Dinner Made Simple: Pasta

Being in the middle of “safer at home” aka quarantine, it can be easy for meals to get monotonous. Now is an important time to use the food you have, but coming up with new meal ideas day after day (after day after day) can feel overwhelming with so much going on.

Enter: the simple meal solution. A mix-and-match way to use what use have with no need to follow a complicated recipe. Up first we have everyone’s favorite… PASTA.

Use the produce or meat you have available and toss it together with your favorite sauce or seasoning. Boom.

I LOVE sauteed veggies (charred almost) with pasta. Use white pasta, whole grain, chickpea, gluten-free… whatever you’ve got! Enjoy!


Easy dinner during quarantine
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What moms need to know about KURBO (the new weight loss app for kids by Weight Watchers)

What you need to know about the new KURBO app by Weight Watchers


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As a pediatric nutrition coach by day, I help kids and families improve health habits every day. I also teach moms about how to model healthy habits to promote a positive body image for kids…  and this app is FULL of RED FLAGS, and will no doubt lead to long lasting body dissatisfaction and a diet mentality.

Here are a few reasons why. 

  1. Kurbo is NOT shy about this being a weight loss app, and it’s marketed for kids as young as 8. Anyone who has any knowledge of child health/psychology, knows teaching kids to focus on WEIGHT will set them up for a very unhealthy path. When kids diet from an early age or are focusing on weight.
    Their success stories page notes how much weight each child has lost or how many BMI points dropped. If Kurbo is using WEIGHT LOSS as their measurement of success, they are missing the mark. Weight loss does NOT equal health, and in fact can lead to worse health in the long run.

  2. When kids are still growing in height, it’s rarely (if ever) recommended that they LOSE weight. Weight maintenance while growing in height will result in a decrease in BMI. Weight loss should be closely monitored by a professional… not an app! And again, any type of focus on weight loss for kids can be EXTREMELY triggering, and lead to ongoing dieting, eating disorders, depression, etc.

  3. Kurbo is a food and exercise tracking app. This app is NOT  habit-focused. It labels foods as red, yellow, and green foods. While this method has been beneficial for adults, it could easily lead kids to believe that red foods are “bad” foods, and create an unhealthy relationship with food.

    [side note: I had my own spin out that was triggered by a food tracking app as an ADULT health educator, and ended up being bulimic. This can be VERY triggering for anyone with an obsessive personality]

  4. The app promotes using screen time to track weight, log all food intake, and exercise. IN an age where teens are spending upwards of 7 hours per day on screens, and screen time is already taking away from physical activity in teen girls…. An app is NOT the answer.

  5. You may be thinking… well isn’t there a childhood obesity epidemic? YES. But it’s not going to be solved with an app that encourages kids to lose weight. We as parents need to be responsible for creating a healthy home enviornment, and modeling BALANCE and taking care of our bodies. Kids don’t do the grocery shopping. They don’t cook the meals… parents do. 



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10 tips for raising healthy eaters (and overcoming picky eating)!

If you are a mama, chances are good you’ve spend some time wondering if your child is eating enough, eating the RIGHT foods, and maybe even wondering why the hell they are spitting out a food they loved yesterday.

After spending the last year coaching in a pediatric clinic and working with the author of a best selling picky eating book, I’ve picked up a few tips. If you want the full guide, click below to download!


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Done for you Healthy Menu + Grocery List

Hey mama, 

I know how hard it can be to think up a meal plan, write out the grocery list, and figure out how you're going to execute the plan with a million things on your plate. 

I wish I could figure out how to execute the million things on your plate, but I can (and did) create the meal plan and shopping list ;)

This is for a family of three, so add as you have extra family members. 

I hate the concept of a "meal plan" so this is a menu. You can mix and match as you wish, depending on the day, and depending on what you feel like eating. 

Here's a preview of the menu! Click below to download the whole thing. xoxo 

Healthy Menu and Shopping list for the busy mom.. 7 day menu and grocery list for the busy family
Healthy menu and grocery list for the busy mom