Spring Into A Healthier Version of You

I am excited for spring! It is officially spring now and that means that warmer weather is just around the corner. I wanted to take a moment about take this time to do some spring cleaning when it comes to your diet and taking care of yourself. I have to admit part of this is selfishly motivated, because after having a baby, being home on maternity leave and breast feeding I have been eating ALL the sweets and I need work to clean up my own diet and refocus.

It is about 3-4 months after the New Year and how are those resolutions going? This is often the time when those promises we made ourselves are thrown by the wayside and we have fallen back into old habits. What bad habits have you not shaken yet? What things do you want to focus on this spring?

Tips to Clean Up Your Diet

• Load up on veggies! Spring means time to plant a garden and hit up the Farmer’s Market. There will be a variety of cooler weather produce that is going to start to be available. Start working more vegetables into your diet to help give you more vitamins and minerals. This will help your body function better and help you feel better. Aim to work vegetables into lunch and dinner and if you are able even breakfast (this could be spinach in with your eggs, kale in your smoothie, tomatoes on your breakfast sandwich).

• Plan out your meals. Taking time to write out a plan for meals for the week will help you to be healthier and stick with those healthier choices. Planning out your meals will save you money overall as well. It is also hard to binge eat on unhealthy food items, when you don’t purchase them. That is another benefit to planning your meals ahead of time and only purchasing what you have on your list. You will be forced to eat whatever you have in your pantry and hopefully those are healthier options.

• Try some new recipes. We can all get stuck in our routine when it comes to cooking at home. The same food items over and over again. Take the time to find some new recipes and mix things up. You can take this opportunity to try new foods, prepare foods in a new way and get you excited to cook again. Of course, find a new recipe that is healthy and is something that adds variety to your diet as well.

• Hold yourself accountable. When you share with someone your goals, you are more likely to actually stick with/accomplish that goal. If a friend or even people on social media to help keep you on track and help call you out if you are struggling and need some tough love. Having that support system is critical when it comes to cleaning up your dietary habits.

• Take time for some self-care/love. This idea of self-care/self-love applies to your food you eat as well. Taking the time to put healthy foods into your mouth will make you feel better about yourself in the long run. Yes, there is instant gratification from that chocolate bar, but then you end up with more negative feelings and even a lack of confidence. The goal in the end is to love yourself more and give yourself some grace if things don’t go quite as planned in terms of your eating habits of exercise routine.

• Load up on the water. It is always humorous to me when I read about “detox” diets, because your body doesn’t actually need any help detoxing, you have a liver that does that for you. But I think focusing on staying hydrated and consuming enough water will help your body to function to the best of its ability. Your body is 60% water and that means your cells and muscles will be able to function better when you are hydrated appropriately. So if you are concerned about “detoxing” your body … just take the time to drink plenty of water.

So if you, like me have been struggling with your healthy eating and exercise habits, then use this spring to jump back into some healthy routines. Take the time to look at what you are struggling with and write down 1-2 ways that you can feel better about yourself and prioritize your health/wellness.

Presenting at FNCE

Some of you, if you are Registered Dietitians, are familiar or at least heard of FNCE. The Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo that happens annually around the country. This is the big national convention for Registered Dietitians hosted by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. I have been able to attend FNCE twice, once as a dietetic intern in Boston, MA and then two years ago in Chicago, IL. It was a fantastic experience to be able to listen to speakers, see the amazing exhibit hall and then get to network with fellow RDs. Over the last 7 years of being a pediatric dietitian I have spoken with several other pediatric RDs about the lack of pediatric content at FNCE. There are obviously lots of topics that they are trying to cover and there are normally a few pediatric topics that are addressed, but not a ton. I wanted to make sure that pediatric nutrition continued to have a focus at FNCE and have some quality information to provide to other dieititians. Lots of RDs are being asked to cover NICU/pediatric units in hospitals and some times these RDs aren’t always the best equipped to know how to take cover of these complicated patients.

I decided to put together a presentation proposal for FNCE with a friend of mine in Louisville, Laura Serke. She is an amazing NICU RD in Louisville and also works as a lactation consultant. I thought it would be awesome to provide a presentation focused on how to handle human milk (or breast milk) in the hospital setting. This would centered around the NICU specifically, but we would also cover the pediatric side of it as well. RDs are often the ones that are asked to help provide guidance on how the transportation, storage and feeding of human milk is delivered to infant patients. Laura was in support of putting together this proposal and then with the help of Salisa Lewis as well (another amazing NICU RD with lots of experience) we finalized our proposal and submitted it back in November of 2018. We worked hard over the course of a couple of weeks to create and finalize this proposal and articulate our thoughts in a way that sounded professional and interesting. It is tough to put together an interesting and interactive presentation on human milk in a way that would get a large group of people excited about the topic! I think we did a great job though coming up with a catchy title and putting all those ideas on to paper.

Fast forward to this past week … we got word back that our proposal was accepted and we will be presenting our presentation at FNCE in Philadelphia, PA in October of 2019. If you are attending FNCE this fall make sure to mark your calendar for our session on October 27th at 10am! It will be a great presentation and worth getting up for! This is the best news that I could have gotten. I am wrapping up my maternity leave and kind of questioning leaving my baby to head back to work, but this was just the push I needed. I love what I do and love educating people about my job and supporting other RDs in that field of pediatric/NICU nutrition. It is tough being a mom, working full time, running a side business and at times I question if it is worth the stress to try to do all these things. Then moments like this where a crazy idea works out and becomes a reality and then I realize “yes” it is all worth it!

So stay tuned to hear about about that presentation and of course pictures and documentation of the event in October of this year!

Baby Busenburg #2 Birth Story

Our second child has a mind of his own and made his arrival 3 weeks before his due date. It was quite the eventful few days leading up to his birth, but in the end both of us ended up being doing well and not having major complications. We are so thankful that things were smoothly for his delivery and we all got to go home a day after his birth.

This second pregnancy for me was fairly straight forward. I have been thankful to have boring pregnancies. The most excitement that this little guy gave us was some premature atrial contractions (PACs) during the second trimester, but thankfully he seemed to grow out of those. His due date was 2/16/19, but he decided that 1/26/19 was a better day to arrive. In the two days leading up to that Saturday, I had contractions throughout both days. The night before he arrived I spent the whole night awake with contractions, but they didn’t increase in intensity, they just persisted throughout the night and then finally spaced out some during the next day. I had experienced this with my first pregnancy, but they stopped, these contractions continued and I figured at this rate, we were going to have this baby sooner rather than later. I went to the OB on Friday morning (1/25/19) and I was 3cm diluted and 80% effaced. I went to work on that day and spent the day, slowly walking around and then managing contractions throughout the entire day.

