partner of the NFL Alumni Association, my organization Experience Nutrition, had the honor to serve this simple Wild Alaskan Salmon Recipe at several Super Bowl XLV weekend events in Dallas. The former NFL players keep coming back for more salmon, so it was obvious that they enjoyed it. The recipe is very easy to prepare. Grill or broil the salmon with a few spices and olive oil to easily create for a restaurant-quality meal in your home.

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    Ingredients

    • 4 Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon filets (4-6 ounces per person), sliced into 1/2” strips
    • 1/4 cup organic extra virgin olive oil
    • 3 TBSP dried herbs and spices: garlic granules, onion granules, dried dill, lemon peel, fennel, black pepper and sea salt

    Simple Steps

    1. Defrost salmon filets in refrigerator for a few hours or under cold running water
    2. Slice wild salmon into thin strips, about 1/2 inch wide and 1-2 inches long
    3. Prepare salmon marinate by mixing olive oil and spices and herbs
    4. Marinate salmon with spices and herbs in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, or even overnight
    5. Pre-heat broiler or grill on medium high for 15 minutes before you are ready to cook your salmon
    6. Place filets on a flat tray with parchment paper for broiling or directly on grill
    7. Cook each side about 3-5 minutes
    8. Remove salmon from grill right before salmon is completely cooked, as it will continue to cook when taken off grill
    9. Let salmon sit for about 5 minutes
    10. Enjoy with a veggie stir-fry, steamed veggies or a raw kale salad, with a whole grain, such as quinoa

    Cook your wild salmon and share your photos with us on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/NewViewHealthyEating

  • Experience Nutrition: Hemp Seed Tomato Tabouli Healthy Recipe

    by Melanie Albert, Nutrition & Food Expert, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Whole Food Cooking Instructor Southwest Institute of Healing Arts, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition.

    Refreshing and full of flavor tabouli salad. Gluten-free and created with good fat, omega-3 rich hemp seeds. This tabouli is especially refreshing with farmers’ market fresh heirloom tomatoes, and can be prepared with a rainbow of tomatoes. Hemp seeds are a nice alternative to the typical bulgur wheat in tabouli, for those of us who are sensitive to gluten or have Celiac disease.

    Hemp Seed Tomato Tabouli
    Hemp Seed Tomato Tabouli

    Ingredients

    • 2 bunches of parsley
    • ¼ cup fresh mint
    • ½ cup hemp seeds
    • 1 large tomato, diced
    • ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
    • 2 TBSP organic extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 TBSP green onions, chopped
    • 1 tsp sea salt
    Experience Nutrition: Hemp Seed Tomato Tabouli: Fresh Ingredients
    Experience Nutrition: Hemp Seed Tomato Tabouli: Fresh Ingredients

    Simple Steps

    • Place parsley and mint in food processor and pulse several times until well chopped
    • Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the hemp seeds, tomato, lemon juice, olive oil, onion, and salt
    • Toss and serve
    • Enjoy!
    Experience Nutrition: Hemp Seed Tabouli: Simple Steps
    Experience Nutrition: Hemp Seed Tabouli: Simple Steps

    Create your own Hemp Seed Tomato Tabouli and share your dish with us on Facebook.

  • Experience Nutrition: Organic Chia Seed Pudding

    By Melanie Albert, Nutrition & Wellness Expert, Author, Speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, Instructor Holistic Nutrition Conscious Eating and Whole Food S.O.U.L. Food at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.

    Chia seeds are the rage today! But some of us remember when they were the green hair that grew on our Chia Pets when we were kids. Who knew that decades later we’d be eating them!

    Chia seeds come from a flowering plant in the mint family that’s native to Mexico and Guatemala, and history suggests it was a very important food crop for the Aztecs.

    Top 5 Benefits of Chia Seeds
    Good fats. Chia seeds, like hemp seeds and flax seeds are a great ALA omega-3 healthy-fat rich seed, which is important for brain health and reduction of inflammation in the body.
    • High in protein. Great source of protein for vegetarians and vegans
    • Stabilize blood sugar. Important for diabetics
    • Improve heart health. According to the Cleveland Clinic, chia seeds have been shown to improve blood pressure in diabetics, and may also increase healthy cholesterol, whil lowering total, bad LDL and triglyceride cholesterol
    • Good source of calcium. 18% or the recommended daily intake for calcium.

