“Beans, beans, the musical fruit. The more you eat, the more you…..”
I always found this little rhyme at least moderately amusing. It makes me giggle even now. I haven’t shared it yet with my guys because I just know they will probably not stop saying it & then collapse in hysterics. But, they are boys, after all, It might be time to teach them about armpit “honks”. Crass, yes. But some things are just funny.
There are many ways to get calcium from foods other than dairy products. In fact, you might already be aware that we are UNABLE to absorb the calcium in cow’s milk; in contrast, our bodies actually PULL CALCIUM OUT OF OUR BONES in order to buffer the acidity of our blood when we drink the stuff. See my post on milk for more info.
Green leafy vegetables contain calcium. Examples are bok choy, kale, mustard greens, dandelion greens, turnip greens, artichokes and broccoli. Out of these options turnip greens have the highest calcium source with 200mg per cup. Fresh broccoli is our favorite. Unfortunately, I have not developed a taste for it raw, but I’m trying. Lightly steamed is better than not at all. Basically, the darker the green, the better the nutrients. Use Romaine lettuce in your salad instead of Iceberg, please!
Many beans are also fair sources of calcium.
Some fruits offering good calcium levels are figs, papaya and raisins
Sesame seeds in particular are very high in calcium and are so easy to add to a diet. They can be sprinkled over salads, added to casseroles, cereals and more. Tahini, which is a paste made from sesame seeds is very high in calcium with 2 tablespoons offering 130mg of calcium. Tahini is delicious spread on a pita, as an addition to a sandwich or added to falafel or humus. Humus which is made from garbanzo beans (chickpeas) offers 60mg per half cup and makes a wonderful dip.
Almonds are good calcium alternatives. 1 oz. of almonds provides 80mg of calcium. You can make almond milk from almonds to add to cereal or use in baking.
Daily Recommendations:
The daily recommended intake of calcium varies according to age, but will average between 500mg and 1000mg.(Dietary Reference Intakes, National Academy of Science, 1997)
You may have noticed a dramatic increase in my number of posts lately. If you haven’t, that’s okay. I know some people who have noticed, but not because they read this blog. I am, of course, referring to mi familia.
And the way they have noticed is this: every evening when the kiddos are told to lay out their clothes for the next morning (something I learned from Flylady; very helpful), I inevitably hear something that sounds like this:
“I can’t find a shirt” or “I have no socks” or, well, you get the picture. And although I do believe we must house an entire tribe of sock hiding gremlins, at least one or two pair would be found for use, that is, if I had actually folded and put the laundry away.
I get it washed; doing one full load (sometimes 2) a day keeps me on top of it. And it gets line dried in the sun. I even figured out that I can fold as I take it off the line and stack it by owner as I put it in the basket. But still…..I just haven’t been putting it away. Some, but not all.
So, I made a new rule for myself, starting today: No Publishing A Post Until ALL Laundry is FOLDED and PUT AWAY.
As you can see, I did it!
Little rewards help me get things done. It works for me. What works for you? See what works for lots of other moms at wearethatfamily.com
Other than eating a yummy bowl of chicken soup (especially with matzah-balls) once in a while, I used to think that there was no real reason I would spend my time making it. I mean, soup is for eating, right? Wrong.
I found out that chicken broth is for cooking with. From soups and stews to seasoned rice and sauces, chicken broth (or any good vegetable broth) is an absolute must-have for cooking. And although you can buy canned or boxed broth, it costs MUCH LESS to make it yourself. And it really is easy.
Oh, and you don’t need to use any MSG to make it delicious! I actually used to use chicken boullion in my chicken soup and didn’t know I could get it to be flavorful without it. I mean, our grandmothers must have been absolutely primitive to not have such a convenience item, right?
Freeze your broth in a muffin tin, then pop out the frozen servings for easy use.
Take:
A BIG pot
Bones or carcasses you’ve been saving from previously roasted chicken dinners. OR necks or carcasses you get on sale at the market. OR 2 whole chickens (this will be a little more work, but will give you meals out of it as well)
Add 2 onions (halved), 4 carrots, a bunch of celery leaves/1-2 stalks
Add a bunch of parsley and a bunch of dill (thanks to my cousin Wendy for teaching me!)
Cover with water and simmer away.
If you are using the 2 whole chickens, take the meat off of one chicken after 1 hr, returning the bones to the pot. Simmer away. Save that chicken meat for another yummy meal.
After a couple of hours, strain and remove remaining meat. That meat will be tough but works fine for chicken salad, etc. Remove all solids, strain soup, cool, and freeze.
