PlantPowerNutrition

03/18/2016

Healthy living results in true & lasting health. & that doesn't mean you have to starve yourself or never again get to eat your most cherished of meals. It does mean that we hold the keys to our own destiny!
As a certified nutritionist & trainer with an honest approach to health & wellness, I want to help you discover for yourself how good you can feel with just a few key lifestyle modifications including fitness & nutrition. No secrets here! Just tried & true practices which can help you thrive.
I put together a package to get things started off right. Already on a fitness program? Great. Perhaps i can be of assistance on the nutrition side. Already exercise regularly & eat pretty heathy? You're doing awesome! Perhaps we can work on some new functional exercises & add things like smoothies to your diet.

Take a look at the flyer & give me a call if you have any questions or want to book a package. 714-231-2767 is my cell & my name is Scott Resnikoff. $100 get you over 3 hours with me to work on your health & fitness & anything else you or your family may be struggling with. I look forward to helping you thrive.

06/10/2013

At no point in the history of mankind have we ever had such easy & immediate access to food like we do now. Unfortunately most people in industrialized nations take this & run with it in the wrong direction! Instead of eating whole, unprocessed foods we seek that which our taste buds desire & which our bodies are damaged by. Much like an addict, we are slaves to our culinary desires knowing full well that poor food choices lead to premature suffering, disease, & death.

1 way to combat this tremendous temptation is to remove it from where you live. This requires a kitchen makeover! Most of your boxed & bagged products will have to go if we're ever going to evolve our eating habits. & evolve them we must if we're ever going to optimize ourselves. Dietary excellence improves the human frame on all levels including physically, emotionally, & spiritually. It's not easy, but if we can look at food as that which fuels every living cell in our bodies, then it puts into perspective how important food really is.

This photo was taken at Costco. The belief that you have to shop at a Whole Foods or Mothers type of market to be healthy is totally bogus. You can eat like crap shopping at Whole Foods & eat superbly at Ralphs! Just depends on what you buy. Whole, unprocessed foods are always best & can be just as enjoyable as the chips & crackers you grew up with if you allow your body to neuro-adapt to the flavor of real food.

So eat to live people! Products derived from white flour are not really food & those salty, oily kale chips are just as bad as potato chips. Drink your green smoothies, eat your whole foods, & feel the best you've felt in years.

If you need a lil help hit me up as i've got a ton of resources & book recommendations & knowledge regarding health & wellness.

05/20/2013

Oh the wonders of Swiss Chard....

Happy Monday to you all. If you love yourself & your body, treat it as such!! Granted some of us at varying points throughout our life tend to lose focus on our well being, whether because of parenthood or job pressures or depression or any number of outside forces. They key is to recognize these for what they are - external. Ultimately we hold the key to unlock ourselves from our own personal demons. & while we all need a lift from time to time, be it moral support or medication or a new perspective, taking the 1st step toward a healthy lifestyle is tremendously powerful.

I propose 2 simple yet powerful lifestyle modifications for those that are finding it hard to stay motivated
1. 20+ minutes of exercise. Make it fun & get that heart rate up. Used to play tennis as a kid? Find a wall & work on that forehand! Perhaps you have a background in dance. Shake those tail feathers! Out of shape? 20 minutes of steady walkin will do. Just make sure you build up a sweat!
2. Make your own green smoothie. Here's my go to recipe-http://goo.gl/oxXCi. At the very least try & mix 2 leafy greens & a couple types of fruit & blend away those unwanted curves!

& remember, feeling good is contagious! By living a healthy lifestyle we actually become better spouses & role models for our children & co-workers & such. Let's do this!

05/13/2013

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. I hope you were all spoiled rotten! I thought I'd share a delicious treat that can be made in just a few minutes. It's raw & only slightly sinful:) Enjoy

1 cup raw nuts (recom. almonds)
6 dates
2 tbs raw cacao powder
¼ tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs water

1. Process the nuts & cacao together
2. Add the dates & vanilla, pulsing until a smooth yet sticky consistency is reached
Add water only if necessary
Form into balls & cover with your choice of deliciousness.
-shredded coconut, ground pistachios, peanuts, cinnamon, etc.

Makes approximately 16 delicious & nutritious balls. Refrigerate for up to 4 days

05/06/2013

Breakfast is a crucial meal as it not only breaks your nightly fast (which for most is the longest we go without food) but it also sets the dietary tone for the rest of the day.

Consuming a large, well-balanced meal before starting the day's activities (unless you exercise on an empty stomach from time to time!) will pay dividends no matter what your goals are. Weight loss, increased energy, feel better, look younger, etc.

The question then is what is a well-balanced meal?? Simple; real whole foods! Foods as they are found (or as close to) in their natural environment. Fruit, oats, some nuts & seeds, & of coarse the almighty green smoothie are all great items no matter what time of day.

These homemade waffles are a cinch to make & are quite nutritious. They are gluten-free & can be prepared as pancakes as well. Here's the recipe
2 cups Oats
1/4 cup Raisins
1/4 cup almonds (can be soaked in water)
1 cup plant-based milk
1/8 tsp salt
1/4-1/2 cup water
Makes about 4 waffles
Blend it all up to a smooth consistency adding water as needed. Then cook as desired & top with favorite fruits, nuts, seeds, etc.