    EXPERIENCE NUTRITION TM Organic Chia Pudding Recipe

    EXPERIENCE NUTRITION Organic Chia Seed Pudding
    EXPERIENCE NUTRITION Organic Chia Seed Pudding

    Ingredients
    • 1/3 cup chia seeds
    • 1 cup soy milk (or coconut water)
    • 2 chopped bananas
    • 1 tsp vanilla
    • 1-2 Medjool dates, if you desire more sweetness
    • Berries, nuts and seeds for toppings

    Simple Steps
    • Mix chia seeds, vanilla and dates into the soy milk or coconut water
    • Fold in the bananas
    • Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or overnight)
    • Enjoy for breakfast, snack, or dessert with your favorite berries, nuts and seeds

    Share your Chia Pudding creations on our Facebook pagewww.facebook.com/experience.nutrition.now

  • Experience Nutrition: 9 Ways 90 Days: Top 10 Super Bowl Healthy Recipes: 1: Avocado Salsa

    by Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC, Nutrition & Food Expert, Author, Speaker

    I have been guiding former NFL players, their families, organizations and kids about simple healthy eating since 2008 and my company, Experience Nutrition was an Official Health & Wellness Partner of the NFL Alumni Association in 2011.

    One of our very favorite healthy recipes for Super Bowl is avocado salsa, otherwise known as guacamole.

    Avocado Fun Facts

    • Almost all avocados in the US grow in California in 6,000 acres, Some avocados grow in Florida
    • The most common avocados in the US are Hass avocados. The Mother tree is still standing in California
    • Hass avocados are sometimes called Alligator pear since they are so rough
    • On Super Bowl Sunday, we eat 8 million pounds of guacamole in our country

    Try this simple Avocado Salsa Recipe and make your own guacamole this weekend!

    Experience Nutrition: 9 Ways 90 Days: Top 10 Healthy Super Bowl Recipes: 1: Avocado Salsa
    Experience Nutrition: 9 Ways 90 Days: Top 10 Healthy Super Bowl Recipes: 1: Avocado Salsa

    We invite you to come over to our Facebook page  www.facebook.com/9ways90days and share your Avocado Recipes. The 10 best recipe photos Super Bowl weekend will receive a free download of our new book, “Enjoy Food & Life,” by Melanie Albert, featuring former NFL players and their wives nutrition tips and recipes.

    Enjoy!

  • 9 Ways 90 Days Recipe: Raw Dehydrated Flax Seed & Almond Crackers

    by Melanie Albert, Nutrition & Food Expert, Author, Speaker, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach

    I’ve been enrolled in a Professional Plant-based Culinary Certification Course with Rouxbe. This week, one of my creations was Raw Crackers which are so incredibly tasty and beautiful that I’m sharing the recipe, and step-by-step raw food process with you. Once you make these crackers, I have a feeling that you’ll never want to eat processed crackers again. Enjoy!

    Raw Dehydrated Organic Flax Seed & Almond Crackers
    Raw Dehydrated Organic Flax Seed & Almond Crackers

    SIMPLE INGREDIENTS

    Simple Ingredients   MIse en Place
    Simple Ingredients MIse en Place
    • ¾ cup golden flax seeds, ground, then soaked in 1.5 cups of water
    • ¾ cup raw almonds, soaked for 2 to 3 hours, until soft, drained
    • 1 ¼ cup yellow bell pepper
    • 2-3 green onions, chopped
    • ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked and drained (use my own dehydrated Roma tomatoes)
    • 1 ½ TBSP onion granules
    • 1 tsp sea salt
    • SIMPLE STEPS: Make the Batter
    • Blend flax seeds and almonds in food processor until smooth
    • Blend all remaining ingredients (separate from flax seeds and almonds) in food processor until smooth
    • Add the vegetable ingredients to the flax seed/almond mixture, and fold to thoroughly combine

    Fold Batter    Spread onto Parchment Paper

    SIMPLE STEPS: Dehydrate the Crackers

    • Set dehydrator at 115 degrees (I use an Excalibur, which I love!)
    • Evenly spread mixture, less than ¼ inch thick, on a non-stick dehydrator sheet (or parchment paper)
    • Dry in dehydrator for 2 to 3 hours, then score into crackers
    • Dry for another 2 to 3 hours, then flip crackers onto dehydrator trays (without the parchment paper or non-stick dehydrator sheet)
    • Dry for an additional 6 hours or until crisp
    • Remove from trays and store in sealed container
    • Enjoy your home-made raw crackers
    Into the Dehydrator   Score & Dehydrate
    Into the Dehydrator Score & Dehydrate

    Action
    Make your own Raw Crackers and share your creations with us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/9Ways90Days

  • 9 Ways 90 Days Recipe: Organic Collard Greens with Reed Avocados & Lemon Cucumbers

    By Melanie Albert, Nutrition & Food Expert, Author and Speaker, Certified Health Coach

    Kale is the rage with raw salads, kale chips and smoothies. But, what about collard greens? I’m taking a Professional Plant-based Culinary Certification Course with Rouxbe, where we experimented with different ways to prepare kale. As an option, I decided to use some of the same techniques with collard greens.

