That’s all, folks!

Hope you’ve gotten your fill, because after today you’ll no longer be able to find my blog at feedyourheadblog.com.

From this day forth, you can find all my old content (and the new stuff as well!) over at InsiderWellness.com/blog.

About the new site: consider yourselves my privileged guest at dress rehearsal – everything’s pretty much in place, but we’re not quite ready to sell tickets yet. 

I’m still perfectionist-ing all over the place, so bear with me for the next couple weeks while I get it looking all spiffy. (Or until my partner cuts me off).

Remember – DON’T sign up for the online meal planning yet. I will make a big commotion when it’s time for that.

 

Thanks for all your support at Feed Your Head. It’s been great and I’m kinda sad to see it go. Even though Insider Wellness is the bomb.

 

The Final Countdown

Remember moi?

Remember when I said my new website was almost ready?

 

Well it takes a long ass time to make the kind of website I wanted. Before we get to that though, some important info:

 

FeedYourHeadBlog.com will not exist as of May 24th, 2014. I’m currently pulling all my best posts and moving them over to Insider Wellness. But the ones that don’t make the cut will be gone forever, so if you have any favorites, you should let me know in the comments below.

 

That means the website is REALLY almost ready – and now you can get a sneak peek:

Go to InsiderWellness.com and explore. But DON’T sign up for online meal planning just yet.

 

Why?

1. We’re still loading up the recipes and shopping lists, and we’re not ready for real-live customers yet.

2. I’m putting together a special introductory offer just for you, that will launch in June, so hang tight for that.

 

I really shouldn’t let anyone see it until it’s shiny and perfect. But y’all have been following me from the get-go, and I think you deserve to see what I’ve been working on all this time. Also, it’s pretty cool. And the longer I keep it under wraps, the more it seems like I made the whole thing up. I NEED YOU TO VALIDATE ME.

 

I also need about ten of you to be my initial test users. You’ll use the meal planning feature for one month, in exchange for weekly feedback.

 

I only have two requirements. You must agree to use the meal plans every week through the entire testing period (most likely late May – early June), and you must reply to my feedback email every Friday.

 

First, check out the site to see if you like it. If you’re interested in being a tester, email me at skpollack@gmail.com with the following information:

  • First & Last Name
  • Best email address to contact you
  • How many people in your household
  • Why meal planning is a challenge for you
  • Your agreement to the two requirements listed above.

 

I’d really like some testers who aren’t related to me, so don’t be shy. (No offense, family.)

 

Remember to check out InsiderWellness.com for a first look at our next adventure. Oh – and if you have any technical difficulties anywhere on the site, please let me know ASAP.

It’s Happening. This Month.

That’s right – my long-awaited new website is about to exist for real on the Wild Wild Web. 

This month, some of my nearest and dearest will take it for a test drive (because, if it crashes, they won’t sue me or write mean reviews on yelp.) Once we have all the kookiness sorted out, it’s go time.

It’s been OVER A YEAR and I’m more excited than all my childhood Christmas Mornings combined. Here’s what you can expect:

  • The same blog posts – but more frequent and informative. Videos included (you’re never getting rid of me).
  • A new look, a new tone, and fancy pictures that I actually paid someone to take.

  • The whole reason I’m doing this – online meal planning! Including:

    • Original recipes designed specifically for 1-2 adult eaters. This means proper portions (no wasted food) and simple preparations that come together in 30 minutes or so.
    • Shopping lists that correspond to your weekly meal plans (hello, time saving!)
    • Time-saving prep tips
    • Healthiness – you never have to wonder if a recipe ingredient is “good” or “bad.” I already decided.
    • Tastiness. My shit is goooooooood.

You’ll be able to access a month’s worth of meal plans at a time, with a monthly subscription fee of $20. (When I do this for people individually, it’s $175.) As my loyal followers, I’ll hook you up with an introductory discount yet to be determined.

Alas, that means we must bid adieu to Feed Your Head. I admit, I’m a little sad. But the new format is way better – you’ll only have to visit one website, and the behind-the-scenes action is much simpler for moi. Plus “Feed Your Head” has already been trademarked by many, many others – including our local psychedelic pizza place (it’s Asheville, we have stuff like that).

I’ll post here until Insider Wellness is officially open for business. And I’ll be sure to let you know when that is, and how you can keep up with me through the transition.

If you’ve been following this blog – writing comments, asking questions, reading my rambles – THANK YOU. The next phase is going to be even better.

We’re going big, and you’ve got a front row seat.

Guess Who’s Back!

That’s right y’all, I didn’t give up on the video thing. I just had technical difficulties, that’s all!

As you know by now, some big changes are coming to my corner of the wild wild web. So for the next two months, you’ll see a little less content over here, as I prepare for the big move over to Insider Wellness.

So without further ado, here’s my dorky self again:

Changes Are a Foot.

Say what?

I said, changes are afoot. But it’s funnier the other way, right?

Anyway, I’m making some changes. As you know (if you’ve been following me for any length of time), I’m making a new website. Well, I’m not making it – this girl is doing that. I’m just paying her lots of money to make me the most badass meal-planning website EVER.

And it IS badass. I’ve been running a two-person*, recipe-writing sweatshop over here. But that’s not what I wanted to tell you.

