Copy Kids Eat Your Veggies DVD Review and Giveaway

COPY KIDS 

Review and Giveaway

Get Kids Hooked on Eating Fruits and Vegetables

The premise behind Copy Kids Eat Fruit and Vegetables is that young children are more willing to try new fruits and vegetables when they see another child eating them.  I believe this idea is totally valid because I have witnessed this myself with my own kids.  My older daughter always eats better when she's around her older cousins and my 2 year old son who shows little interest in sitting at the table and eating, will sit and eat a meal, even food he's consistently refused before, when we have interesting company over (i.e grandparents, aunts or uncles - but unfortunately non of them live close by).  So I was very excited for the opportunity to review the Copy Kids DVD.

J wanted to make a movie of her eating her veggies just like "those kids"

I told my daughter I had a new movie to watch she had never seen before and didn't tell her the name of it.  The first two comments she made as we watched the Copy Kids DVD were

"I want a pepper!" and "I want to copy her!"

While watching the Copy Kids DVD my 5 year old daughter ate a whole bell pepper and my 2 year old son was munching on bell pepper too...he kept spitting it out after a while, but he wanted to keep trying it because he thought it was fun to eat it while watching the kids on the DVD enjoy and have fun eating their vegetables.  It's a good start considering before seeing this DVD he wouldn't even TRY bell pepper (and it's been offered plenty as we often have slices of raw bell pepper at dinner).

Then my daughter wanted to eat a bunch of cucumber followed by 3 enormous carrots.  She got too full and couldn't finish all 3 but she ate most of 2.  She planned on eating raw broccoli after the carrots but she got too full.

Here's what my kids were saying while watching Copy Kids Eat Fruit and Vegetables

"I WANT A PEPPER TOO!"

"I WANT TO COPY HER!" (she didn't know the name of the video was "copy kids")

"I want to copy those kids!"

"LOOK! He likes that!" (avocado)

"Can I eat those?"

"Today I'm going to eat ALL the vegetables that they're eating"

"LOOK!!!  They LIKE them!"

"AJSDLKJEWRNJHAJjadfsajslfjasf!!!!!" (I couldn't understand her mouth was stuffed with peppers)

"I'm going to eat cucumbers after that (peppers) and then watch the cucumber movie when I eat cucumbers mom"

the shocking part was my finicky 2 year old grabbing slices of bell pepper and demanding "MORE MOO-EE!!! MORE MOO-EE!" and nibbling on the pepper (MOO-EE means Movie) as the movie had gone to the menu after the bell pepper segment had finished.

The Copy Kids DVD shows kids of various ages having fun and enjoying their food.  It is cute and the sound effects and style of it reminds me a little of the Baby Einstein series, which kids really enjoy.  The evening ended with my kids fighting over the bell pepper strips.  As much as my kids enjoyed and were fascinated by this video and inspired to chow on some raw veggies, watching little children/toddlers eat is not all that appetizing to me.  When the toddlers in the video were scarfing down avocado in HD on my big screen, it made me want to gag...despite that, overall the video is very cute, fun and makes my kids want to eat more fruits and vegetables so it's got two thumbs up in my book!  Just make sure you have a selection of fruits and vegetables on hand before you put this on or your kids might be upset...they want to COPY THE KIDS while watching it!




Want to win a free copy and get your kids chowing down on healthy fruits and vegetables NOW? Just enter below!
You can learn more by visiting
the Copy Kids website HERE
the Copy Kids youtube channel HERE




a Rafflecopter giveaway


GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED but you can still get a copy here


And if you haven't made the Rainbow in my Tummy - Eating Your Colors Activity Set tutorial I created, head over and print off the template, this will go perfectly with the DVD to get your kids eating all the colors of the rainbow in fresh produce!

