Ditch the Dips!

When I was walking down the canned goods aisle the other day with my parents, I saw that cannellini beans were on sale so I had to pick some up! I wanted to make my own hummus to bring back to my apartment at school and knew that I didnt have a food processor there, so it had to be made here. Hummus is very easy to make and a very nutritious snack. It's a lot healthier than breaking out sour cream based dips at parties, or for a midday snack with something crunchy. Not only is hummus a good dip, but it can also be mixed into salads and used as a dressing, put on top of grilled meat to add some flavor, and even replace mayo in your sandwiches. There are endless possibilities with hummus!

Besides being mighty tasty, hummus is also high in protein and healthy fats. Cannellini beans have 6g of protein per half cup serving! Perfect for anyone on a meatless diet trying make sure you're getting enough protein. Hummus is also made, most of the time, with extra virgin olive oil. Olive oil is high in one of the heart healthy fats called Monounsaturated fat. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can help to reduce LDL cholesterol levels in the body, which can reduce the risk for heart disease.  

Next time you're trying to decide what to bring to a family gathering, or just want to make something tasty to snack on- Turn to Hummus! Delicious, easy, and nutritious too! 

When you make your own hummus, you can decide what type of bean you want to make it with! I like my hummus made with cannellini beans, but some may like it with chickpeas or even kidney beans. Why not try this recipe a few times with different beans!  Here is the recipe I used to make it!

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil, divided

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced 

2 cans (15 oz. each) white beans (I used cannellini beans), drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons kosher salt

3 sprigs fresh rosemary, rinsed

Preparation

1.  In a 10-inch frying pan over medium heat, stir half the olive oil and the 2 cloves garlic until fragrant, being careful not to brown garlic, about 1 minute. Pour the oil and garlic into a food processor. Wipe out the pan and set aside.
2. Add white beans, lemon juice, and salt to the food processor and whirl until smooth. Pour into a serving bowl.
3. Return the frying pan to medium heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and the rosemary sprigs. Warm the rosemary in the olive oil until fragrant, about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally so the rosemary doesn't burn. Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes.
4. Set the rosemary aside and drizzle the olive oil over the bean dip. Mince one teaspoon of the rosemary leaves and sprinkle over the dip.
5. Do-ahead tips: Make dip up to 2 days ahead. Store dip in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Bring dip to room temperature before serving. Prepare the rosemary oil right before serving.

Thank you diningwithadinergirl.blogspot.com for this great recipe!

Tots with a Twist! (Picky Eater Approved)

We love tater tots in my house. We could eat a whole bag of them if we didn't care about the nutrient content of them. This recipe I found makes tater tots, with a twist! Instead of potatoes, I shredded up some zucchini. Zucchini is a very versatile vegetable. It can be fried into chips, chopped into a salad, or sauteed as a side dish. My dad actually introduced my mom to zucchini when they first got married. My mom was a very picky eater when she was younger, and it didn't help that my grandma would mostly serve meat, potatoes, and corn or peas for dinner. Mom was pleasantly surprised by this dish, and went back for seconds and thirds! You, just need 10 minutes to prep and 20 minutes to roast in the oven, and you have a tasty and easy side dish even picky eaters will love! Its really important to get as much water as possible rung out of the tots to help them crisp up.

These are the tots before they went into the oven!

The recipe was adapated from Skinny Taste

INGREDIENTS:

• cooking spray
• 1 packed cup grated zucchini
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 medium onion, minced
• 1/4 cup grated reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt and black pepper to taste

I added a little bit of chile powder to add a little kick to these too. Instead of the salt, you can substitute it for Garic Salt which will enhance the flavor as well

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.  Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Grate the zucchini into a clean dish towel until you have 1 packed cup.  Wring all of the excess water out of the zucchini, there will be a lot of water. In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients and season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Spoon 1 tablespoon of mixture in your hands and roll into small ovals. Place on the cookie sheet and bake for 16 to 18 minutes, turning halfway though cooking until golden. Makes 16.

