AHHH the CRAVINGS!!!!

Have you ever been craving something all day and can't quite satisfy it? Do your cravings bounce back and forth between wanting salty foods to sweet foods. For example, you start breakfast with a donut or sugar cereal and pretty soon your rummaging through the cupboards for something salty a few hours later. So you eat some potato chips and awhile later you start craving something sweet. And the cycle continues.
 Or maybe you can't stop eating because nothing seems to satisfy your appetite. Both of these scenarios should mean something to you.

ALL SIGNS LEADING TO VITAMIN DEFICIENCY!

Your body is telling you there's a deficiency in something. This is a perfect time to blend up some greens and make some hulk juice. The alkalinity in the greens will balance out the extreme cravings caused by too many acid forming foods. So get yourself a salad or some vegetables or drink a green drink. Try it. It works for me every time. WARNING: Pretty soon you will no longer be satisfied with foods without lots of nutrients. Your body will crave the nutrients. This could change you forever.  ARE YOU READY FOR THIS? :)

the new and improved me

When you feel good... When you can exercise hard . .. When you can see the results of your efforts . . . Life is Awesome! 


I wake up everyday so grateful to be alive and healthy.  I've been truly blessed. I am so happy to have been healed from sickness and disease.  I spent so many years physically and emotionally sick. Through diet, herbs, exercise and the Lord's tender mercies,  I've been able to change and be healed.   I'm healthy and strong now. I'm never turning back.  I'm becoming the person I want to be.  I can do things physically that I could never have done before like beat my brother-in-law in a push up contest doing guy push ups (and no he's not a weakling-i'm just buff :) or run 5 miles in less than 50 minutes. Or do 3 pull ups!! Wow! That doesn't sound like much, but for me, it's freakin awesome..  I've dropped 5 dress sizes.  I went from a size 9 to a size 4 and lost over 10 lbs.


Here's me last year... What a babe!!!

                                               Me now!!

You can do it too.  Start with your nutrition.  When you give your body what it needs, you'll feel so much energy that all you'll want to do is workout.  The food I eat fuels my body and it feels great. Experiment on what foods give you energy and what foods make you tired and sleepy.  Stick with the foods that provide the most energy; foods like: whole grains, vegetables, and lean proteins. 

Next step on my journey... a seriously ripped abdomen and maybe climb a rope.  Flashback to high school... I was the geek who never could climb the stupid rope.  Where's a rope for me now to redeem my scrawny, geeky self.

Promise all this healthy stuff will help you be a better influence for the children in your life.  I used to wonder how my kids had so much energy.  I can keep up with them now.  They learn their eating habits from me and it's up to me to set a good example for them.  Not only that, my kids will learn to have self control when they see me practicing it daily.  2009 was my year! Make 2010 yours!  Do it for them!

My Quinoa & Curry Recipe

Have you heard of grains like millet, couscous, pearled barley, quinoa, and amaranthe.  These are just a few of the whole grains that I love and use often.  There are so many vitamins and minerals found in these whole grains that are hard to get in the average American diet.  Try cooking with these instead of plain rice.  I love making curry and quinoa.  Here's one of my all time favorite recipes I came up with.
Cook Quinoa in a pan.  Follow the directions for cooking.  Use 2 cups of water for 1 cup of Quinoa.

In a large fry pan ...
Add 1 T of Coconut Oil (this is perfect to handle the high heat)
Add 1 onion diced.
Saute in pan for a few minutes on high heat.

Add vegetables (start with veggies that need more cook time)
start with: Cauliflower, Carrots, Squash, Sweet Potatoes etc.. I use whatever I've got in my fridge.
saute for a few minutes
add in: green beans, sugar snap peas, broccoli, red peppers (a must), zucchini, etc

Simmer in pan for several minutes.  I add 2 or 3 T of water and close the lid.  Simmer for a few more minutes.  I don't like my veggies mushy, I enjoy them a bit crispy.

Add 1/2 cup or can of black beans.

Add herbs...I use fresh tarragon, basil, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and curry (probably 1 T). Careful it's spicy so use to taste.

Mix with Quinoa.  Add sesame seeds or sunflower seeds.

You can serve it on salad or eat it plain.  I like it with tortilla chips.  Perfect with chicken or steak if you eat meat.  You can eat it hot or cold.  Add tomatoes and avocado.  There's so many options.

BENEFITS of using Quinoa:

1. An excellent source of iron, magnesium, potassium, phosporus, and zinc.
2. Good source of B-complex vitamins.
3. High in Protein. 

I buy mine thru Azure Standard at www.azurestandard.com.  or Sunflower Market or Any health food store.

Got Milk?

I'm so grateful for all the different options for milk.  I use a variety in my kitchen.  Gotta say I'm not a big fan of goats milk.  I know it's good for me which should make me want to drink it but I had to draw the line somewhere. I just couldn't gag it down.   

My fridge has the following milks in it.  

