Jessica's blog

One chain restaurant that seems to be expanding across the United States at a rapid pace is Panera Bread. One just opened up in my small home-town of La Canada, Ca and one just popped up next to the Salon I go to and there is a new one down the street from my work in Malibu. This chain's growth started to spark my interest, so I went on their website to see if they had any nutrition information. Panera Bread has an awesome menu guide with a nutrition calculator included.

Yesterday I was really looking forward to my daily salad at lunch when to my dismay I opened the refrigerator and realized that I was all out of lettuce. How could I make a salad without it's usual base of butter lettuce, romaine or mixed field greens? I was just about to give up and run to the grocery store when I got the hunch to be creative...this led to concocting a delicious carrot salad! Since March was National Nutrition Month, it fits this year's theme "eat right with color" to make salads that are other colors than green.

Last night while shopping at Whole Foods, I happened upon a new crunchy, savory snack - Lundberg's Tamari with Seaweed Organic Rice Cakes. Each large rice cake is sixty calories, with zero fat grams, one gram of protein and only seventy-five milligrams of sodium. There are only a few ingredients (organic whole grain brown rice, organic tamari, organic brown rice syrup, organic nori flakes, sea salt) and all hail from nature rather than a factory.

Foods with a blueish purple tone are full of anthocyanins (heart healthy antioxidants)that work to support a healthy heart and blood pressure. They have also been shown to aid memory, combat aging and fight off urinary tract infections. Common blue/purple foods that you might want to reintroduce back into your diet include blueberries, pomegranates, plums, prunes, grapes and eggplant.

Tuesday was Mardi Gras which means that Wednesday was the start of the Lenten season. During Lent many make vows to give up something for the forty day period. Growing up going to a small Catholic elementary school I remember each Lent giving up chocolate or soda like most of the other kids in my class. Come the end of high school I started upping the ante to eliminating whole food groups like bread in an attempt to multi-task and sacrifice something as well as try to drop off my unwanted thirty pound weight gain.