Healthy Back to School Lunch & Snack Ideas As Seen on Fox Carolina News

It’s almost back to school time, and we are talking a lot about healthy lunchbox and snack ideas with our clients right now. I recently shared them with Kari Beal on Fox Carolina News. Check out what I head to share below!

Part 1 : Healthy Lunch Ideas

CLICK HERE TO WATCH NOW

Registered Dietitian & Mom Tips:

  • Meal plan for 2 lunches for your kids and alternate them. You don’t need to be coming up with 5 different lunches each week – keep it simple and save money by meal planning!
  • Build a healthy lunch box using these 4 ingredients: whole grain, protein, produce, and something fun that’s sweet or crunchy

Healthy Kids Lunch Box Ideas:

  • Whole wheat turkey and cheese wrap, dried apricots, sliced cucumbers, and chocolate covered almonds (pictured above)
  • Veggies Made Great Muffins, Greek yogurt + granola, grapes, and veggie sticks (pictured below)
  • PB&J on Whole Wheat Bread, hummus + baby carrots, cheese stick, and chocolate chips
  • Ham & Cheese Roll Ups, pretzels, pineapple, and a mini-KIND bar
  • Cheese quesadilla, black beans, avocado, tortilla chips, and strawberries
  • Egg Muffins, cheerios, blueberries, tomatoes, and a whole wheat fig bar
  • Whole Wheat Bagel with Cream Cheese, raisins, sliced bell peppers, and a piece of dark chocolate
  • Tuna Salad on Whole Wheat Bread, pistachios, kiwi, and hippea puffs

Need an easy button? Check out these prepackaged lunches.

And last but not least here are our favorite lunch box containers:

Looking for more healthy recipe ideas? Check out our Real Life Nutrition Membership!

Access 330+ Registered Dietitian authored healthy recipes for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, smoothies, and more. Simply add the recipes to your recipe box and a grocery list will auto-populate for you! BONUS: you will also receive a meal plan every Friday, have access to a flexible meal planning nutrition course and a live group coaching call once per month. Click here use code BACKTOSCHOOL to get your first month for only $15! (Offer valid through 8/31/23)

Part 2: Healthy Back to School Snack Ideas

Click Here to Watch Now!

Registered Dietitian & Mom Tips:

  • PSA: A snack after school isn’t going to ruin your kids dinner! Offering a snack when they say their hungry will teach them to listen to their body + hunger cues and promote a healthy relationship with food.
  • For a healthy snack choose a carb for energy + protein/fat for sustainability
  • Meal plan for 2-3 snack options for the week. For little kids ask them “do you want X or Y?” and for big kids can write it down and post on the refrigerator for them to choose from.

EASY Healthy School & After School Snack Ideas:

  • Goldfish + Babybel Cheese
  • Popcorn + Jerky Stick
  • Apple + Peanut butter
  • Clementine + Cashews
  • Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels
  • Veggie Sticks + Almonds
  • Greek Yogurt + Fruit
  • Granola Bar
  • Tortilla Chips + Guacamole
  • Whole Wheat Toast + Peanut Butter
  • Crackers + Jerky
  • Pita Chips + Hummus

RECIPE: No Bake Honey Nut Cheerio Bars (photo above):

Yield: 12 Bars

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. In a large microwave-safe mixing bowl, add the peanut butter, and honey and microwave for 30 seconds and stir until smooth with a fork.
  2. Fold the cheerios into the melted peanut butter mixture using a wooden spoon. 
  3. Once combined, scoop the cereal mix in a 8×8 or 9×9 inch baking pan sprayed with avocado oil. Spread into an even layer pressing down on the top to ensure everything sticks together.
  4. Cover and place the peanut butter cereal bars in the fridge for 1-2 hours, or until completely set.
  5. Once set, slice into 12 bars and enjoy!

Note: You can also use almond, cashew, or sunflower seed butter instead of the peanut butter.

Looking for more healthy recipe ideas? Check out our Real Life Nutrition Membership!

