Does My Morning Routine Need a Multi Vitamin?: Ritual Vitamin Review*

I’m a big believer in a daily routine. Whether you’re working from home right now or just trying to survive with your kids, having a routine is great way to feel like your best self. I find that scheduling times to do certain things helps me do them—and reminding myself of my goals, and my daily tasks to meet those goals, is a great way to stay motivated and on task.

One of my big goals for 2020 was actually related to my health; I’ve always struggled with my body and body image, and I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m often too tired to make dinner at the end of the day. Doing so requires me to keep a routine: I meal prep, I plan time to cook, and I make it happen. Stay-at-home orders, however, really threw a wrench in that routine.

It’s required a lot of work for me to put how my body feels first. I try not to think about calories anymore—but rather, what is going to support my health at this point in my life? What is going to make me feel good? And when I talk about feeling good, what does that mean for me?

When it comes to my daily routine, I try to hit a few specific points:

• Feeling accomplished. I know there has been a lot of discourse recently about “you don’t have to be productive right now”. I totally get that. But that’s also not for me. I’m still working and unfortunately, my job is all about production. For me, to feel good about my day, I have to feel like I accomplished something.

• Supporting my health (and my body). For me, this means taking a soothing bath in the evening, eating foods that make me feel my best, and taking a multivitamin that I love. (More about this in a minute!)

• Keeps me motivated. Having a clean home motivates me—that means, every day I have to make time to clean the parts of my home that need it. Typically, this means cleaning every sink and toilet in the house, and vacuuming the floors.

Why I Added a Multi Vitamin to my Routine

I’ve taken vitamins and supplements most of my life. When I was in elementary, I stopped eating dairy for a long time—and I remember my mom making me take those chewy calcium supplements every day. That was my first introduction to using a supplement to support my health and fill in the gaps.

Previously, I’ve always used gummy vitamins in my routine. When I was pregnant with Forrest, I relied on gummy vitamins to get me everything I needed—but I also knew they didn’t have enough calcium for me! (Can you tell calcium has always been an issue for me?)

I recently started using Ritual vitamins** in my daily routine. Every day, I keep them by my coffee maker so I can take one when I drink my coffee and eat breakfast. I take a second vitamin with lunch usually. I’ve always broken up when I take vitamins, especially if I need to take two, because I found this helped my stomach not get upset. (I have a very sensitive stomach, so this is just for me! Most people can probably just take 2 at once!)

The reason I took the leap and went with Ritual vitamins, instead of my usual gummies, is because I was looking for something that would support my diet a little more. When I bought gummy vitamins in the store, I often felt unsure of what I was getting. How was this going to help me?

The great thing about Ritual is that they tell you exactly why they include everything they do. Here’s what they have to say:

Essential for Women contains essential nutrients, each in their absorptive, vegan certified, non- GMO, gluten-free, and dairy-free forms. These nutrients fill the gaps in women’s diets to build a healthy foundation for the future, supporting the brain with Omega-3s, blood and heart health with Iron, and bones with Vitamin K.

One thing I specifically liked was that the Essential for Women vitamin (what I’m taking!) is designed to support the absorption of calcium. When I was pregnant with Forrest, I didn’t get enough calcium and one of my molars rotated. I know, that sounds terrifying. I feel you! I ended up getting an abscess and needed a root canal that took up the better part of a year. I took calcium supplements when I was pregnant, alongside those gummy prenatal vitamins—and I realize now that I probably wasn’t taking the right combination of things to actually support my body absorbing those vitamins!

I also like that Ritual vitamins are dairy-free and vegan; not eating dairy is a huge step I made for my health and while I’ve gone back and forth on it, I definitely feel better when I don’t eat dairy.

How Do I Like Them?

The thing I love most about Ritual vitamins**, to me, was that they are easy to swallow, they didn’t upset my stomach (multiple bonus points there!), and they don’t have that powdery, weird vitamin smell. They smell minty and fresh and amazing. Plus, they’re really pretty—their packaging is just plain cute!

When it comes to how they worked for me, I think it’s hard to say definitively—but I do feel like in the last month, I’ve been feeling a lot better about everything. I think part of that is my mindset: you can make a situation better in lots of ways, and developing a routine that works for me, and really drilling into my work, has helped a lot. But having Ritual vitamins** as part of my routine was a big help too.

There is also something very comforting to me about doing the same things for myself every day: I clean my bathroom sink, I make a cup of coffee, and then I take my Ritual vitamins. And that feels really good.

Are Ritual Vitamins for You?

Do you want to try Ritual vitamins** too? They have 3 varieties:

• Essentials for Women

• Prenatal (I really want to hear more about these!)

• Essential for Women 50+

Visit Ritual’s website to learn more about each variety and what they offer.

If you’re looking to make a multivitamin part of your routine, here’s a few tips:

• Keep your multivitamin where you’ll remember them. When I hide my vitamins in my medicine cabinet, I’m more likely to forget about them. I set a reminder in my phone and add it to my to do list—and I keep my vitamins by my coffee maker, like I said, so I see them every morning.

• Find a routine that works for you. I split up my vitamins, just to make sure I don’t end up getting sick to my stomach (like I said, this is mostly a me issue—sometimes drinking too much water too fast makes me sick to my stomach!). But find something that works for you: maybe taking your vitamins at night or setting an alarm.

• Set a goal related to your vitamins. Maybe you want to make sure you take them 5 days a week at least or you want to take vitamins for a year—just to see if it makes a difference. Set a goal, divide it into daily-weekly-monthly tasks (in this case, taking them every day!) and go for it!

If you would like to try Ritual vitamins, click the button below to order a bottle today! I think you’re going to love them. Let me know how you incorporate them into your routine and what you think.