When the website launches, Feed Your Head is going bye-bye. Oh, all the content will still exist, and I’ll keep posting awkward videos (weirdly, it appears you guys actually like those). The blog will live on, as an integrated feature of Insider Wellness.

Reasons? Sure, I have reasons. I think it might be boring to tell you about them, though.

Until that happens, you can still count on me to keep posting right here on Feed Your Head. Just make sure you’re following the blog (see “follow blog via email” in the sidebar) or signed up for my mailing list, so you won’t get left behind when I make the switch.

*Two-person? Yeah – despite all appearances, I have a helper. A teammate. A partner-in-crime You’ll meet her soon.

When Apple Messes with Your Day…Make Apple Sauce

Pretend this is a video:

“Hi! It’s Sam, and welcome to another episode of….’What’s Sam Eating for Lunch Today?‘ Today I’m enjoying a lovely vegetable soup since it’s cold and wintry outside. Etc. etc.”

It’s NOT a video, because Sam is having technical difficulties for lunch today. And while I usually stay out of this Mac-vs.-PC debate – which I think is just stupid – today I’m kinda pissed at Apple. (But just so we’re clear, I’m a Mac fan, all the way. Just not today.)

I’ve been at the screen for two hours now, following various wild-goose-chase troubleshooting threads, my eye twitching, my head hurting, my hands starting to tense up. And something occurs to me – this frustration, it’s as bad as road rage. But road rage is just being pissed off at traffic, or other dumb drivers, nothing you can really control.

Computer-rage is worse, because you’re trying to FIX something that YOU CAN’T FIX. And the troubleshooting articles that make it sound so easy are BULLSHIT, because those steps don’t actually EXIST in YOUR computer, and surely you can’t be the ONLY one having this issue, and what the f*ck?!?!

News flash: this kind of stress is not good for you. Yet in our current working society, computer-rage happens to people every day! Listen – I know this isn’t the first time you’ve heard it: STRESS IS BAD FOR YOU. It messes with your heart, disrupts your sleep, gives you acne, and makes you fat. It can seriously screw with your health in the long term – more than french fries, more than chocolate cake, more than soda, even.

Not to mention that stress is the number one reason for overeating, or eating the “wrong” foods – like oodles of Hershey Kisses. When your stress level comes down, everything is better. Your appetite and metabolism normalize, cravings diminish, sleep improves, and you become much more pleasant to live with.

But it’s tricky, trying to do everything – manage a household, work full-time, build a business, eat well, exercise, be social, and so forth. I think it’s misleading, all those nice people doing yoga in flowing scarves at the beach. Telling the average American to reduce his/her stress level is like telling elephants to step a little lighter. Usually it just makes people feel bad about how much stress they’re under.

The trick is – think less about reducing the bad, and more about increasing the good.

Take a five-minute walk outside during your workday. Or – for every hour you sit at the computer, get up and have a dance party, away from the screen. Not everything has to be this big insurmountable obstacle. The road to self-improvement is paved with cobblestones from 1893 and filled with potholes. So…(yep, I’m gonna go with it)….take it slow, watch where you step, and look out for horse poop.

To that end, I’m going to make some applesauce. Work offline all afternoon, then drink some wine. Computer-free until tomorrow.

What do YOU do when technology ruins your day? Bonus points if you can incorporate horse poop.

 

 

I’m Somebody!

First of all, welcome to all my new followers who found me through TheNotMom.com. I’ve been lurking over there for a while now, and I feel all special to be a featured blogger.

Secondly, for all my existing followers – I got featured on TheNotMom.com! TheNotMom is sort of an HQ for women who are childfree (by chance, or by choice). One of their regular bloggers, Laura LaVoie, is a fellow Asheville-ian. We met for tea a while back, yadda yadda yadda…she interviewed me for the blog.

I had a ton of fun answering these questions. You can see the full interview here – and while you’re there, check out all the other neat shit on the site. And like them on facebook – that’s how I stay in the loop.

Things are going to start happening to me now.

Book Review: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Overall rating:  ✩✩✩✩✩

I loved this book. Love love love.

I should tell you that I’m mildly obsessed with Barbara Kingsolver. I also had it on good authority that this book was not to be missed. So I was biased. But still…

 

If you have any interest in the local food movement, you should read this. If you have a garden, are thinking of starting a garden, or want to expand your garden, you should read this.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle documents the Kingsolver family’s commitment to eat only locally grown food (meat and produce especially) for one full year. They do this by growing as much of their own food as possible, and supplementing the rest with local farmers’ markets and gifts from friends. But mostly, they produce it themselves – including chicken and turkeys.

Sound daunting? It is. Living off the land is some HARD frickin’ work.

The story is a personal one, free of judgement. There are many passages which question our current food system, along with several astute observations about the way Americans relate to our food (or don’t). But it’s mainly about the story. I didn’t finish the book feeling inadequate because I only have a 4’x6′ garden and still eat bananas from Costa Rica.

I did get inspired to make more things from scratch – or seriously consider it, at least (working up to homemade cheese). I also gained an enormous amount of respect and gratitude for farmers. Each week, as I’m washing the dirt off my CSA vegetables, I think about how hard Annie and Isaiah (the farmers) work to get us that produce. Washing the dirt off is nothing.

Overall, it was a great read. And even if you can’t grow all your own food, you can at least take steps to eat more locally and seasonally. This book makes that shift seem not only possible, but delicious and exciting.

Only suggestion – read it before winter comes.