Elevate Nutrition, Golden, BC (2026)

02/19/2025

I’ve been loving having tofu on hand in the fridge for quick meals. The Greek is by far my favourite, half a pack adds 21 grams of protein to your meal. You can find it at Save On and it’s a Canadian based company!
Enjoy!

02/17/2025

Protein tip!
Make a bulk batch of protein (such as a whole chicken) and portion it out to freeze. I like to do 200 g portions which works well for 2 meals for me that I can add to a salad, sandwich, wrap, rice bowl, etc.
100 grams of chicken = approximately 30 g of protein

02/10/2025

I hope you all have been managing to stay warm but still enjoy the beauty of winter on these chilly days.

The last two months have been a challenging time of reflection for me and I have made the difficult decision to step back from Elevate Nutrition. When I started this business, my massage practice was in a much different place that allowed me more time to explore this wonderful venture of nutrition consulting and education. Unexpected changes and challenges occurred over the last year that unfortunately do not allow me the space I need to provide the calibre of services that is important to me.

Elevate Nutrition as a formal business practice will close in June. If you are an active client or previous program participant, you should have received an email with more details. If you haven’t, please email me at info@elevatenutrition.ca (please check your promotions or junk mail first).

Nutrition is something I will continue to study as it is still one of my main passions and such an important part of health care. It is my hope that at some point I will be able to offer seasonal group classes to continue to provide nutrition education to the community. At this point, my Instagram account will remain active as an outlet to share recipes, meal inspiration and evidence-based content, and is the best place to find out about future offerings.

Thank you for your support in this little venture and I wish you all the best in your health care journey!

❤️ Kristi

01/13/2025

Pre workout Snack Idea!

I tend to exercise early in the day, and if you’ve worked with me before, either one on one or in a group class, you know I don’t support exercising fasted. My meal planning includes pre-workout snacks. Sometimes this can be as simple as a banana or pear, or a piece of toast with some PB (or maybe one of my mini homemade snickers bars around the holidays 🤭). Depends how hungry I am, I try to get in at least a 100 calorie snack to top up my energy stores.

Enter the breakfast cookie, a convenient snack to have on hand that I store in the freezer for this, as well as top ups during exercise. Hello top of T1!

3 medium-sized ripe bananas
2 tbsp flax seed (or sub 2 eggs)
6 tbsp of water or milk of choice (omit if using eggs)
1/3 cup peanut butter (or other nut/seed butter)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup each shredded unsweetened coconut, dark chocolate chips, h**p seeds, walnuts (sub any nut, seed, dried fruit you would like)

Preheat oven to 350
Blend bananas in a food processor.
Add flax and water/milk and blend again for a few seconds to incorporate.
Add peanut butter, vanilla, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and blend again for a few seconds.
Add rest of ingredients and process for 5 seconds, just enough to mix evenly and slightly chop things up.
If you don’t want to use a food processor, you can definitely do this by hand, I just like the ingredients processed together lightly.

Scoop onto cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 min.
I got 25 cookies out of this, which equal about 100 calories each. After they’re cooled, store in the freezer and pull out as needed.

If you want sugar free, sub in something else for the chocolate chips, but quick sugars are your friend when you’re working hard so don’t be scared of them!

12/09/2024

We are almost midway through December so chances are you may have already attended a holiday festivity of some sort. December can be an overly busy month of one event after another, compounded by treats, cocktails and large meals. While this is a lot of fun, it can also be overwhelming both mentally and physically, and we can often get rundown and even sick as a result. So let’s chat about a few ways you can enjoy the holidays while not totally ditching your healthy habits.

🍪 If you keep getting gifted sugary treats that you wouldn’t normally have on hand at home, do not feel obliged to eat them all! If you want to keep them, portion them out for treats in the coming months and put them away in your freezer (think pocket snacks for the ski hill, a treat for your lunch box, or something to pull out for tea with a friend). And if you don’t want to keep them, you can always regift them to someone else, take them to work or share them at another event.

