My 4 biggest pregnancy cravings...

I’ve heard about pregnancy cravings my entire life, and most of the time they are strange out of the box type cravings that only a pregnant woman would understand. IYKYK

I thought it would be fun to share my top pregnancy cravings with all of you! As a Certified Holistic Nutritionist I try to always been very aware of what I eat and how it fuels my body and my energetics; that being said pregnancy is a whole new game and I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The first trimester I had more food aversions than food cravings. I have never been a big meat lover, which is odd because growing up family ate a ton of meat. This pregnancy, especially the first trimester, meat was such a trigger for me. In fact, I had to go upstairs while my husband cooked chicken because the smell made me so sick.

I didn’t really start to notice my cravings until I was well into my 2nd trimester. My biggest cravings have been… green juice (like 1-2 per day!), fresh cold fruit (blueberries, strawberries, apples, raspberries, blackberries…all of it), peanut butter (turns out you can put peanut butter on almost everything!), and coffee.

I was pleasantly surprised when I realized my body was naturally craving green juice and fresh fruit…what can I say baby is very on brand! lol These were both already a part of my diet, but the amount I am consuming of both have gone up tremendously. (and for those of you who think fruit is bad for you and your blood sugar…mine is the lowest it’s ever been…like ever.)

I feel like peanut butter is every pregnant woman’s craving. The amount that I have gone through this pregnancy is…well it’s a lot, let’s leave it there! I have been using peanut butter as a protein and a healthy fat for smoothies, oatmeal bowls, and so much more.

My last, and definitely my most surprising craving has been coffee. I was never a big coffee drinker, and pre-pregnancy only really drank it if I went out or on the weekends with my husband. Coffee has never been my thing…until now. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that I “can’t have it” / need to limit my caffeine that makes me want it or just the taste itself. I’m leaning towards the latter. I don’t crave it for the energy boost, but for the actual coffee taste. After talking to my Doctor’s and doing some research myself, I learned that my coffee craving is actually due to my anemia. Apparently when you are anemic you often crave coffee and the bitter flavor. This is why I will forever consider myself a student, always learning something new!

My take on pregnancy cravings is very similar to my take on cravings in general. I do not believe in restricting, especially because it can become a very unhealthy habit quickly. Instead I feel it is okay to give into your cravings, occasionally, and in healthy moderation. Sitting down with a box of cookies every night is not healthy moderation, but allowing yourself to have 1 small cookie a day or a few days a week is totally fine. When we restrict and forbid certain foods it can quickly become an issue, especially mentally, and frequently leads to binging on that food. Listen to your body, and see what it’s really asking for. For example, my body isn’t really asking for coffee it’s asking for more iron and heme, so that’s what I give it.

I’d love to know what your biggest pregnancy crave is or was?!? Comment below and let me know!

Photo By Jontel Chere

How to energize your day!

The Lean and Green Body® Triple Play is my favorite way to start my day!

If I happen to miss a day I feel sluggish, fatigued and even dirty inside…my body literally craves this routine every day.

If we haven’t worked together yet, I’m about to let you in on one of my trade secrets!

The Lean and Green Body® Triple Play is a sure fire way to energize your body, gently detox your system, and flood your body with nutrients all before you’ve even had your morning coffee.

My coveted Triple Play morning routine is something I typically share with my nutrition clients during our first or second appointments, and now you can experience all the benefits too!

The Lean and Green Body® Triple Play is my morning routine…let’s break it down!

First thing in the morning when you wake up…before you put anything else into your body, drink these three things…

First, 8 oz of room temperature water with the juice from 1/2 an organic lemon…sip it!

Then, add 1-2 TBSP of Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar to 4-8 oz of water (you MUST add to water, do not drink ACV on it’s own)…drink it down!

Followed by, our morning greens! My current favorite greens are the Amazing Grass greens OR the Garden of Life Perfect Food Raw Greens. I love both of these brands and rotate between the two! You’ll mix one scoop of your greens with 8-10 oz of cold water (I like to use a blender bottle), shake and drink!

Then you can have your coffee and breakfast!

So why do I encourage you to drink all that first thing?!? Let me fill you in on what each drink does…

Each morning we wake up and our bodies are so dehydrated from working on overdrive while we sleep. The room temperature water with an organic lemon works to rehydrates your cells, energizes your body, and helps to pull out toxins. I get this question almost daily…and yes, it’s essential that the lemon is organic! An organic lemon is alkalizing, where a conventional lemon is acidic. This was literally mind blowing the first time I heard this...a food is either alkalizing or acidic based off what it does inside our body. A conventional lemon will never be alkalizing because of the pesticides and chemicals sprayed on it…sorry but you can’t wash them off. The lemon water responds almost like coffee to the body, and provides a boost of energy without the jittery feeling associated with caffeine.

