Experience Nutrition

Tag: self care

Happy Earth Day 2020! Three Views of Gardening. Slow Down. Worms. Plant. (Part 1 of 2)
Happy Earth Day 2020.
Synchronicity. Celebrating our 50^th Earth Day with Gardening. Of course!

Now during our Coronavirus “stay-at-home” across the USA, gardening has become more meaningful. So many people around the world are getting back to the basics with more home cooking, more home gardening, more self-care, and more time to reflect.

As many of you are aware, my passion is creating with beautiful locally grown Arizona farmers produce, herbs, and edible flowers, all grown with organic practices. I’m honored to share my gardening experiences, as a few friends have been requesting my thoughts.

It has now been 13 months since I first set up and planted my little elevated garden in my backyard in Phoenix, Arizona, and I’m looking forward to another season. Thanks to my farmer friend, Billy Anthony of The Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain for the encouragement and the plant-starts for the last few growing seasons. – Melanie Albert

This week, I’m honored to share with you my 3 Different Views of Gardening.
- Slow Down with Home Gardening.
- Worms. Oh, My! Oh, Yes!
- 10 Steps to Plant Your Summer Garden. (“Next” Blog)
Slow Down with Home Gardening

Summer 2020 Elevated Edible Garden, Experience Nutrition, Phoenix, Arizona

This week, while prepping and planting my little elevated edible garden, I also took extra time to reflect. My gardening experience was a personal day of incredible self-care, quietly outside in beautiful Phoenix with connection to our Earth.

As many of us are aware, planting and gardening have been a metaphor for life and growth.

We get rid of the old (plants).

We plant seeds (or transplants).

Nurture and care for them.

Practice patience.

Mindfully enjoy the growing process, days by days, weeks by weeks, and months by months.

And, we enjoy the fruits of our labor when we experience the amazing freshness and life of our own home-grown food in our meals. I am already happily enjoying my recently planted fresh herbs and edible flowers!

Importantly, I look forward to seeing the new growth in my life, alongside the growth of the garden.

Pause. Enjoy Your Mindful Gardening.

Take time this season to really enjoy your own home-gardening. Enjoy the beautiful, slow, mindful process.

Pause and take time to reflect on how your gardening experience reflects your life.

Worms! Oh My! Oh Yes!

My early memories of worms were getting the “best” worms for fishing (we lived in Baltimore with a river to the Chesapeake Bay in our backyard) from my grandmother’s rose garden. Humm…worms for fishing and gardening?

Thank you farmer, Billy Anthony

This season while getting set to plant my Arizona Summer garden, I reached out to my knowledgeable, passionate farmer friend, Billy Anthony at The Farm at South Mountain. Since my little edible garden already had “good organic soil” and mulch from the Arizona Worm Farm from the prior growing season, Billy recommended fertilizing it this season.

Arizona Worm Farm

For fertilizing, I visited the incredible Arizona Worm Farm, only 7 miles from my home, currently operating as a Farmers Market on Saturday’s, where we can purchase produce, as well as compost and worm products for our gardens. “The Arizona Worm Farm is a unique little urban farm centered around sustainability, soil improvement, and turning garbage into food.”

Arizona Worm Farm

Take a look at the Arizona Worm Farm Worm Casting and Garden…

For the extra fertilizer, my first thought was worms. Oh My, Oh My.

And, second, Oh My, buying the Worm Tea and Worm Castings, I had a feeling I knew what they were. And, oh yes. Worm castings and worm tea were what I suspected. (I totally trusted the process.)

Worm Castings

Worm castings are basically worm poop. There’s the “Oh My.” According to the Arizona Worm Farm, worm castings or vermi-compost are a nutrient-dense amendment, high in microbial activity. The richest natural fertilizer. Castings rapidly stimulate plant growth because they contain nutrients in plant-available form and easily absorbed. I bought 3 gallons for my 6 x 2 feet elevated garden and to top off my 2 large galvanized steel garden pots.