Feel free to make extra & refrigerate for a few days. These taste different than your typical processed garbage, but you'll grow quite fond of them just as our kids have!!

04/24/2013

Here's a great little website dedicated to getting us to consume leafy green vegetables on the regular. It's really easy once you start to keep them in your diet as you will feel the difference in energy & a lightness in your step. The proliferation of beneficial nutrients throughout your entire body is what makes leafy greens so powerful.

Stop spending so much $$$ on supplements & start drinking your greens!

The Leafy Greens Council --

04/22/2013

With so many decisions to make throughout each busy day it can be hard to make sure we make healthful food decisions on a regular basis. All the more reason to keep our home pantry's & fridge's stocked with whole foods like fruits, vegetables, beans, brown rice, quinoa, oats, green leafy vegetables, & yams to name a few.

When making food decisions for yourself & your family it's always best to first consider whether or not they are health promoting. If you keep a variety of whole plant foods on hand the answer will usually be yes, making for a much less complicated journey into your kitchen.

From there feel free to experiment with different combinations of color & texture. As i've stated before, since removing animal products from my diet i've actually tried & frequently eat a much more varied mix of foods.

This dinner was quite a treat, consisting of a veggie burger with homemade baked fries, mixed veggies, & a salad. Easy to make, quite delicious, & good for the body!!

04/12/2013

No matter what we have heard or read or picked up about nutrition there is something we can all agree on. & that is the simple fact that vegetables are healthy! Always have been, always will be. Their consumption benefits us on so many levels they should be called the fountain of youth. In varying degrees they are high in antioxidants & fiber & vitamins & minerals and low in calories. This equates to a supreme nutrient density, with leafy greens taking top honors.

I recently had an AHA moment when i learned how all the varying colors in the plant kingdom make up the nutrition rainbow. You see, the more naturally colorful a meal is the more likely it is to be rich in health-promoting nutrients as well as cancer-fighting compounds. This is because the very pigment that gives these plants their unique color is indicative of their protective compounds. For example, red tomatoes are rich in lycopene but not so much in folate. Leafy greens on the other hand are full of folate yet lack in lycopene. Therefore is it crucial to mix it up. & on a daily basis no less!

In order to get the most nutrient bang for our buck we should strive to incorporate as many different colors of fruit & veggies throughout the day. Just start where you're at & begin consuming veggies on a daily basis. Then you can add a new veggie every week for a month. Before you know it you'll be feeling better & adding precious quality time onto your life. Eat to live!

04/08/2013

With only 2.5 months left in the school year (hard to believe!) our PlantPower lunches have continued to evolve much to the delight of our kids.

Todays grubalicious lunch consists of 2 fruits, 2 grains, 1 veg, & 1 legume. The granola is homemade. If your allergic to peanuts or just prefer you can use almond butter for the ants on a log. Eat to live!

04/02/2013

For those of you who enjoy a good bowl of chili, here is a great recipe full of protein, fiber, & phytonutrients such as vitamins A & C, iron, calcium, & antioxidants galore. It's got a hint of curry which actually goes quite well with chili.

One misnomer about eating healthy is that we can't enjoy our food! As I've stated before, a health-promoting diet can & should be delicious as this aids in maintaining compliance over the long run.

03/25/2013

Contrary to popular belief, healthy whole foods can actually taste good. The reason most of us keep coming back to less than healthy food choices is due to our adaptation to artificially-concentrated food additives.

If you read that last statement carefully you might've picked up that it's not necessarily the wrong foods that we are hooked on but rather certain additives that the food industry has meticulously implemented across the board. I believe the main culprits to our health-compromising food addictions are added sugar, oil, & salt.

To put this into perspective let's look at some of today's most popular foods, starting with french fries. If you were to remove the oil & salt, you'd have a completely different product with a vastly improved nutritional profile. Next up is cheese. If you were to take out the oil & salt it would taste entirely less pleasing (to most). Last up is ice cream. This is by far one of the most addicting foods as it contains the trifecta of sugar, oil, & salt. As does chocolate.

The more of these types of foods we consume, as well as many foods we consider to be of a healthy nature, the more our taste buds adapt to such artificially concentrated foods. As this occurs we then find healthy, whole foods in their natural context to be much less appealing.

There is hope! In much the same way that we've adapted to artificially concentrated foods, we can also train ourselves to get just as much enjoyment out of eating the right foods. Foods which promote health & well-being at all levels of our existence. Tomorrow I'll be discussing how we can beat our food addictions. Until then, eat plenty of fruits & veggies!

03/20/2013

A big shout out to Stacy Best for being our 100th like! To know that we provide useful information & resources that enable people to better understand the truth about the intersection of food & health is of great satisfaction. That being said, we refuse to rest on our laurels! Thanx to all & I sincerely hope you are able to see past the veil that our modern food industry has clouded our vision with.

As our 100th Facebook 'like' Stacy will be receiving a vegetarian starter kit along with some sample plant-based whole-food meals. Bon Appetite!