Hungry Blogger

When it comes to healthy eating, every person has different needs and what works well for one won't work for another. That's fine, and whatever your dietary needs are, you can still share your favorite healthy snack and lunch ideas here! Wellness Mama starts us off with trail mix, salmon dip, lettuce wraps sliced veggies and fruit kabobs. 

My current favorite snack is a wedge of cheese with some pickles, but I also love nuts and seeds. I could snack on nuts every day. I also love to make a quick "shake" out of coconut or almond milk, almond butter and cocoa powder. Yummy! Some good old fashioned chopped veggies with homemade ranch or French onion dip will make my day, too, as will half an avocado with some sea salt and olive oil. When my niece is here, I like to fill her two-year-old tummy with raspberries and blueberries, which she loves and could pretty much eat all day.

What do you love to snack on that's also healthy for your personal needs? Share your favorites in the chat!

When people get irritated about, or ridicule other people's ways of eating, I can't help but shake my head. We might all be mammals, but we've evolved to a point where we all have different dietary needs. Some people have deathly allergies or sensitivities that can deeply affect their health. In fact, I think more people have sensitivities than not and just don't know it, and if more of us were willing to try modifications we could probably be a lot healthier, even happier, as a result.

Some people avoid certain foods because they cause illness flare-ups, affect their blood sugar or otherwise can cause harm. Others have to eat at certain intervals for optimal health. It's really important to respect everyone's different dietary needs and educate about them. Still more people simply eat things a certain way as a cultural tradition.

What about your own way of eating? If you have a story, feel free to share it in the chat.

As someone who continues to try and eat healthy, I must admit that I get very bored with my salads. It's not even like they're boring in the first place: I chop up and add veggies and cheese, I often toss in some avocado if I have any, I experiment with herbs, spices and dressings, but it still gets awfully boring. So one of the things I try to do is try out new dressings that inspire me.

I ran across this poppy seed dressing and, minus the sugar, I think I might try it on a salad soon. I love poppy seed dressing, and if I replace the strawberries in a salad with some raspberries I can definitely cut the sugar content even more. Creamy salad dressings are my favorites, though, and while I love homemade ranch so much more than store-made ranch, I haven't found many other cream-based homemade dressings that I like as much.

What kinds of dressings do you prefer? Share your best recipes in the chat!

Boy do I love a good hamburger. It doesn't even have to be meat; I love a good vegan burger, too! My favorite, though, has to be a medium-well cooked mix of beef and pork or good ground chuck on a flaky bun with bleu cheese. Yum! Pub cheese is great, too, as are any number of toppings, depending on where you're ordering your burger from.

Epicurious has a series of videos depicting various foods prepared by chefs of different levels, from home cooks to professional chefs, and this one shows the different ways that burgers are prepared. I love listening to the different tips offered as well as the differences in how the foods are prepared! Sometimes I think the home cook variation is even better than the chef's; how about you? 

My mom used to make these super thin cheeseburgers and she'd put them on the buns, then slide them back into the bun bag to keep them warm while she cooked more burgers. I love this trick when we make burgers at home! It's so handy when you're cooking for a big crew, especially on a holiday, and it keeps the flies out if you're doing it by the grill. 

What did you think of these cooks' techniques? How do your techniques differ, or how do you prefer your burger?