How I Use Daily Harvest to Offset the Hectic Holidays*

I have a very sensitive stomach.

This has been a relatively new realization for me, even though I’ve had stomach problems my entire life. I was always prone to stomach aches as a child, always complaining that my stomach hurt. (Forrest has recently started doing this and, man, I’m sorry, kid!) I was a very picky eater and I tended to gravitate towards foods that were very easy on my stomach: toast, Cheerios, crackers. Basic, simple carb-based foods that weren’t super flavorful.

Fast forward to the last few years and my stomach issues have changed. For years, every time I visited Danny’s parents in Idaho, I would end up with a stomach ache, having to lie down for hours. At least I knew the cause for this one: I was eating way too much food in a short span of time. And none of that food was good for my body. (We’re talking multiple fast food trips here, people.) However, I still didn’t think I had a sensitive stomach.

It’s been only in the last few months that I realized the foods I eat, and tend to gravitate towards, don’t make me feel very good. Today, we know there are no good foods and bad foods, that diet culture is bad, and that fundamentally it’s ok to eat however you want most of the time—with an eye towards gentle nutrition (like making sure you aren’t malnourished and are getting essential vitamins and minerals). But it goes without saying: if you eat food that doesn’t make you feel good 24/7, you aren’t going to feel good.

When I first started getting Daily Harvest smoothies (and working with Daily Harvest), I did so with the intention that I just wanted some quick options for breakfasts for myself. I love smoothies, but putting them together myself is a pain. I know that seems really whiny—how hard is a smoothie?—but whatever, this was my struggle. I loved Daily Harvest instantly, not just because the smoothies are fast (that’s a fact), but because drinking them made my stomach feel about 400 times better than it did in weeks. Plus, I started to feel like I had more energy.

Here’s why I personally love Daily Harvest:

• Convenience: I know for some people the cost of Daily Harvest seems high. $7 per cup! But when you think about what comes in each cup, to assemble them yourself or even make one smoothie of the same ingredients, would cost a ton of money! Plus, they are delivered right to your doorstep, in recyclable materials.

• Fast & easy: when I make a smoothie, I don’t want to spend a ton of time cutting things up. It’s 3 easy steps to having a smoothie: add liquid; dump into a blender; and blend. I have a quick dinner for myself in just a few minutes, which is all I need.

• Unique recipes: These smoothies let me try things I would never try before (watermelon & beet root smoothie? Love it!) without feeling bad if I don’t like them (and then have 100 lychees or whatever leftover). Plus, you get a variety of fruits & veggies in every cup, so it can boost your energy and make you feel good about eating something super delicious.

I’ve made a lot of changes to my lifestyle in the past few months. Working from home exclusively now, I have to stay on track day-to-day without anyone else to keep track of my time. I’ve started wearing blue blocking glasses to help my migraines and my sleep patterns (they help!), as well as using night shift on my phone most of the time. I’ve started using ergonomic work solutions, a standing desk. You name it, I’ve tried it to be healthier. So why not change up what and how I eat to feel better about myself too?

Health isn’t a barometer of good and bad, of course. However, I knew that my low energy, migraines, and more had to do with what I was eating (and in that similar vein, also related to my anxiety and depression). So, I decided to change things—and Daily Harvest has helped me do that.

During the holidays, it can be easy to start eating a lot of foods that don’t make us feel good. I love Christmas cookies, pumpkin pie, and mashed potatoes as much as the next person—but those are heavy foods that can leave my stomach feeling gross and my body sluggish. Added a Daily Harvest smoothie in the morning or as a snack before a holiday dinner makes me feel at least a little bit better at the end of the day.

If you want to make sure you have plenty of delicious, healthy options available alongside your favorite Christmas treats, be sure to use my code PAUSES for 3 FREE cups in your first order from Daily Harvest. Click here to order! (I highly recommend the Pineapple + Matcha smoothie! It’s my absolute favorite.)

How I Use Hungryroot for Weekly Meal Prep

It took me a long time to warm up to meal prepping; generally, I don’t like microwaved food. I’ve always struggled to eat leftovers. If I can’t effectively warm them up in the oven or on the stove, I probably won’t be eating them. However, ever since I had Forrest, I realized that prepping parts of meals, as well as quick lunches, in advance can be a huge help.

Another huge helper has been Hungryroot. I’ve written a ton of posts about them. Here’s just a few:

• Getting Kids to Eat Hungryroot

• Roadtripping with Hungryroot

• My original reviews

Hungryroot continues to change how they work to make everything easier for us, the busy people who are using them to get delicious food delivered to their door. It’s not just about meal delivery anymore; it’s like a one-stop-shop grocery store. When it comes to customizing your box, you can choose meals to include, or you can pick groceries you need.

As an example, last week, I got two bags of salad, some roasting veggies, a box of Banza pasta, chicken sausage, and almond butter. Just the basics I needed for meal prep that week! It helps so much with grocery shopping. Plus, they’ve started partnering with some amazing brands, like Banza, Right Rice, and Beyond Meat to provide their products. Danny and I have a package of Beyond Meat brats to try and we are so excited!

Want to try Hungryroot? Use the code PAUSESBROWNIES to get FREE brownie batter for life when you sign up.

Ok, let’s jump in and talk about meal prep.

About Meal Prepping Safety

I worked in food service long enough to tell you that when it comes to certain foods, some are safer to meal prep than others. I’m not a huge fan of meal prepping with, say, fish, which goes bad both uncooked and cooked much faster. Things like chicken will be ok for 4-5 days, but I wouldn’t risk over 6 days. Ground beef and other meats are a little heartier, lasting maybe 6-7 days. But again, not over a week.

Anything with eggs needs to be used within 10 days, even if it’s cooked (like pancakes or waffles).

