Transit Time

My sis also consults with her own nutritionist and this was some interesting information she received from one of her meetings. Check it out:

It's important to know the transit time for a bowel movement. Eat some beets and take note of how long it takes to see them in your stool. Kim said that if you do not like raw beets, you could try roasting them in the oven.

"What is important in a healthy body is how long it takes for a body to flush out the waste after the process of eating is completed. Basically this refers to how long it takes food to go from the mouth to the bowel.

Average transient time is around 21 hours. If your transient time exceeds 26 to 30 hours, then you have a mild case of constipation. If your transient time is 31 to 36 hours you are constipated. If your transient time is 37 to 48 hours you may have chronic constipation."

Thanks Kim!

Lana enjoying a yummy treat!
When grampy stepped away, she gobbled up his cake too. :)

A Tea Tip

Today at Whole Foods I had a nice talk with a tea expert. She said white tea actually has more antioxidants than green tea. She also told me its important to mix it up...buy a box of green, then white, then black, etc. Some teas have a green/white combo. I have to imagine this tea technique is important for the same reason you should switch up your probiotic every time. Also, a tea bag should sit for 8-10 minutes in hot water to get the most nutritional benefit from the brew. Drink up, friends!

Mimi , Lana, Papa & Cousin Chloe on Easter Sunday

Jake with his BFF, Sophia

Lukey and Grandma

Ben with sticky fingers!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

Celebrating Earth Day: April 22nd
http://crafts.slides.kaboose.com/277-favorite-recycled-crafts/8

I think Earth Day is a really important day to recognize and talk about. Whether it is going for a walk in your neighborhood and picking up trash or doing a fun Earth Day craft. Check out the link above for some cool Earth Day crafts. I especially like the coffee ground fossil craft.

Also, here is a coupon for my favorite green self-tanner product (http://www.lavera.com): EARTHDAY15

Yummy Easter Muffins

I doubled the recipe below and made some mini-muffins as well. The minis freeze well and make for a nice breakfast treat. This was also our Easter gift to the boy's teachers. They look so pretty with the frosting and crushed walnut topping. Enjoy! :)

Ingredients:
2 pasture-fed eggs
1 1/8 cups organic sugar
1/3 cup organic brown sugar
1/2 cup grape seed or olive oil
1 t. vanilla extract
2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup crushed pineapple
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup of unbleached flour
1 1/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. Celtic Sea Salt
1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/3 t. ground ginger
1 cup crushed walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.
2. Beat together the eggs, white sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl, and mix in the oil and vanilla. Fold in carrots and pineapple. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Mix flour mixture into the carrot mixture until evenly moist. Fold in 1/2 cup walnuts and 1 cup of chocolate chips. Transfer to the prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before topping with the whipped vanilla frosting and sprinkling with remaining walnuts.

Found It!

http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2010/03/easter-countdown.html

I have been searching for an Easter tradition. We do a fun scavenger hunt for Valentine's Day but had nothing different or unique for Easter. Check out the blog link above to read more about this cute Easter countdown. I like to center my Easter gifts for the kids around the true meaning of Easter and spring time fun versus candy, candy and more candy! This year I picked up kid's brooms, shovels, garden tools, and a kid's kit for growing strawberries at Joanne fabrics. Here are some ideas for my Easter countdown:

Day 1: Make carrot cake or muffins and deliver it to great-grandma.
Day 2: Color Easter Eggs (Whole Foods has a cute kit right now)
Day 3: Go see the Easter bunny
Day 4: Plant some indoor flower pots
Day 5: Set-up our strawberry kit
Day 6: Make Easter cards for the cousins
Day 7: Read an Easter Story
Day 8: Make an Easter craft
Day 9: Make egg shaped rice krispie treats
Day 10: Color an Easter picture
Day 11: Write a letter to the Easter bunny
Day 12: Go to church

Jake's New BFF: A Worm!

So often I want to scream "GROSS" every time I see my kids lovingly pick-up a worm. They treat the little slimy thing like it is the cutest thing in the world. Kelly's mom (a nature expert!) did a great job at one of our mom's meetings teaching us about how we should encourage exploration and curiosity versus being disgusted every time our kids want to pick-up a slug or some other little creature.

I love Lana's look of disgust in this picture, as her brother dangles a worm in her face.

Once Jake shows her how cool it is to play with worms...she starts to reconsider.

Ben is starting to become jealous of Jake's cool pet.

Ben decided to snag Jake's friend and to let him return to his family but Jake was not ready to say good-bye yet. We were sad for a good ten minutes over this one.

Don't want to do a huge garden?

Consider container/sill gardening: http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/container-gardening-460709

Ah-Ha Moment!

Last night the girls and I went to an organic gardening class put on by Thera Gardens and Organically Done. Kevin and I used Organically Done last year to fertilize our turf and were very unhappy with the results. But after going to the class last night, I realized that I need to check my priorities at the door. Instead of aiming to have the greenest lawn on the block, with no weeds in sight, we need to switch our goal to having the cleanest/safest yard for our family and the environment.