I had gotten our bags packed the night before, because I was awake, contracting and unable to sleep. That Friday night, I hung out with a friend, tried to relax and take it easy and then went to bed. I woke up around 1:50am with contractions that were stronger than the night before and they were consistently 5 minutes apart. After tracking them for 30 minutes, I woke up Chas, we grabbed our stuff, put William in the car and headed to the hospital. Thankfully Chas' parents had their phone nearby and we got in touch with them and they came over at 330am to stay with William. Chas dropped me off at the hospital, took William home and then came back to the hospital to be with me and help as we went through this labor process.

 Chas was amazing through the whole process! I have such an amazing partner and I am so thankful to have him by my side. He did a great job at organizing plans for William while we were in the hospital. William got to hang out with both set of grandparents and that was amazing.

After arriving at the hospital around 245am, I was taken up to a Labor and Delivery room and then continued with contractions. We had an amazing L&D nurse, Stephanie who was so helpful when the contractions got stronger. She helped to press on my back and provided counter pressure, which helped make the contractions more bearable. I got up to try to use the bathroom some time around 630am and that is when my bag of waters bulged and then things started to progress quickly. Our little one arrived after several good pushes at 650am. There was a little excitement just before he made his appearance … he had gotten stuck and they realized that he had a nuchal cord x2 (the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice). They were able to reposition him slightly to get that cord from around his neck and then he came right out! The NICU team was called, because they weren’t quite sure why he was stuck and they came right away to check out the baby. His initial apgar measurement was 1, which is quite low and he was floppy, but thankfully he perked right up and then had apgar’s > 7 after that. He didn’t need any oxygen support and was doing well and I got to nurse him and hold him within that first hour.

We named him Samuel John Busenburg. He ended up weighing 5lbs and 13oz and was a small little guy compared with William, but that is what happens when you arrive 3 weeks early. The healthcare team at Women’s was amazing! From the security guy who took me up to triage, the OB resident who actually delivered Samuel, our L&D RN and Postpartum RNs (both named Stephanie) and all the staff were fantastic. Samuel gave us a little cause for concern prior to discharge, because he wasn’t pooping. After some rectal stimulation and a glycerin chip, he ended up passing meconium, which was slightly plugged. He has stopped pooping since!

I truly believe that God knew that Samuel needed to come early, because of his nuchal cord. If he had waited and grown more, he would have had a tougher time coming vaginally and who knows, I might have needed an emergency C-section. Thankfully everything worked out and we are so thankful for a healthy, strong baby boy who joined our family a few weeks early!

When You Go For It ... It Doesn't Always Work Out

I have shared over the years lots of encouraging words on this blog, lots of successes and positive things that have happened in my life and with my career. That is definitely exciting and I am so thankful for those positive parts of this journey, but I also wanted to share with you that things don’t always go according to your plan or what you imagine.

I have always been of the mindset to pursue every crazy dream that I have and to just say “YES!” and go for it. The worst that happens, is that you fail and that thing you wanted to do doesn’t happen. But putting yourself out there is important. It takes courage and guts to try something, knowing that you might fail. Well as you can probably guess … I ended up falling short and failing in something that I pursued recently. I decided to apply for a National position within the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. It was kind of on a whim. In fact, I had a co-worker ask me why I was applying and I said “because I can and I want to!” It was an opportunity that I went after and decided to go for!

I was honestly super surprised when I got the call saying that I was one of the finalists that was going to be put on the National Ballot. I didn’t really think I would actually get chosen. I was excited and then to learn that there was only two of us going for this Delegate-At-Large position, I was even more excited. I had this “good feeling” about this situation and that this had to work out! Well the election process came to an end and I got a call saying that I wasn’t selected. I had not received the most votes to win that position. I am not going to lie to you, I was disappointed. I had gotten my hopes up and felt like this crazy goal I had for myself was attainable and this was right time to do this! Well that wasn’t the case. That position wasn’t meant to be mine. The other girl that ran against me, will do an amazing job. She was very qualified and I hope that she enjoys and values that experience.

I wanted to share that this opportunity didn’t go in my favor this time. That is ok. Yes, I am disappointed, but at the same time, I am proud of myself. I went for something that I never dreamed I would do! I put myself out there (on a national level) and I am proud of pushing myself to apply and for making it to the ballot. Would I have done an amazing job if I had been elected … heck yeah, but this wasn’t my time and that wasn’t the position that I was suppose to be elected to. Am I going to let this most recent failure keep me from pushing myself and applying again in the future ? No! I am going to apply in the future for another position. I want to someday be elected to a position within the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics on the national level.

I don’t know how your week is going or if you have felt like a failure in a certain area of your life … I want to remind you that you never succeed with things you never try. Be proud of yourself and for putting your best foot forward and never stop pursuing your dreams!

Brain Boosting Lunches

I had the opportunity to teach another class at Mini Minds! I was so excited to have 4 families that signed up for the Brain Boosting Lunches workshop. I have wanted to put together a class where parents'/caregivers can attend with their child and both adults/children can participate, try new foods and learn something about food.

This has been a learning process to figure out the best way to put together a class that is worth the money, provides a unique experience and is also cost effective. The key has been to find the right price point. There isn’t another cooking/nutrition class in the Indianapolis area where parents and kids are together and get to work with a Registered Dietitian. This is a unique opportunity and I want to make sure that families know that this is available and find it worth their time! It can be challenging to put together a fun, learning filled opportunity for families. The workshop lasts 1.5 hours and costs ~$35. If you are interested in participating in the next one that I offer, let me know!

This most recent class was focused on creative ways to put together a healthy lunch for your child. Lots of parents pack lunches for their children and send them off to school. Some times it is easy to get stuck in a rut of making the same thing over and over again. Finding ways to break out of that boring routine and then making healthy meals for your child is important.

During the class we started off talking about the MyPlate model and the 5 different food groups. We talked about what foods would be in each food group and what foods the kids enjoyed or didn’t enjoy eating. I wanted to include some nutrition education so that when the kids see the MyPlate again in school, they are familiar with the concept and willing to have different food groups at each of their meals.

