Wild Ginger Wellness

10/08/2026

I want to start a new weekly(ish) series to help with meal planning in a budget-friendly way! Every week, I'll take a look at what's on sale and share a HEALTHY recipe that doesn't break the bank.

🍂 Weekly Albertsons Ad Recipe: Chicken Fajita Brown Rice Bowls

This week at Albertsons, I spotted:
🌶️ Bell peppers — $0.99 each
🥑 Avocados — $0.99 each
🍗 Boneless, skinless chicken thighs — $1.99/lb

Add a few inexpensive staples, and we have dinner!

CHICKEN FAJITA BROWN RICE BOWLS
Makes about 4- 6 servings

Ingredients
- 2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 3 bell peppers, sliced
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 1 Tbsp olive or avocado oil
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp smoked or regular paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
- Black pepper, to taste
- 2 cups dry brown rice
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 avocados, sliced or diced
- Optional: lime juice, cilantro, salsa or hot sauce

To make it:
1️⃣ Cook the brown rice according to package directions.
2️⃣ Heat oven to 425°F. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces or strips.
3️⃣ Add chicken, peppers and onion to a large sheet pan. Toss with oil, chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
4️⃣ Spread everything into an even layer and roast for about 20–25 minutes, stirring once, until the vegetables are tender and the chicken reaches 165°F.
5️⃣ While everything cooks, drain and rinse the black beans. Warm them on the stove or in the microwave.
6️⃣ Divide the brown rice among 6 bowls. Top with the chicken and vegetables, black beans and avocado. Finish with lime, cilantro, salsa or hot sauce if you have them.

THE BUDGET BREAKDOWN 💰
Chicken: $3.98
Bell peppers: $2.97
Avocados: $1.98
Black beans: $1.29
Onion: ~$1.00
Brown rice: ~$1.25
Oil + seasonings: ~$0.50
Estimated total: ~$12.97
Estimated cost per serving: ~$2.16
** Prices for the onion, rice, oil and seasonings are estimates and will vary depending on what you already have in your pantry, so this may cost less**

A $1.29 can of beans isn't particularly glamorous, but added to a meal like this, it stretches the chicken a little farther while adding protein, fiber, potassium, iron and folate.

10/06/2026

“I want to, but….” Is something I hear from not just clients, but also myself. Whether it’s eating in more goal-aligned ways, engaging in intentional movement, or even just getting more sleep - our intentions have to compete with the realities that our environmental conditions create.

One does not invalidate the other, but sometimes (ok, a LOT of times), there has to be some compromise and willingness to work within our conditions. This might look like fitting in smaller 10-15minute movement “snacks” instead of a 45-60min sweat-sesh. Maybe it’s simply heating up some frozen veggies with dinner instead of planning a gourmet meal, or choosing to put the phone down 20mins earlier instead of forcing yourself into bed hours earlier to get at least a *little* more sleep.

From my experience, problems arise when we feel like our intentions are enough to make a difference and move us towards our goals. Maybe in your scenario, there is little to no wiggle room for movement, but a lot of times we find that (when we’re honest with ourselves), we can do even 10% more than we have told ourselves.

For me - that looks like acknowledging that my reports aren’t going to spontaneously combust if I take a 15 minute walk. The intention is there and so is that 10%. And for today, that’s enough to move me a step in the right direction.

09/28/2026

**A Three-Day Photo Logging Experiment**

The idea is simple: for three days, take a quick photo of what you eat and drink before you have it. No editing, no arranging, no captions, and no shame! At the end of each day, look back through them with curiosity rather than critique.

How it works
Each day, snap a photo before eating or drinking anything more than water. It takes two seconds. Don't rearrange the plate, don't wait for good light (I say as I'm incredibly guilty of this), don't skip the messy or unremarkable ones. A handful of crackers counts as much as a full dinner.

At the end of the day, spend a couple of minutes scrolling back through (or reviewing on an app like Zoe or See How You Eat). That's the whole practice. You're not grading yourself. You're just seeing your day laid out in a way that's is more visual than just numbers.

**Who might want to skip this**
This experiment isn't right for everyone, and skipping it is a completely valid choice. Consider passing if you have a history of disordered eating or are in recovery, since photographing food can reactivate monitoring habits even when the intent is gentle. The same goes if you notice that tracking of any kind tends to tip you toward restriction, guilt, or obsessive checking. If food already carries a lot of anxiety for you, adding a camera to the mix may make meals feel more surveilled rather than more understood. And if you simply don't feel curious about it, that's reason enough not to do it.

Neutral observation questions:
When you look back at your photos, these are meant to prompt noticing, not correcting. There are no right answers.

• What time of day do most of the photos cluster around, and are there long gaps?
• Which of these did I eat sitting down, and which happened standing up or on the move?
• Were any of these eaten with other people?
• Which photo do I actually remember taking, and which had I already forgotten?
• Was I hungry in the moment, or was something else going on?
• Is there a photo that surprises me now that I see it?