NUTRITION INFORMATION

Yield: 3 servings, Serving Size: 5 tots

• Amount Per Serving:
• Smart Points: 3
• Points +: 3
• Calories: 108
• Total Fat: 4.3g
• Saturated Fat: g
• Cholesterol: mg
• Sodium: 262mg
• Carbohydrates: 11.5g
• Fiber: 2g
• Sugar: 2g
• Protein: 7g
• 
  

Read more at http://www.skinnytaste.com/zucchini-tots/#5tkJbVtmdtR5W5wx.99

Get Some Sleep- New Years Resolution Series

When doing a nutrition assessment, one question a dietitian will ask is "How many hours of sleep do you get each night?. We aren't just asking this to see if you go to bed at a decent hour! We are asking this to make sure you are getting enough rest to help your body recover from today to prepare for tomorrow. While you're asleep, your brain cleans house; it gets rid of toxic byproducts and helps file away new memories into your brain. Your brain is repairing, helping your body grow, and release hormones. Without adequate sleep, your body can't try to keep you healthy and ready for the next day! Everyone shoudl strive for 7-9 hours of sleep a night, and this definitely should be a part of your health and wellness resolution.

Tips to sleep better-

1. Try to go to sleep and get up at the same time everyday
2. Get as much natural sunlight as possible
3. Move vigorously during the day—don't sit for more than an hour
4. Limit caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, and big meals at night
5. Take time for relaxing activities before sleep
6. Create a calm and restful sleep environment

Follow these steps and you'll be sleeping like a baby! 

Drink More Water- New Years Resolution Series

Through my Community Nutrition internship this past fall semester, I have seen a variety of nutrition presentations directed towards adults and the aging. I gave a presentation on high blood pressure, talked about food safety, worked a health fair table about MyPlate, taught proper portion sizes, and choosing better beverages. The presentation I enjoyed the most and thought the audience got the most out of was, Water-The Better Beverage Choice. After reflecting on my semester and presentations I have given, I thought that this was one of the most important topics I talked about.

Soda and sweetened drinks are everywhere. They are in the check-out line at Wegmans, sitting in the aisle at Home Depot, and at children's eye level in gas stations and rest stops. They are sweet, fruity, fizzy, and oh so addicting. BUT, soda and sweetened beverages are the common downfall of people's diets and healthy habits. I'm not saying that you need to cut out soda and sweetened beverages from your diet completely. I am asking that, maybe, you switch a few of your sodas or sweet teas to water. Better yet, let's make it fruit infused water.

It is proven that the human body cannot go more than 3 days without water, and it is true that we do get some of our water from foods we eat, as well as other beverages like milk, tea and coffee. But that doesn't mean that we are getting enough of it! The human body needs about 30mL/kg of body weight daily. Here's how to figure out how much you need-

Take your weight and divide it by 2.2 to find out your weight in kilograms
135/2.2=61.36 kg

Take your weight in kilograms and multiply it by 30 to get the ammount of mililiters you need
61.36 x 30= 1840 mL

Then divide that number by 240 (which the is amount of mL in a cup)
1840/240=7.67c

So, if you weigh 135 pounds, you need 7  2/3 cups of water each day to ensure that you are hydrated!

If you want to drink something more flavorful without sacraficing up tons of empty calories, cut up some of your favorite fruits and put them into your water! There are water bottles at stores like Target and Walmart that have special compartments in them to diffuse the fruit flavor into your water. The best part about this is, is that your getting all the antioxidants and vitamins from the fruit!

Here are some of my favorite infused water mix-ins
-cucumber and mint
-watermelon and basil
-strawberries, blueberries and raspberries
-orange, lemon and lime
-cherry and lime

You can use frozen fruit instead of fresh to cut cost, and keep your water cold
Get creative as you like! I've even seen someone out jalapenos and pineapple in their water! This will cut sugar and calories off your diet, and help keep you healthy!

Quick Dinner Tonight!

