I Just PR’d a Little

In case you didn’t know, “PR” stands for “Personal Record.” I took five minutes off last year’s half-marathon time and PR’d with my bestie. (Shirt & running skirt from Skirt Sports) Today (for the second time in my life) I did something I never-ever-ever thought I could do. Today I ran my second half marathon.…

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3 Big Benefits of Family Dinner

The benefits of having mealtime as a family mealtime extend beyond nutrition, helping you to connect with your children and promote healthy eating habits. Growing up on a farm in Kansas, the dinner table was always a special place for my family. During Sweet Corn Season in the summer, my parents, brother, and I would…

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What is Hoppiness? The Origin Story of Peas and Hoppiness

Baby blogger Ann back home on the farm, learning about Nitrogen Fertilizer and Crop Rotation in agriculture Peas and Hoppiness. Yes, it’s a food pun. No, it’s not a typo – it’s spelled with an “O.” As in “hops,” like what’s used to brew beer. Peas and Hoppiness started as a brainstorming session of potential…

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Emotional Hunger: How to Nourish Your Soul

Our bodies crave nature. Sometimes feeding emotional hunger is as simple as sitting outside on your porch and taking five deep breaths. I bet I don’t even have to define it. I bet – intuitively – you know what I’m talking about when I mention Emotional Hunger and how it differs from Physical Hunger. The…

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5 Tips to Beat the Body Blues

Summertime is peeking around the corner. And you know what that means: swimsuit season. Yes, the season you’ve put off training for all winter long. The season of teeny-tiny, perfectly tanned bikini models. The season of commercials with guys who have 6-packs playing sand volleyball. It’s a rough season for everybody. Throw back to last…

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The Common Denominator

I’m often asked the question of why I became a dietitian and my response is always the same: I love food! However, my response is often mistaken to mean that I love to eat food. Which I do – but there is so much more to it than that. I love the story, the culture, the…

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New Year, New Decade

Sometime during this last decade I made up a game I call “The Where-Were-You-a-Year-Ago Game.” It’s exactly what the title suggests: a reflection on where I was last year at this time and how I was feeling. I like to play this game with myself to help me remember where I’ve been, realize what I’ve…

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She’s All In.

Oh, hey there! Did you think I had forgotten about you? I haven’t. It’s just that you, like my dear sourdough starter Merv, had to be pushed to the back [of the refrigerator] while I tried to survive my life these last few months. Luckily after I fed Merv a couple of times last week…

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Big Rocks: Prioritizing what Matters Most

Friendsgiving 2018 in our new home! Use this analogy of big, medium, and small rocks to identify what matters most to you in life so you can live joyfully every day. With a new year around the corner, I’ve been thinking recently about happiness. How does one pursue it? And even more importantly, how does…

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