Next up, the Apple Cider Vinegar comes in to helps neutralize the body. When we wake up our bodies are in an acidic state, the Apple Cider Vinegar helps to increase the pH of the body creating a more alkalizing state. We want to keep our bodies in an alkalizing state as much as we can since this is an undesirable place for cancer, disease and illness to thrive in. (Disease thrives in an acidic environment.) Apple Cider Vinegar, Bragg’s particularly, is one of my favorite holistic remedies because it performs hundreds of benefits to the body. Just be sure to mix it with water, and never drink it straight. (do not take ACV if you have an ulcer or symptoms of an ulcer)

We round up our Triple Play with our greens! Probably my favorite part of the Triple Play. Both of the green supplements I recommended above contain approximately 34 raw greens that have been juiced first and then dried. This is very important because we are not cows, and it can be very difficult for our bodies to digest and breakdown grass and some greens. Having the greens juiced first helps our bodies assimilate and utilize the greens and nutrients much easier. You will mix your greens with about 8-10 oz of cold water, I like to use my blender bottle and shake them up! When you drink your greens on an empty stomach (no food) you allow the nutrients to be absorbed and utilized by the body right away, it takes away to need to digest them and this giving your digestive system a break. Greens will help to boost your immune system, keep you energized, gentle detox the body, and help to balance blood sugar levels!

That’s it! It may seem like A LOT at first, but I promise it gets easier and eventually it just becomes part of your morning!

My husband and I love to travel and I always bring all 3 parts of this morning routine with me when we travel. To read more about my travel tips click HERE

As a Certified Holistic Nutritionist I am very cognizant of what I put into my body, what I give my family and what I recommend to my clients. I do extension research on all products I recommend, but I always recommend doing your own research to see what you feel comfortable with.

Gentle reminder…you should always consult your Naturopathic MD or Certified Nutritionist before adding a supplement to your routine. If you are pregnant or nursing I would recommend eliminating the ACV portion of the morning routine, and simply doing lemon water and greens!

To learn more or to work with me, please email me at jennifer@leanandgreenbody.com

Photo By Jontel Chere

Two Reasons to Add Hemp Hearts to Your Diet Today!

One of my favorite ways to sneak a little extra protein and fiber into my salads are with hemp hearts.

These tiny little seeds are full of protein, fiber, and omega-3’s.

One serving of hemp hearts has approximately 10 grams of protein, and 12 grams of omega-3 fatty acids! That’s incredible! These little seeds pack a big punch.

I am currently loving Manitoba hemp hearts, they are available in my Amazon Store for only $7! This is a steal. Click HERE to check them out.

I love these because they are easy to travel with and I frequently bring them with me on the go.

Have you tried them yet? Comment below and let me know your thoughts!

Photo By Jontel Chere

6 Benefits of Adding Vegan Days to Your Diet

The vegan or vegetarian lifestyle may not be for you, but adding just 1 or 2 vegan or vegetarian days in to your diet per week can have a tremendous impact on your health!

I recently posted a blog with an update on how I’ve changed my diet this past year, and how I am feeling eating mostly vegan. Check it out HERE

Here are 6 ways adding vegan or vegetarian days into your diet can boost your health:

Better digestion! Animal protein is really tough for our bodies to digestion, breakdown, assimilate and eliminate; so when we take it out of the equation we often experience better and easier digestion.

More energy! Like I mentioned above animal protein is really tough for our bodies to breakdown, it takes a lot of our energy away from our personality, our work, our endurance to breakdown and digest meat; so when we take it out of the equation even for a day or two, we experience more energy and vitality.

More nutrients. Vegan and vegetarian diets are typically much more nutrient dense, and tend to be higher in fiber, potassium, magnesium, folate and Vitamin A, C, E, and K.

Find a healthy weight. A diet free from animal protein and animal fat can lead to weight loss, and will allow your body to naturally find it’s perfect weight. Much of this has to do with the three previous points: better digestion, more energy, and more nutrients.

Lower blood sugar levels. A vegan and vegetarian diet tends to promote lower glucose levels, better A1C numbers, and lowers ones risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Heart health and lower cholesterol. It is well documented that a vegan and vegetarian diet can help to lower cholesterol levels. After all cholesterol comes from animal products so when we eliminate or limit these our cholesterol levels naturally drop. Decreasing the amount of animal protein and animal fat will also benefit our heart, and prevent or help with clogged arteries and decreased heart function due to poor dietary choices.