Worm Tea

Worm Tea is compost tea made from Worm Castings. This tea must be used within 4 hours of purchase to be effective in our gardens. So definitely, be prepared to garden the day you purchase your Worm Tea. As far as I know, the Arizona Worm Farm only sells the Worm Tea on Saturday mornings during the farmers’ market. For perspective, I purchased 1 gallon of Worm Tea.

Be sure to come back for our “10 Steps to Plant Your Summer Garden,” with the Worm Castings and Worm Tea and local Arizona plant-starts from Vilardi Gardens and The Soil & Seed Garden at The Farm at South Mountain.

Stay in touch with us on www.facebook.com/ExperienceNutritionAZ and Instagram @experiencenturitionaz and tag us #experiencenutritionaz on your edible gardening and plant-based culinary creations.

By Melanie Albert, Plant-Based Cooking Leader, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition in Phoenix, Arizona. Award-winning cookbook author, speaker, corporate wellness, team building, retreat leader, and caterer.
April 22, 2020
EXPERIENCE NUTRITION: Food & Lifestyle Tip: Create Stay-at-Home Vision Board in 60 Minutes
While our families and friends around the world are all at home with the Coronavirus Stay-at-Home, this might be an ideal time to create a Vision Board for the future forward view of our lives. At this point, we know our lives have changed and are changing almost daily. So, this may be the time to re-evaluate and reflect on what our ideal future looks like.
I’ve been creating vision boards for decades, nearly every year, and I have found that the process is valuable for focus and to help me reach my goals. I’ve also had the incredible opportunity to lead vision board experiences in Nosara, Costa Rica and with former NFL players! – Melanie Albert

Steps to Create Your Vision Board

Gather Your Supplies
- Quiet place for you
- Your favorite magazines and personal photos
- Glue stick
- Paper and pen
- Posterboard
- Candle and green tea
Vision Board Steps

Rather than start by cutting photos from magazines, this vision board process begins with written reflections for clarity, and the creation of the visual vision board with photos and words.
1. A Quiet Place. (2 minutes) Find a quiet place where you’ll have about an hour to focus on you. Begin by lighting a candle.
2. Relax. (2 minutes) Close your eyes, breathe in deeply, and exhale completely 4 times.
3. Goals. (5 minutes) Very quickly write 10 responses to the question: What are the top goals you’d like to achieve a year from now. Be creative, out-of-the box. And dream big!
4. Top Goals. (5 minutes) Look at your list. Quickly, which goal is the most important to you? Do this again 4 more times until you have your top 5 goals prioritized.
5. Meaning to Me. (10 minutes) Starting with your top goal, write what each means to you. Write a few keywords, a sentence, and/or paragraph.
6. Photos and Words. (15 minutes) Look through your magazines and photos and cut out images and words for each of your goal areas.
7. Vision Board. (5 minutes) Glue your photos onto your poster board or paper. Have fun!
8. Positive Affirmations. (10 minutes) Create positive affirmations around your vision board, in the present tense, as if they are already happening. For instance, “I am a successful international plant-based retreat leader”.
9. Integration. (3 minutes) Say out loud the affirmations and meanings from your vision board. Feel your future visions emotionally, and believe your future life as if you are already living your goals.
10. Action. (3 minutes) Based on your goals, write down your top 3 actions to achieve your goals.
If you wish, feel free to share your vision board on our newly updated Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ExperienceNutritionAZ

By Melanie Albert, Plant-Based Cooking Leader, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition in Phoenix, Arizona. Award-winning cookbook author, speaker, corporate wellness, team building, retreat leader, and caterer.