If you’re not sure, don’t risk it. Food waste is real, but there is no point giving yourself food poisoning!

Meal Prep Supplies

You definitely don’t need to invest in those fancy meal prep containers you see on Instagram. Danny and I own a set of these ones, which I find too large. (You’ll see them later in this post!) Otherwise, I use whatever tuperware I have available. We’ve been trying to move away from plastic containers, as we now know that even non-BPA plastics leech into your food, especially if it gets warmed up. We are currently still saving up for a set of nice glass food containers, so please, don’t just my plastic tuperware!

Use what works for you, is all I’m saying. You don’t really need any fancy gear.

Recipe 1: Make-Ahead Breakfast Pancakes

Forrest is a child of routine and in the morning, he wants one of two things: pancakes or waffles. Thankfully, both are really easy to make ahead. You don’t have to rely on freezer waffles (although I will say, there are some great brands of freezer waffle out there now, way better than Eggo) either. I love the Hungryroot Ancient Grain Pancake Mix. Here’s a few notes about it:

“This gluten-free mix comes from quinoa, amaranth, flax, and other nutrient-dense grains—and it makes some of the fluffiest, most satisfying pancakes you’ll ever eat. Top with fruit, yogurt, coconut cream, your favorite nut butter, and/or classic maple syrup.”

That’s right! It’s gluten free! If you have celiacs (or any other problem that makes gluten a no-no for you), this is the ideal pancake mix. I’ve tried a lot of ancient grain style pancake mixes and they often don’t taste great or don’t make very good pancakes. A huge bummer! But this pancake mix isn’t like that. It makes delicious, fluffy pancakes, just as promised. If you want to be adventurous with your toppings, the more savory flavor is ideal; you can add avocado, egg, & bacon, goat cheese & honey, cranberry sauce & bacon… the options are really endless.

As I wrote on Instagram, this mix doesn’t make the sweet-sweet-sweet pancakes we often think of (look at you, Bisquick!). They are definitely more savory, but still really good. To make them, they only require water and oil, but I added an egg and oat milk to make them a little heartier! In the future, I might add a little more oat milk to thin them out—and not scoop as much batter!

We topped ours with mini chocolate chips. Once they were cooked through, I removed them from the griddle and let them cool completely before storing in a reusable bag and putting in the fridge.

Recipe 2: Butternut Squash & Vegetable Soup

Danny loves squash soup—and thankfully, we visited a local farm that had some mini butternut squash and gorgeous acorn squash. I had gotten the Roasting Vegetables with Herbs from Hungryroot as well that I wanted to use to make a soup for Danny to take for lunch. I figured this was a match made in heaven and I was right!

Here’s everything I used for this soup:

• One acorn squash (average size)

• One mini butternut squash (or about 1/3 a regular size butternut squash)

• 1 package Roasting Vegetables with Herbs

• 1 cup of chicken stock

• 1 14-ounce can of fat free evaporated milk (you could also use almond milk or oat milk)

• 3 gloves of garlic

• Salt & pepper

• Red pepper flakes if desired

I started by roasting the squash. Then, I followed the package instructions from Hungryroot for the roasting vegetables, adding the herbs (& garlic) about halfway through until the veggies were soft. Then I put everything in my blender with the chicken stock & evaporated milk and blended it. I put it in a pot on the stove and warmed it through completely together, adding salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste.

For storage, once the soup had cooled, I put it in a large, glass Pyrex with a lid and stored it in the fridge. It lasted for about 5 lunches; Danny ate it either with pepitas (pumpkin seeds) or croutons on top, whatever he had available that day. Tasty and easy!

Recipe #3: Chickpea Pasta with Chicken Sausage

I am a huge fan of Banza pasta, so I was excited to see that it was available from Hungryoot. One of our favorite things to get is the chicken sausage as well, so it was natural to combine both. This is a twist on a classic pasta dish. Here’s everything I used:

• Banza Cavatappi

• Hungryroot Seven Veggie Stir Fry

• Hungryroot Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage

• Hungryroot Kale Pesto

That’s it! It took me maybe 20 minutes to make in total.

• Boil water, add pasta, drain, then toss with pesto.

• Start veggies cooking in a pan with a tablespoon of oil; add chicken sausages and cook.

• Slice sausages and stir with veggies again. Add salt & pepper to taste.

• Dish into containers.

I divvied this up into 3 lunches, then let it cool. Pop on the lids and place in the fridge. Super easy and very tasty!

Recipe #4: Chicken Sausage with Salad & Rice

This is not that different from recipe #3, but different enough that I wanted to share. It’s a little more fresh. Here’s what I used:

• Hungryroot Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage

• Hungryroot Asian Salad Mix

• Hungryroot House Dressing

• Hungryroot Lentil, Quinoa & Rice Mix

• Right Rice

• 1/2 small onion

• About 2 tablespoons chipotle mustard

• 1/3 cup chicken stock

I started by mixing the Asian Salad mix (about half a bag) with 2 heaping tablespoons of House Dressing. Then, I started about 1/2 a small onion sauteeing in a pan with olive oil; I added the chicken sausage and let it start to brown. I microwaved the Lentil mix and mixed it with some leftover Right Rice we had from earlier in the week. Then, I added chicken stock to the sausage and let it simmer. I divvied up the salad and rice mix into my meal prep containers. Once the chicken stock had reduced in the pan, I added 1 scoops of chipotle mustard and stirred. Once it was ready, I split the sausages up. Voila! Done!

Once Danny was at work, he mixed it up all together to eat.

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Meal prep saves time and helps you use more of the groceries you buy—which means you save money in the long run! Hungryroot is a great way to get delicious groceries delivered for prepping meals ahead of time. Again, if you want to try Hungryroot, use my code PAUSEBROWNIES to get free brownie batter for life when you sign up. Click here!

