Farmers Market

It's that time again. After moving, cleaning out the fridge and eating out every night; we finally found the time to hit the farmers market again. When I went for the first time this year, back in May, I was naive enough to believe that I would be finding all the 'regulars' from the grocery store. Not so.... there was a lot of nothing there.... radishes, arugula and asparagus, at least not what I was looking for. I since then, I made a list of things that are in season each month (for my state).

Little farmer

(grumpy) Twins

Making baby food again...

Better Wipes

So I've been using the wipes the I made and they've been working out well. The only thing that is sort of enoying is the vinegar scent. Eventhough I only used 1 tbsp, the scent is very strong.

I am happy to have found a better solution. My mom found these online. They claim to be free from harsh chemical detergents such as SLS, petroleum, mineral oil, parabens and synthetic preservatives and are made from organic plant-based ingredients. They are slightly smaller than the commercial wipes, but they do the 'dirty' job.

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Another new baby product we found is by Natralia. Not sure if those two are affiliated. The names seem to be almost identical. Natralia products contain certified organic products and are:

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100% Natural plant based ingredients
Hypoallergenic and pH balanced - suitable for sensitive skin types
Artificial Colours & Fragrances Free
Alcohol, Parabens & SLS Free
Naturally scented using herbal and floral water
Suitable for vegetarians and vegans

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The shampoo doesn't lather up as much as other shampoos do, but I guess that's a good thing when it comes to rinsing.

12 Food Additives to Avoid

MSN came out with a list of food additives to avoid. Here it is...

1. Sodium Nitrate (also called Sodium Nitrite)This is a preservative, coloring, and flavoring commonly added to bacon, ham, hot dogs, luncheon meats, smoked fish, and corned beef. Studies have linked eating it to various types of cancer.

2. BHA and BHT
Butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydrozyttoluene are used to preserve common household foods. They are found in cereals, chewing gum, potato chips, and vegetable oils. They are oxidants, which form potentially cancer-causing reactive compounds in your body.

3. Propyl Gallate
Another preservative, often used in conjunction with BHA and BHT. It is sometimes found in meat products, chicken soup base, and chewing gum. Animals studies have suggested that it could be linked to cancer.

4. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
MSG is an amino acid used as a flavor enhancer in soups, salad dressings, chips, frozen entrees, and restaurant food. It can cause headaches and nausea, and animal studies link it to damaged nerve cells in the brains of infant mice.

5. Trans Fats
Trans fats are proven to cause heart disease. Restaurant food, especially fast food chains, often serve foods laden with trans fats.

6. Aspartame
Aspartame, also known by the brand names Nutrasweet and Equal, is a sweetener found in so-called diet foods such as low-calorie desserts, gelatins, drink mixes, and soft drinks. It may cause cancer or neurological problems, such as dizziness or hallucinations.

7. Acesulfame-K
This is a relatively new artificial sweetener found in baked goods, chewing gum, and gelatin desserts. There is a general concern that testing on this product has been scant, and some studies show the additive may cause cancer in rats.

8. Food Colorings: Blue 1, 2; Red 3; Green 3; Yellow 6
Five food colorings still on the market are linked with cancer in animal testing. Blue 1 and 2, found in beverages, candy, baked goods and pet food, have been linked to cancer in mice. Red 3, used to dye cherries, fruit cocktail, candy, and baked goods, has been shown to cause thyroid tumors in rats. Green 3, added to candy and beverages, has been linked to bladder cancer. The widely used yellow 6, added to beverages, sausage, gelatin, baked goods, and candy, has been linked to tumors of the adrenal gland and kidney.

9. Olestra
Olestra, a synthetic fat found in some potato chip brands, can cause severe diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and gas. Olestra also inhibits healthy vitamin absorption from fat-soluble carotenoids that are found in fruits and vegetables.

10. Potassium Bromate
Potassium bromate is used as an additive to increase volume in some white flour, breads, and rolls. It is known to cause cancer in animals, and even small amounts in bread can create a risk for humans.

11. White Sugar
Watch out for foods with added sugars, such as baked goods, cereals, crackers, sauces and many other processed foods. It is unsafe for your health, and promotes bad nutrition.

