Germies

THIS reminded me & taught me some of the worst places for germies...

Lunch Boxes

Just in case anyone looks at that this anymore besides me :) ... so we all know plastics with BPA are bad, but have you heard of stainless steel leeching too? I got one of those water bottles & my water tasted metallic, so gross. I also read something by Raymond Francis (Never Be Sick Again & CEO of Beyond Health) who says that toxins do leech into whatever the container is holding. I want a better option for my boys' lunch boxes & this website is so appealing...but are they right? Or is Raymond right? There are also these Bento boxes, but are there are other toxins we should be worried about in plastics besides BPA?

GABA Rice

HERE is an article on sprouting/germinating brown rice for its full potential. I'm considering making my own brown rice milk on a regular basis (SO much cheaper, besides the benefits, found HERE & HERE), but still looking into that one...I want to make sure enough calcium/protein/Vitamin D still make it into our diet (not that cow's milk does an awesome job of that anyway...).

Natural or not?

THIS article is a good reminder for some fairly obvious info, but applied in some new areas (for me). i.e., I semi-trusted the baby shampoo's claim as "natural" & great for no tears (probably just because I don't know what all those ingredients are on the back so I figured they must be relatively natural or the claim wouldn't be made. Hah! Say goodbye to naivete, I will now question everything! :). It's really amazing how many different chemicals there are out there (not saying they're all bad, just saying...). I do love the idea of putting natural products on skin, but now I'm wondering, what is natural after all? More research I suppose--please do impart any knowledge you may have on the subject :)

Question post

Okay, having a newborn I'm going through the "should I vaccinate" scenario all over again. The boys are vaccinated & one of them still has issues I believe are linked back to the vaccinations (based on the info from 2 experts who told me so). I felt like Ari shouldn't be vaccinated (at least until she enters school & I'm still not sure about that even), so she isn't. Now I'm wondering about Rhett. I just feel like I want to know MORE. I've read a few things & talked with several people, but I'm really wondering if any of you could direct me to articles you've read, give me your opinions, etc. THIS article takes a lot of the arguments against vaccines & addresses those. What do you think? HELP!!

Additives--scary stuff

Honestly, I'm not sure how accurate "Yahoo Health" is (anyone know?), but I read a lot of their articles when I'm signing in to my e-mail & so far most of their stuff seems decent. Anyhoo...this is from there.

So, we all know that anything unnatural/artificial added to foods isn't good for us (& most of these are probably ones you already know about), but THIS article gives what they believe are the "Top 10 Worst Additives." And I like it because it tells the purpose of why these things are added to our foods and then why they're so bad for us. Check it out.

Money-saving & Green!

I am a fan of using as few chemicals as possible. I still use them for certain things, but very few. I've read so many articles over the past few years that support the use of vinegar & baking soda that now I use them for most of my anti-bacterial & cleaning needs (except for my toilets, I take no chances with those bad boys)! I use 50/50 vinegar & water for my multi-purpose cleaning spray, pure vinegar to clean windows & floors & so on. In the spirit of that, Here is an article I came across that has some great little tricks to save money while staying 'green.'

Also, here are 2 recipes for the all-natural laundry detergent I use. There are lots of recipes out there, but this one came from a friend so I felt it was "tried & true" so I went with it & have been happy with it. Previously I was using the cheapest liquid stuff from Wal-mart that works out to be about $.05/load.

**Note: You can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil in the powder or liquid to get your favorite yummy smell

Powder (a bit more expensive than the liquid, haven't worked out how much exactly):

1/2 Fels-Naptha soap bar (or other bar soap including homemade)

1 Cup Arm & Hammer All-natural Washing Soda

1 cup All-natural Borax

--Grate all soap (with a cheese grater or food processor) into pieces (the smaller the better because then it's more evenly distributed). Then mix all ingredients into the air-tight container you'll be storing it in. For light loads, use 1 TBS. For heavy use 2 TBS (I use 2 for all my loads & will add 1/4 c baking soda if it's a particularly nasty load). Yields: 3 cups detergent (approx 40 loads).

Liquid ($.01/load!!):

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap

1/3 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda

1/2 cup borax

--2 Gallon bucket

--Grate soap or put in food processor. Put in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water & heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda & borax & stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture & stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water & stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hrs & it will gel. You use 1/2 cup/load (approx. 64 loads).

Here is a website from that same friend that looks like it has some great natural stuff under the "Household Tips" category (& other good stuff too!) www.tipnut.com

K, gals, what are your favorite cleaning tips n' tricks?

Palm sugar findings

So, I'm glad you asked that question- it made me want to look it up! I actually hadn't really heard of palm sugar. I read a couple articles, and interestingly enough, according to what I read, it seems to be a good substitute for refined sugar, and even superior in some ways than a few other sweeteners. Apparently, palm sugar is also known as "coconut sugar" because it comes from the blossoms of coconut trees.

Palm sugar contains the following vitamins & minerals (see superfoods website cited below):

• Zinc
• Iron
• Magnesium
• Potassium
• B vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B6)
• Vit C

Although it sounds like a health food, it's still somewhat refined (which makes me wonder how many of the vitamins still remain after the processing). It's not raw, although neither are agave and stevia. On the glycemic index, it's 35, whereas honey is 55-60, and cane sugar is 68!!* So palm sugar has lower glucose content than some of the other sweeteners! (although according to Summertomato--see website #3 below--the glucose content may be low, some studies may have found high levels of sucrose in palm sugar. So, its glycemic index may be higher than is reported because the source that reported it was a company that was selling palm sugar).

