Healthy bodies

I'm trying to prepare myself and my family for sicknesses that come around.   I thought I'd jot down a few ideas in case anyone else is interested.  

First, I educated myself about an Alkaline pH in my body, here:

Alkaline Article

Just make yourself read it and understand it.  I know you can.. it just takes focus!

I am certainly not an expert at this, but I'm beginning to learn about it.  

Here is a list of acidic foods to avoid:

acidic foods

Here is a list of alkaline foods to enjoy:

alkaline foods

Now I don't think this means only eat alkaline foods, and stay away from all acidic foods.  I don't know.. but I would like to believe as long as I'm getting enough alkaline foods, and stay away from the most acidic foods, I should be okay.  Each body is different also, so you have to listen to your body.

Remember to get these also:

green veggies

green veggies 

green veggies 

water 

water 

water

So basically what I'm going to focus on for my family is to:

a. stay away from sugar, dairy, and meat products  

b. get enough water

c.  get enough green vegetables through green smoothies, salads, etc.

d.  have sprouts on hand (if you don't know how to sprout, let me help you!)

e.  offer fruits and veggies for snacks

I'm a strong believer that we are what we eat.  Our bodies are amazing gifts we have been given to house our spirits, and they can work miracles if we feed them correctly.  We are more prone to be sick and have a weakened immune system if we are giving our body an overload of sugar, dairy, meat, but if we can turn that all around by making sure we get the nutrients our bodies need.  

If you are as overwhelmed with food as I am about my 5 loads of laundry to fold and put away, just take it one step at a time ( one basket of clothes at a time for me)  Some of you may be at this point that everything is under control.  Some may be at the very far other end of it.  My biggest advice would be to use your knowledge, educate yourself, and go slowly.  You are the only one who knows you and your family.  So make it do-able!

Move over hot chocolate

So my kids love hot chocolate.  But I haven't let them have it for a few months because of Cougar's reaction to milk.  They were sick of water today though so I invented a new drink.  Thank goodness they loved it!

here it is:

1 cup water

8 strawberries (mine were frozen)

a banana

handful of spinach

It really was good!  The color was not, but if your kids struggle with color, don't let them see it before you dump it into a colored sippy cup:)

From cans to fresh

I had a GREAT idea this morning when I woke up.

If you are trying to change your family's diet, listen up!

For two weeks, write down everything you eat.  I've been told to do this before but thought it was a pain-but it was worth it.  Then you can look at it and change 1 thing.

For example:

If you eat this for lunch:

canned corn

spaghettios

Kool-aid,

make small changes one at at time.

Switch from canned corn to frozen corn (more nutrients).  Or better yet, switch to fresh corn on the cob or other fresh vegetable. 

After you've mastered that change, tackle a new one.

The next month (or week/whatever your timetable is), change your pasta:

You can go from spaghettios to white noodles and pasta sauce

Then you can go from white noodles and red pasta sauce to whole wheat noodles.

If you don't want to go whole wheat, or your kids/husband freak out because it is brown, there is a pasta called Barilla Plus.  It looks white  and is whole grain-perfect.

The next month go from kool-aid to 100% juice.

Then you can stay at juice or go to water.

See-in just 3 months you've gone from:

spaghettios

canned corn

kool-aid

TO

whole grain pasta with pasta sauce

fresh veggies

100% juice/water

You could even go a step further and make your own pasta sauce from fresh tomatoes-that would be awesome!

Doesn't it make you feel great?  Knowing your family is getting the nutrition that they need?

It's just a journey, right?  We can continually improve our diets.  I know that sometimes we buy what is cheap because money is tight, but for me and my family-nutrition is something I am not going to compromise because I know I can give them what they need.  I am raising Superman, you know?  

We have fresh fruit and veggies all the time, and I do not spend any more money now than I used to because I didn't just add to our food.  I replaced.  I don't buy fruit snacks/canned fruit/snack stuff anymore-I replaced it with an apple/an orange/a carrot, etc.  It's worth it to me to spend the extra time preparing food.  It's not hard to wash apples, or to peel a carrot-and it makes me feel like a better mom!

So good luck-let me know how it goes and some ideas that you have.  I know I don't have any comments on my blog yet-but I know you're reading-I KNOW who you are (just kidding-I really don't!)  But let me know the changes you are making and I'll keep sharing ours.

GOOD LUCK!

Ain't it perdy?

Now that is FOOD.. real, living food!

Green Smoothie Perfected

First off-Tremonton's Kent's has the best produce ever-and the best produce guy. I think the guy's name is Dennis, and I nonchanlantly asked him if they ever get collards and chard in. Well, he ordered it that day and it was here the next day. So Kent's has all this stuff now just FYI.  So thanks Dennis-I love produce!

OK I've been making green smoothies daily for about 2 weeks now, and today I finally perfected it.  The differences I've noticed so far:

1- My kids don't crave candy anymore (whoo hoo!)

2- Sometimes I make myself eat because I like food, but I'm usually filled if I drink it in the morning.

That's just two weeks-here's to more!

If you are trying the green smoothie for the first time, or giving it to your kids/husband for the first time, make it GOOD, or they will never want it again.  Do not try without fruit ::)

Here is my recipe:
                                                               1 leaf of chard

                                                          1 leaf of collard greens

1 leaf of kale
3 leafs of romaine
1 celery stick
a bunch of spinach
1 cup water
green tops of a small case of strawberries (this wouldn't be a necessity-I just had them)
I blend that all up, then I add:
1 frozen banana cut into chunks
1/2 bag of frozen mixed berries

OPTIONAL:  agave nectar (natural sweetener), honey to taste

Yummy!