Access 330+ Registered Dietitian authored healthy recipes for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, smoothies, and more. Simply add the recipes to your recipe box and a grocery list will auto-populate for you! BONUS: you will also receive a meal plan every Friday, have access to a flexible meal planning nutrition course and a live group coaching call once per month. Click here use code BACKTOSCHOOL to get your first month for only $15! (Offer valid through 8/31/23)

Podcasts We Love

It can be hard to reject diet mentality when we live in a world so ingrained in diet culture. You might have stopped valuing yourself based on the number on the scale – but sometimes messages from TV/magazines/social media can be triggering.

That’s why sometimes doing a little “homework” outside of your sessions with your dietitian can help you with your progress towards your goals. We have wonderful conversations together, but we know that sometimes hearing similar conversations from outside outlets can help too when solidifying a non-diet mindset.

Ways to do this include:

There are many wonderful non-diet dietitians out there who take a very similar approach to nutrition as we do. While we don’t have our own podcast (yet … maybe one day?) here are some great ones to check out from some fellow RDs that we love.

Non-Diet Podcasts We Love

  • Find Food Freedom – “The Find Food Freedom Podcast was created to help you take simple steps towards food freedom and body respect. Diet culture has taught you to distrust your body; it’s time to dismantle that together!”
  • Behind the Binge – “Behind The Binge podcast, hosted by (Greenville, SC local!) Registered Dietitian Marissa Kai Miluk, is your resource to learn more about how to cultivate a healthful relationship with food and your body, free from binge eating.”
  • Nourishing Women Podcast – Victoria Myers (a Registered Dietitian and Greenville, SC local!) hosts the Nourishing Women Podcast – a women’s health podcast on all things intuitive eating, body image, holistic healing, wellness and so much more.
  • Body Kindness Podcast – “This is not a weight loss show. This is about redefining what it means to pursue health, where your well-being matters more than your weight. When you practice Body Kindness®, you create a more satisfying life by being good to yourself. Learn how self-compassion and acceptance help you cultivate a “caregiver” voice and quiet the “inner critic”.”
  • The Embodied & Well Mom Show – “This podcast is about changing the conversation about food, feeding, body trust and living well while mommin’ up.” Great for pregnancy + motherhood specifically related to feeding, body trust, and body image.
  • Food Psych – “Registered dietitian nutritionist, certified intuitive eating counselor, and journalist Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS talks with guests and answers listener questions about making peace with food, healing from disordered eating, learning body acceptance, practicing intuitive eating, escaping harmful wellness culture, and more–all from a body-positive, anti-diet perspective.”
  • Maintenance Phase – “Debunking the junk science behind health fads, wellness scams and nonsensical nutrition advice.”
  • The Weight Inclusive Podcast – “Join host Heather Caplan and her registered dietitian (RD) peers as they talk shop, share their philosophies, and keep it real with you. Discussion topics include weight-inclusive nutrition and dietetics, intuitive eating, sports nutrition, career paths, and more.”

Last but not least check out some Podcasts that our CEO and founder Brittany has been featured on:

  • Beautiful You Podcast – The Consequences of being held Captive to a Diet, How to Prioritize a Well Balanced Diet in College, Benefits of Meal Planning & Building a Balanced Plate with Brittany Jones
  • The Empowered Podcast – Weight Inclusive : How to Achieve Health Goals without the Scale

Want to learn more? Contact us here.

Shifting the Focus from Weight to Health

Brittany Jones Nutrition Group is a weight inclusive practice – but what does that mean?

Simply put it means that we believe that health is not defined by your weight.

A person in a small body is not always healthier than a person in a larger body – and a larger person is not always unhealthier than a person in a smaller body. In fact evidence shows that taking a weight-focused approach in which someone puts a focus on weight loss and dieting can be harmful to ones health, often times resulting in disordered eating and/or eating disorders among other health conditions.

We appreciate that bodies come in all shapes, sizes, and weights. We work with our clients to improve their health by focusing on behaviors regardless of their weight. We provide respectful and compassionate care of people in all body type, shapes, sizes, and weights.

