Need A Motivational Boost?

Do you need a gentle "kick in the pants" to stay in control of holiday eating?  I've blogged about the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart in the past, which will start up again after Jan 1. But what about NOW -- with the Thanksgiving and Christmas season looming ahead? If you want to avoid the typical weight gain of 5 to 10 holiday pounds, why not join a group of like-minded and similarly motivated people.


Dr. Joel Furhman, food guru extraordinaire, has a Holiday Challenge going on. Why not check it out and join? You'll get the lasting benefit of journeying through the holiday season without gorging yourself, without gaining weight, but he's also offering (drum roll) PRIZES! Can anyone say, Florida!?

Check out his website here, and take some time to explore the uber-valuable information on his site, including podcasts and books. Two if Dr. Fuhrman's books are on my Christmas wishlist, for sure!

Here's to the beginning of a plant-strong, healthy holiday season!

Ashland "Local Roots" Firmly Planted!

Local Roots in Ashland...You are sooo welcome here! Finally! We have year-round access to fresh, local goods, including fresh produce, honey and syrup, breads and more. Local Roots just opened about a month ago in a warehouse space in downtown Ashland, and I've been every Saturday so far, with one or both of my daughters in tow.


Go ahead and support our local producers, and sign up, volunteer, and most importantly BUY!

Plant-Based Diet Now Accessible to All With the Release of The Complete Idiot's Guide!

Don't miss the new release of dietician Julieanna Hever's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition.

Whether you're still looking for the right time to jump on the healthy eating (and living) bandwagon, or you need a boost in your journey, this book is a lifesaver! It's an easy-to-follow guide with loads of recipes and tips for newbies. Check out Julieanna on Dr. Oz's show or on her website.

Stay tuned for more regular blog posts; it's been a bit sparse around here-- for lots of reasons. But we're gearing up for some interesting new posts and some fun new ideas, as well as an update on our family's adventure with plant-based, whole food nutrition.

 See you soon!

Check Out How Your Favorite "Healthy" Fast Food Options Fare: Subway, I Thought We Were Friends?

This just in...Subway's Fresh Fit 6” Turkey Breast Sub failed the test, a recent report by the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) claims.

Oh no! This is my go-to choice of eating establishment in our small little town's vast array of fast-food options and extremely limiting healthy choices. At Subway, if you add mayo (or any of their dressings, except little ol' oil and vinegar) and fattening cheese, their sandwiches score low.

I always get the Veggie Delight, and word on the block is that Subway on Claremont packs the most veggies in their sandwich. We love the Claremont Subway!!! When we frequent other Subways in town (believe it or not, there are three), I practically have to BEG for extra veggies. every. time.

Actually, to be truthful, my family has avoided this location because one particular member of the family doesn't like its cramped quarters. Go figure: said family member is from NYC, so I was pretty shocked when this information was released. I guess this person has had his fill of small, cramped spaces.

Here we come Big Sky Country!

Back to the topic at hand: Subway and its Sandwich Artists:

The mindset just isn't there: if you take meat and cheese out of your diet, you have to fill up on veggies -- so don't skimp on the veggies Sandwich Artists! You don't want to mess with a hungry plant-eating crazy lady!

However, my new friend at Subway on Claremont got it right away. Let's just say if you go in the evenings, you're more likely to get a real Veggie Delight sandwich that will fill you up.

So, check out the news report and find out how your favorite fast-food meal fares.Will you be surprised to see McDonald's on the list? Um, that was a joke.

It's circle time, so please share: What's your favorite healthy fast food meal? Is it really healthy?

And don't hate on my endorsement of Subway on Claremont. Good food establishments in Ashland are few and far between. The good ones deserve the ink.

Food vs. Disease. Who wins?

"How To Save A Trillion Dollars," by Mark Bittman

This is an interesting read, and, while you may not agree with everything Bittman says, it's worth considering: spend money on healthy foods or treating disease. The choice is up to you, really, not necessarily the government. Vote with your dollars and your stomach.