My Favorite Hungryroot Foods & How to Get Kids to Eat Them

You guys know I love Hungryroot. I’ve written about them a few times and as they’ve changed how they deliver food, I’ve grown to love them even more. Hungryroot is a great way to supplement your weekly grocery shopping with quick, convenient options. I wanted to share a few of my favorites, while sharing my tips for getting (slightly picky) kids to eat them.

If you want to try Hungryroot, you can use my promo code PAUSES2021 for free brownie batter when you sign up! Click here to visit Hungryroot and sign up for your first box today. I promise, you’ll love it as much as I do.

1. The Superblend Salad Mix

Sometimes, you meet a salad mix that is just absolutely perfect. I have a love-hate relationship with salads in general; I find them delicious, but hard to make and eat. Plus, buying lettuce and all the ingredients for a great salad can be expensive—and it all goes bad so quickly, I can barely use it all.

I know this is not an attractive photo, but superblend salad + brown rice + ground beef is the perfect burrito bowl.

Enter the Superblend Salad mix, which has a combination of (wait for it) Brussels Sprouts, Napa Cabbage, Kohlrabi, Broccoli, Carrots, and Kale. It is…. perfect. When I tell you this salad mix works for everything, I mean it. Salads? Sure. Taco bowls? Yep. Coleslaw for tacos? YUP. In wraps? For sure. You name it, I’ll eat it. I’ve ever sauteed it for stir fry and it’s good that way too. It’s so freaking good.

And get this: even Forrest likes it. A sprinkle in his burrito (beans and rice only please, no cheese) (yes, he hates cheese) for a little crunch, or on his taco as coleslaw. He also likes a little sprinkled on top of his ramen when I make that at home, because he’s a cultured toddler like that.

But in all seriousness, this is a salad mix that isn’t droopy or plain; it has crunch, it has variety, it has flavor. It’s so, so good and perfect for using with kids. Like I said, it totally works as a coleslaw mix. A few suggestions: use on tacos, barbecue chicken sandwiches (!!!), or alongside fried (or baked!) chicken. Mix with ranch dressing and serve in a BLT wrap. There are so many ways to add this to the things you and your kids are eating anyway, for extra nutrition.

2. Superfood Almond Butter

A classic waffle topped with Superfood almond butter & syrup—this is Forrest’s favorite breakfast!

We are bit peanut butter fans in our house—and swapping classic (aka sweetened, not very good for you) peanut butter has been a huge challenge for us. I’ve yet to find an almond butter that I love as much as I love JIF (and lemme tell you, I love JIF). However, Hungryroot’s Superfood Almond Butter is the closest thing I’ve found. Here are a few ways we love it in our house:

• On toast with slicked strawberries or peaches on top

• On waffles with syrup

• In smoothies with banana

• As a dip for apple slices in the afternoon

• Mixed with oats as a crumble for pumpkin bread

• Paired with local honey in an almond butter & jelly sandwich

• On top of my morning oatmeal

• Danny mixes a hearty dollop into his Kodiak Cake Flapjacks every morning before going to work.

This almond butter is just perfect. It’s not too sweet, but not too plain; it tastes like almonds without being aggressive; and it’s seriously healthy. It has almonds, chia and hemp seeds, coconut sugar, goji berry powder, and pink Himalayan salt. Honestly, it’s perfect. The packaging is also perfect because it’s easy for me to put the entire thing in my bag; it comes in a resealable tube not unlike a packet of baby food. It’s easy to dispense and great for traveling.

3. Brown Rice & Quinoa Blend

I am terrible at cooking rice (like, really bad at it), so these Brown Rice & Quinoa Blend 90-second pouches from Hungryroot are basically the answer to my prayers. Finding quick cooking brown rice, as well as quinoa, is like running a gauntlet, but Hungryroot pretty much took the baton from me and ran the entire race. They actually snapped their fingers, ala Thanos, and got rid of the race. These are perfect for nights where you have leftovers you need to use: leftover taco fixings? Make a burrito bowl. Leftover stirfry? Heat it up! Just need a quick dinner? Some brown rice and salad greens and call it a night! They are perfect.

Forrest loves rice and beans, so I pretty much can always make him happy with a scoop of homemade refried beans (just heat a can of low sodium black beans and mash with a fork, voila, homemade refried beans) and a scoop of rice. Add a few torn of tortillas (or even better, some of the Sprouted Wheat wraps from Hungryroot) and he is set. It’s a quick, easy dinner for a toddler who loves one thing and one thing only: carbs.

4. Energizing Green Juice

Personally, I love a green juice—the more vegetable-y, the better. And this one from Hungryroot really fits that description: it has cold-pressed cucumber, apple, celery, lemon, spinach, ginger, kale, mint, and parsley. It mostly tastes like cucumber water with a hint of lemon. If that doesn’t sound like your thing, go ahead and try it, you might be surprised.

However, this makes an excellent non-dairy base for a smoothie. Forrest and I love smoothies; it’s our normal afternoon snack. Here are a few of my favorite smoothie combos:

• A bottle of green juice + pineapple, watermelon, cherries, & a frozen banana

• A bottle of green juice + 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin (you can freeze this in tablespoon size ice cubes and it makes a great ice base too!), ginger & nutmeg, a banana, and a little bit of honey

• A bottle of green juice + strawberries, a frozen banana, and a big spoonful of the Superfood Almond Butter

These are our three absolute favorites. Even better is to make a smoothie then freeze into popsicle molds for a quick, super healthy popsicle on hot days. This is Forrest’s absolute favorite treat during the summer and being able to offer a healthy option with the energizing green juice makes it even better.

