The All-American Nastiness

Are you ready for this?  (Are you sure??)  Ok, here goes:  enjoy today's feature film. (Just click on the link.)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YXpZ2MunWs&feature=player_embedded
You're welcome. 

Now, just in case that wasn't enough to stick with you as you make your meal choice at the next cookout, here are a couple more facts about those weird red links of meat:

1.  The average hot dog has over 14 grams of fat.  Please, people.  That's really gross. 
2. That "natural casing" is made from pig intestine.  Sick.
3. If you're from around here, you have probably ingested a white hot or two in your day.  Those, my friends, are made not only made from the standard pork, beef, and chicken, but also include veal.  Awww, poor baby cows.
4. Does the package say "variety meats"?  Well, that means that your hot dog contains the part of the animal(s) that could never be sold on store shelves.  Think hearts and liver here. 

And just in case you skipped over my enlightening video clip because you saw that it was 5 whole minutes long, let me reitirate the highlights:



SOURCE

1. Hot dogs are made from meat trimmings.  As in, leftovers from the cuts they package up for the grocery stores.  As in, the parts that would otherwise get thrown away.  As in, the parts no one should eat.

2.  All of the meat is blended together and then squeezed out of a huge tube.  It looks like Play-Doh.  Ew.  Meat should NOT look like Play-Doh.  EVER.

3.  Thousands of hot dogs can be made every minute.  Why in the world would you ever want to consume something that can be thrown together that quickly in a factory?  Let's think about sanitation, here, ok?

4. Hot dogs contain corn syrup.  Really?

And finally, just in case you are still craving a hot-diggity, (or in my case, if it's the only cut of "meat" your children will actually agree to), here are some things to keep in mind:

1.  All-beef Kosher are the way to go.  It's seriously all-beef.  And Kosher warehouses have stricter sanitation codes than do everyday factories. 

2.  Look for packages that say "no by-products". That ensures that you're only eating the edible parts of these animals.

3. All parts that are used must be listed in the ingredients.  Become a label reader. 

And with that, have a healthy day,

J

Where Has The Time Gone?

How is it possible that I haven't posted since Wednesday?  Sheesh, my bad.  Oh well... new week, new me.  So here goes. 

"Mom, food with no nutritional value just isn't getting it done... Please. Go. Shopping."

I was thinking about giving this post the title of "How To Healthily Survive a Pizza Hut Lunch Buffet", but seeing as how the boys and I gorged ourselves silly on Friday afternoon, I clearly don't know the answer to that.  You see, they have been so well behaved lately, that I thought they definitely deserved a special treat.  Either that, or I hadn't been grocery shopping in months, so they were actually STARVING.  Ok fine,  you win.  Well, you kind of win.  Yes, it had been a (long) while since the last shopping trip.  But they are pretty well behaved when they're not crying for no reason, punching each other, tattling, or otherwise throwing fits. And the three of us kind of LOVE Pizza Hut, so it was a no-brainer.  (As in, I am way too ashamed of how much I am eating at a greasy buffet right now to take a picture for my blog on how to live a healthy lifestyle type of no-brainer).  Anyway, there is my confession for the week:  I ate Pizza Hut, and I liked it.  I do not regret it.  There, I said it.  And, I may or may not have eaten a piece of ice cream cake later that night.  Wow, I'm on a roll.  Let me stop now before I bare my soul.  This is too much truth for one little paragraph. 

So yeah, that totally happened.  And not going to the gym happened too.  Oh well, life will move on.  And I'm thankful that I can start over today.  Onward and upward.  So here's something cool that happened this weekend: 

Wow, the people who live here must really love working out.
I'll bet they never eat Pizza Hut.

The hubster turned part of our porch in to a workout space!  He was planning on painting the garage this weekend instead, but since it rained both freaking days, he did this instead. Truthfully, this is probably way cooler for him than it is for me, but I still think he did a great job.  He had all of the stuff except for the core ball and the legit looking mats before he started this project, but it was all mixed in with the rest of the crap  boys' valuable stuff out there, so now it's nice and neat in its own little spot.

