tips for kids

It is the dreaded 4:00 hour. Your children are clutching their stomachs in agony and dinner is still on its way.

I learned this from Rachel at a nutrition class: Put out the veggies the kids to snack on before dinner.

Let's be honest. Veggies can't compete on the same plate with the main course. But if it is the only thing offered when hungry--suddenly they look very yummy. I love to snack on them as well and when Tim comes home he has something to crunch on right away.

This week, every time I was serving a salad with the meal, I would serve it first.

Same principle.

I like the idea of my kids getting all those good raw greens in their tummies before they start on anything else.

Simple. Doesn't change the menu. Just the timing.

herb class

image via progressivepioneer

A few weeks ago I attended at herb class taught by Amy Jones.

It looked like this.

and it was AWESOME.

I saw that image (and read the post from progressivepioneer) and could not stop thinking about it. Tim was a champ when I woke up on a Friday morning and told him I thought I NEEDED to go to the class that was starting in South Jordan in about an hour.

Maybe it is reading Wise Child in eighth grade.

Or Daughter of the Forest two years ago.

Two wonderful stories of women who used herbs to heal.

but it somehow feels like coming home to me.

I love it.

I can't wait to take every single one of Amy Jones' classes.

Wednesday

Breakfast: Green Smoothies (I used the "Spectrum" frozen fruit blend from Costco--melons, strawberries, blueberries, peaches. I had developed an "allergy" to pit fruits (peaches, cherries, mangoes, etc.). In the last few weeks peaches no longer bother me. Hooray for food as medicine!). Oatmeal.

Lunch: Quesadillas (with cook your own tortillas and refried beans). With some avocado slices thrown in the cheese is hardly missed!

After School Snack: I tried two of Raw Melissa's cookie recipes. The kids loved both of them. Hooray! Really easy and tasty.

I am going to a class that GreenSmoothieGirl, RawMelissa and Gluten-Free Desi are teaching next week in Midway. After watching a cinnamon ice cream demo video I added this ice cream maker to my Christmas list.


Dinner: Leftovers--Butternut Soup and Christmas Rice. I'll probably also throw together a salad. I have a lot of cucumbers and tomatoes I need to use up.

Green Drink: Ormus Greens I actually crave this now. Hilarious. I think I am "listening" to my body much more.

Tuesday

Breakfast: Green Smoothies (threw in flax oil, flax seed, marine phytoplankton) and Eggs (local, free-range, organic) and Ezekiel (Sprouted Whole Grain and Seed)Toast. Side note: I grew up on brown eggs from my grandpa's farm. Brown eggs, wild meat, fresh veggies and fruits picked at their peak. I didn't realize how lucky I was. Now I am trying to recreate those same things--and add in even more wonderful foods.

Lunch: Sliced cucumbers, snow peas and baby carrots. Annie's Organic Mac'n'Cheese (the blue box) made with rice milk and organic butter. Davis has been having a difficult time with all the changes (moving, kindergarten and diet changes). I have been trying to find a few healthier versions of his favorite foods to add occassionaly. I didn't want to undo all the good from the healthy food with all the stress he was feeling about the changes.

School Lunches/Snacks: Organic naturally sweetened yogurt with fresh raspberries. Quiona cookies. Sliced cucumbers. Apple. Water.

Dinner: A variation of the Autumn salad with apples and a new recipe for homemade dressing (which I didn't love--I like the Autumn salad dressing recipe better). Rachel's butternut soup (I would use chicken stock next time instead of water. I love Costco's organic chicken stock--in the boxes). Totillas (the cook your own kind at Costco--doesn't have trans fat or yucky additives).

Other Stuff: Omega Swirls (get those good Omegas for my kids in a tasty way).

Monday

Breakfast:Green Smoothies
(Rice milk, banana, spinach, agave, and strawberries. I also threw in Udo's oil, flax seed, bee pollen, spirulina)

Oatmeal (Made on the stove with rolled oats. Sweetened with agave syrup and rice milk).

I made myself some herbal tea because I felt like I was a tiny bit sick (I am sure after a week of wonderful Thanksgiving/Holiday foods).