This workshop session occurred during lunch time and so of course all of the kids wanted to eat and make food! So we jumped right into making our lunches for the day. I provided a handout with information about the food groups and then lunch ideas including some recipes as well for the parents to take home with them! Below is the lunch that we made as a group. We did a special twist on a classic school lunch item - the lunch meat sandwich. I wanted to do something familiar that everyone would like, but have it presented in a different way. These sandwich pinwheels did just that! They worked out great and some of the kids tried some new foods, like tomatoes and hummus and others were interacting with a non-preferred food (like cutting it up) which was great. We paired the pinwheels with some fresh veggies - carrots and cucumbers with hummus as the dipping sauce. I had planned on doing a dried fruit with these as well - like raisins, but those weren’t available at the time so we stuck with the veggies and the pinwheels as our lunch for the day.

Overall I think the families had a great time and were able to learn some things. I think this also provided a chance for the parents to interact and get to chat with one another. That can be nice to have some support from fellow parents when it comes with dealing with children. This was another successful workshop and I am excited to brain storm as other ideas for the upcoming 2019 year with Mini Minds and get some other dates on the calendar. If you have any creative ideas or have a topic that you would want to learn more about, leave that as a comment below and I would love your suggestions.

Your Vote Matters!

Are you a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND)? Have you voted in elections in the past? The answer to those questions should be YES! If you are a member of AND, but haven’t voted then this is your year to let your voice be heard. Just like with political elections, you have a right to let your opinion matter and to put that opinion out there. We are nearing election time for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which will run February 1st-15th, 2019. That means you have about 2 weeks to click through and vote for the slate of candidates on a national, state and local level. In 2017, 12.8% of Indiana AND members voted in the national elections. That is above 10%, but not quite 20% of members. I think we can work to improve those numbers! If you are paying dues to AND then you take an active role in voting and choosing the leadership that assists with the goals/focus of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Are you wondering who all is on the national ballot? There are a list of candidates available now online and then biographical information available on the candidates as well. Each candidate has their biographical information available online and then also a video that they had to submit with the application. Take the time to read through these candidates and when you see an email in your inbox announcing the start of elections … take the time and cast your vote!

Are there state and local elections as well? There are elections for the Indiana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics board and then also the local organizations, including the Central Indiana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. These list of candidates will be sent out starting February 1st as well and so watch your email for those announcements and take the time to support and vote for these local RDNs who are volunteering their time to serve.

How long does it take? There will be three emails that you can anticipate receiving in regards to elections - one for the national election, one for the state election and one for the local election. It may sound like a lot, but it doesn’t take that long. It takes a few minutes to click through the list of candidates and make your selections. Keep an eye on your email and then work to get that ballot filled out as soon as possible!

Final Stretch of Pregnancy

It is crazy to think that I have 4 weeks left of being pregnant and then we will be meeting our newest family member. I am 36 weeks pregnant currently and we are totally in that home stretch. It has been amazing how quickly this pregnancy has gone by. Yes, that first trimester was rough at times and the days dragged by, but overall we have been so thankful for a healthy, easy, boring pregnancy. That is such a relief, because working in a NICU can easily leave you worried and totally anticipating the abnormal.

I feel like I did more blogging about my first pregnancy, but I also think it was really helpful to talk through that process and get to share what I was learning with you all. This time I feel like I was continuing on with my life and just happened to be pregnant. It was much less a big deal, but in a positive way. If you missed some of the posts you can catch up on Baby Busenburg #2s’s arrival by reading the following posts below.

Blogging about Baby Busenburg #2

• Announcement

• Running while Pregnant

• Book Review - Real Food for Pregnancy

• 2nd Pregnancy

• Wrapping up 2nd Trimester

• Freezer Meals for Maternity Leave

• Picking Back Up with Prenatal Yoga

Looking back over the last 8 months has made me appreciate my health, the health of our baby and having a wonderful family who love and support us. It was rough that first trimester to have a “surprise” and finding out we were expecting and working through those emotions. Then the nausea and fatigue is tough with a toddler running around. Thankfully those symptoms really only lasted through that first 12 weeks and then going into the second trimester I felt better and got my energy back. It was fun to be in that stage of pregnancy, because I didn’t feel super pregnant and was able to resume all my normal activities. I was so thankful for a smooth and boring second trimester. As we moved into that third trimester, I definitely started feeling more pregnant earlier. I have had some sciatica pain for awhile and just felt large and in charge for weeks. It has all been manageable, but I was eager to get back to some prenatal yoga in the last few weeks of this pregnancy. Now that we have the last month left, I know things will continue to be uncomfortable, but I know we are all eagerly anticipating the arrival of this wonderful second child and we can’t wait to meet him!

In these last final weeks of being a family of three + the dog … I really want to appreciate the time we have with just William and let him know how much he is loved. It is going to rock his world to become a big brother, but I think it will be a positive change. We do have plans to attend Daniel Tiger LIVE up at Elliot Hall in Lafayette and I think that will be a special thing to get to do with him. I also want to be able to include him with cooking and just get to soak up all that one on one time that we will have over the next 4 weeks.

There are lots of things that I want to work on finishing up before baby comes, including laundry and getting a spot in our room set up for the little guy. I also have lots of things with work that I want to try to wrap up before being away for about 7 weeks. I am also still doing work with Mini Minds on the side and I am actually planning on trying to use some of my maternity to getting somethings planned out for 2019 and growing that business further.

Picking Back Up with Prenatal Yoga

I did prenatal yoga every week with my first child. I loved it and there was as a studio not too far from my house with a St Vincent employee discount. It was a great set up and I was so thankful for an amazing teacher. It was such a wonderful experience. I really loved that commitment that I made to myself and William at the time. I wanted to continue that with my second pregnancy. It is different when it comes to finding time and money to do that activity with baby #2. Life is so crazy busy and with a toddler, I have had to make arrangements for William in the evenings so that I could attend a yoga class. That is one of the main reasons that I think make it so hard for moms with multiple children to be able to continue their prenatal yoga practice.

I have now reached my third trimester and I am at 35 weeks and we are about 5 weeks away from meeting Baby Busenburg #2. These last few weeks are definitely the most uncomfortable and I have been working to re-prioritize my yoga practice. It is worth it to have that 75 minutes a week to stretch, realign and re-center myself. I went to my first class back in awhile last week and it was amazing. I felt so much better after the class. I am so thankful for a husband who is willing to help me with William so that I can take that time and go to the yoga studio. I did my initial Prenatal Yoga post back in 2016, the last time I was pregnant. If you want to check it out - CLICK HERE and you can read through some great reasons for our prenatal yoga can prepare you for labor and delivery.

Even if you haven’t practiced yoga before and you are now pregnant, enrolling in a yoga class can be super helpful. There are so many benefits that prenatal yoga provides throughout each trimester of pregnancy.