Here's something we haven't done in a while: Goal Setting Monday!!  Have you figured out what's on the week's agenda yet?  Here are some of my goals (in no particular order):

1.  Teach a great class tonight despite the fact that I am sore as hell from the crazy yoga class I took yesterday.  I went to relax for a minute and stretch out and not focus on the fact that I hadn't been to the gym since Wednesday.  That plan backfired, however, as soon as the teacher announced that "today's class will be pretty intense.  Remember to breathe it out."  Ummmmm.... I was literally dripping in sweat within 10 minutes, and I'm pretty sure that at some points my breathing was more like panting.  The 2 mile walk I took with the stroller when I got home did nothing to help.  Every muscle in my body is sore today. 

2. Clean my house.  I hate to clean, and my house is gross.  I will clean it even though I would rather nap and/or watch TV.  Boo. This goal is not fun, but it will be fun to make a list of each room in my house, and then cross them off as they get done.  Crossing things off lists is fun!

3. Donate clothes to Goodwill.  There are three bags of clothes that are packed and ready to go.  There is a Goodwill collection bin literally within walking distance to my house.  In fact, I think I may be able to see it from the upstairs window.  Said bags have been sitting on the dining room floor for at least a week.  Do you think either of us has grabbed them and dropped them off on our way to work?  No, of course not.  This week, that will change. 

4.  Not eat crap.  I will eat healthy things this week like bananas and Kashi Go Lean.  I will refrain from Pizza Hut.  I will drink a lot of water and will not give in to temptation when things like this show up on my kitchen counter after it has been discovered that baseball practice has been rained out:





And no, I did not eat one of these.  I didn't even have a bite.  And for once I am telling the truth. I have so much willpower.

And there you have it.  I think that's enough for now.  Here's to a productive week! 

Have a healthy day,

J



Working hard, or Hardly working?

Have you recovered yet from your long weekend?  My wonderful students apparently have not, seeing as how I'm sitting here writing my blog instead of teaching.  None of my kids showed up for class today.  It's not like they have a state exam in a week or anything.  I know you're thinking that it's impossible that not a single kid showed up, but I was only supposed to have 3 anyway.  I teach in an alternative program (read:  all of the badass kids who have been kicked out of the high school attended by everyone else in the town).  There are only 7 of them in the program right now, but they can't all be in a room together at the same time, so we split them in half. (Read:  I wasn't kidding when I called them badass, and I didn't mean it in the "whoa that truck makes him look so badass" way).  And today the three who are supposed to be with me right now just didn't come to school.  So here I am. 

First of all, because it was just Memorial Day, and because I'm technically wearing my hat of English teacher right now, I am feeling the need to recommend a book to you.  You may have read it already, but just in case you haven't, you should.  It claims to be a work of fiction, "except for a few details from the author's life", yet it was written by a Vietnam War veteran and is so detailed and believeable that you are left to wonder exactly which parts were made up. It is raw, gritty, touching, gut-wrenching, and all of those other strong adjectives that you would expect to come with a book that was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.  It's about love, relationships, coming-of-age, and war.  Now go order it.  You will not regret reading this book. 

You didn't know that in my other life I'm a book
critic, did you?  Haha. I'm so not. 
But I have read a few good books in my day.
This is one of them.

Ok. Moving on.  On the health front, things are going fairly well.  I'm loving the new supplements.  Remember how I told you about my sleeping problem.  (As in, I wasn't sleeping at all because I was just never tired?)  Well, two weeks in to the new pills I'm popping, things seem to be changing for the better.  I've been starting to get tired at the very appropriate time of 10:30ish, and have been waking up around 6:30, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  Thank you, Supplements!  Sleeping at normal times is kinda fun!

Additionally, the move away from dairy is proving to be a good one, too.  My nutritional muscle test a couple of weeks ago showed that I have an issue with my stomach.  But I've never had noticeable symptoms, so we didn't spend much time talking about it.  Well, I'll tell you something:  now that I've been away from dairy (well, mostly...) my stomach feels all kinds of new.  It's hard to describe, but I really do feel noticeably better.  Which is so weird, because I never thought I had problems before.  So anyway, I'm doing a pretty bad job here, so let's just leave it at this:  I have been cooking with and drinking either almond or coconut milk, have stayed away from all yogurt, have not really eaten a ton of cheese, and have avoided most other dairy.  And I feel healthier! 

Giving up dairy = good for me
Mozzarella cheese = impossible to give up

Moral of the story:  one little change can make a big difference.  TRY IT!!!! 

