Healthy Breakfast Options

Whether talking to a working mother, or the stay-at-home mother there is a common place that we can come together and agree. Mornings are complete madness. The constant checking of the clock to keep everyone on schedule to get out the door on time, or at least as close as possible. Do we have everything? Do we have everyone? Oh yeah, breakfast.

If you are like me, I have very little energy and motivation in the morning. So, breakfast often becomes a list of options that are semi-healthy but fast and easy. But now those options have run their course and I have begun the search for better breakfast options. And in that search I have stumbled across some very unnerving information. The list of "do not eat" is much longer than the list of "eat." And on top of that, I found an article claiming that boxed cereal is not considered food.

Yes, it is true. Boxed cereal is beginning to be considered by some not to be food, but a food product. This wonderful staple that I have turned to in my mornings of madness has betrayed me. I thought that I was feeding my children "whole grains" and "organic" cereal. But alas, it is not true. According to the article by SimplyBeingWell.com cereal's processing strips it and actually damages the proteins. The proteins that naturally would be healthy for us, then becomes toxic. And most cereals, organic or not, contain sugar. And if you go the conventional route, we have all heard the risks of the dyes and high fructose corn syrup that they load into the cereal.

So, now what am I to do? My search was not going the way I had planned. But finally I came across an article at TheDailyGreen.com talking about some great tips for some healthy breakfast ideas. So, here they are broken down in an easy-to-use list.

1. Fruit - Good old fruit. Healthy and full of nutrients. It is also a great way to curb those morning sugar urges/addictions.

2. Yogurt parfaits or smoothies - the best is that both of these are fast and can be eaten on the run if you have to. And there are lots of combination possibilities with flavors and textures.

3. Bake your own breakfast bars - this is my new goal to try. I will be on the search for some great recipes to share, and please share if you have found some of your own.

4. Eggs - Simple. Eggs are one of natures superfoods. You can't give your kids a better source of protein to start their day other than a good ol' egg.

5. Breakfast sandwich - redefine your thinking on the sandwich. Natural peanut butter, honey, and whole wheat toast is a great healthy option.

6. Oat porridge - there is a recipe on the link to the simplybeingwell.com for this. It is supposed to be a great option for children and infants. You soak the oats and it helps to take the strain off of their digestive system. The longer you soak them, the less the strain. This one takes a little more planning ahead, but is a great option for younger children.

So, whether you are rushing your little ones to daycare, or you are wrangling them at home for the day, I hope that this list of "to eat" options helps to manage your morning madness. Or at least makes the breakfast options a little healthier and easy to manage.

I would love to hear any healthy morning food ideas that your family has found! Please share. My mornings need all the help they can get! :)

The Dirty Dozen vs. The Clean 15

Buying organic and balancing the budget are two things that do not live in harmony at our house. I want to do what is best for my family and feed them food that is good for them, but we also need to pay bills. I am sure that this is a scenario that is not unlike yours. How do you find the balance?

There is a large variety of pesticides and chemicals that are used to grow our food in the non-organic realm. The information that is helpful is to know what foods are worse than others. If you have to pick and choose what to buy organic, than you might as well buy organic on the ones that count.

This is where The Dirty Dozen come in. The Dirty Dozen is a list compiled by the Environmental Working Group on what foods have the highest concentration of pesticides, additives and hormones. The EWG continually updates this list. It is said that if you eat the fruits and veggies that are considered to be one of the dirty dozen, you will ingest on average of 10 pesticides per day.

The other side to this information, is what foods non-organic are "not so bad." This is The Clean 15. They have the lowest level of pesticides, additives and hormones. Many of these foods have a thick skin, or peel that is not eaten and protects the food from absorbing the contaminates.

We know that organic is most likely the best and healthiest option for our families, but not always possible due to the price of food today. So when you are at the grocery store bring with you the Dirty Dozen list and the Clean 15 list like I do. It will help relieve your stress or guilt about some of the foods you may have to pick to balance the budget.

What other guides have you found helpful?

Want more information?