Nummy Nummy There's a Rainbow in My Tummy

Rainbow in my Tummy

Get Kids Eating Healthy  with a Customized Activity Magnet Set

Hi everyone, in case you missed my guest post over at Wanna Be Balaced recently, this is my most recent tutorial.  I am excited to share this fun and easy craft project I designed that will help your kids eat more fruits and veggies and can't wait to hear what you think! :)

Sometimes it’s hard to get our kids eating healthy, including a variety of fruits and veggies every day, but it is very important to get all 5 food color groups in there (7 colors total as yellow/orange and blue/ purple are put into the same groups).

To encourage my daughter, I get her pumped up about eating a particular fruit or veggie to help make a rainbow in her tummy.  And you know all rainbows are magic right? Well, when you eat lots of different colors of fruits and veggies, it makes a magic rainbow in your tummy that helps your hair grow long, makes you brain really smart, makes your eyes see super good and it makes your body really strong and fast!   One of our favorite ways to make an instant rainbow in our tummys together is to make  strawberry lemonade with our juicer.  It's one of her favorite things to make, the kids love putting the fruits and veggies in and seeing the juice come out! And both my kids chug it, I can barely get any!

Strawberry Lemonade

1 large carrot or 2 small carrots

between half to one cup blueberries

1 1/2 cup strawberries

1 banana

1/3 cucumber

1 lemon

Now to help the kids visualize and keep track of the rainbow in their tummy each day, I made a fun little character that can be customized to resemble your child.  Here is what you'll need to make the rainbow in my tummy activity chart.

templates (right click and save images and then print so each one is a full page)

large sheet of drawing paper, butcher paper

pencil, pen

pencil crayons

glue

scissors

scrapbook/colored paper (optional)

7 small round magnets (got mine at hobby lobby)

felt (red, yellow, orange, white, green, blue, purple)

glue gun

Click on image to open the template images in new window, right click and save to your computer.  Print each image full size on a sheet of paper.

 Pick a hairstyle for your boy or girl or make your own

Trim the top and bottoms of the template pages and line up the legs to the torso and secure with a piece of tape.

Place image under a larger piece of drawing paper or butcher paper and trace the whole image.

Cut out selected hairstyle and either color in with pencil crayons or markers, or do what I did and trace onto a sheet of cardstock that matches your child's hair color and then cut out.

Use the template to give your child's character either a skirt or shorts and again, either color it in, or trace it onto scrapbook/colored paper and then cut out.

Glue the hair and skirt/shorts onto the character.  I also cut out some shoes.

If you want, you can color in the eyes and the T-shirt....or your child can color them.

Cut out circles of felt about the size of a quarter, 2 of each color. (I traced the bottom of my jumbo glue stick).  With your glue gun, apply some hot glue to the flat surface of your magnet and then press it down in the center of one of the felt circles.  Then put hot glue all the way around the edges of the circle. Place the matching felt circle on top and then pinch the seams together.

You can see below how I cut out the character from the big sheet of paper and hung on the fridge.  Your child can now move the magnets around and start with an empty tummy each day, adding magnets as they eat various colors!  And like I said earlier, there are 7 colors but 5 groups so this is what to aim for

GREEN, RED, WHITE, YELLOW/ORANGE, BLUE/PURPLE...they don't have to actually eat something blue and purple everyday, since they are in the same color group.

To help your child (and yourself) get familiar with a variety of foods from each food color group, visit these fun links and activity pages at Rainbow Foods Activities and Coloring Pages  (scroll down till you see the thumbnails of the free printables)

Lose the Love Handles while Watching TV?

