My daughter is obsessed with Nike. She loves the clothes, the shoes, the socks… anything with the iconic swish. I think it’s mostly because the clothes are comfortable and she’s an athlete, but also because she has a ‘Just Do It’ mindset. Of course, this mindset is applied to mostly eating, running and video gaming—and selectively not applied to cleaning her room. Regardless, I can’t help but think we can all learn something from the iconic tag line.

It makes sense, doesn’t it? You squish something, and more of its essence comes out. The trick is to know when it works for you and when it doesn’t. If you grate a lemon, you get a more lemony taste. Yum. If you put garlic through a garlic press, it REALLY intensifies the garlic flavor. That could be good or bad depending on whom you plan to kiss that night.

I have 3 daughters, each 5 years apart, and all were fortunate enough to go to college. Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about how to help kids transition into living independently and learning to take care of themselves.

Comfort food is defined as “ food that gives emotional comfort to the one eating it. These tend to be favorite foods of childhood, or linked to a person, place or time with which the food has a positive association.”

When my kids were growing up, they hated their school’s cafeteria food. Even on “pizza day” they still preferred to take a packed lunch. As a working mom, I didn’t always want the pressure of making them a lunch every morning so I invented the “lunch bucket,” a healthy lunch planning tool, as a way to get their lunches packed with tasty, healthy and sometimes creative options.

Now it’s the norm to use your phone or tablet for your shopping list. Technology is front and center when it comes to meal planning and cooking. New tools are being developed every day to make grocery shopping easier and more efficient.

How many calories do others really need a day to maintain or lose weight? Here’s the bad news. The more we age, the less we need to eat. Our metabolisms slow down, and we just don’t need that much food. What we do eat needs to be the really good stuff.

There are many ways to trim up our favorite comfort foods so they are healthier and still taste delicious. By substituting healthier ingredients, you can reduce the amount of fat, calories and sodium by a third or even half. Here are some simple tricks to lighten up your favorite comfort foods.