I believe that some people do require more animal protein than others; but I also believe that we do not need nearly as much as many assume we do. I am here to educate you and provide you with science based facts. There are several reasons to add vegan days into your diet, and your health is just one.

Would love to know if you have any questions on adding in vegan days or if you’ve already incorporated them into your weekly routine! Comment below and let me know! xx

Photo By Jontel Chere

The Perfect Post-Workout Snack

BANANAS 🍌

this fruit gets such a bad rap due to the amount of sugar & carbs in one banana - and it’s not a great choice for some people… no food is perfect for every body 😉

that being said...there are sooo many incredible benefits in bananas!

• improve digestive health
• support weight loss
• support your heart
• high in antioxidants
• boost energy
• muscle recovery
• fight cancer

The perfect post workout snack… you guessed it, a banana!

A banana with a tsp of nut butter is an excellent post workout snack - high in electrolytes, potassium, carbs and protein - it will help you recover faster and prevent muscle cramps! Plus this snack costs about 25 cents if you buy organic, amazing! This fit everyones budget.

Photo By Jontel Chere

Making Organic Food Accessible for All!

The conversation about organic food and the price of eating organic has been a hot topic (again) lately. Many people feel that organic food is “unattainable” for everyone, and many people feel that it is too expensive for their family. This is a conversation that I am so passionate about, so this blog series is my attempt to help educate and teach you why organic food is so important and how you can in fact afford it.

Organic food is essential for a healthy body. Conventional food (non-organic) is loaded with pesticides, herbicides, and toxins…and has bene proven to cause disease and illness in the body. You can not wash off these toxins, and ultimately you end up ingesting them. Once ingested it is very difficult for your body to fully eliminate them…often times they get stored in your liver or kidneys along with heavy metals and other toxins. Eating organic is much cheaper than cancer, heart disease, and the variety of other illnesses linked to these pesticides, herbicides and toxins.

It' is not essential that you eat everything organic. The Environmental Working Group releases a list each year of the Dirty Dozen - the foods you should absolutely buy organic - and a list of the Clean Fifteen - the foods you do not have to buy organic, but can if you choose to.

I understand that at some stores organic food is ridiculously priced…$2 for one lemon is crazy!! This is price gouging and is a clear example of companies trying to take advantage of consumers, it drives me crazy. For years Whole Foods was known as “whole paycheck” to some due to their high prices.

I have had a love affair with Whole Foods since 2011, and it is still one of my favorite places to shop. When Whole Foods and Amazon merged I noticed a huge drop in prices, especially if you are an Amazon Prime member. I actually find better deals on organic foods at Whole Foods than I do Publix (equal to a Shop Right, Krogers, Stop n Shop etc), it’s amazing! You would think the “conventional” grocery store would have the cheapest prices, but that is not always the case. It’s important to know where to shop and how to shop. My husband and I love going to the local farmers markets as well to buy organic produce and support local farmers.

I always create a list before going grocery shopping, this keeps me on task and avoids too many unintentional purchases. We shop at three different grocery stores monthly to get everything we need, our weekly go-to’s are Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.

I consider being in the know and grocery shopping part of my job! It helps me to create fun new recipes for all of you, keep my family healthy by practicing what I preach, and find sales for my clients. Truth be told I love grocery shopping! The pandemic ruined that a bit for me, but I have hope that someday we will find our way back to “normal life”. For now I mask up and try to go at off hours to avoid large crowds.

In an effort to provide more free content, and make organic healing food available to more people I am going to be publishing a few recipes on how to feed a family of 4 on a budget…all organic! I understand that the pandemic has hit people really hard financially, and I want to show you that you can still eat healthy (and organic) and stay on budget. Our health is our greatest wealth, and is so vitally important. I hear so many stories about people eating fast food because it is cheap and easy…there is nothing cheap and easy about disease and illness, and it’s my job to help you prevent that.

First recipe comes next week! Stay tuned!

Photo by Jontel Chere

A New Way to Help You Handle Stress

Siberian Ginseng, also called Eleuthero, has been proven to be extremely beneficial at treating adrenal fatigue and symptoms associated with hypothyroidism. With millions of individuals suffering from both of these aliments in our country alone, perhaps this is something you may need to add into your supplement cabinet.

Siberian ginseng has been shown to help them body maintain homeostasis under extreme stress. It has actually been used to improved athlete performance and overall concentration, and has been used by Olympic athletes and astronauts. Siberian Ginseng has been shown to increase mental alertness and even helps our body build muscle. Incredible!

