The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - More Good . . .

My friend Laura’s son and my daughter have been friends since just about the day they were born and we try to get together for play dates as often as we can.

Two weeks ago I was excited to learn that Laura had turned to (organic) veganism around the same time that I had.  This meant that I could look forward to our play dates even more.

Do you know how challenging it is to have play dates with mothers who feed their children poorly?

You find yourself cringing slightly as they pass their little one Ho Hos,  white bread sandwiches, and pesticide-laden fruit.

Now that I know Laura and I have the same eating habits, we have been trading recipes, educational websites, and other informational emails regarding our new way of life.  This has not only, in my humble opinion, made our friendship stronger, but is really helping me find more creative ways to make meals.

On Sunday we joined forces at a bounce place in Carmel so the kids could release their “sillies” and we could have some chit chat time.  Imagine my surprise when she gives me the amazing book “Radiant Health, Inner Wealth” http://www.radianthealth-innerwealth.com/newbook.html.  The book is loaded with advice, recipes, and solutions for vegan challenges.  It has been in my possession for less than 24 hours and I have already read through the entire book, made one of the recipes, and planned a menu for the upcoming week.

A trip to your local Whole Foods-type store will probably be necessary for many of the recipes, but items like “cilantro lime rice” can be made easily without a lot of fanfare.  The book also acknowledges the many challenges with gluten and soy and has a variation for almost every recipe to make it soy-free or gluten-free.  Some of the most commonly endorsed ingredients in the book include: almond milk (or any dairy-free milk you use), quinoa, millet, whole wheat flours (I use almond flour or other gluten free flours), milled flax seed as an egg substitute, rolled oats,  all organic vegetables, and tons of herbs and spices for the recipes.

Her theme is easy to follow. Whole grains, loads of veggies, and anything that is sweet should use real maple syrup, REAL sugar, fruits, and spices.  She also has an organic whole food recipe for chocolate chip cookies and one could certainly replace the chips with carob ones if they were so inclined.  One of her recipes is “Apple Pie Acorn Squash” and I can’t wait to give it a dry run before Thanksgiving! In fact, my whole Thanksgiving meal may come from this book.
Her recipe for mashed potatoes looks DIVINE.

And the best part of the book for parents? A kids section!

Trying to raise a vegan child? OR even just trying to get your little person to eat veggies?  She gives you ideas on where to begin and what to try. Her recipes for kids are great!  Sydney and I already made the eggplant chips and she loved them! We dipped them in hummus and had a great late day snack together.

I am so thankful to Laura for giving me a copy of this book. The recipes are simple and book is easy to understand. This book is a win for the GOOD team.

Signing off,
Erin 003

Use your head...

Use your head...

(preferably not in the way this image depicts)!

The agents and I talk often and at length about food. A lot of our conversations revolve around avoiding the unnatural and processed varieties. I don't profess to be an expert of any particular diet or nutrition protocol. Instead, I promote logic. When I first began my own transformation, that became my mantra. If it didn't make sense logically, I generally dismissed whatever it was as simply not true.

Now, I should point out that the agents and those I work with are more "enlightened" than most I know. Some of them were already making good nutritional choices, others knew what choices the should be making; and some are in the process of changing their thought processes all together.

Regardless of where they (or you) are, I will always promote making sensible and logical choices.

I continue to research, learn and in general glean as much knowledge as I can soak up on the topic. However, the more I learn, the more I understand...the more disturbed I become. About what? I'll tell you...

It starts with me looking at my own kids and thinking about our efforts to raise them to "think" or use their heads when it comes to what they put in their mouths. This can be challenging at times. Particularly in the society we live in. Below is an excerpt from a wellness related website on a government campaign intended to combat the ever increasing child obesity epidemic...

You might remember the public service ads paid for by the U.S. Department of Health where Shrek tells kids to, "Get up and play an hour a day." But that's not the only promotional work Shrek was doing that year... You could also see his lovable ugly mug on packages of Snickers, Skittles, Froot Loops, Pop-Tarts and M&Ms. McDonald's put his image on their restaurant windows and food bags. Cheetos made a snack that would turn your mouth green. And the Shrek version of Twinkies had a bright green filling.

Are you kidding me! Nope it's true...and we wonder why there is a problem with childhood obesity. Further adding fuel to my frustration, someone recently told me about a very prominent outdoor magazine listing the "best" workout recovery smoothie. This recipe contained of all things, Nesquik powder....I swear. I wonder how many people read that recipe and actually thought it might be healthful? I'll bet a lot of them. In true agent mode, I just had to find the ingredients of "Nesquik" (which strangely aren't listed on the Nestle website...hmmm)

Here are some of them (taken from The Delicious Truth Blog)

"I was not surprised by the sugar and cocoa, and a couple chemistry lab remnants (tricalcium phosphate and potassium sorbate) caused me no shock. However, I was a little intrigued by the presence of the petroleum-based artificial colorants red 40, blue 1 and yellow 6".

C'mon people...chocolate powder/syrup with red 40, blue 1 and yellow 6...oh yeah get me some!

I could obviously go on and on. Without appearing to be a natural/organic food evangelist, I'll leave you with this. There are a lot of choices when it comes to diet and nutrition. From low carb to high carb, vegetarian, vegan, raw, raw vegan and the list goes on. Those who are close to me, know that today I may be a bit more extreme when it comes to my own nutrition. But, I also understand that what I do (which is a very "clean" diet overall), isn't necessarily reasonable to most.

My suggestion...make logical choices. Think about what makes sense, especially with what you put into yourself. One thing I DO know a lot about is change. It doesn't always come easily, and often it comes over time. Just start making them. One at a time, one after the other. The more you make, the easier they do become.

Josh