Favorite Healthy-ier Lunches

My favorite healthy lunch is veggie stuffed pitas.

Pita bread from Baba's foods at the Farmer's Market (Wed & Sat) in my city (or online) and their spinach and feta hummus spread (get any pita bread or hummus though). I find the pita bread from this vendor lasts longer than what I've purchased at Henry's or Trader Joe's. 

Grab some heirloom tomatoes, english cucumbers, red onion (or any kind of onion), fresh lemon juice from 1/2 of a lemon, some rosemary/thyme or your favorite fresh herbs, and feta cheese (I like feta!). 

Cut up all veggies into small bite sized pieces. While prepping veggies, heat your oven or if you have a toaster oven to 350 degrees. Put some EVOO on the pitas and pop into oven for about 5 minutes. Spread the hummus over the pitas once slightly cooled then stuff the pitas with your veggie mix and top with additional feta (optional), fold and eat. Bon Appetito!

You can make the tomato mixture large enough to have this for lunch or a healthy snack 3 or 4 times. The pitas come in a 5 pack at Baba's and you can get any 1 item for $4 or any 3 items for $10. Their pitas and hummus spreads do not have any artificial colors, preservatives, etc. 

Veggie Pita(In my pita, I also sliced seedless red grapes in with the veggies to give it a little sweetness.) 

Hummus is also good (some brands are far better than others) when you serve it with fresh cut veggies. Try hummus with carrots. YUM!

Chipotle is good - I always get their veggie bowls. Always enough of a "serving" to eat for 2 meals. 

I carry a BPA free water pitcher around to keep either fresh water in or fruit infused water. Drink at least half your weight in ounces daily. Best for hydration but also when you're not getting enough water, your body will seem hungry when it really is thirsty. 

Known Toxins?

Shine put out a quick article this week about known carcinogens/toxins found in every day products and services. I skimmed through the commentary to find that there is a good split between people agreeing with the article and others thinking it's complete hocus pocus.

My belief is that these chemicals over time will cause harm to your health. Maybe not in the form of a cancer but most likely, decreased immune system, and that is enough for me to bring attention to what I can do now to hopefully alleviate having to take sudden action later. Being proactive now while enjoying life now... and later, will pay off for me. Now IS the keyword. Let's get started!

The article is great if you want a good place to start. Pick one of the eight items and work on it over the next, let's say, 6 months, in removing it completely and finding a healthier and safer alternative.

Be well.

Baby Steps do add up!

What a great video that starts with a child. How much in our world has changed since we grew up as compared to our kids of today? Chemicals have multiplied 100 fold, if not way more. If we can make positive strides in our health, we can do so in our homes, too.

Watch the short video below. It may just change your perspective, well, I hope it does!

Be Inspired. Share the good news.

Veggie Pizza

I stumbled upon a recipe for "Fresh Veggie Pizza" the other day and thought, what a great concept. The bread is cooked but all the veggies are fresh. I had heard of something similar before with Pampered Chef at one of their product presentations. The recipe that I had found initially asked for Pillsbury crescent rolls for the bread but these rolls have either HFCS and/or hydrogenated oils and sometimes artificial colors. Other recipes called for making your own pizza dough and I'm not that confident with breads yet so I requested some suggestions on my "The HFCS-FREE Challenge" fan page on Facebook. A few said to pick up the ready made pizza bread or to use English Muffins in place of the pizza bread and make miniature pizzas. Then ah ha!! A light bulb went off in my head and I remembered my favorite pita bread company of all time at the local Farmer's Market. They sell hummus too. I usually make a heirloom tomato salad to stuff the pitas with but this time I knew I could use them for my veggie pizzas.

So tonight it started out that I coated the pita bread with EVOO and baked it for 10 minutes at 325 degrees. It came out slightly crispy around the edges and soft in the middle - perfect! I cut up some yellow bell peppers, broccoli, squash and zucchini to be used as the toppings. I had a lot of squash and zucchini left over so I decided to roast the remaining with EVOO, minced garlic and thyme with rosemary mix for about 10 minutes. When the extra veggies were roasting the pita was cooling. When I smelled the veggies roasting and saw the raw veggies with no seasoning in the bowl, I decided to use the roasted veggies instead.