Burn Calories Like Your Breastfeeding

just 30 minutes a day, no expensive contraptions

Okay, I have been weaning my son from the boob as we have had chronic PAINFUL thrush PLUS he'll be turning 2 in a couple of months so it's the right time for us.  But one of the benefits of breastfeeding I'm NOT excited about giving up is the extra calorie burning power!  I already exercise and so I either have to exercise even more or diet (I refuse to count calories).  Well, I came across this article in my inbox today that may be a viable solution to make up for not breastfeeding and keep burning those extra few hundred calories!!!  Here is the quick synopsis

Brown fat is a heat-generating type of fat that burns energy instead of storing it, acting more like muscle than fat

Research has shown that brown fat can be activated to burn more fat by cooling your body

Studies have also shown that animals convert white fat into brown fat simply by exercising. The conversion is triggered by an enzyme called irisin, which is released by the muscles during exercise. It’s still unclear whether this phenomenon is true for humans as well, but humans do have the same protein

According to Tim Ferriss, author of The Four-Hour Body, you may be able to increase your fat burning potential by as much as 300 percent simply by adding ice therapy to your dieting strategy. You can do this by placing an ice pack on your upper back and upper chest for 30 minutes a day; drinking about 500 ml of ice water each morning; taking ice cold showers; and/or immersing yourself in an ice bath three times a week

And while Ice baths are NOT in the cards for me, I think I could handle a cold pack while on the computer or watching a TV show or drinking more ice water!  Also as the article elaborates...

"A NASA scientist told ABC News that's no hyperbole. In studying the effects of temperature on astronauts, he saw people's metabolism boost by 20 percent in environments as mild as 60 degrees. A Joslin researcher told National Public Radio that 3 oz. of brown fat could burn 400 to 500 calories daily."

......well maybe it' sa good thing that we don't crank up the heat haha...save money and make our metabolism work harder.  Due to our frugalness we usually keep the thermostat around 63 this winter.  I turn it up for company.

Check out the full article while includes four more ways to boost your metabolism here.

This Trick May Force Your Body to Burn 400-500 Extra Calories/Day by Dr.Mercola

Kids Defense - Keeping Kids Healthy

Homeopathy and Gemmotherapy

I have a couple of things I would really like to share with ya'll! (I lived in Dallas 2 years I can say it now! haha!  I can also say eh! Because I grew up in Canada....and although I'm also from Washington state, I will never say WaRshington....nope...that one just didn't rub off!).  Anyways...and while I'm off topic (yes, before I've even gotten on topic, just a quick question for you...Look at your computer screen....How many windows or internet tabs do you currently have open?  I think within 5 minutes of being on the computer I usually have at least 10 non-related tabs open on my internet browser.  Sometimes I'll have 3 seperate windows open, each having t a bunch of tabs open...my husband will get on the computer and be like "what the heck are you doing?!? How can you be looking at that many things at once?"  Well...I think I may have the answer to that.  Yesterday a friend on facebook posted a link to an adult adhd test so I thought it would be funny to find out..since I always joke I have add anyways.  Scoring above 70 is severe ADHD and I scored an 86...so that's my excuse for always having a gazillion windows and tabs open...Curious how you score?  Check out the Adult ADHD Test Here

Anyways...back to  kids health, I wanted to share with you some of the key things we have done this year to stay healthy that have seemed to have worked really well.  The kids have stayed healthy even when around others who have come down with the flu later that day after playing, coughs, colds, runny noses, etc...their immune systems have done a great job.  The only ailment this whole year was Jordan got a bit of a cough after playing outside in the snow but we were able to nip it in the bud with lithy tree, extra briar rose and doing a warm lemon compress on her chest so she could lay down and sleep without coughing.  (I soaked a linen hand towel in a bowl of strongly brewed lemon tea, wrung it out a little so it wasn't soaking, then placed it on her bare chest and then placed a rice heating pad on top to help drive it in.  It was amazing the difference it made, she wasn't able to recline without a coughing fit, but when she had the lemon compress on, she had no problem.  At bedtime I set it up inside her zip up sleeper pj's so it wouldn't move around and she was able to fall asleep with ease...later I came to check on her and removed it once she was sleeping.  I got the idea for this as well as many other great natural childcare tips from the book Natural Baby and Childcare by Dr. Lauren Feder, M.D.. I also kept her home from school for a day, even though she was on the mend, just to keep her from catching something else while her immune system was down a bit.

