There’s a lot of confusion surrounding the topic of eating healthy and taking vitamins and supplements. Both have their benefits, but it’s important to understand which is better for you. There are two basic approaches you can take to lead a healthy lifestyle: You can either eat healthily, or you can take vitamins and supplements. Both have their pros and cons.

1. Good Eating vs. Supplements

Eating healthy comprises the bulk of living a healthy lifestyle. It consists of all the meals you eat over the course of a day and should include a balance of complex carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats. In addition to eating healthy food, it’s important to keep your diet as varied as possible.

While eating healthy may seem like a difficult task, it’s not as hard as you might think. Most of us tend to stick to a few specific foods each day, and when we find something we like, it’s easy to become complacent with that meal.

To avoid this, try eating a different...

These nachos won’t break the calorie bank – especially because they’re jam packed with good-for you-ingredients and tons of veggies, even the ‘Cheese’ sauce, made without any saturated fat. This is WAY BETTER, and definitely nacho’ average nacho recipe. They are gluten-free AND vegetarian.

Recipe Serves 2-4 Nacho Ingredients: 

• 1 Bag Sweet Potato Tortilla
• Chips
• ½ Cup Canned Small White Beans, drained and rinsed
• ½ Cup Canned Black Beans, drained and rinsed
• ¼ Cup Cremini mushrooms, finely chopped
• ¼ Cup Water or Vegetable Broth
• 1 Cup Tomato Mango Salsa (see recipe)
• 1 ½ Cups Cauliflower Cheese Sauce (see recipe)

Nacho Directions: 

• Arrange nachos on a large serving plate.
• Over medium heat, combine cannellini and black beans with mushrooms and water or vegetable broth. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
• Spoon over sweet potato chips. Layer with Cauliflower Cheese Sauce and Tomato Mango Salsa. Optional: Bake...

MAKE a SUPERBOWL of This.

You only need 1 dish for the Super Bowl and that’s this bowl of my fancy Guac! Serve it on its own in a traditional molcajete like this or in these bell pepper nachos, part of a layered dip or as part of a Super Bowl dip spread, or spread on a board. Whatever tickles your fancy, just make it and TAG me @chefmareya.

Chef Mareya Rock the Fancy Guac Ingredients:

3 ripe avocados, cleaned with @eatcleaner Triple Action Fruit + Veggie Wash (outside skin can harbor salmonella and other bacteria)

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice plus 1 teaspoon grated zest (clean outside of limes first with with Eat Cleaner Triple Action Fruit + Veggie Wash)

1 small jalapeño, cleaned with Eat Cleaner Triple Action Fruit + Veggie Wash, seeded and finely diced

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, cleaned with Eat Cleaner Triple Action Fruit + Veggie Wash, minced

2 tablespoons minced red onion 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon smoked sea salt 1/2 teaspoon white pepper...

Happy National Shrimp Day - This one is for tonight's celebrations! 

Chimichurri Shrimp & Shishito Pepper Skewers

INGREDIENTS
Nonstick olive or coconut oil
cooking spray
2 pounds large (16/20-count)
wild-caught shrimp
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
Juice of 1 lime
Pinch of sea salt
Pinch of freshly ground black
pepper
1 pound shishito peppers
1½ cups cherry tomatoes
Chimichurri Sauce (page 107)

DIRECTIONS
1) Soak 12 wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes to prevent
burning on the grill. Heat a grill to medium-high.
2) In a medium bowl, combine the shrimp, lime zest, lime juice,
salt, and black pepper. Set aside to marinate while the grill
heats.
3) Drain the skewers and pat dry with a paper towel. Mist them
with cooking spray. On each of 4 skewers, thread 4 shrimp. On
the remaining skewers, thread the shishito peppers and toma-
toes, alternating them. Mist the skewers with cooking spray.
4) Grill the shrimp skewers for 2 minutes on each side, taking
care not to burn shrimp. Grill the...