Decreasing Inches: 5 Focus Points

This June my family moved 3+ states North East.  In addition, my youngest son who was our foster son for 21 months went home to be with his family in late May.  There has been so much change and I chose not to pay close attention to our diet during this time.  I did not add on an extra 20 pounds, but my pants are snug and uncomfortable.  In the Spring, I focused on loving my family intensely and this Summer I am focusing on decreasing inches.

We go through times that our life is more important than focusing closely on our diet.

My Goal: Decreasing Inches

Today is a new day.  I have time to focus on my diet and my health.  I have the goal to go from size 10/12 in pants to a size 8 in pants. While I was easily able to attain this in Italy with fresh, real foods, I’ve found it difficult in America with a supermarket full of processed foods and meats with additives.1  

Focus Points for Health

My Healthy Lifestyle Methods

When I really want to focus on decreasing inches, here are some of the methods I employ:

1. Decrease sugar and carbs. I begin to read the products I purchase to see if they include any added sugar. Surprisingly, even sandwich meat often includes dextrose (another name for sugar). In fact, there are many names for sugar that need to be identified in order to avoid sugar.

Note: You can find a list in the footnotes below.2

As for carbs, our body uses carbs for energy and for building vitamins and minerals that we are missing. We will […]

No Veggies for Me: Guide to Children and Vegetables

As a health coach for families and mothers, I hear one common problem that appears in most families and at most dinner tables.  Aversion to vegetables.

“No Mommy!!!  I won’t eat my ________!!!”  Fill-in-the-blank with your choice of vegetable.

It’s always the vegetables, rarely the mashed potatoes, the macaroni and cheese, or the cookie.  If it is colorful and vibrant in flavor naturally, an alarm goes of in their little brains with a warning, “WARNING:  This item is a vegetable!!!  Avoid at all costs!!!”  And so they do.  They kick up a fuss.  They start crying.  They refuse.  The broccoli ends up in the floor.  The carrots swished in unnatural ways.  Spinach . . . well that’s in your hair.  It’s a new look.

Is all this pain necessary?  Is there some better way to do vegetables?  Why do children identify vegetables as “bad?”

I have some answers for you.  Vegetables do not have to be alien invaders and strange food groups that your children are forced to consume.  In fact, if you consider the guiding principles below, you may find that veggies are welcome into the house as a friend.

Getting Children to Eat Vegetables

Why your children hate their vegetables

This is really the point isn’t it?  Your children have learned to hate their vegetables.  At the early age of 1-3, something has taught them that vegetables are less preferable.  Why?  I will provide four reasons that children learn to hate their vegetables.

Reason #1: Baby food

When we first introduce vegetables to our children, we often give them baby food that we have bought in a grocery store.  Some parents buy organic, some buy regular, but the problem is the same.  Have you […]

Reading List for Traditional Food and Health

Book Reading List

The books listed below are recommended by the Weston A. Price Foundation and are GREAT to help you on your food and health journey.  If you want the full list from the WAPF website, head over to –> Nourishing Our Children and search for book recommendations.

Note:  I’m only including books that I personally own on this reading list.  I prefer to pass on book ideas that I have personally tested and found to be excellent.  The books that are *starred* are books that I added to the list according to the benefits I’ve found from these particular books.

New Years Reading List

Traditional Food Reading List

–>  Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and Diet Dictocrats

This book has the basic information on the dietary principles of the traditional food ideals.

–> Nourishing Broth: An Old-Fashioned Remedy for the Modern World

One of my first steps into real food was making my own broth.  I felt healthier, I looked healthier, and I began to nourish my family.  What a beautiful gift!

–> Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Dr. Weston A. Price

The Weston A. Price Foundation is based on the information provided by Dr. Weston A. Price in his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.  As a dentist in the turn of the century, he began to notice his patients getting more cavities and having poor oral health.  He had no answers for them, so he sought out the answers.  He traveled the world and found that cultures who did not eat a diet full of processed foods had less dental carries (cavities) and babies were born with wider jaws.  […]

Real Eggs Vs Borg Eggs – Learn More Now

Almost everyone uses eggs.  Recipes call for them.  You may have them for breakfast.  You pick them up in white sterilized Styrofoam at the grocery store.  You know about real eggs, right?

We know a version of eggs that have been washed, resealed, packaged, and made to look all identical by selecting all the same sizes.  It’s like calling Borgs from Star Trek human.  And if you are not a Trekkie, just ignore that last comment.  I’m going to give a comparison between real eggs and not so real “Borg” eggs.

Real Eggs VS “Borg” Eggs

Real eggs are not washed; they have a natural protective coating surrounding them that protects them from the air and bacteria.

Borg eggs are washed and sterilized removing their natural protective coating and leaving them open to pick up bacteria from the environment.

Real eggs are various sizes just like babies are born different sizes.  They are also different colors as real chickens lay eggs of all different colors (including white).

Borg eggs are only accepted in certain sizes and colors.  The commercialized chickens must lay white eggs or brown eggs.

Real eggs that haven’t been washed can be left out on the counter for as much as two weeks without spoiling.  This is done all over Europe.

Borg eggs will go bad quickly when left out.  Since they have their natural protective coating removed, they are now porous and susceptible to bacteria.

Real eggs are nutritious and have Vitamin A, D, and K2 as well as Choline and healthy cholesterol.

Borg eggs may have DPB (Disinfection By-Product) from being cleaned by Chlorine.1  They may also […]

Four Food Myths to Watch Out for

 

Four Food Myths | Boholistic Mom

I am a little worked up about health lately.  So many people around me are ill and I want to do something about it.  I truly believe that a lot of illnesses are preventable, treatable, and, most importantly, brought on by false nutritional education.

Many illnesses are preventable.

I believe that we were created to have good health.  Why don’t have good health then?  Many of the reasons that we have poor health is due to the fact that we have forgotten the traditions of health passed down to us from our parents, their parents, and up the generational lines.  We are to respect and honor our parents, but we have rejected the wisdom of the past.

I’ve put together four food myths in order to underline four easy ways that a family can change their health by beginning to make small changes in their eating and drinking.  Consider these myths and please feel free to ask questions by commenting at the bottom of this blog.

Four Food Myths

“Fats are bad.” – FALSE

Processed, factory-made fats are horrible for you. They need to stop being served as food. However, natural fats from olives, coconuts, and even grass-fed (or naturally-fed) animals are essential for health. Without real fats, the body suffers.

 

“Water is healthy.” – FALSE

Not all water is healthy. The government has decided to allow chemicals, drugs, and other pollutants to remain in our water in small amounts. They have decided that these small amounts are allowable. Healthy bodies may be able to filter these pollutants, but let’s face it, who is actually healthy these days? Consider researching filters for your drinking water. Your kidneys will thank you.
“Grocery […]