Our approach to a healthy lifestyle takes the focus away from weight and instead focuses on health promoting behaviors to improve health including:

  • A healthy relationship with food without restriction
  • Eating a variety of foods that provide nutrition + enjoyment
  • Being mindful and flexible while managing your chronic disease through food
  • Trusting your body to tell you when you are hungry and satisfied
  • Giving yourself permission to eat all foods
  • Eating regular meals and snacks
  • Feeling safe around all foods (i.e. being able to keep all foods in the house without a binge)
  • Moving your body in a way to celebrate it rather than punish for something you ate or control your size
  • Learning to accept your body and take good care of it – knowing that all people are of value regardless of size, shape, or weight

We believe that the weight you are when practicing these behaviors is the healthiest weight for you.

Our body size is often influenced by many factors outside of our control including genetics, income, education, social support, where you live, work, and play. NOTE this weight cannot be told to you by a health care provider or a BMI scale.

Still not sure about this approach? Below we de-bunk some common weight focused myths:

MYTH #1 Weight is the best measure of health. “Overweight” or “obese” mean unhealthy and “normal weight” means healthy.

FACT: BMI does not tell us about individual health and it doesn’t recognize that healthy bodies come in many shapes, sizes, and weights. Health can exist in diverse bodies and BMI was created to be used in groups of white males in a research setting. You are not that.

Your risk for disease depends more on your lifestyle than your body weight. Factors like genetics, income, and stress can influence disease. For example, heart disease and diabetes affect people of ALL weights. People of all sizes benefit from activities that support their health such as eating a variety of food to support disease, moving in a joyful way, and managing stress.

MYTH #2 The best way to improve health is by losing weight

FACT: Studies (and our dietitians 35+ years of cumulative experience in this field) show that restrictive diet and exercise programs poorly affect mental and physical health. Research also shows the more you diet the more you weigh.

Dieting has been associated with:

  • An increase in weight
  • Muscle loss
  • Bone loss
  • Increase in blood pressure
  • Increased risk of eating disorders
  • Body image issues/body dysmorphia

MYTH #3: “If I’m not actively trying to control my weight, I’ll gain a lot of weight and worsen my health”

FACT: People can improve their health and manage chronic disease without a focus on weight loss. In fact, people who do not focus on weight loss tend to have better mental health, lower stress, a better body image, and a better quality of life while managing their health. When we focus on health promoting behaviors our body settles at it’s healthy weight – sometimes that’s less than you are now, sometimes it’s more, and sometimes it’s the same. We need to give our body the opportunity to figure out what is healthy for you without trying to manage it through dieting and non-joyful exercise.

MYTH #4 I’ll just diet to lose the weight quick and then focus on maintaining.

FACT: More than 95% of weight loss attempts do not lead to long-term weight loss or health improvements. In fact, most people who lose weight on a diet will gain it back +5% more within two years. Because of this trend, dieting is actually a better predictor of weight gain than weight loss.

Are you:

  • Sick of losing the weight and gaining it back?
  • Sick of hearing about weight loss drugs and surgeries?
  • Do you just want to be healthy and not focus as much on the scale?

Our Registered Dietitians can help! CLICK HERE to set up a FREE 15 minute discovery call and learn more about what it would look like to work together.

20+ Dinner Recipes done in 20 minutes or less!

We totally get it – some nights you just *need* a quick and easy week night dinner recipe.

Often times a healthy and balanced recipe that incorporates your protein/carb/veggie all in one recipe in just 20 minutes or less can be very hard to find!

That’s why we’ve rounded up some of our favorite recipes from the Real Life Nutrition Membership that can be made in 20 minutes or less. Click the links below and save these recipes to your recipe box!

Not a member? Sign up here for only $29/month!

Some quick meal staple items: salad kits, frozen cooked grains like brown rice and quinoa, pre-cooked frozen chicken/shrimp/burgers, cooked chicken sausage and meatballs, and organic canned low sodium beans.

Clothing Rental Services We Love

When you’re working on improving your relationship with food, body, and movement it’s important to wear clothes that you are comfortable in and fit your body now.

This enables you to focus on behaviors like fueling your body regularly, meal planning, moving in a joyful way etc and stop obsessing about the scale or losing weight. Remember – it’s the behaviors that impact your health not the number on the scale.

