I didn’t make an announcement about it here on the blog, but last month I completed my Associate’s in Applied Science in Nutrition!

When you complete a degree as broad as nutrition, there are many avenues for entry-level employment. My year-long internship covered the realms of clinical, food service, and community nutrition. By the end of all three rotations, I definitely knew which one I was most passionate about: community nutrition. If it has to do with public health, especially providing sound nutrition counsel to regular people, I am THERE. (If only the money were there, too–badum ching!) But though I felt pretty confident that the kind of job I would be looking for was in the realm of community nutrition, my job search had one small snag. A good snag, but a snag nonetheless. You see, our family has plans to go on a once-in-a-lifetime three-month trip to Europe this summer. I knew I couldn’t go get a full-time job and ask for three months off right off the bat. This left me wondering if I should try to get any job at all, or just wait until we return.

As a praying person, I had been asking God to make clear the best course of action. The story is too long to go into at the moment, but essentially, out of nowhere, my prayers were answered in abundance. A job was dropped into my lap like a golden nugget from heaven–a part-time job doing something I absolutely love: sharing healthy lifestyle education with the public. I am now…drumroll please…the newest “Heart Guide” at the American Heart Association’s Halle Heart Children’s Museum in Tempe, AZ!

This museum is the only one of its kind: an interactive space for children and adults to learn all about the human heart and what behaviors and lifestyle choices we can make to prevent heart disease. As a Heart Guide, a major part of my job is taking field trip groups of second and fifth graders on a guided tour through the museum’s eight main exhibits. Over the course of two hours, I explain the importance of healthy diet, exercise, and not using tobacco. The eight exhibits include:

• The Kitchen Cafe, where kids learn about label reading, portion control, and getting the right amount of fat for heart health

• The Marketplace, a mini grocery store where kids use an interactive scanning game to build a healthy meal

• The 9-1-1 Action Theater, which teaches kids how and when to call 9-1-1 for emergencies like heart attack or stroke
• The All Creatures Great and Small exhibit, which compares animal and human hearts
• The Goldman Legacy Theater, an old-timey movie theater that plays movies that pertain to heart health

• The Stay on Course exhibit, which explains the damage tobacco does to the cardiovascular system and has kids try to putt a ball (representing a blood cell) through an artery constricted by smoking

• The Beat Goes On, an area that gets kids exercising right in the middle of the museum, including playing a lively game of Fruit Ninja on the Xbox Kinect

• Follow Your Heart, aka “The Big Heart” exhibit pictured at the top of this post. (Why yes, that IS a life-size blue whale heart in the center.)

As a Heart Guide, I’ll also be the new contributor to the museum’s blog, writing posts that provide healthy recipes or interpret the American Heart Association’s nutrition guidelines in simple, easy-to-read language. And I’m looking forward to helping out with events and programs, like their Toddler Test Kitchen, Science Hour, and Healthy Cooking Demonstrations offered on a weekly and monthly basis. Check out their Events page to see what’s coming up!

If you live in the Phoenix area, I’d love to see you visit! Admission for adults and kids 4 and older is only $5–by far the best deal in town for a children’s museum. Or you can purchase their Groupon, which is ongoing. (You can also just mention that Sarah sent you and see what kind of discount you get…I promise it will be substantial.) To teach your kids about healthy lifestyle choices–and learn a lot yourself–the Halle Heart Children’s Museum is an awesome place.

Have you ever thought about how much time you spend at the grocery store over your lifetime? Unlike a lot of other places, the grocery store is one locale that’s pretty unavoidable. You may be able to dodge the gym or church or even the doctor for many moons, but unless you’re a self-sustaining farmer, living on a desert island, or getting all of your meals catered, before long you’re going to need to spend some time buying your food. Personally, I would say I spend at least two hours a week in grocery stores–probably even more between all those little “oh crap, I forgot XYZ” trips. That’s over 8 hours a month and over 100 hours a year. It’s a not insignificant amount of time.

For anything I spend that much time doing, I like to take a deeper look and see if there’s any way I can improve upon the experience. It’s not like grocery shopping is a job where I need professional development to eventually achieve my dream of promotion to Grocery Queen, but wouldn’t it be nice if there were ways to get more out of the time (and money) we spend grocery shopping?

Having given it some thought, I can tell you that there are. Here are 12 ways to spend less and get more out of your grocery store. I hope they’ll help you become a little more informed, get better quality products, and grocery shop smarter, not harder. (Can you grocery shop hard? I’m not sure. But let’s keep it easy, okay?)

12 Ways to Get More From Your Grocery Store

1. Check clearance bread and produce displays.

Not every grocery store has these, and sometimes they can be hidden away in unfrequented corners, but I can’t tell you how many amazing deals I’ve found on breads, baked goods, fruit, and vegetables by checking clearance sections. Even if a bread is nearing its freshness date, it can always be frozen, and so can many fruits and veggies.