 

Trying to come up with something for dinner that the whole family will love and that is nutrient dense too? Check out this recipe! I was perusing Pinterest the other day and found this recipe. I love P.F. Chang's, especially their lettuce wraps. So when I saw that I could make them at home, I got very excited! My roommate and I headed to the grocery store after class to pick up the ingredients and get started. We are both nutrition majors, so we are both very health conscious individuals and love when we find tasty recipes that are very nutritious too! The only changes we made to this recipe was we used ground turkey instead of ground chicken, and we did not have any soy sauce (what travesty!), so we put a little extra of the hoisin and rice wine vinegar. We were going to use romaine for the wrap part of the dish, but we could not find any that did not look old. Some possible additions to the recipe could be chopped carrots or maybe some snow peas to add color. Pair it with rice and you have a balanced dinner!

PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps

Yield 4 servings                    Prep Time- 10 Minutes               Cook Time- 10 Minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha, optional
• 1 (8-ounce) can whole water chestnuts, drained and diced
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 head butter lettuce

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add ground chicken and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the chicken as it cooks; drain excess fat.
2. Stir in garlic, onion, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger and Sriracha until onions have become translucent, about 1-2 minutes.
3. Stir in chestnuts and green onions until tender, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
4. To serve, spoon several tablespoons of the chicken mixture into the center of a lettuce leaf, taco-style.

This recipe was obtained from damndelicious.net

Setting SMART Goals-New Years Resolution Series

With the new year approaching, most of America is thinking of what their New Years Resolution will be. Whether its to lose weight (like a lot of resolution goals), to eat more at home, to meal prep for the week ahead, or just be a better person, everyone has a goal in mind. That goal, however, may not be realistic. For example, I have heard and see some people say that their goal is to lose 30 pounds in a month. Sorry guys, that's not going to happen, at least not a safe way nor would you keep it off! When setting goals they must be S.M.A.R.T. Saying you are going to lose 30 pounds in a month is outrageous! Us dietitians, and doctors too, support a weight loss of 10% of the starting weight within 6 months. So, if you were 150 pounds, a reasonable goal would be to lose 15 pounds, and keep it off, within 6 months. Let's look at how to make S.M.A.R.T. goals-

S-Specific
Your goals have to be specific. A specific goal has a much better chance of being accomplished, than a very general goal. When making sure your goal is specific, you can ask yourself-Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How? Here's an example
Who-Me and My family
What- Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables
When-At lunch and dinner
Why- My brother isn't the biggest fan of fruits and vegetables, and they are not always served at meals
How-Buy more fresh fruits and vegetable when we go grocery shopping, and finding more recipes that incorporate fresh fruits and vegetables.

M-Measurable
Establishing measurable goals helps to hold yourself accountable and make sure you are on track to meeting your goal. Its best to set mini goals within your goal, for example-start with incorporating fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet 2x a week within the first 3 weeks. Once you reach that, you can bump it up to 3x a week, 4x a week and so on. To determine if your goals measurable, ask yourself -How much/How many? How will I know when I've accomplished this goal?

A-Attainable
Goals must be attainable and realistic. If its not possible, it won't be met. Saying you will lose 30 pounds in a month is not attainable. Nor is it realistic. Saying you will go from eating zero fresh fruits and vegetables to eating them 3x a day every day is not attainable. Establishing steps to reach the goal and a time frame can help to make sure your goal can be reached. Setting little goals can help you to reach the major goal at the end of the road.

R-Realistic
To be a realistic goal, it must represent an objective of something you are willing and able to work toward. If I do not like a certain type of fruit, it would be silly of me to that I am going to eat it every day, or least multiple times a week. It can be a very high goal, but still reachable. The mini goals I talked about in the previous letter can help to make sure you reach your realistic goal. You must ask yourself, is my goal realistic? If not, then think of a new one! 30 pounds in one month is not realistic!

T-Timely
Your goal should have a time frame. Without a time frame, there is no sense of urgency to reach the goal. If you want to lose weight, or increase fruit and vegetable consumption, when are you going to do this by? Saying it'll happen someday means it'll never happen at all!

SMART goals are the best goals!

Also, this is the first post of a series I am doing on New Years Resolutions. Check back next week for

How to Lighten your Starbucks Order!

Over the past year and a half, when I am home on breaks from school or on summer vacation I work at a local Starbucks as a Barista. With this experience, I have come to learn how energy dense a lot of the drinks are. And when I say energy dense, I mean that a 12 ounce drink can be upwards of 300 calories! Now thats a lot of calroies to be spending on a little afternoon treat, especially if it won't keep you full until dinner time.

