Friday, January 17, 2014

Starting the new year off right! Meal Planning panel rocks the house

Our Meal Planning panel was a ton of fun! We could have talked all night!

Thank you to Christi Flynn of http://www.christiflynn.com, Lindsay Huttman of TRUE Health and Wholeness http://www.true-hw.com/, Michelle Pfennighaus of FindYourBalanceHealth.com  and Christy Przystawik of Feeding Families Well http://www.feedingfamilieswell.blogspot.com for sharing with us your insights as health coaches and as moms. We all learned a lot and had some great conversations. It was great to share our struggles and successes, whether we were followed vegan, Paleo, dairy-free or Traditional foods diets.

If you'd like a copy of the notes from this meeting, email jessicahmnarlalex (at) gmail (dot) com to request them.

And stay tuned for a follow-up Moms Night Out and daytime meeting (for members).

To join our chapter and to participate in our additional programming outside of monthly meetings (which are open first-time visitors), visit http://membership.holisticmoms.org/ and choose Arlington/Alexandria. For questions about our chapter in general email holisticmomsarlalex (at) gmail (dot) com, and for questions about membership in our chapter, email membershipHMNArlAlex(at) gmail (dot) com.

Lindsay Huttman has our panel in stitches. Being a mom and a health coach provides lots of funny material!

Rachel shares the way she gets her kids excited about responsibilities and roles.
Lots of people want to know about meal planning!
Lindsay Huttman and Christi Flynn

Christy Przystawik and a visitor
Monica sewed an apron that Rajae won as a giveaway. Nina wants lessons!

Christy Przystawik with Kim and her neighbor

Michelle Pfenninghaus with Alejandra
Christy Przystawik with Sylvia









Thursday, January 2, 2014

Meal-Planning panel discussion on 1/16

If one of your New Years resolutions has anything to do with food for your family, our January 16 Meal Planning panel discussion is just the thing to start your year off right!

We will be joined by at least three holistic health coaches who are all moms. They will each share some of their insights from their own experience, their training, and their work with other parents. They'll offer us different approaches to planning healthy meals for our families. We'll also have the chance to share with one another.


Our Meal-Planning panel includes:
This meeting will be back at our regular location:
AUMC, 716 S. Glebe Road, Arlington, VA 22204
7:00-9:00 p.m., Thursday, January 16, 2014

See you there!

Available Speaker Bios:

Lindsay Huttman is a certified Personal Trainer and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. Once stressed and sedentary in a corporate job, Lindsay began personal training and through that experience, decided she needed a career change. Life is too short to not be doing what you love, and from that realization, she became passionate about helping others realize their health goals. Lindsay has trained individuals of varying experience and athletic levels. Her coaching experience includes clients seeking chronic disease support, increased athletic performance, and increased energy. Lindsay also specializes in pre, postnatal and child nutrition. 
  • NASM Certified Personal Trainer
  • Nutritional Therapy Association (NTA) - Certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP)
  • American Association of Nutritional Consultants (AANC) - Certified Nutritional Consultant (CNC)
  • CPR/AED certified
Lindsay works at TRUE Health and Wholeness - a multifaceted fitness and wellness business serving Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia.


Michelle Pfennighaus is a Nutrition & Health Coach certified by the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and American Association of Drugless Practitioners. She suffered for years with debilitating IBS and anxiety, until finally healing herself through changes in diet and lifestyle. Since then, she has used food as a catalyst to transform the lives of thousands of clients worldwide. Her life’s reinvention has been documented in the movie “Lemonade” and she’s been featured on ABC, NBC and NPR with her inspiring story. Learn more at FindYourBalanceHealth.com.








Formerly the executive chef at one of DC's best restaurants, Christy Przystawik started three of her own businesses (including a restaurant), and assisted in opening three others. Ten years ago she started teaching people about eating healthy local foods and how to cook them. Going from the glamorous restaurant scene to people's humble homes was an amazing and significant step. She now works with two groups of people: parents and children. She teaches parents how to feed their children, from 6 months to 18 years. And she teaches children life-changing words like "local" and "in season" and how to chop, prep, and cook the most amazing foods. Aside from her own company, Feeding Families Well, she also works for The Breastfeeding Center for Greater Washington and teaches the FoodPrints programwith FRESHFARM Markets at Peabody Early Childhood Center.

Delicious and inspiring talk with Stacy of Paleo Parents!

If you ever thought grain-free eating wasn't hilarious, you clearly have never seen Stacy Toth speak. The PaleoParents.com blogger and co-author (with husband Matt McCarry) of the gluten-free kid-friendly cookbook Eat Like a Dinosaur and the lushly photographed why-adults-should-eat-sustainably-and-mindfully how-to Beyond Bacon gave a wonderful presentation to our group on December 19.

In a candidly witty conversation, Stacy explained how she came to find the Paleo diet and what it has done for her and for her family. She addressed practicality as well as philosophy. Many of her tips came from her soon-to-be-an-e-book pamphlet available for just a little while longer at http://paleoparents.com/paleo-parents-pamphlet/

We all learned a ton and enjoyed snacking on Stacy's brownies and pumpkin muffins in addition to fruit and nuts and nut butters (and Artisana coconut butter), guacamole and veggies, and lots of other Paleo-approved treats like Lara Bars, Hail Merry cocoroons, various types of kombucha. With such delights for the palate and such an entertaining presentation, it felt like a true night out!

We are grateful to Stacy for coming to talk to our group and glad so many folks could join us!