by Melanie Albert, Nutrition Expert, Author, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition

While so many of us have believed that protein must come from meat, poultry and cheese, there are other great sources of protein that are good for you.  

A Simple Protein Chart

Protein Grams per 100 Gram (3.53 ounce) servings

• 30.2  Pumpkin seeds
• 30.0  Pork                                   
  
• 30.0  Tuna                                  
  
• 29.3  Turkey                               
  
• 28.4  Nori  (Sea Vegetable)    
  
• 27.3  Salmon, Sockeye           
  
• 27.1  Chicken                            
  
• 26.9  Swiss cheese                  
  
• 26.7  Halibut                               
  
• 25.8  Lentils, raw                       
  
• 23.6  Kidney beans, raw           
  
• 22.5  Hemp seeds                     
  
• 21.6  Black beans, raw              
  
• 21.5  Dulse (Sea  Vegetable)   
  
• 21.4  Pinto Beans, raw              
  
• 21.2  Almonds                              
  
• 20.3  Pistachio nuts                    
  
• 19.3  Garbanzo beans, raw       
  
• 19.3  Sunflower seeds               
  
• 18.3  Flax seeds                          
  
• 18.2  Cashews                            
  
• 16.6  Soybeans                           
  
• 16.6  Inca Berries*                      
  
• 15.4  Cacao*                                
  
• 15.2  Walnuts                               
  
• 14.1  Quinoa, uncooked             
  
• 13.0  Goji Berries*                       
  
• 12.4  Cottage cheese, 1% fat    
  
• 3.4   Milk, non-fat                          
  
• 3.3   Soymilk                                 
  

Source: USDA National Nutrient Database

* Not in USDA Database

The point is not to memorize this chart, but to notice good sources of protein, which are comparable to the level of protein in meat, and to add some of these foods to your diet.

• Seeds
• Fish
• Beans
• Nuts
• Quinoa (one of our favorite grains!)
• Berries
  

Take Action: Which new protein are you going to eat this week?

by Melanie Albert, Nutrition Expert, Author, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, Certified Health Coach

This simple way of shopping and cooking is an excerpt from the upcoming e-book: Experience Nutrition for Winter: 31 Simple Day-by-Day Steps for Healthy Eating

Shop Local & Let your Food Inspire your meal.

A great way to create a food-inspired dish is to buy a variety of fresh local produce and create your meal from those ingredients.

3 simple ideas to enjoy the local Arizona collard greens, dandelion greens, spaghetti squash, golden beets and yellow and red tomatoes.

1. Raw. Eat them raw, maybe add a little organic extra virgin olive oil with lemon, along with some sea salt.

2. Juice. Put the veggies in your juicer. Add ginger for a fresh taste.

3. Bake. Bake the golden beets drizzled with olive oil. Bake spaghetti squash in some water, drizzled with olive oil and black pepper. Saute collards and tomatoes in olive oil and garlic. Plate the spaghetti squash, top with beets and collards and tomatoes stir-fry. Top with goat cheese.

Action: Buy some local greens, roots, tomatoes and a squash, and create the meal that's right for you.

by Melanie Albert, Nutrition Expert & Author, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition Group, Certified Health Coach

Working on the soon to be released, NEW e-book, "Experience Nutrition for Winter", so I'm sharing with you the philosophies that guide the book. There will be clear step-by-step daily nutrition tips to add simple nutrition and healthy eating to your life to reach your goals with lots of recipes and accompanying food photos.

Experience Nutrition Guiding Philosophies

• This is not a diet. It’s a lifestyle. You will not count calories, or grams. We hope you will incorporate some good for you food into your life, for life.
  

• Add in to crowd out. We invite you to gradually enjoy new healthy foods. We will not tell you to get rid of “unhealthy foods”. Our hope is that you “add in” some of the “better” foods and over time you will “crowd out” the unhealthy foods.

• Enjoy your favorite foods. We invite you to really enjoy your favorite foods. If you really love a certain snack, please eat it. And, most importantly, enjoy eating it. Use the 80/20 rule. Eat healthy 80% of the time. The other 20% don't worry about it.
  

• Anti-inflammatory way of eating. Food in the Experience Nutrition is all based on the sound theory around foods that reduce inflammation in the body, root cause of many diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes.