Melanie Albert 2017 Vision Board
April 6, 2020
EXPERIENCE NUTRITION: Food & Lifestyle Tip: Pause. Take Time for You Today!
[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text]Today, I invite you to take time for you! Over the last few weeks, with the Coronavirus stay-at-home, all of our schedules, routines, work have shifted dramatically. Our responsibilities have changed. Today, take time for you. Just you. Take time. To do nothing. To slow down. To rest. To relax. To restore. Pause and feel what you’d like to do today, just for you. A few ideas to get started:
- A few minutes of quiet time, simply listening to your breath.
- Light a candle. And sit.
- Go out in nature, and look at the sky, listen to the birds, hear the stillness of our Earth.
- Practice yoga and really feel the poses in your body.
- Journal a few things you are grateful for today.
- Take a warm bath with candles, Epsom salts, and quiet, meditative music.
A glimpse into my quiet moments of self care with candle, nature, and birds.- Melanie Albert

I invite you to come over to our newly updated ExperienceNutritionAZ Facebook page and share a photo or your thoughts on your personal “me time”. By Melanie Albert, Plant-Based Cooking Leader, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition in Phoenix, Arizona. Award-winning cookbook author, speaker, corporate wellness, team building, retreat leader, and caterer.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
April 5, 2020
Experience Nutrition: My First Arizona Spring Home Garden. Steps and Tips to Grow your own Edible Veggies, Herbs, and Flowers.
By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, Intuitive Cooking Expert, and Award-Winning Cookbook Author
I’m very excited to share that this first weekend of Spring 2019, I planted my first “real” edible backyard garden in Phoenix, Arizona. And, I’m happy to share my learning with you.

Honestly, while I feel really confident with guiding people to cook beautiful, tasty farm-to-table plant-based food, I am going out on a limb with sharing my new gardening adventure with you.

When I was a kid, my parents always had a garden and fruit growing in our yard in Dallas, Pennsylvania. I especially remember the asparagus, carrots, cucumbers, and sweet peppers. Plus, we enjoyed all kinds of berries, my favorites being raspberries and strawberries. Today, my 92-year old Dad still gardens in Cocoa Beach, Florida, primarily with his banana and onion crops.

I’ve never grown a ‘real garden’ in Phoenix. Until now.

Melanie’s Personal Goals with the New Edible Garden

Sharing my personals goals with you, which might motivate you to plant your own garden!
- Get out of my comfort zone. Do something new, while learning.
- Enjoy edible gardening as self care. Time away from the computer. Time out with nature.
- Garden-to-Table. Ultimately, enjoy my garden bounty with my culinary creations.
Three Steps to Get Started with an Edible Garden

Since gardening in Arizona is different than the East Coast of the US, I reached out to an expert in the farming and gardening in Phoenix, my friend, Billy Anthony, who is the Garden Operations Manager at The Farm at South Mountain. Billy has been growing at the beautiful The Farm, which is about half-mile from my home for a few years. I admire his passion, knowledge, and hard work ethic and knew that he’d be a talented guide for my small edible garden project.

Step 1: The Elevated Garden.

A few months ago I started researching elevated gardens online and purchased a simple rectangle 22”x 66” wooden garden that is right outside my back patio, on the West side of my home facing the golf course. The first step, was, of course, building the elevated garden. Thanks to Phoenix urban farmer Billy Anthony for assembling it for me and in choosing the right location for the garden, where it will get full sunlight during most of the day.

Step 2: The Right Soil.

Billy guided me to purchase the “right” soil for our Arizona climate. I used two 2cu feet of Kellogg Garden Organics – Organic Plus for the bottom layer of the garden. For the top layer, at Plant Stand, a garden supply store in my neighborhood, purchased two 1.5 cu feet of Fox Farm Ocean Forest Potting Soil, made from earthworm castings and bat guano.

Step 3: What to Plant in the Spring (in Phoenix, Arizona)

In the Arizona desert, right now our local urban farmers are doing their Spring planting, so I took their lead and visited Billy at The Farm at South Mountain to be sure to plant the “correct” veggies, herbs, and edible flowers for this time of year.

