My Holistic Momma's Dilemma

You might remember my earlier blog post on healthy kid's b-day parties and WHY have healthy kid's b-day parties. So my latest dilemma... my soon to be 12 year old kid wanted an Oreo cookie birthday cake.  First of all I asked: "Why Eli? I have never purchased Oreo cookies for you!"

Bottom line is he wanted what he wanted.

Truth of the matter is there is not one ingredient in an Oreo cookie that was ever meant to be:

• in your digestive tract being digested and
• sent out into your blood stream being delivered to
• every cell in your body to do
• all the processes to nourish your cells so you have a
• healthy body!

Nature did not mean for our body cells to be poisoned by packaged food's synthetic ingredients.  Ouch, Paula, really?  My healing advice comes into question on occasion:  "She is so strange, too harsh, very severe, too tough..." But really, the truth is the truth, our bodies were not meant to be poisoned.

I am all about moderation; moderation in foods that were meant to be part of our cellular metabolism. There is no way, in my mind, to be moderate about that which was never meant to be a part of our cellular being.

For just 2 weeks, try feeding your body with 100% whole food, every snack and meal.  I guarantee you will feel like a whole new person: alive, vibrant, clear headed, sleep well, etc. Then, after 2 weeks of whole food eating, go back to your regular diet, 100%, for a day or two.  You will be aghast at how lousy processed food leaves your body feeling.

Whole food eating is not about what you are removing from your life, junk food, but what you are inviting into your life, vibrant health.  Let me know how it goes.

So, back to that Oreo cookie cake. I started off with the basics.  I do not measure ingredients, just throw in the bowl, so I am giving my eyeballed estimates. Thank my Mom, that is how she cooks. I learned through observation.

• real butter, from grass fed cows grazing in the Finger Lakes of NY - about 3/4 cup
• 3 pasture eggs from Maria of Deep Root Farm, wicked orange yolks. Lots of good nutrients.  Use the whole eggs.
• local milk from some sweet, grazing, local goats - 1 cup
• *oat flour I ground from gluten-free oats - about 1 1/2 cups
• Sucanat unrefined, real brown sugar (Available at the Potsdam Food Coop & Nature's Storehouse, Canton) - 1/2 cup
• organic vanilla - 1 Tbsp.
• baking soda - 1/2 tsp or less
• baking powder - 2 to 3 tsp.

*gluten free flours will make a shorter, denser cake.  If gluten is Ok in your diet, use whole spelt flour or whole wheat pastry flour.  Whole food cakes, made with 100% whole grain flours, will be heavier, denser, and shorter cakes.  When you get used to this denser, more flavorful, manner of creating in the kitchen... the "fluffy" refined food versions will be tasteless and boring.

The below Newman cookies are made with wheat flour and therefor contain gluten.

I caved (What else is a Mom to do? He is so damned cute.) and bought Newman's Own Organics Newman-O's Creme Filled Chocolate Cookies.

Original Ingredients:

Organic Unbleached Wheat Flour, Organic Powdered Sugar (Organic Sugar, Organic Corn Starch), Organic Sugar, Organic Palm Fruit Oil, Canola Oil (Expeller Pressed), Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Unsweetened Chocolate, Salt, Natural Flavor, Sodium Bicarbonate (leavening), Soy Lecithin (an emulsifier)

I took one row of the cookies, scraped the creme filling out, crushed the wafers, and added the crushed mess to the batter.

The "Oreo" cake after baking:

Tomorrow I shall slice it in half to make 2 layers and fill the center with frosting. Then I will slather the whole thing with the rest of the frosting.

Frosting:

• 2 eight oz. packages of Organic Valley Pasture Raised whipping cream
• 1 eight oz. package of Organic Valley Pasture Raised Neufchatel cheese
• 2 Tbsp. local, dark maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp. organic vanilla
• the second row of Newman-O's, scraped and crushed, added to the finished frosting

The final, third row, of Newman-O's will be cut into 1/2 rounds and placed on top of the cake.

Happy Birthday Eli!  Much LOVE, Mom

Or, as my boys call me...

Teaching whole food eating, cooking, and baking classes:  I volunteer teach cooking classes through the Sustainable Living Project, Local Living Venture. Sign up for their emails to be notified of upcoming classes.  I also do small groups at my home, just ask.  pyoumell@gmail.com

13 Health Foods That Are NOT So Healthy

13 Health Foods

That Are NOT So Healthy...

Proceed with

1. Brown Sugar:  Brown sugar used to be sugar that did have the molasses intact.  Modern brown sugar is merely refined "white" sugar that has added caramel coloring to make you THINK it is real brown sugar.  Action to take: Use sucanat, read the label and look for sugar that is simply dehydrated, sugar cane juice... nothing added, nothing removed. Another good brand is Rapunzel Rapadura Sugar.