5. Red Lentil Fusilli

Do you find yourself making spaghetti, like, 3 times a week in your house? Sometimes, it’s all I want to eat; it’s all Forrest wants to eat; it’s all Danny wants to eat. It’s so quick to boil some noodles, crack open some sauce, and move on with my life. That’s why I love that Hungryroot now has some quick grain options—including plaintain luinguini! But my favorite is their Red Lentil Fusili; I’ve also loved lentil pastas, they are a great, easy swap and they don’t taste any different from regular noodles. But you get an extra dose of iron, protein, and fiber.

Obviously, you can pair this pasta with any sauce (we are partial to red sauce in our family) and your toddler will probably wolf it down. However, Hungryroot also has some great, kid-friendly sauces, like Superfood Tomato Sauce (a classic!), Beet Pesto, Chickpea Pesto, and Garlic Parm.

If you had told me a few years ago that I was regularly eating red lentil pasta with chickpea pesto sauce, I would have told you that that wasn’t possible; I was a tried-and-true box of pasta and jar of store brand marinara sauce lover. But this really is just a better option—and it’s delivered to your door!

Update: there are SO many great products available through Hungryroot now—I’m planning to write an updated post on this topic soon!

Final Thoughts

Hungryroot isn’t just for adults, is what I want you to take away from this. If you want your kids to try new foods, and develop a love of some healthier foods, Hungryroot is a great way to do so. Plus, it’s just so easy to pick a few things and have them delivered to your door. No wandering through Whole Foods, trying to decide what to pick; no spending more than necessary. That’s why I love the subscription element; you pay the same price every week and get exactly what you want! These are just a few of my favorite items, but if you follow me on Instagram, you can frequently see what Hungryroot foods I’m eating every day.

Again, don’t forget you can use my code, PAUSES2021, to get 40% off your first order!

Disclaimer: I am a Hungryroot affiliate, which means every time you use my code, I will receive a small kickback. Posts like this help Writing Between Pauses keep going! This post was written on my own and all viewpoints expressed remain my own. I just really love Hungryroot! If you’d like to learn more about my disclaimer policy, click here.

I Tried Noom Coach so You Don't Have To

Trigger Warning: In the efforts to be fully transparent, and as body positive as I can be while also working on my physical weight for health reasons, I tried Noom for a variety of reasons, some of them weight-related and some of them not. I’m really excited to tell you how it went. However, I understand reviews like these can be really triggering, especially for those struggling with negative body image. As always, if you feel something like this will be hard for you to read, don’t hesitate to close the window.

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Update as of September 2020 When I originally wrote this review nearly 18 months ago, I expected some pushback in comments, especially from those who still ascribe to diet culture. Instead, I have received feedback that went along with what I’d written: that people wanted to like Noom, but found the process difficult, the designation of food as Red, Yellow, or Green triggering, and more. I actually haven’t received one negative comment about this blog post until today.

I was originally going to reply to these comments directly, but then I thought, I don’t really require giving this person the time of day. But I do have notes about Noom I’ve been wanting to add. So here it is, both a response to a man who felt compelled to yell and me, and everyone in the comments (and everyone who privately emailed me) who so bravely expressed their disappointment with a product with paid for that made us feel bad or triggered, and further notes on Noom and why I think Noom is bad.

Sorry that’s the spoiler: Noom is bad and you should not spend your money on it. Period, end of story. It is a waste of a ridiculous amount of money. And make no mistake—Noom is expensive as all hell.

Noom says it is specifically “not a diet”—in fact, the app and its marketing positions itself as “anti-diet.” This is really cute and very chic of them, very on trend, but the fact is, it’s a bunch of bullshit and lies. Noom is a diet. Just like Weight Watchers. But Noom is even worse because at least WW is telling you it’s a diet. Noom targets a particular group of vulnerable people: people who have potentially had eating disorders or simply disordered eating in the past who have potentially gained weight and feel bad about their bodies as a result.

I know how that feels. I know diet culture is horrible. I know I need to recover from my eating disorder. But I also still find myself wishing to lose weight most days. Noom specifically targets people like me: people who are torn between so badly wanted to accept and love our bodies and still firmly believing that we are less than because we weigh more than we used to.

And Noom is the worst for that.

Because Noom. Is. A. Diet.

They aren’t special. The psychology in their app isn’t special. They’re just using very good copywriting and cute graphics. It’s not that deep.

I realize now that my experience with Noom was an experience steeped in fatphobia. The goal specialist who told me I was lazy and making excuses said that because she assumed, because I am fat, and a mother, that I am lazy. That I somehow have hours of time where I’m just shoving bon bons in my face. Because all fat people are overeaters and spend their evenings on the couch, right? How she treated me, and how Noom responded when I tried to report her (at the time of my using Noom, there was no option to actually report a coach—you simply requested a new one, a process that took literal days to happen because their response time for everything at Noom is that of a snail. Speaking of lazy, I don’t think it’s me, Noom!) was an exercise in poor customer service and fatphobic stereotypes.

This is all I have to say on Noom. I’m sorry to everyone who has just signed up for it and sees this blog post, hoping for a good review, a success story. I don’t know anyone who has used Noom and not regained back the weight the lost—or who lost any weight to begin with. No one I know has had a good experience with Noom. You still have time to get your money back.

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I started using Noom, an app that divided food into Green, Yellow, and Red groups, at least 5 years ago. I remember signing up and having the app on my phone. I didn’t like the Red, Yellow, and Green designations; I totally “got” it, but it didn’t really help my issues with seeing foods as “bad” versus “good.”

And while Noom does subscribe to the idea that making foods taboo is bad, using Red, Yellow, and Green ascribes them to “Stop,” “Caution”, and “Go”, which still arranges them on a spectrum of Good to Bad. For all their dedication to terminology at Noom, I don’t know why they kept this designation system! They could have at least chosen different colors.