Picked up a few Spring goodies from my urban farmer friend Billy Anthony who has been such an inspiration around growing beautiful food.
- Herbs: Oregano, Genovese Basil and Amethyst Basil, French Lavender, Flatleaf Italian Parsley
- Edible flowers: Viola, Calendula, Snapdragon
- Greens: Dandelion
- Melon: Sugar Baby Watermelon
- Cucumbers: Gherkins
- Tomatoes: Blush Tomato
- Berry: Pinchuberry
5 Tips on Planting Layout from Phoenix Urban Farmer, Billy Anthony

Since I wanted to get it “right,” Billy gave me a few tips on where to plant the different plants in the garden. A few tips:
1. Watermelon near the edge of the garden, so it could grow down the side towards the Earth.
2. Basil plants at the end of the planter, as they will become quite large.
3. Lavender in the middle surrounded by the edible flowers.
4. Dandelion greens next to the violas (hope I got that right) to give them a little shade.
5. Plant larger plants (pichuberry, tomato) in pots to give them room to grow.
Let’s take a closer look at a few of the Plants…

Spring Arizona Garden Day 1: The plants planted into the Elevated Garden, according to the Plan.

And, pausing to enjoy our Arizona sunset with the new Spring Garden. Self care!

Top 5 Basic Edible Gardening Tips from Phoenix urban farmer, Billy Anthony

As a final thought in today’s new Phoenix Backyard Gardening Blog, simple advise from Billy to me, to you…
- The right soil.
- The right plants at the right time.
- Sunshine.
- Water.
- And, I’ll add, have fun!
My final reflection on Day 1 of my Spring 2019 garden.
- Enjoyed the process of learning the steps and planning to plant my little garden.
- Loved being outside in my backyard, with a purpose, and enjoying the self care sunset with my new garden.
- Felt a sense of new accomplishment.
I’ll keep you posted as my gardening adventure evolves.

I’ll be using the #ediblegardentotable so we can easily find the edible garden progress.

If you are in the Phoenix area and would like to meet Billy Anthony, we are co-hosting a Spring Farm-to-Table Cooking Class at The Farm at South Mountain, April 7, 2019, 11am-1pm.

Purchase Tickets for Raw Farm-to-Table Plant-Based Intuitive Cooking with Melanie Albert and Soil & Seed Garden Farmer Billy Anthony. The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, Sunday, April 7, 2019, 11am-1pm

INTERESTED IN PLANT-BASED COOKING RETREAT IN SEDONA, September 13-16, 2019. CLICK TO LEARN MORE

Purchase Melanie Albert’s award-winning cookbook, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods”
March 24, 2019
A New View of Healthy Eating: How to Get Unplugged by Melanie Albert, former Type A Marketing Professional and 23-year Successful Entrepreneur

by Melanie A. Albert, intuitive cooking expert, award-winning author, speaker, retreat host, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
A week ago I was enjoying the Grand Canyon and Sedona, Arizona. When I returned home to Phoenix after my brief get-away, I had a huge ah-ha. As a former Type A Marketing Professional and now 23-year successful Entrepreneur, I learned first-hand how valuable it is to “Unplug.”

Thanks. Before I share my insights, I want to take a moment to thank my friend, Cassie Hepler, founder of the travel and lifestyle blog, www.ExplorewithCassie.com for inviting me to be her “plus-one” on her media trip with Grand Canyon Adventures www.DoTheCanyon.com

Thanks Grand Canyon Adventures for the enjoyable, memorable day at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Profound Mini-Trip. Little did I know that when Cassie invited me several weeks ago how profound this mini-trip would be for me.

Anyway, I’m usually sharing my behind the scenes with cooking and intuitive cooking creations, but I decided to share with you the behind the scenes with my “Unplugged” adventure.

It All Works Out. Several days prior to the trip to the Grand Canyon, I realized that I had doubled booked myself the night before our scheduled road trip to the canyon. I was booked with coaching clients at the same time we were planning on driving to Flagstaff the night before the Canyon Tour. I was concerned that I would not have reliable internet or phone service for my clients. My friend, Cassie, kept telling me it would work out. I trusted.