We recommend making a “capsule” in your closet to make the morning getting dressed process easier. Simply put the clothes that fit your body now in the front of your closet and move your other clothes to the back. This will make getting dressed less stressful and more of a positive experience! No need to throw anything out (unless you want to) just move it to the back of the closet so you’re not sifting through things that you do not feel good in right now.

If you want to expand your wardrobe with clothes that fit your body during this process – but don’t want to go out and buy a bunch of new pieces we *highly* recommend trying a clothing rental service!

Here are some of our favorites below:

Armoire

  • How it works: Rent 4 – 7 items at a time for 1 month. Choose from brands like Boden, Lily Pulitizer, and BB Dakota. Option to buy at a discounted rate.
  • Cost: $69/month+
  • Size ranges: 0 – 3X + Maternity option
  • https://www.armoire.style/ (referral link for 50% off your first month)

Gwynnie Bee

  • How it works: Rent 3 at a time for 1 month. Choose from brands like Asos Curve, Jessica Simpson, and Torrid. Option to buy at a discounted rate.
  • Cost: $49 – $199/month
  • Size ranges: 00-32
  • https://closet.gwynniebee.com/

NY & Company Closet

  • How it works: Rent 3 items at a time for 1 month all clothes are NY & Company brand. Option to buy at a discounted rate.
  • Cost: $49/month
  • Size ranges: 0-20
  • https://www.nyandcompanycloset.com/

FTF Closet

nuuly

  • How it works: Rent 6 items at a time for 1 month. Choose from brands like Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, and Levi’s. Option to buy at a discounted rate.
  • Cost: $88/month
  • Size ranges: 00-5X
  • https://www.nuuly.com/rent

LeTote

  • How it works: Rent 4 items at a time for 1 month. Choose from brands like BCBG and French Connection. Option to buy at a discounted rate.
  • Cost: $59/month
  • Size ranges: 00-18 + Maternity option
  • https://www.letote.com/

Want to learn more about improving your relationship with food and body? Click here to set up a FREE 15 minute discovery call with one of our Registered Dietitians.

Giving Back to Our Community: Volunteering at Jasmine Road

Jasmine Road is South Carolina’s first two-year residential program for adult women survivors of human trafficking, prostitution, and addiction.

Their mission is to offer women who are trapped in a cycle of sexual exploitation and addiction a path to freedom, a haven for healing, and the opportunity to flourish, leading to generational change and the betterment of our Greenville community.

Brittany Jones Nutrition Group is thrilled to be donating our time and expertise through a 4 week series on “Gentle Nutrition” for the residents at Jasmine Road beginning in April 2022.

This series will be led by Registered Dietitian Anna Jensen, RD, LD and will cover the following topics:

  • A weight neutral approach to nutrition care
  • Rejecting the all-or-nothing mindset
  • Nutrition myth busting
  • Meal planning

As a volunteer, Anna will work alongside the Jasmine Road Staff to support the residents on their unique journey of healing, and to further their growth, and development. Our goal is to work with the residents as they move out of the cycles of addiction and sexual exploitation and to empower them to fuel, move, and accept their bodies along their journey.

We are very excited to be partnering with such an incredible organization and to give back to our Greenville community that we love so much!

Learn more about Jasmine Road and their social enterprise lunch café Jasmine Kitchen.

How To Eat Vegetables Without Feeling Like You’re On A Diet

What do you think of when you think of vegetables?

Does “eating diet food” come to mind, or is it one of your favorite foods?

Does it sound like something you “have to” or “should” eat, or just another part of your meals?

There is nothing inherently diet-y about vegetables, but diet culture has really taken advantage of them! 

It might feel a bit simple to write a whole blog post about vegetables, but we have found many clients associate them so closely to diets that their relationship with them can be disordered – so we thought it was worth talking about a little further.

You can enjoy vegetables how YOU like them, not how diet culture says you are supposed to eat them (i.e. with dressing on the side, or raw without dipping in ranch)!

Keep reading to see how your view of vegetables might be altered due to your dieting history, and how you can eat more vegetables without dieting. 