Here's a question for you:  (to which I'm asking begging for responses.  Don't let me down.)

What little change have you made that has made a big difference?
(Working out once in a while;  going meatless once a week; drinking more water; using sunscreen???? C'mon.. tell me!!)

Have a healthy day,

J

I Love a Fattening Festival

And truthfully, if you live around me, you do too.  There are a million festivals around here every summer, one of which was just in town this past week.  Of course the boys and I went.

We are really good at taking pictures of ourselves.

 What, may you ask, do people do at daytime week-long festivals?  Well, it's held at a really nice park that is filled with lilacs. (The same park I got engaged in, by the way. Yep, in the back near the reservoir.  Ah, I digress...)  Ideally, people get something to eat, listen to some live music, and then walk around and admire the flowers.  However, this year, all of the lilacs were already dead by the time the Lilac Festival rolled around, so people pretty much just ate.  And exactly what do they eat, you ask? Well, here we go.  People around this city have been called lots of things, but I'm pretty sure "healthy" isn't one of them.  With no further ado, here's just a small sampling of the average festival fare:

I have a secret: This is my favorite offering. I may or may not have eaten one with my sister last year. I controlled myself this year.  Either (A) I am so healthy or (B) my sister wasn't with me this time.  You decide. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, this is exactly what you think it is:  fried pieces of fatty meat surrounded by fried pieces of sugared dough, with or without cheese and bacon.  Yum.  How about a side of Heart Attack with that? 

 

 

...Because apparently cheesecake on a plate isn't good enough. And isn't this just what you're looking for on a crazy hot crowded day- a nice thick hunk of chocolate dipped sugary cream cheese?  Sign me up!

Only $3.00 for an order of obesity and clogged arteries??!?!  BARGAIN! 

 

 

As tempting as it all was, the boys and I stuck to the old reliable strawberry smoothie.  And then we played some games.

And we won stuff! 

Are you sick of pictures of my kids yet?  Too bad.  Here's one more. 

Meet the newest member of our household.  His name is (appropriately) ShinyOrangeFish.  Do not call him Shiny for short.  I have miraculously kept him alive for 5 whole days now.  I think he likes us.

Ok, I'm done now.  Do you like festivals?  What do you eat while you're there? 

Have a healthy day,

J

PS- I didn't work out at all today.  I apparently waited too long to make an appointment to bring the boys, and the daycare was booked.  Boo.  Double session day tomorrow for sure. 

Food Lovin' Friday- Rainbow Pasta Salad

What's your favorite summer food?  Barbecue chicken?  Corn on the Cob?  I love pretty much every single thing about summer, especially the food selection.  My all-time favorite summer food that I could eat every day at every meal is a fresh pasta salad.  I have been working on mine for a few summers now, and the other night I think I did it.  I made the PERFECT pasta salad.  And now you can too! 

Here's what you'll need:

Cooked pasta (I chose Rainbow Rotini)

Broccoli Crowns

Tomatoes

Red Onion

Fresh Mozzarella

A bell pepper (I had an orange one on hand, but any color will get the job done)

Whatever other veggies you'd like to use (I had some corn, so I threw that in)

Italian Dressing (I actually used Parmesan Italian)

Chop it all up:



I love taking blurry pictures.  But get past that,
and admire the colors. Your salad is
going to look DIVINE.





Fact:  I am trying to stay away from dairy.
Fact:  I LOVE fresh mozzarella.

Add the cheese last.

In fact, I love it so much that I needed to take two pictures.



Throw it all in a big bowl, mix it all together and top it off with the dressing.  Do yourself two favors here. One- don't drown those gorgeous fresh vegetables, and two- don't use fat-free or reduced fat dressing.  It has a lot of chemicals that are just weird.

Almost done...

TA-DA!  How good does that look?!?!

Have you ever eaten something and immediately started looking forward to the next meal so you could eat it again?  Um, yeah.  That's the effect this pasta salad has on me. I kind of couldn't stop thinking about it.

I served it with some Italian Sausage (another summer favorite).  Mine was spicy turkey. 
The grill wasn't loaded up with new propane yet, so I had to make do with the ol' stove top.  It worked out.

