If you love a bargain and you love healthy eating (or you need some inspiration), this list is for you! Registered dietitians who happen to be regular Costco shoppers weighed in with their favorite Costco finds. Along with rotisserie chicken (a weeknight staple for many), value-priced nuts, affordable fresh produce and milk, here are 16 nutritionist-approved picks our experts swear by. Youre going to want to add these finds to your next Costco haul.

Wild blueberries are filled with polyphenols and antioxidants, but setting aside the health properties, they also taste sweet, juicy and delicious, so its no surprise dietitians stock up. I like to keep a big bag in the freezer so Ill always have them on hand for oatmeal, smoothies and pancakes, even in the middle of winter, says Karen Ansel, RD, author of Healing Superfoods for Anti-Aging.

Can you see a theme here? Frozen fruits (and veggies) are just as nutritious as fresh, says Chelsey Amer, RD, New York City-based nutritionist and author of "Thrive in 5". Integrative and culinary dietitian, Marisa Moore goes for a big bag of these dark cherries at a cant-beat price. Though its an obvious winter pick (when cherries are out of season), she buys them in the summer, too, because, the cherries are pitted and ready to use!

If youre on the fence about cauliflower rice, this might just get you across the line. Microwavable cauliflower rice takes the prep work and mess out of the meal time equation, explains Jamie Lee McIntyre, RD. Cauliflower rice increases the volume of food on your plate for fewer calories and carbs, she says, which helps you increase your serving size and boost your veggie intake for a fraction of the calories. To try this strategy, McIntyre suggests adding cauliflower rice to a bowl of mashed potatoes or cup of rice.

Kelsey Stricklen, RD, at Root Functional Medicine in Grand Rapids, MI, is a fan of the frozen veggies at Costco, but her top pick is the broccoli. Im convinced Costco has THE best frozen broccoli, she says. Liz Shaw, Nutrition Expert and Author at Shaw Simple Swaps, is another raving fan! Convenience is king in my house and these frozen broccoli florets constantly deliver a delicious, high-quality product without sacrificing any nutrition. What makes this bag of broccoli a top pick is that its mostly florets, not stalks.

Stricklen says that keeping a stash of frozen veggies means that no matter what else is going on, you can always ensure you have a balanced plate. At my house, these staples come in handy, not only when Im throwing together dinner, but when we order takeout or delivery, which is often light in produce. Because frozen veggies are already prepped, our veggies are ready to eat before we set the table.

Amy Gorin, RDN, a plant-forward registered dietitian nutritionist in the New York City area keeps this salad stocked in her fridge for easy meals. Plus, its tasty and colorful enough to use when entertaining. A friend actually asked me for the recipe once, and she was so shocked that it's a bagged salad! I love crunch in my salads, so the combo of cruciferous veggies like broccoli and Brussels sprouts is the perfect compliment to the roasted pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries. You get a lot of filling fiber in this salad! If Im eating it for a meal, Ill often add in a couple of hardboiled eggs and pair with a piece of whole-grain toast or a small handful of whole-grain crackers for an easy lunch or dinner.

Whether serving guests or keeping weekdays simple, Lauren Harris-Pincus, RDN, founder of NutritionStarringYOU.com and author of The Protein-Packed Breakfast Club recommends this Costco find. This whole turkey breast is delicious and costs less than half the price of supermarket deli turkey. It stays moist because you only slice it as you need it and you can choose to cut thicker or thinner pieces depending on how you wish to use it.

This product is a super easy way to get 100 percent pure egg whites without having to waste any yolks, says Harris-Pincus. Though its considered unsafe to eat raw egg whites, this carton is pasteurized so you can incorporate them safely into smoothies, raw cookie dough or any other uncooked recipe, she explains.

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Harris-Pincus describes this staple as a blank canvas to take almost any dish from savory to sweet. Need some ideas? She suggests using the yogurt to replace fat when baking, adding it to smoothies to boost protein, or to replace sour cream in entrees.

