REAL Beef Eat Grass -- Not Grains

"The fat content of beef is the primary reason it has lost ground as a respectable entrée on America's dinner table. Not only do most beef cuts have a high fat content, ranging from 35-75%, but the majority of it is saturated.

"Grain fed beef can have an omega 6:3 ratio higher than 20:1"
-- J. Anim. Sci. 2000. 78:2849-2855

This well exceeds the 4:1 ratio where health problems begin to show up because of the essential fat imbalance. Also grain fed beef can have over 50% of the total fat as the far less healthy saturated fat.

Grass fed beef has an omega 6:3 ratio of 0.16 to 1

This is the ratio science suggests is ideal for our diet. This is about the same ratio that fish has. Grass fed beef usually has less than 10% of its fat as saturated. If you are a pregnant or breastfeeding mom, the extra omega 3 from the grass fed beef will provide incredible nutritional benefits for your child" Dr. Mercola

I have been purchasing my beef, chicken, pork and eggs from Creswick Farms for about two years. Their animals are grass-fed. Grass-fed meat is even healthier then the organic grain-fed meat you can purchase at the grocery store. Their meat is not certified organic. However, the farmer explained to me that it is very expensive to get certified and a lot of local farmers bypass this process so that they don't have to charge their customers more money for their meat. Even though they are not certified, they still follow the organic guidelines. I usually order 3-4 times a year and stock up for 3-4 months at a time. I order 6 dozen eggs each time, as well. Their eggs are wonderful. They are only $1.25 a dozen, opposed to the $5.00 organic eggs you buy at the grocery store. Here is their website and some more information about grass-fed meat.
http://www.creswickfarms.com/

Additional Information About Health Benefits

"Products from pastured animals have an ideal balance of essential fatty acids or EFAs. There are two families of EFAs-omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. According to a new French study, when women eat food that is relatively rich in omega-3s and low in omega-6s, they have a 76 percent reduction in their risk of breast cancer. Products from grass fed (also known as grassfed or grass-fed) animals and wild game have this ideal ratio of EFAs."

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Another Pumpkin Seed Recipe: Salad Dressing!

This recipe comes from one of my health mentors, my mommy-in-law! She has taught me a lot over the years about good health and I am grateful for her wisdom. And get this girls.....she doesn't buy the kids tons of candy for Halloween! The kid's Halloween gifts were cute clothes, little Halloween trinkets, and other non-candy gifts. Such a refreshing, practical gift! :)

From Sue: "One cup of raw pumpkin seeds, lightly roasted on the stove top, 2 umbushi plums (they have little pits in there that have to be removed), or 1 1/2 Tbsp umbushi vinegar or 1 1/2 Tbsp of umbushi paste (found at health food stores, Whole Foods, etc)

Just rinse the seeds, pick up the broken or messed up looking ones, cool, throw into VitaMix, grind, add the umbushi and at least 1-2 cups water for the desired thickness (it does get thicker in the frig too) and you can always add more water to thin. Tastes great and so good for you!!!! ENJOY!!!"

My Little Pumpkin!

Lana eating a healthy treat before we dive into the goodies at our Halloween party tonight. :)

A Healthy Halloween Treat: Pumpkin Seeds

I had no idea that pumpkin seeds were such a healthy snack. This year I decided to take this traditional holiday snack one step further, by germinating the seeds. This was very simple, but did take some time. My thought is, it is time well spent. Plus we have been enjoying this healthy treat all week! :)

Here is the recipe and some info.:

"If you eat substantial quantities of raw pecans, walnuts, Brazil nuts, filberts or others, you have a choice of swallowing enzymes capsules with them to neutralize their enzyme inhibitors or first germinating the nuts and letting nature do the job through increased enzyme activity resulting from germination..." Sally Fallon

4 cups of raw, hulled pumpkin seeds
2 T. unrefined sea salt
1 t. cayenne pepper (optional)
filtered water

Dissolve salt in water and add seeds and cayenne. Leave in a warm place for 7 hours or overnight. Drain in a colander and spread on a stainless steel baking pan. Place in warm oven (no more then 150 degrees) for about 12 hours or overnight. Turn occasionally, until thoroughly dry and crisp. Store in an air tight container.

*My oven only went down to 170 degrees and that still worked well. I cooked them for 12 hours.

Does Halloween Stress You Out?
















































It seems like we have had a Halloween party everyday this week. I am all for special treats, in moderation. I really like the 90/10 rule. 90% of the time, under my roof, I will do my best to give my kids healthy nutritious foods. 10% of the time, I am going to let my kids enjoy life's guilty pleasures. However,this week we are enjoying those guilty pleasures way more then 10% of the time! :) So when I was asked to bring in a special treat for Halloween, I searched the internet for a "HEALTHY" Halloween treat. These cute little pumpkins were super easy and fun to make. I used a pumkin carving kit to carve the orange. Baically, you just hollow out the pulp and stuff some small pieces of fruit inside. The kids didn't seem to be sad about not having a treat that was riddled with high fructose corn syrup and food coloring. :)

How do you survive the Halloween madness? My kids are obsessed with candy right now. It is certainly a battle to deal with this sugar obsessed little ones. My girlfriend Amy has a good rule for her candy crazed little ones. She allows one piece of candy a day. The rule is you can have it anytime of the day, but once it's gone, its gone. I think I may adopt this rule as well.

Good Luck, Moms! :)