By: Jennifer L. Long, RN, NCN

October is here! Oh how I love the fall colors, the fall themes and especially the fall FOOD! This month makes me think of two MAJOR things, PUMPKINS and HALLOWEEN! With that being said this can also pose as a stressful season for anyone struggling with weight management or children with food allergies. I plan to cover the nutritional benefits of pumpkin and how it can help you lose weight as well as alternative goodies for trick-or-treating.

When you think of a pumpkin, what comes to mind? Well, for the average person I would assume, the color orange, jack-o-lanterns, carving, pies and maybe even Cinderella! Since we know there will not be a fairy godmother changing our pumpkins into beautiful fairy tale coaches, lets re-think this whole pumpkin idea and switch gears into how these beautiful veggies can benefit our health.

Pumpkins can boost your immune system because they are loaded with vitamin A and vitamin C to help fight the common cold; they are packed with antioxidants and can even improve your skin. They contain phytosterols, which lower your LDL (bad cholesterol). Struggle with digestion issues? Grab some pumpkin and reap the fiber benefits, which also will aid in keeping your blood sugar stable and help you shed a few extra pounds. One cup of pumpkin contains 3 grams of fiber and only 49 calories.

There are multiple uses for pumpkins. Carving, baking, cooking and even spa treatments! When shopping this October, grab a fresh pumpkin or even a few cans that can be convenient for quick use.

Trick-or-treating advice: If you are aware a child in your neighborhood struggles with a food allergy, get together with your neighbors and offer a special goody bag for that child to be able to enjoy going house to house in their costume and fit in with the other superheroes and princesses. If you are a parent of a child with a food allergy, talk to your friends and neighbors and offer to make goody bags to be handed out to your child as they bounce from yard to yard. Goody bag ideas are stickers, little party favor toys, markers, coins, etc.

Here are 2 recipes for a PUMPKIN SPICE SMOOTHIE

VEGAN PUMPKIN SPICE RECIPE: makes 2 servings

2 CUPS ALMOND MILK

½ CUP ROLLED OATS

CHIA OR FLAX SEEDS

1 CUP CANNED OR FRESH PUMPKIN

BLACKSTRAP MOLASSES

1 FROZEN RIPE BANANA

2 TSP CINNAMON

GROUND GINGER/ NUTMEG

MAPLE SYRUP (optional on top at the end)

PROTEIN BOOST with HEMP PROTEIN

FOR A THICKER CONSISTENCY ADD ICE

VANILLA PUMPKIN SPICE SMOOTHIE: makes 2 servings

​2 CUPS ALMOND MILK

​2 SCOOPS MONAVIE VANILLA RVL SHAKE MIX

​1 CUP CANNED OR FRESH PUMPKIN

PUMPKIN SPICE/ NUTMEG

​ICE

For nutrition consulting & to get your Monavie RVL please emailRNutrition2013@gmail.com or call (508) 360-2032


Jennifer L. Long, RN, NCN DBA RNutrition Health & Wellness 
"Transformation Begins With Nutrition"

By: Jennifer L. Long, RN, NCN

As a mother myself, I know that we want what is best for our children. We want them to be safe, eat healthy, make good choices and become successful in everything they do. In the process of trying to do everything for our babies, we tend to neglect our health, nutrition, hobbies and what we enjoy doing. It does not have to be this way! There is a way to have it all. To live a healthy lifestyle, maintain a healthy weight while influencing our kids positively. Children are a product of what they see. What habits you possess now are almost certain to become visible in your children, as they get older. I have found a way to incorporate my children in a healthy lifestyle and I’m getting in the best shape of my life doing it!
           
Stabilizing your blood sugar by eating within an hour of waking, within an hour of bedtime, a balance of protein, fats and carbohydrates every 3-4 hours is the key to unlocking your body’s full potential; releasing stored body fat and finally seeing the definition you have always wanted to see. The bonus, MORE ENERGY and NO MORE CRAVINGS! You can eat less more often and NEVER feel hungry or deprived again. No more yo-yo diets that will fail you time and again. No more missing out on family functions or BBQs or dinner out with the girls. You can still eat the foods you love while feeling and looking AMAZING. Oh and those
mood swings? Yes, they will be controlled because you are creating homeostasis (balance) in your body. Stabilizing your blood sugar will in turn balance hormones to control the release of cortisol, a hormone released when the body is under acute stress. Chronic stress contributes to increase in belly fat due to the constant release of cortisol, which sits right where you hate it most. This is why losing weight after a baby can be more difficult. The lack of sleep causes more stress and for an extended period of time, which also can contribute to skipping meals.
           
Exercise is important as well. You must incorporate core strengthening, interval training and fat burning cardio exercise each week. 
           
Supplementation is important. Eating every 3-4 hours can be a difficult task for some. A complete meal replacement, shake or a bar can easily fill in difficult meal times and close those gaps where a meal might get skipped. Antioxidants are highly necessary to combat free radicals, which cause oxidative damage to your cells. In order to maintain the level of antioxidants high enough to prevent oxidative damage, you must eat 13 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. If that were difficult for you or your family, a supplement would be
beneficial for you. This is also true of our picky little eaters. 
           
The first thing my clients report is more energy, no cravings and better sleep! The inches and weight follow. There is no quick fix or miracle pill to lose weight, but there is one thing that will guarantee you positive results, quality nutrition, hard work, dedication and a commitment to yourself. We moms are super heroes, if we want our kids to look and feel their best, shouldn’t we?