As part of our routine, and recommended by Dr. Bain from Frisco, TX I give the kids Dr. Carlson's Baby Vitamin D Drops daily.  I give my 4 year old 2 drops in her juice or water each morning, and was especially diligent once preschool started.

And several drops of Briar Rose by Boiron every couple of days during cold and flu season to keep the immune system strong.  If I notice any symptoms of oncoming illness or find out one of her friends she was playing with is sick, I will give her Briar Rose daily, or twice daily.

Lithy Tree is the other gemmotherapy remedy we have that I reserve for coughs and sore throats.  you can find all sorts of gemmotherapy drops through Dr. Feder's website.

We recently ran out of Briar Rose and I haven't had time to look up local healthfood stores to buy more or order more (I bought mine before the move) so I was at Whole Foods looking to see if they carried it, which they didn't.  However I saw something called Kids Defense herbal drops for around $12 and decided to grab some.

On Christmas Eve, by the time we got home from service, my husband was starting to feel all the symptoms of the flu.  That would make this the third year in a row he has had the flu ON Christmas.  I thought, well, the Kids Defense drops are to be given at onset of symptoms so I decided to try it out on Tyler.  I gave him a full dropper in some OJ and he then fell asleep while I wrapped everything and got it under the tree.  The next day he said he was feeling a little bit better but still felt like he had the start of the flu, so I gave him another full dropper in some OJ and then again later that day...we took that long afternoon nap that resulted in an overcooked turkey, but by that evening, he was amazed at how much better he was feeling.  Tyler is always the skeptical one and whenever I give him stuff like this he doesn't think it's going to do anything, but he admitted he thought it must have helped because he knew he had the flu and he always get really sick for a week, and he improved majorly and was almost back to feeling normal within a day and a half.  He said "I think that crap you gave me saved me." lol..that's Tyler.  Other times he has started to get sick I have put a big shot of Briar Rose and Lithy Tree in his juice without telling him just to see what happens, and within a day he'll be surprised at how much better he is feeling so quickly.  So anyways....I don't know what gemmotherapy is or how it works, but we use it along with Vit D and it does seem to work pretty darn good!

Other things that may help are

We don't eat a lot of processed/packaged foods.  Breakfast is usually GF Old Fashioned Rolled Oats with real maple syrup and cinnamon or scrambled eggs.  And some days I'll make gluten free pancakes, waffles or muffins.  Lunch is usually smoothies, sandwiches with homemade gluten free bread, homemade gluten free pizza, turkey hot dogs (no nitrates or sulfates), fruit, peanuts etc... my daughter loves muffin tin meals to eat a variety of things.  

We don't eat very much dairy, my son and I have none at all (and we never get sick) and my daughter only eats cheese and yogurt sparingly...and when I notice any onset of symptoms I also restrict her dairy intake...dairy makes us mucusy which  increases phlem and can worsen cold symptoms. (and info out there that denies the connection between milk and mucus are wrong.  My son was so mucusy and constantly congested until I went off dairy and as a benefit to me, I noticed I no longer had excess mucus either...I used to always notice a slight coating of mucus on my throat that I thought was normal but when it went away I was like, oh wow! so much nicer...  Go off dairy and you won't have any loogies to spit out!!!) Everyone in the house uses Coconut Milk.

We try to get exposure to natural sunlight and be active when we can.

We drink mostly water, some juice (we like fruitables for juice boxes or Treetop applejuice made in WA not China) and chocolate smoothies made with chocolate almond milk, peanut butter, banana and ice.

We always use the anti bacterial wipes at stores and fully wipe down our cart and when we leave the store we use either hand sanitizer or wipes to clean our hands as soon as we get in the car.  

We try to eat lots of fruits and veggies but I can't say we deserve any awards in that category, our kids are average eaters in that regard.  But if they want a treat, I usually tell them they have to eat something healthy first like an apple, banana or a carrot...then they can have the cookie.  And for my picky 20 month old, the applesauce and other fruit and veggie puree blends in the fun colorful squeeze pouches are a life saver!  That's the only way I can really get things into him! Also the fruitables juice boxes help get some extra fruits and veggies into them.

