EASY VIBRANT FOOD RECIPES AND AN AGRUMENT FOR THE NUTRITIONAL MIDDLE GROUND

Franzzzz,

Gosh it has been a long time since I posted a recipe on here.

There are many reasons why but I started to drift away from my recipe developer roots as I dived deeper into being an anti-diet, ed recovery, health coach.

Recently, there has been a lot of chatter in the ED Recovery, anti-diet and Body Positivity realm about Wellness Culture being the new Diet Culture (read here, here and here) and in fear of causing harm to the very people I want to help, I stopped talking about my passion for nourishing whole foods as much.

BUT - I am an advocate for the nutritional middle ground, as Stephanie Webb calls it.

I realized that I truly believe in the power of vibrant nourishing foods and they played a role in my eating disorder recovery because it became a form of self-care and self-love.

Denying that, or no longer talking about that, is not being true to myself or my journey, which I discuss at length in my book, Body Wisdom.

And while I am not an advocate for processed foods -(think twinkies and Jack in the Box) for many reasons, (even though I do eat them sometimes- hello french fries are fucking delicious), I do absolutely understand the POV of not demonizing them which creates fear and food rules- two things that are not good for anyone with an ED.

YOU are not good or bad for eating anything, but I don't want to pretend like all foods are equal from a biological nutritional perspective (or form an enviormental one either), which is often the mindset that Food Neutrality proponents suggest taking on, but I never thought foods were truly equal like that at any point in my recovery journey.

I think we have to keep talking about the fact that there is a very real health epidemic happening in our country as a result of the food system and food supply.

Don't get me wrong, Wellness Culture and "clean eating" has absolutely contributed to the developement of eating disorders like Orthorexia, but I think it comes back to the individual and how they are thinking about the food- not just the food in and of itself.

That said, my mission is not to end chronic illness nor to remove all nutrient depleted processed foods from our society, rather it's about helping women heal their relationship with food and their body through authentic inspiration to take care of themselves and make empowered choices that honor who they are and what they care about in their lives.

For me, vibrant, colorful nourishing food from mama earth is something that I love and I truly enjoy eating in abundance. It is something I genuinely care about.

I get so much joy from going to the farmers market, collecting ingredients and whipping up recipes in the kitchen.

And I want to keep sharing the passion with all of you.

So without further ado- here are some easy quick recipes that I made this week for meal prep. I love meal prepping, even though I do not always make time for it, because it saves me time during the work week.

And I just think its fun!

Bruschetta Lentils (adapted from The Whole Smith Cookbook)

1 box pre-cooked lentils from Trader Joes (or 3 cups lentils cooked)

1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in quaters

1/3 cup red onion, diced

1/4 cup fresh basil, sliced

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp avocado oil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

pink salt to taste

Mix everything in a bowl and store in the fridge.

Rainbow Carrot Salad with Ginger, Mint and Lime

1 bunch rainbow carrots, shredded (about 4-5 cups shredded)

1 watermelon radish, sliced on a mandolin and cut into matchsticks

1/2 cup mint, rough chopped

2 tbsp ginger, grated on a microplane

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 limes, zested and juiced

2-3 tbsp toasted sesame oil

handful of crushed peanuts (optional)

pink salt to taste

Combine everything in a bowl and mix well. Keep in the fridge

Sesame Cabbage and Cilantro Salad

1/2 large green cabbage head, sliced thin or on a mandolin

2/3 cup cilantro, loosely chopped

2-3 tbsp toasted sesame oil

2 tsp braggs or coconut aminos

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

pink salt to taste

Add everything into a bowl and mix well.

Roasted Sweet Potatoe Fries

2 large sweet potatoes cut into steak fries

1-2 tbsp avocado or coconut oil

spices: cumin, garlic, cinnamon, curry etc (get creative- whatever sounds good to you)

pink salt to taste

Pre-heat over to 450f. Once hot roast sweet potatoes for 25 mins until crispy and almost burnt on one side.

xo C