Happy Holidays! “It’s the most wonderful tiiiiime of the yeeeearrrr” (spread out your arms, sing it loud, and twirl around, it’s more fun that way!). The time of the year when the Midwest gets snow… then the next day gets 60 degree temperatures…then the next day gets blustering freezing winds and when every coffee shop is competing with each other to make THE most sugary festive lattes ANYONE HAS EVER TASTED! Speaking of sugary beverages, I was getting into the holiday spirit and I thought, come on Caitlin, get involved and get an eggnog latte. But lads and lassies, I could not do it! When I went to order the eggnog latte at a coffee place that rhymes with Blarbucks, I ended up truly shocked at how much eggnog was going to be in the latte. I think this is pretty well known, but classic dairy eggnog has an incredible amount of sugar in it, and I was fine with having a drink that had sugar but the more eggnog in it means the more sugar. I work in the health field so I can’t help myself but I always ask about how much syrup and ingredients go into what I order so naturally, I asked what the ratios were in the eggnog latte. Turns out, they use over a cup of eggnog for a grande (medium size)! The very nice employee actually showed me that most of the cup would be eggnog!  That is easily 30 grams of sugar, most likely more! In that one drink would have been more eggnog than I drink in 5 years! Needless to say, I apologized for changing my order and got my very basic, very non-holiday themed latte. I like sugar as much as the next guy but that is way too much sugar for one drink. And believe me, I get it that shopping around with a hot bevy in your hand is comforting and tasty but be aware of what you are ordering and how often. Sugar is sneaky and it is everywhere. Just know you are not being “that guy” or “too much” if you ask what will be in your food or drink. You are your own advocate when it comes to your health. Okay, I’m done with my sugar PSA for now. 

That being said, I love to experience this time of year as “hallmark holiday” as I can, and for me that means:

• Baking homemade ginger bread cookies (I am not joking but it is truly the only cookie I can bake)
• Fully decorating the house in all of its Christmas-y glory 
• Watching our households favorite Christmas classics: White Christmas, Klaus, The Grinch (with Jim Carey) and the O.G. of course, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
• Turning on the fireplace and having a hot cocoa
• Singing…very loudly…to Christmas songs
• Attending every holiday event within 30 minutes of us 
• Visiting Santa with our daughter 
• Gathering with friends and family
• Driving around to look at Christmas lights (I love the Grinch decoration where it looks like he’s stealing the lights off of a house) 

It is also the time of year where there are TONS of work parties, friends gatherings, family get-togethers and just sharing good times and food with those around you. And you’re in luck, because instead of scouring the internet looking for a dip to bring to your gatherings I have you covered! This is similar to a guacamole minus tomatoes and A LOT more flavor. This dip is healthy, vegan, and free of pretty much all major food allergens, plus, it tastes delicious on all kinds of meals and snacks and it lasts in the fridge for days without browning. Total slam-dunk as far as dips go. 

First, I have to tell you the origin story of why I created this dip.

I was going through some major adult acne. I have never had totally pore free skin or anything like that but I had never experienced full on acne. This all started last year. I remember I was talking with some female friends about it outdoors on a rare warm day in the fall, maybe winter but it really stuck out to me at that time because I was admitting, out loud, that my skin was having breakouts.  I’m the kind of person who rarely wears makeup and I was feeling so self-conscious about it that I found myself trying to hide the very red, very angry zits all across my forehead, on my temples and sometimes on my neck (turns out those take months to go away). It was actually painful and some were so aggressive, they left scars. I was totally over looking like a pre-pubescent middle schooler, so I decided to take action. I started as logically as I could and that meant totally freaking out and buying every face cream marketed to me on social media. What a massively huge waste of time and money.  

Obviously, I had no idea what I was doing or what was causing the acne and the creams and face washes were not helping at all. My next guess was maybe it was hormonal. I am a mom, I am 32, life changes, maybe my skin was changing? I decided to go to an esthetician to get some help and hopefully learn more about my skin. She caught me off guard when she told me that the areas I was experiencing the acne would usually be caused by diet or gut health. I thought, now just wait a minute little lady, I am a plant-based nutritionist, I have no issues with my diet. Of course, that was me internally overreacting and getting defensive. But after I was done being stubborn, I thought about what she said, and a very annoying lightbulb went off in my head. I think at that time, I was eating too much dairy products. I was going through a moment where I was frequently smearing a thick blanket of butter on my toast, putting a nice helping of cheese in my nacho bowls and oh, my absolute love for sour cream wasn’t helping. But it was time to put aside my admiration of creamy dairy products and rescue my skin. I immediately started eating less of those items and my skin started clearing! 

Here is an important take away: During this time, I checked in with my body. I acknowledged that there was an issue and that I needed to address the problem. I said this in a previous blog post, but I treat my body as a temple and it is always a good idea to check in with yourself and listen to what your body is trying to tell you. Your skin and mood are good indicators of whether or not you are treating your body with the love and nourishment it needs. Yes, I am a nutritionist and personal trainer, but I am not perfect. Health is cyclical. It ebs and flows depending on your actions and behaviors. In this case, I was consuming an amount of dairy my body was negatively reacting to, so my behavior needed to correspond and adapt to my body’s needs. Quick little plug here: Check out my online program, The Plant-Powered Approach if you think you would benefit from changing your behaviors and relationship with food. 

Okay back to the story. 

The first thing I did was find recipes for dairy free sauces to add to our foods that would replace the cheese, sour cream or any other dairy products we were eating. And turns out, I was adding way more flavor to our dishes so this really became a win/win situation! We eat A LOT of Mexican food, and by figuring out ways to ditch the dairy and add varying dairy-free sauces I seriously saved my skin! During this time of experimenting with dips and sauces, the avocado sauce-y dip was born, and I’m very excited to share it with YOU! I call it a sauce-y dip because depending on how much water you put in it the consistency will be thick or thin. With less water it is more of a dip and with more water it could be a salad dressing, it is up to you and how you want to put it on your food. Full of flavor and super easy to make, you absolutely will not miss dairy, 100% satisfaction guaranteed.

It has been months now of no breakouts and I know it is because I decreased the amount of dairy products I was eating. The funny thing is, as you know, I already eat plant-based which means I eat majority plant foods and sprinkle in animal products here and there. But I clearly had room to decrease the amount of cheeses and dairy I was eating. There are studies about the effects of certain hormones found in milk and dairy products and how those hormones may lead to acne. So, I am not surprised that by eating less dairy, my acne cleared. I am even more convinced that dairy products were the cause because eating less of those foods is truly the only thing I changed in my diet, and now I no longer have giant zits invading my face. You know I am not about eliminating food groups so I still eat some cheese, sparingly, and to date, no acne flare ups (WOOO HOOO!).

I hope this helps anyone who was or is going through a similar experience! It’s definitely a much cheaper alternative to buying hundreds of dollars in skin products and all of them failing. And from my experience, eating more plants and even less animal products works! 

Alright, back to my skin saving sauce-y dip…not only is it very tasty but there are hidden health benefits. Avocados contain good fats and tons of vitamins, apple cider vinegar has such a long list of health benefits I could devote an entire blog post to just talking about them and cilantro has been found to reduce the risk of heart disease and help with healthier skin and hair. An adorable sauce-y little dip that is so good for you I can hardly stand it. YOU are going to love it! If you give this recipe a try let me know what you think