Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Sooo, you don't like seaweed? EAT IT AGAIN!


I recently found out that some foods require you to taste them 9 times before you develop a taste for them. This is important to remember when introducing new foods to your children. If at first they spit it out, try try again. But you can also use this on yourself! I like to call it "taste bud training." When you think of healthy food, you probably think that it will taste bad. BUT, if you train your buds to think celery and spinach taste good, your bod will thank you later!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

EGG-celent first food


Sweet pea's first food was avocado. Sweetheart's first food was rice cereal. Thank goodness, he didn't like it! I've been doing some research on what babies can eat when, and what the perfect first food should be.

Most pediatricians and childcare books offer the same advice about a baby's first solid meal -- start them first on rice cereal mixed with breast milk or formula. This has been received wisdom for 60 years.

WHY? Because, in the 1950's, baby food companies launched an advertising campaign (falsely) boasting the benefits of white rice cereal. There is no scientific research that backs these claims. None at all. And now, concerned about increasing childhood obesity, some pediatricians want to change how babies eat.

If babies are getting used to the taste of highly processed white rice and flour, it may set them up for a lifetime of bad habits.

USA Today reports:

"White rice -- after processing strips away fiber, vitamins and other nutrients -- is a 'nutritional disaster' ... White rice and flour turn to sugar in the body 'almost instantly,' ... raising blood sugar and insulin levels."

White rice is a refined carbohydrate, a group of highly processed, nutritionally devoid foods that have been linked to increased rates of heart disease, insulin resistance, eye damage and cancer in adults, and are worthless nutritionally for infants as well.

So enough about that. What SHOULD we be feeding our babies? EXTREMELY SOFT BOILED EGG YOLKS. Yes, I know lot's of kids are developing allergies to eggs. But did you know that it is the egg WHITE that they are allergic to?

According to the Weston A. Price Foundation, egg yolk should be your baby's first solid food, starting as early as 4 months, whether your baby is breastfed or formula-fed. Egg yolks from free-range hens will contain the long-chain fatty acids so critical for the optimal development of your child's brain and nervous system.

So this is what I did:

Boiled an egg for 4 minutes. Removed the shell and egg white. The yolk should be soft and warm, not hot, with its enzyme content intact. Sprinkled with a small amount of natural Himalayan salt and fed to Sweetheart with a spoon....and he actually liked it! I did it for him again this morning and tasted it myself and started gagging. I guess if you're used to scrambled, you have to get used to the almost raw kind.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Face Fixer Upper

I just wanted to share what I did with my skin tonight. Over the holidays, I've been stuffing my face with pure junk, exercising only once or twice a week, and not getting any sun. So this morning, when I woke up, my face had finally had enough and started giving me warning signs to take better care of myself. It just looked pale, dull, and had some blemishes. So, I decided that when I got home from church, I was going to fix it!

Here's what I did:

1. Threw away Christmas cookies, and other random junk foods
2. Ate some raw food for dinner (celery, carrots, hummus)
3. Found some ingredients in the kitchen to make an exfoliate
-baking soda
- sea salt
- raw gritty honey
- plain yogurt
(these ingredients fizzed up when I mixed them)
4. Exfoliated
5. Applied my dad's collagen face jelly

My face feels super soft looks rejuvenated. Wooo hoo!
Going to try to get some exercise and sun tomorrow. See ya!