🍽️ Plan in advance! If you know you have a big dinner coming up that you don’t want to restrain yourself from indulging in, make a plan for the other meals in your day to be nutrient but not calorie dense! Smoothies are a great option here when you can stick to fruits and veggies with a protein powder to hit your nutrient targets while saving the calories for dinner.

🍸 Have no/low calorie beverage options on hand to have between cocktails to manage your alcohol intake. This will help keep you hydrated, manage your calorie intake, and decrease your total alcohol intake so you feel that much better in the morning.

🎿 Keep moving! Plan activities into your festivities! Take the family for a walk around the neighbourhood to look at Christmas lights after dinner, plan for an afternoon toboggan or pond hockey session or simply make time to keep going on your workout plan, even if it’s a shortened version.

For more tips, check out my How to Avoid Holiday Burnout post from last year!

11/28/2024

Bone health tends to be something we don’t think about until we get older and the concern of osteoporosis creeps in, especially with women entering perimenopause. However, if you’re reading this and you’re in your 20s or 30s, or you have children, I urge you to start considering your bone health now! Bone mass hits it’s peak roughly between the ages of 18 & 25, so the more we can contribute to bone mass before that the better.

Here’s how:

Calcium: A daily source of calcium is a key contributor to bone health. This can be attainable in your diet through dairy, certain fish like salmon and sardines, fortified foods like cereal and certain non-dairy milks, tofu that is made with calcium, many nuts and seeds, legumes and certain vegetables like broccoli & kale. Osteoporosis Canada has a “calcium calculator” to help you assess your intake. Check it out at osteoporosis.ca/calcium-calculator

Vitamin D also has an important role to play in healthy bone formation. Getting a daily dose of sunshine is a great way to acquire this important nutrient, but may not be achievable in the dark grey months of November and December. We can also acquire vitamin D through some foods including fatty fish, mushrooms that were grown in sunlight, and fortified foods like dairy and soy milk. If you are unable to get into the sun on a daily basis, discuss with your doctor if a Vitamin D supplement may be appropriate for you.

Protein is not only essential for muscle health, it is also a building block for your bones! Make sure you’re getting a healthy dose of lean protein at each meal, which may include meat, fish, tofu, tempeh, legumes, dairy and eggs.

Exercise: Bones require a certain amount of regular stress/tension on them to stimulate bone growth, with resistance training, multi-directional sports and jumping/plymetrics being the most effective. This doesn’t mean your kid has to be an athlete or they are doomed for poor bone health, but finding some sort of activity they enjoy is important. This could be a simple as different jump rope games, obstacle courses or hop scotch. Make sure you participate with them, adults need to jump, too!

10/30/2024

A chickpea salad sandwich is my go-to “oops, I don’t have anything for lunch tomorrow and it’s time to go to bed…”
My busy brain had hoped I had some leftover soup in the freezer that I try to keep stocked up for easy take-to-work lunches. Nope! Not this week! But luckily I had a can of chickpeas, which I also always try to keep a few of in the cupboard.

Chickpeas salad couldn’t be easier to whip up in a pinch, with so many varieties and flavours to go with. My simplest version:
Rinse and drain a can of chickpeas (in this case I used 540 ml can - no salt added)
Add 2 tbsp ish of plain Greek yogurt
A few dashes of Frank’s Red Hot
Mash to desired consistency!

I was happy to have leftovers today while I work from home and decided to try a chickpea melt. On the side some sliced peppers and a Bubbies fermented pickle for a probiotic boost! This meal comes to approximately 28 grams protein and 15 grams fibre (choose a whole grain bread), and only takes minutes to make.

10/28/2024

There are so many kinds of milk on the market these days and it is a common question that gets brought up with clients - what kind of milk is healthiest?

I like to reframe this question and instead ask, what is the purpose of milk in your diet?

