Happiness is...

fresh air, playing with a sweet 4 year old boy, running with a gluten-free body, exploring new foods, spending precious moments talking with my 92 year old grandmother and waking up every day in awe of how I have discovered an amazing new career where I can help people change their lives through nutrition and self-care. I am so lucky! January has been an amazing month of change and discovery. One of the biggest changes for me of course has been going gluten-free. I am surprised how living in a city like Portland makes this an easy transition. I feel like I am surrounded by delicious gluten-free options at the store AND at many restaurants. When I order gluten-free they don't even blink twice or look at me weird. So wonderful. One of my New Year's Goals was to make sure I got more time outside. It is amazing how much better I feel when I can spend some time outside, taking slow, deep breathes, and enjoying the moment. It is great to be able to incorporate this fresh air time with exercise and I am ecstatic that I have started running again. Once again, yay for gluten-free body!
In less than a week I head off to Miami to join almost 3,000 Integrative Nutrition students and graduates. I am so excited to listen to speakers, make connections and come back energized to put all my ideas and plans for my business into action. Look for more cooking classes, a Menu of Services with different levels of health coaching and many more fun ways to enhance your life that I have up my sleeve! :) I know that 2011 is going to be the best year yet and I hope you will join me as I help others pave for the way for a life filled with health and happiness.

Goodbye Gluten

Well, just as I had suspected for a while, I found out yesterday that I am indeed gluten intolerant. It is interesting that I don't feel bummed out or upset, mostly because I was glad that it wasn't dairy!! I would have been crushed if I had to give up my beloved cheese (although I do eat much less dairy than I used to). So today was my first full day being gluten free (g-free). I feel lucky to leave in the city of Portland because of New Seasons and especially living only 15 minutes from Bob's Red Mill. I am looking forward to exploring new grains, baking some new bread and getting used to this new way of eating. Today was pretty easy I must admit. I enjoyed a delicious lunch out with my coworkers at Thai Noon on Alberta St. Gluten free is available and just simply had to ask my server to make sure my Pad Thai was g-free. Easy as pie, and super yummy. I stopped at New Seasons on my way home from work for my first true g-free shopping experience. Although I have dabbled in certain g-free products I have never set out to buy all g-free. I picked up a g-free chocolate chip cookie made by Sweet Pea Baking in SE Portland and it really was pretty good. Not as dry or tasteless as I was expecting, since I LOVE chocolate chip cookies. I think I could get used to it. Then I picked up some other tasty g-free snacks including Pirate Booty, Mary's Gone Crackers with some goat cheese and of course some fruit and veggies.
As I walked by the food sampling counter (one of the best parts about New Seasons!) I was pleasantly surprised to see them demoing an Amish Gorgonzola Mac n' cheese g-free style!! I was excited and even more excited when it was super yummy. I snagged the recipe and walked around picking up all the ingredients to make for tonight's dinner. Now, I certainly don't make mac n' cheese often  given all the butter, milk and cheese but we all need a little comfort food every now and then! Life's too short to never indulge and for me tonight seems like a great night for an indulgence in my new g-free kitchen. Here is the fabulous recipe and even some pics of my delicious dish.

Amish Gorgonzola Mac n' Cheese

1 lb pasta ( I used Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta Shells)
1/2 stick butter (yea baby!)
4 T flour (brown rice flour for me)
4 cups milk (they called for whole, I used 2%)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup Amish Gorgonzola
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used Glutino Gluten Free Breadcrumbs)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook pasta according to directions then set aside. In the meantime, melt butter in medium sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in flour with a whisk and cook for 2-3 minutes, whisking the whole time. Lower heat and whisk in the milk quickly, being sure not to create lumps. Cook, stirring constantly until thickened then stir in cheeses, continuing to stir until melted. In a greased 9 x 13 pan pore cheese mixture over the pasta. Add the salt, pepper and breadcrumbs. Bake in the oven about 25 minutes until browned on top and bubbly. Enjoy!

Mmm, mmm good!! My husband scooped some out before I could take a picture! :) He couldn't even tell it was g-free. Yay! Victory.

Sugar, Sugar, Sugar

Did the title of this post grab your attention? Great, now that I have you reading lets talk about sugar. Sugar is a weakness for many of us, some an uncontrollable craving. Many times when people try to sugar detox, eat less sugar or cut it out completely, it fails after a while because they feel deprived. One of the hardest parts of eating less sugar is that it seems to be in most any processed food we come across today whether at the food store, restaurant or in TV commercials. We are surrounded, so of course it is hard to not give in! Most of the time we don't even realize that the powers of packaging and marketing are pulling us in and making it almost impossible to avoid these foods. The good news is that we can make changes in our lives that help us combat these cravings. If you would like to learn more about why we crave sugar and how to beat it join me for my Sugar Blues Workshop. Check out the events page on my website at: http://healthybody-happylife.com/.

My Whole Foods Focus

Happy New Year! I am excited for 2011 and all this new year has to bring. To start the year off right, I have been thinking of my after the holiday January food plan. I looked into many cleanses, detoxes etc. and finally decided that my focus is going to be on whole foods and keeping it simple. Instead of focusing too much on what I shouldn't eat, I am going to try new recipes, have fun and focus on all the beautiful vegetables and fruit I can have. As I begin to see clients this month I feel that this is most inline with what I will be coaching my clients to do to start the year off right. I do plan to do the 3 day Holiday "Detox" I posted previously (http://health.yahoo.net/experts/joybauernutrition/holiday-detox)* starting tomorrow to jump start my body back into healthy, whole food way of eating. I like that it is easy to follow and filled with antioxidant rich foods. My goal is to avoid processed foods, limit dairy intake, avoid sugar (except for sugar in fruit) and no alcohol for the month of January. I think this plan will help to increase my energy and really boost my immune system. What's your plan?

*I am making a few changes to the morning Protein Power smoothie. I am not using the vanilla protein powder since I just want to use whole foods. I am adding 1 T Chia seeds instead to provide some protein and a handful on kale. Everything else for the rest of the day I am doing the same