2.  Greek Yogurt: Real Greek yogurt is truly just cultured milk that has been strained to make it thicker, creamier, and higher in protein.  If refined ingredients have been added to thicken the yogurt, it is not real Greek yogurt.  Most Greek yogurts, on the market, are not real.  Action to take:  Read labels on everything that a food manufacturing facility makes for you.  Read those labels for 100% whole food ingredients.  Do not settle for less; your cellular health depends on this.

While I am on the subject, eat plain yogurt*, not the flavored varieties.  Again, read labels, flavored yogurts are loaded with crap ingredients and sugar.  These crap ingredients and sugar do not create vibrant, healthy body cells.

Real yogurt should be milk and active cultures, period.  No thickeners, no flavorings, no sugars, etc!  Want a recipe for making a yummy snack with yogurt, fruit, and nuts... email me!  pyoumell@gmail.com

3.  Frozen Yogurt:  OK, so this is a fun one.  People order frozen yogurt instead of ice cream... well, because "it is yogurt. Yogurt is good for me,  so frozen yogurt is a healthy treat, right?"  No, it is not.  See above info on plain yogurt.  No good gut microbes survive freezing, so thinking frozen yogurt is good for gut health is a flawed thought (yes, perpetuated by marketing, but flawed none the less).  Action to take:  *Eat plain yogurt you have made yummy and fun with fruit, berries, cinnamon, vanilla.  Want a recipe? Email me, pyoumell@gmail.com.

4. Ginger Ale: "Ginger ale is good for me when I am sick, have a fever, correct?" "It settles my stomach if I have a nasty, gut bug sickness, correct?"  No, sorry. Modern sodas are just a source of liquid corn syrup, artificial flavors, and other artificial ingredients.  Action to take: Make ginger tea, use the ginger tea with seltzer water to make your own ginger soda; buy a natural brand of ginger soda that has real ginger in it!

5.  Bran Muffins: Running late for work or an appointment, no time for breakfast, so one stops at the mini-mart and grabs a bran muffin.  It is the health option in the mini-mart, correct?  NO, it is loaded with refined and toxic ingredients: white sugar, corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, white flour, artificial flavors, fillers, dough conditioners, etc., and a small amount of bran.  Action to take:  Make your own and have them handy.  Want a recipe, email me.  Take the time for a real breakfast.

6.  Wheat Bread:  Lots of issues here:  modern wheat is not all it is cracked up to be, most wheat breads have minimal whole grains in them, and most manufactured wheat bread is loaded with refined and crap ingredients.  Again, read labels.Action to take: Read labels and make certain breads are 100% whole grains for 100% whole cellular health.  Sprouted whole grain breads are another nourishing option.

7.  Commercial Fruit Smoothies: Ok, so the fruit does not exist in powdered smoothie mixes.  Many are artificially fruit flavored or have dried fruit powders in them.  Action to take: Make at home with 100% whole food ingredients, whole fruit, and only buy fruit smoothies in shops that make them the same way.  If the fruit smoothie is a powdered mix, RUN, fast, get away from the powdered world crap.  I don't care how healthy they say their protein powder fruit smoothies are for you.  They are not real food!

8.  Vitamin Water: One word: crap.  Ok, so vitamin water has a marvelous marketing campaign. This is a big clue here, any product with a marketing campaign most likely is worthless and not nourishing to your body cells.  Fresh produce does not need to be marketed as healthy.  We all innately know it is! Action to take: Drink water from your tap, if it has not been poisoned with chlorine and fluoride.  If it has, filter it.  If you think you need to have added vitamins in your water, go to Nature's Storehouse and find a 100% whole food liquid vitamin supplement and add it to your water.  Your health and cells will be grateful.

9.  Non-Calorie Sweeteners:  Nature did not make many non-calorie sweeteners. Food laboratories do; that is your clue to avoid them.  Nature makes real food, "food" labs do not.  These sweeteners are toxic to your liver and toxic to all of your body cells.  Now stevia... yes, if you are using real, green stevia.  The powdered green herb form of stevia is a real non-calorie sweetener.  Stevia that is the white powder or clear liquids, refined in food labs, in not healthy cell food.  Action to take:  Get a hold on your sugar usage.  Is it really something we were meant to eat every day?  Nah... it's not!

10.  Diet Soda and Diet Drinks:  Toxic to liver and body cells. See Non calorie sweetener above.  Action to take: Always put your body cells first and foremost in your mind when choosing foods and food products.  Make herb teas and enjoy them sweet free or use a tiny bit of raw, local honey.  Make "soda" with seltzer water and a wee bit of organic fruit juice concentrate.

11.  Gluten Free Food Products:  A word of caution:  when a health problem arises, manufacturers are quick to respond with ' "food products" to help solve your problem.  Many gluten free products are HIGHLY processed and full of junk ingredients.