I read somewhere that over 75% of Americans are allergic to cow's milk.  Not sure how they come up with these stats but nonetheless as I'm thinking about my own family, there's 6 of us and 5 of us, for sure, cannot tolerate cow's milk.  In my extended family the numbers are probably the same.  Signs of allergies (especially look for these in your children) are: clearing mucous from throat a lot, snorting (don't you hate the sound of kids snorting?  It drives me nuts!), lines under eyes, darkness under eyes, excema, rashes, and WARNING kind of grosse but red rings around the bum area.  If you notice any of these signs after having milk it's a good indication that there's some sensitivities to it.  Some of you might feel worried because you love milk and your kids love milk.  We used to be the same way.  But no need to worry when there's such great alternatives.  Here's how I use the different kinds of milk.

• rice milk--I make pancakes, waffles, shakes, put it on cereal, etc.  This is our main source of milk.  Did you know that there's the same amount of Calcium in rice milk as there is in Cow's milk?  And vita D.  I get the enriched organic kind from Costco.  Cheapest price!  Start here if you haven't tried different milks before.  Your kids won't be able to tell a difference.
• almond milk--I get the chocolate kind for protein shakes.  I also get the unsweetened original kind.  It's the best because it's not sweet making it taste more like cow's milk.  I especially love this with granola. It's kind of expensive.  It's cheaper to make it and really not too difficult or time consuming.  Maybe I'll blog about that soon.
• soy milk-- When I'm working out hard I use some soy because it's high in protein, however, I don't use very much. It's just not that good for you. Too much soy can trigger migraines, effects the estrogen/progesterone balance.  Use soy milk sparingly and make sure it's of an organic source.  It's absolutely disgusting how soy is processed.
• Organic Cow's milk-- I still buy a gallon of organic milk 2 times a month because Spanky likes it.  She doesn't show any adverse reactions to it. Portamus Prime and Bubbles are definitely allergic.  They sniff and snort and drive me crazy if they ever drink it. I'm also allergic to it.  I used to wake up everyday with hardened boogies in my nose and a sore throat.  No joke every morning.  Since going off milk I wake up with a clear voice and nose.    

If you're going to get milk, be sure it's organic.  

• I've done lots of research on dairy farms.  Most of them especially the large companies (meadow gold, walmart, etc) treat the cows REALLY bad.  Not only that the drugs and hormones are severly affecting Americans.  So you'll spend a couple extra dollars but it's well worth it knowing you aren't giving your children the growth hormones--another reason for the estrogen/progesterone balance to get off.

So what do you say?  Set a goal to try a different milk this week.   If you're eating whole grains and vegetables and drinking the hulk juice, trust me you're getting all the Calcium you need.  If you start using alternative milk sources with very young children, they grow up not having a clue.  Tallyoop (my 3 yr old has no clue about cow's milk. She's only had rice and almond milk.  Same with Bubbles (my 4 yr old).  Remember even if there is no sensitivities to dairy, one could easily transpire when used too much and too often.  We need to rotate the things we eat and drink.

tracking nutrients has never been easier

For the last year or so I've been tracking the nutrition and foods my kids eat through food journals.  Sounds a bit overwhelming.  But not when there are easy-to-use programs available.

Go to http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/

It's easy to use.  First you register to use the site.  You'll have to enter you and your children separately to get accurate amounts for each child or you can estimate if your children are close together.  That's what I've done.  You enter your age and gender. 

Then you add the food that you eat all day into the DAILY FOOD INTAKE.  You can add food that you eat often to make it easier the next time you fill out your DAILY FOOD INTAKE.

Next click on Analyze your Food Intake.

The program will do the work for you by showing you how many nutrients you've consumed compared to the USDA guideline recommendations for your age and gender.  You can see what nutrients are lacking in your diet and then adjust or add foods to compensate.  Great tool to help ensure your family is getting the NUTRIENTS NEEDED.

It will also help you track your calories.  You can add your exercise into the program as well.  THIS SITE IS SO AWESOME!!!!! I didn't know about it for a long time and did everything by hand.  

fun sites for kids

http://kidshealth.org/

http://www.mypyramid.gov/

Get your kids excited about nutrition.  There's lots of fun games they can play while learning.  Here's a few sites we use.

my theory (part 4)

I spent the next 4 months really working at getting my children the daily nutrient requirements based on the Center for Nutrition. I filled out charts and tracked the vitamins and minerals and the food they ate.   If they wouldn't eat the nutrition, then they drank it.  I was disguising every vegetable possible in their drinks and other food.  I did have a more powerful blender back then because I was able to blend beets and carrots, celery and tomatoes, etc.  They had no idea what they were drinking most of the time but the thing is THEY LIKED IT.  Some smoothies were just bad but you can mask anything with frozen fruit and juice.  Anyways, I'll share my recipes in upcoming posts.   I didn't realize it but my theory about nutrition had been evolving and I was in the middle of testing it.  Slowly my extremely picky eaters, Spanky and Bubbles, began eating real food.  I didn't believe it myself when one night for dinner they started eating beets and asked for more.  UH...double take.  These were the same kids that gagged on every vegetable that came close to touching their mouths.  It's interesting when we give our bodies what it needs AND get rid of sugar (see post about sugar) our body's natural instincts are allowed to make choices based on what our bodies need.  The garbage food and sugar and deficiencies takes away this natural instinct.  For all of you with picky eaters, find a way to sneak in those daily vitamins and minerals.  This might be the only way to get rid of the picky eating habits.  More info on this theory and how to be sneaky with it in my book (coming really soon).