The Dirty Dozen: www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods

The Clean 15: www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Save-on-Sustainable-Gallery-44032808

What's the beef with Beef?

There are so many places to start when talking about organics and food information. I decided to start with beef. My main reason is Barbara Kowalcyk.

Her story is highlighted in the movie Food Inc., and her story very much stuck with me. Barbara was just any ordinary mother of a two year old little boy. They were on a family vacation and they were traveling. Just like we have done so many times, they ate hamburgers at drive thru fast food restaurants. Her little boy, Kevin ate a hamburger contaminated with E.coli. He died a little over a week later due to complications from E.coli.

I know that this is a sad story, but the saddest part of her story is that the company that processed the hamburger knew about the E.coli before Kevin ate his hamburger and did not recall the meat. There were other deaths related to the same contaminated meat.

I have a very hot injustice button, and this story hit it dead on for me. And of course the company should get in trouble for not reporting! Its just common sense. Nope. "In 1998 the USDA implemented microbial testing for salmonella and E.coli 0157h7 so that if a plant repeatedly failed these tests, the USDA could shut down the plant. After being taken to court by the meat and poultry associations, the USDA no longer has that power" - www.foodborneillness.org

What?! I could not believe what I was hearing. So, even if they are testing the food, they are not recalling it as they should, and the USDA can't do anything about it. This is crazy! As you are watching it is overwhelming and maddening. But there are things that we can do. Basically know what you are choosing when you are at the grocery store.

The answer? Grass Fed Beef.

First of all, grass is what cows were designed to eat. The other beef that you buy is grain, or corn fed. Corn is not a natural food for a cow and it throws off the acid balance in their stomach which allows for the E.coli. (Companies treat the grain fed beef with a variety of things, including chlorine gas to help stop the E.coli) A grass fed cow has a balanced stomach acid, and therefore kills off the E.coli naturally, without the use of any treatments or chemicals.

The nutritional content of grass fed beef is superior to grain fed. It is higher in Vitamin E, omega 3 fatty acids and Conjugated Linoeic Acid (CLA- has been linked to cancer fighting). Not only are there more nutrients, but there are less calories! Yes! Less calories. A grass fed steak can be up to 50% less calories than a grain fed steak.

Grass fed cows are healthier and healthier cows require less hormones and antibiotics.

I know. Informational overload. There are so many things to consider and this is just beef! I think that if we just take it one topic at a time and talk it over together, it won't be so overwhelming. I would love to hear your feedback on this, and other facts that you have found.

As a mom, I know that we are bombarded with info about everything from immunizations, to car seats, to what schools to send our kids to. I hope that by talking and sharing we make that an easier burden to carry.

If you want to learn more here are a couple sites that I found helpful.

www.foodincmovie.com/about-the-issues.php

www.foodborneillness.org

www.suite101.com

Organic or Not to Organic? That is the question.

Welcome to Food Fridays! This is where all the food sharing and discussion begins. So much of our mothering has to do with food. What to buy? What to cook? What to feed and when?

So, lets get started with a hot topic: Organic or Non-Organic?

The movie that started it all for us was Food Inc. If you have not seen this movie, I highly recommend it. I had had conversations with friends that were starting to eat organic, but it seemed so extreme. I had two young children that kept me at the end of my sanity rope, and I felt overwhelmed with everything else already on my plate. I was doing a good job of making sure they tried lots of new foods, had balanced meals and ate their veggies. We also had our son on a gluten-free diet already. So, now on top of all of that I had to start worrying about where the food came from, how it is treated chemically and what that does to us in the long run?! I avoided the topic for a while. But then I watched the movie.

The movie showed me all of the reasons that I no longer could ignore what we ate. My ignorance was not bliss. So what now? Where to start? How to afford it? And what the heck was the "dirty dozen"?

Every Friday, I will be posting a new topic or piece of information in relation to these topics. I know that many of them are hot topics for discussion, and I hope that we will receive lots of opinions and comments. I am new to the world of organics and its overwhelming entourage of information. So, this will be a journey for me also. I'm looking forward to it!

Sherrie