For more tips on Having a Healthy Family check out these posts

A Healthy Family

Nutrition

Healthy Cooking

And for a wealth of great information for your family's healthy, you can visit Dr. Feder's website Here.  Our old NP used to work with her and turned us on to her, she is our go to resourse with a balanced approach of conventional and natural family care.  

Gemmotherapy definition and more info on uses @ OrganicTherapy.org

Gemmotherapy
Gemmotherapy is one seminal origin point of modern Phytotherapy. Gemmotherapy uses ONLY the flower buds and/or young shoots from the mother plant. It could easily be called “Phyto-embryonic Therapy”.

Traditionally, Gemmotherapy has been used by knowledgeable nutritional practitioners and homeopaths to assist in the gentle drainage and detoxification processes of the human body. This form of plant-based nutritional therapy has long been popular in Europe. The use of buds in traditional herbal pharmacopoeia dates back to the middle Ages when Alchemy was the common means of treatment.

Search Gemmotherapy remedies by condition Here.

Gluten Free Diet 3 days in...

Gluten Free (and Milk Free) Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies

 

Alright, it's been crazy around here with sleep issues, then sick kids, but here's the update!  :)  My sister has Celiac Disease which is genetic and has been Gluten Free for about 5 years or so.  My younger brother, a Freshman in college was starting to have some issues and after going to specialists who couldn't figure out what was wrong with him gave up and said, you are fine you are just weird...basically.  But then my mom took him to her doc who has an integrative practice and is great at getting to the root of the problem.  He discovered B vitamin deficiencies and irregular thyroid and advised him to get some testing done by Entero Labs.  It came back he also has a genetic gluten intolerance, however it does not show up as celiac in the typical blood tests.  I've wondered if my daughter had gluten sensitivity for a while and even had her do a blood test for celiac a while back which came back negative.  But with the new info from my younger brother's lab work, it indicated that he has genetic gluten sensitivity inherited from both parents and the lab work said any siblings probably have it as well.  Then I started coming across all this info on gluten intolerance and Hashimotos and am learning that a lot of thyroid problems are caused by gluten intolerance!  I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism in highschool, which is pretty young to get diagnosed for that.  I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's when I was trying to get pregnant with my second and it wasn't working.  Once I switched from levothyroxine to Synthroid and got my dosage up a lot higher, I finally got pregnant.  ANYWAYS.....So we are trying a gluten free diet, my daughter and I.  She sometimes wakes up with horrible stomach pains, screaming like a woman in labour at night and I've started to notice the correlation between those episodes and a dense gluten dinner, such as pasta.  Dietary changes aren't super easy but we're going to give this a try.  Thankfully I have my sister to refer to to know good alternatives!
Here are a couple of our gluten free things we had this week so far.  The plan is to test by elimination and then have some in a few weeks and see if there is a reaction.  It's a lot cheaper test to start out with than the lab testing.

Gluten Free Pizza

 Mini gluten free pizzas!  A corn tortilla topped with some pasta sauce and shredded mozarella cheese.  Baked in oven at 400 until cheese was bubbly.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies....smothered in chocolate!

 This is the easiest cookie recipe I've ever seen.
1 egg
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 cup sugar
bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes!  That's it.
Then I melted some dark chocolate in the microwave (dairy free) and dipped the cookies in covering both sides.  Placed on parchment paper and let set in the refridgerator till set.  Oh my goodness this was some good stuff!!! I haven't had a reese peanut butter cup in forever and this was awesome!!!

Awesome dairy free chocolate you can find anywhere!

Nutrition Update - Yeast

In my recent post about Nutrition, the nutritionist mentioned the "Yeast Connection" and "Candida Virus".  I finally got around to looking that up there is an actual book about the "Yeast Connection" and a handbook for women so I am waiting on that at my local library.  I'll be sure to review my findings after I go through it.  But for now, here is some more info on Yeast that I located on Dr. Bain's website.