And, of course, it worked out. I changed my plans; stayed in Phoenix to do 6 hours of coaching until 10:30pm that night.

I packed my food magazines, documents to work on with my business expansion, journal, planner, and some snacks: home-made raw trail mix, local apples, and grapes. I got up at 3:30am, after sleeping for 4 hours and drove to Flagstaff.

Thanks to Grand Canyon Adventures. Happily, at 7:30am the friendly folks at Grand Canyon Adventures greeted me with a smile.

I had just begun my “unplugged” adventure.

Grand Canon Adventures drove us to the Grand Canyon, with history lessons, geological lessons, and expansive beauty through 5 different eco-systems.

7 Wonder of the World. It has been decades since I visited the Grand Canyon. When I saw my first glimpse of the Grand Canyon, I was in awe. I paused. The beauty. The magnificence. The magic. The power. Here I was with one of the 7 Wonders of the World!

Grand Canyon with a Little Yoga. During our full-day tour with 4 different stops at the canyon, all I wanted was to soak in all the beauty of the canyon. At each stop along the canyon, I paused and practiced some yoga and enjoyed “my” tree pose everywhere. Thanks, Cassie for the beautiful photos.

Pause at the Canyon. I even found a beautiful quiet spot to reflect. Enjoy the Grand Canyon video.

Cassie with the Grand Canyon. And, Cassie enjoyed her hiking and being grounded with our Earth.

More Self-Care. For the last 3 miles of our day at the Canyon, Cassie and I quietly walked the South Rim capturing photos of us enjoying even more self-care with the beauty of the Grand Canyon. One final tree pose.

Thanks, Root Public House. When we arrived back in Flagstaff, we found a great place to eat, Root Public House, with a lovely outdoor patio breeze. I enjoyed a tasty creamy pea vegan risotto, made especially for me. And, I was feeling as though I was on vacation for days.

Sedona Airport Sunset. After dinner, Cassie headed back to Phoenix. I drove south to Sedona, where I just caught the end of the sunset at the Airport Vortex.

My Favorite Place in the World. The next day, I spent the whole day at Oak Creek Crossing, at the base of Cathedral Rock, one of my very favorite places in the world.

A video peek…

I hiked, walked in Oak Creek, sat, listened to water, listened to birds. That was it.

Pause and enjoy Oak Creek.

Unplugged. Being “unplugged” was sinking in. I had no desire to look at the food magazines. No desire to “work” on my business. Only a little bit of journaling. This was huge for me.

I was “Unplugged” from electronics and importantly “Unplugged” from working. I was away from business strategy and responsibilities, writing blogs, cooking, creating recipes, teaching classes, and hosting events.

After a full day of being unplugged, I drove home to Phoenix.

Unplug Ah-Ha. I know this may sound obvious. What I realized was that I (we) need time to really unplug from the phones, computer, work, magazines. Yes, we can do this with yoga or meditation. For me, it was extra special and powerful to unplug in the beauty of my beloved Arizona.

For my few days at the Grand Canyon and Sedona I found that after being totally unplugged, I came back with even more creativity, energy, and passion.

Unplug in Arizona Retreats. I really do believe that it’s incredibly important for our own life and joy to “unplug.” I’ve been planning Cooking and Self-Care Retreats in Sedona for 2019. My time at the Grand Canyon and Sedona made me realize how valuable these retreats will be for our guests to get away and “Unplug.”

With the insights from my personal “Unplugged” experience, I have now added a Grand Canyon Adventure to the retreats, along with the Phoenix Urban Farm Cooking Experience and the intuitive cooking, hiking, yoga, and extreme self-care in Sedona.

If you are interested in attending Unplug in Arizona Cooking & Self-Care Retreats or interested in creating a custom retreat for your organization, please let me know and I’ll keep in touch. Warmly, Melanie

Email

What is your top nutrition or cooking issue?
Thanks!

