Want to Participate in a Challenge that Will Change your Life?

Eat a diet of 'real food' for 30 days and see how you feel.  Most of you are probably thinking this challenge would be simple, you already eat healthy what more could you do.  I thought the same until Matt and I began our journey into eating real food.

Here is a little information on eating real food.

1. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables.  Matt and I eat more fruits and vegetables than we ever have and we love it.  I love the variety, freshness, and health benefits we get from the produce we consume.

2. Use natural sweeteners.   See my post on eliminating processed sugar for more information.

3. Snack on nuts, popcorn (organic, air popped is best in order to avoid genetically modified organisms, GMOs, and the chemicals found in microwave popcorn), dried fruit, make your own granola, or yogurt (unsweetened).

4.  When looking at ingredients on products at the store, stay away from items with more than 5 ingredients and/or ingredients that you cannot pronounce.  Okay, some of you may be fantastic decoders and can read any word you come across even if you don't know what it is.  Either way, why would you eat something if you don't know what it is?

5.  Dairy products, as long as they are unsweetened, are a part of a whole food diet.  However, don't forget to read the labels on your yogurt, cottage cheese, and cheese packages.  You may be surprised to find more than five ingredients on the list.

Case in point: Kraft Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (Light):

Nonfat Mozzarella Cheese (Pasteurized Skim Milk and Milk (Trivial Source of Fat), Water, Inulin (Ingredient Not in Regular Mozzarella Cheese) [a Natural Extract of Chickory Root], Sodium Citrate (Ingredient Not in Regular Mozzarella Cheese), Salt, Natural and Artificial Flavor (Ingredient Not in Regular Mozzarella Cheese),Whey (Ingredient Not in Regular Mozzarella Cheese), Milkfat (Trivial Source of Fat), Sorbic Acid as a Preservative (Ingredient Not in Regular MozzarellaCheese), Artificial Color (Ingredient Not in RegularMozzarella Cheese ), Sodium Phosphate (Ingredient Not in Regular Mozzarella Cheese), Enzymes, CheeseCulture, Vitamin A Palmitate); Potato Starch, Cellulose Powder (cellulose is wood pulp), and Calcium Sulfate Added to Prevent Caking, Natamycin (a Natural Mold Inhibitor).

Organic Valley Shredded Mozzarella Cheese: Organic Cultured Pasteurized Part Skim Milk, Salt, Enzymes

6.  Meat (pork, chicken, beef, etc.)  Local, organic meat is the best option.  For a variety of reasons, financial being one of them, meat should be eaten in moderation.

7.  Seafood is also a part of a whole food diet.  Choose wild caught over farm raised for your health and the health of the fish.  Farm raised fish are fed a diet of corn and other ingredients, including antibiotics, they would not naturally eat.  These fish are often gray in color due to nutrient deficiencies and are fed pellets of food coloring to turn them pink.  Sounds delicious, doesn't it?

8. Eat healthy, whole grains  Here is a quick and dirty guide from 100 Days of Real Food

•  Whole grain corn, whole grain cornmeal, whole grain flour (a.k.a. masa harina), and popcorn = whole grain  Try to always eat organic corn and corn products. 
• All oats = whole grain
• Whole wheat = whole grain

• Corn meal, enriched corn meal, corn flour, degerminated corn, grits, and corn starch = refined
• White rice = refined (the germ and bran are removed)
• White flour, "Wheat", enriched flour - refined

Look for the Whole Grain stamp on any pre-packaged items you may buy.  

If you are interested in taking a great 100 Real Food Challenge, try the 100 Day Pledge found here, 100 Days of Real Food.  They also have a 10-Day Pledge and Weekly Pledges for those who are interested in the challenge but not sure about committing to 100 days.  The blog has great information for those who are interested in Whole Foods.  

My next posts will be about how we eat a Whole Food diet on a budget.  Stay tuned and good luck on your journey.  Your body will thank you!

  

WHY?

