 There is a strong argument for exclusively breastfeeding children for at least 18 months, but for most parents, the weaning process happens much earlier. Whether you are breastfeeding, formula feeding, or some combination, when you choose to start solid foods, remember this is your one chance to do it right.
As children move out of the infant stage and into the older baby stage, they begin to require a heftier nutritional requirement. This nutritional need can be met with breastmilk, but some mamas find it's just not enough for that hungry monster. One-year-olds can be introduced to a variety of fruits and veggies as soon as you feel it's time. Don't let anybody decide for you. You will know when you need to supplement breastmilk with solid foods. Here you will find an exceptional guide to feeding your one year old, as well as the important nutritional requirements he/she needs to grow up healthy.  Evidence suggests that we don't need carbs to survive. We can subsist on fat and proteins. so long as we are consuming the entire animal and not just going to Safeway for chicken breast and turkey thighs. But you know what? What kind of person just wants to survive? We want to thrive. We want to live and be happy. And most of all we want the energy to be active.
Folks who live on just fat and protein (according to the study) don't have the same endurance or energy levels as a person who includes moderate carbohydrates in her diet. This have to do with the fact that there are vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in carbohydrates that play an imperative role in our growth and energy levels. Carbs not only make you happier mentally, they make it easier for your body to use fats and proteins. Amazing right. So the next time somebody tries to carb shame you, go ahead and give them the bird. Here are some great ways to incorporate carbs into your diet and be happy.  The Center for Disease and Prevention reports that 16% of American children are overweight and obese, while one-third of the children consume a fast food meal at least once per day. The downfall of proper nutrition and the rise in childhood obesity are forcing the medical field and parents to find a healthier alternative to a meat-based diet.
 I know from experience that good health stems directly from proper nutrition. In our household, food is medicine. My daughter is nearing 4 years old and I must pat myself on the back for starting her off right with a diet of whole foods and minimal processed foods. She has never set foot in a McDonald’s and she has a strong opinion on killing animals.
 Americans spend more than 20 billion dollars each year on dieting books, dieting pills and other weight loss products (we are unsure if this includes fitness equipment, as the study did not state it directly). All we can say is, if that kind of money is being spent on the desire to lose weight, why do we still have 220 million dieters attempting to lose weight annually?
We have some ideas. Our modern lifestyle is busy. But not only is it busy, it teaches us to expect instant gratification and reject long term goals. Most Americans are looking for the quickest way to lose weight with minimal energy exerted. C’mon people! Exerting energy is part of our genetic code. We were built to move; we were built to work hard. But life can be hard, we get it. If you find yourself struggling to meet your We love you.  We are all trying to stay healthy and keep processed food to a minimum. We wake up every morning to our fresh bowls of oatmeal or scrambled eggs and broccoli (okay, okay almost every morning) and we put on our shoes and hit the pavement.
We sip water and drink herbal tea. We avoid the ice cream aisle because it is sooooo tempting. But what about the healthy fitness-oriented products? I'm pointing my finger at sports drinks to be precise. Gatorade, Powerade, and many others touted for being electrolyte replenishes have a nasty sidekick: high fructose corn syrup. Sports drinks are soda in disguise. Drinking anything with high fructose corn syrup in it is bound to have an impact on your health progress. But what sort?  Most men and women workout and then eat all of those calories back afterwards. Why? Well, many of us overestimate how many calories our bodies burn off and underestimate how much food we actually consume.
Nobody needs an after-workout snack, and we advocate for a three meal per day lifestyle. If you just have to have something to eat, then try one of these nutritious nibbles to make you feel better. Remember, you really shouldn't snack, so perhaps you should schedule your workouts before one of your main meals instead. Then use one of these "snacks" as the starting point for your breakfast, lunch or dinner.  Carb cycling is a dietary choice where you alternate the amount of carbohydrates you have on each day. The idea is to have higher carbs on heavy lifting or cardio days and lower carbs on low energy days.