2. Compare deli vs. pre-packaged meats and cheeses.

It’s certainly quicker and easier to grab that Hormel tub-o’-ham from the cold case rather than waiting for someone at the deli counter to slice you some lunch meat, but you might be surprised to find that shopping sales on deli meats and cheeses can yield a better quality, fresher product for the same or lower price.

3. Talk to the butcher.

The person behind the counter in the meat and seafood department can typically tell you which meats or seafood have been previously frozen, which are from local sources, and when they put out clearance meats (if you want to time your shopping to coincide with lower prices). All you have to do is ask. These employees can also perform helpful services like removing skin from fish or filleting it for no charge.

4. Talk to the bakery employees, too.

Like the butcher, they are available to answer questions about product freshness and provide time-saving services for customers, like running a loaf of bread through a slicer. Cause who wants to waste a cutting board and clean up all those crumbs at home?

5. Answer that question, “Did you find everything you needed?” honestly.

Yeah, it can be kind of annoying to get asked this every time you go through a grocery line (like, “Do you think I’d be checking out right now if I didn’t?”), but if there’s an item you consistently want that your store doesn’t sell, letting the manager know could result in the store carrying the item. That way you don’t have to drive out of your way or go on Amazon every time you want your Himalayan pink sea salt or miniature French octopus tentacles.

6. If you find a product with a defect, ask for a discount.

Often, items from the Island of Misfit Foods will find their way to the clearance section, but not always. If you find a product that’s damaged in some way that’s cosmetic and doesn’t endanger the safety of the food, ask the cashier if you can have it for a lower price. Note: use responsibly. Don’t bang a can of corn against your cart while loudly coughing, then tell the cashier you “found it that way.” 😉

7. Coupon wisely.

We all know someone who prides themselves on the 28 key lime pie yogurts they recently got for 9 cents, or the 4 dozen free toothbrushes they’re saving for the Cavity Apocalypse. The couponing craze, in my opinion, should be viewed with some skepticism, but there are ways to use coupons to save on the things you actually need and want. My suggestions (besides “use coupons for things you actually need”): go online and research your local store’s coupon policy. You may discover helpful information, like when they offer double coupons or accept competitor coupons. On many store websites, you can also sign up for digital coupons.

8. Shop price per ounce.

Price tags at most stores have an itty bitty section that list price per ounce. For me, this is always a helpful indicator when packaging is deceiving, or when deciding between two similar products. Since just about everything can be boiled down to price per ounce, this is your gold standard for choosing the best deals. It can also help you decide whether it’s best to buy an item in bulk or pre-packaged.

9. Buy seasonal.

Not only is seasonal food best for the environment, it’s typically best for your wallet. Familiarize yourself with which produce is in season in your area and try to shop accordingly. (This fantastic website provides a tool to find out what’s currently in season in your state.) You will likely find that prices reflect the abundance of the seasons.

10. Resist grocery store psychology.

What do 10 for $10 sales, free samples, products on store endcaps have in common? They’re all marketing tactics stores use to get customers to purchase more, especially things they didn’t intend to. A grocery store’s ultimate goal is not to give you great deals; it’s to get more of your money. Be savvy and consider this as you’re adding that tenth item, sampling tasty yogurt pretzels that aren’t on your list, or grabbing something that seems like a great deal from an endcap. (P.S. Thanks, autocorrect, for repeatedly changing the word “endcap” to “endocarp.” What the hell is an endocarp?)

11. Be nice to employees.

You never know when the friendly chat you struck up with the cashier may open the door to them accepting that $10 off coupon that technically expired last week. And isn’t it always the best policy to be kind to others?

12. Check your receipt.

You’re racing out the doors of the grocery store at 5:00 PM with three kids in tow, and your natural impulse when you finally get your receipt is to shove it into the bottomless bowels of your purse, never to be seen again. BUT! If you want to be a true grocery store insider, going over your receipt after a shopping trip is a useful practice. There have been many times I have noticed an item I was double-charged for, charged the wrong price, or simply didn’t realize was so expensive and have made a mental note of. Checking your receipt before you leave the parking lot (and popping back into the store for a refund) can mean the difference of several dollars back in your pocket.

So go forth, shopping superstars, and get more from your grocery store!

For Thanksgiving, our family traveled to New York to visit my husband’s Long Island relatives, and to enjoy a pretty spectacular vacation (if I do say so myself). It’s hard to believe we’ve already been back for ten days, since I feel like just yesterday I was trying to get a good shot of the Statue of Liberty through the rain from the Staten Island Ferry…

…and since my Arizona tuckus is still thawing out from high temps in the 40s. Our week in the Big Apple was jam-packed with cultural experiences like taking in masterpieces at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,

awesome artifacts at the American Museum of Natural History,

and an off-Broadway production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

We also were able to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in person,

and spend the first Sunday of Advent at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where Cardinal Timothy Dolan celebrated mass!