At work we have been talking about our "WHY" lately.  Why do we do the job we do, what is our motivation.  We were inspired to talk about this by a TED Talks hosted by Simon Sinek and The Golden Circle (see image below).

I feel like I need to tell you about my WHY, my motivation.  The main source of my motivation is O, a 2 year-old spitfire who brings joy and happiness to our family that we never thought possible.  In my journey to give him the best start to life I can, I've learned more about our environment, food, and lifestyle choices than one person should.  However, my husband, Matt, and I are completely responsible for this little life so I continue to learn and cannot erase what I've learned.  I've learned how unhealthy we, Matt and I, were even though we thought we were healthy and I vowed to change that.  Luckily, Matt is 100% supportive and has enjoyed this journey (I think).  I've also learned that if Matt and I don't have a healthy lifestyle, O may not have us around as long as he would like - thus more motivation for us to eat well, live simply, and exercise.

Throughout this adventure, Matt and I have reaped the benefits of a healthier lifestyle and mourned the loss of our favorite foods.  Many times in the grocery store I hear, "Cyndi, do not look at the label.  Please, I love my chips." Or, "I feel like we can't eat anything anymore."  While there were times in the beginning it did feel like we were losing everything, however, we have found ways to add healthier versions of our favorites back in our diet.

I realize, and have heard many times, that there will be a day when O makes decisions that go against decisions I am making for him now.  There will be a day when he eats a hot dog, pizza, or some other processed food - this I know.  However, I can control what he gets now and my hope is that I'm creating a healthy eater who prefers unprocessed food to processed food.  If that is not the case, I've given him the best start I can and will honor the choices he makes.  He will still be offered healthy, unprocessed food at home and we will talk about why we make the decisions we make.

I also want O to know where food comes from.  I want him to understand that it is a process to cultivate the food we eat and not take for granted the farmers and ranchers who grow our food.  I want him to know that vegetables and fruit come from the earth, eggs come from chickens, beef from cows, bacon from pigs, etc.  I want him to appreciate the entire process, not just the meal put in front of him three times a day.

Finally, I know that if I do this for O now, he will more than likely pass this on to his children who will pass it on to their children and so on.  I'm changing my family tree - what an amazing gift to provide.  What better motivation than that?

If you have some free time (18.30 minutes), watch this TED Talks Video with Robyn O'Brien, a local (Austin) food crusader!  If you have kids, please try to watch, it was very powerful for me.  I wish I could meet her so if you know her, set up a play date!

Finally, if you can find another 18.30 minutes, watch this TED Talks Video with Jamie Oliver.  Towards the end, watch how much sugar a child ingests in elementary school with milk alone.  Yes, added sugar in cow's milk.  WOW!

There is my WHY, what is yours?

Saying, "Good bye" to Refined Sugar

One of the best things you can do for your health is to ditch refined sugar.  Refined sugar is the white sugar that is found in almost everything we eat.  It is a carbohydrate and a preservative wreaking havoc on our bodies.  I know I feel much better since we have started actively avoiding it.  I did not say that we have eliminated it completely, because I realize there are times when we eat it without knowing and others we choose to have it.  I will say, however, that after an episode with birthday cake, I'm much more picky about what I choose to eat that contains sugar.  Around my birthday, I had some delicious cake after no refined sugar for a while.  I didn't think twice about eating it, until later that evening when I experienced the WORST. HEADACHE. EVER.  I believe it was a migraine and I can only attribute it to the sugar in the cake.  I will probably have cake in the future, but only a bite or two to satisfy my interest.

Why avoid refined sugar?  Refined sugar has little to no nutritional value, is addictive, makes you fat, tired, depressed, can cause you to age faster, makes your skin dull, depletes your immune system, and, in excess, can cause a variety of diseases.  It's time to get it out of your system.  

