She’s back! Nikki Ver Steeg, a Registered Dietician, Certified Wellness Coach, and founder of Your Diet Designer LLC is taking a swipe at breast cancer one menu at a time. This week she’s sharing her favorite delicious recipe for avocado dip.  Make sure to check out her wonderful website while you dip those chips and squeeze in some Park Bench Dips!

Avocado Dip Recipe

1-2 avocados, diced

2 Roma tomatoes, diced

1/4 cup feta cheese crumbles

2 Tbsp light Zesty Italian bottled dressing

Stir together.  Serve with cut up veggies, multi-grain tortilla chips or whole wheat pita triangles.

You can learn more about Nikki’s quest to fight cancer with nutrition at YourDietDesigner.com.

Please note: The information provided here is for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for the advice or treatment given by your doctor or dietitian. Please consult with a registered dietitian or your doctor if you have any questions about the information in this post.

NeverSayDiet.com’s Karolina Starczak is back with a bright summer healthy recipe that is as nutritious as it is delicious!  And we say multitask while making your lunch by adding some toning to your tuna with these SqueezeItIn.com moves: Squeeze Backs, Counter Top Push Ups, and the Dinner Twist.

Looking for a cool and refreshing way to spruce up old favorites this summer? Well it’s time to ditch the mayo and take your old tuna recipe off the back burner. Simply swap the mayo for avocado, toss in a few veggies, and get ready for a creamy and delicious protein packed delight.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just in time for your 4th of July picnic packing, guest blogger Elisa Zied is back with a snack list you can’t resist!

12 Healthy and Delicious No-Fuss Snacks for Parents & Kids

by Elisa Zied, MS, RD, CDN

1.  1 cup (8 ounces) Greek Yogurt (0% fat) mixed with ½ cup fresh sliced strawberries and ½ cup fresh or frozen unseetened blueberries

2.  Trail mix made with 2 tbsp each raisins or dried cranberry bits, crunchy whole grain cereal (like low fat granola), and mixed, unsalted nuts (like peanuts, cashews, walnuts or almonds)

3.  1 green apple, sliced with 2 ounces light cheddar cheese cubes

4.  4-ounce cup unsweetened applesauce plus 1 sheet graham crackers (2 squares)

5.  1 cup low fat plain yogurt mixed with ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce and a sprinkle of cinnamon Read the rest of this entry »

Oh How Sweet…Strawberries!

by Elisa Zied, MS, RD, CDN

They’re sweet and have lots of appeal simply because of their beauty. They can be eaten whole and fresh, sliced a top whole grain, high fiber cereal, oatmeal, or over low fat or nonfat plain yogurt. They pack in valuable nutrients including vitamin C, folate, potassium, and fiber as well as plant chemicals including flavonoids, anthocyanins, ellagic acid, and others that are protective against heart disease and cancer. Some studies show that consuming strawberries may even lower levels of homocysteine, an amino acid—high levels of it is linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke.

Here’s a quick, easy, delicious recipe taken from my second book, Feed Your Family Right! You can have this as a mini meal, split it in half and share with a friend or family member, or make more to serve in shot glasses to guests at your summer fete. Enjoy!! Read the rest of this entry »

The Ultimate DIET

(or the “Do It Every Time” diet)

by Elisa Zied, MS, RD, CDN

Imagine a diet that includes ALL your favorite foods, and doesn’t require you to buy special foods or clear out (if not fumigate) all your cabinets or the shelves in your refrigerator. Imagine that from this point on, when you eat out with a friend, family member, or significant other, you’ll feel comfortable and relaxed (not anxious and unsatisfied) when ordering and eating your food. Take it a step further—imagine a diet that’s not something you repeatedly go on and off of, but one that you can live with day in and day out— one that actually becomes a way of life instead of a transient state of eating.

From now on, each and every time you eat, try to do all of the following. You’ll find that by following this “Do It Every Time” diet, you’ll not only eat more healthfully and mindfully, but you’ll likely shed a few pounds (or at least prevent further weight gain which typically happens as we age) and stay healthy and energized along the way. Read the rest of this entry »

This next idea idea from those fabulous gals Sue and Angelle of NourishMD is so simple it’s brilliant – and it works!  Follow the excellent tips in all four of their guest posts and you’ll be putting healthy, nutritious and delicious meals on the table in no time at all.

Thank you, NourishMD, for showing us how to easily squeeze so much REAL food into our lives!

Ever wonder how chefs can get so much food out to so many people so quickly?  It’s all about prepping.  The good news is you can get REAL food to your family REAL fast too with Step 3 of NourishMD.com’s One Easy System:  Prepping Made Simple.

Once you’ve Planned and Shopped for REAL food you need to prep your food so that it is easier and faster to grab REAL food snacks and meals than it is to drive through a drive through.

The key is to squeeze in some time once or twice a week to set-up your prep boxes just like chefs do before the restaurant opens for the evening.  Prep boxes (we like rectangular glass Pyrex dishes) are based on the ingredients you need for your planned weekly menu.   Some examples of prep boxes you will want to have in your fridge are: Read the rest of this entry »

Generous. Smart. Caring. Real.  We can’t say enough about our guest bloggers Sue and Angelle of NourishMD. They’re back this week to share another tool to help you keep it real at the grocery store:

In last week’s blog, you learned how 20 minutes a week spent on planning out your meals and snacks will increase your health.  You focused on adding more REAL food to your daily diet.  Now that you have your plan, it’s time to create your shopping list.  Taking 15-20 minutes to create a list will keep you on track when you get to the store.

Our free downloadable form will help ensure you have a good variety of Powerful Proteins, Friendly Fats and Colorful Carbs.  When your list is made, then you are ready to go shopping. Read the rest of this entry »

Sue and Angelle of NourishMD are back this week with the real story behind real food and how you can make your next shopping trip a “real” adventure:

We want to eat healthier.  We intend to most days.  Work, kids, appointments, and all the other daily responsibilities often get in the way of these good intentions.

There’s no way around it.  Eating REAL food, the food that our bodies thrive on, takes some planning.  Planning takes time and we don’t have a lot of time.  The good news is you don’t need a lot of time – maybe 20 minutes per week – and you will be on your way to creating better health for you and your family.  We can all squeeze in 20 minutes a week for better health, right? Read the rest of this entry »

We want to welcome the fantastic ladies over at NourishMD – Sue and Angelle – to the SqueezeItIn guest blogger family! NourishMD is to food what SqueezeItIn is to exercise: NourishMD strives to create a vision of how to feed your family REAL food and incorporate healthy living into your busy life, everyday.  Read on and “get real” about what you’re eating:

Want to feel healthier in just a few weeks?  Squeeze more REAL food into your days!

REAL food is the food that your great-grandmother would have had in her kitchen.  It’s the food that has always been here – long before the era of artificially flavored, sweetened and colored genetically modified foods.   REAL food comes from nature, not a scientist in a white lab coat.  REAL food is what our bodies thrive on:  vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains and high quality animal proteins.  These can be categorized as Powerful Proteins, Fabulous Fats and Colorful Carbs and can be enjoyed on their own or combined in a zillion ways to make delicious meals and snacks.  For lots of REAL food recipes click HERE.

The opposite of REAL food is fake food and it is what we are bombarded with these days.  When you pick up a packaged food, look at the ingredients.  If you see words like enriched flour; high fructose corn syrup; partially hydrogenated oil; artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners or any words you can’t pronounce, you’re looking at a fake food. (Think white lab coat.) Fake food promotes illness.  Leave it on the grocery store shelf.  Click HERE for more information on fake foods and how they impact your health. Read the rest of this entry »