One of the beauties of Starbucks is that you can customize your drink anyway you'd like, and I'll make it order! Pretty sweet deal for the customers, especially if they don't like a certain flavoring or milk in a drink. All of the customizations I see, are pretty ingenius. I've had people ask me to make red velvet Frappuccinos, salted caramel mocha coffee, and even froot loops flavored lattes. However, a lot of these customizations add extra calories that can be a burden to the waistline. But they don't have to be! I'm here to show you that you can still have a delicious drink from Starbucks, without ruining all the nutritious eating you've been doing.

First, lets talk about their most popular drinks, besides just plain coffee-Frappuccinos!

-Frappuccinos are by far the most calorie laden item on the menu, but they don't have to be. A standard Frappuccino comes with whole milk, which has 160 calories per 1c and 8 grams of fat. A Venti Frappuccino has more than a cup of whole milk in it! Cut back the calories and fat by asking for it to be made with skim milk or even a mix of skim and 1%. Frappuccinos can also be made with a light base, which makes it blend easier. Switching from the normal Frappuccino base to the light base with cut calories down by a decent margin. Another thing that can help cut sugar content is by either asking for the sugar free syrups for the drink, or asking for less pumps of the syrup. In a large Frappuccino there are 4 pumps of syrup, which is equivalent to 4 tablespoons of syrup. Cutting down on pumps or switching to sugar-free syrups can cut down on sugar content without sacraficing flavor! You can also add protein powder to any Starbucks drink to up the nutrient content and add some fiber to your beverage. 

Next, lets venture into Lattes and Cappuccinos

-Lattes have some similar changes that the frappuccinos do. Lattes are standardly made with 2% milk, cut down on calories and fat by asking for it to be made with skim milk. Flavored lattes and cappuccinos contain the syrups that are made with sugar, like the mocha, vanilla, cinnamon dolce, peppermint, caramel, hazelnut, etc. Most of the syrups previously mentioned also have a sugar-free alternative. Starbucks has a Skinny Mocha, which is made with less sugar but still tastes great. They have sugar-free peppermint during the Christmas season to make great Skinny Peppermint Mochas. Most lattes also come with whipped cream, cut the calories and fat by asking of light whip or no whip at all. The whip usually melts into the drink and you can't really taste it then anyways! Asking for your latte to be iced also helps decrease calorie count because you are getting less milk and sugar in them due to the space taken up by the ice. 

Lastly, Teas and Hot Coffee

-During the summertime, Starbucks offers specialty Teavanna teas (Teavanna is Starbucks tea company). All of their shaken iced teas come with a a base tea of either, Black Tea, Green Tea or Passion Tea (which is their herbal tea). When ordering a tea, they will automatically sweeten it because that is the standard. If you're looking for something less sweet, ask for less pumps of classic syrup or flavored syrup or no syrup at all. You can also get lemonade mixed in with the tea, which will raise sugar and calorie content. If you really can't go without the sweetener or lemonade, ask for less lemonade or less pumps of the sweetener. You will still great the same great taste you love, but it'll have much less calories. 

-Hot Coffee does not come sweetened or with milk. If you want to sweeten your coffee up a bit to make it more drinkable, go for stevia or an artifical sweetener. If you want a specific flavor coffee, ask for the sugar-free syrup! When adding milk, add it slow and be sure to stir it and try it before you add more. By stirring it, you make the milk evenly distributed throughout the drink and will have a better idea if you have enough milk or not.  

Craving the full fat and full sugar version of your drink? Go for a smaller size! During the summer time Starbucks offers a mini Frappuccino which is only 10 ounces, 2 ounces less than the Tall. Hot drinks can also be made in the Short size cup, which is 8 ounces! The hot venti is 20 ounces; thats almost 3 cups of your beverage! And the cold drinks are either the 26 ounce Venti-over 3 cups, and the 30 ounce Trenta- about 3 and half cups! 

Next time you visit Starbucks, try to make some substitutions like the ones I have mentioned above. You will still get all the flavor you're looking for, without hurting your waist line or causing a stomach ache! 