Tips for avoiding refined sugar:

1.  Decide how dedicated you are to tackling this challenge and be realistic with yourself.  You may decide to go without cake, cookies, brownies, ice cream, etc. but are you willing to give up everything else that contains refined sugar?  This includes many processed foods you find in the grocery store (cereal, granola, breakfast bars, pre-made meals, crackers, etc.).  It is even in some canned vegetables!  Do what works for you and set small goals.  You may gradually work towards giving up all refined sugar, but remember that small victories lead to bigger victories and less frustration.

2. Use natural sweeteners.  My favorite is honey.  I buy raw, unfiltered local honey and I love it.  I do not like honey that has been filtered, plus all of the 'goodness' is filtered right out of that honey.  There is a difference in taste I promise, give it a try and if you don't like it, I'll take it!  Make sure you get honey local to your area in order to get all of the pollen goodness from your area.  This may help all of you allergy sufferers out there.  My favorite local honey (in Austin) is Good Flow Honey followed by Round Rock Honey.  Other natural sweeteners include unrefined brown sugar, molasses, maple syrup, dates, etc.  Try this link if you want more, detailed information and a conversion chart for baking.  My fellow blogger, Food Babe, recommends Organic Coconut Palm Sugar or Date Sugar.

3. Avoid "Sugar Free" goodies and opt for "Naturally Sweetened" or "No Sugar Added" instead.  Learn to read labels to see what you are eating, but in general "Naturally Sweetened" and "No Sugar Added" are safe.  A great app for helping you read food labels is Fooducate.  You scan the barcode and the app will give you a grade (A, B, C, D),  tell you about the sugar content, gives you points if you are dieting, and other important information.  It also gives you alternatives for the food you've scanned regardless of the grade.  LOVE this app.

4. Avoid artificial sweeteners like Sweet'N Low.  Artificial sweeteners are nothing but chemicals and break down in the body like carbohydrates and some break down like sugar in your body.  If you have any questions about artificial sweeteners, let me know and I'll send you information.  I'll let you decide about Splenda, we do not use it.

Not sure you want to take on the task of avoiding sugar?  Check out this news report talking about the need for sugar to be regulated like cigarettes and alcohol.  Also, watch for my next post about why I do this for my family.  There will be a TED Talks video on there that will shock you when you see all of the sugar our kids eat.

I will post recipes for you all to create delicious refined sugar free goodies soon.  Including my mint chocolate chip ice cream made from my homemade coconut milk, honey, peppermint extract, and chocolate (the healthy kind).

Questions, feel free to leave me a comment or ask on Facebook.

Good luck!

Homemade milk

You know the team building activity Three Truths and a Lie?  I LOVE playing that game, I really get a kick out of it.  You should see the looks I get when I put "I make homemade milk" on a card and inform everyone that is one of my truths and no, I am not nursing my son - people usually go there.  This is one of the things that I do that seems to interest people the most.  I don't think it is too time consuming, it isn't expensive, and the milk tastes delicious.  We think it is just as creamy as the milk in the store, and I think it tastes better.

I make our milk because O had difficulty digesting cow or goat milk when he was younger and we haven't switched back.  I am not impressed with all of the hormones in animal milk nor am I impressed with the cost of organic milk.  I like knowing what we are drinking, no questions asked.

I'm in the process of doing a cost comparison and will post that information as soon as I have it.  Here is my rough estimate:  I bought 4.5 pounds of organic coconut ($2.99/pound).  I use approximately 4 ounces of coconut for a quart of milk.  4 ounces = .25 pounds.  That means my 4.5 pounds will make approximately 18 quarts of milk.  That's the equivalent of 4.5 gallons.  If you pay $5.99 gallon for organic milk = $26.96.  I paid $13.45 for my coconut.

I make coconut, hemp, almond, and pistachio milk for our family. I will try cashew sometime soon.  The ratios are the same for coconut, almond, pistachio, and cashew milk (4 cups water to 1.5/2 cups coconut/almond/pistacho/cashew).  For hemp milk, it's 3 cups water to 1/2 cup hemp seeds.

