HLS Recap Part 2: The Saturday Sessions

So this is where it gets interesting! This where you get to benefit from some of the valuable info I soaked up at the summit! I have to warn you that this post is a little long and also super picture heavy, (I couldn’t help myself) but I promise if you bear with me, there’s some really good info sprinkled in!   Also, if you’re just catching up, here’s a link to HLS Recap Part 1: Friday Night Cocktail Party.

Breakfast

      
 

The Sessions

After breakfast, it was time for the meat and potatoes of the summit, a day filled with informative sessions.

The day started with a great session called “Writing a Better Recipe,” given by speaker Stepfanie Romine of Dailyspark.com.

So, what did I learn? That I suck at writing recipes! Lol! But thankfully Stepfanie gave some great tips.

Tips for Writing a Better Recipe:

• The anatomy of a good recipe is: title, head note and tips, yield, prep and cook times, ingredients list, and instructions
• Placing photos between directions is a no-no. It makes it too easy for the reader to skip a step
• Don’t bury your tips within the recipe; give them at the beginning
• 1 cup chopped almonds and 1 cup almonds, chopped do not mean the same thing!
• Don’t eliminate articles (i.e., the) <---I’m so guilty of this!
• Be sure to include serving sizes
• Separate prep and cook times
• Most importantly, when it comes to adapting a recipe, don’t repost the entire thing. Only post your changes, then link to the original.

 

In the next session, I  was smart enough to sit next to this girl!

    

Her name is Katie and she blogs over at Nourishing Flourishing… aaaannd her dough balls were amazing!

  

On my other side was Valorie from City, Life, Eats and Freya from Brit Chick Runs (I think she gets the award for “traveled farthest!”).

 

My favorite session of the day was with Dawn Jackson Blatner. She’s the RD and author behind a book called The Flexitarian Diet, which we all got copies of and I’m SO excited to read! You see, I’m mostly a vegetarian, but I don’t have anything against meat or dislike it. Plus, I readily eat meat whenever I feel like it. I do find, however, that I’ll typically opt for a veggie burger over a real burger, soy dog over a hotdog, etc. or I simply eat meals without meat. I never knew how to explain this to people until now! I’m a “flexitarian!”

The best part about Dawn’s talk was the action mantras she shared. These are fun little sayings to speak to yourself to help remind you to make good choices. Here are just a few of my faves:

• Mantra 1: “Table, Plate, Chair”—Did you know people who eat all meals while sitting at a table with a plate (in other words, not standing in the kitchen, eating from the bag, etc.) eat 30% less and enjoy their food more?
• Mantra 2: “Habits first, efforts later”—For 7 days, commit to getting up to drive to the gym (or wherever you exercise), then drive back home. By the 7th day you’ll be so ready to actually stay and exercise, you won’t be able to stand it!
• Mantra 3: “One add-on only”— At a restaurant, in addition to your entree, there should only be one add-on (i.e, appetizer, glass of wine, or dessert).
• Mantra 4: “Find the middle”—When at a restaurant, look for the healthiest thing on the menu, then the thing you really want to order, and create a compromise between the two. For example,if you want a crab cake, and the healthiest option is a salad, see if you can get the salad with a crab cake on top.
• Mantra 5: “Dinner Deck”—Write 5-7 healthy meal ideas on note cards and always carry them in your purse (or somewhere else for guys). On nights where you need a quick, convenient meal, pick from the deck!

Aren’t these great?!! I also shared a few others on Twitter, but if you want even more geniusness from this woman, order her book!

After the session, it was time for...

Lunch

  

  

After all the sessions were over, we had the rest of the day to explore the city, making a stop at Reading Terminal Market to see it during actual business hours.   

  
 
 

Then we went to see the Liberty Bell!

  

Me and Heather

With Tanya and Allison

And finally...

Dinner

  
 

 

Me and Brittney

For those of you who don’t know, this is what happens when you get a group of food bloggers together at a restaurant!

 

I had this seafood hotdog which was DELISH! It’s made with scallops, shrimp, and fluke pureed, then rolled in egg whites into the shape of a hot dog, and pan seared. The bun was spread with an avocado mayo. YUM!

After dinner, we met a few other bloggers for some drinks at a nearby hotel.

 

...where we unexpectedly found ourselves with front row seat to a pull-over and drug bust! Coke to be exact.

 

Gotta love the big city!

Was there any info I listed from the sessions that you found particularly useful?

Stay tuned for my final recap of the last day of the summit!