So this picture totally reminded me of how I don't want to look in my bathing suit this summer.  And then I was reminded that I needed to hit the gym. 

This is what happened:

Friday- nothing.  I ate 12 pounds of pasta salad and my clothes began to resemble sausage casing.

Saturday- 2 miles on the treadmill and free weights.  A majorly needed sweat session. 

Sunday- Nothing.  Wow, I'm lazy.  Well, in my defense, the hubs was golfing so I couldn't go to the gym. The boys and I took a walk that probably burned about 12 calories. 

Monday- Power Body night!!  Awesome!! 

I'm really looking forward to a great week, and I hope you are too.  I've got some good posts planned, too, so make sure you check back in with me.  And hey- I'd really love it if you left a comment once in a while. Cuz at this point, I have pretty much no idea if anyone even reads this thing...

Have a healthy day,

J



I RAN A 5K

It happened!  I woke up on Sunday morning and was so nervous, and anxious, and excited, and totally ready to go.  I just kept imagining the sense of accomplishment I was about to experience, and it happened.  I ran 3.1 miles without stopping.  And it felt amazing. 

The race I did was an annual event to raise money for The Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester.  I love that all of the money raised (which the news said was over 20 thousand dollars!) stays right here at home.  I went to pick my registration stuff up on Saturday. The cancer Supporters got a light pink bandana, and the Survivors got a dark pink one.  I was totally psyched to put my stuff on bright and early on Sunday morning, but my friend told me that I absolutely COULD NOT wear my race shirt to the race.  She told me I'd look like such a rookie.  (Duh, who would want that??)

So instead, I wore this:

That lovely guy I'm married to bought me a brand new running outfit for Mother's Day.  I felt so legit. He used to actually be a real runner who broke records and stuff, so his support was awesome.  I've never in my life owned real running clothes, and now I do.  And yes, I posed for pictures instead of, oh, I don't know, stretching or something silly.

Of course, the first thing I had to do as soon as I got out of the car was go to the bathroom.  Unfortunately, so did everyone else.  This is just a tiny portion of one ridiculously long line. There were about 6 lines of the same crazy length.  I decided I didn't really have to go that badly after all.



So finally it was time to line up.  I might be somewhere in that crowd.  

Or maybe I'm in this one.

Wow, look at all those rookies.  (And do you see that one lone GUY?  Yeah, he must have missed the memo that this was a women's only race.   Seriously though, that sea of pink was so energizing, motivating, and inspiring. 

I hope my feet don't fail me now...

That thing on my shoe was my time chip.  Cool, right?



And then we were off.  And it was exactly at this time that I realized I had made perhaps my most fatal ROOKIE mistake. When it was time to line up, there were little markers down the path with numbers on them.  You were supposed to line up according to how fast you were going to run. Since I was planning on finishing in just about 30 minutes, I stood with the 10-minute crowd. 

People kept telling me to just plan on going slowly at first since I'd have to weave in and out of a lot of people.  Once the crowd thinned out, they'd said, I'd be able to get in my zone and just go.  Well, the crowd was literally so thick that not only could I not weave anywhere, I also couldn't get in my zone.  There were about 4 thousand runners there, and I'm pretty sure that 3500 of them were also planning on finishing in 30 minutes.  I WAS SO ANNOYED!!!!  The clock was ticking away and I was seriously stuck for about a half a mile in a painfully slow moving crowd. So note to self: next time, stand with the 7-8 minute group. Wear your legit clothes again and act like you belong. They'll never know the difference.

So I finished (with my friend Jessica, who I found at the turn!) with an official time of 32:34. That totally should have been 28 or 29 something, but that brutality at the beginning completely messed me all up.  But the most important thing here is that I FINISHED!  And I didn't walk at all, and I didn't die at the end. 

(My mom ended up running it, too.  I wish I had remembered to get a picture of us after we finished, since it was Mother's Day and all. But I'm kindof an idiot sometimes).

And then it was time to go eat!  My brother, sister and I made lunch for our mama.  This was one of my contributions to the table:

 

oooohhh, I'm so crafty.  Too bad it tipped
upside down on the way over there.
Husband told me it was due to my
crazy driving.  I told him he wasn't holding it well enough.
We love each other.



And in case you're wondering what else we made her:











Missing from this picture is my brother's contribution
of pizza logs and Doritos.

