Aspartame in milk??

I don't know if you realize this but milk has been hijacked! Like most of the food industry, even the wholesome, childhood staple in so many homes has been taken over by profits and big business.

There is so much information on milk and sugar in milk, especially in schools. There are movements happening in many school districts now to serve milk that is milk, not a chemical mixture of refined sugars and other stabilizers. Here is an article tells that big business is not backing down easily, or at all for that matter.

Sometimes big words that sound scientific or foreign make people disconnect with the information that is being shared with them.

Aspartame is one of these words. What could it possibly be??

It is an artificial sweetener and it is used in things like Diet Coke to keep it zero calorie but still sweet.

The diary industry is trying to add this to milk without needing to add it to the label.

We all need to to our own research and see what makes sense to us. I am a firm believer in this. When presented with new information, we must use our brains and experiences and deeply ponder what we are understanding.

But we need new information to be able to do this. So here is an article to read and think about.

Many say aspartame is perfectly safe others claim it has many detrimental side effects. Do your own research and see where you side.

But no matter where you land, I think we can all agree that ANYTHING that is added into a processed food that we, especially our kids, are going to be eating needs to be on the label!

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/dairy-industry-wants-to-sneak-aspartame-in-to-milk.html


What do you think??

LOVE

Need local organic farm's to shop at??

This site is super cool! It links you to local farms in your town where you can buy wholesome, good, organic, seasonal foods!

Check it out! Support your local economy! Close the gap in your food miles!

http://www.localharvest.org

LOVE

Masanobu Fukuoka

I have a true love for the land. It is sort of crazy to say that because I have never actually lived on the land, per se. I have been in the city my whole life. Yet I know that there is land somewhere that is just waiting for me to come and care for it. :) When it is time it will be.

So I watch farming documentaries late at night! I have tried finding a place to volunteer but they haven't worked out yet. As my children gain more independence though I will have to create an opportunity. But for now...

This is one of my favorite. It is an hour long or so but Masanobu Fukuoka re-introduces us to the realities of healthy life. It is worth your time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft0ylk4sU5M&list=FLeT712izjhLshUwfV-BXCFw&index=14


LOVE

Jillian Michaels

Good article by Jillian Michaels of Biggest Loser. She covers some of the largest challenges of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Preparation and planning are the keys to eating well and staying active. We really have to look at our day and see where we spend our time. If there is any "free" time like TV watching, then we have time to live a healthy lifestyle! And the best thing about being tired from being more active is we get more energy when we eat and live well! So it all balances out.

http://health.yahoo.net/articles/weight-loss/photos/jillian-michaels-weight-loss-tips-work#0

Jillian shares many great solutions!

Check it out!

LOVE

And I have some pretty good results! I posted a picture of myself, hesitantly, a little over a month ago, of my midsection, which has been the main problem area for me since giving birth. I think many mothers would claim the same thing. It seems like after you give birth, your abdomen just does not want to work with you and wants to hold onto weight until the last minutes!

Well it seems I have approached my last minutes...

Here is my before photo taken and posted a little over a month ago...



Man I look super rough! lol

Here is today!!...

The 1st picture was pretty difficult to post! But now I am so happy I did because now I can show the results of whole foods eating!


And I have not been running the last 3 weeks because of pain in my shins. I am going to try again after 1 more week off, but this loss is almost totally based on my diet! And the last 10 pounds or so are infamously the most difficult!

How can whole foods eating change your body and your life??

How can I help you change your body and your life??

I am creating an opportunity that I can help people with more focus to lose and re-learn the habits of a healthy lifestyle! I will post information in the following weeks.

LOVE and Happy Saturday!

Fast food marketing insight...

Or that is how I see it at least. I have found the Mc Donald's ads that have some R&B soul music playing and an entirely black cast so very interesting. I often think that if the actors in the commercial knew what Mc Donald's food is likely doing to some member of their family, would they still participate....I am almost scared to know the answer.

Here is an interesting article on who eats the most fast food.... young Black Americans eat the most, percentage wise.

http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/ap/adults-get-11-percent-of-calories-from-fast-food

Mc Donald's is the largest buyer of most foods in this country. The largest of factory farmed beef and also of apples. Interesting how much influence one company can have over an entire country. Mc Donald's has also been a huge influencer in the way we process our food in this country. The concept of one person to do one job in an assembly line set up was first brought to food processing by Mc Donald's. Now this is the main approach to mass food production in America and is one of the major issues with our food system. Yet when you know that they are also the #1 buyer of multiple food products, then we can understand that we are the only ones that can make a difference! We have the power! Our dollars, in our pockets have the only power! Just don't buy the food! (They will not make changes based on the true needs of their consumers. Business is about profits. PERIOD. They are legally bound to profits. If we effect their profits they will make changes. This approach is the answer for most unfair or unhealthy/insane business practices.)

