There’s nothing like the start of the school year – and all of those extracurricular activities – to disrupt our healthy eating habits. Fortunately, Intelligent Gourmet has your back with weekly meal plans and ready-to-drink juices that give your body everything it needs to feel fabulous for Fall. This month, we’re taking advantage of our new Niman Ranch meats and a cornucopia of in-season produce to bring you dinners like this one!
As much as I love vegetarian and vegan food, I’m very excited about the delicious meat products coming to us from Niman Ranch. Niman Ranch has become a standard-bearer for all-natural, humanely and traditionally-raised livestock. Their products are free of antibiotics and hormones, feed is strictly vegetarian, and animals are raised outdoors in pastures or deeply bedded pens. While eating animal products is a much-debated life choice, there are many health benefits associated with meat, like iron, zinc, and B vitamins – not to mention protein!
But let’s look at the other seasonal Fall ingredients on the plate. Sweet potatoes are one of Autumn’s best Superfoods, containing vitamin D, iron, vitamin C, B6 and Magnesium. All of these together add up to a powerful immune-system boost with stress-relieving effects (just in time to help the kids with homework). Mushrooms, of course, are also a great source of vitamin D.
Broccoli, a winter crop in Florida, is one of the most nutrition-dense vegetables on the planet. The cruciferous vegetable includes vitamins A and C, folic acid, fiber, calcium, numerous cancer-fighting and anti-carcinogen properties, and potassium – which means it helps prevent cancer and regulate blood pressure, supports the nervous system, and helps reduce cholesterol.
With so much to do and so little time, don’t let your schedule dictate your eating habits! Because, when you’re healthy, there is nothing you can’t handle.