Last but not least, of course, we enjoyed many of the foods New York is famous for. I thought I’d give a quick run-down of some of the best places we ate throughout the week, for any friends who might have a New York trip in their future, and for myself to savor it all over again!

Pizza

Our first night in the city, as we traipsed around looking for food, our bellies were still on Arizona time (and rumbling from missing lunch while on the plane). Luckily, we ended up at Nocciola Pizzeria e Trattoria in east Harlem, where we ordered a half-pepperoni, half-sausage thin crust pie. My husband claimed that this uptown spot served what is known as “wet pizza.” While thinking of pizza as “wet” doesn’t exactly appeal to me (like “someone left a pizza out in the rain”?), I could see what he meant. Since the sauce and the crust were both thin, the pizza could almost slide right off the pan…and into my kids’ eagerly waiting mouths.

Pretzels

Street pretzels were high up on the trip bucket list. We bought these bread bombs from one of the dozens of carts lining 5th Avenue as we walked along looking at the Christmas window displays. Incidentally, these carts were also selling chestnuts, which until this trip had been just a figment of my imagination. I’m going to continue the fantasy by believing they were roasted on an open fire.

Bagels

Bagels are about as classic a New York food as it gets. We stopped at Bagels & Co. for a dozen that lasted us almost the entire week of breakfasts. Topped with strawberry cream cheese, these were a chewy, crusty treat. Did I mention they were ENORMOUS??

Cheesecake

There’s a reason I don’t have a picture of the incredible carrot cake cheesecake and double-fudge cheesecake slices we ordered from Junior’s in Times Square. And that reason is that we DEVOURED them before you could say “wait while I get my iPhone out of my purse.” Holy WOW, Junior’s lived up to the hype. My son told me he wants their cheesecake for his birthday cake next year, and I heartily agree.

To complete the melting pot dining experience, we had Chinese at Wu Liang Ye near Times Square and Italian food at V & T near Columbia University–an establishment that has been at that location since 1945. I kept picturing characters from Goodfellas and The Godfather at the tables around us.

And finally, throughout the week, to offset the damage of pizza and cheesecake, I made sure we got some fresh greens. Europa Cafe, with several locations throughout the city, was a great place to find some healthy options, like this Southwestern salad.

In addition to enjoying the infinite variety of foods New York City has to offer, I have to say there was an unexpected take-home message when it came to dining in the Big City. Because of the extremely high cost of restaurant eating, dining out meal after meal made the food we were eating a much more precious commodity than under normal circumstances. We split meals, ate every last bite on our plates, and I hoarded the cheap snacks I discovered at a K-Mart in Penn Station. (An aside: sometime I’ll tell you the awkward story of shopping for laxatives at an underground K-Mart in Penn Station at 9:00 PM on Thanksgiving night. What can I say? I suffer from travelers’ digestive complaints.) But that’s not the take-home message I’m talking about. I’m talking about the valuable experience of realizing how much I take affordable food for granted. After a week of penny-pinching at each meal, I came home with new-found gratitude for not seeing dollar signs with every forkful of food that enters my family’s mouths. It’s somewhat ironic, actually, that on a trip that felt so indulgent in many ways, I would end up feeling so thankful for my everyday circumstances.

So thanks, New York, for a week of incredible sights and signature foods. They may call you the City That Never Sleeps, but in my mind, you are the City That Always Eats.

Not many people can claim that a Turkey Trot changed their life, but when I was 22, it happened for me. All throughout my youth, I avoided any form of exercise, especially running. When I got to college, I became a half-hearted elliptical machine user, but only because I thought I was fat and I knew how to strategically plan my workouts to coincide with my crush’s. So by the time I started working the front desk at the Tempe YMCA during grad school, I figured I was pretty much a lost cause for exercise, especially running. Somehow, though, even though I rarely worked out at the Y, one of my managers convinced me to participate in the branch’s Thanksgiving fun run. I spent a few weeks unenthusiastically slogging through my 12-minute-mile-paced training. When the big day came, I don’t recall having good form or an awesome finishing time, but one thing I remember well: as I approached the final leg of the race, my two managers picked up the tape the first place winner had broken through and held it up for me to break through. Then they led everyone at the finish line in cheering for me as I approached. Crossing that first-ever finish line was a magical moment of victory, camaraderie, and—appropriately—thanksgiving. It was also the first time I ever thought, “Wow, I actually enjoyed that” after running.