Check out Bittman's article, and leave your comments.

Kickstart a Plant-Based Lifestyle

The Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is hosting another round of its 21-Day Vegan Kickstart on April 4. Get in on the action and access plant-based recipes by joining here.
You can also download an app, which includes recipes and the 21-day plan.
Even if you don't want to follow the plan, there are a lot of great recipes on the program. I've used a bunch in my recipe rotation!
If you join, let us know how it goes.

Plant Based Diet Hits Low Income Community

I love this idea. Engine 2 released an article describing their participation in a plan to provide plant-strong education for lower income families with serious health risks. I love the fact that there are groups out there thinking about these things and acting on them on a large scale. It's great that we can all impact our family and friends, but the community projects are fun too.

Check out their report here.

The organization heading up "Meals for Health" within the food bank community is EarthSave.

I can't wait to hear the results of the study. They're collecting information to document health transformation and lifestyle changes. They will even have mentors available for participants. Isn't that we all need? A mentor to just get us through the change?

Consider asking a friend or acquaintance you know who is plant strong to take you to that next level. Feel free to ask your questions here too.

Quinoa

Interesting article from the NY Times on Quinoa. I never knew it was related to beets and spinach, but I guess that's what makes it a power food.

NY TIMES

The article also includes some interesting observations about food prices as demand grows and the impact on grower nations. I guess taste for processed junk food is universal, unfortunately.

In our house, we never waste Quinoa. It tastes great by itself, and I never throw any of it away -- it is pretty expensive. I would love to try it in a drink, too. Too bad the article doesn't show readers how to make the traditional Bolivian drink.

Has anyone come across a recipe? I know I'll be searching for one.

Normalizing High Fructose Corn Syrup

Have any of you seen the latest commercial endorsing high fructose corn syrup? SNL did a parody that was pretty funny, but the message remains. 

As Michael Pollan stated in his book "Food Rules," avoiding high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is beneficial because it means you're basically avoiding highly refined foods (because HFCS is in MOST processed foods) and foods with a high sugar content.

In this book, he says it isn't... 

"any worse for you than sugar, but because it is, like many of the other unfamiliar ingredients in packaged foods, a reliable marker for a food product that has been highly processed. Also, high-fructose corn syrup is being added to hundreds of foods that have not traditionally been sweetened – breads, condiments, and many snack foods – so if you avoid products that contain it, you will cut down on your sugar intake.

It just doesn't sit well with me that a lot of our food supply has an artificial ingredient in it, even though it's from corn, to "soup" it up. What's the point? Why not put government subsidies toward fresh food? Wow. That's the most "political" I think I've ever been in a post. What's your view on the matter?

UK Dietary Guidelines Support Vegan Diet

The Seattle Times recently issued an article regarding the new Dietary Guidelines released in the UK. The article focuses on the guidelines' suggestion for eating less red meat and includes studies that show negative health consequences as a result. It's interesting to see how other countries are responding to the relationship between health and diet.

Despite our current economic "crisis" in America, we continue to be one of the wealthiest countries, with a majority of citizens accessing calorie-rich, yet almost nutrient-free and not necessarily healthy, foods. This raises a completely different issue, but one that has certainly influenced our culture of diet and lifestyle. Enjoy the article.

UK Dietary Guidelines

Funny Video

I'm posting a link to a video. entitled "Ask Your Doctor About Meat."
It has a modicum of humor, shock value, and contains at least some truth. Enjoy!

"Ask Your Doctor About Meat"

This blogger has been pretty busy lately with other writing projects, but promises to return to regular blog postings soon. New topics are piling up! Stay tuned.

New Beginnings

We are well into January and most of us have probably made some kind of resolve to change some habits and eat healthier. The Whole Foods, Plant Based Living for Kids blog wants to help you along the way. I have to confess that recently I have been allowing myself too many "treats."