12. Sodium Chloride
A dash of sodium chloride, more commonly known as salt, can bring flavor to your meal. But too much salt can be dangerous for your health, leading to high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure.

Baby Crackers

We started our son on fruits on veggies first, rather than the traditional rice cereal. We actually chose to omit cereal all together because of it high iron content. Commercial baby cereal is made from grain that has been processed and then milled into a flour. The process strips the grain of ALL vitamins and nutrients. They are added back in artificially which the body does not absorb well. Anyway, I made plain crackers to use as a 'filler' in his homemade food.

Makes about 4 dozen
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut in pieces
3/4 cup milk

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, pulse flour and butter pieces, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. With the machine running, gradually add milk; process until dough comes together. Cover dough with plastic wrap, and allow to relax at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Unwrap dough, and transfer it to a lightly floured surface. Roll into 17 1/2-by-17 1/2-inch square, 1/16 inch thick (if dough continues to spring back, allow to relax again, covered with plastic wrap, for another 10 minutes).

3. Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into 2 1/2-inch squares. With a thin spatula, transfer to ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until light in color (lighter than mine - didn't get a better picture) and crisp.

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4. Add the cooked crackers to the food processor and pulse until fine. Keep crackers in an airtight container, at room temperature.

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I added 1 to 2 baby spoons to his graded apple, pureed banana and yogurt mixture this morning. Same to his lunch and dinner.

Good to Know....

If anyone ever wondered about where and who makes all these organic labels that have been popping up lately... . It's a little surprising and sketchy to know that Heinz, Kraft and Coca Cola are amongst some of the major health foods out there? Does that make you wonder about their quality?

Juicing

• Freshly juiced give your body an instant boost of nutrients, enzymes, vitamins and minerals in a form that the body can easily assimilate, absorb and digest.


• The nutrients from juiced vegetables are within our bloodstream within 30 minutes of consumption!


• Allows us to up the raw vegetable amount we consume, giving the body energy and boosting the immune system and the body’s cleansing process.


• Juicing rules out packaged juices such as cartons of ‘fresh’ orange juice, Nudie-type juices or any other juice that has been packaged, pasteurized or made more than twenty minutes before consumption


• Most prepackaged juices are pasteurized (therefore all nutrients found in the vegetable or fruit are killed) and packed with sugars, sweeteners and other chemicals you can begin to understand why they do not really count as ‘juice’. Pasturized store bought juices of any type, ‘100% or ‘all natural’, are NOT beneficial to your health.


• Green juices contain lots of chlorophyll which is incredibly effective in detoxifying the body.
• Chlorophyll can help make the body strong, detoxify the liver, purify and help to rebuild the blood cells remove mold, parasites and myco/exotoxins from the body and (as many, many studies show) can help prevent and remove *cancer cells.
  
• Raw, fresh vegetable juices are extremely alkaline.
  
• It is beneficial to ensure that your body does not become over-acidic and that an alkaline balance is maintained in the blood & tissues. Over acidification is the common theme and cause of almost all conditions of ill health!
  
• Vegetable juices are rich in natural medicines, vegetal hormones & antibiotics.
  
• Fresh vegetable juice contains easily absorbed organic minerals such as calcium, potassium & silicon. These minerals assist the body in restoring the biochemical & mineral balance in the tissues & cells, which helps to prevent the premature aging of cells & disease.
  
• Juicing can be used as a healing technique for those with pain, cancer, depression and arthritis.
  
  Vegetables that can be juiced:
  
  - Lettuce (romaine, little gem, round, iceberg or any other!)
  - Endive- Cucumber
  - Celery
  - Kale
  - Spinach
  - Broccoli (and stalk/stem)
  - Herbs
  - Chard
  - Spinach
  - Cabbage
  - Bok Choi
  - Garlic (but check your juicer can handle it, cheaper juicers will make everything that goes through it taste like garlic forevermore – believe me!)
  - Sprouts- Fresh ginger
  - Essential oils (such as Udo’s Choice and Flax Seed Oil)
  - Wheat grass
  - Watercress
  
  

My juicing isn’t as intense as the above name vegetable. We use organic apples and carrots in many of our juices as a base. We also add Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, as cod liver oil is naturally rich in vitamin A, vitamin D3, EPA and DHA. Our juicer was bought form here.