Dieting and Diet Culture Can Distort Your View of Certain Foods

Diet culture has created us to believe that some foods are “good” while others are “bad” – pitting the two against each other. Brittany Jones Nutrition Group dietitians teach food freedom, which allows unconditional permission to eat all foods, and can help us be more attuned with our body. 

Remember that “Force-feeding” yourself vegetables will move you in the opposite direction of trusting your body. 

As we learn to trust our body and its choices, we begin to strike a balance between functional and fun foods and it becomes a much more natural process. 

We have also seen how all-or-nothing thinking with vegetables can sneak in. If you have heard in a past diet that you can only have steamed, bland vegetables, low fat/low sugar dressing (or even worse- no dressing!), it is understandable how that would not satisfy you! If you have used vegetables to cover up a craving because they have little “points” (etc), you probably have realized this does not work and will only make your craving more intense. These experiences are common, and know that vegetables don’t have to be consumed in this way.

It is important to also note that your view toward vegetables might be altered from your experiences as a child. If you were forced to eat certain vegetables or if you were rarely exposed to them, this will also have an impact. Have compassion on yourself if it feels like you are “picky” when it comes to vegetables. It is never too late to just start trying and experimenting. 

Shift To An Abundance Mindset

Another reason people might avoid eating vegetables is that it is often used as a replacement for things when dieting. You can eat a lot of vegetables without having to make it a replacement for something else in the meal! By all means if you like cauliflower rice – go for it – but we would still love to see you add some carbs to your meal such as corn/peas/beans or some bread/crackers. If you love rice, eat the rice and have some vegetables on your plate as well.

It can be helpful to think how we can ADD to a meal or snack, not replace it. As you begin to try to incorporate vegetables in new ways, know that there might be some vegetables that you like and some you don’t, and that is okay! 

How To Make Vegetables Tasty 

Here are some ideas to incorporate more vegetables from a place of abundance, not restriction: 

  1. Start with a list. Think of the vegetables you like and the ones you have not tried or want to try making differently. Sometimes it can be helpful to think of something you have had before at a restaurant (like those crispy brussels sprouts or interesting salads) and want to try to recreate it! 
  2. Branch out in the kitchen. If you like steaming, go for it! But sautéing, roasting, and grilling can bring out amazing textures and flavors. If you have an air fryer (or convection oven), this can make vegetables really crisp. 
  3. Experiment with seasonings and marinades. Just like you marinate your meat for the grill, try marinating your vegetables! Think beyond salt and pepper- we love all the spice blends at Trader Joes! For those that find vegetables bitter, try using maple syrup or honey in a marinade or when roasting to cut the bitterness. 
  4. Don’t be afraid of oil. Not only does the oil help with satiety and in enhancing taste, it helps you absorb all the fat-soluble vitamins in vegetables. Also, you will thank yourself when cleaning the pan!
  5. Think beyond a side. Sides are great, but you can also enhance whatever you’re making by throwing some extra vegetables in the mix. Making a breakfast casserole or omelet? Maybe add some peppers and onions. Your favorite pasta dish or soup? Think about some throwing in frozen spinach or fresh mushrooms.
  6. Sauce it up. There are so many different things you can do in this area. Maybe it looks like a balsamic glaze, hummus, chimichurri drizzle, or some other dipping sauce. 
  7. You don’t have to order salad dressing on the side! You would be surprised how much more satisfying a salad is when it’s tossed nicely WITH the dressing. 

Check Out Some of Our Favorite Brittany Jones Nutrition Group Vegetable Recipes

We hope this gets you started on how you can be adding vegetables to your diet coming from a place of abundance. If you would like some ideas to get you started, check out some of ours below: 

Quiz: Do you have a healthy relationship with food/body?

It can be hard to understand what is considered a healthy relationship with food and body when we’re living in a culture that celebrates diets. It becomes so engrained in us, and sometimes we don’t realize that our relationship has become an unhealthy one.

That’s why the dietitians at Brittany Jones Nutrition Group came up with this quiz! It by no means should be used as a diagnostic tool – it is simply a quick 2 minute check in that you can do yourself.