Hardly any of us eat the two weekly servings of fish that are recommended for heart health, says Ansel, who offers this solution: Canned salmon is such an easy way to squeeze in a serving, plus its packed with good-for-you omega-3 fats so its a great alternative to tuna.

The frozen salmon burgers are a lifesaver around my house! says Rochelle Davies, RD, of Love Nurture Nourish. They go from the freezer to skillet (or grill pan) to plate in about 10 minutes flat. The short cook time helps us on sports nights when were short on time or nights when ravenous kids are quickly headed to the hangry stage, she says.

This lunchbox-sized pick is an ideal choice because, not only do they taste great, but the individually-portioned packs are perfectly portable. Plus, Melissa Nieves, RD, founder of Fad Free Nutrition Blog adds that because theyre individually sealed, they don't spoil as easily as a bigger tub of guacamole. Amer likes that they're full of healthy fats and make delicious and nutritious snacking easy.

If you dont envision your family getting through these minis before the expiration date, you can always stash them in the freezer. Theyll thaw beautifully in a lunch box or under warm, running water.

I adore almond butter but it's so expensive! says, Nieves. This one from Costco is 27 oz and costs around $9, which is what a smaller tub costs at a regular supermarket. Sports dietitian and creator of the Fit Fueling course for active women, Kelly Jones, RD, also recommends this pick. I find this one to be creamy from the top to the bottom of the jar, while also being more economical.

Heres a meal prep short cut you can feel really good about. Each cup has 8 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber, which is a significant bump from plain rice, says Jones, who explains that the nutrients in this whole grain dish can help improve feelings of fullness.

Taylor Sutton, RD, stocks up on these healthy loaves at Costco. We try to change up our weekly sandwich routine so freezing it in half loaves is a great option when you buy this bread in bulk, she says. Freezing bread is like pushing the pause button so it wont get moldy or stale.

Bargain hunters will appreciate the excellent value when buying these crackers at Costco (only $8.99 for a huge box with 2 bags inside), according to Stricklen. I love these crackers because they are made with nutrient dense ingredients, are lower in carbohydrates than many other crackers, and are great for people with gluten-sensitivity since they are gluten-free. You can dip them in nut butter, hummus or guacamole for a snack or add some healthy carbs with your lunch by dipping them in tuna salad, she says.

Everyone loves a deal, and everyone loves maple syrup, so this topped the list for many RDs. Its true that sugar is sugar, whether its maple syrup or cane sugar, but I find a little bit goes a long way with pure maple syrup (so I end up using less sweetener), explains Stricklen.

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16 best and healthiest things to buy at Costco, according to dietitians - NBC News

February marks FebFast, the month where people are encouraged to forego their favourite vice, such as alcohol or sugar, in support of disadvantaged youth in Australia.

The idea of giving up something, cold turkey, even just for a month is something that most people can find hard to wrap their heads around.

However, the concept of fasting isnt a new one, in fact it has been around for a long time, and it boasts some amazing results for participants. Interestingly though, many people dont know exactly how it works, why its effective or how to go about it safely.

In a nutshell, fasting is a broad term for a variety of different fasting methods that all involve restricting your daily calorie intake to a relatively narrow window of time each day.

One popular method for intermittent fasting, is the 5:2 diet. This involves eating normally for five days in the week and then restricting your calorie intake to 500-600 for two days of the week. Another example is the 16:8 method, which involves adopting an eight hour window and fasting for the remaining 16 hours of the day.

By this point you might be asking, why? Fasting can have some major health benefits, including enhanced sleep, improved mental health, reduction in the likelihood of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease and promotes weight loss. It works like this:

Eating large meals before bed has been proven to negatively impact your sleep, promoting a more restless and less refreshing sleep.

However, fasting gives your digestive system a chance to settle down, bringing your body back to energy saving mode. It helps you to wake up feeling far more refreshed and energised, with a body clock that has become more synchronised.

Anxiety disorders have been known to be linked to a persons sleep, noting the importance of having a good sleep cycle to help improve the symptoms of anxiety.

Therefore, fastings ability to restore equilibrium in that area, demonstrates its ability to lessen anxiety. It also steers participants away from foods that inevitably lead to energy crashes, with quick serotonin boots and can actually worsen a persons symptoms over time.