09/11/2026

https://wildgingerwellness.substack.com/p/the-river-need-banks?r=6rf4xj&utm_medium=ios

Sometimes there’s a logical order to my thought process. Last month I discussed how hearing our body’s signals can be hard at times. This month, we’re talking about tools we can use to guide us when learning to understand those signals. Gentle tools and structure don’t have to be rigid - so I would love to hear if you use any of these yourself, or if you’ve tried something I don’t have listed!

Why some structure can be a good thing

09/08/2026

Food tracking is one of those things that tends to get talked about in very black-and-white ways. It is either treated like a universally useful accountability tool… or like something that is inherently harmful. But like most stuff, I don’t think either of those takes leaves much room for the actual person using it.

For some people, tracking can be genuinely helpful. It can make patterns easier to see, add context when hunger or fullness cues are hard to interpret, and give someone information they can use to make more intentional choices.

For someone else, the exact same tool might increase anxiety, perfectionism, guilt, or rigidity.

That’s why I’m often less interested in whether someone tracks and more interested in what tracking does to their relationship with food: Does it help you notice patterns with more curiosity? Does it give you information without making you feel controlled by the information? Can you be flexible when life changes? Can you miss a day without feeling like you “messed up”? Or do the numbers start to feel like rules you have to obey (and you all know how much I detest strict rules)? Does eating become more stressful? Does the tool take up more mental space than it gives back?

Those questions matter. And those are questions we ask when considering incorporating some form of tracking into our routine.

A tool can support awareness and agency for one person and create anxiety and rigidity for another. And for some people, tracking may simply not be the right tool at all.

I’d be curious to hear how you think about this. Have you ever used food tracking in a way that felt helpful, unhelpful, or somewhere in between? What have you tried? Have you thought about trying again, but maybe with a different intention or mindset shift? Let me know! Let’s chat about that!

09/01/2026

I think we sometimes assume that more freedom is always more helpful, and for people who have felt boxed in by rigid food rules, exercise expectations, or wellness plans, it makes sense that freedom can feel like the answer.

But no structure at all can be difficult too.

Hunger, fullness, energy, cravings, fatigue, and other body signals do not always arrive in a perfectly clear language. Stress, medications, chronic conditions, years of dieting, neurodivergence, caregiving, hormonal changes, busy schedules, and plain old exhaustion can all make those signals harder to interpret.

In those situations, some external structure can actually make things easier to understand.

That might mean having a loose meal rhythm instead of waiting until hunger becomes impossible to ignore. It might mean planning a few dinners ahead so every evening does not require a brand-new decision (I mean…you guys know my love of Mealime). It might mean using a food log (I have several apps I recommend), energy check-in, or medically relevant data to notice patterns you could not easily see otherwise.

That does not necessarily mean giving your body less of a voice…Sometimes it means giving yourself enough context to hear that voice more clearly (because who HASN’T questioned if they’re misinterpreting things?).

The goal is not maximum structure or maximum freedom. It’s finding the amount of support that helps you respond to your needs without feeling controlled by the system you are using.

So instead of asking, “Should I be more structured or more intuitive?” it may be more useful to ask:

What kind of structure helps me understand myself more clearly? We’ll be discussing that in this month’s upcoming Substack, so be sure to subscribe if you aren’t already!

08/19/2026

We’ve been talking about learning to tune into the signals of our body (in this month’s substack article) and I created a short meditation to help us quiet our minds and tune into what our bodies are trying to say. This isn’t about learning to disseminate exactly what it’s saying - but more so about learning to notice without judging.

A short, gentle guided meditation for anyone rebuilding trust with a body whose cues feel confusing, inconsistent, or hard to hear. This is an introduction to body awareness without judgement and a precursor to learning to discern what the body is saying. Through ground, breath, and compassionate ob...

08/06/2026

Currently signing up for the Fall Healthy Hearts session.
This free 12 week course will give you free access to the Civic Center for the duration of the course. You'll have access to a Registered Dietician, Certified trainers, and more. Call or email with questions or to sign up. Only 25 spots available for newcomers.
406-873-5670 x 127
[email protected]

08/03/2026

New essay is up! I’ve been sitting and pondering this one for a bit. Lots of patients come to be complaining of sensations like…hunger *le gasp*, so we spend a lot of time discussing how and why our bodies communicate to us.

There are a plethora of reasons as to why we think we shouldn’t listen (hello diet culture) or why our signals get distorted (and here are lots of of reasons for that). I touch on those in this months substack article.

Interested in more? I’m working on expanding on some of the ideas mentioned in the article to give some insight as to why JUST “listen to your body” isn’t always enough, and why we might require some additional tools at first. Stay tuned!

https://open.substack.com/pub/wildgingerwellness/p/the-part-we-skip-when-we-say-just?r=6rf4xj&utm_medium=ios

07/11/2026

I’ve been wanting to write this one for a while - it’s something I see playing out in my clinic constantly and I couldn’t stay quiet about it anymore. GLP-1 medications can be genuinely powerful tools, but the way they’re being marketed, and the guidance that’s not being given alongside them, is setting a lot of people up for consequences they don’t see coming. This month’s essay is the conversation I wish every person starting one of these medications could have first.

Social media will tell you that you don’t have to change a thing on a GLP-1.