True Confessions:

• I recently bought donut holes AND ate them.
• My sweet spot is "Hint of Lime" chips with salsa. The salsa is good....but the chips are LOADED with fat and not whole grain. Yes, I've indulged.
• M&Ms. Need I say more.

One site I look to over and over again for good recipes is "Whole Foods." They have a series of Health Starts Here recipes that are a surefire way to get back up on the horse. Check them out here.
I recommend the "Grain Stuffed Red Peppers." Share some new recipes you've tried that are keeping you on the straight and narrow.

Sugar

From today's Anticancer, a new way of life post:

The average teen consumes 28 teaspoons of added sugar per day - The American Heart Association

 How much sugar do you take in each day? Pick a day this week and count the grams of sugar you eat. Are you surprised?

Don't forget about 21-Day Vegan Jumpstart. It's in full swing but you can still sign up for emails here.

Going Low-Fat: 21-Day Vegan Kickstart

Check out Day 3 of Vegan Kickstart!


Today's topic: the importance of a low-fat diet.

Day 2: Vegan Kickstart

It's not too late to jump on board with PMRC's Vegan Kickstart. It's only Day 2. In the spotlight today: NBA basketball player John Salley. Even if you haven't committed to following the meal plans they outline, they have really good tips for healthy eating. Today's tip from Susan:

Cooking greens is easy, and the nutrients are abundant. Some greens have tougher stems- collards, kale, and chard-and it may be preferable to remove them before cooking. Others have stems that cook tender: spinach, watercress, and turnip greens. Adding a little lemon juice or vinegar to your cooked greens makes some of the nutrients even more bioavailable.

Buy some greens on your next shopping trip and add some lemon. If you're still eating meat, steam some greens and put chicken breast on top of it. Try it as a side. Start small, about a scoop full. Let us know about your experience.

Kickstart the New Year

PCRM (Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine) began a new Vegan Kickstart for the new year. Are you joining? Lots of recipe ideas, tips, menus and videos to get you started. Check it out at:

http://pcrm.org/kickstartHome/

Add Your Voice!

New survey up on the blog. Do you have any New Year's goals for adding whole foods to your diet? Chime in!

Guest Blogger: Nelia!

I was going to discuss nuts today, since it’s the Christmas season. I love nuts and I love that stores sell them in the shell (and also shelled): children (and adults) LOVE to crack nuts. I remember one of my daughter's preschool centers was cracking nuts, although each child could only crack 2 per day.

Today, I’m going to interview a “nut”: my daughter Nelia. I hope you enjoy a child’s perspective of whole foods, plant-based eating.

Q: What do you like about being vegan?

N: I’m not a vegan.

Q: What are you?

N: I’m not a carnivore, I’m not a vegan, I’m not a vegetarian.

Q: Do you eat animal products?

N: Yes. I do.

Q: Like what?

N: Meat, eggs, cheese, yogourt.

Q: Do you drink milk?

N: No, not animal milk. I drink Almond milk. Original.

Q: Did you like switching to Almond milk?

N: No, at first I didn’t. But I got used to it and, yeah.

Q: What fruit do you like?

N: Canteloupe, a lot. And, well, oranges, apples, raspberries, blueberries.

Q: What about veggies?

N: Carrots. Cauliflower, lettuce. That’s really all.

Q: What do you like about how eating plant food helps the environment?

N: Actually, it doesn’t really help the environment because you’re taking fresh air out of the planet. Cause when you…plants give you oxygen. If you see lettuce just anywhere or a plant and you pick it up and then they die for a flower.

Q: What about being green? Are you green?

N: Yes, I am very much. I like recycling and I once picked up trash in our neighborhood.

Q: Are you motivated to eat well so you can be healthy?

N: Kind of. If I have too much energy, then I’ll go crazy. If I have too much energy, then I’ll get hyper if I don’t let it out, because if I have a bunch of healthy stuff then it gives me energy in school and I’ll be sitting in school.