The folks at Pampers evidently feel the need to clear up some “confusion” regarding diapers. Specifically, regarding the debate between those backwards non progressing tree hugging natural crunchy cloth diaper users and normal modern people. They actually have this myths and facts page on their site.
Here’s one of the (humorous? Unbelievable?) highlights for me.
“Myth: Disposable diapers are harmful to the environment. Fact: All of the component materials in Pampers diapers are gentle to consumers and safe for the environment. Pampers diapers are made of materials that are also frequently used in a wide range of other consumer products.“
The italics is mine. I did it to expose an incredibly flawed logic that I believe is extremely dangerous. (Not that my mommy brain is the queen of logic, mind you)
They are saying that you should accept the toxic stuff in their diapers as being safe for the environment (and also for you) because it’s “frequently used in a wide range of other…products.”
Um…hello? Many, MANY products are FILLED with toxic stuff. That’s the problem. It’s all around us. It’s…ubiquitous! (How’s that for an SAT word from this mommy’s brain!? If you want to rid your body of the toxins it’s accumulated, you must do a purposeful detox. More on that here and here.
SODIUM POLYACRYLATE is the chemical, added in powder form to the inner pad of a disposable, that makes it super-absorbent. When the powdered form becomes wet, it turns into a gel.
It can: Can absorb up to 100X its weight in water. Can stick to baby’s genitals, causing allergic reactions. Reported to cause severe skin irritations, oozing blood from perineum and scrotal tissues, fever, vomiting and staph infections in babies. When injected into rats it has caused hemorrhage, cardiovascular failure and death. Banned from tampons in 1985 because of its link to Toxic Shock Syndrome. Has killed children after ingesting as little as 5 grams of it. Causes female organ problems, slows healing wounds, fatigue and weight loss to the employees in factories that manufacture it.
above info taken from an article on The Diaper Hyena; entire article here
According to the Clean Air Council, parents throw away 570 diapers PER SECOND! And one diaper takes 300 YEARS to break down.
I always thought that to make your own spaghetti sauce (and have it be good), you needed to know some deep cooking secret. I was thrilled to find out how simple it is. Here’s what I do:
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 tin tomato paste
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4-5 large cloves garlic, chopped
splash of white wine
about 1 tsp each of basil, oregano, and thyme
1 tbsp honey/brown sugar/sucanat/stevia to taste
2 tbsp butter
Saute the onion, green pepper, and garlic in olive oil a nice long 15 mins at least–till soft & sweet.
Add everything except the butter and sweetener, if you are using them. Simmer at least 1 hour. Longer if you want. (you can use a crockpot if you want to walk away from it all day)
Add sweetener and butter (the butter cuts the tanginess of the tomatoes), simmer another 15 mins or so. Taste & adjust seasonings.
Serve over whole wheat pasta, top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese (if you use it), and serve it up with a nice big green salad. Enjoy!
1 pound fresh spinach, washed & stems removed. (I use a bag of frozen chopped) 3 garlic cloves, chopped 1 tbsp olive oil 1 cup chopped scallions, white & green parts (I’ve used onion or leek instead) 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas 1 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper 2 tsp lemon juice
Steam the spinach until the leaves are wilted, 1-2 minutes. Drain.
In a heavy-bottom saucepan, saute’ the garlic lightly in the oil, about 2 mins. Add the scallions and saute’ for 1 minute.
Add the drained spinach, chickpeas, cumin, salt, and pepper, Stir, cover, and cook over low heat until the spinach and chickpeas are heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the lemon juice, stir again. Add more salt and pepper, if needed. Serve hot.
I like to mix this in with some whole grained rice (about 1 1/2 cups) and some labana cheese (plain yogurt would work fine). I serve this with some good fresh bread and more labana and olive oil for dipping. I’ve added sauteed mushrooms in a few times and it was delicious.
I can’t believe it’s Monday again. Time flies, as you well know. I’m glad I’ve made this commitment to post my menu plan, because otherwise I might not make one. And that would be bad. Here goes:
Did you know that it’s not just what you eat, but what you eat together? Even really healthy food, when combined improperly with other really healthy food, can cause indigestion, heartburn, gas, bloating, cramps, general malaise, fatigue, and more. Alternatively, proper food combining causes you to digest and assimilate the most nutrition out of what you eat.
Who Should Worry About Food Combining?
