summer solstice

The first day of summer was extra special for our family this year! We welcomed our daughter, Rose Catherine, into the world. I've been really busy just trying to get used to having three kids under the age of 4! Therefore, I didn't really make any plans for the summer... we've just been hanging out in our backyard, going to the pool and taking it easy. I didn't want the pressure of having to rush out of the door every morning to drop the kids off for an activity. I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing summer. Our family is headed to northern Michigan tomorrow for our first little vacation. I'm really excited to relax and I'm also hoping I can read a few books - any suggestions?

I hope you all have a relaxing summer as well :)

unnecessary sugar

Another post about sugar, I know...

My girlfriend and I were talking this week about how the kids get sugary snacks at preschool. This week, my daughter came home from preschool and told me she had "ariel's". I had no idea what she was talking about and after a little investigation, (finding black cookie crumbs all over her bow that she had chewed on) I figured out they had given them Oreo cookies for a snack. OREO COOKIES?!?!?! How is that a snack? I was actually kind of pissed. Granted, I am really pregnant and maybe overly emotional, I just don't understand why they can't have a healthy snack.

Another girlfriend of mine has kids in a different school and they have a no sugar policy, which I love. The question is, how do you institute that policy? I feel like I want to do something, but I don't know what and I don't want to offend anyone, but if my daughter comes home with partially hydrogenated cupcake frosting all over her face one more time, I might lose it!!!

What are your kid's schools policies on snacks?

lunch break

I've been trying to get my kids to eat more whole foods and less macaroni and cheese, pizza, grilled cheese, etc. I found a cute idea from a blog for a ready made snack tray to keep in the fridge. I prepared everything last night and ended up letting the kids pick a few different things for lunch today. The snack tray consists of cut up bell peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and celery sticks and a few hard boiled eggs (all organic of course!) I also always have a bowl of cleaned and cut up strawberries in the fridge.

The kids each had a hard boiled egg, some cucumber slices, some strawberry slices and some celery sticks with peanut butter. The kids ate everything! I think it was a novelty for them to get to pick from the tray - it made it fun.

Here's the snack tray...



I think it's a great way for adults to snack too!

sugar free ideas

There is so much research lately about how bad sugar is, and not just high fructose corn syrup, but regular old sugar! Combine that with the latest research on food dyes and I'm pretty much anti-candy (I was before anyway, but this solidifies it)! Of course, my kids ate way too much candy on Easter, but they really don't eat candy otherwise. I also try to limit their general sugar intake... like sugary oatmeal, yogurt, etc. Luckily, they don't have an expectation that they are getting dessert after every meal. If they're still hungry after dinner, they can have something sweet, but I've come up with a few sugar free options and I don't mean fake sugar, just sugar free.

Last night they had the Trader Joe's greek yogurt with strawberries and honey drizzled over it - they were skeptical, but they ate some of it!

My latest favorite is a new gluten free/dairy free recipe I made up -

- 1 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1/8 cup honey
- 1/8 cup maple syrup
- 1 TBS grapeseed or olive oil
- 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt

Mix everything together, roll into 2 inch balls and press down a little bit, bake on parchment paper at 350 for 8-10 minutes - you don't want them to get too brown. They taste just like peanut butter cookies!

Another favorite for the kids is apple slices with peanut butter dip (tablespoon of peanut butter, little bit of honey and some almond milk to thin it out)

Obviously, if kids have sugar every once in awhile, it's not a big deal. I just cringe at the kids that eat candy and drink pop everyday!

quick post!

Once again, I am too busy for this blog. Hopefully after April 18th (whatever happened to April 15th?!) I will have some more time. I just wanted to post this quick link for an amazing gluten free banana bread.

Also, turns out that it is dairy free too - bonus! I literally could not believe how well it turned out - delicious! I used Bob's Red Mill GF flour mix. I'm sure you can use whatever GF flour you have.

Looking forward to spring, but not all the pesticides that are being sprayed in my neighborhood. I asked my doctor what his opinion is on spraying your lawn and he said "Absolutely not!" Pesticides cause cancer, thyroid disorders, etc... So, do your research before you start spraying your lawn and house for pests!

Gotta run - tax season is calling my name :(

oh, my poor kidneys

Why, oh why, do I have to have kidney problems when I am pregnant? Seriously, I'm looking for advice. Last weekend, I woke up at two in the morning to a weird stomach ache, which then turned into a painful cramping, which led me to the hospital. Since I'm 6 months pregnant, I was whisked up to the maternity floor and diagnosed with a kidney infection. A week of antibiotics later, I am better, however, I fear that I am going to have a kidney stone attack.

