Check out some of the best kids cooking videos online...Did you know it is thought that people will remember 90% of what they see in a video, but only 10% of what they hear? And if you consider that children usually only listen to less than half of what their parents try to tell them, that means you have less than a 5% chance your wisdom is being heard! But who has time to make videos for their kids? Good news: there are lots of videos online to teach kids to cook. Here are some of the … [Read more...]
Save the Oceans (& Your Hormones!) Simple Steps to Reduce Plastic in Your Life
Is packing food in plastic storage containers and drinking from plastic bottles safe? Do you risk the plastic leaching chemicals like BPA and phthalates? How and why to reduce plastic in your life: When I was in middle and high school, you could pretty much guarantee I'd be behind the trend of what's "cool," but finally, in adulthood, my geekiness has gotten me ahead of the curve!After over a decade of using our stainless steel bottles as a family, bringing my own bags to the grocery store … [Read more...]
Monday Mission: Memorize the Dirty Dozen Produce List + How to Clean your Produce
If you try to buy organic when it counts to be gentle on your budget, you’re probably familiar with the Dirty Dozen produce list published by the EWG (Environmental Working Group), the same organization that puts out the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database that the natural sunscreen review relies upon heavily.This is a list of the 12 items that, when consumed, supply your body with over 90% of your chemical pesticide load from fruits and vegetables. You can find the current list here, or see … [Read more...]
Does Your Lifestyle Need a Detox? {Argan Lavender Oil Cleansing Blend for Combination Skin from Wellness Mama}
In the online world, people usually only see names and rarely faces, so as you can imagine there are often mix-ups. I can't tell you how often readers and colleagues alike have gotten Katie at Wellness Mama and I mixed up.Same first name, write about real food and natural living, have a bunch of kids...I'm sure you can see why!I always take it as a compliment, because Katie's work is so thorough and well-researched, she's a great writer with a passion, and she has actually become a … [Read more...]
Cardamom Cranberry Christmas Cake (Grain-free!)
Breakfast or dessert?That's one of my favorite questions for baked goods, and one that isn't asked nearly enough in the popular culture.Healthy Breakfast Treats for School Party Coffee cake, cinnamon rolls, and mass-produced muffins are automatically delegated to breakfast, when in fact they surely deserve to be dessert based on their sugar percentage. That's why I was nervous when I saw that my daughter's 5th-grade class Christmas party was from 8-9:00 a.m. What are they going to eat … [Read more...]
How to Strengthen Your Brain to Avoid Concussion
When I read my favorite mystery books as a child, the heroine got knocked out cold about once per novel, and never once did she have any long-term (or short term!) effects of concussion or go to see a therapist to rehab her brain.Clearly, Nancy Drew knew and practiced every one of these brain strengthening techniques in spades because her head was so resilient!As you've seen in the last few posts in the series, kids (and adults) are experiencing concussions more often lately and as … [Read more...]
The Best Way to Heal from a Concussion: How to Start Recovery Immediately After a Bump on the Head!
When a toddler or preschooler get a concussion, it feels really serious!Our 3-year-old fell off ONE step this summer and hit the side of his head on cement, and even though it didn't seem like a big deal at first, it turned out to be enough to cause a concussion.When I was madly Googling natural remedies for concussions and how to recover from a concussion, and I wasn't finding much at first. Modern medical wisdom unfortunately takes a "rest and wait" approach, expecting the brain to … [Read more...]
Concussions ARE on the Rise But it’s NOT Why you Think
When my three-year-old fell off the bottom step from a deck and bumped his head on the cement slab below, he cried, Grandma snuggled him, and she assured me it was no big deal when I arrived back from the grocery store.My "mother's intuition" is usually pretty quiet except in labor, but it was dancing around pretty wildly giving me an uncomfortable feeling, a sense that something deeper was wrong. On the way home for dinner, when I heard from the back seat, "I'm so tired, Mama," I knew it … [Read more...]
Why We Use (a LOT of) Redmond Real Salt {Review}
I just love Real Salt. I love the rustic multicolored granules. I love the story on the bottles of how it was discovered. I love that it comes without contamination from modern pollution. I love the 60 trace minerals.I love sprinkling it on my eggs with abandon not worrying about the perils of refined salt. (What's the deal with the health benefits of unrefined salt?)Now that I've even been down in the mine in Utah, I love the whole company and their commitment to quality and purity … [Read more...]
Making Keto Easy with Wildly Organic {REVIEW}
Not too long ago, a good friend of mine shared that she and her husband had decided to try the Keto diet. We spent a whole evening talking about how it was going and the various challenges. Snacking can be really tough, and a lot of people get in a rut of cheese and salami. We just aren't trained as Americans to grab vegetables for a snack.And while it would probably be best to re-train ourselves to eat more vegetables as snacks, or just to skip snacking all together perhaps, I had some … [Read more...]
