I actually know what I'm talking about!

So I did my 2nd nutrition class tonight and it was awesome!

Then I came home and opened my email and found this article.
The amazing part was that the two points stated in this article are also the two points I've focused my classes on.
So this was just awesome!
I am just a mom, trying to be healthy, trying to feed my family well and to educate others with what I am learning. And here you have an expert in the field totally preaching the same thing. That, my friends, is seriously empowering.
It's real.
Take note. Make little changes. You are worth it!!

You can check out the article here. I didn't watch the movies, just read the article.

How to Reverse the Obesity- and Related Chronic Disease Trends

I believe there are two primary dietary recommendations that could make all the difference in the world for most people, leading to a swift reversal in the horrific disease trends we're currently facing:

1. Severely restricting carbohydrates (sugars, fructose, and grains) in your diet, and
2. Increasing healthy fat consumption

I recently wrote about this recommendation in-depth, so for more details, please see This Substance Fools Your Metabolism - and Tricks Your Body into Gaining Pounds. If you want to shed excess pounds and maintain a healthy weight long-term, and RADICALLY reduce (and in many cases virtually eliminate) your risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer, then get serious about restricting your consumption of fructose to no more than 25 grams per day, with a maximum of 15 grams a day from fresh fruit. If you're already overweight, or have any of these diseases or are at high risk of any of them, then you're probably better off cutting that down to 10-15 grams per day; fruit included.

Zing Bar

Ok so if you need a snack on the go and you forgot your carrot sticks these can be your new "go to!"
On Friday night Jeff and I got to go down to Seattle to do some marketing for his new business and half way down he got hungry. I pulled out one of these, my favorite flavor, chocolate coconut bars and he couldn't get enough of it. Infact the next day on the drive home he ate my spare that I had in my purse.

What's great about these you ask?

• wheat free
• dairy free
• soy free
• packed with protein
• all natural ingredients
• made in Seattle
• made by nutritionists
• balanced amount of carbs, protein, and fat
• sweetened naturally

The list goes on but you get the idea. I love them! They are a bit pricey but lets all remember that a) your health has to be worth it to you and b) snacks should be eaten in moderation so it's ok if they cost a little because you don't need to munch on them all day.

So, check them out!
And thanks to my very own brother in law they carry these at Haggen! Sweet!

The Story of Zing Bars found here.

It all started innocently enough. As practicing nutritionists, we simply wanted to find a good nutrition bar we could recommend to our patients. But despite our best efforts, there just weren’t any on the market we really liked. If a particular bar was nutritionally balanced, it left something to be desired in the taste department. If it tasted good, it was low in protein and fiber, or full of artificial ingredients, unhealthy fats and empty calories.

Then we came up with a deliciously different idea.

We could create our own all-natural nutrition bar. Our take on the perfect snack. A bar with everything we wanted it to have, and nothing we didn’t. A healthy balance of carbs, protein and beneficial fats, but no artificial sweeteners, colors or preservatives. No trans fats, synthetic vitamins, or allergy-aggravating gluten, wheat or soy protein.

In short, a nutrition bar that everyone- including nutritionists and other healthcare professionals- could love. Zing! Now we hope that you love it too.

Supplement Monday

Today's supplement is Zinc Lozenges. Do you ever wake up with a sore throat this time of year? Well, this is your answer!

Now for the honest truth.... I don't know why zinc is good for sore throats. All I know is that these totally work and besides the zinc they are loaded with vitamin C and Echinacea.

These aren't something you would take on a daily basis. Nor would you give them to your kids on a daily basis.

These are something you always have on your shelf for those mornings/late evenings when you feel a sore throat coming on. Suck on them until they are dissolved. Up to 6 a day.

Sore throat be gone!

Oh, and these are super cheap and you can get them anywhere, even Walgreens, for like $3.50.

We love CHIPS!

When our daughter was little she used to say, "I want the crunch crunch." We think this meant chips. The girls loves her chips! Who doesn't love chips. They are so crunchy and salty and good!

This weekend I made veggie chips with zucchini (which I still have an abundance of) and sweet potatoes. They were really good and super easy.

My mother-in-law bought me a food dehydrator a couple years back and I love it. I use it all the time to dry fruit but I'd never done veggies because I had never wanted to take the time to cut them so thin.
Well this year for our anniversary my Gramy gave us a mandolin. So now I am completely set!