We are excited to welcome new Advisor Jennifer L. Long, RN, NCN, owner of RNutrition Health & Wellness.  Jennifer will be sharing current health, wellness & nutrition information & sharing tips on how to stay healthy with each passing season. We look forward to her blogs and welcome her to the team!

Hello everyone, name is Jennifer Long. I was born at Cape Cod Hospital at 11:32am on September 22, 1980. I grew up in the town of Yarmouth Port where I attended Trinity School of Cape Cod, now known as Trinity Academy. I was sent to public school for the first time in fifth grade to Mattacheese Middle School & went on to graduate from D-Y High School in 1998. 
           
Being the oldest of seven children, my passion for helping & caring for others came to me at an early age. I always wanted to make people happy by making a difference in their lives. I truly began working towards this dream when I became an infant/toddler and preschool teacher. After years of potty training toddlers and teaching them to share toys, I was given the BIGGEST and most IMPORTANT job ever, being a mommy. By the time my first-born son was about 2 years old I had put in 15 years of teaching and decided I was ready to change careers. I started working as a personal care assistant for a home care agency. It was here that I found a passion for the medical field and started on my goals to becoming a registered nurse.  I enrolled at Cape Cod Community College in 2006 and by 2010 I had earned my Associate Degree in Science in Nursing, then passed my state boards in August 2010. I was officially an RN! I enrolled within the next year at Curry College to get my BSN; I will be graduating with that degree in May 2014. While working various nursing jobs, I was quickly disappointed by what I envisioned myself as and what I was actually doing. Pushing meds and barely seeing patients was NOT what I went to school for, I went to promote wellness, better health and disease prevention, this was disease care!  I decided to take a break from nursing and had my second baby boy. 
           
After my pregnancy, I gained more weight post-partum. This was extremely upsetting because I had never let myself go like this! I was up to 246 pounds! I had just had enough of feeling helpless and hopeless. I knew that I had the power to change and I could totally help myself. I decided to completely take back control of my life and my body. I did not want my kids to have an overweight unhealthy mother and I was going to do everything I could to change! 
 
Being part of one of the top health and wellness companies, I had access to an amazing weight management product, program and support. I took it on 100% and made it NOT optional. On February 25, 2012 I began my weight-loss, confidence-gaining program. I posted my before pictures on Facebook, which was
extremely difficult for me to do but I felt it was necessary to empower others and let them know they are not alone.  I really wanted to help people and without even realizing it, I was already doing it. I was going to take my story and my struggles and help others change. If I could do it, they can do it! 
           
Being involved with this company has and is still opening so many doors for me. Our spokesperson, Mark Macdonald is a fitness and nutrition expert, NY Times best selling author and is featured on CNN weekly. He is also the owner of Venice Nutrition and because of his involvement with the company I am involved with, I was able to become a Nationally Certified Nutritionist through Venice Nutrition. Now with 60 pounds of fat and countless inches off my body gone, dropping from a size 18/20 to a 10/12 and with this added credential to my name, I KNEW I could really change lives. I founded my own practice, RNutrition Health & Wellness in the spring of 2013. I have already helped a handful of people in this short time become successful. My significant other has lost 25 pounds, my best friend has shed 40 and I have others that are dropping inches and pounds
every week!

So I’m sure the question is how does it work? By stabilizing your blood sugar. By eating less, more often and eating in 3’s you can keep your body in a state of homeostasis, allowing the release of stored fat to be burned up in the muscle when you exercise. The result? More energy, less cravings, better moods and sleep, increase in libido, decrease in stress response, looking leaner and losing fat and gaining lean muscle. Imagine walking by a mirror to admire your hard work rather than avoiding it. That is body confidence! 
           
I know that everyone learns differently and at their own pace, for that reason I start people at their own readiness level. Everyone has different needs, skills, struggles and weaknesses. I help people where they are and give them personal attainable goals. It’s about making small permanent changes. It takes 30 days to learn a new habit and 90 days to make that habit a lifestyle. Some people need more time than others; my clients and I discuss what they will need. I believe in a hands-on approach. I make myself available 24/7 via email, text and phone. I incorporate all aspects of health and nutrition into my assessments and teaching as well as a complete history. 
           
My goal for the RNutrition program is to help people realize their full potential, to know that they can have success and to understand that through quality nutrition, fitness and strong relationships, they can and will achieve their own body confidence. 

My mission as owner and founder of RNutrition Health & Wellness, is to teach everyone that counting calories is a thing of the past and to provide each client with the simple tools necessary to take back control over their health. By learning how to stabilize their blood sugar they will ignite their metabolism and transform themselves into fat burning machines. I want to eliminate the emotional stress of yo-yo dieting for my clients. My goal is to help people realize they don’t have to spend a fortune to be told how to restrict or deprive
themselves  to get the results they want. They can learn how to look AND feel amazing at affordable rates, while still enjoying the foods they love. The uniqueness of being a Registered Nurse, a Nationally Certified Nutritionist and fitness coach means that I am able to provide a nutritional, health and fitness approach to each client.  

Jennifer L. Long, RN, NCN 
DBA RNutrition Health & Wellness 
"Transformation Begins With Nutrition"

 For more information I can be reached via:
 Email: RNutrition2013@gmail.com
Phone: (508) 360-2032
Website: www.rnutritionhealwell.com