Here are some things that I found to be very helpful/useful from last night's class:

1. Have your garden soil tested. Call 248-858-0902 (MSU) to get a test kit. They said this is the most important step in maintaining a healthy garden.
2. Your garden needs a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight to thrive. 8-10 hours would be optimal.
3. Rotate your crops yearly to avoid depleting soil nutrients.
4. Gardeners.com is a site that you can enter the dimensions of your garden and what you want to grow and it will plot out your garden and provide care instructions.
5. Get a drip line from Lowes for $15.00 and set it on a timer for watering your garden. Have it set to water your plants before the sun comes up. The plant and fruit do not need to be watered, just your soil.
6. Call Michigan State University Extension Plant and Pest hot line for a free service that diagnoses disease and pest infestation. 248-858-0902
7. Do not rototille your garden. It typically brings up weed seeds.
8. Soil typically contains 80 trace minerals if cared for correctly.
9. Do not get soil or compost from Lowes or Home Depot. He recommended Maines in Oakland County.
10. Do not get seeds from Home Depot or Lowes. Get them online from Burpees.
11. Do not use Milorganite fertilizer. It contains heavy metals.
12. Consider using Ringer for Turf.

Girls, What were other helpful hints/tips????

Food Matters..Have you seen it?

Kevin and I watched the Food Matters documentary this weekend and it did a great job of reinforcing why it is so important to spend money on good quality food. How can you argue with an investment in your family's health?

The documentary had lots of interesting health facts. One example was that two handfuls of cashews has the same therapeutic effects as the medication Prozac. Not sure how that happens but I do believe in the power of food and your body's ability to heal with proper nutrition.

Check it out when you get a chance!

Grampy Love

The kids love their Grampy! Grandpa Bill helps us on a weekly basis with the the kids..he is wonderful! Thank you Grandpa Bill! XO

Toxic Tylenol

Lana had her fist fever this week, since her seizure. I quickly made a trip to the drug store to stock up on Motrin and Tylenol. Pre-seizure, I liked to wait it out before medicating but we don't have that choice for the time being. Sooooo when I examined the ingredients in the medications, I was disgusted to find Red #40, HFCS, etc. So I opted to buy the dye free, which is a little better, but was NOT available. I went to two stores to look for the dye-free option and couldn't find it at either location. I can not believe that this is a medication that is SUPPOSE to help children when they are ill. How sad that I am trapped and have to give my daughter these toxic chemicals.

Lana's Holistic MD gave me an excellent program of homeopathics to use for her fever but I still feel nervous about using homeopathy for Lana. For the rest of the kids, I will be using homeopathy for fevers. She did say stick with Motrin over Tylenol, if you need to medicate.

Liver Update

I will not be posting my recipe because liver night was a total failure! :( One of the four kids ate it and it wasn't Lana. My grandma (aka my BFF) cooked liver all the time for her kids. I called her tonight to ask her what do I do with all of this cooked liver? She said ground it tomorrow and mix with mayo and serve with crackers. That will be our mid-day snack tomorrow. I am on a mission to get my zinc deprived daughter eating liver. I can see this won't be easy.

My husband politely told me he ate a big lunch and wasn't hungry. I can take a hint! :) I did taste it and to be completely honest, didn't like it a bit. I wonder if the "trying it twenty times" works with adults too??? HA!

Tonight's Dinner: LIVER

Lana's holistic MD did a full body examination and told me that Lana has white spots or lines on her finger nails, indicating a zinc deficiency. She also told me that when you have children close together and you breastfeed, it is not uncommon for the third or fourth child to have health issues/nutritional deficiencies. Reason being is that the mother is probably deficient as a result of multiple close pregnancies and breast-feeding. Chances are all of my children are genetically prone to febrile seizures but Lana may be more susceptible due to a nutritional deficiency. Interestingly enough, she is the only one in our family that has the spots on her nails...and we all eat the same foods. It really makes sense.

I wanted to share her advice regarding her zinc deficiency. Please know that I love sharing my findings along my journey but I probably don't always explain things well, due to my lack of education on the topic. I try to do my best because I assume the rest of the world is as interested in this stuff as me... :) Probably not, but hopefully there are a few people who may also benefit from some of this information.

Back to her advice....she told me to cook liver once a week for the family. She said liver has more nutritional value than any vegetable you could consume. Here is some information on liver:

"Function of Liver: One of the function of the liver is to neutralize toxins (such as drugs, chemical agents and poisons); but the liver does not store toxins. The liver is not a storage organ for toxins but it is a storage organ for many important nutrients (vitamins A, D, E, K, B12 and folic acid, and minerals such as copper and iron). These nutrients provide the body with some of the tools it needs to get rid of toxins. Poisonous compounds that the body cannot neutralize and eliminate are likely to be deposited in the fatty tissues and the nervous system.

Health Benefits:

• Liver is an excellent source of high-quality protein. Protein is important for muscles growth and for repair of body tissues.
• Liver is one of the most concentrated sources of vitamin A. Vitamin A helps to promote healthy vision, promote fertility in males and females, and allow for proper embryonic development.
• Liver contain CoQ10, a nutrient that is especially important for cardio-vascular function
• Liver as cure for Anemia. For those who want to prevent pernicious anemia from ever occurring, the best course of action is to eat liver once a week.

chicken liver pate

• Liver help boost energy. In a study liver was found to greatly boost swimming endurance in rats.
• Liver is a rich source of vitamin B12 and folic acid.
• Liver has a highly usable form of iron.
• Liver also contains trace elements such as copper, zinc and chromium."

On a side note, the cook book Nourishing Traditions recommends you soak your liver in lemon juice before cooking, to clean the organ of any impurities.

So we will see if the kids dig liver on their first try. I am 33 and have never once had liver and can honestly say it scares me. I am going to try to be a good role model and eat it up with a smile on my face. If the recipe is a success, I will post it. Wish me luck! :)

PS) That picture above does NOT look appetizing...