About Roofresh

My name is Kelsey, not Roofresh, but Roo IS my nickname. I live in the Phoenix area with my husband and we are having fun being newlyweds and going on crazy adventures together. We like finding new hangouts, food, art, music and friends; so that's pretty much what my blog is about. You'll find a bit of fashion, design, nutrition and family sprinkled throughout my content, or anything else that catches my eye at the moment. My blog has changed a lot over the last year, but you'll see that it's really just a record of our lives together; our public journal.

The Blogroll

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Things that are Good for You

I feel that articles on nutrition can be very controversial, and in all honesty, it kind of scares me to write this. If you don't know me personally you may not know that I have my BS in Nutrition (Dietetics specifically). Now I do NOT have the same credentials an RD (Registered Dietitian), but I do have the same degree and have worked in the nutrition field for the last three years. I've worked in a clinical setting and currently work for WIC as a nutritionist counseling moms. With all of that said, what I write to you are humble bits of advice and tips for healthy living.

I start this new post "Things that are Good for You" with a basic breakdown of macronutrients.

If you've never heard this science-y word before, that's okay. There are three things that can be classified as a macronutrient: Carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Guess what?!? You need ALL THREE on a daily basis to live. You can temporarily cut one of them out, but eventually you will have to add them back to your diet or you could have both short term and long term effects that are no fun. I'm going to break each one down for you over then next few weeks. (One thing I will say is that I enjoyed learning about nutrition not just for career purposes, but I personally like knowing about what goes into my body). 

That's right I said "CARBS" not crabs. I think that carbs get a bad rap, ever since that Atkins guy showed up, everyone thinks that carbs are from the devil and make you fat. WRONG! Using anything without moderation is a bad idea, same with carbohydrates. 

Here are some examples of how to use carbs wrong:
(oh how I do love this pastry from Pugly Pixel though)

Let me put a little disclaimer out there-I like cupcakes, pizza, and doughnuts, I love them, but it's pretty obvious that you should not eat them everyday, or even every week. 

FACT:You need 130 grams of carbs a day just to keep your brain functioning. 

In fact, 60% of your daily needs should be from carbs...that's right, more than half. I know that seems like a lot, and trust me, I still get a little nervous thinking about it because it sounds like indulging. It's not, not if you do it right.

Examples of good carbs:
Quinoa
(There is a lovely "how-to" from Danielle on this one)
Fruit
Whole grains in general

With that said, these are my "tips" regarding carbs:

1. Avoid refined sugars and try to eat only complex carbohydrates. If you don't know what a complex carb is, try to eat foods that are processed very little and look like they came from the ground the same way.

2. Avoid hidden carbs. My favorite example of hidden carbs is juice. While juice still has great nutrients in it, a lot of the time it ends up giving you more calories and less nutrients than the actual fruit itself would. Same goes for sports drinks, soda, and many tea or coffee drinks...don't drink your carbs away. My rec? No more than 4oz a day and not every day unless you work out on a daily basis or are very active.

3. Eat whole grains. Foods like quinoa, brown rice, bulgur, and barley are also higher in protein, fiber and B vitamins (among many others). 

Important things to know:

If you are consuming MORE carbs than you need, or an amount which exceeds or pushes you over your daily calorie needs, your body will store it as fat. PORTION SIZES are important. Here is a link to Mypyramid.gov which gives great examples of portion sizes. 

Your body's preferred source of energy that is readily used is from carbs. Every wonder why athletes and long distance runners load up on pasta before they perform? It's because your body changes ANY form of starch or sugar to glucose to be used for energy. So wait....doesn't that mean it will just change my candy bar and soda into glucose? Yes, but those foods are higher in calories, fat and very low in nutrients that your body craves...

ALRIGHT! Any questions?

Keep it real,

Roo

ps. Most of the material talked about above is based off of memory and knowledge that I have from my previous education, therefore no sources are listed. You can click on all photos for a link to the original site, but for any further information on nutrition topics I recommend Eatright.org, or Mypyramid.gov.

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Sunday, December 19, 2010

Baby Sprinkle

Something I did not realize until this year is that after you have one baby, apparently you're not supposed to get a second shower...WHAT?!? That's totally not fair and really sucks if your second baby is a different sex than the first, because you really have to buy everything all over again. I stumbled upon this post from Kelli Murray a while back and decided that a baby "sprinkle" would be a perfect idea for my currently preggo sis-in-law Mari. 

I had so much fun planning little details and I think that having a more laid-back feel than a baby shower was just what she needed anyway. We had mini cupcakes, fruit, and light appetizer feeling snacks to make everything feel a bit casual. We didn't play games, just had a small, intimate crowd who gave Mari advice and shared memories with her. 

Here is my little post-card style invite that I designed and sent out. (Or at least a version of it)
I created this by using clip art from my fave PuglyPixel.

Again, for this craft I used clip art from PuglyPixel.com as the background medallion and found the heart-shaped font on there as well. I'll admit that I cut every one of those by hand and I was getting finger cramps towards the end!
And if you know me, it's just not a party without cupcakes...but these were mini because it was a "mini shower."
Due to my lack of cake stands, I improvised and we used stacks of books with doilies..sigh, I love doilies.
Now this little activity was special to me because there's a story behind it. 

Right after we got married my mom gave us a big box that had all of my stuff from my childhood in it. It had baby clothes, homework assignments, report cards, projects; you name it, it was in there. I stumbled across a little letter hidden in the piles of paper. It was a letter written to me on the day that I was born from my grandparents. It had my birth date at the top and they explained in the letter how they had prayed for me and were excited that I was now here! I was so touched by this, and really more impressed that my mom had hung on to it and that I actually got to read it as a grown women. 

That was special.

In efforts to create a special memento for the soon to be Zoe Mae, I put out a "Happy Thoughts for Zoe Mae" station. I had little pieces of girly scrapbook paper punched into the shape of flowers and pens with a little box to drop the finished product in. People dated it and put happy little pieces of advise and what they were feeling as they anticipated her arrival on the back of the papers for us to give to Mari and eventually Zoe. 
Here is the lovely soon to be mother (again), Mari Norton
..And my sweet little nephew gettin' down on some cupcake action
Our beautiful friend, Julia Hull
I was trying to get a nice shot of my sweet little grandma, but check out my sister's face in the background. Ha ha!
Oh my gosh, how adorable is this picture? Nathan, Julia's son, was being so well behaved in the next room, so I snuck over to take a quick pic. Doesn't he make your heart melt?
Wrapping up at the end of the party here. It was a nice day of talking and hopefully relaxing for Mari. I love my sister-in-law and I hope that she felt showered upon, even though it was just a sprinkle. :)

Keep it real,

Roo

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