Toxin Free Baby: Feeding Little Ones on the Run

Yesterday I asked you all for any questions that you had, and Kellye had a great one:

"When you go out with your family what do you feed your little ones? Suggestions on places to get ok food. I know that nothing out there is very good....but sometimes we have to make due with what we have at the moment. Just wondering!"

Thanks for your blog!!!!

Kellye

Great question Kellye! Feeding little people is hard enough at home, much less on the run! And especially at birthday parties, the mall, or Sunday school, where cookies, hot dogs, and Goldfish are the order of the day!

Fortunately, it is possible to keep little ones properly nourished, even when you're out and about.

Here are some of my tips:

1) Prepare, prepare, prepare! This goes for adults too! If you are in a situation where there is food, albeit unhealthy, and you are STARVING, you are much likely to give in.

So: feed your kids a good meal or hefty snack before you leave. And take healthy snacks with you like bananas, ( a serious favorite in our home) sliced apples, sprouted nuts, raw cheese, raisins, raw milk, or Jennie's macaroons.

I often feed our little guys these snacks to tide them over until we get home, when they can have a real meal. So if we're grocery shopping and lunch time is approaching, but we're not done yet, some banana or some raisins will usually keep the screaming away! :)

2) If you do find yourself in a situation where you need to purchase food, and you don't have anything with you, the key phrase is: wise choices. Again, this goes for adults too. Stick with simple dishes like meat and vegetables- ditch the complicated sauces, (which are usually loaded with toxins like MSG) the fries, the breads, the soda, and the dessert! I always say that just because you are eating out, does not mean you are obligated to order french fries! And stick with water.

3) As far as little ones go, the above principles would apply. Although it just hit me that our little ones have never eaten out, anywhere besides Whole Foods! If you have a health food store in your area, a lot of times they will have prepared foods- if you need to eat out, hit up Whole Foods before you go to Panera Bread or California Pizza Kitchen!

4) Do a search for restaurants in your area that do serve organic foods- for example, we have a restaurant about 20 minutes from our home that is 100% organic- amazing! You might have one in your area too! Check out http://www.localharvest.org/restaurants/ to find one in your area. I'd also recommend doing a google search with the phrase, "Organic food in X..." (Fill in your city and state.)

I hope these tips help you to feed your little ones well- even when you are on the go!

What Do You Want to Know? Send Me Your Questions!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Ours was busy and somewhat relaxing, at least once the little ones went to sleep for the night!

I am going to be starting a regular, weekly post answering your questions- so I'd like to know:

What do you want to know?

It can be about anything regarding life on the Maker's Diet- menus, questions about the phases, product questions, feeding little ones, etc...

Please post a comment to this blog with your top 3 questions, and/or email me: makersdietmom@gmail.com.

And if you read this post later, feel free to still submit your questions- this is going to be an ongoing feature of the blog!

Thanks everyone!

Friday's Food For Thought: Why We Need Unprocessed, Living Food

From Stephen Blauer's, Introduction to Enzyme Nutrition:

"This supply {of enzymes}, like the energy supply in your new battery, has to last a lifetime. The faster you use up your enzyme supply, the shorter your life. A great deal of our enzyme energy is wasted haphazardly throughout life. The habit of cooking our food and eating it processed with chemicals and the use of alcohol drugs, and junk food all draws out tremendous quantities of enzymes from our limited supply.

Frequent cold and fevers and exposures to extremes of temperature also deplete the supply. A body in such a weakened, enzyme-deficient state is a prime target for cancer, obesity, heart disease or other degenerative problems. A lifetime of such abuse often ends in the tragedy of death at middle age."

Does this mean we have to eat all our food raw? No, but it's why we should choose whole, unprocessed, and raw foods rich in enzymes and probiotics like raw milk, kombucha, raw cheese and kefir.

Happy enzyme eating everyone!

Toxin Free Home: My Favorite All Purpose Cleaner

When it comes to cleaning, (I admit it, this is not something I'm in love with) I love a fresh scent to motivate me to get things done. That's what cleaning is all about, right? The result. But there's no point inhaling toxic chemicals and polluting your household air (and adding to your body burden) for a shiny sink.

Fortunately, you can have a fantastic result, a delightful scent, AND keep you and your family healthy!

You already know how much I have recommended Citra Solv's dishwashing detergent, and their dish soap.

I have another one of their products to recommend to you- their uber concentrated cleaner & degreaser. (Otherwise known as an all purpose cleaning solution)

This stuff is the best! I diluted it with water, per the instructions, for my everyday household cleaning like counters, mirrors, and even in the bathroom! However, that's only the beginning of what it can do- you can use it to clean your washing machine (amazing for cloth diaper users!) degrease an oven, or clean a boat or car.

And the smell is divine! It comes in Valencia Orange, and Lavender Bergamot. My favorite is the Valencia Orange flavor. (I'm partial to Citrus.)

Their concentrate works so well, that I am considering buying their laundry detergent, even though it is much more expensive than my beloved BioKleen. I just can't get over how clean these products get things, and the smell is just so heavenly.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! See here for a store locator.

Toxin Free Body: Garden Fresh Tomato Salad Recipe

One of my favorite things about summer is garden fresh tomatoes. I love growing the old heirloom varieties organically. This year I grew a couple, one, a cousin of the Brandywine variety, and another smaller variety called Trophy.

After a severely hot several weeks, they have FINALLY started turning red. (Apparently heat over 90 degrees slows that process down) I have tons of lovely tomatoes now! Last night for a dinner I made a lovely tomato salad.

I think you'll enjoy it, especially if you can get yours fresh from the garden (or at least a local, organic Farmer's Market!) as well!

Garden Fresh Tomato Salad:
3-4 Large organic tomatoes
1 organic garlic clove
Several generous pinches of fresh organic oregano
Organic olive oil
Organic balsamic vinegar
Sea salt to taste

Cut the tomatoes into pieces (leave them chunky) and put into a bowl. Sprinkle the oregano over them, and then mince a garlic clove into the bowl. Splash with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle the sea salt in and mix it all together!

How easy is that? And it's delicious!

Enjoy!

Toxin Free Baby: Know Your Vaccine Ingredients

If you want to find a heated issue between parents, it's the issue of vaccines. And for good reason.

You can probably guess where I stand on the vaccine issue, but I really encourage you to do your own homework. I saw this website last night that lists out vaccine ingredients, and I had to pass it along.

http://www.momtoanangel.net/ingred.htm

I was truly appalled by some of the ingredients: formaldehyde, antifreeze, and aborted human fetal cells to name a few.

I will be discussing more on this vaccine issue in the future, but for now, check out this site! (By the way, these ingredients are also listed on the CDC's website)

Again, here's the original article:

http://www.momtoanangel.net/ingred.htm

Pesticides & Flame Retardants Linked to ADHD

My husband saw this great article on Google News this weekend, and I had to pass it along to you.

Basically, it's a study done by a UC Berkeley professor who "found higher pesticide exposure during pregnancy was significantly associated with attention problems in children aged 5 years."

Pesticides are proven neurotoxins, which means they are toxic to the nervous system- which includes the brain, spine, and eyes.

Check out the original article for yourself: http://www.foodconsumer.com