If you answer “yes” to 5 out of the 15 questions or more – it might be time to explore your relationship with food/body in a little bit more.


Take our quick 2 minute quiz to check in with yourself and your attitudes about food, nutrition, and body image here: https://forms.gle/gNguNw1p2cGPKmxZ8

Meet our newest dietitian, Anna!

We are SO excited to introduce you to our newest dietitian, Anna Jensen, RD, LD!

Anna has been working with Brittany Jones Nutrition Group clients in our nutrition counseling and eating disorder/disordered eating programs since August 2021, and our clients have really enjoyed working with her! She is a joy to work with, and we are so grateful to have her on our team.

Get to know Anna!

Q: You were an intern for Brittany in the past, what made you want to be a part of the team?

A: Nothing else felt quite right. When I interned with the team, I got to see the Brittany, Allison, and Christie build relationships with the clients, really listen to them, and create an individualized plan. I decided that is what felt right – helping individuals find food and body freedom in a world of diet culture. – rather than the traditional weight centric approach.

Q: Where did you get your Bachelors in Nutrition and complete your dietetic internship to become a Registered Dietitian?

A: I went to Clemson University and I would not change a thing! I completed my dietetic internship through Be Well Solutions Distance program. I LOVED doing a distance program, because I got to choose my own schedule – that’s how I was able to choose my “emphasis” rotation with Brittany Jones Nutrition Group!

Q: You have a clinical background in dietetics – how does that help you with your clients?

A: This has shown to be helpful in helping both nutrition counseling and eating disorder clients. In my time in the clinical setting, I learned about chronic diseases, interpreting labs, consequences of malnutrition, and the importance of preventing of malnutrition. I also learned how to work on an interdisciplinary team/communicate with other medical providers, and how to teach individuals to advocate for themselves.

Q: What kind of clients do you enjoy working with?

A: I love working with those ready to ditch dieting and take a full dive into intuitive eating! I also love when clients trust me to be completely transparent, open and honest with their past and current struggles. I use motivation interviewing in our sessions, and meet clients where they are at.

Q: What are you most excited about in this new position with Brittany Jones Nutrition Group?

A: Of course I am excited to take on more clients, but I think I am most excited to be on a team that is so supportive and personally invested in your success!

Q: What’s your favorite holiday tradition?

A: I grew up making Christmas cookies with my grandma and it brings back so many memories. Even if I do not get the chance to bake with her, I try to make the same cookies. Food is so much more than fuel- it can bring back special memories and create future ones.

Are you interested in working with Anna? Click here to set up a FREE 15 minute call today!

TD Saturday Market Peach Panzanella Salad

I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since I moved to Greenville, SC! I moved here for a job with a start up company after graduating from the Medical University of South Carolina Dietetic Internship, and never looked back.

A LOT has changed in the last decade. I met my person and married him, traveled a ton, had a baby, bought a house, and held several jobs before finally starting and growing my own business!

I was honored to be asked by the TD Saturday Market to participate in their Kitchen Series as it has always been one of my favorite activities in our city!

SC peaches are my absolute favorite, and I had so much fun combining them with ripe tomatoes, fresh cucumbers, meat, cheese, and of course delicious sourdough bread! My recipe features produce from Beachwood Farms, Hyders Farm, and Great Harvest Bread.

Check out my full TD Saturday Market experience and the recipe below!

Farmers Market Peach Panzanella Salad

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1/4 Cup White Balsamic Vinegar
  • 1 Tablespoon Honey
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon Mustard
  • 3 Medium Ripe Peaches, sliced
  • 2 Tomatoes, sliced
  • 1 Small Red Onion, Peeled and thinly sliced
  • 4 Cups Cucumber, sliced into half moons
  • 12oz Fresh Mozzarella, cut into small pieces
  • 4 Cups Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread, 1 day old & cubed
  • 6 Slices Prosciutto, sliced

Directions:

  1. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, honey, and Dijon mustard. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, add the peaches, tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, mozzarella, cubed bread, and prosciutto. Gently toss with the dressing.
  3. Arrange the salad on a large platter and top with fresh ground pepper.
  4. Enjoy!