Either way, I stopped using the app and promptly forgot about it until I heard an ad for that very same app on one of the many podcasts I listen to. “Huh?” I thought. “Noom costs MONEY now?!” I needed to know what the difference was.

Noom Coach is a program like the app I used way back when—that same structure of assigning food to categories and you eat a percentage of the category each day—with the added addition of a Goal Specialist, a Group function, and more. Basically, it became a support program to help you navigate both the physical aspects of weight loss and the emotional and psychological aspects as well. As someone who has struggled with my weight for a long time, I found this focus a little refreshing; there is a lot of psychology around the foods we eat and why (as well as the foods we don’t eat and why) and I’ve always been very interested in it.

As well, since one of my goals in 2019, is to have a second baby, I knew I needed to get to a starting point that would be less damaging to my body than last time. (Again, that disclaimer at the beginning of this post comes in). This is something I need to do for my long-term health, since having preeclampsia during a pregnancy massively increases my risk of heart disease. I thought Noom would be a great option for that, since it seems a little more gentle than, say, Weight Watchers.

What is Noom?

Ok, so first things first: what is Noom? Noom is, like a said, a weightloss app. But it’s design is not just like MyFitnessPal or Weight Watchers. It targets the psychological aspects of weight gain and loss as well. Like I said, they divide foods into Green, Yellow, and Red. Basically, Green foods are foods that are nutrient dense, but not calorie dense. Everything in Noom is based on caloric density. Green foods are things like fruits and vegetables, whole wheat bread, leafy greens. Yellow foods are things like avocado and peanut butter; nutrient dense, but also kind of calorically dense. And Red foods, despite Noom’s insistence that no that’s not the case are the foods you expect: butter, oil, fast food, coffees.

But it’s more than just tracking food. I only signed up for a 2 week free trial (and spoiler alert, I did not spend the money for the first 3 months), but I still had access to the Goal Specialist you are assigned immediately. After a while, you’ll also be assigned a Group Coach, as well as a Support Team. That means within the app you have daily articles to read, quizzes to take, and more, as well as daily weigh ins, tracking your intake, and more. Plus, you’ll have support throughout the entire time.

In theory, this sounds like a great program. They set you up for success right from the beginning and just ask you to be more conscious of choosing nutrient dense foods. For me, that worked really well.

My Experience Using Noom

I’m an emotional eater. I know this. I know it! I also know that I love, love, love certain foods and viscerally hate others. I am a very picky eater. I don’t like most condiments. I don’t like anything mushy. I struggle with leafy greens because I find the texture really unpleasant in my mouth. In general, I’m just a picky eater. I am also extremely busy and very stressed. I have a 3-year-old, a full time job, and a lot going on in my life right now. When I originally started this review, my brother was about to get married—and if you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know that this was a huge stressful event in my life. Well, a lot happened both before and after the wedding; so much so that I had to put this review aside to deal with it and not use this review as a place to unload.

I’ll just say: my experience with Noom did not help my stress levels.

Like I said, I think Noom’s setup is absolutely great; the app is lovely and easy to use. I loved the daily articles about psychology. I loved the quizzes. The separating of food into color groups made sense, but I still found it a little triggering to see that Red column. There was one thing I had a huge problem with. It was my Goal Specialist.

I want to preface this, again, with this: I know 100% that my experience is based entirely on the fact that one person messed up and it ruined the entire app for me. I know that. And I know that if I had gotten any other Goal Specialist, who was more of a match to me, i probably would have spent the money on Noom Coach to keep going for 3 months. I know those things.

Ok, so, it’s time to talk about what happened.

The purpose of the Goal Specialist is to walk you through the goals you set up in Noom. My goal was to have a baby in 2019 and to get to a happier, healthier point, both physically and mentally. I won’t say the name of the Goal Specialist I was assigned; we’ll call her S. The thing about the Goal Specialist was that she only really sent me one message per day—and in fact, for the first 4 days of the program, I only got 1 message from her asking me to think about things I wanted to work on, then message her on Wednesday after I signed up. That was easy enough.

Here’s roughly what I sent:

“Hi S! I’ve been thinking about things I want to work on and I definitely think preparing ahead is going to be a big one. I feel like I’m busy all the time and end up grabbing whatever is easiest to eat once I get to work. I have a toddler and getting him out the door is my number one priority in the morning, alongside making sure my husband gets to work on time. I feel like I don’t really have the time or energy to really food prep, so ideas for grab-and-go items I can have ready would be amazing!”

I got a reply from S nearly 24 hours after I sent that. Almost always, if she messaged me in the morning and I replied immediately, it would be 24 hours before she replied again. I don’t know if this was part of the program, but it made communicating really difficult. I unfortunately didn’t save her response when I deleted and unsubscribed from the program and app, but this is roughly what she said:

“Michelle, it sounds to me like you’re making a lot of excuses. We all have the same time in the day.”

Firstly, categorically, no, we don’t all have the same time in the day. I work 65+ hours a week adding up all my various jobs and responsibilities, on top of having a toddler, cooking and cleaning, caring for a large dog, and taking time for myself. I work out 4 days a week already. The subtle implication that I’m lazy made me see absolute red. This reply was not helpful and did not answer my question or request whatsoever; it didn’t help me get to my goals. It was demotivating and damaging.

My reply was absolute shock that she would say something like that to me. It was not a supportive comment to make to someone who was asking for very specific suggestions. I replied and told her that absolutely was not something I was ok with her saying and I would be requesting a new Goal Specialist. Which I did.

It took 4-5 days for them to assign me a new Goal Specialist.

In that time, S messaged me again and apologized, then again implied that I don’t grocery shop! So great, another snide comment about being lazy. Nice!

