Making Healthy Smoothies – 3 common mistakes & how to fix them (recipes included)

by MarkPoppen | Jan 11, 2022 | Recipes, Wellness

Healthy smoothies can be a great choice for a quick meal. However, common mistakes can leave you unsatisfied and hungry way too soon. Follow these tips to get the most from your smoothie!

A popular go-to among many health enthusiasts smoothies can make a quick snack, meal, or post-workout boost. Healthy smoothies are a convenient way to pack a lot of nutrients into one easy to handle cup. However, depending on how you are making them, they can not be doing as much good as we would like. With out the right balance and mix of ingredients our smoothies can leave us missing out and even crashing. Getting the right balance is essential to reaching our health goals. What’s even more, you need to find the right fit for you! Not sure what you need?

Explore your unique and individual needs with a 1-to-1 nutrition session.

3 common smoothie mistakes and how to easily fix them!

1) Loading up on all the fruit and skipping the veggies: Now hear me out! I am not here to tell fruit is bad for you! Bananas and berries are known to be the stars of smoothies. They are loaded with fibre and antioxidants[i]. However, just like any good thing moderation is key. When we add cups of fruit to our smoothie, we are also adding loads of sugar. Without the proper balance (See the next point) this can leave us riding the sugar rollercoaster.

FIX: Instead of using just fruit in your smoothie, add in veggies for a lower sugar yielding source of carbohydrates. Many vegetables blend up well in a smoothie and can add an extra punch of nutrients. My favourite vegetables to add are greens or cauliflower, both fresh and frozen. I recommend adding them in a 1 to 1 ratio to fruit.

2) Not adding fat: One key to balanced energy is constructing macronutrient balanced meals. We need all macronutrients (protein, fats and carbohydrates) to achieve this. Smoothies are no different. It is not hard to forget the carbohydrates as fruit and vegetables are often the base for a smoothie. Protein often is any easy add in the form of a protein powder. But sometimes fat is forgotten. This can lead to the same sugar rollercoaster as in Mistake #1 and leave you missing out on all the benefits of healthy fats.

FIX: Don’t forget the fat! Fat is an energy dense macronutrient that can plays many roles within the body[ii]. Fats can keep us full for hours with minimal elevation in blood sugar. Fats help fight inflammation and are building blocks for hormones to keep us happy. Sources of healthy fats that are easy to add to a smoothie are avocado, nut or seed butters, coconut oil, and/or omega 3 oils. One of my all-time favourites is MCT oil. Not only will these add energy, but they can also lend a creamy texture for a win-win!

3) Forgetting the Fiber:

Today’s food system leaves many lacking in daily fiber intake. Refined and processed foods that are so prevalent in our grocery stores often have their fiber removed. Health Canada states, “Canadian women need 25 grams of fibre per day and men need 38 grams of fibre per day. Most Canadians are only getting about half that much” [iii]. Fibre is a non-digestible carbohydrate that help you feel full longer, slow the rise of blood sugar and can help with bowel regularity. While the fruit and vegetables blended into smoothies can be a good source of fibre, don’t miss out on this perfect opportunity to add an extra boost.

FIX: Mix in nutrient rich, high fibre foods like chia seeds or ground flax seeds for an easy added boost of fibre. Chia seeds are among the most nutrient rich foods on the planet. One serving of chia seeds contain 11 grams of fiber, not to mention 4 grams of protein and 9 grams of fat (with 5 grams being omega 3)[iv]. Ground flaxseeds are also good sources of fibre and healthy omega 3 fats[v]. Instead of relying on boring “fibre” cereals or drinking cups of supplement fibre with little added value, blend these nutrient rich options into your tasty smoothie!

Bonus Tip: Use your healthy smoothie as an opportunity to get in extra nutrients. Powdered probiotics, liquid vitamin D, and buffered vitamin C are regulars in our family smoothies. It is a great way to support the whole family in healthy eating with out fuss & fighting.

Healthy Smoothie Template

1 cup of unsweetened milk (coconut or almond milk)

1 scoop of protein powder (organic, bone broth or collagen)

½ cup of frozen or 1 cup of fresh greens or vegetables of choice

½ cup of fruit (berries, banana or pineapple)

1 tbsp of healthy fat (coconut oil, omega liquid or nut butter)

Add 1 or 2 tbsp of Fiber Add-ins: chia seed, hemp hearts, freshly ground flax seed, psyllium husks

Option #1- Berry Blast

1 cup of unsweetened milk (coconut)
1 scoop of protein powder
½ cup of frozen cauliflower
½ cup of fruit (berries- I use blueberries)
1 tbsp of healthy fat (nut butter)
Add 2 tbsp chia seed

Option #2- Tropical Green

1 cup of unsweetened milk (coconut)
1 scoop of protein powder
1 cup of fresh greens
½ cup of fruit (pineapple)
1 tbsp of healthy fat (coconut oil/ MCT oil)
Add 2 tbsp of freshly ground flax seed

Add ingredients all together. Blend until smooth. Adjust thickness by adding water.

