It's Been a While

Why hello there. You may remember me as the sustainable food and nutrition blogger who used to post recipes and stuff once in a while. Well, I've been a bit busy this year with my new job publishing Food Science books covering Sustainable Food, Nutrition, Functional Food, and Dairy and oh yeah, GETTING MARRIED (more photos of our big day here). It's been a wonderful year and now that I've hit my goal at work (and then some, yipee!) and have wedding planning (phew, that was tiring) behind me, I'm so excited to be re-launching my blog along with nutrition workshops, cooking classes, and 1:1 health coaching!

I'll delve into more specifics about those in a future post and in page updates, but for now, I figured I'd share some of this year's highlights with you in a digestible list with some fun pictures just to get us caught up. Sound good? Great. Here goes.

• 18 new scientific reference books contracted on topics like protein and amino acids, vitamins, sustainable protein sources, insects as food ingredients, and probiotics. All right up my ally.

• 5 conferences attended, including American Society for Nutrition at Experimental Biology in San Diego, Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) in New Orleans, IFT Wellness in Chicago, the 17^th World Congress of Food Science & Technology (IUFoST) in Montreal, and Elsevier's Editorial Retreat in Chicago. I sat in on some fascinating scientific sessions which gave me new perspectives on macronutrient balance in our daily diets, micronutrient fortification of foods, the definition of sustainability, industry's role in our food supply, economies of scale gained in food production, food waste, food loss, and a whole host of other really fascinating topics. 

• After sitting through and speaking 1:1 with scientists who have spent their entire careers studying protein, amino acids, and cardiometabolic health and muscle syntheses, I gradually reintroduced meat back into my diet. After 6 years of semi-vegetarianism (there was some fish in there), it's been good. I tried meeting the complete protein recommendations made by said scientists without meat, but it was really hard to do while staying within my reasonable daily calorie requirements. My new husband was rather reluctant about eating meat again, but he's fully on board now and makes a mean grass-fed organic pasture-raised burger, which we like to sandwich between english muffins made of sprouted organic ancient grains and top with whole grain mustard and home made slaw. 

• Before the wedding, James and I both started 5 am classes at a fitness studio around the corner from our new home. We also cut WAY back on dairy, refined grains, and refined sugar. These were the biggest offenders in our diet and these changes helped both of us look and feel our best for our big day. :-)

• Oh yeah, we moved from Somerville to Malden in July. I will have to convert one of our off-street parking spots to a container garden next summer or find a community garden to get my hands dirty in.
• Turks and Caicos is beautiful and the food there is delicious. We spent 8 glorious nights in an oceanfront suite on Grace Bay. I had never needed a vacation so badly in my life and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I drank lots of rum punch and ate lots of fresh fish. I even indulged in the best bread pudding I've ever had. Every morning. With breakfast. I also listened to 3 audiobooks and took 3 yoga classes. We swam in the ocean, went snorkeling, jet skiing, and kayaking and rented a vespa to explore the island ourselves. So. Much. Fun! 

• Added some fun new appliances and tools to our kitchen thanks to the generosity of our friends and family and a magical thing known as a wedding registry. I'm especially in love with our Breville Tea Maker, Breville Compact Smart Oven, VitaClay Multi-Cooker, Spiralizer, and our Cuisinart Griddler.

I promise to write another post this week. Feel free to leave a comment with any questions, comments, or ideas for future posts!