Under certain conditions, Candida albicans can increase and upset the balance of your bacteria. This usually results in an infection known as Polysystemic Chronic Candidiasis (PCC) and can occur in men, women and children.

Physical symptoms can include:
• Digestive: cravings for sugar or breads, chronic bloating, cramps.
• Emotional: depression, irritability, inability to concentrate, frequent mood swings.
• Muscles/Joints: aching joints and muscles, feeling weak or tired.
• Weight: binge eating, excessive weight gain, water retention.
• Urogenital: frequent infections, itching, discharge.
• Other: premenstrual syndrome, headaches, rashes, delayed food allergies.

What causes Candida?
There are several factors which can allow Candida albicans to overgrow in the lower intestinal tract. Frequent courses of steroidal drugs and antibiotics can depress the intestinal bacterial population which permits the overgrowth of yeast. The hormonal changes which occur when oral contraceptives are used or which can accompany pregnancies, have been implicated in increasing susceptibility to PCC in women.

Diets high in nutrients on which yeast thrive (i.e. sugars and other refined simple carbohydrates) encourage yeast overgrowth. Factors which depress immune function allow the opportunistic yeast Candida albicans to grow and multiply, causing PCC.

What is the next step?
If you believe you may have PCC and/or food allergies, speak with your physician and discuss the need for a thorough evaluation of your symptoms and to arrange confirmatory blood testing such as the Candida albicans Assay for Candida albicans and the Immuno 1 Bloodprint^TM for Delayed Food Allergies.

Read Full Article Here!

Nutrition

I am so blessed to have found an amazing pediatrician for my family.  She runs an integrative, holistic pediatric practice, utilizing alternative and traditional approaches to medical care.  She is dedicated to making kids healthier, not just treating symptoms.  Dr Bain has personally seen how toxins can disrupt a vulnerable immune system through her own journey back to health after nine neck and back surgeries and breast cancer. Dr Bain recently wrote “How the Chiropractor Saved My Life, My Journey to Wellness and Beyond to tell her amazing story.  


Last weekend she put on a speaking engagement called Journey to Wellness and Beyond, How to Get from Here to There.  It was awesome!


Now, unfortunately, after a rough night and hectic morning, I was like an hour and a half late so I missed Dr Bain's presentation as well as the Chiropractor, Dr. Matt Chalmers.  I bought a copy of Dr. Bain's book so I'm sure I'll get most of her info that she went over in there.  But what I did hear was still great.  This was really eye-opening, and motivating for me, as I've always been health oriented, and not necessarily 'unhealthy", but I haven't been totally on top of real good nutrition.  That's always been a hard piece of the puzzle for me because I grew up a severe picky eater, to the point it was probably considered an eating disorder with a lot of food phobias.  No reason why, I've just always really struggled with eating.  SLOWLY, just over the past few years I've been graduating from the super picky kid diet to being able to try new things without feeling major anxiety.  I know, I'm a weirdo and I never wanted people to know about it.  (At least to any parents who are worried about their picky eaters and kids with bad appetites out there....they will survive and still grow. My mom was ALWAYS worried about how I was able to grow...but I guess you can grow and function on a diet of potatoes, milk and cheerios!)

The speaker I did arrive in time to hear was Laura Kopec, certified nutritionist, public speaker, teacher, and writer and is a professional member of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants, the American Holistic Health Association, the Coalition for Natural Health. She is a Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner with the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. 

I did have the baby with me and had to step out a few times but here are some of the interesting points from her presentation that I wanted to share.  Some stuff you may already know, some may surprise you.  And as with anything...take what you like...leave what you don't.

*A GOOD MOM east right.  It's the most important thing we can do as a parents.

*The nutrition before and during the 1st trimester of pregnancy is so important-that's what forms organs the child will have for life.