    On top of that, Reed avocados were available at Whole Foods Market this week, so I decided to try one. About 90% of the avocados are grown in California and about 90% of those are Hass avocados. The Reed avocado variety generally grows later in the season, are larger and rounder than Hass avocados, have a thick skin, and contain more monounsaturated fat and thus are creamier than Hass avocados.

    Scroll down for the 9 Ways 90 Days Recipe: Organic Collard Greens with Reed Avocados & Lemon Cucumbers

    9 Ways 90 Days Recipe: Organic Collard Greens, Reed Avocados & Lemon Cucumbers
    9 Ways 90 Days Recipe: Organic Collard Greens, Reed Avocados & Lemon Cucumbers

    Organic Collard Greens with Reed Avocados & Lemon Cucumbers Recipe
    This recipe was inspired by the lemon cucumbers from this week’s farmers market in Ahwatukee Arizona, the Reed avocado and collard greens.

    Ingredients
    • 3-4 large collard greens leaves, chopped
    • 1 Reed avocado
    • 1 lemon cucumber
    • 4 small heirloom tomatoes
    • ½ red pepper
    • 3-4 green onions
    • 1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
    • 1 garlic clove, finely minced
    • Fresh lemon basil, to taste
    • Fresh lemon thyme, to taste
    • Sea salt

    Simple Steps
    • Chop all the vegetables
    • Squeeze the avocado into a bowl
    • Add collard greens, lemon juice and sea salt to the avocado
    • Massage the collard greens for about 3 minutes
    • Add the fresh garlic, lemon cucumber, red pepper, green onions and gently toss
    • Add the fresh lemon basil and lemon thyme and gently toss
    • Enjoy this delicious & refreshing salad

    Come on over to our Facebook page, and post your avocado & collard greens creations: www.facebook.com/9Ways90Days

  • 9 Ways 90 Days: Organic Chia Pudding Recipe

    By Melanie Albert, Nutrition & Wellness Expert, Author, Speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition

    Chia seeds are the rage today! But some of us remember when they were the green hair that grew on our Chia Pets when we were kids. Who knew that decades later we’d be eating them!

    Chia seeds come from a flowering plant in the mint family that’s native to Mexico and Guatemala, and history suggests it was a very important food crop for the Aztecs.

     Benefits of Chia Seeds

    •   Good fats. Chia seeds, like hemp seeds and flax seeds are a great ALA omega-3 healthy-fat rich seed, which is important for brain health and reduction of inflammation in the body.
    • High in protein. Great source of protein for vegetarians and vegans
    •  Stabilize blood sugar. Important for diabetics
    • Improve heart health. According to the Cleveland Clinic, chia seeds have been shown to improve blood pressure in diabetics, and may also increase healthy cholesterol, while lowering total, bad LDL and triglyceride cholesterol
    • Good source of calcium. 18% or the recommended daily intake for calcium.

    9 Ways 90 Days Organic Chia Pudding Recipe

    9 Ways 90 Days Chia Seed Pudding
    9 Ways 90 Days Chia Seed Pudding

     Ingredients

    •  1/3 cup chia seeds
    • 1 cup soy milk
    • 2 chopped bananas
    • 1 tsp vanilla
    • 1 Medjool date, if you desire more sweetness
    • Berries, nuts and seeds for toppings

     Simple Steps

    • Mix chia seeds, vanilla and date into the soy milk
    • Fold in the bananas
    • Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or overnight)
    • Enjoy for breakfast, snack, or dessert with your favorite berries, nuts and seeds

    Post your Chia Pudding creations on our Facebook page!

     

     

     

  • 9 Ways 90 Days: Fats Are Essential

    by Melanie Albert, Nutrition Expert, Author, Speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition

    Excerpt from “Enjoy Food & Life. 9 Ways 90 Days step-by-step action plan for healthy eating and living.”

    Fats Are Essential

    While the media has made us afraid of fats, they are actually required in order for our bodies to function properly.  For years during the low fat, no fat craze I thought fats were bad and I stopped eating some of my favorite foods, nuts and olives. Now I’ve learned that fats are good for us and that our bodies require about 30% fats in our diet each and every day, for each and every meal.

    9 Ways 90 Days: Fats are Essential
    9 Ways 90 Days: Fats are Essential

     

    Eating the right fats helps to:

          Reduce inflammation

          Reduce risk of heart health

          Decrease your risk of diabetes

          Boost brain health

          Reduce joint pain

     

    Plant based fats like nuts, seeds, avocados and olives are a healthy fat source.

     

    Visit us on Facebook and describe the fats you’ve been eating the last few months.