But that's nice. What does that really mean for you? The idea behind adding carb cycling into your life is that it trains your body to burn fat on low-carb days. Since you aren't giving your body a rich stream of carbs throughout the day, your metabolism is forced to turn to fat for energy. Now, the reason carb cycling may be more beneficial than a strict all-low-carb-every-single-fucking-day diet is because the high-carb diets remind your body to replenish important hormones like leptin and human growth hormone...among others. When you dive into a low carb diet, you do get better insulin sensitivity, but your body also turns down certain hormones that are activated by carbohydrates in the blood stream. Ultimately, the high-carb/low-carb strategy burns fat without decreasing your metabolism. It also keeps you from turning into a raging a-hole because you didn't get your pancakes with whipped cream and syrup. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration...or is it? I'm pretty much an a-hole when I don't get my Sunday pancakes. If you want to try carb cycling and see if it helps you lose weight or get you over a rough spot in your progression...or hell, if you just want to change up your diet, follow our 2-week carb cycling program, featured below.  Let's get something straight, the food pyramids created by the USDA for Americans, whether meat-eating or vegetarians (or vegans) suck. They are funded by big agriculture and recommend that you eat large amounts of the food that they want to sell. Plain and simple.
I know this because I worked for the USDA for a brief time (but left because I couldn't handle the fact that they allowed their pockets and politics to influence the information they provided to us). I watched as the dairy or beef or wheat guys would totally influence how the pyramid was designed. That consumers were told to eat more grains or dairy because it was important to them to boost those economies...it had nothing to do with your health. This is something that has been sitting on me for a long time and part of my mission to get you from skinny to strong is to make you the most informed on nutrition as possible. I aim to provide honest, no-agenda nutrition information that doesn't appeal to fads or policy. It just appeals to the human body and your physical (and sometimes emotional) needs. To start, I have created a food pyramid that is the center of our nutrition program. And because many of you are meat eaters or are vegan, I made sure to create this pyramid to accommodate your dietary choices. Of course, you will not find dairy on this pyramid because it is not a legitimate food group for humans. We are not going to talk about this here, but let's just remember that another animal's milk isn't created for other species...we don't see baby cows being fed human milk, do we? No, it doesn't make any sense and it is purely a commercial product. Daily Requirements: Protein: 3-4 servings per day Fats: 1-3 servings per day Fruits: 1-3 servings a day Vegetables: 5+ servings per day Grains: 0-3 servings per day  America is a nation dedicated to looking physically good all while not having to do anything to gain that fitness. In fact, I have friends that would starve to look "hot" rather than eat well-balanced meals and do some physical activity. Why? The ADA says that we are spending $33 billion on weight loss aids, yet we are facing an obesity "epidemic." Ironic? Maybe, maybe not, I like to call it the effect of the "Obesity Cycle."
 Forget your bento box? And now you have to pick up your kids and whisk them to whatever sport/art/science thing they're into right now. While we'd love to say this has never happened to any of us, we can't.
There comes a time in every one of our lives that forces us to eat out. And we don't mean at our favorite local restaurant where we know the chef makes a killer lentil burger with hand-cut potato wedges. Sometimes. we have to eat fast. If you're lucky, you have time to run into a grocery store to grab an apple, veggies sticks, and hummus. But what if you can't do that? What if the only place between where you are and where you have to be in twenty minutes is FAST FOOD. Fast food (better known as food stuff of which the origin is entirely unknown and most likely of poorer quality than your dog's food) is dangerous. It's not only poor nutrition, it has dire consequences on the body (mood issues, high cholesterol, guilt). But just because you have to eat and run doesn't mean you have to choose the worst thing possible. Plenty of healthy, low-sodium, low saturated fat options are on the market. You just have to be smart and diligent with your orders. Here are the best fast food options for when you can't get home: 
While we don't recommend that those looking to lose weight or get in shape need to count calories (if you are eating 2-3 meals per day that do not include crap or booze, then you really don't need to count calories!). HOWEVER, not all of us have it so easy, and for some us, counting calories makes us feel accountable for our progress. It's the same thing a keeping track of workouts.
But before you can start counting calories, you need to know how many calories you should be eating per day. You can figure out how many calories should be eating if you want to lose weight by multiplying it by 10 or 12. It's also important to know that the body wasn't built to have the exact same number of calories every single day. You should stick within a range. Here is a calculator to help you as well:
 For at least five years gluten as been quite the nemesis, and most likely for no good reason. This panic started with the advent of low-carb diet fads. We do not support these fads. But some people are allergic to gluten, and others have a gluten intolerance. For that information, you can go here.
We are all about promoting fitness and healthy eating habits, but what we aren't into are fads. Fads set people up for failure. As of late, a new fad, the 21-Day Fix is taking the internet by storm.
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Photos used under Creative Commons from smith_cl9, simonov, Colby Stopa, eliduke, wuestenigel, randomidea, r.nial.bradshaw, Derek Keats, NIAID, FoodCraftLab, Didriks, aotaro, Elvert Barnes