Are you looking for something to add a little flavour to your cereal or smoothie but want minimal calories? Go for almond or cashew milk. Besides adding calcium to your diet (which is also important to consider), these milks have minimal nutritional value, which is great if you’re just looking for flavour.

Hoping to up your protein? Go for dairy or soy. There are also new plant-based “protein” milks that are usually based on a soy or pea protein additive. So even though you think you’re drinking almond milk, it may contain soy anyways…

Love oat milk for your morning latte and could careless about the nutritional value? Then go for it! Oat milk is creamy and delicious, because it’s carbohydrate based. It is one of the more calorically dense milk options, which is totally fine if this fits your dietary needs, but if cutting back calories is one of your goals, swapping out for almond milk could be an easy option.

I choose soy milk (mostly) because I want the extra protein boost, I like that it’s plant based, and fortified with vitamins and minerals.

No matter what kind you choose, I suggest always using unsweetened as you can add sweetener later if you need it for certain recipes, but should be avoided for everyday use for most people.

What this all comes down to is reading labels and referencing nutrition labels. Oat milk varies the most with it’s nutritional content, so check the label to see which varieties are fortified or maybe have a higher protein content. And do not trust a book by it’s cover! Marketing strategies trick us by putting misleading information on the front of packaging because most people do not read nutrition labels.

*All posted milk nutritional information is based on unsweetened varieties, from various brands just as examples, but may be different from the brands you purchase. Check your labels!

10/09/2024

Okay, maybe you’re like me and you can’t tag your accountability partner because yes, my main accountability partner is my dog! No one else helps me get my steps in on a daily basis more than Jack. He lets me know every morning that it’s time to go. And then breaks up my day when I’m working from home with a friendly, but very persistent reminder that we need to go outside. And I couldn’t be more grateful for him!

When I’m trying to build other new habits in my life, having an accountability partner that has similar goals is often a good approach for me. It helps me show up to the task at hand, not only for myself, but for them as well. It’s amazing how much easier it can be to accomplish a new task when you’re doing it for the betterment of someone else. Some friendly competition can also be a pretty good motivator 😉

There’s only a few days left to register for Healthy Habits! Tag an accountability partner below who you want to build Healthy Habits with!

10/08/2024

One of my go-to quick and easy lunches.
In the bottom of a big bowl I throw together a simple dressing, in this case (and most often) some apple cider vinegar and olive oil. Feel free to swap out for a different vinegar or lemon juice. Whisk that together and move on to your veggies. Today I chopped up a cucumber and some tomatoes from my garden. Add a can of chickpeas and some cubed smoked tofu. Toss with the dressing, divide up into your containers, top with feta and za’atar seasoning and you’re done! Two to three days worth of lunch created in 5-10 min. Meal prep doesn’t have to be difficult!

10/05/2024

Fall is such a perfect time for cooking! So many vegetables freshly harvested and cool days perfect for heating the house up with the stove. It’s definitely one of my favourite times of the year!

This week I cooked up a chicken and made some delicious broth which I turned into a hearty minestrone inspired by a recipe by . I used the chicken meat for various meals including stuffing some in this spaghetti squash with pesto and baking it with cheese! Easy and so satisfying! It’s amazing how many meals you can get out of one chicken (depending on the size of your family, of course).

What Fall harvest meals have you been making?

10/05/2024

Wondering if investing in the Healthy Habits program is right for you?

Sending me your questions!

The Healthy Habits program is an inclusive environment for anyone following an omnivore, vegetarian or vegan diet. It’s supportive for families and hectic schedules. Need motivation for introducing healthier choices into your life? The supportive group atmosphere is always inspiring and helps keep participants accountable.

Will you join us?

Elevate Nutrition

02/19/2025

02/17/2025

02/10/2025

01/13/2025

12/09/2024

11/28/2024

10/30/2024

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10/09/2024

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