Once the pita was cooled, I spread some artichoke feta hummus over the top and then sprinkled the pita with all the roasted veggies. I added a pinch of sea salt and voila! It was complete. I put the extra fresh veggies in the fridge for use tomorrow.

It's a green and yellow theme but goodness the flavor was delish. Of course you may use any variant of veggies you prefer. My fridge is stocked full of many different veggies and I simply love zucchini and squash together that I thought I'd just do the two color combinations.

Buon Appetito!!

Recap of ingredients:
Baba's Foods Mediterranean (BFM) Pita Bread heated at 325 with EVOO;
BFM Artichoke Feta Hummus spread on bread once cooled;
Zucchini, Squash, Broccoli and Yellow Pepper roasted at 325 with EVOO, minced garlic and thyme & rosemary;
sprinkled with sea salt.

Favorite vegetables

Just two years ago I was a fan of broccoli (only cooked) and corn but since the integration of a nutritional product I am in LOVE with pretty much any vegetable that is in the green hues. This nutritional product I speak of is backed by over seventeen scientific studies and it provides the nutrients from 25 fruits, veggies, grains and berries. You become what you eat. What are you eating? Or perhaps what's eating you?

Tonight as I prepared an easy but nutritional meal, brown rice, organic stir fry vegetables (steamed) and Gardenburger's Veggie patty (2), I thought about how much I love veggies. This is a testimony in itself. Five years ago I thought I could forever live off of Little Debbie snack cakes or EL Fudge's coconut chocolate chip cookies. Oh yea I have a BIG sweet tooth. That hasn't changed much but I choose better options now - anything I eat that's sweet, I read the label and make sure there is no HFCS or hydrogenated oils or artificial colors. Now the sugar intake may be grand but I'm not going to eat all of it in one sitting. Other things that are sweet that have no labels (such as at a potluck or mom's night out/in), I take a chance and eat a little. Who knows at that point if I've avoided the top 3 ingredients but that's the "in-moderation" for you!

My favorite veggies are: asparagus, avocado (I can make a great guacamole!), bell peppers, carrots, cauliflower, collard greens, cucumbers, eggplant (wow I can't believe I even wrote that, this is a new veggie to my list since Sept 2010), green beans, kale, onions, potatoes, spinach, squash, tomatoes and zucchini.

What are some of your favorites? You can keep it to the Top 5. How do you like to prepare your favorites?

Health & Wellness intro for 2011

May this year find you over and abundantly blessed in the good measures of health, wealth and happiness. 

It's been a few months since writing you and sharing the good news and tips of what my awesome organization helps me provide you. The end of 2010 brought some sadness with the passing of both my grandparents but the ability to see most of our immediate family during this time helped outweigh some of the sadness. 

I pray that you all are doing well with your families, your jobs, and your futures. If there is anything that I can help coach you on with regards to nutrition, do not hesitate contacting me. If I don't have the answer, I will get it for you. I am connected to many health professionals, like Dr. Bill Sears and his wonderful family, and fantastic Dr. Mitra Ray, a woman whose passion lies in bettering women's health, especially pregnancy health. I am passionate about helping others, too. 

I'll be doing some community events this year and would love to help you get started on yours too. Contact me if you wish to have me do a wellness talk for your loved ones.

I hope this post finds you in the best of spirits.

May God Bless You.

2011 with a bang!

Last month I kind of let go of my strict health regimen and enjoyed a little of the sweet life. I most likely overdid it but like so many others, the new year brings in a new start and with that, weight loss goals. For the first time, I'd say I have a weight loss goal and that is 9lbs. I can do this! I think it's a practical weight goal. It will get me to my pre-baby weight plus a few extra pounds for good measure.. ha! I'm a healthy person in general so it's really just about working out extra during the week to pump up the weight loss. I know I can lose it on my own by eating healthy but that takes a little longer than I want to see in the mirror so with 2-3 days of workouts along with parking far from the store and taking the stairs, I will see a change sooner. I wish you all the best in your new year resolutions. What are they may I ask?