First Trimester (for some more information - CLICK HERE)

• It can be tough at times to want to get up and do anything. When you first find out you are pregnant often there is a lot of nausea, vomiting and just overall exhaustion.

• If you are feeling poorly a nice, smooth motion can sometimes help you calm down and feel better. Doing something like prenatal yoga is a great way to help take your focus on your “bad feelings” and instead focus on your practice.

• If you are exhausted feel free to take breaks and even modify positions as they feel good.

Second Trimester

• This trimester is great because you start to feel better and tend to have more energy. This is the perfect time to work on some strength training during your yoga practice. Plus, at this time your belly isn’t that big yet so it is not uncomfortable to be in certain positions.

• Some strength training exercises can involve squats to help your legs and pelvic floor. Doing stretching is also helpful to manage any hip pain and increase in the hormone release of relaxin. This strength training is helpful for labor.

Third Trimester

• As you reach this trimester, mommy and baby are growing and this shifts your center of gravity. That can make things more uncomfortable.

• Focusing on meditation and pain management is helpful when it comes to anticipating labor. Focusing on centering yourself is helpful as you work through that labor process.

• More relaxin is released and again this causes mom to be more uncomfortable and doing stretches/some strength training to help with other movements and relieve some stress.

It can be tough to make time for prenatal yoga or really any yoga practice. It get more complicated when you have children to think about or other work responsibilities. I wanted to encourage you to take some time for yourself. It is worth the time and investment in helping you feel better. Make a short term goal for yourself and work towards that goal. If you are interested in trying to find some prenatal classes, check out the list of some locations around the Indianapolis area.  

Prenatalal Yoga Locations around Indianapolis

• Broad Ripple Park  - Indianapolis

• City Yoga  - Indianapolis

• Invoke  - Indianapolis (multiple locations)

• Source Yoga  - FIshers

• Flourish Yoga  - Fishers

• IU North  - Carmel

• Simply Yoga - Zionsville

Freezer Meals for Maternity Leave

One goal that I have set for myself over the next month is to put together some freezer meals for my upcoming maternity. Baby Busenburg #2 is due on February 16th. That is quickly approaching. I have put together a “To Do List” of things that I want to try to get done over the next month. Needless to say there is a lot more on that list than I originally anticipated. Some of those things were anticipated, but others weren’t. I have been quite busy trying to work on somethings for RD Anna and my work at Mini Minds before I take some time off for my maternity leave. That has been taking up quite a bit of my free time.

But back to Baby Busenburg #2 and my maternity leave … I want to make sure that I have some freezer meals in our deep freeze for those 7 weeks that I will be off. I learned with my first son that after having a baby, going to the grocery and cooking become extra challenging. I know how much of a struggle that was for my first son and I can imagine that having two children will make things even more challenging.

I have decided to try to set myself and my family up for success and trying to put together meals that I can have in the freezer and use during that time off. Thankfully this time around we already have a deep freezer that is currently empty. It had been filled with breast milk from William, but it has sat empty for a little while now. Obviously it will start to get filled with breast milk again, but until then I am aiming to try to fill it up with food for us to eat starting in February.

My Freezer Meal Goals:

• I want to aim to put together 6-10 meals that are in the freezer and ready to go for when Baby Busenburg #2 arrives.

• I want these items to be a variety of food items (including different types of meat and vegetables).

• If I knock out 10 recipes then I might try to work to make some sides and freeze those as well (for example - cornbread to go with chili, cinnamon rolls for breakfast, other rolls to go with soup, etc).

• Most of the recipes listed below are main entrees that will then be paired with a vegetable or two that are fresh or roasted and that is easy enough to prepare while these items are cooking.

Recipe Ideas:

1. Chili with meat and beans

2. Meat Lasagna

3. Roast with potatoes, carrots and onions

4. Crockpot ham and potato soup

5. Sticky Bourbon Chicken

6. Chicken Tenders

7. Cilantro Lime Chicken

8. Chicken Enchiladas

9. Honey, Soy Pork Tenderloin

10. Broccoli Beef

Obviously these recipe ideas and freezer meals could be used for any occasion. You don’t need to be doing meal prep just for an upcoming maternity leave. Even if you put some of these food items in the freezer to have for a busy weekday meal or a weekend when you don’t want to cook, those are all great options.

The idea of having a baby is overwhelming enough, trying to be worried about cooking and cleaning is something that can wait for a little bit. That is what I hope to accomplish during my maternity, especially at the beginning. I want some time to just be ok with relaxing and getting to bond with this newest member of our family.

2018 Year End Review

It is crazy to think that 2018 has now come to an end and we are getting ready to embark on 2019. It has been such a great year filled with so many neat surprises and I am eager to look forward and see what 2019 holds for myself, for RD Anna and for my family.

Wrapping Up 2018 Goals

• Weekly Blogging - Successfully accomplished. I was so excited to be able to write and share with you all 52 blog posts in the last year! Also posted daily nutrition information on the RD Anna Facebook page almost every day to share a variety of nutrition information with followers.

• Media Contact for St Vincent - Successfully accomplished. I was able to do 6 TV media interviews and then 1 Newspaper interview as well over the last year in the greater Indianapolis area.

• Writing a chapter for AND’s Nutrition Communication book - Successfully accomplished. This was such a neat project and an amazing process to be a part of. I am excited for the publication of this book in 2019 and to get to see the chapter that I helped to write!

• Test Question Writing Committee for CSPCC (Certified Specialist in Pediatrics in Critical Care) - Successfully accomplished. This opportunity came my way unexpectedly, but was a neat process to be a part of and I learned so much about how standardized tests are created and written.

• Wrote article for the Building Block Newsletter for the Pediatric Nutrition Practice Group on RDNs working to create separate breast milk and formula preparation areas. I was excited to get this draft sent off at the end of the fall and eager to make edits and have this article published in the spring of 2019.

Goals for 2019

• Continue with weekly blogging. I have really enjoyed putting together various nutrition content for the blog and sharing that information with you all. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to Contact Me and let me know what you would like to learn more about!

• Continue to serve as a media contact for St Vincent and do TV, Radio or Newspaper interviews as needed.

• Continue to grow my contracting outpatient nutrition counseling business with Mini Minds in Carmel, IN. This undertaking has been quite the learning process. I am hoping to pick up more clients and do more outpatient counseling as the year goes on and continue to do some class education as well for families.

