Kenny Rogers is suing Capitol Records, claiming the company has not properly paid him for digital downloads, ringtones and other uses of his songs. Rogers, in the lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Nashville, Tenn.Gluten-free granola muffins, gazpacho and fruit smoothies.
They are just some of the initial healthy offerings from Erica Justice’s new food blog, www.purehealthmd50.blogspot.com.
Justice, a graduate student at Indiana Wesleyan University who’s working on a master’s degree in health care management and finishing her certification in nutrition and wellness counseling, was inspired by the 2009 movie “Julie and Julia.”
The film, based on a book, detailed a blogger’s yearlong attempt to make every recipe from Julia Child’s classic cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cuisine.”
After viewing the movie a second time, Justice was inspired to do something similar.
But her blog doesn’t have such a grand theme or potentially insanity-inducing goal. She just wants to prepare a variety of nutritious, easy recipes and write about the results, with the hope of inspiring others to make healthy changes in their own lives.
“One of the things I noticed in the movie was that she was making delicious meals, but they were made with really unhealthy ingredients. Helping people get healthy is one of my greatest passions,” she says.
She’s 16 days into the planned 50-day project, and here’s what she’s learned so far: It’s a challenge.
“It is all about planning; … it’s not a breeze. But hopefully it’s helpful,” she says.
“I will never claim to be a cook. I’m not used to cooking every day. This is as much an adventure for me as anything,” says Justice, 26.
She finds quick, user-friendly recipes “made with whole, nutrient dense foods” in various cookbooks and magazines.
So she won’t be making salads topped with fried chicken and cheese.
Instead she’ll focus on entrees, soups, sides and the occasional beverage, whatever sounds good. Many of her ingredients come from local farmers markets and produce stands.
Most of them are recipes she’s never made before, although she’ll include a few family favorites, such as pasta and garbanzo beans with roasted red peppers (Day 11).
“I’m going to be very upfront about making things that don’t turn out so great. I want people to go with me on the journey.”
She knows how difficult that journey can be; she wasn’t always a healthy eater.
“I was definitely not a stranger to fast food, especially in college. We would go to Taco Bell at 2 a.m. … I was not necessarily the one at the salad bar all the time,” she says.
She eventually had the disturbing realization that her junk-food cravings could become a dangerous lifelong trend that would come back to bite her down the road.
“I would talk to people who said, ‘I remember when I was healthy, and I don’t know what happened. All of a sudden I just gave up those healthy habits and thought who cares?’ ” she says.
“I didn’t wake up one day and say, ‘That’s it, I’m going to have asparagus for the rest of my life.’ I looked around and said, ‘I don’t want this for my life, …’ ” she says.
Prevention is key to avoiding many chronic illnesses, Justice says, and nutrition is an important part of that.
“It’s tempting to grab convenience foods over healthy foods. I’m not going to say eating healthy is going to be as quick and convenience as going through the McDonald’s drive-through. It’s not, but it’s definitely worth the effort,” she says.
This project is related to her work at PureHealth MD, an integrative medical practice run by Dr. Jeff Gladd where she’s helping to develop some new programs.
Some of her recipes are just new twists on old classics, such as the PB&J with almond butter and fresh fruit (Day 14).
And of course, she has a suggestion for making pizza (Day 8).
“I love pizza, so I wanted to find a healthy version of that. No way I’m giving up pizza forever.”