*Reverse Osmosis is the best (I already drink this kind) reverse osmosis is the only process that actually strips the pharmaceuticals out of the water.  (you didn't know there are tons of pharmaceuticals in the water?  Hospitals routinely dump tons of drugs down the toilets, people dump them down the toilet and many depression medications, like those used to treat bipolar, go through the body and into the water system and our water treatment centers aren't using good enough processes to strip the pharmaceuticals out.)

*Refined carbs are bad for us - animals that were put on a bread and water diet all died.

*Eat COMPLEX carbs...those are good for us.

*DRINK ENOUGH WATER! most people don't drink enough water and are unknowingly suffering from dehydration.  You need to drink at least half your weight in fluid ounces of water every 24 hours.

*Soda in pregnancy is horrible (oops! craved root beer during my first pregnancy) Why? I didn't catch all the reasons...some she said were HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) = impaired collagen growth, and there is a link between moms who drink excessive amounts of soda and missing fingers and toes in babies.  Carbonation = calcium loss.

* Poor nutrition during pregnancy can actually affect your GRANDCHILD'S risk of diabetes.

 *Breast Milk is perfect food for a baby, and nutrition is still so important you are still sharing your body.  You should give up Dairy and Sugar when nursing (I've already given up dairy because it was affecting the baby, sugar...that's gonna be a toughie!)

*Eating right and sleeping right = good kids

*Toxic food releases adrenalin=hyperactivity in children

*Most kids are deficient in one or more of the following: calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, Vit.A, Vit.C, Lack B12 and lack Folic Acid.

* Over the years, Toxic food causes adrenal fatigue=depression, chronic fatigue in teens and adults....so we have hyperactive kids and depressed and tired teens and adults...hmmmm....

*If you compromise your kids nutrition, you compromise their health and you compromise their future.

*SOLUTION?  Just eat REAL FOOD.  Real food is food that goes bad, food that rots, gets old, grows mold, attracts bugs.

*Connection between toxic food and mood + temperament

CHALLENGE-eat real food for 30 days...no chemical food, no HFCS, no Disodium, etc.  in the beginning it will be really difficult, but it will force you to look at all your labels and eat whole foods.  In 30 days you will feel like a new person.  You don't realize the effect these chemicals have had on your body until you get them out.

take home message?
Real moms eat real food and feed their kids real food.

Some of Laura Kopecs tips from the Q&A afterward

Make a menu, shop once a week and consume things in the order they go bad.  Eat spinach beginning of week, potatoes and carrots end of week


Avoid eating out, if she has to eat out, she takes activated charcoal to help not feel like crap after (it acts like a sponge and helps absorb the toxins and remove them from your body, and she said it's more of a lifestyle thing, not something you just do occasionally)


Cow's milk-the protein is so complicated that it is very hard for us to process, it's not made for people...it's designed to grow a little baby calf into a very large animal.  It actually leaches calcium and magnesium from you, so kind of ofsets the benefit of drinking it to get calcium. and it's linked to ADHD.


She recommended a company called Rain Fresh as the leading company to get the best water, they have taken every aspect into consideration...and was talking about when you bend water and stuff....she lost me there...but they are supposed to have the best water and make it affordable and deliver to your home.


Rethink sources of protein...you don't have to eat meat every day to get enough protein.  1 cup of peas has 16 grams of protein.  Her family eats meat 2-3 times a week and the rest is vegetarian sources of protein.
She said only eat free range chickens and recommended buffalo meat for red meat...it's a lot cleaner than beef, especially corn fed cows that were not meant to digest corn and it produces ammonia and then they are given more chemicals to help with the amonia. (I just watched Food Inc. and learned about the problem with feeding cows corn, their bodies are not designed to digest it and in the process, E. coli develops, a good documentary to watch, but make your husband watch it with you!  If your like us, it's probably your turn to pic the movie anyway! lol)

She recommended a 4 day rotation diet-at most eat the same thing twice a week of anything-if you eat the same things everyday, it can inundate your body and cause food intolerance.  (uh...too bad, I'm still eating my granola bars every day!)