• Food and life. Life affects food. Food affects Life. Think about it.
  

• Eat what’s right for you. We are all different. Different food likes, different heredity, different levels of exercise. Different ages and stages in life. Use Experience as a Foundation, and create what’s right for you.

How to Use the Simple Recipes

• Recipes are suggestions, you can mix and match.  For instance in a “roots” recipe, you can us any roots (carrots, golden beets, turnips). In a “whole grain” recipe, you can use your favorite whole grains (millet, brown rice, oats, kasha, wild rice) and can mix different whole grains.

• You will learn how to quickly prepare delicious meals. Recipes are very simple. You’ll start with fresh ingredients, a few herbs or spices and olive oil.The e-book includes step-by-step photos to make cooking healthy very easy to learn.

ACTION: Please let me know if you have any specific recipe requests for this book. Here's a link to our Experience Nutrition page on Facebook. Thanks!

by Melanie Albert, Nutrition Expert and Author, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition

Do you eat sugar every day?  When you start eating sugar do you want more? Do you crave sugary food? Can you go a day without sugar? Do you eat 20-30 teaspoons of sugar a day?

Maybe you are addicted to sugar.

Adults in the US eat 22 teaspoons of added sugar a day and teens eat 34 teaspoons a day. This is sugar and sweeteners added to foods during processing, preparation or at the table. This compares to the 6 teaspoons for women and 9 teaspoons for men recommended by the USDA.

Eating too much sugar is part of an addictive cycle. When you eat sugar, it's quickly digested and burned, and it causes peaks and valleys in your energy level that leaves you craving more.

Most of the added sugar comes from soft drinks, candy and processed foods. Take a look at the added sugar in a few of the most popular beverages:

• Coke Classic   12 oz         16 teaspoons
• Rock Star        16 oz         15 teaspoons
• Red Bull          8.3 oz        7 teaspoons

ACTION: Track how much added sugar you eat this week. Look at the labels on the foods you eat and see how much added sugar you are really eating.

Next Blog: How to get rid of sugar cravings with roots.

by Melanie Albert, Nutrition Expert and Author, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition

Earlier this week, I posted that I will be screened for Celiac Disease.  For the next 4 weeks, I'll be eating gluten foods twice a day. (So far I've eaten whole wheat berries and spelt, quickly cooked in my rice cooker.)

For those of you who what to either eat gluten or stay away from gluten, here's your quick list of the gluten grains:

Wheat. Barley. Rye. Wheat. Barley. Rye. Wheat. Barley. Rye.

If you have celiac disease or are sensitive  to wheat, avoid the following grains:

• Wheat (all forms)
• Barley
• Rye
• Triticale (hybrid of wheat and rye)

Forms of wheat:  Bulgur, couscous, durum, einkorn, farro, kamut, semolina, spelt, wheat berries, wheat bran, wheat germ

ACTION: Gluten is in many cereals, breads, crackers and cookies, so read labels carefully.

by Melanie Albert, Nutrition Expert and Author, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition

Yesterday, when I went to my doctor's office for the pre-appointment for a routine (baseline) colonoscopy, we talked about my sensitivity to gluten that I discovered while in school at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

To be sure that I do not have celiac disease, I decided to get tested for this auto-immune disease. It's a simple blood test, but I must eat gluten foods about twice a day for a month. This is a big change from my 97% gluten-free diet over the last 5 years. I'm starting today with wheat berries (cooking in my rice cooker right now).

Celiac disease is a lifelong digestive disorder that affects one out of 100 people, and has increased an estimated 4 times over the last 50 years. Some say this increase may be due to the increasingly high levels of gluten and wheat in our diet.

When people with celiac disease eat foods containing gluten (a natural protein), it creates a toxic reaction from the immune system that causes damage to the small intestine, particularly loss of tiny protrusions (villi) in the small intestine, and does not allow nutrients from food to be absorbed properly.

Symptoms: Celiac disease can be hard to diagnose (and is often not diagnosed) since those with it may have no symptoms or a wide variety of symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal bloating and pain, weight loss, anemia, failure to grow (in children), fatigue, malnutrition, osteoporosis, bone pain, and depression.

Action:  Go completely gluten-free is a must for those with celiac disease. Even small amounts of gluten can affect people with celiac disease. 

by Melanie Albert, Nutrition Expert and Author, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition.