* Of course The American Institute of Cancer does not support any natural sort of healing (strict medication therapy only - ugh!). Juicing is considered 'dangerous' since the juice is raw and therefore may contain 'harmful bacteria'. It states that any juice needs to (I am laughing out loud while I am typing this) be pasteurized before consuming. Go figure.

How Raw Milk Got a Bad Rap

Pasteurization has little to do with health and everything to do with practical matters. Without pasteurization, the transport, distribution, and sale of industrial milk and cheese as we know it would be impossible. This is a brief history of pasteurization in the U.S.

The push for pasteurization began in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. It was a response to an acute and growing public health crisis caused by inferior milk. At one time, milk came to the kitchen in buckets straight from the family cow or in glass jars from a local dairy farm, but with the rise of cities, urban dairies developed to supply the growing population. In cities from New York to Cincinnati, most milk came from crowded, urban dairies where cows were confined indoors. Owners put the dairies next to whisky distilleries in order to feed cows a cheap, unhealthy diet of spent mash called distillery slop. They were remarkably efficient. In 1852, three quarters of the milk drunk by the 700,000 residents of New York City came from distillery dairies.

'Slop milk' was so poor it could not even be used to make butter or cheese. Unscrupulous distillery dairy owners sometimes added sugar, starch, or flour to give body to the pale, thin milk. Others thinned it with water to make more money. Conditions were unhygienic. Bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis were common and cow mortality was high. The people milking cows were often dirty or sick.

As distillery dairies became common in the early 1800s, many deaths from diseases such as infant diarrhea, scarlet fever, typhoid, undulant fever, and human tuberculosis were caused by contaminated milk. Infant mortality (often due to diarrhea and tuberculosis) rose sharply, accounting for nearly half of all deaths in New York City in 1839. Reformers blamed the slop milk industry and some began to call for pasteurization, which kills pathogens such as tuberculosis that could be carried in contaminated milk.

At first, no one argued that raw milk itself was unsafe, according to Ron Schmid in The Untold Story of Milk. 'Demands for pasteurization allowed for the continued production and sale of clean raw milk,' he writes. 'No one was claiming that all milk should be pasteurized, as even the most zealous proponents of pasteurization recognized that carefully produced raw milk from healthy animals was safe.' In New York City an ordinance to ban raw milk was introduced in 1907 was defeated by a coalition of doctors, social workers, and milk distributors who argued that safe milk should be guaranteed by inspections instead of mandatory pasteurization.

For a short time, that view prevailed-but only briefly. Theodore Roosevelt appointed a panel of experts who concluded in 1908 that raw milk itself was to blame for food-borne illnesses. In 1914, New York required pasteurization of all milk except milk sold from certified dairies. In the Standard Milk Ordinance of 1924, the F.D.A. urged states to require pasteurization and by 1949, it was the law in most states.

The Difference

RAW SUGAR vs. WHITE or BROWN REFINED SUGAR

• Refined sugar is devoid of all nutrients.
• Typically, white sugar is made of pure carbohydrates.
• Raw sugar contains minerals and nutrients.
• Raw sugar contains roughly eleven calories per teaspoon and has the same vitamin and mineral consistency that is found in the juice from the sugarcane plant. These minerals include Phosphorus, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, and Potassium.
• When sugar is refined and processed there are many harmful ingredients that are added to the sugar as a result. Some of these include: Phosphoric Acid, Sulfur Dioxide, and Formic Acid.
• In addition to unrefined raw sugar, raw honey is also a great sweetener that offers nutritional benefits as well.
• Raw unrefined sugar is not the same as the brown sugar that you see in the store, even though they are both brown.
• It is common knowledge that refined white sugar has devastating affects on the body and health in general.

Don't mistake unrefined raw sugar with brown sugar. Brown sugar is sugar that has been refined and then molasses has been added to it. Brown sugar varies in color according to the amount of molasses that has been added to it. Just like white refined sugar, brown sugar does not have the nutritional content found in unrefined. Both white refined and brown sugar are comprised of sucrose.