Here is how I do it:

1.5 to 2 cups coconut
3-4 dates
4 cups of warm water
1 nut milk bag
blender

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend on high.  With the Vitamix, you start with it on 1 variable, move up to 10, and turn it on high for 1 minute.  We used a Kitchenaid blender before we got this beautiful piece of machinery and I had to blend it on high for 2-3 minutes.  If you are considering getting a new blender, I highly recommend the Vitamix.  It is AMAZING!

After 1 minute

Now you need to strain the milk.  I use a nut milk bag attached to the inside of our microwave and a bowl.  This is the easiest way for me to strain milk, I can even leave it to do something else.  Before we had the nut milk bag, I used a fine mesh strainer.  The milk is much creamier with the nut milk bag.

Make sure you get all of the liquid out of the milk (gently squeeze and twist the nut milk bag).  Your hands will feel luxurious because of the oil in the coconut.

When all of the milk has been strained, pour it into a container and then store it in the refrigerator.  This should stay fresh for 3-5 days, ours never lasts that long though.  

After your milk has cooled, you will have a layer of cream at the top.  I gently push down on the cream to break it in half, remove it from the jar, and put it in another container in the refrigerator.  I use this as cream in baking or for a quick moisturizer. If I were a coffee drinker, I can imagine I would use the cream in my coffee.  *The cream at the top only happens with coconut milk.

An added benefit of making your own milk, flour!  After you strain the milk, you will have coconut meal in your nut milk bag.  You can make coconut (or almond) flour in no time with the remaining meal.

This is the meal straight from the nut milk bag.  I put it in the oven on 200 for about 1 hour to dry it out.

Then I put it in our food processor to get the large lumps out.

When it is ready, I put it in the freezer to use in pancakes or when I'm baking.  Actually, I give most of it to the woman who watches O during the week because she bakes so much for the kids.

Once you get the hang of making milk, it's really easy!  You can add vanilla extract or a vanilla bean for a different flavor.  During the winter, aka cold season, I added a half of a cinnamon stick to our milk for a decadent taste and all the added benefits from cinnamon.

Enjoy!!

One, simple change

If you are interested in making one, simple, but monumental, change in your health, STOP EATING FAST FOOD.  When I say fast food, I don't just mean  Burger King or McDonalds.  Think about the 'healthier' options as well, Subway, Panera Bread, or the "healthy" menu from Taco Bell.  I  know, I know.. fast food is, well it's fast, easy, and can be tasty, but it is a nutritional nightmare.  I'm talking more than sodium content, calories, and fat - if that isn't enough to scare you away, and let's be honest it isn't for most of us.  Let's talk about ingredients and what we are putting in our bodies.  I will warn some of you, this may change the way you think about fast food.  Once you learn this, you cannot take it back.  Don't say I didn't warn you.....

Subway, the largest fast food chain in the world boasts the slogan, "Eat Fresh", entices us to have a quick, healthy meal .  Who hasn't eaten there? How healthy is Subway?  Check out an excerpt from an investigation on Subway from one of my favorite bloggers, Food Babe:  "The 9 grain wheat bread might look and smell freshly baked but it contains close to 50 ingredients including refined flours, dough conditioners, hidden MSG, refined sugars, etc. Could bread this processed ever be real food? Certainly not, when it includes a chemical ingredient called azodicarbonamide, which is banned as a food additive in the U.K., Europe, and Australia, and if you get caught using it in Singapore you can get up to 15 years in prison and be fined $450,000. Azodicarbonamide is more commonly used in the production of foamed plastics, however, it is allowed in the United States as a food additive, a flour bleaching agent, and a dough conditioner that improves elasticity of bread. The U.K. has recognized this ingredient as a potential cause of asthma if inhaled, and advises against its use in people who have sensitivity to food dye allergies and other common allergies in food, because azodicarbonamide can exacerbate the symptoms. Let’s not forget it only takes 4 or 5 simple ingredients to make REAL whole-wheat bread including flour, yeast, salt, water, and maybe honey.   