If your organization is interested in a cooking workshop, team building or corporate wellness event, or retreat, please let us know your interests. Thanks!

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Interested in my book, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Simple Intuitive Cooking with Real Whole Foods,” I’m happy to autograph and gift-wrap and ship to you.

July 9, 2018
A New View of Healthy Eating 55-Card Deck: Go for a Nature Walk
by Melanie Albert, Nutrition and food author, speaker, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition Group, LLC
Today’s message from my new “A New View of Healthy Eating, 55-Card Deck” for today is:

Go for a Nature Walk: Self care with Earth

A New View of Healthy Eating

This was the absolute perfect card for today, as I had the opportunity to spend a beautiful afternoon walking on the beach, Cocoa Beach, FL, to simply be with nature.

A New View of Healthy Eating: Go for a Nature Walk: Self care with Earth

Definitely self care with the Earth.
- The rhythm of the waves reminds us to breathe in deeply and to exhale slowly.
- The sand under our feet reminds us that we are connected to the Earth.
- The bright blue sky reminds us that we are connected with the Universe.
- The ebb and flow of the ocean reminds us that we are always changing.
- The ocean itself reminds us that deep within ourselves we are always the same.
A New View of Healthy Eating: Breathe in and breathe out at the beach.

Self care with Earth: Ebb & flow with the waves.

I invite you to take time this week, to go out for a nature walk, wherever you are, and practice self care with nature.

Visit us on Facebook and share this week’s experiences with nature. Would love to see some photos!

You can purchase the cards on my website: www.EXPNutrition.com

Enjoy nature this week!
December 11, 2015
A New View of Healthy Eating: Eat What You Love
by Melanie Albert, Food and nutrition expert, author, speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, LLC.

Our card today from my new “A New View of Healthy Eating, A 55-Card Deck”:

Eat What You Love

A New View of Healthy Eating, A 55-Card Deck: Eat What You Love

I was very excited about his message today, as I have one of my favorite foods in my home right now, organic dark chocolate, which I will definitely enjoy.

To me, the message around this card is to give ourselves permission to eat and enjoy foods that we may have deprived ourselves from eating in our past or even today.

I invite you, right now, to grab a piece of paper and pencil and do the following exercise:
- Step 1: Write down all of the foods that you absolutely love. Be creative. Write down all of the foods, even from spices, to olive oil, to fruits, to veggies, to snacks, to beverages.
- Step 2: Now, draw a circle around 5 of those foods that you generally deprive yourself of. That is, you love the food, but you do not eat that food.
- Step 3: Draw another circle around one of those 5 foods that you commit to eat this week. Choose your food that you will, right now, give yourself unconditional permission to eat. Unconditional permission to eat with joy!
- Step 4: Say out loud with passion: “I love my life and I give myself unconditional permission to eat_________________” (fill in your food)
- Step 5: Go out and purchase your food or go out to a restaurant and enjoy your food with a friend.
- Step 6: Share your experiences with us on Facebook. Would love to see your photos of you enjoying your “eat what you love food” and how this experience was for you.
Often when we do this “eat what you love” exercise in classes and workshops, people give themselves permission to eat chocolate cake. Pizza is always on the top of the list. Many love ice cream. Do you relate?

Have fun and really enjoy your food this week!
December 9, 2015
Experience Nutrition: Yoga Quote: Mindful Breathing

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.
A few days ago at my massage I received the message “breathe” on the wall in the massage room, which inspired me to share a beautiful quote that reminds us to take time to be still and to breath quietly.

Breathing offers us the perfect time to refresh ourselves and to gain insights for our life. – Melanie Albert

For me, right now, I am at the very early stages of dreaming and creating my new book, “A New View of Healthy Eating: Intuitive Cooking, with Culinary & a Taste of Yoga.” So, I am very consciously taking the time to breathe, to be still, to listen and create. I invite you to breathe, too.