Here some examples of how a little change in your order can result in a lot less calories, sugar and fat

 

 

 

All nutritional information was obtained from starbucks.com

Waist Circumference and Your Health

Some people are very fixated on what the scale says. They believe that if they are a certain weight, that they are unhealthy and that they are worthless and need a change. A scale is just a machine. It measures the force of gravity you exert on the earth. A number does not define you. Yes, I believe that everyone should live healthy and active lifestyles, but you don't need to tie a number to your health. I already know that when I am a practicing dietitian, I will not be weighing my patients unless it is absolutely necessary. People fear going to the doctor because they do not want to know what they weigh or what a doctor will say about their weight. We can make changes without tying a number to ourselves. By simply focusing on our eating and health habits, we can achieve goals. I personally do not step on the scale unless I absolutely need to. A better way to gauge health is to do waist circumference. Women should strive to have a waist circumference of 35 inches at most and men should have a waist circumference of 40 inches at most. Waist circumference can be a good predictor for being overweight and obese, and can help dietitians predict if you more likely to develop a disease. There are two main types of adiposity, Central adiposity and Gynoid adipostiy. Central adipostity is excessive amounts of fat around the abdominal area. When there is a significant amount of fat in the abdominal region, there is a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension. Less harmful but still bad is Gynoid adipostiy. This is where fat deposits around the hips and glutes; less harmful but still an issue. These two types help dietitians and physicians to describe where fat is gathering and storing on the body. Gauging waist circumference and adipostiy type can help you and a dietitian figure out an action plan to achieve your goals and become healthier.  

         
Want to figure out how healthy you are without stepping on the scale? Try measuring your waist circumference and figure out where you stand! Need help reaching your goals and making a change? Message me and we can get you on the right track!

A Workout For You!

As promised in my last post, today I am sharing my personal workout routine. For a while, I would find workout routines that would look interesting on Pinterest and from Women's Health Magazine, but I realized that they weren't working the best for me nor they weren't targeting what I wanted to work on. We have been learning in my weight lifting class about program design and how to make an effective program for a variety of clients. My own personal goals are to Increase Strength and Tone a bit. If you have the same or similar goals as I do, I highly recommend giving this workout a try. I've been doing it for the past two weeks and I feel great and am starting to see some great results! Cardio is to be done 4 days of the week for only 30 minutes each day. I recommend doing 15 minutes of moderate cardio before starting the exercises and then doing the last 15 minutes of cardio after the exercises are complete. The cardio in the beginning helps to warm up the body and muscle to perform the exercises, and the 15 minutes of cardio at the end helps to decrease the likelihood of soreness the next day. The cardio can be walking, jogging, biking, the elliptical, the stepper machine or anything else that will boost your heart rate. Mixing cardio and weight training exercises helps to tone the body and burn fat, while promoting muscle growth and strength. Be sure to refuel after your workout with a good dose of carbohydrates and proteins to replenish your energy stores and support muscle growth and repair. My go-to post workout snack is always a big glass of skim milk and a piece of toast with peanut butter! If you're interested in getting a workout customized to your goals, message me with your goals! Happy Sweating!

DAY 1
Back and Biceps	SETS	REPS
Bicep DB Curl	4	12
DB Hammer Curl	4	12
Cable Curls	3	10
Incline Bench Curls	4	10
Bicep 21s	3	7
Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns	4	12
Narrow Grip Lat Pulldowns	4	12
Bent Over Barbell Row	4	12
Seated Row	4	12
Supermans	3	12
30 Minutes of Moderate Cardio

DAY 2
Legs	Sets	Reps
Smith Machine Squats	4	10
Smith Machine Hack Squats	4	10
Leg Press	4	10
DB Side Lunges	3	12
Russian Split Squats	3	12
Goblet Squats	4	12
Seated leg Curl	4	10
Leg Extensions	4	10
Hip Abductor	3	15
Hip Adductor	3	15
Seated Calf Raises	3	15
Stiff Leg Deadlifts	3	15
Standing Calf Raises	3	15