• Work to complete additional hours towards a Lactation Counselor certification and renew the Certified Specialist in Pediatrics Exam. I am always working to learn more and advance my nutrition knowledge. I am hoping to continue to do this through completing the necessary coursework and obtain some additional certifications.

• Run as a national candidate for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Ballot as a At Large House of Delegate in the category of 30 years and younger. I decided to give this a try and just go for it. Elections will be held at the beginning of February.

I always think that is fun to take a moment and look back over the last year and see some of those analytic data that I can get from running a website. It is so fun to see more people being exposed to the content that I provide and hopefully increasing that impact that I am able to have!

Blog Statistics

• In the last year, RD Anna has had 2,025 page visits which is an increase of 26.2% from last year (that is any where from 121-218 page visits per month).

• During the last year, 1,924 unique IP addresses were looking at my content, which is an increase of 35.9% from the year before.

• The vast majority of readers are in the United States (84%), but there were about 3% from Canada and 1-1.5% from India and the Philippines.

• When it came to popular content the most popular blog post was “Always Say Yes!” which had 166 page views, then the Pregnancy Glucose Test post that had 157 page views and in third was My Nutrition Journey which had 110 page views.

Thank you for taking the time to read and support this website, my blog and my business. I have appreciated all your comments, you taking the time to read what I write and give me your feedback. I really enjoy having this outlet and using this platform to help provide nutrition education to people around the world! I am so thankful for a wonderful 2018 and excited for more wonderful opportunities in 2019.

Wishing You a Very Merry Christmas!

It is hard to believe that today is Christmas Eve and tomorrow is Christmas Eve. 2018 is winding down and it has been such a crazy year. Thank you so much for all your support for RD Anna and for taking the time to read my blog posts. I have been enjoyed maintaining this blog and hopefully the information that is provided is interesting to you and helpful in your daily life.

As we wrap up 2018, I just wanted to thank you for all your support. I am excited to see what all transpires for 2019 for RD Anna. There are lots of exciting things that I am looking forward to this upcoming year. I will put together a 2018 Highlights blog post for you here at the end of the month and as we head into January 2019! But for now I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and enjoy this special time of year with your wonderful family and friends!

Healthy Holiday Creations

I had my first cooking class last week at Mini Minds. Some of you may remember that I have been starting to do some contract work for Mini Minds and made RD Anna and LLC and working to launch my own business. We finally were able to get some families to sign up for this cooking workshop that was held on Saturday. We had 4 families that participated and it was a huge success. I am not just saying that, because I helped to lead the class, but I think everyone that came had a great time and learned some things. The highlight of the day was hearing from a mom afterwards that her daughter tried a new food, green pepper. The mother was telling me how picky her daughter was and at home it can be really tough to have her try new foods and she has a lot anxiety about that. That is totally common for lots of children and that is one of the reasons why I love doing group education, because in that setting it is easier to remove some of that anxiety and use positive peer pressure to help overcome a fear. That little girl was able to choose 1 new food to try and she chose of the green peppers. She tried them and she liked them! And then the cherry on top was that she also tried yellow peppers, because myself and another mother told her if she liked the green peppers, she would like the yellow peppers even more, because they are sweeter. She did and was so happy and proud of herself! Hearing things that like make me smile and have all the hard work that goes into putting on a cooking class worth it!

One of my goals with this class was to have an environment where the parent/caregiver is there with the child and they get to cook and make things together. We have one 5 1/2 year old, two 9 year olds and one 10 year old. All the kids were able to participate and do different tasks. It was so neat to watch them get to cook on their own. One child had never cut up a vegetable before. I worked with me and showed him how to cut up the green pepper and he totally did it! That is the overall goal that I wanted to accomplish … empower children to learn how to cook and enjoy it!

I had planned 5 different recipe items that we would make over the 1 1/2 hour class time. That ended up being overly ambitious, but I much rather have too much to do versus not enough. I saved the easiest snack/craft items for the last thing we did and I ended up doing those for the kids and they finished off the craft by drawing on it or cutting out a hat that we glued on.

I wanted to highlight some fun, kid friendly recipes that the whole family can help prepare. I was going to share with you one of my favorite recipes that we did. This one was a huge success and there is so much that you can do with this recipe to change it up and make it different, based on your own families preferences.

Ingredients

• 1 Pizza dough tube (you can make your own or purchase premade pizza dough)

• 1-2 cups pizza sauce

• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese

• ½ cup Feta cheese

• 1 cup chopped, green peppers

• ½ cup olives  

• Handful of pepperonis

• Top with parsley for additional flavor

Instructions

1. Roll out your pizza dough on a clean surface that is lightly covered in flour. Using a rolling pin.

2. Use the cookie cutter to cut out shapes in the pizza dough. Brush with olive oil.

3. Place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper (to prevent sticking). Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes until the pizza dough is lightly browned.

4. Top with sauce and other toppings. Place back in the oven at 400 degrees for another 5-7 minutes, until cheese melts.

If you want more information about upcoming classes with Mini Minds …. let me know! We are going to do a session on snacks and then lunches in January. I was planning on a January 12th and 26th at 11am for those sessions.

Handling the Holiday Stress

It is amazing how the holidays kind of sneak up on us every year. It is that time again, the calendar is starting to fill up with holiday activities and family gatherings. This is a beautiful and exciting time of year, but it can also be stressful. There is so much pressure that we put on ourselves to bake ALL the Christmas cookies, send out Christmas cards, purchase gifts for ALL the people in our lives, participate in ALL the festive happenings around the city and of course see every family member that you don’t see the rest of the year.

All of this stress that we put on ourselves can leave this joyful time of year, feeling somewhat depressing and just plain overwhelming. That is why I think there are some easy tips for you to remember through the next month to help you feel less stressed and consumed in all of the hustle/bustle of the holidays.

De-Stressing Your Holiday Season

• Prioritize your time. This is huge. All of us want to be able to do ALL this things this time of year, but that isn’t always realistic. Make a list of things that you want to do and then go through that list again and prioritize what the most important things are to do for this year. Maybe going to see Santa, doesn’t make the cut this year or maybe it is focusing on doing an activity with a close family member who will actually be in town on a specific day. If you aren’t able to do all the things that you would love to do this holiday, that is ok. Make sure you prioritize and make time for the really important things/memories.

• You can say “No.” Sometimes family obligations are intense this time of year. Lots of families want to get together and spend time together, but some times that isn’t feasible. Especially if you have work obligations or small children, it is hard to get time to spend with all those family members. You don’t have to feel like a terrible person, if you have to say “no.” That is alright and your family will understand. That is the beauty of family, is that they might be temporarily frustrated or disappointed, but they will always love you and there will be opportunities to see them and get to spend time with them in the future. Don’t put additional stress on yourself if you can’t make a family obligation fit into your schedule. Go easy on yourself and give yourself some grace and the power to say “no.”