Since then, regular running and competing in short-distance races have gradually become a part of my life. I never, ever thought I’d say this, but I now genuinely look forward to the time I can spend sweatily pounding the pavement around my neighborhood like a mouth-breathing Saint Bernard. Yes, for the health benefits, like everyone tells you, and yes, for the weight control aspect, like everyone claims, but the thing they don’t tell you about running is this:

Running makes you feel strong.

I’m a small person. Small in stature—5’4” and 110 pounds—and also, I sometimes feel, small of heart and weak of courage. I’m the world’s most nonconfrontational humanoid with an irrational fear of cockroaches (I call my husband home from work to kill them) and people-pleasing streak the size of the Serengeti. Far too much of my time is spent ridden with anxiety. I want to change these things, though, and when I run, I feel like maybe I actually can. Running isn’t for wimps. It’s dang hard, even when you’re used to it. Your knees ache and your heart is petitioning to be expelled from your body. When it’s all said and done, you look like the worst version of yourself, like you just gave birth to triplets in a swamp. But pushing through the difficult and the unpleasant builds endurance and a strength of character that could—and hopefully does—trickle out to the rest of life. My favorite fitness instructor at my old gym used to say to motivate her classes, “How strong are you today?” I could be half dead on the floor, but every time she rolled that question out, I swear, I showed up in my own skin and gave those squats and curls my all. “So strong. That’s how strong I am today,” I wanted to say with my body. So strong for myself, for my kids, for my future. Unstoppably strong.

So a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled upon the Sia song “Unstoppable”—which, by the way, happened in the Target parking lot, where I rocked out like I was getting psyched up to fly to freaking MARS—I knew it was headed straight for the top of my running playlist. To a relentless beat, the words go: “Put my armor on, show you how strong I am… / I’m unstoppable / I’m a Porsche with no breaks / I’m so confident / Yeah, I win every single game / I’m so powerful / Don’t need batteries to play / I’m invincible / I’m unstoppable today.” Whoa. Sia needs to slap an “Ultimate Running Theme Song” trademark on this piece, like, immediately.

On my next go-round on the treadmill, I listened to several songs on Sia’s This Is Acting album and experienced one of the best runs of my life. The album is full of pounding, soaring empowerment ballads. Besides “Unstoppable,” the song “Reaper” had me basically sobbing with catharsis at a 6.7 mph pace. For the songwriter, it’s a song about coming back from the edge of a near attempt at suicide. As I listened and ran, though, it became an anthem in the face of the “reaper” in my own life: anxiety. “You tried to track me down / you followed me like the darkest cloud / But no, baby, no, baby not today.” No, anxiety, you’re not getting the best of me today. Not while I’m running. And maybe, after I’m done running, I’ll keep an edge that lets me resist you a little more today than I did yesterday.

Together, music and running are a heady concoction. The right song can mean the difference between giving up and pressing on. In light of my recent discovery of the Sia’s album, I thought I’d offer some of my favorites from my running playlist in case you’re in need of inspiration. (This may seem like a familiar post, since I’ve written about my workout playlist before. But there are so many great songs to use for running and all forms of aerobic exercise, this is a whole new batch! Also, if it seems a little Sia-heavy, that’s because it is.)

How will you be unstoppable today?

Unstoppable Exercise Playlist

1. “Unstoppable” by Sia
2. “Get That Body Back” by Pomplamoose
3. “Easy” by Sheryl Crow
4. “I Won’t Let You Down” by OK Go
5. “Breakin’ Up” by Rilo Kiley
6. “Reaper” by Sia
7. “Greener” by Tally Hall
8. “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten
9. “Tonight Tonight” by Hot Chelle Rae
10. “Try Everything” by Shakira
11. “Send My Love (to Your New Lover)” by Adele
12. “Ain’t It Fun” by Paramore
13. “Bird Set Free” by Sia
14. “American Girl” by Tom Petty
15. “Avalanche” by Walk the Moon
16. “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars
17. “Eyes Wide Open” by Gotye
18. “Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush
19. “Testify to Love” by Avalon
20. “Cheap Thrills” by Sia
21. “Just Like Fire” by P!nk
22. “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival
23. “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Presidents of the United States of America
24. “Heartbeat Song” by Kelly Clarkson
25. “Waterloo” by ABBA
26. “Upside Down and Inside Out” by OK Go
27. “Pride (In the Name of Love)” by U2
28. “Wake Waka” by Shakira
29. “I Wish” by Stevie Wonder
30. “Mercy” by Duffy
31. “Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac
32. “Virus Alert” by Weird Al
33. “Write Your Story” by Francesca Battistelli
34. “My House” by Flo Rida
35. “Alive” by Sia
36. “Emergency” by Icona Pop
37. “Got To Get You Into My Life” by the Beatles
38. “Good Time” by Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen
39. “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon
40. “Take Me to the Pilot” (UK Release available on Spotify) by Elton John