References

[i] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-reasons-to-eat-berries

[ii] https://paleoleap.com/the-importance-of-fat/

[iii] https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/nutrients/fibre.html

[iv] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-proven-health-benefits-of-chia-seeds#section1

[v] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/benefits-of-flaxseeds

The Best Chocolate Black Bean Cupcakes

by MarkPoppen | Oct 27, 2021 | Recipes

These really are the best chocolate black bean cupcakes!

Even healthy eating can, and I might argue we should, include treats. Healthy eating doesn’t have to be bland or boring. And these cupcakes are just the proof you need! Now, if you are like me, trying to maintain a little healthy balance in your life, and want to pick a treat that is a little more health conscious… Then this chocolate black bean cupcake recipe it just what you are looking for! They are moist, decadent and delicious. Best of all? They ( your kids, spouse, neighbours or whoever) will never know they are made with BLACK BEANS!!!

This winning recipe checks all the boxes of a healthy and tasty treat.

Firstly, they are loaded with protein, fiber and lots of minerals and vitamins. The black beans in the recipe up the nutrient density and make these a perfectly healthy treat! Unlike refined grain based flours you find in most cupcakes, black beans contain minerals such as iron, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper, and zinc. These minerals are required for many functions in the body including healthy bone, blood cells, hormones and enzyme production to name a few. Their high fiber also help to slow the rise of blood sugar and keep our bowels moving regularly. In addition to high fiber and minerals beans contain B vitamins and phytonutrients that help with energy metabolism and reducing inflammatory molecules in your body such as homocysteine.

Secondly, they are delicious, versatile and kid approved! Beyond the health benefits of swapping out the grain based flour with black beans, these cupcakes can double as a muffin for a school snack or as a birthday cupcake with your favourite icing. It’s the best chocolate muffin I’ve had and whenever I take them to an event, I’m asked for the recipe. They are proof that healthy treats can still be great! These are a go to in my house.

What’s more is, these chocolate black bean cupcakes are grain free, gluten free and dairy free. But, don’t tell anyone!

They really are the best chocolate black bean cupcakes you find!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Black Bean Chocolate Cupcakes

Moist, delicious and decandent choclate cupcakes

Prep Time15

Cook Time22

Keyword: dairy free, gluten free, healthy snacks

Servings: 12

Author: MarkPoppen

Equipment

Blender
muffin pan
muffin pan paper liner
small bowl

Ingredients

15.5 ounce black beans (canned, reduced sodium, drained and rinsed)
4 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
5 tbsp coconut oil extra virgin
¾ cup cane sugar
5 tbsp cocoa powder dark is best
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place large paper liners in muffin pan.
Add black beans, 4 eggs, vanilla extract, sugar and coconut oil to the blend. Blend on high for 1-2 minutes until smooth.
In a small bowl gently mix cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.
Add dry ingredients to the blender.
Blend on high for another 1-2 minutes.
Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes until cupcakes are completely cooked. I find 22 minutes perfect.
Optional: Allow to cool completely before icing.
If using a mini muffin pan reduce baking time to 16-18 minutes.

Want to check out more healthy but also delicious recipes? Click here

Or follow Nina Lane Wellness on Facebook for more inspiration!

Healthy Habits to Take Your Health to the Next Level

by MarkPoppen | Sep 29, 2021 | Wellness

Health and ‘wellness’ can seem elusive, but the good news is you can use healthy habits can take your health to the next level. Media messages keep promoting the next ‘magic pill’, program or fad that supposedly will transform your health. Instead these quick fixes often leave us frustrated and with an empty wallet while finding our selves stuck, repeating old unhealthy habits. However, while bad habits have long-term consequences and can lead to disease, developing healthy habits can have long-term benefits such as improving our health and wellness so we can live better.

What you do daily matters

There are many reasons for wanting better health. Maybe your reason is fatigue, extra weight or a scary health scare. The leading causes of death worldwide are linked with the way a person or a group of people lives (1). Common lifestyle diseases are cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, hypertension and strokes as well as diabetes, obesity and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (linked with smoking). However, you can prevent many of these lifestyle disease and improve your health by addressing their root cause…your habits (2). Too much sitting, eating highly processed foods and not getting enough sleep are just some of the habits slowly killing us, one day at a time.