Snacks:Organic vanilla yogurt. Fresh guacamole (avocados--a little RealSalt, tomatoes, garlic salt and pepper). Organic chips from Costco (I love to read just a handful of ingredients on the back of the package--Organic stone ground corn, organic sunflower oil, sea salt).

Lunch: This yummy salad

After school snack: Green smoothie and quinoa flour cookies (I wasn't crazy about the recipe).

Dinner: Christmas Rice, baked sweet potatoes (sweetened with a bit of organic butter and Rice syrup), a variation of the Autumn salad (I added some garbonzo beans and red pears).


Tonic: I used Cali's recipe to make a drink that is a nice substitution for a rich hot chocolate (water, cacao, astragalus root, honey, and spirulina).

Goals

Here are a few of my personal goals for my family's nutrition:

1) Continue to drink green smoothies daily (using a variety of fruits, veggies, and superfoods).

2) Find ways to add more nuts and seeds (particularly sprouted) in our diet.

3) Strive to make each meal 50% RAW.

4) Drink 8 glasses of water daily.

5) Eat meat sparingly.

6) Make more home cooked meals (included lunches to send with Tim).

7) Add essential sources of nutrient based foods for our particular needs as a family.

8) Exercise (on my rebounder:) for 15 minutes every day).


and

1) avoid high fructose corn syrup and refined sugars and flours (sodas would be included in this)

2) eliminate dairy

3) avoid commercial yeasts

4) avoid frequent trips to fast food establishments




Skills I want to learn

1) How to make homemade yogurt/keifr.

2) How to make a fantastic healthy yeast-free bread.

3) Learn more about herbs.

4) Have at least 30 main dish recipes that are healthy and that my family LOVE.

5) Learn how to use essential oils.

6) Learn how to dehydrate.

7) Learn how to "juice."

six months

It has been six months since we have been to the doctor.

SIX MONTHS.

That is a record for our family.

In years past my kids and I have traded colds and the flu fall through winter and into spring.

I have to thank our insurance that offers such poor coverage for the motivation to find a way to avoid the doctors office. We changed insurances last year and our insurance only covers two office visits per year per person. After that there was no coverage. Each child's doctor's visit (usually for a cold that could not be kicked that lead to an ear infection) would run about $200. That was simply too much for us to continue to pay. Davis was "loosely" diagnosed with asthma and I was given a persription that I was to give to him daily. I filled it. $100 a month. For an undetermined amount of time. I never gave him a single pill and determined that there must be another way.

This post by GreenSmoothieGirl changed our lives. I read it. I took her quiz. I FAILED. Some of you may know how I hate to see anything less than an A. I thought that I actually ate really healthy and I was shocked. I took the quiz again to day and scored an A.

Shortly after reading that blog post I attended a GreenSmoothieGirl event in May (you can see me in the audience--taking careful notes) and commited to drinking a quart of green smoothies a day for a month.

It's been six months.

I started collecting vintage green glasses in honor of our green smoothies.

This was the beginning of some major changes for our family. Many of you know I helped organize and attended an 8-week nutrition course, taught by Cali Cutler--which was fantastic.

These are just some benefits we have seen:

Bronwyn's excema is gone (I attribute this mostly to the absence of dairy).

Bronwyn had issues with excess yeast--which seems to have lessened significantly.

Davis "asthma" is gone.

Tim has lost 35 pounds (he has also been working out every day).

I have felt my moods during the day have leveled. I also have discovered that there were several foods that were making me sick that I didn't realize (dairy in particular).

I have decreased cravings for sugar and now crave green smoothies and green drinks.

My kids (and I) no longer seem to have an intolerance to nuts.

If I do feel that anyone in our family is starting to feel sick I feel like I now have "tools" to try and combat it from the very onset before it becomes a major illness.

I am often asked about the expense of some of the items (like a Blendtec blender) or the individual prices of organic foods or health foods. Six months with no doctors visits--that has certainly paid for all of the above. And really there is nothing as priceless as the vibrancy of good health.