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Veggie-Loaded Turkey Bolognese

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Hey there!

I'm Maria, a mom and Registered Dietitian with a love for good food. Let me help you navigate your way to happier, more confident eating and cooking. I take a non-diet, intuitive eating approach to food and truly believe that all foods can fit! Read More…

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halsanutrition

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More 𝕗𝕣𝕦𝕚𝕥 please! 💙
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I don’t know about your kids but mine love fruit. (As do I). Fortunately, this is a good thing as only about 10% of Americans eat enough fruit! 🍓🍇🍉🍌🍍🥝
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Fruits are loaded with vitamins and other compounds such as antioxidants and phytochemicals. ✨They also contain FIBER, something else most Americans fall short on.✨
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My advice? 𝐓𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝟒 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐲, for example at breakfast, with the morning snack or lunch, with the afternoon snack, and after dinner! .
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SLICING fruit for kids tends to make them more likely to eat it. My kids also love it when I put sliced apples or berries in a SALAD. 🥗I try to buy what is in season, however because we eat so much fruit and are limited in what’s available locally here in the colder months, I also buy tropical fruit and berries year round. 🥭#gratefulforthat
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☑️OK that’s all for now. (I just really wanted an excuse to post this picture of the berries that we picked back in August @russellorchards. It’s the kind of color pop that is needed on a gray, November day!) 🤪
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#eatmorefruit #addcolortoyourplate #addcolortoyourday #localberries #nowinthefreezer #splurgeonberries #blackberrylove #blueberrylove #kidtips #nourishingkids #nourishingsnacks #nourishingmoms #intuitiveeating #halsanutrition

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Sunday W A F F L E S🌟
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Happy Sunday! ❤️Thanks to “fall back” we enjoyed an extra hour of sleep last night—although only my husband seems to have been able to “sleep in.” 💤 (My dog definitely didn’t get the memo! Haha.)
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We are celebrating the morning with waffles! 💓You can find the ℕ𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕚𝕔-𝕊𝕥𝕪𝕝𝕖 𝕆𝕒𝕥 𝕎𝕒𝕗𝕗𝕝𝕖𝕤 recipe on my blog. Make some extra and freeze for busy mornings! .
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The best part of waffles? The smell, the taste, the texture...and the toppings! 🍓When I’m out of fresh berries I reach for the frozen ones. I keep antioxidant-packed wild blueberries in the freezer and add them almost daily either to my oatmeal, waffles, pancakes, or smoothies. And bananas, well we always have bananas but only because I buy another bunch every 3 days! 🍌🍌🍌
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Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Get outside and do something that makes you forget to check your phone!!! ☀️🌲🍂

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H A P P Y Halloween! 🎃
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I’m hoping my non-peanut butter loving son comes home with some peanut butter cups for me tonight, ha ha. But if not I am planning on making these homemade chocolate peanut butter pumpkin cups.😍They are so good and all you need is dark or semi sweet chocolate chips, peanut butter, pumpkin puree, maple syrup, and sea salt. Get the recipe from the inspirational @its_a_vegworld_afterall !
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Enjoy your Halloween, and remember to savor the candy without guilt—today and EVERY day! 💓✨Research shows that the more we restrict a food the more likely we are to crave it and over eat it. ✨

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With Halloween 🎃 around the corner, many parents are worried about the amount of candy their child will eat. I totally get this. I used to feel the same way! I would try to hide my kids’ Halloween candy after a few days or tell them how much they could eat on Halloween night and then the days after.

Fortunately, once I learned more about the Division of Responsibility and Intuitive Eating, I realized that ✨the best thing I could do was relax and let them enjoy their candy. ✨After all, it’s THEIR candy. You can certainly give them the option to trade their candy in for a non-candy treat or cash. But if they don’t want to, don’t force it.

By giving them permission to eat as much or little as they want of their candy you are giving them control and helping them learn to listen to their bodies. This will help promote a positive relationship with food. The same goes for us adults, the more we give ourselves permission to eat what we want, the less forbidden it becomes, making us less likely to overeat it.