“We spend most of our time caught up in the memories of the past or looking ahead to the future, full of worries and plans. The breath has none of that “other-timeness.” When we truly observe the breath, we are automatically placed in the present. We are pulled out to the morass of mental images and into a bare experience of the here-and-now. In this sense, breath is a slice of reality. A mindful observation of such a miniature model of life itself leads to insights that are broadly applicable to the rest of our experience.” – Henepola Gunaratana

November 17, 2015
Experience Nutrition: Intuitive Cooking & Eating for Self Care

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.
I love self care! And, I’ve been practicing and advocating self care for decades. Self care is vital for life. Self care experiences are activities we enjoy for our own pleasure. My personal self care menu includes:
• Practicing yoga
• Receiving a massage
• Cooking with my niece
• Going to an NFL football game or the Super Bowl
• Walking on my golf course

Within the last few years, I’ve added Intuitive Cooking & Eating to my self care menu. As part of this self care experience within my life, I begin by going to local Arizona farmers markets and farms to shop. I intuitively browse the market and enjoy seeing the foods that are in season; their beauty, colors and textures. And, I purchase fresh, vibrant produce that I’m most attracted to and excited about. To me self care is eating whole foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. Buying food from local farmers allows us to purchase fresh food that has not traveled across our country or from other parts of the world, which add to the carbon footprint of food.

In addition to local farmers market fresh produce, and whole foods, eating organic is vital to my self care. I intuitively started eating organic 20 years ago, way before organic was trendy and in the news. I intuitively “knew” that I did not want to eat food grown with pesticides or herbicides, or genetically modified (GMO) food. When I eat local, organic foods I feel as though I am putting the highest quality food into my body.

Singh Farms, Scottsdale, Arizona

Preparing and cooking meals has also become one of my favorite self care experiences. I enjoy choosing all of the ingredients for my culinary creations, again intuitively. By looking at the beauty of the food and mindfully paying attention to what I’m craving or desiring to eat, I begin meal preparation.

It could be a fresh fruit smoothie with coconut water, hemp seeds, raw cacao and goji berries for breakfast. Or it may be a simple avocado wrap for lunch with local Arizona tomatoes, cucumbers, rainbow carrots, fresh garlic, and just picked Meyer lemons and fresh basil. Often the self care experience extends to the aroma of produce, such as the zesty lemons and sweet basil.

Intuitive Super Food Smoothie

The mindful chopping of the veggies, as I prepare my beautiful meals is an enjoyable part of my self care experience. I love taking the time to mindfully enjoy the calming, rhythm of cutting the beautiful veggies. And, as many of my students know, I love the ritual of mise en place, getting all of my ingredients in place, for easy organization, as I prepare to cook.

For dinner, one of my very favorite self care cooking and eating experiences is a simple, beautiful veggie stir-fry with the fresh local Arizona produce from the farmers market. Will post this healthy organic recipe soon.

I invite you to practice Intuitive Cooking Experience as part of your own self care and share your experiences with us on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/experience.nutrition.now

Melanie Albert’s book, Enjoy Food & Life, is available as an e-book on www.EXPNutrition.com and you can join her on Twitter @NutritionAuthor She is available for speaking engagements, cooking workshops and retreats.

October 15, 2015
Experience Nutrition: Yoga Reflection: Full Cup, Empty Cup

Experience Nutrition: Yoga Reflection: Full Cup, Empty Cup
By Melanie Albert, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition Group, LLC. Nutrition and food expert, author and speaker. Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, Holistic Nutrition and Whole Food Cooking Instructor at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts.

Yoga Reflection: Full Cup, Empty Cup

As part of my Yoga Teacher Training journey, this morning I gave myself a simple, reflective private yoga practice with my new Tibetan Bowl, Sun Salutations, a few standing poses (Mountain, Warrior II and Triangle), and the following message from “365 Yoga” by Julie Rappaport.

