Homemade Nut Thin Crackers
Post by Paula Jahn, Co-owner and Dietitian at Nourish Northwest
Crackers don’t have to be processed, boxed and full of preservatives. These crackers are super easy to make and are every bit as crunchy and satisfying as the store-bought version. Call them Paleo-friendly, gluten free, grain free, soy free, or just plain nutty and delicious. Unlike other crackers, which are mostly just carbohydrate, they can stand alone as a “mini-meal” snack: They are packed with protein, fiber and healthy fats like omega-3 fatty acids.
Dietitian approved snack food!
Homemade Nut Thins
(Adapted from elanaspantry.com)
Ingredients
½ cup almond flour or meal
½ cup macadamia nuts
1 tablespoon coconut flour
¼ cup pumpkin seeds or other nut such as cashews or almonds
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1 Tbs flax seed meal
½ tsp sea salt
1 Tbs coconut oil
1/4 cup water
Preparation
- Pulse almond flour, macadamias and coconut flour in a food processor until well ground.
- Pulse in seeds, flax meal and salt until almost fully ground (leave a little texture for crunch).
- Pulse coconut oil, then water; dough will form a ball in food processor.
- Roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper to ¼ inch (or less) thick.
- Cut into 2-inch squares, 5 rows each way.
- Bake at 300° for 20 to 25 minutes.
How to Videos: The Many Faces of the Burpee.
Post by Olivia Martino, Certified Personal Trainer and Co-Owner, Nourish Northwest
We all let out a groan when told we have to perform this exercise, yet deep down we know it’s going to be better for us in the long run. It’s true, it’s hard. It hurts. We hate it, yet love it and need it all at once. My friends, I’m talking about the burpee.
So why does this tortuous exercise appear so frequently in our group fitness classes?
The main reason that we love the burpee is that it incorporates almost every major muscle group into one exercise, while also raising and keeping the heart rate elevated; a mix of cardio and strength training all in one fellow swoop. You’ve got your legs propelling you up into the air, your core working to stabilize you and your arms resisting against gravity as they lower you to the floor.
Another great reason to love the burpee is that you can do it anywhere. This exercise requires no special equipment or space. Do a few right when you get out of bed in the morning or in your hotel room. Stop at the park in the middle of a jog and bang out a few. Do burpees during the duration of a commercial break.
Lastly, we love the burpee because it’s modifications are endless and can be tailored to any fitness level. This means any beginner can perform this exercise and continually challenge themself by adding things on to make it harder. So, let me walk you through a few of these modifications and then leave you with a challenge: just 10 burpees a day. Right when you wake up, in the afternoon, before lunch… whenever you can squeeze them in. I promise, you will see results with just as little as 10 per day. And I have a feeling you’ll start to love them too.
The basic burpee
Starting in a standing position, fold over your legs and place your hands on the ground.
Walk your feet out one by one into a plank position.
Walk your feet back into your hands, one by one.
Stand back up.
Burpee with a hop
Starting in a standing position, jump your feet back into a plank.
Jump your feet back into your hands.
Hop up and land back in a standing position
Burpee with a push up
Starting in standing position, jump or walk your feet back into a plank.
Lower yourself down to the ground and back up, completing a full push up.
Walk or jump your feet back into your hands.
Hop back up and land in standing position.
Burpee with a jack
Starting in a standing position, jump your feet back into a plank.
Jump your legs out and in, as if you were doing a jumping jack.
Jump your feet back into your hands.
Hop up and land back in a standing position
Burpee with a frog jump
Starting in a standing position, jump your feet back into a plank.
Jump your feet back into your hands.
Jump your feet up to your hands, landing in a squat position.
Jump your feet back into your hands.
Hop up and land back in a standing position
Workplace Wellness: Health Beyond (Our) Borders
Post by Paula Jahn, Co-owner and Registered Dietitian at Nourish Northwest
We love our space at Nourish Northwest. It is bright, inviting and comfortable. A few clients even asked who our interior decorator (us!) is, which we find amusing.
Most of what goes on at Nourish Northwest—cooking classes, nutrition workshops, nutrition counseling, or fitness classes—happens inside our doors.
Our core belief is that “movement, enjoyment of wholesome, nutritious food and community relationships are essential to optimal health.” One way we seek to bring these principles to the community outside our brick and mortar location is through corporate wellness programs.
We have found that worksites are great place to educate and inspire people to make better choices for their health. Often, either employers and/or health insurance companies will pay for wellness programs for employees and even offer monetary incentives. Employees are usually engaged and excited to take time away from their desks to learn about health and nutrition.
It’s no wonder more and more companies are choosing to implement corporate wellness programs. Take a look at these staggering statistics:
- A recent study from the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that obese employees miss over 450 million more days per year than their healthier counterparts. This costs employers more than $150 billion in lost productivity.
- It is estimated that as much as 75 percent of total U.S. health care spending is for people with chronic conditions. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Four Common Causes of Chronic Disease. April 2012.)
- Just four modifiable health risks (tobacco use, poor nutrition, lack of physical activity, and excessive alcohol consumption) are responsible for much of this chronic disease burden. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Four Common Causes of Chronic Disease. April 2012.)
