Lemonade Stand Award

My Friend Jenny Nominated me for this award... Wow! Thanks Jenny! I am honored

Jenny's has inspired me to come out of my sewing comfort zone and encouraged me to try some new things all around! Gardening, harder knitting projects you name it! Thanks Jenny for your friendship and support!

The Lemonade Stand Award is for being a blogger who shows great attitude and gratitude.

To pick up the Lemonade Stand Award:- Comment on this blog.- Cut and paste the award logo and use it in your own blog.-

Nominate 5 to 10 blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude.-

Link to your nominees within your blog post.-

Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.-

Link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation.

I would like to nominate the following bloggers for their great inspiration to me:

To my Mom - You have so much courage and are always an inspiration- you are doing great in the world of technology too!

My sister - For speaking out for mother's everywhere and for supporting me too!

To ChrissyD - for being a great support and your artwork is amazing and beautiful!

To Tammie- without your blog I wouldn't have much to eat, and I eat the most yummy bread thanks to you! Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes AND your knowledge of health! (plus I am really jealous of your pantry!

To Melissa - I so appreciate your courage and strength! You are an inspiration, I am so glad that I found your blog... Keep up the good work!!

To Cris - I so enjoy watching your relationship with your family. Your girls are blessed to have you. I so love your projects, and traditions. Thank you for sharing them!P> I love so many blogs.. they are all inspiring to me in many ways!

Blogger hugs! Carrie

Interesting and Surprising Project part 1

I just finished a project for school, actually a few, but this one in particular was quite an eye opener for me!

Here's the deal. I had to enter everything I ate for one day into the nutritional software I have, and analyze ALL of my vitamin and mineral intake for an entire day.

When I configured my charts (anyone that did the nutritional study may remember the detail) I was surprised and a bit astonished about the results! Many of you know that I eat A LOT of fruits and veggies tons in the matter of fact! I love them. I eat very little processed food and when I do I am very choosy about what will buy! No refined flour, sugar etc. Anyhow, some nutrients I was completely deficient in, meaning NONE, some were very low and some were SO high they were beyond the UL's (upper limit) set by the USDA.

It really got me thinking about some things, for one, with all the whole foods I eat how in the world do I really get all my nutrients if I have to eat even MORE than I do to get them. ?

Is one day really a good representation of how well rounded my diet is? I am going to experiment with this and will report again later.

If I eat 'healthy' are people that eat fast food, processed foods, and refined foods on a daily or weekly basis getting any nutrients? Do we really wonder why there is so much chronic disease in our country?

With all I am learning, I am so much more aware of the big picture. The facts are right there for me to see, and it is proof positive that no matter how 'healthy' we truly think we eat there is always room for improvement. Always!

With this said, I have some work to do, for one, I am going to enter my food in the nutritional analysis software for at least a week, then I am going to look at each day individually and as a whole to see the differences in the analysis each day and the whole week.

If anyone else is curious to look at your own dietary intake, let me know. I can send you links and information to play with me. It does take effort to enter all your foods... but I am game to not play alone!

This isn't really where I thought I was going with this, but hey, it is important to prevent illness and promote optimal health to really be aware of what we are eating. I do take some supplements multivitamins and B12 (since I am a vegetarian) and I am relieved that even though I eat healthy I continue to take them.

Stay tuned for more information and followup in the next few weeks.... My brain is thinking!

My Soccer Stars!!!!

Today was the opening of the spring soccer season for my two youngest children. Ariana's game was first. She has never really played before and jumped right in like a pro. She had such a good time and I was so proud of her for being such a good sport! There was no practice before this game so it was hit or miss as to how the kids would do. Ariana smiled the whole time and despite it all she had a great time!

Nikolas also had his first game, it wasn't as easy for him to jump onto the field and playing without much practice or instruction. He had fun playing outside. There was only one sub so by the time the game was over he (and all the other kids were exhausted. It was also a warm and beautiful day.

The kids had a great time playing with water guns and the sprayer hose after we got home from the games!

The Bugs in Our Gut....