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Fasting is known to improve certain blood markers such as increasing good cholesterol (HDL) and reducing triglycerides (TG), which are a type of fat present in the blood that is known to promote heart disease, as well as reducing blood pressure and heart rate.

These factors lead to improved heart health, and a lower chance of cardiovascular disease.

Theres more research to show that fasting successfully lowers blood glucose and insulin levels and is therefore an effective preventative method and treatment for management of type-2 diabetes.

During fasting, your body replaces burning glucose (carbohydrates) to burning fat as its primary source of energy and fuel. This results in gradual weight loss, as well as improvements in glucose regulation, blood pressure and heart rate, which in turn aids the effectiveness of endurance training.

However, it must be noted that the results will not happen straight away and require dedication to fasting, with results expected to occur after 10 weeks.

Overall, it is important to remember when intermittent fasting, is how to go about it safely, as its benefits reach way beyond shedding some extra kilos. The most essential safety tips to keep in mind when fasting are:

The 5:2 diet is a good example of this, as you only fast for two days and are still receiving 25 percent of your daily calorie requirements. Longer fasting periods can increase risks associated with fasting, such as dehydration, irritability, fainting, lack of energy and hunger.

This is also where the 5:2 diet is beneficial, as this can reduce the risk of fainting and the other aforementioned risks. Eating small amounts on fast days is far more sustainable that doing a complete fast and then bingeing on the weekend.

You get 20-30 percent of your fluids from food, so dramatically cutting your food intake will therefore have an impact on your hydration levels throughout the day. Aim to drink two to three litres of water on fast days but be careful to listen to your body, your thirst will tell you when its time to drink more water.

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If you're sick and tired of counting calories or jumping from one diet to the next, this news might come as a welcomed reprieve.

It can be tempting after a fast to fill up on all the foods you missed out on, but this can leave you feeling bloated and tired and can impact any long-term weight loss goals. On your off days, try to stick to a normal eating routine and incorporate as many of the food groups as you can.

If you begin to feel unwell or become concerned for your health, stop fasting straight away. While tiredness, hunger and mood changes are normal, feeling sick is not.

If you start to experience symptoms of dizziness, nausea and vomiting, chest pain or stomach pain, diarrhoea, or loss of consciousness please see your healthcare professional.

Apart from the wonderful cause behind FebFast, youre certainly not short of reasons to partake in fasting this year.

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Does Intermittent Fasting Work? A Dietitian Answers Everything You Need To Know - 10 daily

The past year revealed a continued increase in the number of people ordering out at home or in the office, rather than dining in a restaurant.

Independent Market Alliance, a network of independent market share leaders in broadline foodservice distribution with 16 brands, found staggering statistics in their research demonstrating that 86 percent of consumers are now using off premise services at least monthly and a third are using it more than they did a year ago. This trend has driven a dramatic increase in third-party delivery service options, further facilitating growth.

Furthermore, consumers now want to better understand the full lifecycle of single-use packaging from how it was made and impact on the environment. With 24 percent of consumers always or usually considering sustainability when purchasing, sustainability has truly become a competitive focus that cannot be ignored, but not willing to compromise on functionality.

Restaurants that have traditionally relied on a delivering an exceptional dine-in experience are now being faced with the challenge of creating that same customer experience through their packaging consumed offsite.

Diners expect to receive the same quality of food when they order delivery or take out as they would receive sitting down at a restaurant from temperature, crispiness to the utensils needed to consume. Quality and the menu item's ability to travel well is important to consumers in the consumers decision-making process as 90 percent at least sometimes think about how well that particular food will travel, according to a recent study by the Cleveland Research Company Foodservice Council.

To combat this, restaurants operators are looking to new delivery solutions such as switching to temperature-control packaging with proper ventilation and carrying packages that separates different foods to prevent sogginess and loss of texture. This is key to succeeding the age of third-party delivery services, as nearly 60 percent of consumers would see the restaurant at least partially at fault if the delivered food is of reduced quality or took too long to arrive, per the study.