Transforming your health one habit at a time

Focusing on changing your health can be overwhelming, especially if you have tried before without success. Doing ‘ALL’ the things at once can be daunting. Thankfully there is a better way! We can embrace a goal of foundational wellness by building one healthy habit at a time. Foundational wellness is state of overall wellness and thriving, instead of just surviving, through the consistent implementation of health promoting habits for the purpose of improved health outcomes and long-term reduced disease risk. Because when we start with the end in mind by using healthy habits to take your health to the next level there is greater success. We can use healthy habits to slow and even reverse lifestyle disease. Form diet and exercise to sleep and stress management, we can target areas of health one at a time to accumulate healthy habits and better health.

Use healthy habits to take your health to the next level.

Are you ready to start the journey to foundational wellness so that you can stop just surviving and thrive? If so, join a community committed to finding better health and wellness in a sustainable way. You can support your success and reach your health goals with reliable guidelines and resources. Discover tips and recommendations that actually work to reach a variety of goals including eating healthier, managing your mindset or getting better sleep. Be inspired with new monthly recipes, teaching and connection with members who are on their unique but similar journey.

Join the The Next Level Wellness Community today and get started on transforming your health, one step at a time!

References:

Nutritional Therapy Consulting (A.K.A. Nutrition Consulting): What to Expect

by MarkPoppen | Sep 7, 2021 | Wellness

Not sure what to expect from nutritional therapy consulting?

Nutritional therapy consulting (a.k.a nutrition consulting) is a foundational approach to assessing your health and nutrition status so that you can take action to improve your health where it matters. It is designed to help you understand the symptoms you are experiencing so that you can make a plan to help you optimize your health. Nutrition consulting sessions educate and empower you to address underlying nutritional deficiencies and health concerns with the foundational approach of nutritional therapy. Whether you are looking for more energy, guidance on making healthy food choices, want to lose weight, or struggling with chronic health issues such as digestive, hormonal or autoimmune- you must start with the foundations and the beginning.

STEP 1 The first step is to figure out where you are and where you want to go.

Nutrition consulting starts with an initial assessment. In this first step your consultant uses a combination of interviewing and assessment tools to investigate and identify imbalances to help you get clear on how you can reach your goals. This helps you get clear your next steps, establish goals and guides in developing your personalized wellness plan.

An Initial Assessment includes some of or all the below depending on your needs as determined by you and your consultant:

The Interview is a series of questions that helps to get to know you and gathers information needed to understand your desires, reasons and goals so that we can find the right path for you.

The Nutri Q is an online nutritional assessment questionnaire. It is based on foundational principles of nutritional therapy. It links signs and symptoms to underlying imbalances and nutritional deficiencies helping to find priority areas where you need to take action to improve your health. The Consultation allows us to dig in and get clear. Using a combination of interviewing and assessment tools to identify and prioritize areas of concerns, establish goals and guide in developing your personalized wellness plan.

Additional objective assessment tools (optional):

Bio Resonance Scan: The ETA-Scan device is a computerized bio-energetic assessment with detailed graphic visualizations, that can detect the energetic conditions of the body’s physiology. With this assessment method, we can detect and evaluate imbalance and dysfunction in the body. This allows the practitioner to target the therapy to the most appropriate areas and visually chart the improvement and track direction of health. Functional Testing: Dig deeper with functional laboratory testing such as mineral or stool testing to bring objective perspective that allows us to target underlying imbalances contributing to DIS-ease.

STEP 2 Outline a clear path to help you reach your goals

Your personalized wellness plan

Based on our time together, your comprehensive health assessment and goal setting session, your personalized wellness plan will be tailored to your specific bio-individual needs. It will include recommendations for lifestyle and diet change ranging from sleep, exercise, when and what to eat. It may also include supplementation as needed (indicated in the assessment).

STEP 3 Build sustainable diet and lifestyle change.

The Food Journal and Meal Planning assessment gathers information on current dietary habits and allows the NT Consultant to make individualized dietary suggestions including recipe collections an/or a custom meal plan depending on your package.

Check in, Follow up and Optimize

While following your personalized wellness plan you can expect to see progress. Here we get to check in regularly and celebrate your progress while trouble-shooting and setting yours goals for the future. Clients benefit from ongoing support and guidance as they progress and optimize their health. Ready to get started on your health journey? Book your discovery call today . Click here to learn more about how nutrition consulting can help you.

4 Tips to Nourish Your Body for Better Health

by MarkPoppen | Jul 14, 2020 | Wellness

Our bodies are the vehicle that takes us through life. The health of our body determines our energy, how we face our day and our what we accomplish. How we nourish our body (a.k.a. what we eat) has a huge impact on our health. Healthy eating is key to better health and in my opinion a better life!