• Make activities family affairs. If you do have a list of things you want to do this holiday season (decorate the house, make cookies, wrap gifts, volunteer somewhere, etc) make those activities family affairs. Include your children, your spouse, your extended family and do those activities together. I know sometimes cooking with children takes more time and is messier, but that way you are getting some quality time together while doing things that you would be trying to do on your own. So much of what we like to do over the holidays is centered around others, why not spend some of that time actually doing those activities with those people we care about.

• Make time for you. I know this is a crazy concept, but take some time each day for you. It can be something simple, like sitting in peace and quiet for 15-20 minutes on the sofa with no expectations for yourself. Give yourself some grace and love. It can be take an extra warm shower or getting a new mask to use and try it out afterwards. This time is important to help handle stress and give you a chance to reset.

Enjoy the holiday season and find ways to help you feel less stressed. It is a wonderful time of year, but stress can often make seen overwhelming and less fun. Hopefully some of these tips and tricks will help you enjoy the holiday festivities more!

Wrapping Up 2nd Trimester of Pregnancy #2

It is hard to believe that I am almost to the end of the 2nd trimester with Baby Busenburg #2. Time has just flown by and I am pretty sure that is due to being busy and chasing an almost 2 year old around. I have been so thankful to feel good and be healthy during this second pregnancy so that is a huge blessing.

I am currently 28 weeks along with Baby Busenburg #2. So that means we have another 12 weeks to go before getting to meet this little guy. That is just crazy, because I am not sure I am ready to embrace the life of motherhood with two children.

This little one has a had a little bit of a hiccup when it comes to causing us to worry. At my 26 week appointment we heard some PACs (premature atrial contractions) when the OB was listening to the heart rate. This means the heart beat was off and there were some irregular beats happening. This is typically due to the heart being premature and that electric pulse running though the heart, not being fully developed. We are now going in weekly for heart rate checks and had another ultrasound. The ultrasound showed everything was anatomically fine so that is good news. This is an issue that normally resolves naturally and isn’t a huge cause for alarm. At my 28 week check, the PACs were less frequent, so that is a blessing. We just continue to pray that this little’s one heart continues to mature and his heart beats normally.

Thankfully the lab work and glucose tolerance test were all good and those values were within normal limits. That was great news and that has been a huge blessing.

Last 12 Weeks of Pregnancy

• I want to savor and enjoy all the moments with my boys (my husband, William and our dog, Einstein). I know when this second kiddo arrives, life is going to get crazy and I want to enjoy and appreciate our routine right now.

• I am going to work to figure out where we want to store this little’s clothes and diapers. He is going to share a room with William so I need to think through how I want to store his stuff so they can share that space. We are also going to try to figure out what type of toddler bed we want for William and what space will allow for in their room. We plan to keep him in his crib for awhile longer, but needed to kind of figure out what might work best for that space in the months to come.

• I will need to wash and pull out the newborn clothes and get those ready for this little guy.

• I need to read through the Bradley Method workbook from when I was pregnant with William I want to remind myself about the stages of labor and work to get ready for hopefully an uneventful, unmedicated 2nd birth process.

• We have a bassinet for this little guy, which is exciting, and I will just need to figure out where to put it in our room and where to set up a diaper changing station in there as well.

• Wrapping up projects at work. I will plan to work up until the day I have this baby, but I still want to work to get things organized and ready for my maternity leave.

• I plan to cook several dishes and get them in the freezer so that we can use them during my maternity leave and I don’t have to cook every day.

• Organize the two closets. I know that seems like a strange thing, but I find organizing things quite relaxing. I want to organize the hallway closet and William’s closet in his room before the baby comes. I would also like to do the same thing with the office closet. This is totally part of my nesting phase here at the end.

• I am planning on continuing to run/going to the gym these last weeks of pregnancy. That is something I did with William. I was running/doing yoga and using the elliptical more days a week with William, but I am just so much busier with having one child already I am doing good to get to the gym twice a week and then doing yoga at home weekly.

I am so thankful for coming to the end of another trimester, only one left to go through and then we will have two little boys in our life to take care of. It is crazy and exciting. I know these last couple of months will continue to fly by.

Thanksgiving and the Kick Off to the Holiday Season

This week is Thanksgiving and you know what that means … lots of delicious food and time with family and friends. I love the holidays and the next month is filled with fun activities, birthdays and celebrations. Thanksgiving is a great time to kick off this festive time of year and enjoy some amazing food along the way.

I have posted in previous years about tips and tricks to help make healthier choices this holiday season. Last year’s post was focused around an article that I read in the New York Post about Thanksgiving favorites. The year before that I read a handout from MyPlate and put together some Healthier Holiday Options blog post. It did a similar topic in 2015 as well and enjoyed providing some recommendations on how to stay on track on Thanksgiving. So if any of those topics sound interesting check out those previous posts!

Lots of years I feel like the mantra around the holidays and trying to be healthy is negative. Lots of time I feel like we hear what to avoid and what not to do. I don’t love that message. I think that we should focus on what Thanksgiving is about - being grateful for what we have and getting to celebrate those blessings with our loved ones.

A Grateful Look at Eating Healthy this Thanksgiving

• So much food! This is often what people find the most overwhelming and as the main stumbling block starting here in November with Thanksgiving …. there is so much food that we love to eat. I say we celebrate that fact. We have lots of food. That is such a blessing. Lots of people all over the world and even in our country struggle with food insecurity. They don’t know where their next meal will come from. On this day, we sit down to a huge table, filled with food and we celebrate having plenty. This tradition has been passed down from the pilgrims. This one day we take what we have and we share it and we enjoy it. I think we focus on the fact that we enjoy this day and all that comes with it. This isn’t to say that you stuck yourself to bursting, but enjoy your holiday favorites. If you really enjoy pumpkin pie or homemade mash potatoes, then get a serving of those favorite foods and savor every, single bite. The other amazing part to Thanksgiving is the left overs. This is another opportunity to share the bounty that we all have with others. If you know of a family or individual who would benefit from a home cooked meal, take some of those left overs to them. That is a great way to get to show others some love and demonstrate the mantra of the holiday.