This particular type of ginseng even helps our bodies get better deeper sleep, which is so important because that is when our bodies repair, rebuild, and detox.

Siberian Ginseng is especially important for individuals who suffer from adrenal fatigue. Common signs of adrenal fatigue are chronic fatigue, low immunity and memory issues and this type of ginseng can help combat all of those issues.

Siberian ginseng can also help combat hypothyroidism and depression by increasing the serotonin levels in our body.

From my research it seems that Siberian ginseng is very helpful and quite effective at improving adrenal fatigue. I feel that this is something many people in our country suffer from, and this would be an “easy” addition to someones diet to help get them feeling better.

Benefits of Ginger!

You may have noticed that my husband and I have been taking ginger lemon shots on the daily…and I’m about to fill you in on why!!

Food truly is medicine, and ginger is a prime example of this. This root is packed full of healing properties. Here are a few of the biggies…

Improves digestion

Reduces gas and bloating

Alleviates nausea

Helps the body recover from the cold/flu faster

Strengthens immune system

Decreases inflammation

Reduces pain

Supports your heart

Helps to remove free radicals in the body

Ginger is super alkalizing and therefore helps to make the body even more alkalizing…and an undesirable place for disease and illness. Ginger has a 28,811 score on the ORAC chart which is really high. Every time you eat or juice ginger think about the nutrients, enzymes and antioxidants flooding through and healing your body.

You can slice up raw ginger and make a tea, juice the root, or even grate fresh ginger into your meal.

Each morning I juice approximately 2-3 inches of fresh organic ginger with 1-2 lemons, which makes 2 ginger lemon shots!

Have you tried a ginger lemon shot before?? This is one of my favorite ways to energize in the morning.

Roasted Chickpeas

It’s no secret that I am a big fan of chickpeas!! These little beans are packed with fiber, protein, and tons of essential vitamins and minerals. Typically I eat chickpeas in my Indian food dishes or as hummus, but lately I’ve been craving a crunch. I’ve experimented with this recipe a ton, in order to get them just right so I could share it with all of you!

Roasted chickpeas make a great snack - easy way to replace the empty calorie chips you love snacking on…and way healthier too! They are also a great protein or fiber addition to any salad or meal. The best part is you can switch up the spices in this recipe to satisfy your current cravings. Kids love them too! 

Ingredients:

1 Can of Chickpeas (soak for a minimum of 12 hours to remove lectins)

Coconut Oil Spray (or grapeseed oil)

Pink Sea Salt - to taste

Pepper - to taste

You can spice them up with garlic, crushed red pepper, or add a sprinkle of cheese 90% way through the cooking process

Directions:

Preheat convection oven to 425° (bake)

Rinse chickpeas and pat dry

Spray coconut oil on oven pan, to prevent sticking

Place chickpeas in oven pan, and spread out evenly

Spray coconut oil (or grapeseed oil) on top of chickpeas, coat them all

Sprinkle sea salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you would like to add

Allow 30-40 minutes to cook, flip halfway through cooking process

Chickpeas should be crispy, but to burned

Holistic Health Code 7 Day Detox Review

I recently had the opportunity to partner with Holistic Health Code and try their 7 day reset. As an avid detox lover and self proclamed detox queen you know I’m all about a good detox. I was excited to try this specific detox because this is a real food detox {similar to the detox in my first book Revitalize & Renew: 7 days to a healthier you}. Holistic Health Code was founded by Meg, a Registered Nurse who saw a gap in our healthcare system. She works with Health Coaches to create a unique and new experience for their clients. I immediately connected with this female owned brand and was excited to see what made their detox stand out. 

When you order their detox you are sent a 7 day meal plan with tons of mouth watering recipes…not something you typically associate with detoxing. Plus, you receive supplements for morning and night for each of the seven days. You also receive Holistic Health Code’s custom propriety detox shake mix. 

I have tried my fair share of protein shakes over the years, and consider myself quite the connoisseur. The shake mix taste likes vanilla pudding {when mixed with vanilla almond milk}. During the detox I typically drank it with just almond milk and chia seeds {added those for a little extra fiber} and I loved it. There are a few smoothie options in the menu they provide for you, so you can always experiment with those too!

During the detox I felt really good, energized and felt overall lighter. The difference between this detox and many others out there…you get to eat real food! It’s a no brainer. 

Now thru August 15, 2020 use code LEANANDGREEN10 to receive 10% off the Holistic Health Code 7 day reset. Click HERE to sign up today!

To learn more about Holistic Health Code and all their offerings click HERE

This post was #sponsored by Holistic Health Code, all opinions are my own.