You Really Are What You Eat!

I was gearing up for my next class, thinking about food(of course) and started wondering, how many of us actually know 'why' we eat. I mean, sure we are hungry, but isn't there much more to the whole process of eating then just we are hungry? To some we eat because we are sad, lonely, bored, upset, happy, and/or celebrating. Really where does all this get us? Usually it leads to obesity, undernutrition, overnutrition, tired, bored, guilty and the list goes on. How(as a society) do we begin to slow ourselves down. Find some gratitude for the bountiful foods in which we are blessed.

Whole foods are an amazing gift, directly from nature(G-d, the universe) or whatever you may call it in your personal life. I have been reveling in my cucumbers and the amazing power of their creation everyday. Each time I get poked by the plants runner, or the cucumber itself. I can't believe what an amazing canopy the leaves give the fruit and the little 'prickers' really do protect the plant so well. The design is amazing, sometimes you really have to work to find a cuke even though you just saw it yesterday! (perhaps the neighbor ran off with it)

Really we are supposed to eat for nutrition, health and to maintain vitality/energy. What is energy? Well it's a calorie! So when people are talking about cutting calories, they are talking about cutting out energy, do they have enough energy stored(in their fat cells) to afford cutting out energy and is the energy/calories we are eating quality. Too bad it is just not that simple, yes eat, and get calories, however, our bodies need a myriad of different nutrients to function and stay healthy thus a wide variety of foods. Also, our bodies, lose energy and health if we eat the wrong things and in our society it is just beyond easy to do. Every corner has a junk food restaurant, or a convenience store. Don't be deceived by your local health food store, some of the food in there isn't good for you either.

Our best bet is to eat most(not all) of our diets from whole food sources. I am referring to as close to it's natural state as possible! Orange Ice Pops don't count as a fruit! So where do you get this fruit from? Personally, I like the local farm stands and farmers market for most of my produce. I like to talk to the farmer, and know how they grow their food. Trust me, if you have not tried to eat local, in season produce you are in for such a treat! Do you think that cavemen ate strawberries in the dead of winter? No of course not. I know it is impossible to eat entirely from local sources if you live in some places that farming is not available, however we can preserve local grown produce by canning, drying and freezing. (and no I don't do it all myself, yet!) Each season I am learning new things. This year I stepped outside of growing herbs and grew tomatoes and cucumbers, next year I will conquer a much bigger garden!

I love to ask children where their food comes from! Most children say the grocery store, if you ask were does the grocery store get it, most will say from the delivery truck~ What does this say about our society? It is really time to slow down, do we really have to be running with our family everyday of the week? With a family with 3 children we are busy, however, we make a strong point to cook a healthy, homemade meal from scratch most nights! (Not just when we have guests).

I have personally been making a strong effort to get in my fruit and vegetable servings every day... I have been serving my kids (and myself) fresh juice and smoothies (no sugar or additives here) everyday. I love that my daughter (8yrs) is begging me to make her green smoothies (yes there is fruit in them)for dessert!!!!

The nutrients in our food is the basis of good health, slow aging, and energy to help us keep up with this busy world. I am thinking more and more not just about eating, but about eating foods that are nourishing to me, and not depleting to my body and to my family as well. (OK I have no control over the husband) I am setting an example for my family and friends, of desire to live healthy and free of chronic disease, with enough energy to be creative and productive in my life. Are you?

Just too Darn Excited!!

This Saturday is the Vegetarian Expo in my town! I am so excited because I am going to hear T. Collin Campbell speak! (Author of The China Study) I am beside myself with excitement!! The line up of speakers is great... and FREE! Here's the lowdown about his presentation.. I hope to get a photo and maybe my book signed!!! Crossing Fingers here! From The expo website: T. Colin Campbell, PhD (NY) 3:45pm - 4:45pm {Room B} The Extraordinary Health Value of Plant Based Nutrition T. Colin Campbell, who was trained at Cornell (M.S., Ph.D.) and MIT (Research Associate) in nutrition, biochemistry and toxicology, spent 10 years on the faculty of Virginia Tech's Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition before returning to the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell in 1975 where he presently is Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus. His principal scientific interests, which began with his graduate training in the late 1950's, has been on the effects of nutritional status on long term health, particularly on the causation of cancer. He has conducted original research both in laboratory experiments and in large-scale human studies; has received over 70 grant-years of peer-reviewed research funding, has served on several grant review panels of multiple funding agencies, has lectured extensively, and has authored over 300 research papers. His recent book: The China Study; Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health (2005)* has been translated into 10 languages. It is the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted.