When I was assigned my new Goal Specialist, I was close to the end of my free trial. I tried having a conversation with my Goal Specialist about how I was struggling to remain motivated to use the app after S’s messages and, again, it always took nearly 24 hours to receive a reply. When I expressed concern about the program when it took so damn long for anyone to reply to me, the new Goal Specialist (we’ll call her A) simply apologized. Finally, I realized I was done; it wasn’t working for me, despite the fact that it had everything I really wanted in a weight loss app. I told A I wanted to cancel my subscription before the end of my free trial so that I would not be charged for 3 months.

It took two days for that to happen, but I wasn’t surprised by that.

Final Thoughts

I know that’s a lot to read. And trust me, it took me an embarrassing amount of hours to write it in a way that wasn’t just emotional.

As someone who is incredibly Type A and fears being seen as lazy, being called lazy was a huge trigger for me. (And again, I realize this is the action of one person, but it is one person who represents Noom.) It made me immediately not want to even open the app, let alone follow what it told me. If the representative thought I was just lazy and making excuses, then what did it matter? The things I struggle with—taking time for myself, taking a break from working, not having to be perfect all the time—are very real, and yet, I felt like my Goal Specialist had completely devalued the things I struggle with. She acted like they weren’t real and that hurt a lot.

I think part of this issue is this: i was assigned a Goal Specialist that was 1) much younger than me and 2) not a parent. I don’t mean this as a way to talk down to young people (she was maybe 22 or 23) or people who aren’t parents. But fundamentally, the life experience between a fresh-out-of-college Gen Z and a 30-year-old millennial is monumental. The same as between a non-parent and a parent. I definitely feel sometimes that young people and non-parents look at parents and think we are just being lazy in regards to what we eat and our activity levels. But it’s not true. We know it’s not true, but it’s impossible to fight a stereotype, ultimately.

And beyond just that life experience level, what does a Goal Specialist who has never been overweight, never had to rush a toddler into the car to get to drop off on top, never had to walk around with the evidence of pregnancy on their body forever, know about my life? About my experience in this body? About the invisible sacrifices I make both at home and at work daily? The ways in which I have to choose between my health and the health of my family? How can they help me when they think I’m just making excuses? If you read even a single article about working mothers, you know that we perform massive amounts of emotional labor and make sacrifices every day. (And when I say working mothers, I mean mothers who stay home too. Taking care of a home and raising children full time is work, they just aren’t being compensated.) What can a Goal Specialist expect to motivate me when they only see my inability to remember breakfast as being lazy? When they don’t see that in the time I forgot to grab a healthy breakfast, I dropped off a toddler who cried and wanted to stay with me, made sure my husband had breakfast and lunch for work, cleaned up the living room, got to work, arranged my schedule for the day, started working, and made sure coffee was made for the office?

We all have things we struggle with, of course. This isn’t unique to parenthood or motherhood. But I definitely felt that Noom was missing that crucial element of assigning Goal Specialists based on experience. It felt incredibly random and S just wasn’t a good fit for me. In fact, she set me back in terms of my mental health and it took a long time for me to be able to talk about it. I haven’t even told Danny about my experience on Noom.

So, to summarize, here are my thoughts:

• Noom is, in theory, a great program.

• There are still some major issues with the way Noom assigns Goal Specialists, as well as their system for tracking.

I found the entire experience really disappointing and, frankly, disconcerting. It’s the New Year and Noom advertisements are everywhere. if you see one and it sparks in you to try it, I hope this review helps you better weigh whether the cost is worth it.

How to Protect Your Eyes from UV Rays in the Winter

I recently partnered with Visionworks to promote the new location at the Valley River Mall in Eugene, Oregon. That’s my hometown mall! I’ve been going to Valley River Center for as long as I can remember and having a handy place for all my vision care needs, alongside all my other favorite places to shop, is a huge bonus.

I’ve needed glasses since I was about 12. When I first got them, I refused to wear them for nearly two years—until I started driving and my mom agreed I could wear contacts. I wore contacts until around 2015, when my eyes became more sensitive while I was pregnant. I wear glasses all the time now, so keeping my prescription up to date and my eyes healthy is really important to me. As well, as a chronic migraine sufferer, keeping an eye on my, well, eyes is also hugely importance; how my glasses fit, how the lenses reflect light from my computer, and how tight they are can have a huge impact on my migraines!

One important aspect of eye health that we often forget is protecting our eyes from UV rays. We tend to think of sunglasses purely in terms of fashion or helping us see. I always wear sunglasses when I’m driving in the summer, but during the winter, I definitely lapse in that habit. The days can be so dark, we forget that UV rays can still damage our eyes and our skin. (Which is why you should wear SPF every day!)

I wanted to share a few tips for protecting your eyes from UV rays in the winter!

• Even on cloudy or hazy days, UV rays can damage your eyes. If you’re going to be outside, wear UV blocking sunglasses and broad-brimmed hats (as well as SPF on your face and any visible skin).

• Don’t forget your kids when wearing sunglasses and hats!

• Snow and ice can reflect UV rays—which is why sometimes, even on cloudy days, it can still feel really bright! As well, these reflected UV rays can be even more harsh than usual. Wearing polarized sunglasses while driving in snowy & icy conditions, or while skiing or playing outside in the snow, can feel dangerous, but will help you protect your eyes and see more clearly.

You might be asking: why do my eyes need protection from UV rays? UV rays cause damage to your eye—just like your skin. This can cause cataracts to develop, as well as other degeneration issues.

And in terms of vanity, frequent squinting can contribute to both headaches and wrinkles. All that eye cream, just to squint while outside in the snow?!

Thankfully, there are lots of options for stylish and functional eyewear to protect your eyes. Different activities call for different protection. If you ski, a pair of polarized ski goggles can protect your eyes. If you travel frequently, a great pair of sunglasses fit the bill. Visit Visionworks to check out their selection—and visit your nearest location for an eye exam and to try on glasses and sunglasses!