And cupcakes.  We ate cupcakes.  How delicious do these look?!
They were from an all-natural bakery.  I could have eaten at least 5.

Oh, one last thing.  I'm pretty sure I received better gifts than any other mother on this planet.  I mean, seriously. 

A beaded necklace, a bird with pink sequins (it's a pin!) AND hand painted flower pots??!?  Wow, I must be really loved.  I hope your day was as wonderful as mine was.

Have a healthy day,

J

Food Lovin' Friday- Chop Salad For The Win

(Yes, I know, it's a couple of days late.  But it's here, and it's better than ever.)

 There's a little restaurant down the street from where I work, and I've recently become slightly obsessed.  How I only visited the place for the first time a couple of weeks ago is beyond me.  I'm so happy that it's now a part of my life.  It's a wonderful little salad haven.  You stand in line and can order LITERALLY any kind of salad imaginable.  There are about 5 kinds of lettuce to choose from and a million different toppings.  And then comes the most beautiful part- they dump all of your fresh healthiness out on to the counter, put the dressing right on top,  and use a giant rounded knife thing with two handles to chop it all up togther.  The result is A-MAZING. 

Go here for lunch.  You won't be sad.

So me, being the cheap financially intelligent person I am, have since become addicted to making my own versions of these delectable delights at home.  Of course, they are never *quite* the same (why is that?), but they are still good, fresh, and healthy.  Here is my version of the chop salad:


Step 1:  Chop up as many vegetables as you'd like, as small as you possibly can.  Make sure you start with lettuce.  I cut it in to thin strips, then cut those in half or thirds.  Basically, I just go crazy with the knife for a while... imagining I'm hosting my own show on the Food Network, obviously. 

Step 2:  Load it all in to a big bowl.  Add some smaller, non-chopable things on top for some added nutrients.  Think: black beans, chick peas, corn, etc. Oh wait, corn has no nutritional value.  That's ok, you can still add it in if you'd like.  It acts as a very nice splash of color.  And you want your salad to double as a fashion statement, right?

Step 3:  Add some of your favorite dressing, and WAKE up those tastebuds!  And there you have it... a gorgeous chop salad.  Bon Appetit! 

Have a healthy day,

J

PS- Hey salad lovers: leave me a comment and tell me what you put in your salads.  Not only am I  always looking for new combo ideas, but it is Farmer's Market season, and I would love some inspiration! 

Food Lovin' Friday: The Best Lentils EVER

And now... for my second installment of Food Lovin' Friday... I present to you a recipe for the Best Lentils EVER!!!  Get excited, friends.  This is  a good one.  And I made it up by myself.  I'm so culinary.   (Is "culinary" an appropriate adjective in this context?  I don't really think so, but it's happening.)

Step 1: Chop up some celery, onions, and carrots. Try to get all Food Network Star with it, but don't chop off your fingers. That would put a damper on things.



I love this knife. My mom got it for me for Christmas, and it literally cuts ANYTHING. Thanks, Mom.

Step 2: Add the vegetables to a pot with a little olive oil and garlic.  Saute it all for a few minutes, then add the lentils. (Make sure you wash them first). 



Your kitchen is going to smell so good at this point...

Step 3:  Add some chicken broth, and increase the temperature. As the broth heats up, the lentils will soak most of it up. ( If you want this to be more of a soup, you can add either a second can of broth, or some water flavored with chicken boullion.) 

If you're thinking about getting me a Christmas present, I could really use an electric can opener.  This one is kinda awful.

Step 4:  Let the flavors all get to know one another for a while.  Stir them all together once in a while.  You can add some salt and pepper at this point. You'll know their done when the lentils are nice and soft.  They are ready to eat at this point, nice and hot.  I like to sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

Trust me, these are as good as they look.

Yes, this dish is hearty enough to eat as a stand alone meal. Easy, healthy, and SO good!  Even my 4-year-old loves them.  And he eats practically nothing.  That, in my book, is a WIN! 

