If you’ve spent any amount of time on social media, you’ve probably come across a plethora of content touting metabolism-boosting “hacks”: drinking cold water, green tea, and coffee; eating smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day; making your food as spicy as possible; cold plunging in ice water; wearing a weighted vest.  What’s worth implementing? What’s simply noise? Read this week’s blog to find out.

For many, one of the biggest barriers when first starting to track your macros is hitting your protein target. It’s easy to think that eating protein is only important for bodybuilders and elite athletes, but it plays a crucial role in all of our bodies, regardless of our age or athletic ability. Hitting your protein target may be hard at first, but it’s not impossible -- and it definitely doesn’t require just eating meat all day, every day. In fact, since making the personal choice to stop eating meat last year, I know that it’s totally possible to eat an adequate amount of protein and even follow a higher-protein diet with little to no animal-based sources. In this week’s post, I’m sharing just how to do that along with a list of plant-based protein sources and some awesome, easy (and macro-friendly!) plant-based recipes. With the surge of popularity of plant-based diets has also come the increase in plant-based marketing. Walking around the grocery store, you’ll find “plant based” whole wheat pasta, donuts, and chips - all foods that are generally free of animal products anyway, and foods that don’t become automatically healthy just because of a plant-based label.

This is the creamy and cozy Indian favorite that you dream about with a few little tweaks to optimize the nutrient profile and make it both filling and delicious. It’s relatively quick and easy (just requires some time marinating, but that can be done overnight!) and leaves you with a delicious meal that is comforting, high in protein, and guaranteed to keep you full.

The idea of what is “healthy” is nuanced. A salad can be healthy as it’s filled with micronutrients, and a cookie can be healthy when we allow ourselves to enjoy it guilt-free. It’s important to note that fast food can be consumed in a way that isn’t as healthful if opting for super calorie-dense options that lack nutrients, but most fast food restaurants do have options that are more aligned with goals of eating healthfully.  Fast food is not bad, nor is any singular food bad or good, because they exist within the context of our goals and life circumstances.