Welcome to the MELA Journal
A newsletter and blog from two clinically trained, holistically oriented nutritionists and new moms. Think: nutrition, health and wellness meets fertility, pregnancy, motherhood, infant feeding and solids with a healthy dose of lifestyle and just for fun content.
Our mission and promise to you: to keep things simple, approachable, doable, and fun. To share the takeaways, tips & tools that we wish we’d had when we needed them. Whether we’re talking nutrition (our wheelhouse) or leaning on the experts in our corner - this is a place to share what’s helped/inspired/excited us, with you!
Hi and welcome to the MELA Journal!
We are so happy that you’re here.
The MELA Journal is our new newsletter and blog focused on all things nutrition, health, wellness, motherhood and a wide variety of topics that are relevant in our lives.
When we started our private nutrition practice in 2019, our goal was to make nutrition less confusing and complicated, and more approachable and practical for our clients. The amount of information available today is incredibly overwhelming (and often conflicting), and it has become nearly impossible to figure out what matters, what works, and what actually makes a difference. Our MO at MELA is to dig deep into the research, speak with trusted experts in our network, and put our heads together to make sense of it all. We love taking these complex topics and breaking them down into simplified, actionable tools that help our clients phase out the noise and achieve their goals.
When we began thinking about starting our families, we realized the fertility, pregnancy, motherhood and pediatric space is just as overwhelming as nutrition (if not more so).
So we did what we always do: we went nuts on the research. We spoke to everyone we trust - our friends, all of our doctors (there are many), specialists in the field, random people in the airport - listened to podcasts and read numerous books and blogs.
We are the first to admit - for nutrition, pregnancy, motherhood and especially raising babies - there is no single, right or best way to do things. But we still like to understand the different perspectives on a topic, take the pieces that resonate, and come up with a simplified, fact-based and personalized approach.
We love to do research, for both our practice and personal lives, and we love to share the results with the people in our orbit. The MELA journal is a home for all the information, tips and tools that we wish we’d had when we needed them. Our goal is to educate and inspire individuals looking for curated, informed and most importantly relatable content.
We hope you love reading this as much as we love writing it!
XO,
Merrill and Lauren
A few more things
Where we share all the things we’re loving, reading, listening to, cooking, discussing and purchasing as of late.
Our greenest pesto pasta with zucchini and arugula is a year-round go to, but we find ourselves making it weekly this time of year. This recipe is about as easy as weeknight dinners get and could not be more flavorful and satisfying. We love using legume-based pastas like Tolerant Foods or Banza - they’re great sources of both protein and fiber, making for a high quality plant-based dinner. On the subject of favorite spring/summer pasta recipes, trust us and make this one from Cookie & Kate as well. So good, so easy! If you don’t tolerate dairy, we recommend using Kite Hill ricotta in place of the goat’s cheese!
Good Instincts is a fun, digestible and short(!) new-ish podcast from fellow RD Shira Barlow. Daily episodes anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes with practical tips and hot (evidence-based) takes on all the current buzz and trends in the nutrition space.
We’ve been on a year-long journey to find a cleaner alternative to laundry detergent that doesn’t make our clothes feel starchy and these two pass the test! Puracy and Dirty Labs for the win. We love that we can feel good about using them for both our boys’ clothes and our own - easy to combine our loads!
The best organic almond butter we’ve ever tasted. Naturally sweet and so creamy. It’s perfect. We also love Massa’s roasted almonds for snacking and their short grain brown rice is truly special (I know it’s hard to imagine rice and almonds standing out this much but just trust us on this).
Our delicious simple banana pancake recipe we’ve been using for our boys (loved equally by our babies and grown men). We love to drizzle with the Massa almond butter (linked above) for a boost of healthy fat!
Three favorite reads as of late: Nora Goes Off Script: The most fun book we’ve read in a while. So feel good and cozy - we’re jealous if you haven’t read it yet! Lessons in Chemistry: A new all time favorite. Witty with an inspiring, resilient, unapologetic female protagonist in the 1950s. The kind of book you can’t put down and stays with you when you’re done. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow: There’s a reason everyone is talking about this book! Devastating at times, but lives up to the hype.