Does eating healthy seem overwhelming? It doesn’t have to be. While there’s a lot of information (and misinformation) out there, keeping it simple is best. Start small, and then figure out what works best for your lifestyle.

Start with these simple tips to nourish your body and improve your health!

Focus on the positive. Often times when we decide to take action aimed at improving our health, the first things that come to mind are cutting this and limiting that. Diet culture has many of us focusing on restriction. Instead of focusing on the negative and the “bad,” I would challenge you to shift your focus to the positive. Prioritize eating healthy. Adding in and fueling with health promoting and energy giving foods such as vegetables, quality protein and healthy fats. When we focus on adding we tend to crave less and effortlessly crowd out choices that may not be serving us.

Plan ahead. Life is busy. The world we live in is fast paced and that can leave us running from one thing to the next. What and when we eat ends up low on our list and we get caught in a cycle of crashing and grabbing what is closest not necessarily helpful. This is a common problem I witness with clients and have experienced myself. However, taking time to plan and prep can set us up for success. Plan in fact can help us reduce stress and improve our performance. Scheduling in time for meals should be a top priority when setting your calendar. Speaking from experience, when it comes to what to eat, I know traditional meal planning isn’t for everyone. Planning can look different based on your needs. You may want to shop to have healthy options on hand and grab as you go, you may want to cook enough at meal time to have leftovers for lunch at work, or pick 1-2 days a week where you make one extra item to set yourself up for success!

Choose whole foods more often. The closer to nature food is, the more nutrients it naturally contains and the better it is for your health. Packaged and convenience foods are more processed which can lead to loss of health promoting nutrients. Avoiding pre-packaged, convenience foods is one way to ensure you’re eating foods in the most natural and nutrient dense state. For example, fresh vegetables and fruits are best, but frozen food is a close second when it comes to nutritional value. Check out local farmer’s markets for quality sources of meat and more.

Embrace balance. “Perfection is the enemy of progress” – Winston Churchill. This is true! Holding ourselves to perfection is a recipe for burnout and disappointment. Instead of the “all-or-nothing” mindset, I suggest the “all-or-something” mindset. This mindset embraces the concept of balance and encourages choosing good, better, and best. Ideally, we would always do our best, but social, economical and life status can get in the way. Ditch the impossible standard and start where you can while aiming for better and just watch what you can do!

Are you ready to take action and improve your health?! Don’t wait! Start today with these simple steps. You will be surprised at just much better you will feel!

Simple Tips to Improve Digestion

by MarkPoppen | Feb 9, 2019 | Wellness

Digestion: how to optimize it.

In my last post, we covered what is poor digestion and what can go wrong. Good digestion is vital for good health. Therefore if there is poor digestion, we will begin to see dysfunction in other areas of our body. Thankfully there are few simple tips to improve digestion you can try today at home.

4 Tips to improve digestion:

1. Breathe! Take a moment before you eat to take a few deep breaths, show gratitude or say a prayer of thanks for your food. Studies have shown meditation can improve digestion function.

2. Chew your food. Better chewing leads to smaller food particle size and increase absorption of nutrients. It can therefore, work to alleviate digestive issues in the stomach and intestine.

3. Increase bitter, tangy and sour foods. You may have heard that taking diluted apple cider vinegar or lemon juice can help reduce digestive issues. It’s true! Stimulating the senses and engaging the digestive system, bitter foods have long been valued for a unique ability to cleanse the body and build vitality. Digestive bitters are herbal combinations that support digestive function by stimulating the production of stomach acid, bile and enzymes to breakdown food and assist in the absorption of nutrients.

4. Add fermented foods. Fermenting is natural, ancestral method of food preservation but also can be a great source of beneficial bacteria and yeast (probiotics), vitamins and enzymes. Science has associated probiotics with a variety of health benefits such as, improved digestion, better immunity and even increased weight loss. Great fermented foods to try are kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, beet kvass, miso and kimchi.

Start with small for better health

Whether you are experiencing a little or a lot of poor digestion, you can see improvement in with a few simple changes. Also, it is important to remember digestion starts to the ‘north.’ In other words, working to improve our habits from the top down will yield the best success in alleviating many digestive issues. In conclusion, as your body is able to better use the fuel and nutrients as intended, you will experience improved health and vitality.

Optimize your digestion and overall health!

Find out how you can optimize your digestion and overall health with a one-to-one consultation. You can find a clear plan that is individualized to your needs and health goals. For more information check out my services here or call (306) 518-7525 to book you consult today.

Book Your Free Discovery Call Now