Have a healthy day,

J

Oh, PS- if you like it then you better put a Pin on it... (please and thank you)



Food Lovin' Friday- Vegetarian Stir Fry

Hi! Happy Weekend!  Two things:  1)This week really flew by, didn't it?  (Not that I'm sad about that.  I hope the next 8 go by equally as quickly) and 2) I kinda suck at blogging.  I mean, I love it and all, but I get so sidetracked during the course of any given day and by the time I'm about to get in the shower and crawl into pjs I realize that, "yikes! I totally forgot to post today!" So for that I am sorry.  I'll try to do better.

So anywho (I really hate that fake word.  I hereby promise to never use it again), let's kick the weekend off with another fantastic recipe.  I really love that a bunch of people both here and on Pinterest seemed to like my Farmer's Market Pasta, so I will start sharing some other random creations more regularly.   In fact, I think I'll start doing it on Fridays.  Yes.  From here on out, tune in on Fridays for a healthy dinner you can easily recreate for yourself or your family.  Happy Birthday to  Food Lovin' Fridays!!! 

This week, I made a pretty amazing stir-fry.  And here it is in 5 pictures or less.  It's SOOOO easy.  I mean, seriously easy.  Make it this weekend for yourself.  And then share this post with everyone you know so they can enjoy some healthy deliciousness as well. 

Oooohhh... stir-fried non-chicken and vegetables. 
Lookin' good!

If you're not in love with soy "chick'n", you can use
steak or chicken. I for one, LOVED this though.

Here's the steak version for the Hubs. This
picture isn't blurry.  It's just hot and steamy.

This is the sauce I used. Aww, you don't have
a Wegmans near you?  I'm sorry.  You can
use another kind. I'm sure it'll still be good.

For those of you who enjoy a list of ingredients instead of a group of random pictures, this is what went in to my stir-fry:

Chopped up mixed vegetables (I used a package of frozen stir-fry veggies: broccoli, water chestnuts, baby corn and carrots)

some sort of protein (lean steak, tofu, chicken...)

Stir-Fry sauce

White Rice or Lo-Mein noodles

It's super easy:  Just heat a little bit of oil in a large skillet and heat everything up.  Make sure you stir it frequently.  Add the sauce and reduce the heat.  Serve over rice or noodles immediately. 

Question: What do you like to put in your stir-fry?

Have a healthy day,

J 

Candy Heaven

When we were little, we used to wake up at some obscene hour on Easter morning to scour the house for our hidden baskets.  Upon finding them, (and about 50 thousand hidden eggs), the candy eating began.  And went on and on and on. My parents were normally pretty strict about how much sugar we ate. (We had the world's most boring bagged lunches.  Seriously. I mean, what second grader is excited about baby carrots and a peanut butter sandwich on brown bread? Boo.) But apparently the Easter Bunny did not have such particular guidelines.  He filled, and I mean filled our baskets with a huge chocolate bunny surrounded by ridiculously fun amounts of every single kind of candy imaginable.  Hooray for Candy Heaven!! 

This is a random picture of some lucky kid's
basket. Peeps AND Cadbury minis?! Wow.
Some major candy hoarding would have
been happening FOR SURE.

We knew it was only a matter of time before my mother announced that whatever wasn't eaten in two days was getting thrown in the trash.  THROWING CANDY IN THE TRASH?!!?!?!?  ISN'T THAT, LIKE, AGAINST THE LAW OR SOMETHING?!?! And so we embarked on a crazy sugar high,  and then taught ourselves some pretty intense candy hoarding tricks. (Well, my sister and I hoarded.  My brother just ate all of his, and then begged us for ours when he realized a week later what we had done). Hey man, it was survival of the fittest.

Well, I never really understood the whole "eat it all NOW" reasoning until I became a mother myself a couple of years ago, and became even crazier stricter about sugar consumption than my own mom was.  My poor lucky children won't even have the chance to candy hoard this Easter because there will hardly be any candy in their baskets.  Instead, the Easter Bunny found some non-candy (yet still fun) alternatives. 

Here is a list of things that are either being included in this year's basket, or were in last year's. Feel free to do this with your kids.  Trust me, everyone will be happy at the end of the day.

Plastic eggs filled with bunny-shaped cheese crackers or yogurt covered raisins. (Ok, ok, a few will have M&Ms or jelly beans too... but not too many!!)

Sunglasses

Stuff from the $1 bins at Target. This year I found some pretty cool Spiderman gliding airplanes. Fun!