My studies have brought me to think about my own health and that of family and friends in a different light. Unfortunately, I can not change some people and everyone wont agree with me. If you talk to me on a regular basis I am sure that you have heard me rave about the benefits of probiotics. Having a proper balance of 'gut flora' can make all the difference in the world. The intestinal tract is the link to the outside world in our bodies, if it isn't strong and healthy then we are more susceptible to disease and illness. I have wanted to write about it for awhile, but today I read a great article on it which I will share instead. I will warn you it is very long, but it is written very well in an easy to understand way. For anyone concerned about your health and well being, I do encourage you to read this article and discuss with your medical provider (especially if you have any medical issues) before taking probiotics. All probiotics are not equal so be sure to make good choices and ask for assistance from an informed source. Here's the link I would love to know what you all think about it.

yummalicious!!!!!

Tonight's dinner was delicious!! I took my own version these Parmesan crisps. Instead of Goddess dressing I used Bolthouse Farms Honey Mustard dressing mixed in the eggs. The kids loved it and there wasn't much left after dinner.

The main course is sliced tofu, browned in a skillet, layered on grilled eggplant slices ( I used the George Forman Grill) and a homemade sauce from fresh and sun dried tomatoes, crushed garlic and chopped fresh basil. It had such a good flavor layered on top of the eggplant and tofu. I got the original idea from The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook it had eggplant with tomato slices, squash sliced(longways) with some sort of grilled chicken. Since I don't eat chicken I thought I would try tofu. Then I decided to make the crisps and so I didn't put the squash on it, and from there I just started making up the sauce. I figured that the kids would eat the eggplant and tofu better with a sauce instead of sliced tomatoes, thus a recipe is born. I have no idea what to call it nor do I know if I can reproduce it ever again.

So what's the deal with Vitamins and all the acronyms?

In going along with my last post asking for opinions from you all about vitamin and mineral informational sheets, I figured I would just jump in and talk about vitamins and minerals a bit.

Seems that there can be lots of confusion about vitamins- what they are and how much of them we need. The general term that we see with RDA, which is recommended dietary allowance. These numbers are derived from EAR's (estimate Average requirements) and are assumed that these numbers will meet the needs of 97% of the population. The are set to help individuals avoid deficiencies in any given nutrient. What about the other 3% of the population that doesn't fall into that category or what if you have other circumstances?

There will be other acronyms that you will see in books or on supplement bottles, AI which is adequate intake meaning that it will meet the needs of most healthy individuals. You will also see UI, mean tolerable upper intake level. UI's were established with the onslaught of enriched and fortified foods that are available on the market as it is too easy to consume too much of a nutrient when eating these foods, especially if you are taking nutritional supplements as well.

ODI's and SONA's Optimum daily intake and Suggested optimal Daily nutritional Allowances These have been set as a way to not only avoid deficiency but to promote optimum health benefits as well. ODI's are set in ranges for men and women and SONA's are set generally in mg's(micrograms) or IU's(international units)

In times when your body is under stress or healing you may need more of certain nutrients than in times of health. Nutrients work much like a symphony, a balance is needed for optimum health. Too much of some nutrients may negate the effects of others. For example, vitamin D helps with the absorption of calcium in the small intestine, and decreases it's excretion through the urine. If one is deficient in Vit D despite adequate calcium intake our bodies may not be getting its requirements. Calcium also works with magnesium to be absorbed so adequate intake of magnesium is also necessary; however, to much can inhibit absorption as well. Also,phosphorus can inhibit calcium absorption. Sodas are high in phosphorus, so individuals drinking a lot of soda's may have issues with this. This doesn't mean that we should not have any phosphorus intake, just that a well rounded diet will ensure proper absorption of needed nutrients.

One of the best ways to ensure that we have proper nutrient intake is to eat a large variety of plant based organic(when possible) foods. Look for fresh grown produce as foods lose their nutrient value from storage as well as from cooking. Local is always a great way to go as it is probably as fresh and nutrient dense as it can be. If you still don't think you have adequate intake, consider a quality multivitamin supplement. (talk to your health care provider)

I wish you all the best of health on your journey with good nutrition.

Sources:

Nutritional Sciences-Michelle McGuire, The Real Vitamin and Mineral Book-Shari Lieberman, Textbook of Natural Medicine, Hawthorn University Lecture

Opinions please!

Hey all.. I am getting ready to work on a project for school. I have to choose a water soluble and fat soluble vitamin and a mineral and make a informational handout for each.

What I am wondering is, if you were looking for information about vitamins and minerals in a handout. What would attract you to it? What would you want to know about each? Would layout, color, graph or paragraph form be more attractive, or better to understand?

I wont publish your comments if you don't want me to, but I would love your opinions. I would really like to create something that would be helpful and that I can continue to use as I being to work with clients.

Thanks all, Carrie