When I was pregnant with my son, the same thing happened. I woke up in the middle of the night, went to the hospital and found out I had a kidney infection. Fast forward to three weeks after my son was born - I'm having a kidney stone attack that was more painful than his birth! So, you can see why I am fearful that I will have another attack in the future.

I have been drinking straight cranberry juice and eating cranberry pills, I don't even know if this will help prevent a stone?

Any advice?

Thanks :)

best thing since sliced bread

Oh, bread... How everyone loves thee. My husband, however, has that unfortunate little disease called celiac - you know, the one where if you eat bread you're stuck in the bathroom for a long time?! It took forever and a day for him to figure out that gluten was the culprit, however, as soon as he eliminated it from his diet, his life changed. At first, gluten free feels overwhelming and unpractical! However, it's been 5 years or so, so we're pretty used to it and luckily, it seems like the rest of the world is starting to catch on. They even have a large gluten free menu at The Hill!

There have been a couple of products that are really great and I just wanted to share.

First, we recently discovered Udi's Gluten Free Bread. To say that this bread is good is an understatement. It is definitely the closest thing to real bread that we have tried. My husband remarks that you don't even need to toast it/turn it into a panini to make it taste good. They also sell pizza crust, muffins and bagels.



Have you ever tried to make any of those casserole recipes you had growing up? For example, Chicken Divan, one of my husband's favorites. Well, it virtually impossible when you have to use a non-condensed gluten free cream of mushroom soup and then attempt to thicken it with cornstarch and Campbell's has wheat flour in it, not to mention monosodium glutamate and soy protein. You can imagine the excitement when I found Pacific Natural Foods Condensed Cream of Mushroom soup. Not only is it gluten free, but it's organic and doesn't have all the gross ingredients that Campbell's does!



Pizza - such a pain when you are gluten free - sure you can make it at home, but don't you miss ordering pizza?! We have found Passport Pizza , Buddy's Pizza and Uno's Chicago Grill all offer gluten free pizza. Passport Pizza even makes gluten free breadsticks!

These are the three recent finds for us that have made a big difference. Please let me know if you have any other questions about gluten free products and hopefully I can help! Happy eating :)

Where have I been?!?!

Well, it's been exactly four months since my last post - my apologies!! I actually considered not doing this anymore because I have been so busy lately. My daughter started preschool, which surprisingly is adding to my busyness, probably because I'm completely OCD and feel the need to be involved as much as possible. My son is 18 months old and the highlight of his day is making messes and did I mention, I'm 5 months pregnant? So overall, I guess I've been too tired to even think of updating this. However, that being said, I haven't been too tired to obsessively read other people's blogs, which led me to this gem

http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/

Um, I'm in love! Thank god, my children don't appear to show signs of any food allergies. I did avoid giving both of them dairy for the first year of the their life and I don't give them soy protein at all... ever! So, I think that helps their little immune systems/digestive systems develop well so that they can digest dairy eventually. They don't drink milk, they don't really like it. Occassionally, they will have a glass here and there, but we are not the type of family that forces milk drinking at dinner. It's just hard to avoid dairy products when you have toddlers... grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, scrambled eggs with cheese... the list goes on. We don't eat that food on a daily basis, but it definitely pops up in their diet. I'm just glad they can digest it.

Additionally, this winter, they have only had one (knock on wood) cold/cough. They don't run around with runny noses constantly and I feel that overall they are really healthy. If they had spent the last 4 months with constant runny noses/ear infections/croup/pneumonia (like a lot of kids do) then we would be 100% dairy free. I'm very thankful for their health.

I feel like this is another "anti-dairy" post, which is what one of my previous posts was and I've really only written on this blog like 5 times? Sorry to be repetitive! I just wanted to share this link too

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/breastfeeding/calltoactiontosupportbreastfeeding.pdf

Alright - hopefully I can post more often, I guess that requires getting up at 6:00 am before the kids wake up, but whatever works!

The sun will come out... in April :(

Well, sad to say, winter is upon us, which means cold and flu season is right around the corner. Now that my daughter is in preschool, she's even more susceptible to germs. One of the best defenses against colds and the flu is Vitamin D! Since the sun is long gone until spring, the next best thing is Biotecs Research Bio-D Mulsion. You can purchase on healthdesigns.com.



I swear by this!! My doctor gave it to me last year and as soon as I started giving it to my daughter, she stopped getting a runny nose. There are two different doses, 400 IU and 2000 IU, at the recommendation of my doctor, I give my 3 year old 800 IU's per day and my 1 year old 400 IU's per day. You have to be careful because excess Vitamin D can cause health problems, so I would recommend consulting your pediatrician before giving it to your kids, but seriously consider this for yourself and your kids!

So busy!!!!

