Vitamins?

If you're going to give your children vitamins, please find a natural brand free of artificial dyes. Do not buy Flintstones or anything remotely similiar. Best bet get your vitamins from naturally occuring sources - fruits and vegetables!

 Do know that 98% of the ingredients in this brand have nothing to do with "Vitamins"!

Pineapples

I LOVE pineapple. Though I normally buy it from the produce section already prepared or in a can. 


I have gotten away from eating veggies from a can. I also needed to get away from eating fruit from a can!


So the other day I was at my local health foods store and one of the workers always puts on a food demonstration or features a food product from the store that week, usually whatever is on sale. I walked in and beelined to her because I wanted to know what was featured plus my stomach was growling. She was serving strawberries and pineapple. 


I said I would love to buy pineapple fresh but I don't know how to cut the skin off. She showed me. Wow, so simple! 


First you see if the fruit is ripened. The way you can tell is if it has yellow in the vines of the skin. If it's green, it's not sweet yet. If it's part yellow then it's half sweetened. Let it sit on the counter until it turns yellow. Don't wait too long though because it can spoil quickly. Once it's ripe, you pull off the top with your hand. Then you cut off the top and the bottom. Cut the pineapple in half. Then you'll cut a "V" into the middle of each half to remove the stemmy core. Then you slice it like you do with cantaloupe to remove the melon from the rind. Serve. Voila!


The pineapples were on sale for 97 cents each! I only bought one because I wanted to make sure I could prepare it like I learned. 


The pineapple I picked out was partial green and yellow. 


One day later, it was nearly all yellow. I cut into it the way I learned how and it was so easy! The fruit is perfectly sweetened. I got a bunch of fruit for the little pineapple I had chosen! I am sure I'll be buying more from now on!


I've always chosen pineapple for their natural anti-inflammatory benefits. They are also high in vitamins and have digestive benefits. They are mega immune supporters, mainly vitamin C. They offer antioxidant defenses. You can visit more about pineapples on this site I've just found online.


Have you eaten any pineapple this week? 

Be Well - Tip #1

If you only eat certain fruits and vegetables (like bananas, apples, corn, carrots), try taking a whole food supplement for a few months. I bet you will like a variety of produce. You are what you eat. You are also what you eat eats. Be well.

Brown or White Eggs?

So I bought some brown eggs the other day at a health food store. They are locally (within 100 miles) raised, Chino Valley Ranchers, Organic Omega-3. The hens are fed a vegetarian diet that includes flax seed and are free range. They are USDA organic. The dozen cost $4 or $5, I can't remember. Seems like a lot of money but once you've learned what you eat eats then it makes you take a second look at typical things you buy. Eggs and milk are staples in my house and so we buy only organic. There is a difference in taste of regular (corn) fed hens' eggs to vegetarian fed hens'. There is also a distinct smell.

Anyway, I wanted to learn more about why the brown eggs cost more than the white. Some say that there's a nutritious difference between the two being that the brown ones are healthier but there had to be a real reason why the cost was higher for the brown ones.

So I did some research. I learned that there are two kinds of hens. Ones that lay white eggs and ones that lay brown eggs! Yep, it's that simple. Hens with white ear lobes lay white eggs and hens with red ear lobes lay brown eggs. Hens that lay brown eggs are also larger birds than those that lay white eggs. They need more food and they're offered different (or better) feed than the other hens thus the real reason the cost is higher for brown eggs. The red ear lobed hens makes bigger eggs too.

You can find white organic eggs from hens fed on a vegetarian diet. You'll save about a $1 or more on white organic eggs. So there are still affordable options if you want to go organic.

Support local farmers!

Be well.

Kettle Corn

So yesterday, Sunday, we went to a weekend farmer's market next to a store we frequent, Babies R Us, to see about getting some kettle corn. There is usually two booths that sell kettle corn. One in a white tent structure and one with a blue and yellow ez-up. The last time I picked up kettle corn I got it from the white tent because they also sell it at another farmer's market in the Old Town area of my city. That's the one I was looking for when I went yesterday. But, they weren't there. Only the blue and yellow one. To my surprise, I found out that the blue and yellow one makes ORGANIC only kettle corn! Wow! Score!! They only make the original flavor kind but I was so relieved to find out that all their ingredients are organic which means the corn to make the kettle corn is non-GMO. That means I can snack with very little guilt. :)

If you want to learn more about them or find out if they're in a city near you. Check out Papa N Mama. I love their slogan: "“DON’T PANIC, IT”S ORGANIC!”

Natural Allergy Relief

So I posed the question on facebook today about finding natural remedies to combat seasonal allergies. I asked two friends in specific who do a lot of natural remedies and both of them said they have tried nearly everything natural but nothing has helped with sneezing and sinus pressure. One gal said she even has to take prescription meds and that basically was her last ditch effort. The other hasn't found much relief but takes a lot of supplements to aid but nothing to eradicate it. So, another friend, who owns a gluten free business, suggested ALJs which she has given her son and has also changed his diet completely to GF. There's a Herb Cottage in a city about 20 miles north of me and I'm going to check it out tomorrow. I'll update with what I find and how the ALJs or whatever I pick up work out for me. What's great about this ALJ is that it can be safely administered to babies as young as 6 weeks and pregnant women. This is great to know! I hope it works out for me because this would be better than taking sudafed when I'm pregnant in the future. I want to avoid prescription meds as long as possible. I have always envisioned not being on meds until I was in my 70s. Hopefully not then either. I know sometimes you have to take antibiotics but that's temporary. I don't want to be dependent on pharmaceuticals is what I'm getting at. 


The ALJs come in gelatin tabs (gluten free) and vegitabs (some have gluten). I'm going to find out what other forms it comes in - liquid, gel etc., since it can be given to infants, it should be easily converted to an easier dosage.


I'll update soon. 


In the meantime, what products have you used that combats allergy symptoms?

Free Like A Bird - 1 Year Anny

Today marks the one year anniversary that I have been blogging. I was a newbie last year and had no clue what to do. I still am a little nervous making HTML changes and I don't like clicking on links that I'm not sure I can get out of. Needless to say... 


I've updated my template! I think it closely relates to my thinking with regards to health & wellness. I believe you can't be stuck on a system of beliefs that has been passed from generation to generation. What someone used to do back then doesn't really mean much to me. Too many things are changing from soil degradation, increased use of pesticides & herbicides and genetically modified produce/seeds - just to name a few. Your wellness depends on your ability to think outside the box, or cage in this analogy. This way of thinking that was handed to you from your parents may need to be tweaked to what your standards are for living and loving. 


I invite you to break the mold, be free, and love yourself enough to care about what products you are buying, consuming, wearing, and educate yourselves on why it really matters.