Stop Paying Whole Foods to Prep For You: 10 Time Saving Tips for Eating Keto or AIP
When you start a new restrictive diet like Keto, or in our case the Autoimmune Paleo/Protocol diet (AIP), it can be hard on both the brain and the schedule.You are suddenly making all sorts of food you are not used to, typically a wider variety and quantity of vegetables than ever before, which means meal planning takes so much more thought and so many more minutes (or hours) at the cutting board.I have a love-hate relationship with diets like this because although they are so much work … [Read more...]
Real Food Thanksgiving Feast — all the recipes you’ll need for an alternative T-day meal!
We all love turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. But sometimes it's nice to change things up a bit. Why not green smoothies and pork chops for Thanksgiving!?I've joined forces with some power-bloggers and did my part in a real food holiday feast, a collection of scrumptious, healthy recipes to spice up your Thanksgiving meal (or any special feast or potluck...or weekday dinner, why not?).Here are all the real food Thanksgiving feast gems in one place! Thanksgiving Breakfast: Pumpkin … [Read more...]
How to Read the New Nutrition Facts Labels
Often one of the first suggestions when you're trying to get healthy is to read labels. It's something I suggest myself, especially when it comes to finding sugar and understanding just how much you are eating.But sometimes, it feels like you need a degree in nutrition fact label reading just to understand it all!The FDA is rolling out some changes to the required nutrition labels which are supposed to clarify some previously confusing portions and be more transparent and easy to … [Read more...]
I Bet I Could Have Been Diagnosed with Depression
People say when you're depressed, you feel flat. You don't find enjoyment in what you used to, and you feel like nothing matters.Something that should get you excited might just raise an eyebrow, and you can't dredge up the energy to care about much of anything.A while back, I questioned my mental health status here and there, but honestly? I didn't have time or energy to deal with it. This summer, I've been working hard on my own health. I did a lot of testing and uncovered a number of … [Read more...]
Real Food Spooky Halloween Shepherd’s Pie
I was the cool mom last year for Halloween.Not only did I let my kids have more than one piece of candy in a day, but I also made a really cool dinner, appropriate to the season: Sometimes, even stuffy, boring adults like me have to let loose and do something fun (like make Shepherd's pie into dinner with mashed potato ghosts on top).A casserole, soup or chili (Recipe available in The Everything Beans Book) is a great idea for Halloween, since they can all be made ahead … [Read more...]
Earthley Natural Health Products {Review}
October is always a touchy time for those women in the Natural Health world. We, of course, want women to be as healthy as possible, and we would do anything to avoid breast cancer and cure it for someone in that awful situation.But we also have to be honest that seeing processed food companies towing the party line of pink for breast cancer awareness is worse than an oxymoron.In fact, a few years ago, I shared a meme on Facebook that remains the most popular Facebook update in the … [Read more...]
Easy Hamburger Helper Substitute! Gluten-Free & Instant Pot Options
I hate when plans fail but sometimes even my best intentions to meal plan fail me. When dinner time is fast approaching and I have NOTHING to make I know I can use my Instant Pot to cook frozen hamburger and make this easy dinner possible! Over the years of our healthy living journey, my "I'm-not-going-to-buy-this-anymore" decisions have hit some nerves. For example.Hamburger Helper. I knew it was bad stuff: MSGs, trans fats, HFCS, white pasta, ETC. There's not much in the ingredient … [Read more...]
Is Food Causing You to be Depressed? What You Didn’t Know About How Food Affects Your Mood
If you can't view the video above, click Teaching Kids to Cook May Help Prevent Anxiety and Depression to see it directly on YouTube. Here's the thing about food and mood - a lot of people don't believe that what we eat can be the root cause of how we feel, especially when it comes to big issues like depression and anxiety. But if you think about it in a practical way, it's only too obvious (and painful, especially if you've ever tried to cook healthy food while in the throes of … [Read more...]
All the Fall Recipes You’ll Need This Season
Are you ready for fall recipes to eat local, seasonal vegetables?One of the things I love best about living in Michigan is that we have all four seasons (sometimes three in one day, I often joke).The changing of the calendar, the weather, and the clothing brings with it great comfort, and there’s always something fresh and new to look forward to for breakfast, lunch and dinner when you eat seasonally.I love an autumn filled with soups, chili, and cold weather root vegetables. And … [Read more...]
7 Fast Acting Natural Remedies for Growing Pains in the Middle of the Night
How is it that my naturally raised kids who are always the shortest in their class wake up in the middle of the night with growing pains all the time?I'm ever grateful when it's just a sore knee and not an ear infection that has caused them to cry out, but I still want to help them get relief and get all of us back to sleep as soon as possible.It turns out this isn't Murphy's Law of parenting at it again, but that "Growing Pains" itself is a misnomer. Growing pains don't actually have … [Read more...]
