At Integrative Nutrition, May means Vitamin M—a recognition of mothers everywhere!

Why are we honoring all the amazing moms out there? There are tons of reasons, but first and foremost is the fact that mothers are essential to our health and happiness. Not only do they provide support, love, and comfort, but they act as touchstones to our roots, matriarchs for our families, and models for living our lives with passion, heart, and integrity.

Integrative Nutrition is dedicated to appreciating moms around the world, and this May, we’re excited to debut Vitamin M! To show our admiration for the tireless work moms do and the joy they bring, we’re celebrating mothers with our exclusive gift guide, special webinars, and even a Vitamin M contest! You can read all about it here.

To celebrate National Nutrition Month in March, we held a contest asking people to take a picture of what's on their plate. We receieved tons of great photos, full of colorful, healthy, and delicious food! We then opened voting to the public, and three winners were chosen based on their photos. Below are the photos, and the recipes, that had our Facebook fans hungry for some healthy, well-balanced meals! Thank you to everyone who participated in the What's On Your Plate? Photo Contest!

1^st Place: Grilled Tofu with Steamed Vegetables, Barley and Sweet Corn
By Vanesa Dejanovic

Steamed Vegetables With Spices

Ingredients:

• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 1 cup cauliflower florets
• 1 cup carrots chopped
  

You, our voters, have spoken and the Perfect Smoothie Bracket Challenge has its winners! Without further ado, we announce the Perfect Smoothie:

It's getting down to the Best of the Best in our Perfect Smoothie Bracket Challenge, which means we're only one vote away from our ultimate four-ingredient smoothie!

Last week, we had an Epic Vote in which we pitted sixteen popular smoothie ingredients against each other to determine YOUR favorites. Here are our winners...

• Bases: Coconut Water v. Almond Milk. Winner: Coconut Water!
• Bases: Fruit Juice v. Yogurt. Winner: Yogurt!
  
• Vegetables: Spinach v. Cucumber. Winner: Spinach!
• Vegetables: Seaweed v Carrot. Winner: Carrot!
  
• Add-ins: Flax Seeds v. Chia Seeds. Winner: Chia Seeds!
• Add-ins: Maca v. Cacao. Winner: Cacao!
  
• Fruits: Mango v. Banana. Winner: Banana!
• Fruits: Avocado v. Berries. Winner: Berries!

We're getting so close to the Perfect Smoothie! This round of voting is epic, because we're facing off sixteen ingredients all at once! But first, the winners of last week's challenges...

• Bases: Cow's Milk v Yogurt. Winner: Yogurt!
• Vegetables: Carrot v. Beet. Winner: Carrot!
• Add-ins: Cacao v Wheat Germ. Winner: Cacao!
• Fruits: Grapes v Berries. Winner: Berries!

Here's our updated bracket:

Hooray for the winners of Round Four of our Perfect Smoothie Bracket Challenge, and here they are!

• Bases: Fruit Juice v. Ice Cream. Winner: Fruit Juice!
• Vegetables: Seaweed v Kale. Winner: Seaweed!
• Add-ins: Ginger v Maca. Winner: Maca!
• Fruits: Pear v Avocado. Winner: Avocado!

Here's our updated bracket:

It's time to announce the winners from Round Two of our Perfect Smoothie Bracket Challenge, and to present our next round of smoothie ingredient face-offs!

First, the winners:

• Bases: Almond Milk v. Soy Milk. Winner: Almond Milk!
• Vegetables: Celery v. Cucumber. Winner: Cucumber!
• Add-ins: Chia Seeds v. Hemp Seeds. Winner: Chia Seeds!
• Fruits: Banana v. Pineapple. Winner: Banana!

Here's our updated bracket:

If you caught Round One of our Perfect Smoothie Bracket Challenge, then you'll be interested in our first round winners!

• Bases: Coconut Water v. Water. Winner: Coconut Water!
• Vegetables: Spinach v. Broccoli. Winner: Spinach! (And by a HUGE margin)
• Add-ins: Spirulina v. Flax Seeds. Winner: Flax Seeds!
• Fruits: Orange v. Mango. Winner: Mango!

Here's our updated bracket:

College basketball fans know Spring is all about March Madness, but at IIN, we're dedicating March to a different craze: Smoothies!

In honor of our obsession, we've put together a Perfect Smoothie Bracket Challenge. But that's not even the best part - YOU get to vote!

Here's how it works:

Every Monday and Thursday, we'll put popular smoothie ingredients head-to-head and let you vote for your favorites. We'll work our way into the center of the bracket, which has four sections: Bases, Add-ins, Vegetables, and Fruits. Once we have a winner from each section, we should have the perfect four-ingredient smoothie! 

Here's our starting bracket! 

Photo Credit: AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com

At the beginning of the month, we announced our Holiday Six-Word Story Contest, asking you to sum up what the holidays mean to you in exactly six words. Then every day for 12 weekdays, we chose a winning story to share on our Facebook wall.*

Your stories were funny and touching, made us laugh and made us smile, but most of all, they made us reflect on the holiday season. It was a tough decision (who knew how creative our community could be!) but here are the 12 winning stories that made the list:

I'll always believe in Santa Claus" - by Sam P.

Brother's deployment over, primary nourishment achieved! - by Kirsten H.