If your child has never been given full control of their candy stash before, this may be super exciting for them and they may very well eat so much that they get a stomach ache. That’s ok! Over time they will relax and may even surprise you by wanting to donate most of their candy.
I will add, however, that there are some factors that you can control when it comes to candy, at least for young kids, and these include:
1️⃣how many houses you trick or treat at (which equates to how much candy they end up with), 2️⃣what you serve them to eat before they trick or treat (a full belly of food will help cut down on the candy eaten), 3️⃣the snacks and meals you serve on a regular basis, and,
4️⃣how you view candy year round. Is it a forbidden treat or are they allowed to have it on occasion with full permission to eat and enjoy? 💕
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#halloweencandy #candystress #letthemeatcandy #intuitiveeating #raisingintuitiveeaters #divisionofresponsibility #registereddietitian #halsanutrition

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Hungry K I D S ! 🍽
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What to do when everyone (including you!) is starving, but dinner hasn’t been started: Put out a snack board with mostly veggies. Have your kids help you assemble it! 👍Cut up any fruit or veggies you have on hand. 🌱Add some nuts or hummus. Or, make it a full on dinner board and add more food.
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Help everyone SLOW down by putting away phones for just a little bit, lighting a few candles, and putting on some relaxed music. Now that’s what I call a relaxed Friday evening! 💫
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Happy Weekend! 💗

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T A C O night! 🌮
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It’s Tuesday. And that means it’s usually taco night at my house. 🌶Tonight it’s chicken fajita tacos. This recipe evolved from ”classic” chicken tacos to which I started adding more and more veggies! .
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Taco night is great for kids because they can design their tacos just how they like them. 💗Yes, it’s totally ok to let your kids pick out the veggies that they don’t want in their taco. Just sit back and and let them do their thing without commentary. If you don’t ever try serving more veggies they will never start eating more veggies. But you can certainly start gradually by adding just one veggie alongside the chicken that you know your child likes and then slowly over time adding more.💫
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My favorite part of taco night? 1) Everyone is excited for dinner. 2) The homemade guacamole! 😋
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#tacotuesday #recipelinkinprofile #taconight #chickentacos #veggiepackedtacos #lovemesometacos #joyfuldinners #familydinnertips #servemoreveggies #halsanutrition

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Stir-Together Pumpkin ENERGY Balls 🎃
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Happy Friday Evening! 💃I’m feeling pretty grateful for electricity right now...and all the people who have been working so hard to restore it.✨We just got our power back after the storm we had on Wednesday night took down a tree, a telephone pole, and lots of wires on our street. .
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It was an inconvenience, but other than that really wasn’t so bad. It gave me a chance to support our local coffee shop (thank you @bluecanoemhd) and was a nice excuse to pick up a new book @spiritof76books and dine out at @soallfood. It also brought everyone in the neighborhood out and about to check in with each other. 💗In addition, it was really nice to light some candles and just slow down. And it probably comes as no surprise that without lots of lights & screens we all went to bed earlier! .
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Of course, I also decided that I still had to “make something”...so I stirred together these pumpkin energy balls—and yes, @larisa_forman, there is real pumpkin in there! 😊
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Here is the recipe, it’s based in my 4-ingredient peanut-butter balls:
In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup old-fashioned oats, 1/4 cup peanut butter, 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup canned pumpkin, 1/4 cup flax meal, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon cloves, a pinch of Kosher or sea salt, and 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Form into balls & enjoy! .
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Have a great weekend! .
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#marbleheadma #northshorema #pumpkinspice #pumpkinenergyballs #nobakeenergybites #stirtogether #gratefulforelectricity #gratefulforcommunity #halsanutritionutrition

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Milk + c o o k i e s 💕
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Do you guys ever write down the things your child says? This was one of my younger son’s statements earlier this year while he poured himself some more milk to go with his freshly made cookies. 😊
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Yep, it’s true, they go really well together & can be a great way to get some nourishment into your child. Among other nutrients, milk provides protein, fat, vitamin D, calcium, and vitamin B12. Important nutrients for growing kids. .
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And if your child is not a milk drinker or you prefer a non-dairy version, rest assured that is totally fine! These days there are several non-dairy milk options, including soy, oat, rice, almond, and hemp. Just be sure to look at the nutrition label to see what nutrients it contains. Except for soy, most plant milks will provide less protein. But you can usually find one that is comparable in all the other good stuff (calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12 & fat).
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We drink a variety of milks at our house. My kids and husband prefer 1% milk while I like whole milk in my coffee and oat milk in cereal and tea lattes. I also usually use oat or almond milk when I’m baking or making smoothies. (In addition to cultured milk such as kefir.)
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Happy Weekend!!! 🤸‍♀️

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Meet Maria!

I'm a Swedish-born, New England-raised dietitian with a love for good food and healthful living. Follow my blog for healthy recipes, everyday wellness inspiration, and fad-free nutrition advice. Read More…

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