As for the important stuff-- the flavor-- apparently, it has a caramel, rich sort of taste, similar to brown sugar. Sounds good to me! I'm not entirely sure of all the potential drawbacks, I only read a couple articles. But it sounds like it has promise as a good sweetener option. And though it has less glucose than some other sweeteners, it probably shouldn't be eaten for breakfast, lunch & dinner :) I'm still going to read more on the subject, and as with many sweeteners, there is so much that everyone is still learning. Oh, and all brands of palm sugar aren't created equal. See the third website listed below for a recommendation of what to look for in purchasing palm sugar. Apparently, some companies put fillers of white sugar into their "palm sugar," so beware!

In my opinion, the moral of the story is this-- we do what we can with the knowledge we have right now, and improve as we learn more. For now, there are a few discrepancies as to the actual glucose content of palm sugar, so be on the lookout for new studies reporting its glycemic index. In the mean time, we know it's less processed than refined sugar, and it sounds like it tastes good!

Don't know if this helps, but it was interesting for me to learn!!

See:
*http://www.naturalnews.com/028996_palm_sugar_natural_sweetener.html
**http://www.superfoods-for-superhealth.com/coconut-sugar.html
***http://summertomato.com/is-coconut-palm-sugar-a-healthy-sugar-substitute/

Palm Sugar?

I came across this article today, and it's the first I've heard of Palm Sugar. Does anyone else have more information on it? I'd love to try it if it's going to be good (or at least not bad) for us!

Raw Breakfasts

For those of you not quite sure, raw as I'm referring to in these recipes is simply: not-cooked; therefore leaving all the nutrients in the food...we've all seen the nasty green water after we boiled the broccoli too long, right? Some recipes are better than others, but you can search 'raw recipes' & come up with a vast amount of options.

1.) Picture 1: Flax pancakes...a base of flax meal, liquid coconut oil, sea salt & pure maple syrup (grade B is the best for you as a natural sweetener) or agave if you wish. Then shape the mixture into "pancakes" & either dehydrate for a couple hours for firmness, or immediately top it with blueberry syrup (blueberries blended with a bit of water & a couple of dates for sweetness), bananas, walnuts, & strawberries. I LOVED it, it tasted more like a dessert honestly. HERE is a recipe almost identical to the one I used.

2.) Picture 2: Oat groats....rolled oats as we know them are not oats in their true form. Who knew? Not me. The way we find them in the store they are steamed, flaked & processed, thus losing a lot of the good stuff (potassium, vitamin B, protein & loads of soluble fiber) & decreasing their shelf life. This recipe is so simple: soak the desired amount of groats over night to soften & rehydrate them (I use about 2 cups for our family of 3 kids & 2 adults). Rinse them thoroughly the next morning & put in your blender (or food processor if you like it chunkier, more like 'real' oatmeal) w/ some unsweetened almond milk, a ripe banana or 2 for sweetness (depending on the size of the batch), & vanilla (w/ no alcohol). We top it with almonds & Gogi berries (never heard of those either? well, don't get me started on those amazingly healthy & yummy dried fruit, HERE is one bitlet of info if you're interested). Voila! We all totally love it...even the babe & that is the real test.

Janey's Green Smoothies

This smoothie changed my life. I know that's a bold statement, but it's true!

A few people have asked me to post my smoothie recipe on here, and while I'm no "green smoothie girl" I do think I make a pretty mean green smoothie. Below is my "Magic bullet" size recipe.

1/2 cup vanilla soymilk or vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup chopped up, frozen greens (kale, spinach, &/or chard)

Blend well--like, for a full minute. No one wants a gnarly patch of spinach in their drink!

Add:

1/2 cup Greek or Non-fat Plain Yogurt (okay, or Vanilla or flavored if you want it sweeter, but I think it tastes better with plain...)
1/4-1/2 cup frozen fruit

Blend again. Drink!

Tips:
--When I buy my greens I soak them for at least 3 minutes in cold water and try to rinse them off really well, even if they are organic. Spinach and Kale are both in the Dirty Dozen.
--After I soak my greens I usually take out the cores and "thick" parts of the veggies, and then I chop them up, throw them in a ziploc, and freeze them. Then you can chunk off your "daily" portion when you want it without fear of it going bad. It also chops up finer if it's frozen.
--If you can fit more than 1/2 cup of greens in, do it! I have so much more energy the days I have a green smoothie.
--Blueberries cover up the "green" color
--Pineapple hides any bitterness from the "greens"
--Raspberries make it gritty because of the seeds. I avoid raspberries in smoothies even though I love them in real life.
--Peaches are divine.
--If the fruit is frozen, it makes it a frozen treat instead of a mushy drink. Also, I don't use ice because i haaaaaaate ice chunks in my smoothies. I'd rather have a hunk of frozen blueberry!

Berkeley Nutrition Course

Seth sent this link to a FREE Berkeley online Nutrition Course, and I'm excited to get some new basics of nutrition from some of the best scholars on the topic!

Sugar: The Bitter Truth

I listened to this yesterday when I was sick in bed, so I was in and out during the presentation, but I thought it was helpful to see the biochemistry of how our body processes fructose, and there were some great facts about beverage consumption and obesity. They didn't mention the Glycemic index much, which is something I'd love more information about if you have it!

Ready?

Hey!

I'm so excited to see what this becomes...talking to Jenna this morning, I got so excited at the thought of us being able to share our knowledge and information in a forum that we can all access and see. I'm definitely the newbie here, so I'll provide the forum if you'll provide the information! Lets look forward to seeing:

-Healthy Recipes
-Food and Snack ideas for kids and for us
-Nutrition facts
-Information about food choices
-Raw food ideas
-Articles or videos that are informative
-Information about cosmetics/skin care products and associated dangers
-Anything that will help us be healthier
-Our own research on all things health/body related
-Much, much, more!!!

Can't wait to see what you've got!