There is still a gap, in many instances, between the customer demand and traditional restaurant operators adapting to advanced packaging either due to cost of packaging or lack of product knowledge. National chains have begun to bring in third-party organizations with the core competencies in off-premise product knowledge for guidance and solutions as to what the offsite dining experience could look like. IMA has become a resource to help provide more understanding between cuisine type and the right packaging.

While traditional sit-down restaurants and even their fast-casual counterparts haven't always had the at-home or offsite experience in mind, the rise of third-party delivery systems has led to additional considerations across all operators. In fact, the Cleveland Research Council's Online Food Consumer Survey (Gojak, et al., 2019) shows that 50% of U.S. consumers surveyed have used a restaurant delivery service at least once.

Customers who see that their food provider understands that safety is a priority have increased loyalty to establishment. As a result, the rise of tamper-free packaging has become a staple in food service within the past 18 months albeit providing the security through a label, a stapled bag or even more advanced with plastic seals

Tamper-free food packaging is taking on a higher profile as consumers fret about the possibility of delivery passing through hands of "touchy" third-party workers. Through simple innovations such as seals and button-top lids, tamper-free packaging goes a long way to give consumers peace of mind and demonstrate that operators are concerned about their well-being.

Bottom line, delivery demand is growing given structural tailwinds from shifting consumer demand for convenience and off-site consumption, and operators for both fast casual and traditionally dine-in restaurants must adapt.

Sustainability is a frequently used buzzword in the foodservice industry that many do not fully understand. While sustainable and biodegradable are often used interchangeably in the foodservice industry, the word "biodegradable" has been greenwashed and actually means the package will degrade sometime in the next 500 years not what most consumers assume as compostable meaning it will biodegrade between 90 and 120 days

IMA and other industry leaders typically define sustainability of products by items that can be broken down within 90 and 120 days and are made of substrates that can be easily recycled by the average consumer. Many are now looking for ways now to develop these products to be truly sustainable in a way that is cost efficient enough to appeal to operators and help stop this greenwashing

Because operators don't always see the added value of innovative packaging, the additional price tag that comes with also ensuring that packaging is sustainable prevents wider use of sustainable materials in today's take out landscape. For that reason, most operators are just beginning to truly explore the cross over between sustainability and customer experience.

In 2020, operators will still find the greatest success from targeting the customer experience, but as researchers invest in affordable solutions, sustainability in single-use packaging will continue to gain importance.

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Stephanie Nicholson is the senior director of business development and national accounts for Independent Marketing Alliance, a network of independent market share leaders in foodservice distribution with 16 brands.

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Houston restaurants need to get innovative when it comes to the growth of take-out customers - InnovationMap

KALAMAZOO, Mich.It takes brave actors to bare their souls and bodies on stage and an intelligent playwright to resist easy answers and assumptions to modern-day problems. It is that courage and perspicacity that makes The Cake at Farmers Alley Theatre a memorable production that is compelling and enjoyable.

Playwright Bekah Brunstetter rips the shows premise straightout of todays headlines. She mixes in a reality baking show, religious resistanceto LGBT+ relationships, and the refusal to bake a cake for a same-sex marriageinto a story that tackles difficult questions about love, intimacy, sex andtolerance.

While it might be easiest to keep the perspective on thelesbian couple who wants the cake, Brunstetters spotlight most often falls onDella, the owner of a North Carolina bakery who takes pride in following thedirections perfectly to create the best cakes.

Director D. Terry Williams leads his cast of four actors infinding the depth of each of their characters and putting the focus on therelationships each of them have with each other.

Zoe Vonder Haar makes Della a sympathetic character, even toan audience whose natural inclinations go against what she stands for and whofinds the things she does abhorrent. Haar conquers each of the demands thatthis show puts on her characterthe many monologues, the emotional swings, thecomplexities of her choices and the intensities of her relationships with eachof the other three characters.

Tia Pinsons Macy is first presented as the stereotypicalhipster with militantly progressive ideals that have no room for the people whodont march in step with them. However, Macys impatience with those who wouldinvalidate her or her way of life covers a vulnerability that Pinson carefullyreveals.