Q: So, is that why you still eat animal products?

N: Well, yeah. I still need my protein. I can’t live without bacon!

Q: What would you tell other people who are trying to eat healthy by eating more plant foods?

N: Well, I would tell them it’s okay to have some cheese or milk, because those don’t really make your stomach upset, and I would tell them that cut off the sugar a little bit.

Q: How do you cut off sugar?

N: Well, you can like, have ice cream once in a while and popsicles once in a while. You should get things with low sugar, like when I eat my popsicles they are real fruit juice. The flavoring and coloring [of popsicles in general] have sugar in it, and it’s not healthy for you. The real fruit juice has less sugar and it’s healthier for you.

Q: Have you given up candy?

N: Um, well, yeah, kind of. I still eat ice cream and popsicles, but that’s not really candy.

Q: What candy do you eat?

N: Only sometimes I have candy, and it’s usually like Reece’s or Snickers because they handed out Snickers in church once and [my teacher] Mrs. Jackson hands out Snickers and Reece’s.

Q: Thanks for sharing, Nelia.

N: You’re welcome.

Well, folks, that’s the real, hard truth in our household. She’s obviously half on board. Lourdes, her sister, declined an interviewed. She would have made me look like a much better WFPB mom! That’s the reality in our family: two of us are die-hard and two are, well, holding their own!

I hope you find some good, quality choices this Christmas and New Year’s, but, as Nelia said, it’s okay to still have some animal products and sugar…once in a while.

Green Smoothies

I didn't post last week. Sorry! I have been working on other projects, but, in the meantime, my enthusiasm has not waned for the smoothie. In fact, it has only increased. Breakfast is the perfect and probably best meal to put all of your efforts into. You probably reap the most rewards from this meal. Your body is just gearing back up into full swing from "rest" mode and you need calories -- and nutrients that count. I keep hearing experts talk about making breakfast that big meal, not dinner. The smoothie is the best way I've discovered so far to get those calories in, but I'm talking about valuable calories -- calories that pack a punch.

I've discovered a really great addition for the smoothie, which I heard about multiple times but never came across any in the stores around my area. I finally happened upon a "green" product for smoothies at Trader Joe's. Love them! They have their own brand, called "Trader Joe's Super Green Drink" powder, and there's two flavors. I chose berry. This honestly tastes like chalk when  mixed with Almond Milk (vanilla flavored Almond Milk, no less). I didn't care, though. I have been faithfully putting a schoop of green drink powder in my morning smoothie. Everything else that I put into the smoothie masks this unpleasant taste. The "pièce de résistance": it provides 8000 units of Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) per scoop. Now, the label says that if I were to eat 3.5 oz of cherries, I would get 670 ORAC units. Broccoli is 900 ORAC. I was impressed the moment I read the label. But what was this ORAC?  (This cool site lists lots of of ORAC foods values.

ORAC is basically a term that describes the power that antioxidents have. Remember I was putting a few handfuls of spinach or kale in my smoothie? Well, this by far replaces that!