For the past 25 years I have been eating organic and strongly recommend organic to friends, family, clients, and audiences. I remember when I first started eating organic, it was hard to find organic food and many of my friends and family thought I was nuts. My Dad kept saying organic-smorganic (whatever that means) and kept shaking his head and saying, that I'm wasting my money on organic.

Anyway, I choose to spend my money on organic, and am glad that organic is more available than it was 25 years ago. I totally believe that organic is better for us, based on one of the simple keys of the USDA definition of organic: No pesticides, Not Genetically Modified

Top 5 Reasons to Eat Organic

1.       No pesticides

2.       Not genetically modified

3.       More nutritious

4.       Taste better

5.       Better for our environment

Action: Please Eat organic today!

by Melanie Albert, Nutrition Expert and Author, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition

2011 went by so fast that I can hardly remember the year. So I decided to add an early morning process or ritual to help me really be aware and appreciate 2012 and to accomplish my goals this year.

Hopefully, this process (or your version of this process) will help you feel grateful for where you are in your life and to stay focused to accomplish your goals.

Early in the morning, when you are not quite awake, grab your journal or notebook and answer the following:

Step 1: I am grateful for: List as many as come to you._______________________

Step 2: Now, what is your ah ha for today?  What intuitively comes to your mind for today? _______________________

My morning ah ha's so far this year:

 

• The best year ever
  
• Think big
• Action: Step by step to reach goals
• New health for me (ie. Cardio & weights)
• BIG Action
• Make every day count
• Balance work and self care

Step 3: What is your ONE Action for today? ______________________________

Yes, you may have more than one action that you’d like to accomplish, but what is your #1 top focus and priority.

Importantly, I like my mix of work and self care, which is a key focus for me in 2012. Some of mine so far this year:

• Join gym
• Women’s doctor appointment
• Conceptualize new project with new Marketing Expert
• Phone calls with some former NFL guys

ACTION: Add this Morning Ritual, to your day, enjoy 2012 and accomplish your goals!

 

by Melanie Albert, Nutrition Expert and Author, Founder & CEO, Experience Nutrition, an Official Health & Wellness Partner NFL Alumni

6 awesome reasons why you should eat a banana a day.

Inspired by these cute, little, sweet bananas.

• Energy Boost. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. The carbohydrates in bananas, which replace glycogen (stored glucose), is used for fuel for muscles.
• Good for heart. Bananas contain a high dose of potassium, essential for muscle contraction, including the heart.
• Blood pressure. Again, bananas are high in potassium (yet low in salt), The US Food & Drug Administration has allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit’s ability to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.
• Dehydration and fatigue. Potassium helps the body maintain fluid balance, the mechanism by which cells are nourished and cleansed. The lack of potassium is a main cause of fatigue, muscle cramping and dehydration. 
• Sports Tonic. The potassium and magnesium makes it a near perfect sports food for those lactic acid related muscle cramps.
• Constipation. Bananas are good source of fiber, which can help with constipation.

Action. It's simple. Eat a banana today!

by Melanie Albert, Nutrition Author and Expert, Founder & CEO Experience Nutrition, an Official Health & Wellness Partner NFL Alumni

It's goal setting time of the year. As many of you know, one of my passions is helping people get clear, so you can live the life of your dreams and totally live your passion. So you can wake up each and every day with a feeling of joy and happiness, doing what you love to do.

This week, I’ve been focusing on simple profound exercises to help you get clear. Some of these are the same exercises that we use when we do live events and speaking engagements.

Here we go. As always, grab your pen and paper, find a quiet place to sit, take a few deep breaths.  Now answer the following questions quickly and intuitively with a focus on business.

• Describe your ideal business in one word: _____________________

• Describe your ideal business in 2 words: _________________   __________

• Describe your ideal business in 3 words: ____________   __________    __________

• Write a paragraph about your ideal business. The sky is the limit.  Dream Big. Be Optimistic. Whatever comes to mind. What does it look like? What does it feel like? Who are you doing it with? Where are you? Why are you doing this business?

• How do you feel as you are writing about your ideal business?

Please visit us on ourExperience Nutrition Page on Facebook and share your ideal business with us. Have fun getting started to live your passion!