DAY 3
Chest and Triceps	Sets	Reps
DB Chest Press	4	10
DB Flies	4	12
Incline DB Chest Press	4	10
Incline DB Flies	4	10
Decline DB Chest Press	4	10
Overhead Tricep Extensions	3	15
Skullcrushers	3	12
Rope Tricep Pulldowns	4	10
Tricep Kick Backs	4	10
Bench Dips	3	15
30 Minutes of Moderate Cardio

DAY 4

OFF

DAY 5
Shoulders and Abs	Sets	Reps
Military Overhead Press	4	10
Lateral DB Raises	4	10
Arnold Press	4	12
Upright Rows	4	10
Farmers Carrys	4	20 sec
Bent Over Rear Delt Reverse Fly	3	12
Russian Twists	3	40
Leg Raises	3	15
Weighted Decline Sit Ups	3	20
Reverse Cruch	3	15
Oblique Crunches	3	20  Each Side
30 Minutes of Moderate Cardio

DAY 6
Total Body	Sets	Reps
Jumping Jacks	4	20
Burpees	4	10
Kettle Bell Swings	3	15
Single Leg Dead Lift	3	12
Squat with Upright Row	4	12
Box Jumps	3	15
45 Minutes of Moderate Exercise DAY 7 Off Try this program and tell me what you think!

How Not to Over Indulge at Weekend Gatherings

The summer is a time of many family gatherings and cook-outs with friends; at least it is if you have a big family like mine. At such gatherings, there is normally a vast variety of appetizers, potato and pasta salads, and loads and loads of desserts. My family loves to cook, and of course, we love to eat! I love and hate going to the parties sometimes because I know I will have a lot of fun seeing my family and hanging out, but most of the time I over indulge. However, I have gotten better at choosing the most nutritious foods to eat there, without feeling like crap after! And that is what I want to help you with now.

First, lets start with the appetizer table

I love appetizers, however, they can be meal spoilers. When you eat too much of the snacky foods, you won't have enough room for the main course or dessert, but will still over-stuff yourself. When conquering the appetizer table I recommend staying away from eating too much of the baked, decadent dips with chips and greasy snacks that will leave feeling sticky and too full, and try to munch on mixed nuts, vegetable and hummus tray, fresh salsa and fruit. All of these snacks, and ones like them. will provide protein. This will satisfy some of your hunger, but leave room for the main dishes while providing vitamins and minerals which our body needs for growth and repair, and heart-healthy fats that can protect against heart disease and other issues. Stick with the colorful appetizers and your body will thank you!

The main dishes

This is where it can get tricky sometimes, but it doesn't have to be! When selecting which meat you're going to enjoy, go for what's grilled and have the sauces on the side. When the sauce is on the side, you can control how much you're having, rather than having so much sauce so that it ends up on your face! Grilling the meat helps to drain the fat off of it so you're cutting the calorie and fat content without sacrificing flavor. Pasta salad and potato salad can either be really nutritious, or packed with fat. Go for the salads that have an oil based dressing, rather than mayo or cream based. The oil in the dressing gives us healthy fats, and allows for more flavor of the ingredients to shine through. Lastly, green salads. Choose a salad that is made with dark leafy greens, not iceberg lettuce. Iceberg lettuce has no nutritional value, whereas dark leafy greens are full of vitamins and mineral like iron and B vitamins. Pick the dressings that are oil based to ensure you're having healthy fats and not saturated fat, and put the dressing on yourself! Not everyone likes salads drenched in ranch, put a little on yourself and if you need more than add accordingly.

Lastly, dessert time!

Just when you're getting too full to eat, the dessert table is brought out and suddenly, everyone's got a little extra room for something sweet. Try to choose something that has a variety of natural color (I'm not talking about a 3 layer cake with rainbow frosting!!). Make your own little parfait with fresh fruit, if available, and yogurt or pudding. Protein and antioxidant packed! Or, go for sorbet if offered. Its mostly water, fruit juice, sugar and maybe fruit chunks. Its a great way to cool off on a hot afternoon, without feeling too full afterwards.

You don't have to leave the party feeling guilty, too full, or with a food baby. Remember to treat yourself and have fun, but be conscious of what you're having!

-Emily