Artificial sweeteners (the once in the pink, yellow and blue packages) have numerous side effects and warning signs accompanied with them, even those that have been approved by the FDA. Some people think that if the FDA or government approves something then it is healthy. WRONG! (more on that later) Cigarettes are approved by the FDA. Need more to say?

Unrefined raw sugar is a much better alternative then artificial sweeteners. Not only is it healthy, but also it cooks and bakes exactly like white refined sugar giving it an advantage over other products.

The Amazing Benefits of Raw Honey

Raw Honey (not the honey bear!) …

- Is antiseptic, antibiotic, antifungal, and antibacterial.

- Contains calcium, iron, zinc, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, copper, chromium, manganese and selenium.

- Has some amazing health benefits. It is used as a treatment for stomach ulcers.A team of researchers from the University of Waikato in New Zealand studied whether honey could benefit those afflicted with the H. pylori bacterium known to cause gastric ulcers. Within three days, honey stopped the growth of bacterium colonies!

- Is an effective treatment for almost all allergies. Raw honey contains all the pollen, dust and molds that cause 90 per cent of all allergies. Doctors prescribe a daily teaspoon of raw honey. The honey treatment continues even after the allergy is under control.

- Is used for healing burns. It is to be applied every 2 to 3 days under a dry dressing, honey promotes healing of ulcers and burns better than any other local application. It can also be applied to other surface wounds, including cuts and abrasions. (Study by Robert Bloomfield, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association)

- It has anti-cancer properties. Recent studies indicated that honey possessed moderate antitumor and pronounced anti-metastatic effects in five different strains of rat and mouse tumors. Furthermore, honey potentiated the antitumor activity of chemotherapeutic drugs such as 5-fluorouracil and cyclophosphamide. (Gribel, N.V., and Pashinskii, V.G. Antitumor properties of honey. Vopr. Onkol., 36:704-709, 1990)
C.V. Rao at the American Health Foundation in Valhalla, New York found caffeic acids in propolis are inhibitors of colon cancers in animals. Other research shows hive products have the ability to prevent and halt the spread of malignant diseases. Earlier research by M.T. Huang also published in Cancer Research found caffeic acids effective in inhibiting skin cancer tumors in mice. (American Bee Journal, June 1994)

- Does not need refrigeration - It never spoils. It has been found in ancient tombs used to preserve bodies and was found to be still edible. It keeps foods fresh and moist longer, halting spoilage.

- Contains different forms of sugar. While simple sugars like fructose and glucose are honey’s primary carbohydrates, larger-sized sugars such as disaccharides and oligosaccharides are a special bonus found in honey. These good sugars help to boost energy and endurance naturally

- Contains many antioxidants found in green leafy vegetables like spinach.

Raw Honey for …

- Facial blemishes and acne caused by cosmetics or allergies will clear up quickly using a nightly treatment of raw honey. Wash with Raw Honey straight from the jar.

- For hair and scalp treatment. Apply raw honey (with or without olive oil) to dry or damp hair about one half hour before washing.

- For dental care and mouth sores. Cleans teeth, mouth and dentures and stops bleeding gums. Canker sores, blisters and mouth ulcers respond to application of raw honey.

Just because honey is “natural”, any kind of honey is NOT healthful and fine to use. Most of the honey eaten today has been heavily processed. Like most foods that have been chemically refined, many of the healthful benefits have been reduced or eliminated. Commercial honey is often treated with an excessive heating process that can destroy some of the critical natural enzymes, vitamins, and minerals.

Use honey instead of sugar in your baking. If a recipe calls for 1/2-cup sugar or less, leave out the sugar and use the same amount of honey. When you replace sugar with honey, cut the liquid by 1/4 cup. To prevent overbrowning or burning, lower your oven temperature by 25 degrees.

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BEE POLLEN

Bee Pollen is a complete food. The optimum of vigor and resistance to poor health and disease is gained by adding pollen to your diet EVERYDAY. Studies have shown that people can live indefinitely on a diet of Bee Pollen and water. Chemical analyses show quality Bee Pollen contains every nutrient necessary to life -- and something more, Some "magic" the bees put in. This very complex substance contains factors science has not yet been able to identify, and cannot synthesize.