If you don't have a food dehydrator you can use your oven but research it online. I'm not exactly sure how to do it that way but I know it can be done. If you don't have a mandolin you can just use a knife but slice thin.

Here is what I did:
Wash the veggies.
Put an apron on the husband.
Got him busy with the veggies and the mandoline (guys like things like this, it's sharp and fast)
After the veggies were thinly sliced I spritzed them with olive oil.
Then I spread them out in a single layer on the drying sheets of the dehydrator.
Sprinkled lightly with sea salt.
The salt intensifies as it is dried so really, go light on the salt!
Set the temperature for 125.
Waited
5 hours later I had fresh dried zucchini and sweet potato crunch crunches!

I found the following information here on health benefits of dehydrating.

Dehydrating: Health and Nutrition Benefits Dehydrating is the process of slowly removing all of the water from fresh vegetables and fruit to make healthy, cheap, raw and long-lasting snacks and treats.

The dehydration process retains almost 100% of the nutritional content of the food, retains the alkalinity of fresh produce and actually inhibits the growth of microforms such as bacteria. Fresh foods can sometimes contain simple yeasts, mould and bacteria; however, by inhibiting the water content their growth is considerably reduced. Dried vegetables and sprouts are naturally low in ‘bad’ fats, yet high in fibre and nutrients. Although a very small amount of Vitamin C is lost, dehydrating retains all Vitamin A (or Beta Carotene) in plant foods which is an essential anti-oxidant. Minerals such as selenium, potassium and magnesium are also preserved giving you minerals in a perfect balance. A dehydrator is an excellent way to ensure that there is always nutrient-dense, raw food readily available so that you do not snack on junk!

Clam Linguine

Have you ever used brown rice pasta? They are so delicious! I don't even think you can tell they aren't just plain ol' noodles. Same texture and everything. These ones pictured above are my favorites. Maybe because they are the most affordable? I get them at Trader Joe's.

Thursday night we had Clam Linguine for dinner.

I made a few substitutions to this recipe to make it a bit healthier for our family.

Added extra garlic! Garlic is so, so, so, good for you. I will post on this soon! In the meantime eat lots of it!
Used butter only, no olive oil because of these reasons.
Added extra juice from the clams to make it more runny and less oily.
Used the brown rice noodles picture above.

So there you have a yummy dinner. I also served broccoli coleslaw on the side. The kids loved the linguine. I wasn't sure how fond they would be of the clams but they totally ate it up!

How to cook squash

Let me tell you how to cook a squash. Just in case you don't know. It's super easy!

Think baked potato.

Tonight we had acorn squash. I think this is my favorite variety. It's nice and mild and really tasty.

First I thoroughly washed it.

Next I took a knife and stabbed a slit through the skin.

Then I threw it in the oven, with the stabbed side up.

I baked it at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Then I brought it out of the oven. Let it cool for a min. so I could work with it.

Cut it in half and scooped out the seeds (threw them away).

Then I scooped the flesh out into a bowl, put a dab of butter on top.

Ate it!

You can also wash it.

Stick it in a crockpot, whole, with a stab or two.

Cook on high for a few hours until it's soft.

Eat!

Please don't give this to your kids with brown sugar on top. Ok, you can if you want but here is the thing.

They get enough sugar already.

If you don't give them sugar on it the first time, they won't expect it the next time.

It's sweet enough without it.

If you really need something use raw honey! But..... really it doesn't need it!

Oh, and tonight Adelle ate her squash. Thanks to Braxton who ewed and awed over his the whole time.

And Erin, to answer your question, I get local raw honey at the co-op or Haggen or at one of the local farms.

This is the brand I have right now:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Guilmettes-Busy-Bees/163937700289078?sk=info

Learn all the good stuff about squash here .

Pumpkin Breakfast Biscuits

Remember this biscuit recipe that is my family's favorite?

Well I modified it yesterday to make it taste a little more like fall.
I used only whole wheat flour
Instead of the milk I added pumpkin and water
Then instead of the cream of tartar I added cinnamon and nutmeg.

They were super delicious and my kiddos gobbled them up for breakfast with butter on top.


In our home it's all about making from scratch. This eliminates so many fillers, preservatives, chemicals, extra sugars, corn syrups, pesticides...
These biscuits will last on our counter (well considering they didn't all get eaten) for about 2 days. After which they would get moldy.
To me that says they are a much healthier option than anything you would buy at the store.

Plus they are so easy and fast!



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