Organic, whole foods seem to be more expensive but that is because we have been conditioned to think that food costs are only on the front end. Food costs are cyclical and effect our entire planet. Support local, organic businesses that are trying to do it right! They are faced with so many obstacles to produce the best quality food for the market. They are put through ridiculous legal hoops and do not receive government subsidies that most large scale, dis-eased food producers receive. These subsidies are a conversation all on their own and I will discuss these at more detail later.

Make conscious choices at every meal! Honor your body and your environment.

LOVE

Been away from this for a while...

Had an awesome visit with my sister last week! We really miss each other. There is nothing like hanging out with your family that you spent your childhood with. The kids got to bond with her and I was able to help her get some ideas together to change her lifestyle! She sounded very inspired and ready for change! Go sister :)!!

ALSO......I have taken multiple opportunities over the last week to eat processed foods!! I know! How sad but chocolate had been a close friend and also white cheddar popcorn! SMH...But I am done now. The weight keeps coming off so I need to conscious of that and not be doing things that will totally negate my goals. Also I committed to a whole foods challenge and need to stay focused. I wasn't hard on myself and throughly enjoyed each and every bite. My body has responded well and I am not worried about it. But going forward....no more.

We haven't been doing any new recipes here recently. We did make a lot of food for my sister but I focused on things that she could take home with her. Mostly I showed her how to incorporate more veggies into each meal.

We did have some amazing results while she was here! The first day she had a pretty serious breakout on her face. I have never seen her with such a bad breakout and told her lets see if we can get rid of this this week!

Here is a pic of her face on day 1




Here is day 3





I did not take another one before she left but it was totally gone by day 5 or so! She said she was eating A LOT of sugar recently. During her week here, the 1st 3 days she had no processed sugar. She did end up getting a few Starbuck coffees while she was here to help with withdrawal symptoms, but it was very minimal. And it worked! Her face totally cleared in less than a week! What exciting results!

Here are a few other pictures from our week. We went to Casa Grande and visited the National Monument Casa Grande. It is an example of the cliff dwellings of the American southwest. We have been to many and wanted to show my sister the beauty.



We also went to South Mountain in Phoenix and witnessed a beautiful sun shift (aka sunset). We also did a little hiking in the mountain. It was a beautiful afternoon up there!




I also had to take back my size 4s! but for more size 4s! lol I bought 2 pairs that were a fit that was already a little too big and the weight is just falling off so I had to go get a trimmer fit! It is very exciting! I am almost totally back to pre-baby me :) And it feels good! It took some time but it is happening!

I will post some new info in the following days that will help you stay on track with your challenge!

LOVE

Consumers BE AWARE!!

Good read for all! We must be conscious in our decisions at the grocery store and control ourselves. Do not give control to someone else in any circumstance! You have total control over your choices and YOU only

http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/are-junk-food-makers-worse-than-tobacco-industry-giants--how-fritos--coke-and-lunchables-vie-for-addicts--210753546.html

Happy Wednesday!

My sister is in town for the week so I will probably be behind in my posts until this weekend and early next week. So...


I wanted to post a few recipes that can spice up your dinners!

Here is an enchilada sauce that you can add to just about anything "latin" inspired:

2 tablespoon extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
1 small onion diced
3 garlic cloves diced
3 tablespoons chile powder
3 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon dry oregano
28 oz canned whole tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoon raw honey

Heat oil with onions until translucent
add garlic, chile powder, cumin, coriander, and oregano and stir together until well combined and heat for 1 minute or so
add tomatoes and stir until well combined
season with salt and pepper and add honey
simmer on low uncovered for 45 mins stirring occasionally

when done process it in a blender or food processor for a smooth, flavorful sauce that is good on almost anything :)

I got this recipe online somewhere at some time though I no longer remember where. I cannot take full credit for this recipe though I have made adjustments.

(Also taste as your sauces progress...knowing how your food tastes before certain spices and after is important in developing a "chef's palate" so taste and adjust seasoning, salt etc to your taste buds. This is the secret to full flavor full!)

This recipe is great to toss with pasta and chicken or salmon and loads of vegetables:

Lemon cashew basil pesto

3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 garlic cloves minced
3/ teaspoon dry mustard powder
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
1 cup + 2 tablespoons cashews
2 1/2 cups fresh basil with stems included

Blend first 7 ingredients until well combined then add last to and process until smooth


And one more tasty dressing to add to a kale salad or any other fresh veggies:

Curried almond dressing

1/2 cup almonds
2 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2/3 cup water
minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon curry seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

add all ingredients in a blender and or food processor and blend until combined.