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Honey & Bee Pollen contain only slight traces of residues from industrial emissions, car exhaust and agricultural chemicals because bees act as a biological filter: They die if they come into contact with toxins and thus do not bring pollutants into the hives. They're picky about their pollen! Bee pollen has at least "...96 active nutrients, including 22 amino acids, 27 mineral salts, 16 vitamins (including B-12), trace elements, fatty acids, hormones and enzymes." One pound of pollen is comparable to 15 pounds of fruits and veggies!!!!!!!!!!!

Personal Care Products - Safe Alternative

Here are some of the safe alternative products mentioned in Dr. Mercola's book.

Laundry Detergent:

- Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile soap

- Earthrite

- Ecover

Shampoos and Conditioners

- Aubrey Organics

- Weleda

- Logona

Deodorant

- Le Crystal roll-on

- Weleda sage deodorant

- Nature DeFrance French clay

Liquid and Bar Soap

- Dr. Bronner's castile liquid soap

- Kiss My Face olive oil bar soap

- Aura Cacia

Toothpaste and Mouthwash

- Peelu toothpaste

- Ecodent toothpowder

- Weleda pink toothpaste

- Xylifresh

Make-up

- Dr. Hauschka

- Ecco Bella

- Aubrey Organics

- Larenim mineral make-up

Skin Care

- MyChelle

- Arcona

- Dr.Alkaitis

Top Foods to Eat Organic

If you are trying to eat healthily and sustainable, but finding that food prices keep you from buying all organic products, you might want to try shopping selectively. MSN has come out with a slide show of the top 12 foods that you should buy organic. Also, thedailygreen.com listed the top ten vegetables, fruits and grains that you should buy organic. This list is from the consumer's union's 2001 report on the EPA.

For consumers, the simplest solution is to choose organic foods, which contain two-thirds fewer residues. The foods below are highest in pesticides, and therefore best to buy organic.

Meat and Dairy - There's the likelihood that chicken, pork, and cow feed is grown with the help of pesticides, antibiotics and chemicals. Similar to milk and milk-based dairy products, many chemical pesticides could end up in the animal, which may end up in you. The fat in dairy products is another haven for pesticides, antibiotics, and bovine growth hormones. These get passed on to you through commercial milk, cheese, and butter. Organic dairies do not use chemicals or growth hormones like rGBH or rbST.

Coffee - Many of the beans you buy are grown in countries that don't regulate the use of chemicals and pesticides. Look for the Fair Trade Certified label on the coffee package or can; it will give you some assurance that chemicals and pesticides were not used on the plants. It will also mean that fair prices were paid for the end product in support of the farm that supplied the coffee, and that the farm workers are treated fairly.

Strawberries - On average, strawberries receive a dose of up to 500 pounds of pesticides per acre. If you buy strawberries out of season, they're most likely imported from countries that use less-than-stringent regulations for pesticide use.

Celery - has no protective skin, which makes it almost impossible to wash off the twenty-nine different chemicals that are used on conventional crops.

Apples - Scrubbing and peeling a fruit doesn't eliminate chemical residue completely

Peaches- Forty-five different pesticides are regularly applied to these delicately skinned fruits in conventional orchards.

Grapes - Imported grapes run a much greater risk of contamination than those grown domestically. Vineyards can be sprayed with 35 different pesticides during different growth periods during the season and no amount of washing or peeling will eliminate contamination because of the grape's permeable thin skin.

Sweet Bell Peppers - Peppers have thin skins that don't offer much of a barrier to pesticides. They're one of the most heavily sprayed vegetables out there and may be coated with nearly 40 commonly used pesticides meant to keep them insect-free.

Lettuce- Leafy greens are frequently contaminated with what are considered the most potent pesticides used on food.

Potatoes- America's popular spud ranks highest for pesticide residue. It may also be tainted by fungicides added to the soil for growing.

Tomatoes- The standard regimen of pesticides used on conventionally raised tomatoes numbers 30. Their easily punctured skins are no match for chemicals that will eventually permeate the whole tomato.