I know I haven't updated this blog in over a month. I've been so busy - my son turned one this month, my daughter started preschool, my sister is getting married tomorrow, I'm busy at work.... I literally feel so swamped, but I'm hoping that after this weekend I can get back into blogging. I think about potential topics everyday. I really want to discuss artificial sweeteners, vaccines and kid friendly dinners. So stay with me my loyal followers - all four of you :) I'll be back next week!

Have a great weekend!

Make sure to drink your greens!

My 11 month old son is starting to ween himself off breastfeeding, so the issue of breastmilk replacement is on my mind right now. He will still nurse a little in the morning and at night, but during the day he needs something to drink and since he has eczema, he doesn't have any dairy in his diet, so whole milk is out of the question. At the advice of my amazing pediatrician, she suggested I give the kids kale because of the high calcium content. I've been making green smoothies for the kids to drink with their breakfast. These are a fabulous way to get the kids to consume raw green veggies, which are such an important part of their diet... because let's be honest, kids aren't going to eat raw vegetables.

Green Smoothie:

In a blender, combine a handful of raspberries, blueberries, chopped watermelon, chopped cucumber, chopped kale, chopped asparagus, chopped spinach, a banana, 1 cup of rice milk and a handful of ice cubes. Once blended, I pour into a sippy cup for my son and add 1/4 teaspoon of probiotics.

Obviously you can add or delete ingredients depending on what you like.

He absolutely loves these and drinks one every morning! I do too :)

and the award goes to.... the apple!

I try to feed my family as organic as possible, however, it's not always an option to buy everything organic. After doing some research, I found a helpful list of foods that use the most pesticides in farming and the apple is the clear winner with 42 different pesticides used. Some other offenders - peaches, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, imported grapes, pears, blueberries, spinach and potatoes. Obviously, you also want to try and buy organic meat and dairy products. I've also heard from different sources that there are a lot of pesticides used on wheat in the various stages of processing, so I buy organic bread and pasta.

Pesticides make me so nervous. I feel that they are so overused. My mother told me the story of one of her friend who grew up on a farm and he was the youngest in the family, so he never had to work in the fields. His sister was the oldest, so she was inside taking care of the household chores everyday. The other three siblings all worked in the fields and all three of them died of cancer. The other two are healthy to this day. I think the best thing you can do is avoid pesticides as much as possible. Don't spray your lawn, don't have the pest control spray your house for bugs and buy as many organic groceries as you can.

Speaking of cancer, I read an interesting article last night regarding a study where cancer cells were grown in a petri dish. They both thrive on glucose and fructose, however, the cancer cells reproduce more rapidly when given fructose. Here's a link to the article:

Fructose and Cancer

More on harmful sweeteners next time!

One last note - last week I talked a lot about dairy. I wanted to make it clear that I am a breastfeeding mother, so I had to cut dairy out of my diet completely because everything you eat ends up in your breastmilk. Additionally, reflux is not the only symptom of a dairy allergy. Some other symptoms include skin problems (eczema, rosacea, acne) diarrhea, constipation, ear infections and arthritis.

"cow's milk was made for baby cows"

My favorite quote from the first holistic doctor I ever saw, Dr. Loewe. She made such a good point that humans aren't really meant to drink cow's milk, so it's no wonder most people can't digest it. I figured this out for the first time when my newborn daughter was projectile vomiting on me from the minute we brought her home. At the time I was familiar with food allergies, but it took me awhile to remember the wise advice of Dr. Loewe and completely cut dairy out of my diet. A few days later, the spit up was gone.

It's so frustrating to hear from new mothers who tell of the same reflux stories only to follow it up with how their babies are on prescription medicine for their reflux. It's common sense - if your body can't digest something, don't eat it! I think the whole idea of kids drinking milk as part of a healthy diet is a bit overdone. My daughter never started drinking milk on a regular basis and she's perfectly healthy. She eats yogurt and cheese occasionally and will drink the random glass of milk, but I just don't understand who thought it was such a good idea to start giving our kids a lactose overdose the day they turn 1?

I know everyone has different opinions on holistic medicine and I'm certainly not a doctor, but I just want to share my experiences from being a natural minded mother. I'm hoping to update this blog on a weekly basis to discuss different natural remedies and give some good advice to people who are interested in this approach to parenting.

So here are a couple tips if you are going to cut dairy out of your diet...

~ Whey and casein are found in so many processed foods - so beware!
~ Eggs are not dairy, contrary to popular belief.
~ Cocoa butter is not dairy as well, so if you are having a sweets craving, grab some dark chocolate, just make sure there is no milkfat in it.
~ Almond and Rice milk are great milk substitutes, I especially like the Silk Pure Almond milk in the refrigerated section.
~ Goat and sheep cheese are easier to digest, so there are some people with milk allergies that can have goat and sheep cheese.