Wholesome Homemade

Yummy... This is our delicious dinner. Boy it was good, everyone was begging for more! The corn juicy and sweet was grown 3 miles from home. The red potatoes and red peppers also grown at the same farm a few miles away! The cucumbers were grown in my own yard! The sloppy joes (vegan) recipe is from the Skinny @#%$ in the Kitch book, it's the first time that I have tried that recipe. The bread... heavenly, again made from Tam's Best yet bread . This time I found 100% hard whole white wheat (unbleached) it was fabulous! I am amazed that I can make bread from scratch by hand that tastes this good! My husband was moaning in delight at the table! (I was going to name the post something else, but I didn't want to offend anyone) Two hours after dinner he is still telling me how much he loved dinner! I think I will milk it and try for a good backrub!

Big Fat Relief!!!!

I just submitted my work for my Applied Research Skills class..... and then took my test.... it's 20% of my grade... I got 100!! My stomach was churning until I saw the grade.... I am SO relieved to be almost done with this class. I just have the oral review! I survived another class, 14 more to go, and then I have to write my thesis!

Waste Free Lunches and Their Nutritional Benefit

With the kids heading back to school tomorrow I have to jump in and talk a bit about this subject. A few days ago, I made a trip to BJ's to get a few things, and all around me are these parents buying mass quantities of prepackaged processed foods. Carts were flowing over with 100 calorie packs, fruit in little cups, pudding in little cups, juice boxes, little frozen PB & J sandwiches and even little cut up apples in individual bags(oh why do people think they need this).

Then there was my cart, whole grain pretzels, cat litter, cat food, and a ton of produce. I feel compelled to buy things in the largest container possible to save on waste.

Back to lunches. At my kids school, even the trays are disposable! I find this mortifying. We used to have washable trays and silverware. Now for the sake of 'saving' money we are filling landfills everyday with Styrofoam and plastic.

Most of the lunches brought to school are filled with processed junk. (does anyone read a label anymore?) What do we really save when we fill our kids lunchbox with all this stuff. It may be easy to reach into the pantry and shove a bunch of this stuff into a lunchbox, (or brown paper bag, yikes!) zip it up and hurry out the door. Then we fill the garbage cans at school with little bags and containers (some of which could be recycled, if it were available).

Two weeks after school starts, parents are rushing to get Doctors appointments because little johnny has caught a cold, from someone at school. If we give our children foods that boost immunity, like fresh fruit and vegetables, healthy whole grain breads with real foods on their sandwiches, lots of fresh water, well our kids would be so much more healthy and resistant to these virus'.

It is not that difficult to cut up carrots, celery and the like in advance. it is easy these days to find lunchboxes that have containers that neatly fit together. The laptop lunchbox, pictured above, is what I have used for years. It seemed expensive at first, however, this is the third year that I have used them. So I have to say, I have more than made up my initial investment. Not to mention that it is a great way to portion too! There are many other systems like this now, for the health of the earth and for the health of my children I will continue to use these lunch systems for the benefit of all. I hope you will too!

Too many parents say, well johnny wont eat that. Well he wont allow himself to starve either. So if he is hungry he will eat! Even when kids aren't used to whole foods, they can still start to eat them and like them, if offered to them on a regular basis! Yes, even your kids! I saw a great BBC/ Discovery show, about just this topic, hosted by Dr Oz. and his research showed that a child needs to try something at least 30 times! How many of us do that? I do it more now, and I even try things myself from time to time (still I don't care for mushrooms) however, I will do it if I expect my children to do it!

I pack my kids lunches each day, it only takes about 5 minutes. They get sandwiches on whole grain bread, leftovers, cut up fresh fruit and veggies and sometimes crackers. However this year that might change since I have some great healthy cookie recipes! I know lunches can be hard, and busy mornings stressful, but with anything else, I feel I must make health a priority. My kids don't visit the doctor much, only when they have a required physical(or break an arm) We save on medical costs, time and hope to live long healthy lives.

I consider these imperative to my daily life. There is nothing more important than nutrition for the whole family. Save the Earth and the Children!

If A Picture Says 1000 words.......

What Does This Photo Say?????

Going Green..... In The Blender That Is!

Last night while Denise and I were eating dinner (at the B&B) we were talking about green smoothies and why we are making them. Some people just say that they would rather just eat their salad. However, it seems by making your greens into a smoothie it seems that you would be able to pack more nutrition into your daily intake. We were also wondering how far would the bowl of salad go in the blender. I have a crummy blender, so we weren't sure that it would all blend up; however, below is the results. First we put in, flax, spinach, cucumber, tomatoes, carrot, and sugar snap peas. This is what it looked like while it was blending. Then added a lot of fruits to it to make it sweeter without adding extra sugars. So we added, an apple, mango, strawberries, and blueberries.

This finished product actually turned brown. not so appealing, however it tasted pretty good. Some of the kids drank a small bit. I will say that it is very filling and energizing to start your day this way. I have made smoothies before, but I am really new to green ones. Without the addition of the fruit there would have only been enough smoothie for one. So it did show that you can really pack in high nutrients this way, obtaining more quality nutrition, there is no way that I could have eaten that entire salad, it was definitely salad for 2.