Disclaimer: as indicated by the asterisk (*) in the title of this post, this is a sponsored post with Visionworks. All opinions, however, remain my own. To learn more about my disclosure policy, click here.

Product Review: Starbucks Cold Brew at Home!

Over the summer, I developed a serious cold brew problem. The Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew at Starbucks is one of my favorite drinks of all time: it is really coffee-flavored, lightly sweet, and perfect for a cold day. It's also not super calorie heavy; 110 calories for a tall is actually pretty decent. And compared to other drinks at Starbucks, it has 14g of sugar--which is still a lot (about 3.5 teaspoons). Hence, why it's not an every day treat! 

While cruising Target, I noticed that Starbucks now sells packs to make cold brew at home. They come in a variety of flavors, but for around $8 for a box that makes one pitcher, I decided to just get the regular version. 

The instructions are quite easy. However, it does take 24 hours from start to finish. You fill a pitcher with 4 cups of water, add the two giant tea bags of coffee grounds, and pop it in the fridge for 24 hours. Yep, 24 hours. When it's ready, you add another 4 cups of water, remove the big packs of coffee (carefully, I accidentally broke one), and your cold brew is ready to enjoy. 

Minus the fact that it took 24 hours (I don't know why I thought it would be 4-5 hours max!), the cold brew it produced was delicious. It tasted just like the cold brew you would get at Starbucks; with a packet of Truvia, a tablespoon of salted caramel creamer, and a tablespoon or so of almond milk, you have a lower-sugar Sweet Cream Vanilla Cold brew at home. 

The pitcher made about 8-10 servings of cold brew for me. At $8 for a single pitcher, that evens out to $1 or less per serving, which was pretty good considering a drink at Starbucks is $3 or more. Ultimately, it saves money and you can control the calories and amount of sugar in your drinks more effectively. 

Fall is fast approaching, so I've been experimenting with cold brew and pumpkin spice. Let me tell you: it's just as delicious with a little Pumpkin Spice creamer and almond milk! If you love cold brew, but are tired of spending so much money at coffee shops, these are a great option. 

Actually, You Don't Need a Summer Detox

The worst part of summer is not the sticky, hot weather that starts to get oppressive around, say, late August; it's not the sunburns, or bug bites, or having to work when the weather is absolutely splendid outside. No, the worst part of summer is the diet industry. 

If you read my blog, you know that I've struggled with body image for a long time. It's what made me stop taking outfit photos. And it's why I don't really photograph myself for this blog still. Trust me, I'd love to--but it's just not something I can do right at this moment. 

And you know what absolutely doesn't help? Summer and the rapid influx of blog posts, Tweets, and Instagram posts about doing a detox. More than 10 people I follow have mentioned their recent juice detox (ugh), or their extremely pared down diet that is little more than socially acceptable anorexia (double ugh). Having to mute everyone who mentions doing a summer detox is exhausting, so let me be the one to say: y'all, we don't need detoxes. 

If you have a functioning liver, you don't need to detox. Your organs do that for you. 

You also don't need to drink special tea to help you lose weight. And you also don't need appetite suppressant lollipops. 

That's right, Kim Kardashian, I'm talking to you. Instagram is often rife with diet culture, repeating absolutely false and quite frankly dangerous information. (Does anyone else get those awful weight loss accounts in their Explore section of Instagram? I swear, it's the worst part of the Instagram algorithm.) It's not just poor, misinformed Kim K whose doing it. She's in good company, of course. Every single one of her sisters (minus Kendall, bless) has posted a misguided ad for some kind of weight loss product. 

In case you don't know, Fit Tea (and Fit Coffee and Lyfe Tea) is a tea that acts as a laxative. That's all these products are: expensive, repackaged laxatives. Not only is it dangerous to take them as weight loss products (and not just for your dignity and outfit if you dare venture out of the house after drinking one), it's incredibly irresponsible. Laxatives are not a way to lose weight. They are a way to damage your body. Just like detoxes. 

Appetite suppressant lollipops aren't just meaningless marketing tactics (most likely, they're about as effective as eating a real lollipop); they're dangerous as well. Encouraging people to "eat a lollipop" to "suppress their appetite" presumably when they are actually hungry... is encouraging people to starve themselves. Plain and simple.

Just like these teas aren't designed to make you actively lose weight (but rather to become addicted to a mindset and product that benefits only the person who sells the tea), this isn't a lollipop designed to help curve overeating or boredom eating (two things that can be helped more effectively buy body positivity, rejecting diet culture, and intuitive eating); this is a lollipop that encourages you to starve yourself and not eat, period. But the truth is, it won't work; if you try to use it that way, you'll end up eating, which makes you feel ashamed of yourself; you'll buy more lollipops, you'll try hard. And now you're stuck in a negative binge-and-restrict diet culture induced cycle. This is the damage that ads like this cause. 

Summer detoxes are the same thing. Juice cleanses don't actually cleanse any part of you. They starve you. You'll lose weight, of course, because you aren't eating food or any fiber at all. You're just drinking empty calories, sugar, and water. This is dangerous. Your body needs food to survive. As long as you are in reasonably good health (and many people with chronic illnesses are not--and they deserve to love their bodies too), you don't need to detox yourself. If you do need to detox for a medical issue, that's something you discuss with your doctor--not with some charlatan who survives off of carrot juice on the internet. 

So as June approaches, remember: you don't need that detox. Even if your sister in law is doing one and won't stop posting about it on Instagram. Even if your friends are work mention that they want to start drinking smoothies for every meal. You don't need to detox. Your body is good enough, and beautiful enough, as it is, right at this very moment.