Now, you may think I'm a hypocrite for endorsing a powder product. "Whole Food" appears in the title of the blog, so how can  I recommend this? Well, it's called reality I guess. I'm sure there's purists out there who are aghast at what I just said. However, I'm a realist. We take baby steps here that we hope will lead to lifelong lifestyle changes.
Another check in the "plus" column for green powder is that the entire canister was $20.00 for a month's worth of servings. I figured that cost less than buying spinach or kale (in the same quantities)  for the month. Never mind the care to keep the kale fresh, or to cook it, bag it, etc. This seems like a no brainer for busy moms, students, people who work, or people who are currently alive on this planet. (Once the spring and summer harvest hit, though, I'll have to go back to fresh greens.)
Think about it. If I could one day (insert evil laugh here) sneak this into my children's smoothies, I'll have hit the jackpot. Of course, the "green" color of the powder completely takes over the smoothie, unless I include berries, and the girls will spot the intruder within a nanosecond of me handing them the smoothie. That is, if I can even get Lourdes to eat a smoothie! She's still a work in progress in the smoothie department. I'm thinking about sitting them down and just talking to them about veggies and what this powder does. I'm already brainstorming ideas for how to present these powerhouse ORACs. I have to get creative. Pull out all the stops. Put my dignity and respect on  hold. Truly, I'm thinking this might go the same way that flaxseed did. They tasted a pinhead's amount of ground flaxseed; their highly sophisticated, highly trained tastebuds detected no offending flavors. I'm now allowed to sprinkle flaxseed, in small amounts -- not nearly the heaping 1 teaspoon that I use, on sandwiches and so forth.
If I start small, maybe they'll let me sprinkle some green powder in a smoothie or even on peanut butter. I can tell you that I feel great getting two servings of veggies (AND 6000 ORACs) along with 3 servings of fruit in my breakfast alone. Top that with flaxseed and I'm already ahead of the game on my omega 3s for the day. Almond milk provides healthy fats and peanut butter some good protein. I drink this around 7:30am and I'm honestly full until about 11:00am, when I usually have another snack.
I'll keep you posted on "the talk." For now, let me know what kind of smoothies you're trying at home. Are you  "green" yet?

Smoothie Heaven

Yummo. Jamba Juice. Orange Julius. Healthy Homemade. Which one of these is not like the other! Do you remember the Sesame Street lyrics? 

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Did you guess which thing was not like the others?
Did you guess which thing just doesn't belong?
If you guessed this one is not like the others,
Then you're absolutely...right!

(See the video on YouTube!)

I'm taking you waaaaay back now, aren't I?

Smoothies are a great way to get your fill of nutrients and super foods; however, most commercial smoothies are high in sugar and sometimes fat. A real-fruit smoothie can get really pricey, too.

I’ve taken to having a smoothie each morning to get a couple of servings of fruit and veggies in, along with some other goodies. I’m trying desperately to get our girls on board, but they are just not biting…or are they?

This is generally what’s in my smoothie:

Almond milk

Mixed frozen berries

Banana

Ground flax seed

Almond Butter

2 handfuls of spinach (sometimes kale)

I’m a good mother, so of course I want the girls to experience the same awesomeness of flavors and health, right?

The girls have other ideas, however. Lourdes wants just a banana and almond milk. Nelia wants to use her favorite raspberry yogourt and frozen raspberries. Well, what’s wrong with me? Let 'em have at it! I’ve forgotten the baby steps motto. My protégées are voicing their desires and willing to try it, but I’m already miles ahead wanting them to seriously consider putting raw spinach into a drink. Hello! Let me take a moment to get back up on that proverbial horse.

I didn't know this blog would give me the opportunity to scold myself, er, rather realize the potential that can come from this. I'm always learning and failing and trying again, too. We’ll probably have smoothie snacks when they get home from school - THEIR WAY.

If you’re a parent trying to change your child’s diet, let him start with what he likes If you’re an adult and you’re trying to change your own eating as well, don’t despise small beginnings. When you get brave, add some spinach, or compromise and add one leaf at a time. You won’t even know it’s there; I promise.

Another thing for parents to consider is age appropriateness. I find that Lourdes is much more rational, probably because she’s almost 11 and is on the cusp of the cognitive thinking stage. I can usually talk to her about the facts and she’s able to make a good decision. Nelia, who’s 8, on the other hand, is still a card carrying member of the “I don’t have to if I don’t want to” club. ‘Nuff said! Introducing new things and being content with what she will eat, for now, is progress. Consider your child’s stage of development and their personality, and go easy on yourself. Consider your own development, too! Baby steps. We'll all get “there” soon enough.

Happy Thanksgiving!