Sidewalk chalk, shaped like eggs of course

Welch's Fruit Snacks

 

Flip-flops (We are getting ridiculously excited for summer around here)

Small Lego kits

Coloring books

Bubbles

Books

Granola bars (which they call "candy bars". I wonder when they'll figure out the truth...)

100% fruit "leather" (you know, those fruit strips that are actually made from fruit.)

There are probably more things that belong on this list, but I'm drawing a blank right now.  Tell me: what do you put in your kids' Easter baskets? What was in your basket when you were growing up? 

Have a healthy day (and a Happy Easter, or a Happy Passover, or just a great weekend),

J

Stolen Post

I saw this chart on Pinterest a while back, and am officially deeming it worthy to share.  It absolutely amazes me how much sugar we consume.  It's in pretty much every single thing we eat and drink, but the truth of the matter is, the more we eat, the more we want.  Yes, sugar is very addicting.  Yet, as is the case with everything else, it is fully within our control.

 And just to prove one more time to you that I am in fact on this journey WITH you... this post is coming to you at the end of a day where I *drank* about 600 times the amount of sugar that any normal person should consume in any given day.  Ah yes, it started with Splenda in some coffee at the beginning of a very long day of meetings (Splenda=fake sugar=no calories, but totally weird).  I then downed a Snapple with lunch, and followed that up with some hot chocolate at the end of the day.  I vow to drink nothing but water tomorrow and hope that it all evens out. Blah.

So for those of you who are like me and enjoy a visual aid, here it is in all its glory:  the disgusting amount of sugar we consume in everyday foods and drinks. And for those of you skeptics who enjoy a disclaimer, here it is in all its glory: I have literally no idea who the original creator of this chart is.  I'm choosing to believe it is truth, but I guess unless I take the time to do the math, I will have no real way of knowing.  If you are math person and enjoy that kind of thing, please feel free to figure it out and let me know.

And on that note... ENJOY!


...and now you know. 

Have a healthy day,

J

Organic Bandwagon

One of my friends on Facebook just posted a video, which in his opinion, pretty much sums up why he is a vegetarian. Why in the world I thought to watch it is beyond me.  I will forever be scarred.  But, as I always say, now I know.  Ughhh... I wish I didn't....

This video was put out by PETA, which always highlights extreme situations, but to think that these sorts of things are happening to any animals anywhere is really disturbing. And I'm not even an animal lover! But how any decent human being can watch a video like that and then bite excitedly into a nice piece of steak is beyond me. 

Ok, I'll stop.  This is in no way my plea to get you to become a vegetarian.  Meat can provide our bodies with lots of protein and iron.  All I'm asking you to do is become more aware.  Because after all, once we learn about it, we can make more informed decisions, right?

The *very little* research I've done has pointed out tons of reasons why organic meat and dairy is the way to go.  Here, in random order, are the top 5 reasons why you should consider spending the extra cash on these things next time you are in the grocery store:

1. Organic animals are given access to grass pastures with room to walk around.  This may sound like a no-brainer, but is unfortunately not the case on many large-scale farms (Awww, poor cows...)

2. Organic animals are never injected with artificial growth hormones (Oh, so you mean the chickens can actually stand up? And my children won't go through puberty at the age of 7?  Cool!)

3. These animals are not treated with antibiotics.  (So next time your kid gets an ear infection, the prescribed medication will actually work!!!  Hooray for not building up an unnecessary tolerance to antibiotics!)

4. The meat from grass-fed animals is lower in fat and bad cholesterol than the meat from factory farm animals.  (A low-fat burger? Yum!)

5. Organic farming takes care of the earth.  No harsh chemicals getting poured on the plants means no harsh chemicals seeping in to the soil, or getting blasted in to the air we breathe, or ultimately ending up in the water we need to drink. 

So here's my last plea: Find out where your food is coming from!  Pay attention to what you are putting in your body!  Read labels!  Educate yourself! Trust me, meal time will be a thousand times more enjoyable for you if do.

Have a healthy day,

J

PS- The stuff I wrote about is pretty easily accessible with a quick Google search, but in case you want to see it firsthand, here are some of the sites I've looked at:

 http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/
http://www.stonyfield.com/why-organic/humane-animal-treatment
http://www.novativemedia.com/green-articles/organic-milk.php
http://eatwild.com