My kids love their "Darth Vader Juice"

Happenings..

Container Gardening Class through USU Extension
Wednesday April 15
6:30 PM
Tremonton Public Works Building
300 East 1200 South, Tremonton
FREE

I have gone to two classes through the USU Extension and have really liked them. I wish more people came because there has been a lot of information. I hope they don't quit them.

Essential Oils and Mind Model Class
Thursday April 16
6:30 Mind Model
7:30 Dr. Mom Essential Oils Class
Heritage School
1386 S. Main Street, Garland
$5

I went to an intro class of essential oils and can't wait to learn more. Kellie is starting these classes to help us moms (or whoever) learn how to use essential oils to keep our families well so we don't have to go to the doctor all the time! I've heard good things about Katie's mind model class, but have not attended yet.

Saturday
Square Foot Gardening Class
IFA in Tremonton
9:00 AM
Free I think
I saw this in the newspaper today.

GSG Quiz

I took the quiz again as to how we ate one year ago. I flunked. Totally flunked..Like F-! flunked. And I thought we ate pretty good then :) The reason I even put that quiz on here is because I think it is a good wake up call as to how we are fueling our bodies. I think our spirits and bodies play off each other, and that's why I think it's important to give my body the best. I don't think of eating healthy food as a death sentence, but more as health insurance. I've been getting a lot of e-mails of "Getting to know You". There is one question on there that says, "What is your biggest fear?" Many people's response is.. losing my husband or family. While there are many accidents that happen, I feel like I can control whether or not I lose my family to disease. So I was hesitant to put my score that I got of how we eat now on here for fear that people may think I was bragging. While I think eating healthy is something to be excited about, I don't think of it as something to brag about. I don't judge others for how they eat, I just am glad that I have the knowledge about what is actually food (fresh veggies and fruits, legumes, grains) and what is just processed crap. So I am just glad that I could go from an F- to an A in just one year because I am being conscious. I think being educated is so very important!

So the way we get a big bang of our fruits and veggies is the green smoothie. We love it. My kids love it (darth Vader juice), my husband loves it, I love it. The con is you need a very strong blender (Blendtec is what I am saving up for - $400-ouch), and it isn't zap it in the microwave and go. The pro is: fiber, antioxidants, real food, more energy, good tasting, easy).

If you feel like you aren't in a place right now to buy a good blender and take on the whole Green Gospel-here are some other things we do to get our veggies and fruits.

1-I have a veggie tray that I use to separate toppings for our daily salads. At each meal I bring that out and the kids can grab a few carrots/celery/cucumbers, tomatoes.. easy

2-You can add spinach to smoothies and not even taste it. Don't underestimate spinach-it's very nutritious. I buy huge bags of it when they go on sale, which is a lot at my local grocery store.

3-Eat a salad every day.. maybe start with iceberg lettuce and move up to darker, leafy greens that are nutritious like Romaine, spinach when you are ready.

4-Some kids will not eat veggies and fruits. Some because we as parents aren't being good examples of that. I'm sure, absolutely sure, that you can find something your kids will eat. It takes more than one time of trying it to make a good judgment. Just keep offering! My kids know that they need to eat their veggies BEFORE the rest of their meal.

5-Remember that you can't eat the whole elephant at one sitting.. just pick one thing that you would like to improve in your family's diet, and stick with it. When you've mastered that, pick another one.

For example: if you and your kids are addicted to pop and have to have one every day, why don't you just make a family goal to have it every other day. Then once a week, then once a month, then never. That might take 6 months to achieve. But don't you think that's better than not even trying? Replace it with a healthier option, like.. are you ready for this? WATER. Guess what? It doesn't matter if you don't like water. You are made of it, it likes you, and you cannot function without it. Guess what else? IT'S free!!

Green Smoothie Girl's Quiz

Hey-take this quiz-let me know what you think (you can be anonymous-I just want to see where we are at)-Where can you improve? Where do you want to be? What did you get? I got a 94. I need to be better about my Sundays. I think of them as FREE days (I usually have a treat once a week with good old sugar), but I think it's about time to say goodbye because I just don't feel good the next day. It's just not worth it to me psychologically.

Green Smoothie Girl Quiz

I think this is a great site-even if you don't do all the steps in her 12 step program, if it is one step closer to helping us be better people, it's a step up in my book.

Healthy Trash

Let me just say this: my garbage has been a huge stress to me, until now. I always felt bad for using so much trash, but I have a new system:

Trash 1: We have a LOT of produce at our house! So my first trash is actually on my counter. Sounds gross, right? It's a bowl with a tight-fitting lid. It is where all my plant based garbage goes: peels from veggies, cores from apples, egg shells, beans, etc. I empty this (actually my 5-year old does this job) every day into my compost outside. That is saved for my garden soil.

Trash 2: This is where all my papers and washed out plastics go. We now have a recycling bin (yay) in town so once a week (or when my husband is sick of it overflowing) I take it to town.

Trash 3: This is where everything else goes. We have gone from kicking ourselves every Thursday morning for not taking the trash out the night before, to maybe MAYBE every 3 weeks we take the BIG BLACK BUG (aka big garbage) to the curb for emptying.

That's it-easy as pie