She said to download the sticker chart on her website to help kids eat right.


Supplements- put your supplements in 2 oz. of vinegar (which simulates stomach acid) and if it doesn't start to dissolve in 20-30 minutes, most likely it's passing through you without breaking down and you are literally flushing money down the toilet.  


She mentioned the "Yeast Connection" and "candida virus" which sounded important but then she was out of time so I'll have to look that up.


THE NEXT SPEAKER was Mary Anne Morris, of Healthy Cooking, in McKinney, she teaches others how to prepare and cook their foods so they retain more than double the nutrients and prevent leaching of toxic metals into their food. The result of her methods also reduce the time spent in the kitchen by at least half, as well as reducing grocery expenses by about 30%! Her emphasis is “It’s not only WHAT you eat, but HOW you prepare and cook it.” These are the same methods exclusively used by The Cancer Project cooking schools


 *One major point she made was to throw out your non-stick cookware.  It is toxic and has been baned in other countries because is carcinogenic.  She recently bought a gerbal for one of her kids and even the pet store person instructed them not to keep the cage near the kitchen when cooking because the fumes from non-stick cookware can kill the animal.  

*This next generation is going to see many children dying before their parents.
*Cancer can be in the body for 4 years before it actually shows up
*Through conventional cooking, you are only getting20% of the nutrients.  When you cook your veggies in water you lose a lot of nutrients, when you steam them, it's too hot and kills a lot of the good stuff in it, when you microwave, you are killing 95% or more of the nutrients and when you reheat in the microwave, you get 0% nutrients.  Never cook above 200 F if you want to preserve the nutrients.  


I made an appointment for a free dinner with Mary a few weeks from now, so she will come to my home and demonstrate the proper way of cooking your food, the method that is utilized by the Cancer cooking schools. I'll let you know how it goes! 

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

So I love anything with chocolate chips if I haven't mentioned it before...I'm sure I have since I'm a true chocolate lover.  I can't believe I haven't posted these on here yet, but here is a staple I have around here.  I make up a batch of these awesome chocolate chip granola bars every week.  They make a great on the go breakfast, or an easy snack or lunch...you know...whenever you don't have time or feel like putting something together.  I pretty much have a little square of these granola bars every day for breakfast with a chocolate protein shake (that I make with just a tad of milk and blend up with ice so it's like a frappacino...and some days I'll add a tsp of instant coffee...LOVE IT!).  I have to have a little bit of chocolate every day...before these, I used to eat chocolate bars, but these satisfy my chocolate cravings while being a lot healthier.  They also keep me feeling satisfied for longer periods of time than if I were to eat something else like a bowl of cereal. 
Anyways, here is what I can't live without...


Chocolate Chip and Roasted Almond Granola Bars
1 cup peanut butter (I just guess..I probably do a bit more..so decide if you like your granola bars more moist and chewy or more dry and crumbly when adding PB)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup Honey (or corn syrup if you don't have honey)
2 tsp vanilla

3 cups oats
1 cup cereal (honey nut cheerios, chex, honey bunches of oats, rice krispies...whatever you want)
3/4 cup wheat germ (better to have, but sometimes I'll leave it out if I'm making them gluten free for my sister)
4 tbsp ground flax seed (optional)
3/4 cup toasted almonds (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 9x13 inch baking pan.  (i line mine with foil because it's easier to take the bars out and cut them up.)

Mix first 5 ingredients together.  Then add the oats, wheat germ and ground flax (optional).  Stir in chocolate chips, almonds and cereal.

Spread mixture into baking pan and bake for 20 minutes.  the let cool.

EASY PEASY!  ENJOY!

You can switch these up to make whatever kind of granola bars you like...add dried fruit, different nuts, whatever!

I found the basic recipe for this a long time ago on allrecipes.com.  I don't have the link anymore but ground flax seed and the amount of PB and addition of almonds are my changes.  The original recipe called for 3/4 cup PB and they were so crumbly it was hard to eat them.