Molly Spiroff brings energy and enthusiasm to Jen, a youngwoman returning to her home in the South and the people she loves even thoughshe no longer fits among them. All the other characters have descriptors forJen and Spiroff manages to master each of them. She is sensitive, loving, andfull of life. She also has her own yearnings and things she wants to makeright, things that dont let her walk away easily from the world that wontaccept who she is now.

Spiroff and Pinson raise the stakes of the story by therelationship they portray. If love could be given a physical form andrepresentation on stage, it would look like what they do. They have thosespecial eyes only for each other, their connection smolders and they give theircharacters a deep commitment to each other that is able to withstand theconflict that they face.

It would be easy for Steve Isom to make Tim, Dellashusband, a redneck plumber who is oblivious to the struggles his wife hishaving. In fact, there are moments when Tim does seem to be out-of-step and simplecompared to the others on the stage, but that doesnt last for long and Isomensures that the audience is able to look at things through his eyes, if onlyfor a moment.

It is clear that Isom and Haar have worked together before, asthey convincingly portray a husband and wife couple who have faced challenginghardships together. They both show great courage and comedic timing inperforming what the script demands of themand in so doing, give the audiencehighly memorable moments.

Williams brought in Elizabeth Terrel as an intimacy directorto work with Spiroff and Pinson on safely and effectively portraying thephysical aspects of their relationship. It was an investment that paid off inthe intensity of their connection. Their relationship felt so natural andright, despite how the opponents of same-sex relationships would say they arethe opposite of those two adjectives, that the audience seemed to comfortablyaccept their physical intimacy.

What provoked nervous laughter and discomfort was the display of intimacy and sex between the older couple, perhaps because sex between older people is often portrayed only for comic effect and not show with the real challenges that The Cake explores.

What makes Dellas refusal to bake the cake a story that iscompelling and interesting is the love that she feels for Jen. This is not astranger she is rejecting, but someone whom she always figured she would bakefor. Jen is the daughter of her late best friend. She watched her grow up andthey stay in touch through emails and Facebook. They know each other well.

It is what keeps the show from being just a politicalshouting match or one that simply mocks a person for refusing to bake a cakefor a customer.

The cake becomes a metaphor that casts light on each of thecharacters and who they are. Della believes in the classic recipes, infollowing directions that have been passed down through the ages, just as shebelieves in using the Bible as an instruction book on life. Macy refuses toeven taste the cake, she wont give in to the slightest challenge to her diet,to her beliefs, to her ardent pursuit of what she believes to be right. Jenloves the cake and the joys and memories it brings her even when it casts shameinto her life that she doesnt know what to do with. Tim loves it because heloves his wife, but he isnt prepared for some of the ways it might challengehim.

All of these characters are fully flushed out with complexmotivations, which is what makes this play so very satisfying. And even thoughit deals with serious topics, it is often a comedy, one that brings the type oflaughter that signifies pure joy and the understanding and empathy of the crazysituations we back ourselves into by the beliefs we hold on to.

As always, Farmers Alley doesnt stint at the technicalstaff and all of them contribute to the delectable treat this show is. Propsdesigner Jody Badalamenti creates a wall full of gorgeous cakes, some fake,some real. Scenic designer Dan Guyette and scenic artist Alexa Wiljanen capturethe sugary sweetness of a bakery while providing quick and easy drop-out bedsto take the scenes to each of the couples bedrooms.

Kristen Chesaks lighting puts appropriate spotlights onDella, especially when she is fantasizing about the reality cooking show shehas been selected to appear on. She partners with sound designer Tony Mitchellto create a peek into Dellas mind and perhaps even how she views theauthorities that direct her life.

The Cake is more than just a fancy dessert that entertains and delights. It is a show that, like the special occasion cakes that mark peoples lives, attempts to bring people together and help them move toward a greater understanding.

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'The Cake' at Farmers Alley a powerful story ripped from the headlines and the SCOTUS docket - encoremichigan.com