Hey ya'll!

Thank you so much for the wonderful response to last week's post! I'm so happy that you found what I had to say (and what I had to eat!) helpful. I know that what I eat isn't for everyone -- some people prefer alternative foods and many of you have alternative dietary needs -- but I hope that what I eat and what I say inspires you to eat foods that you feel good about.

Simply put, today started off weird for me...not normal. But I didn't let that impact the rest of my day! I stayed up late last night doing some nutrition research for my patients, so this morning's alarm came way too soon. I had a dentist appointment scheduled for 8:30, and by the time I got moving and ready - and factored in the drive to the office - I had no time for breakfast. I didn't even grab anything as I went out the door. That almost never happens. :( Whatever!

My dental procedure left my entire mouth swollen and numb (par for the course!), and when I arrived home I was hungry! I prepped something smooth -- rolled oats (cooked in half water, half milk) + vanilla + cinnamon + frozen (then melty) raspberries + a big scoop of creamy peanut butter. Though this breakfast was smooth, it was still hard for me to eat. I poured myself a half cup of orange juice for some quick energy. After that, I was ready to get to work.

Imagine giving a speech to a large group of people with a bunch of red grapes in your mouth.....yeah, not cool. Well, the numbness from my morning dental appointment was still present, so that's exactly how I felt when I spoke to my students at Edison Community College about Hunger, Food Insecurity & The Future of Food. Luckily, I had an arsenal of some fabulous TED Talks so share, including this one from Clancy Cash Harrison and this from Ron Finley. These are must-sees, if you haven't already.

I returned home and dug into about half of the carrots pictured belowwith some spicy guac. Just as my dentist said, after about 4 hours, the numbness wore off. I really like these small guacamole packs from Wholly Guacamole. They're full of flavor, easily portable, and they keep longer than homemade guac. Plus, I don't have to wait for the perfect time to cut into my avocado. Win!

I whipped up some scrambled eggs and served them with a slice of whole wheat toast with a little bit of jelly. Yep, there's sugar in this jelly. #Sweet.

I caught up on emails, did some tracking/reporting, checked into social media, and tuned into a webinar hosted by Today's Dietitian on Baby-Led Weaning. I don't have children of my own and I don't do pediatric nutrition counseling, but this topic is just so interesting to me. Mid-webinar, I snacked on some cheese (it photographed weird, but the ingredients totally weren't) and a handful of crackers.

I finished up the webinar and went on a walk with one of my best friends. I pushed her adorable 10-month-old baby boy in the stroller. I'm telling myself that I got an arm workout because of that, but really I know I should have hit the weights too...

I wish I could say that for dinner I just "threw the ingredients together...so easy!" but it was much more involved than that! Eating well does require planning and access/availability of good foods -- and because I am staying at my mom & dad's this week and the foods in the house aren't my typical favorites -- after class today I hit up Wal-Mart (yep, the only grocery store in the town!) to stock up on a couple of classics like avocado, lemon, and organic strawberries & greens in order to make my salad tonight.

In a pan on the stove with warm avocado oil, I seared one fish filet with a smidge of garlic, the juice from half a lemon, salt and pepper. When the inside of the fish was flaky, I transferred it to my bed of greens with half an avocado and sliced berries. I wasn't impressed with the salad dressing options available at Wal-Mart yesterday, so I made my own by drizzling avocado oil and the juice from the other half of my lemon overtop. Every delicious bite made this salad worth the work of grocery shopping today!