* Anyone who is sick or in recovery * Anyone trying to detox their bodies * Anyone with signs of indigestion * Anyone in need of an immediate energy boost
Food combining is eating the proper combinations and quantities of foods at a meal as to contribute to easy and proper digestion of all the nutrients in the food you have eaten. Remember, digestion doesn’t just mean that you put it in your mouth and swallowed it. Digestion means also that it must be assimilated–converted into living tissue.
Proper food combining helps avoid all the symptoms of not doing so, which most would be classified under the heading: “INDIGESTION.”
There are 3 basic categories of macronutrients. They are
* Carbohydrate (fruits, potatoes/squash, and grains/breads/pasta/beans) * Protein (meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy, nuts/seeds) * Fat (nuts/oils, butter, avocados, coconut)
Non-starchy vegetables (like green leafy type) don’t fall under any of these categories. They have few calories and are eaten for their mineral & vitamin content.
The easiest digestion comes when you eat foods that contain most of their calories from one macronutrient source (carbs, protein, or fat).
Combine any of these three with a nice green salad, and you are good to go. HOWEVER, if you combine 2 or more of these 3 together, you are asking for trouble!
Example: Baked Potato (carbohydrate) and salad, GOOD. Baked Potato (carbohydrate) and Steak (protein), BAD.
That’s right. Meat plus potatoes is NOT a good food combination. The same can be said for meat plus grains (that Big Mac)
The reason these things need to be divided into categories is:
The chemistry of your body, because you have one stomach, does not let you digest efficiently when you create a contrasting environment in that one stomach. Protein digests in an acid environment, and carbs digest in an alkaline environment. Remember chemistry? If you mix an acid and a base together, you get salt and water. You cannot digest food anything in salt and water! The food will pass through the body undigested, never broken down, not assimilated. It becomes food for bacteria which have a good ole’ time. Of course those produce gas, etc.
The quantity of the food matters, too. If you eat a baked potato and feel good, that does not mean that you can eat 3 baked potatoes and still feel fine. That is because your body only has a certain amount of digestive enzymes available at any given time. You eat too much of one thing, even if it’s a good thing (and properly combined), and you will get indigestion.
So it’s best to not mix multiple sources of the same macronutrient you are eating at a single meal. Example: Don’t eat bread AND potato AND dessert in one meal.
Practical Plan to Institute Good Food Combining In Your Diet
* Stop eating proteins and carbohydrates in the same meal. * Do eat concentrated protein meals and concentrated carbohydrate meals with a big veggie salad. * Stop eating 2 or more types of carbohydrates or protein in the same meal * eat grains and foods derived from grains no more than 3 times per week (unless gluten intolerant) * Eat animal proteins no more than 3 times per week (if at all). * Eat fruits alone * Stop drinking with meals. Do drink 8 oz of water 30 mins prior to meals.
I love using my crock pot. I don’t do it very often, because it seems to work best for stewed type meat, and we only eat meat for dinner about once a week. ( I do also use it for soups and beans). But when Friday comes and I have SO much to do before our special family dinner that night, it really takes a load off my mind to make a one-dish-meal that I can start in the morning and forget about until dinner time.
It’s simple. And it simplifies. Something that I REALLY like.
I recently listened to this WellWithU radio show about proper food combining and why it’s important. I was reminded that meat & potatoes or grains is not a good combo. This I already knew; we don’t do it much and seem to tolerate it all right once in a while. But the important thing that I was reminded of was that couscous AND potatoes AND bread all in one meal would be TOO MUCH of the same type of thing in our bodies (even if it were properly combined). So, I made a change in the dinner I was preparing. I usually add potatoes to the stew, but realized that it would be much better to leave those out and fill up with more veggies instead. Crock Pot Stewed Chicken
About 2 lbs chicken parts*. I’ve done it with wings, legs, thighs, whole bird cut up. Whatever. 1 large onion, chopped 3 carrots, sliced 4 celery stalks, sliced Any other veggie that you have laying around and want to use up. I usually add cabbage or zucchini. This time I added 1/2 a bag of frozen green beans. 1 can crushed tomatoes 1 tin tomato paste About 1/3 c white wine A big pinch (approx 1 tsp) each of Basil, Oregano, Thyme 1 Bay leaf
Put everything in, turn it on, walk away, come back 8 hrs later to dinner. Serve over rice/couscous/quinoa (whole grain, of course)
*I recommend that you only consume animal meat that is certified organic and free to roam, with no antibiotics or hormones injected. And even then, do so sparingly. Accompanied by lots of veggies.
“Beans, beans, the musical fruit. The more you eat, the more you…..”
