Amanda Watson
Holistic Nutrition Consultant, Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition®
AFAA Certified Personal Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor
NUTRITION AND WELLNESS BLOG
Take the guesswork out of your nutrition and wellness…
Serving you the best, most current research and advanced nutritional science. Let’s address diet and lifestyle factors to help you achieve your goals and fit your busy lifestyle.
Most Women Aren’t Eating Enough
Are you a woman in your 30′, 40’s or 50’s who feels like you are doing all the right things but still struggling with stubborn belly fat and an inability to lose weight? Read on to learn what I find to be a common culprit in the women I work with.
Keeping Your Bones Strong as You Age
Keeping your bones strong and preventing osteoporosis comes down to more than just your calcium intake. Here I discuss the multiple nutrients and lifestyle factors that can help prevent bone loss.
Setting and Achieving Health and Wellness Goals
Do you have trouble sticking to your resolutions or health goals? Here I share how I help my clients achieve their goals by setting SMART goals.
Mindful Eating
Do you tend to overeat at holiday gatherings and parties? When there’s lots of delicious food around we tend to eat quickly and overfill our stomachs. This can lead to indigestion, heartburn, and bloating. Read on to learn tips on how to slow down, savor your food, and banish the bloat.
Healthier Hot Cacao Recipe
There’s something about curling up under a cozy blanket on a cold winter day with a good cup of hot cocoa. Here is my favorite homemade hot cocoa recipe that uses 5 (healthy!) ingredients and takes about 5 minutes to make!
My Top Nutrition Advice
Something I get asked often is “if you had to give someone only one piece of dietary advice, what would it be?” Read on to see what one recommendation I would make that would help people live healthier lives and prevent or reverse the diseases and illnesses of modern society.
Spotting Hidden Trans Fats on Ingredient Labels
You may be surprised to learn that foods that list zero grams of trans fat in its nutrition facts may actually contain trans fat! Read on to learn how to identify trans fat in the ingredient label.
Are Artificial Sweeteners and Sugar Substitutes Safe?
In my recent blog post “Avoiding Weight Gain During the Holidays” I recommend limiting liquid calories. Here I answer whether using artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes are a healthy and safe option.
Avoiding Weight Gain During the Holidays
Gaining weight over the holiday season is a common concern for many adults. With all of the holiday parties and treats, increased alcohol consumption, and decreased physical activity it can be easy to gain unwanted weight between November and January.
Adding More Veggies and Fruits to Your Diet
Vegetables and fruits are full of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, antioxidants and fiber which keep us healthy. For optimal health we should be aiming for 5-9 servings of vegetables per day and 1-2 servings of fruit per day. Let’s take a look at how you can get this amount in your diet:
Why You Should Avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup
Eating a lot of fructose, especially from HFCS can raise levels of LDL cholesterol and triglyceriedes, increase blood levels of uric acid leading to gout and high blood pressure, cause deposits of fat in the liver (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), cause insulin resistance and lead to obesity and type II diabetes, and promote overeating and leptin resistance.
How Much Protein Do You Need?
Protein is one of the three macronutrients (carbohydrate and fat are the other two) necessary for optimal health. Macronutrients are needed in large amounts and provide calories and specific biological building blocks.