I actually found all of these recipes online though I have used them for a couple of years and do not have the links written down. I always tweak my recipes and taste as I go to make sure we are creating something full flavored and yummy and I recommend doing the same EVERY time you cook!

Happy early Valentines!

LOVE

BIG NEWS!!

Well it isn't that big! But for me it is a big deal!

This weekend I bought some new jeans...and they were the same size as my pre-pregnancy jeans!! WOW! I can't believe it! I am within 7 or so pounds of pre-2 babies and it feels great! So watch out! ;)

We had a good weekend! A couple of field trips and ate well. Burgers one day and curry veggies another. We are really working on our budget so we will be eating the same things for a few weeks rotated so that we can get a full budget down and see where we can make adjustments. So I won't have many new exciting things to discuss over here in terms of recipes but that will give me time to share other info I have accumulated over the years of healthy living. I will also share recipes from the web that I have tried as well!

I am currently reading a book on curing dental issues from within. When you really think of your body as a perfectly healthy vessel you realize that things like dental decay are just not normal. This book details how un-normal it all is! Do you know that our teeth actually clean themselves from the inside out! They are totally able to take phenomenal care of themselves when provided with the correct nutrients. I will share more as I learn.

The book is Cure Tooth Decay by Ramiel Nagel. It is definitely a must read for ANYONE that treats their body in a holistic manner.

Check it out at your local library!

I will post again later today. I have more to share :)

LOVE

No-Knead whole wheat bread

Happy Friday Eve!!

Have you ever tried making bread???

I made my 1st load 2 Thanksgivings ago. It was rugged! So dense and barely edible. My yeast wasn't good and it didn't rise much in 4 hours. I didn't know what I was doing then though so I just went with it. Luckily I wasn't feeding a bunch of folks and everyone who tried it was very comforting :)

But I kept trying new recipes and kept kneading. It is extremely satisfying to make your own bread, cut a warm piece and buttering it up!

I have tried countless recipes but the easiest and cheapest recipe I have ever used is a no-knead recipe! Kneading your dough is the most difficult part of making bread. This recipe DOES NOT require kneading! You use time to do your kneading.

You want to give yourself a day to make this. Plan on starting it the day before you need it. I recommend using whole wheat BREAD FLOUR. It makes for a really good finished product.

Also you need a dutch oven. Most kitchens in America do not have this now a days but it used to be a common piece of cook wear. You can spend a lot on some but we have LODGE's from Walmart. It was under $50, which seems like a lot to spend on a large pot. But they are AMAZING! Cast iron is one of the best cook wears you can use. What you cook in is SO important! Stainless steel and cast iron is what I use. Nothing else. Teflon left our kitchen years ago and will NEVER be seen again. I recommend looking into what you are cooking on. AND get a dutch oven! You will not be disappointed.

Here's a great starter kit

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Stansport-Pre-Seasoned-Cast-Iron-Cookware-6-Piece-Set/10902898

Try this recipe out. You do not need a dutch oven either. It makes it super easy but you can also use a pizza stone that you can buy for $10 at Target. When using the pizza stone you would pre-heat the stone as you would the dutch oven in the recipe. But you would also have to add a shallow pan filled with water at the bottom of the oven. The dutch oven creates a moist environment for the cooking bread. Putting the water bath in the oven is another way of creating this environment which is needed to create a crunchy crust.

http://www.steamykitchen.com/168-no-knead-bread-revisited.html


There are so many bread recipes out there to try! I have made sourdough bread, stuffed bread, many pizza doughs, calzones, sandwich bread, baguettes, loaves, english muffins, hamburger buns and many more! Every bread product that you can buy you can make! And once you get the hang of it or get a good food processor or blender that also kneads dough it can make it even easier.

I will post a recipe for tortillas soon too! :) Whole foods can be turned into processed foods right in your own kitchen!

LOVE

Tooth Decay??

Awesome article on preventing tooth decay holistically!


http://www.mothering.com/community/a/healing-teeth-naturally-a-guide-for-getting-started?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email

I'll be posting our recipe for toothpaste soon! We have been using Uncle Harry's toothpaste for years

You can find it here

http://www.uncleharrys.com/store/index.php/mouth-care-tooth-paste-c-48_56

But recently I started making my own. I will share that soon!

LOVE

Hello!! Happy Tuesday! Happy week 3 of our whole foods charged challenge!!

I am eating a bowl of some really good oatmeal now! Let me tell you that cooking oatmeal in fresh almond milk is divine! It creates such a smooth, creamy texture! It is a must try.