Preservatives and even artificial colors are added to many of their “fresh” vegetable offerings – like the banana peppers and pickles. The ingredients for the black olives unveiled a new additive I learned about, “ferrous gluconate,” which is an iron based preservative that helps keep olives black.While the “6 grams or less” menu says the totals don’t include cheese or salad dressings, it is important to know that some of the cheeses offered at subway also have artificial colors, preservatives, and even cellulose that’s made from wood pulp.Two of the healthiest sounding salad dressings were actually the worst based on my analysis. Fat free honey mustard and the red vinaigrette both have corn syrup,artificial colors, preservatives, and other chemical additives." (http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/06/12/food-babe-investigates-is-subway-real-food/)  

Here are the ingredients for eggs at Subway: whole eggs, egg whites, nonfat milk.  Contains 2% or less of the following: premium egg blend (pea hull fiber, salt, citric acid, dextrose, guar gum, xanthan gum, extractive of spice, propylene glycol and not more than 2% calcium silicate and glycerin to prevent caking.  Product is prepare using: butter flavored soybean oil (soybean oil, artificial flavor).  Propylene glycol is a component in newer automotive antifreezes and de-icers used at airports.  Calcium silicate is used in roads, insulation, bricks, roof tiles, table salt, and occurs in cements.  I know Wikipedia indicates that calcium silicate has 'no adverse effects on health' but why eat something that is used in roads and  insulation?  

I haven't read her other investigations on places like Chick-fil-A because I decided that if the "fresh" ingredients from Subway are anything but fresh, I don't want to see what Chick-fil-A or McDonalds has to offer.  

I could go on, but you get the picture.   

Not eating fast food may be difficult at first, after all it is extremely convenient.  Going without does get easier and after a while, the food doesn't taste or smell good.  To help eliminate fast food from our diet, Matt and I had a farewell tour of our favorite fast food stops.  Knowing what I was eating made it easy to say good bye.  Now if I get the urge to go through a drive-thru, I can't bring myself to do it.  I cannot knowingly eat antifreeze, pink slime, etc.  

Tips: 

Be prepared (stock your pantry, refrigerator)

Have snacks available at home, in your car, at the office, in your backpack, etc.

Say, "Adios" to your favorite fast food restaurant(s) - just one more time.  

Pack your lunch and have a back-up plan just in case 

Let me know about your farewell tours!

Cyndi

The Beginning....

Do you know where most of your food comes from?  What about your children?  Check out this video clip from Jamie Oliver's food revolution http://youtu.be/bGYs4KS_djg  I remember growing up and visiting my Nannie's house.  She had fruit trees in her front yard, peach or apricot - I can't remember (I have a pretty bad memory), and a fantastic garden in her backyard.  She had strawberries growing behind her house that my brother would feast on.  In her 'barn' the shelves were full of canned goods from her garden - okra, green beans, soup starter, salsa.  Oh how I loved her salsa, even though I had to douse it with ketchup to take the edge off of the heat.  It was homemade, fresh, and fantastically delicious.  I want to bring similar memories to my family even if we live in the middle of surburbia.    - I want my family to know where our food comes from, to appreciate food, and to love healthy food.  But, I don't want to talk about just food...

 My goal is to share information and resources for friends, family, and anyone else who is interested in simplifying their lives and getting a little more healthy.  I'm going to blog about parenting, cloth diapering, health, living green, simple living, gardening, and anything else that crosses my mind.

So, now you know about the blog, here's the scoop on me.  I am a wife, mother, educator, sister, daughter, aunt, friend, nurturer, cook, and a host of other identities.  I enjoy doing for others but am learning how to take time for myself (and I like it).  I'm sure through the blog you will learn my passions and things that bother me.  I am not a doctor, nor do I pretend to be.  I do my fair share of research, but I honestly believe you can find research to support any side of any debate.  What I am going to share with you guys is based on my research and personal experience, you may not share my opinions and that is OKAY.  I am here to share what our family is doing and has done to simplify our lives with the hope that it changes just one life (even if it is my own).

Welcome to Getting Simple with the O'Tooles!