Other foods to buy organic:

Winter Squash Wheat
Spinach Pears
Green Beans


Dairy products and beef: Monsanto's Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) was approved for use by the FDA nearly 20 years ago and has raised concerns ever since. This hormone forces dairy cows to produce more milk when raised conventionally and opponents believe that it poses serious health risks to humans. Aside from growth hormones, milk cows and beef cattle are normally not allowed to graze freely and beef cattle may be force fed in overcrowded stock pens to quickly bring up their weight. Animals are packed so tightly together that heavy doses of antibiotics are necessary to keep down the levels of infection and disease. The same applies to chicken and pig farms, where thousands of animals are jammed together in large buildings and sadly many of them never see the sun in their entire lives!

You are what you eat, even if you don’t care about how these animals are raised. Stressed out farm animals loaded full of growth hormones, pesticide and herbicide residues and antibiotics not only aren't good for you, they also don't taste good. A happy animal equals better meat and dairy. This goes for eggs too. Crowded and unsanitary conditions only increase the chances of salmonella, mad cow disease or other stuff making its way into your kitchen.

Fruits and Vegetables: As stated above, some fruits and vegetables have thin permeable skins that allow pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizer residues to soak right in. No amount of washing will remove these chemicals, so if you buy conventional strawberries, peppers, celery or apples, just to name a few, be aware that you will be consuming the residue of up to 40 different fungicides, pesticides and herbicides. Some These pesticides are meant to kill things, and some are very persistent carcinogens and mutagens.

Wheat products: Conventional wheat has some of the highest pesticide residue levels on the market today. For this reason the Consumers Union suggests that you buy organic wheat and wheat products.

Bon Appetite!

...Did you know? Food industry experts are saying that Wal-Mart could possibly become the nation’s largest seller of organic products, surpassing Whole Foods, because of two reasons: its 2,000 supercenters and its lower prices. Already, Wal-Mart is the largest seller in organic milk.

My Homemade Baby Wipes

I've been wrecking my brains about how to avoid diaper rash for our son, especially at daycare where everything seems to be impossible for them to do. Yesterday I came across a site that showed how baby wipes can be made at home. Not only does it not contain harsh chemicals, but it will save a lot of money as well. These can also be made from old receiving blankets, cut into proportionate squares, which can be reused. The wipe recipes I found, didn't work for me. Baby shampoo, which has chemicals (ALL DO! even the 'natural' one's), will stay on your baby's skin all day long until bath time and that's not OK. To have some sort of disinfectant I used organic APPLE CIDER vinegar.





Here's my recipe:

2 cups of bottled water
1 1/2 tbsp of oil (olive oil based with chamomile and others - made myself)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 roll of paper towel

Cut a roll of paper towels in half. Bread knife works best. Remove the center cardboard tube. Combine the liquid ingredients and poor into a refill wipe container. Dip the paper towel roll in and squeeze it and resoak it until all is moistened. Pull wipes out from the center of roll.

My New Cookbook

My mom gave me this cookbook. I will start cooking from it soon. Here's more about the book and the author.

Butternut Squash & Apple Bake Babyfood

1 Butternut squash

1 large Macintosh apple

1. Peel and dice apples

2. Cut butternut squash in half, scoop out seeds

3. Place halves face UP in a pan and add with an inch of water to the pan

4. Place diced apples in the squash “holes” where the seeds were

5. Pour water over the apples so that there is water in the squash holes - cover pan with tinfoil

6. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes or until the “shell/skin” puckers and halves feel soft then scoop squash “meat” and apples out of the shell

7. Puree as needed, adding water to thin if required.

Organic Homemade Baby Food

1. Clean choice veggies and cut into small chunks
2. Place chunks into a steamer pan with just enough water visible through the steamer basket
3. Steam until tender
4. Do not reserve any left over water to use for thinning out the veggies if baby is under 8 months old as Nitrates from some veggies may seep into the cooking water
5. Place into food processor for pureeing
6. Add water as necessary to achieve a smooth, thin consistency
7. Please in ice cube trays for freezing!

DONE!