I invite you to sit quietly, center, perhaps, listening quietly to your own breath and then read this beautiful story.

A popular Zen story tells of a disciple who embarks on a long journey in search of a master teacher. When the teacher finally appears, the student becomes excited and begins asking many questions hoping to gain wisdom. Eager to have her questions answered, the student persists but the teacher refuses to answer directly. Instead she requests that the student pour a cup of tea. The teacher tells the student to keep pouring until instructed to stop. The student pours. The master says nothing. The cup begins to overflow, and still the master remains silent. Upset, the student exclaims:

“Master, look at this tea cup! It is full and overflowing!”

The master replies: “Yes. Just as your mind is already full. None of this teaching will be of benefit until you empty your cup.”

The disciple learned the first lesson of spiritual teaching: to be empty of preconceptions and receptive to new knowledge.

Namaste.

August 2, 2015
9 Ways 90 Days: Create Your Self Care Menu
by Melanie Albert, Nutrition Expert, Author, Speaker, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition

Self care is essential. Take time every day to do something wonderful just for you to refresh, renew, relax and rejuvenate. Since we are all extremely busy with responsibilities, it’s important to take time for you. In addition to yourself, it’s vital to enjoy all your relationships.

9 Ways 90 Days Self Care Menu

What do you do just for you?

We are all so busy with life, work, family and responsibilities that sometimes we forget about ourselves. I love selfcare. I consciously added it to my life a few years ago. To me selfcare is doing something nice for me. Doing what I love to do. Sometimes it’s going to an NFL football game, getting a massage, working out in the middle of the day at the gym, experimenting with new recipes and new local produce, or it’s a special outing with my niece.

My Self Care Menu
- Cooking new foods
- Farmers markets in new cities
- NFL football games
- Art projects with my niece
- Walking Bruno, my niece’s dog
- Lunch at True Food Kitchen
- Beach walks in Cocoa Beach
- Sunset golf course walks in my backyard
- Matcha tea ceremony with myself
- Massage anytime
- Practice flow and yin yoga
- Read nutrition and cookbooks
- International travel
- Week at a spa
- Breathe deeply
Action: Create your self care menu. Take a few minutes to write 15-20 different things you love to do just for you. What do you really enjoy doing that do not pertain to your responsibilities with family or work? Pick one item from your self care menu every day and do it.

Visit us on Facebook and share the “top 5” on your self care menu.
January 8, 2014
9 Ways to Enjoy Food & Life

The 9 Ways to Enjoy Food & Life
1. Hydration
2. Organic Roots & Greens
3. Snacks, Superfoods & Smoothies
4. Right Fats
5. Plant Protein
6. Whole Grains
7. Be Active
8. Self Care & Relationships
9. Live your Passion

December 20, 2013
Enjoy Food & Life: 9 Ways 90 Days Step-by-step Action Plan for Healthy Eating & Living

9 Ways 90 Days Step-by-step Action Plan for Healthy Eating & Living, by nutrition and food expert, Melanie Albert, featuring former NFL players.
NEW BOOK: January 2014

9 Ways 90 Days Step-by-step action plan for healthy eating & living

9 Ways 90 Days Action Plan is based on the successful program which positively affects the health and nutrition of former NFL players and their families. The book offers nutrition education with a simple step-by-step action plan to integrate good nutrition with a healthy lifestyle into life. The program is designed to help you achieve good nutrition and health to reach your personal goals, including reducing the risk of heart disease and diabetes, weight loss, reducing joint pain, increasing energy and reducing stress.

Our country is sick and people are confused. They are confused about what to eat, how to shop and how to prepare healthy food. The 9 Ways 90 Days Action Plan, created from sound science and a variety of nutrition theories with hands-on interactive learning and cooking experiences, is a solution to these problems. It also includes simple ways to prepare easy meals with recipes, nutritionrecommendations, and the 9 Ways 90 Days Action Plan to incorporate learning into life.

December 20, 2013