By Avance Care Registered Dietitian Julia Bumpus, MS, RD, LDN
Why did we create the cookbook?
I think most of the dietitians here at Avance agree that one of the things most patients want help with is meal planning. We realized that being able to provide a trusted, comprehensive resource that would help them with meal planning and keep them on track would be invaluable! Thus, the cookbook project was born, and we are going strong with our 3rd one, released this year.
Why is it so helpful?
The recipes are healthy — we created reasonable standards for the recipes to ensure they would help patients stay on track to meet their health goals. Each recipe has less than 500 calories for entrees and less than 250 calories for sides. Some recipes are considered heart healthy and contain less than 4 grams of saturated fat and under 600 mg of sodium. Those that are considered diabetes-friendly contain less than 30 grams of carbohydrate. Moreover, we have chosen recipes using highly nutritious foods. Many are classic recipes in which the ingredients have been altered to boost intake of healthy fat, whole grains, and leaner sources of protein. Some are newer, trendier recipes containing superfoods like avocados, flax seed, or quinoa, which provide a multitude of health benefits.
The recipes taste good! Every single recipe in the Avance cookbook has been cooked, tweaked, and perfected by one of our amazing dietitians. This way, you can feel confident that the recipes are high quality and produce delicious food for you and your family. We are not a fan of diet food that leaves you feeling deprived. We guarantee this food is tasty so you will actually feel satisfied.
Lastly, its more than just a cookbook. If you flip to the back, there are also helpful meal planning tips. The article entitled “Repurposing Leftovers” helps minimize cooking during the busy week and decreases food waste. The “Meal Prepping Tips” article provides simple but seriously helpful ways to help establish healthy, time-efficient eating habits. We also provide a reference of our favorite snacks. The cookbook is truly a guide for shopping, cooking, prepping, and choosing the right foods.
Why do we love it so much?
We meet with patients every day and hear the barriers people face to preparing healthy AND delicious meals that are also not labor or time-intensive. Many of us work long days, late nights, need to feed families, and stay on a budget. Even as dietitians, we feel the struggle ourselves and thus a lot of thought goes into deciding which recipes we choose to put into the cookbook. We try and provide a variety of different types of recipes so it can be used on more than one occasion. Some are quick and easy to take for lunch or make for dinner during the week. Some are great to use for hosting a party or group of people without having to compromise your health goals. We know the ingredients are available in the area and the instructions make sense. We hope you use it and enjoy it as much as we do! We always welcome feedback or suggestions for edition #4!
Pick up a copy of the 2019 Avance Care Healthy Eating Recipe Book at any Avance Primary Care location or view a digital version.
Julia is the RD at the Durham and Morrisville Avance Care Locations. She enjoys anything outside such as reading, running, or walking the dogs. She also loves to cook new recipes, paint, or do home projects like redoing furniture. She spends many weekends visiting around NC to hang out with family and friends. She has 2 dogs and especially loves hanging with her niece and nephew (the cutie in the picture).