Meet Leni Reed Nazare

Leni Reed Nazare

Hi and thanks for visiting my blog.

I am a former dietitian and nutritionist (Master of Public Health in Nutrition). This blog is about recipes, techniques, and products to make preparing delicious healthy meals easier.

If you want the long version of who I am and what this blog is about, please read on.

I’m someone who loves learning about food and nutrition and adores cooking. For me, cooking is fun, creative, relaxing, and also one of my favorite ways to connect with others.

For about 25 years, I worked as a dieitian/nutritionist under my professional name, Leni Reed, MPH, RD.

I spent six years as a faculty member teaching dietetics at U of Texas South Western Medical Center at Dallas and the U of Oklahoma Health Science Center in Oklahoma City.

Soon after that I started my own company focused on nutrition education and, in particular, supermarket nutrition tours. I also wrote a column for Shape magazine, the Dallas Times Herald, and the Dallas Morning News – though, thankfully, not all at the same time.

I was probably most well known for my videos about food shopping for good health, especially the Supermarket Savvy video which was published in the days of VHS and carried in Blockbuster video stores which do not even exist anymore. Also back in the day, I authored an audiotape for Nightingale-Conant and co-authored the recipes for the first edition of the American Heart Association Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol Cookbook (published in 1989).

I enjoyed my work in the nutrition field but grew tired of it and wanted a change. So about 15 years ago, I stopped practicing as a dietitian/nutritionist.

To indulge my passions in cooking and nutrition, a few years ago I started this blog – focusing first on foods that can help prevent cancer and then more broadly on recipes for a healthy lifestyle.

And, you may be wondering, what’s my take on the healthiest way to eat? I can’t say what’s best for you, but at my house, our food choices include: almost nothing from a box; no grains, no flour, no sugar; grass-fed meat, fresh and canned fish (BPA-free if possible), and chicken (free range, organic, if possible); a little dairy (mostly yogurt and kefir); fruits (in limited quantity except for berries); nuts;  extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil (in limited quantity);  lots of vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables (organic if possible); and plenty of fresh herb sauces and home-made soups – my current food obsessions.

As you  may have guessed from reading about our food choices, our food intake is pretty low carb — which also means it’s higher in fat. We made the switch from higher carb/lower fat to lower carb/higher fat mainly because it’s a good way to keep blood sugar lower and also tamp down generalized inflammation in the body.  Was it hard to make this switch? Not really. After all, to me food tastes better with more fat!

I did not always eat this way. In fact, I was vegetarian (high carb, moderate fat) and even a vegan (very high carb, moderate fat) for a while – and some of the earlier recipes on this blog reflect that.

However, I’m not dogmatic about how one should eat. There is more than one way to good health. We are all individuals!

I am excited to share with you how I prepare healthy and delicious meals. I hope you will join me on this food adventure! The gifts of nature are waiting for us! So let’s get started!

~Leni