Optimal Protein Intake: Are you milking your beverages for all they’re worth?

By Amy Myrdal Miller, MS, RDN   Disclosure Statement: Amy is a National Dairy Council Ambassador. While she was not explicitly paid to write this blog, she receives an annual honorarium from the National Dairy Council to promote the nutrition, health, and culinary benefits of dairy products, including fluid milk, yogurt, and cheese.   Protein. It’s the white hot nutrient ...

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Which is more sustainable? Grass-Finished vs. Grain-Fed Beef

  by Amy Myrdal Miller, MS, RDN Founder and President, Farmer’s Daughter Consulting, LLC I was in Costco the other day when I overheard a woman telling her husband, “We need to buy the grassy beef, dear. It’s better for the planet.” Her husband then complained about the price, got fed up with arguing with her, and walked away. I ...

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Waste Not, Want Not: Water Wisdom

by Amy Myrdal Miller, MS, RDN I’m hearing more and more often from female friends the phrase, “I’m becoming my mother.” Sometimes this is said proudly, more often a bit ruefully. Right now, I’m desperately trying to become my mother when it comes to water management.. My mom grew up during the Great Depression. She lived on a farm in ...

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The Joy of Cooking… and Washing Dishes

Pictured above are Megan (center) and her sister Kierstin learning to bake from their grandmother, Rosemarie Myrdal (a.k.a. Granmarie)  By Megan Myrdal, RDN The kitchen is often referred to as the “heart of the home,” and I find, no matter whose home I’m in, it’s where we spend most of our time. When I’m working away in my home kitchen, I ...

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A Rant Against the Ridiculous, Virtuous Cult of Kale

By Amy Myrdal Miller, MS, RDN Founder & President of Farmer’s Daughter Consulting…and well-known kale hater… ‘Tis the season for love, but I’ve been thinking the past few days about things I hate, like ingredients that capture the attention of chefs, product developers, women’s magazines, and home cooks and dominate our food conversation for far too long. Ingredients like quinoa, ...

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Icelandic Cuisine: Uniquely Delicious Since 874

By Megan Myrdal, RDN Located at the juncture of the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, Iceland is a rugged, awe-inspiring country, filled with warm, welcoming people, rich culture, and a raw, untouched landscape unlike anywhere else on earth. I traveled there last summer as part of a program to discover my heritage (my great, great grandparents immigrated from Iceland to ...

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Living Well with Diabetes

13,422 days. That’s how long it’s been since I was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, an auto-immune disease in which the body’s immune system destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. About 5% of people with diabetes in the U.S. have Type I, which requires taking insulin. People with Type II may control their diabetes with diet, medication, insulin, ...

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Crickets vs. Cows

Our food conversation today increasingly includes discussions of sustainable protein, and beef is often described as an environmentally unsustainable choice. This is not always a fair assessment. The US beef industry has done an amazing job of using technology to reduce the environmental impact of modern beef production operations over the past 30 years. You can learn more about sustainable ...

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My Love Affair with Cattle

By Amy Myrdal Miller, MS, RDN My husband often teases me about my love affair with cattle. Whenever we drive by a herd, I urge him to stop the car so I can take a few photos. My photo collection now includes cattle from fifteen U.S. states, including Hawaii where I insisted on taking photos during our honeymoon. I suspect ...

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Reflections from a Farmer’s Daughter

   By Megan Myrdal, RDN Until recently, I hadn’t given much thought to being a “farmer’s daughter.” In rural northeast North Dakota (my home area) growing up on a farm was pretty standard, and nearly everyone was aware of the day-to-day activities of farm life. To say in conversation, “I’m a farmer’s daughter,” most would have replied, “So what?” After finishing my ...

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