• Mandatory family time. Some times the pressure to see family and friends or the disappointment of missing that opportunity is stressful for people. Instead of focusing on how much of an inconvenience it is to see family or travel to a different city, take this chance to appreciate the fact that you have loved ones who want to see you and spend time with you. There are lots of people who don’t have those special people in their lives and having this expectation to see family and friends should be celebrated and looked at as a positive thing. Yes, it means giving up something, traveling and taking time away from what you might want to do, but it is means so much to see those people who you love and care for.

• Chance to give back. I love working to give back during the holidays and it all starts with Thanksgiving. There are so many different ways to volunteer at a food pantry, serve a Thanksgiving meal, participate in a run/walk event where the proceeds goes to a food pantry or homeless shelter. There are countless ways to share some of the blessings you have with others. I think we sometimes question if there is still good people wanting to help one another in the world and I think the answer if yes. Take this Thanksgiving as an opportunity to show others how you care and want to help and support your community. We have so much and being able to share a small piece or part of that with others is a great experience. One of the traditions that my family has done for the last 5 years is participating in the Broad Ripple Drumstick Dash. My parents and I have been going and we love being able to exercise in the morning and then encourage our feast later in the day. We have enjoyed being able to involve our other family members (my husband, our son, my cousin and other friends). This is a great way to exercise, be active and then support a local food pantry.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving and the start to the holiday season. Try not to stress about all the food, but embrace the day and enjoy, in moderation these amazing foods. Find some ways to give back to your community and show love to your neighbor. Being thankful for all the the blessings of the season.

Cooking With Your Child

I have talked about including your child with cooking before on my Facebook page and blog, but it can definitely be a tough thing to do. It takes WAY longer to include your child in the cooking process and it honestly can make a much bigger mess, when all is said and done. I still want you to encourage you to give it a try! I am not asking you to include your child with every meal, every day, but make an intentional effort several times a week to cook with your child. If you want your child to grow up and be independent and enjoy the cooking process, that love for cooking starts now.

Tips for Cooking with Children

• Embrace the Mess. When cooking with children, whether toddlers or older school age children, messes happen. It is inevitable that things will get spilled and your kitchen will end up being twice as messy compared to it your children weren’t “helping” you. Working to embrace that mess and be ok with that “disaster” is important. We would all love a neat and tidy work space, but teaching children and having them learn things can be a messy process. Along with the mess that will happen, take them time to work with your child and have them help you clean up. That is just as important of a skill as learning how to cook is how to clean up. Being able to take the time to involve them in the measuring, the mixing, the cutting (as they get older) and the stirring helps teach them to follow directions and create something. Having your child help with the dishes, load/unload the dishwasher, dry the dishes and put them away are useful skills to teach following directions and seeing a task through to completion.

• Be Patient. As you cook with your children, you will quickly learn that it takes LOTS of patience on your part. It is way more stressful for you to slowly walk through the instructions and slowly measure/mix the ingredients. Your child will want to be independent and try to do that task on their own. That is great, but will require an extra dose of patience when they spill the ingredient on the counter/the floor. It will take extra patience as you work with your child to unload the dishwasher as they slowly place the silverware in the drawer, one piece at a time. Teaching your children these skill is a slow process. Try to keep your cool and embrace the fact that you will need to be patient, but they are learning and that is worth the effort.

• Assign Specific Tasks. As you are working with your child, give them specific jobs to do. Explain to them what you want them to do. For example, have them stir ingredients on the pot on the stove. Give them a spatula and tell them that their task will be stirring the ingredients. Talk through how the pot and the stove are hot and they need to be careful. Give them affirmation that they are doing a great job following your directions and they are a big helper. This specific instruction is helpful for children to know what is clearly expected from them and then gives them a sense of accomplishment.

• Be Flexible. Nothing will go quite as you planned it. You probably anticipated being able to prepare that food item in less than 30 minutes, but working with your children can length that task out by at least an additional 10-20 minutes. Sometimes you will have an expectation of what roles they will help with and how they will be involved, but your child might have different ideas. That is ok! Be willing to be flexible and let them help you in ways that they are interested in and make the experience positive. If you are cooking a meal like pizza with different topping options, be willing to let your child pick whatever they want on their own pizza. Be willing to hand over that responsibility to the child and let them take ownership of that. If you assign your child a job task, like sweeping the floor after they finish cooking, let them do that however works best for them. Be flexible with empowering them to take ownership of a task.

• View this Experience as a Teaching Moment. Our main job as a parent is to teach our children. Taking the time to involve them in cooking and preparing food in the kitchen is a great way to teach them the art of cooking/baking, but also following directions, helping other people, functioning as part of the family unit and creating something to share with people. These are all amazing skills and using cooking as an avenue to work on these skills and instill these qualities in our children is a great goal. Talk through each step you are doing so your child learns what all goes into making a meal for the family. Your child will get better and faster at these tasks as you work with them over time, but enjoy the learning process and embrace the teaching moments.

Enjoy working with and getting to know your child better in the kitchen. This is a fun time to work with your children and help teach them skills that they will be able to use in the years to come. It can be stressful, but work to keep the environment positive, listen and dance to music as you cook and enjoy these little moments cooking with your child.

Jump In and Go For It!

I feel like this is becoming a common theme in my life. I have been blessed with amazing opportunities growing up through 4-H, opportunities to visit other countries on mission trips, the chance to learn an instrument, attend an amazing college, serve on various boards/committees throughout college, land an amazing first job, move into a specialty area and get another amazing job, etc. All of these opportunities have been blessings. I strongly believe that, but I also believe that I have “jumped in and taken a chance” when opportunities presented themselves. I very easily could have just avoided the opportunity and not applied for a board position or a chance to do something that pushed my comfort zone.

When it comes to advice, I am a strong believer in “jumping in and going for it.” Whatever that opportunity is! If you see a chance to take a leap, push yourself, advance your career, learn a new skill … then take that leap! This made me think of the Purdue 150th Anniversary Celebration. As you know, I am a proud Purdue Alum, but I love the theme for this year and this celebration - “Take Giant Leaps.” I think this fits perfectly into my mantra for life … “Go for it!” In order to continue to learn and became better and whatever you decide to do, you have push yourself and take risks at times.

The whole reason I decided to make a blog post on this topic was, because I had an opportunity that presented itself this last week. I was sent an email encouraging me to pursue an application for a national board position within the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics. Is it a long shot that my application would even get chosen and then if I would even get elected to that position …. yes! It is a huge long shot. Did that stop me from throwing my hat in the ring? No! I was asked by a colleague what made me want to apply? I said, “because I can.” I didn’t need another reason. I had an opportunity come my way. I had a chance to take a leap and try something I have never done before. I decided to try to make that dream a reality and I am going for it. Who knows what will happen. Probably nothing. I gave it a go, but I am not afraid of failing and not being chosen. It is fine. I am busy with lots of things and if this opportunity doesn’t work out this time, that is fine. I can always apply again in the future and see where that door leads.