- According to a recent study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, for every $1 spent on nutrition counseling with a Registered Dietitian, $4 was saved.
- Workplace wellness programs can reduce sick leave by 28%, medical costs by 26%, and 30% among worker’s compensation claims.
Registered dietitians and certified personal trainers carry the education and expertise to implement corporate wellness programs that address two of the four health risks that predict chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. The Nourish Northwest team has developed a number of workplace wellness lectures in a “lunch and learn” format, cooking demonstrations, and healthy habits/weight loss programs to address this growing need. Take a look at our full list of offerings!
Although employee wellness programs require time to see positive results, companies that make this investment will enjoy many benefits, from healthcare savings to increased employee productivity and satisfaction. As health professionals, we are excited to bring our programs to workplaces across the Portland area!
15 minute at home workout
Post by Olivia Martino, Certified Personal Trainer and Co-Owner, Nourish Northwest
What are your biggest barriers to working out? There’s a ton of them and believe me I have heard them all. Other than lack of motivation, I would say the most common barrier is time. One of my missions as a personal trainer is to address that barrier head on and find a solution. I am all about efficiency when it comes to working out.
A few months back I wrote a blog post about the 30 minute interval training class I teach at Nourish Northwest. The post discusses research that showed working out harder for a shorter period of time was actually more beneficial than working out for a longer period of time at a moderate intensity.
So all that being said, here is your 15 minute at home workout. Looks fairly simple but once you get started you will quickly see how long the one minute intervals can seem. Have more than 15 minutes? Do it twice!
15 minute total body workout
Set a timer and do each exercise for 1 minute, no rest in between. After completing all exercises, rest for 2 minutes and repeat.
Jump squats
Start in a squat position with your fingertips touching the ground. Hop up off the ground as high as you can and land back in your squat position. A modification to this exercise is to take the hop out and simply do squats.
Wide arm push ups
Set your palms on the ground about 3 inches away from each shoulder. Lower down to the ground and back up. If a modification is needed, do the wide armed push ups from your knees.
Mountain Climbers
From plank position, alternate bringing your knees into your chest as quickly as you can. If you tire, slow your pace down but try and keep moving.
Tricep dips
Placing your palms behind you, lower down so your elbows point out straight behind you. To make this exercise harder, move your feet out straight in front of you. If this bothers your wrists, use hand weights to do standing tricep raises above your head.
Skaters
Starting in the position below, in a small squat with your left leg forward and your right leg behind. Jump sideways to the right, landing with your right leg forward and your left leg behind you. Repeat several times for the one minute interval, increasing speed and height as you get more comfortable with the movement.
Spidermans
Starting from a plank position, bring your left knee up to meet your left tricep, turning your head back to look as they meet. Repeat and the right side and continue alternating sides for the minute interval.
A Dietitian’s Stance on Supplements
Post by Paula Jahn, Dietitian and Co-owner at Nourish Northwest
I was going to write a blog post on my most frequently asked questions as a registered dietitian. The worth of dietary supplements is probably at the top of that list. So, I decided to devote an entire post to this topic. There are varying views on this within the health profession and even within the field of dietetics. This is my opinion based on what I know from research and what fits into my philosophy of food and nutrition. And like most things in the world of nutrition, my answer to the supplement question is ever-changing and lands somewhere in the gray.
Besides being a potential waste of money, below are the main reasons I advise against vitamin and mineral supplements for most people (exceptions always apply).
Supplements are not regulated. Unlike medications, there is no governing body that oversees the production of dietary supplements. A corrupt company could very well put sugar (or worse) in a pill, slap a health claim on the bottle and sell that product at the local drug store. There are some companies that choose to go through a voluntary verification process to ensure the quality, purity, and potency of their product. The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention is a private company that tests products and verifies them. I tell clients who take supplements to look for USP on the label.
Scientific research is limited. Rigorous clinical trials have been conducted on many vitamins and mineral supplements. While some studies show a link between certain supplements and health outcomes (e.g.,vitamin D and calcium for bone health), most studies are inconclusive at best or even show a harmful effect. A study conducted in 2008 was stopped short when researchers discovered that vitamin E and selenium actually increased the risk of prostate cancer in men. Similarly, the CARET study was stopped ahead of schedule in January 1996 because participants who were randomly assigned to receive vitamin A supplements were found to have a 28% increase in incidence of lung cancer, a 17% increase in incidence of death and a higher rate of cardiovascular disease mortality compared with participants in the placebo group.
Gives license to continue unhealthful eating habits. This isn’t always the case, but some people are looking for a magic pill for health and resist making significant changes in lifestyle. We know that the foundation of health is a balanced diet full of plants (fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes) and physical activity. There is not a pill or a combination of pills that comes close to the power of those two things.
While I’m not against a person taking a multi-vitamin as a sort of “insurance policy,” I do think that most people can get adequate nutrients from food. When vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants are obtained through food, there is the added benefit of fiber and other nutrients that accompany the whole food. There is a mysterious synergy that exists when nutrients are absorbed together in their natural form; I don’t think that manufacturers will ever be able to mimic that magic.