Last night we had coconut curry veggies over basmati rice and a sweet potato. It was yummy and filling. I made the coconut milk in the Vitamix and strained it in a nut milk bag. It turned out really good! A more runny than the milk you buy in the can but it is my goal to stop using canned goods of any kind. I was using canned coconut milk and canned tomato paste. I will be making my 1st homemade tomato paste this weekend :)

I have been making green smoothies instead of juice in the morning. This is a picture of what our green smoothies are looking like now with the Vitamix. They are more earthy than the juice but super filling and the kids are enjoying them too.

I am juicing still but at night right before we eat dinner! I am calling it kitchen scraps plus an orange juice. And it is beautiful! What a way to close a nutrient gap!

This is a picture of our kitchen scraps

I really like this so far! It is a little nutrient boost just before dinner. SO save your food scraps! You never know what you can do with them!

PLUS It can help keep our air and environment cleaner!


LOVE

We had a nice weekend. Mom got a little personal time which I am finding out I need more and more of as they get older. But there is nothing better than coming home to the faces of my kids! NOTHING

We had pizza Friday night. I made a buckwheat crust and it was so good we made it for dinner Saturday as well!

This was super tasty! I think I may have converted dad to buckwheat pizza crust too! Which is HUGE!

We had plenty of veggies with the pizza as well. They were also topped with shredded mustard greens with a drizzle of 4% acidity balsamic vinegar. On the side we had brussel sprouts, kale and carrots steamed and japanese baked sweet potato.

Tonight we had burgers in swiss chard wraps with mashed purple potatoes (the 1st organic ones I have been able to find in years!) with brussel sprouts, kale and carrots steamed.

I also tried using kitchen scraps a little different tonight. We have two compost buckets going on the balcony. They are both doing fine but cannot take any more new food scraps. So we normally put our food scraps in the garbage disposal and not in the trash. Though I just learned that garbage disposals send the pulverized food to the water treatment center where they sift it out of the water and send it to the landfill too! So food scrap juice is helpful. Though you are still tossing the fiber down the drain.

Food scraps account for a huge amount of methane gas when they sit in covered landfills! Whole foods are meant to decompose in oxygen rich environments to support the life of the good bacteria that decompose the nutrients and make them available to the soil to grow more food. So put your FOOD SCRAPS in a compost heap or save them to add to stews or soups! Find a way to reuse them. It's worth the extra work.

Tonight I tried juicing the scraps of our veggies and got about 12 oz of nutrient rich juice...and I added an orange ;)

I also made some almond milk, with almonds, water and 2 dates, and used it to cook our oatmeal this weekend and it was the best oatmeal I've made in some time! The milk added a creamy, nutty experience that oatmeal should have.

I plan on making a raw chocolate cake tomorrow for the week and we are going to have coconut curry as well.

I have taken a break on running. I will be a runner one day. I have to take care of my body to do this. My shins were causing me more and more discomfort so I am going to stop until they do not hurt anymore. I read as soon as 2 weeks and as long as 6 weeks. It's ok though. I am going to be back to it and will be practicing my stride with the barefoot model of running during my down time.

But the challenge is going very well. No wheat cravings. Very little dairy. Minimal and shrinking processed foods. Losing inches and hopefully inspiring you too!

Staying focused and calling what I desire into existence.

VISUALIZE

LOVE

WOW! WOW! WOW! I got a Vitamix today!! :)


I am so excited! This is going to be fun and adventurous. I will be posting many recipes that I use with this power blender and if you don't already have one, maybe they will inspire you to check it out for yourself! It is worth the investment. People have been saying this for over 30+ years! I am now too a believer and a proud owner of one of the best home kitchen appliances there are.

My 1st day with my new Vitamix I made a eggplant mushroom soup straight in the blender!, and a couple of smoothies. I am in love :)

We had pizza tonight! It was a successful pizza night indeed. I made a buckwheat dough instead of the regular whole wheat dough I would have made before and it was amazing! I mean it was really good. It can easily permanently replace the wheat dough for me. Here is the recipe!

http://thischickcooks.net/2012/08/09/gluten-free-pizza-crust-made-with-buckwheat/

It was a home run. A little messy to work with but once cooked was light and even a little chewy. Pizza was a challenge for me in breaking my habit of wheat. But with this recipe "I can see clearly now the rain is gone"...I may just be able to do this... ;)

I will post a few pics of the Vitamix tomorrow as well as new things I have tried because I will be trying just about everything in this bad boy! Nut butters and milks, soup, juicing, ice cream etc!

Happy Saturday! LOVE