Basically I wanted to share these thoughts with you to encourage you to push yourself, take those giant leaps and don’t be afraid to say “yes” to an opportunity that comes your way. Putting yourself out there is the best way to move forward and to learn! So jump in and go for it!

Halloween Tricks and Treats

Something about fall and the cool crisp air makes me love Halloween. It is kind of the start to the holiday season and of course you doesn’t love a cute kid wearing an adorable costume. Halloween means delicious candy will find its way into your house, if it hasn’t already. Lots of times we think that those “fun sized” candy bars are perfectly size … and they are if you only eat 2 not 15. Every year I feel like the fun-sucker when it comes to Halloween candy. I love a small amount of candy, but it is definitely a treat that can be over done. There are lots of neat food items that you can pass out that aren’t candy - pretzels, popcorn, crackers, fruit cups, etc.

I enjoy reminding people of ways to provide trick-or-treaters with goodies that aren’t always food related. There are amazing little goodies that you can find at your local dollar store that are inexpensive and the kids will love them!

Non-Food Related Goodies

• Whistles, kazoos, or noisemakers

• Bouncy balls

• Finger puppets or novelty toys

• Bubbles

• Spider rings or mini slinkies

• Vampire fangs or other Halloween themed goodies

• Mini notepads or coloring books

• Playing cards

• Bookmarks, stickers and stencils

• Crayons, markers or other writing utensils

• Glow sticks (bracelets, necklaces or rings)

Why would you want to go through the trouble to pass out non-food related goodies? Well lots of kiddos will end up with tons of candy by the end of Halloween. Most of those goodies will get eaten by themselves or their families. Some candy is fine, but most of us don’t need ALL that candy. Some children have food allergies or intolerances and that means that they can’t eat a lot of that candy that they get. That is definitely less exciting for a child who can’t eat what you give them and makes their parent’s worry that they might accidentally eat something they are allergic to. Offering non-food treats is helpful because ALL of the kids that you pass those items out to will be able to enjoy them.

The Teal Pumpkin Project - I have talked about this initiative over the years, but I wanted to bring it up again. This is a movement to provide safe, non-food related treats for children. Putting a teal pumpkin on your doorstep means you have non-food treats available, such as glow sticks or small toys. This simple act promotes inclusion for trick-or-treaters with food allergies or other conditions.

1. Provide non-food treats for trick-or-treaters.

2. Place a teal pumpkin in front of your home to indicate to passersby that you have non-food treats available.

3. Add your home to the Teal Pumpkin Project map.

4. Spread the word! Share the Teal Pumpkin Project with your friends and family.

I encourage you all to become a supporter of the Teal Pumpkin Project and work to help provide healthy and safe treats for children this Halloween!

Healthy Benefits of Fall Themed Foods

Well fall has officially arrived in Indiana this week. Monday the weather was mid-80 degrees outside and then by Wednesday the weather shifted and by Thursday the high was mid-50 degrees. It was a big shift and needless to say it finally feels like a cool, crisp autumn day outside.

With this shift to cooler temperatures there are variety of fall-themed food items that start making their appearance in grocery stores this time of year. I love the pumpkin flavoring and of course baked apples. I wanted to talk about some of these fall flavors and tease out what some potential health benefits would be for these food items.

Fall Flavors

• Pumpkin - You can find so many different types of pumpkin flavored food items, from bagels, to cream cheese and even your coffee can have pumpkin flavoring. Most of these pumpkin flavored food items are not any healthier than their regular food alternative. The health benefit that is gained from pumpkin is from eating fresh pumpkin puree and putting that in food items. The deep orange color that you commonly see in pumpkins signifies a large amount of carotenoids. Caroteniods act as antioxidants and can be converted to Vitamin A. The Vitamin A is helpful for eye sight and prevent the growth of cancerous cells. Antioxidants are helpful in decreasing inflammation in the body and protect from free radicals throughout the body as well.

• Cinnamon - This spice comes from tree bark and is very fragrant and this smell is due to the oily part of the bark that releases that smell. This spice is loaded with antioxidants to help protect from free radical damage in the body and can act as a natural preservative. There have also been some studies showing that cinnamon could help with cholesterol levels and reducing high blood pressure or helping with blood glucose control (need to consume 2 teaspoons/day). From the initial research, you have to consume a large amount of cinnamon (120mg/day) and I am not sure that is realistic for the average person. Some cinnamon can definitely make whatever you are making taste good, but I am not sure I would bank on a large antioxidant intake from what you sprinkle on your coffee.

• Cranberry - These deep red colored berries are commonly seen around the grocery store this time of year. This little berries are packed full of Vitamins C, A and K and are low in calories. They are also rich in proanthocyanidins, which are an antioxidant that help to fight off diseases. Cranberries can help with treatment of kidney/urinary tract infections or other issues. When it comes to dental wellness, the proanthocyanidins help prevent bacteria from attaching to your teeth. These berries are not super sweet so often people add lots of sugar. This is often where the additional calories come from. So try to enjoy your cranberries with limited added sugar.

• Squash - This is food is technically a fruit and not officially a vegetable. Squash contains high amounts of Vitamin C, Magnesium and antioxidants. This is such a versatile food that can be used as a side dish or a main entree. You can serve certain types of squash cold or warm. This can be a diabetic friendly food, because it has a low glycemic index and isn’t as starching as a potato or pasta. The antioxidants help to boost the body’s immune system and helps with glucose regulation and insulin release. Folate is found in high levels in squash and this nutrient is important for pregnant women to prevent neural tube defects. The potassium amounts in squash are high enough to help with vasodilation and help with blood flow throughout the body and overall blood pressure.

• Ginger - This spice is popular to add flavor to various dishes and recipes. This spice can be helpful for nausea and helping with morning sickness for pregnant women. Daily consumption of ginger (2g/day) can help with muscle soreness. This isn’t an immediate affect, but can help with soreness over time.It is hypothesized that ginger, like cinnamon, would help with blood sugar control (2g/day) and could be a helpful supplement for diabetics. If you experience indigestion often, ginger could help with this problem. Some further research is needed, but these are interesting findings and might be helpful for some people.

These are just a few of the common fall flavors that you might see at restaurants or at the grocery store. Hopefully this information is helpful as you consider any of these food items and their health benefits.