Gluten free does not mean it is healthy.  There are thousands of gluten free products on the market:  cakes, cookies, breads, pizza crusts, boxed mixes; processed food heaven!  Learn to read labels.  Many of these products are full of fillers.  Yes the “fillers” in question are gluten free, but they are also refined, nutritionally devoid foods.  If the natural, whole food nutrition is not in the food, the refined food product will rob your body cells of nutrients and contribute to degenerative diseases. You are trading off one huge health problem for another of equal degenerative quality.

Things to look for are:  white rice flour, corn starch, potato starch*, tapioca starch*, tapioca flour*, potato flour*.  Basically these are cheap, filler ingredients not real food, not food that nourishes your beautiful body cells. These fillers create a host of health problems in your body including blood sugar and insulin issues that contribute to inflammation and exacerbate health issues.  

Action to take:  

Keep refined ingredients out of your diet for vibrant health. Read labels, buy food products that are 100% whole food ingredients only, including gluten free products.

Want to learn more?  I do gluten free workshops, contact me: pyoumell@paulayoumellrn.com 

Want gluten free bread & pizza dough recipes?  See my recipes under FREE STUFF link at the top of my web page. Or contact me for more suggestions.

*Note: Some brands of tapioca flour and potato flour are the whole roots ground into flour.  Check with the individual companies to know that what you are buying is a whole food flour, not a refined food flour.

12.  Fat Free Dairy: There are many reasons to avoid animal fat.  My big issue is that they are contaminated with all the toxins that have been created on this divine planet.  So, I advise buying organic and naturally raised animal products.  I even try to avoid animals products from animals that are fed GMO foods: corn and soybeans.  These are no easy tasks, I admit, and can leave one throwing up their arms in despair.  With this said, fat is needed in your body!   The manufacture of your bodily hormones depends on ingested fat.  Action to take:  Get to know your farmers, ask them how they raise their animals, what they feed them, if the corn /soy is GMO free, if they get fed very little corn and soy and mostly have access to pasture.  (Yes, winter in the north country complicates the pasture grazing issue!)  www.gardenshare.org  Go ahead, click the link, and start finding local farmers to grow your food!

13.  Chocolate: Ok, I know there are people who will want to strangle me for adding this one to the list.  Let's get serious, anti-oxidants aside, we all intuitively know that eating processed chocolate, every day, is not what nature intended.  It has been well marketed to us as a healthy superfood.  (Please see the above comments about marketing campaigns and food.)  Yes, I am certain chocolate, cocoa beans, have antioxidants, why wouldn't they?  Nature did make them.  But humans take those beans and process them into 554 million different chocolateproductsand then market them as a necessary daily food.  Our culture has certainly bought into this food campaign: hook,  line, and sinker.  Perhaps we could all thrive ingesting just chocolate, red wine, and coffee... all are loaded with antioxidants, right?!  Ok, ok, I know I am being a smart ass.  Action to take:  See it for what it is;  a tasty, fun, occasional treat.  Buy organic and fair trade to support the farmers that grow these amazing beans and enjoy it, with a smile, on occasion.

Questions to ask yourself about a food product: 

Was this nature made or man-made?

Were the ingredients nature made or man-made?

Was this made in a food factory?

Does this product have a huge marketing campaign?

If you would like to know more about how to heal your body with real food, how to incorporate healing-whole health strategies into your life, enter your name (above and on the right side of the page) to subscribe to my blog newsletter.  Come to a class I teach or give me a shout and we can work one on one.  Your health will soar, you will feel great, your cells will bounce with amazing energy!   Blessings, Paula

NAKED Skin Care

NAKED Skin Care, Natural Skin Care That Is

I used to make my own shampoo, conditioner, lotions, face creams, blah, blah, blah.  I still do make my own face stuff but really, how much time do I have?  Homemade gluten free bread, homemade veggie slaws, 100 % homemade meals from local foods, and fermenting my own veggies.  There IS only one of me!

I have had psoriasis for 15 years, just after the birth of my eldest son.  Hmmm, coincidence?  Anyhow, I have pretty much kept it to a very mild issue with diet, sunshine, yoga, and natural lifestyle choices.  Gluten free is a huge help!

Then, along comes Eli, Son #2.  He developed psoriasis at 8 years of age.  It's a gut and whole body health issue but no time to write a book to explain all that in detail.  Try to get an 8 year old to leave gluten alone.  (Someday he will wish he listened to me...gluten intolerance, if continually irritated with gluten can become full blown celiac disease.  It's just like pre-diabetics and diet or orally "controlled" diabetics who continue to indulge in sugar... just wait, they can develop full blown, insulin diabetes from the continual irritation of sugar in their systems.)

Yes, We will be doing another Gluten Free Workshop; me and the Local Living Venture.  Sign up for their newsletter and get informed!   Use this email address and ask them to subscribe you:  sustlivingproject@gmail.com

OK, so I digressed a bit, forgive me.  I was looking for natural skin care for psoriasis to help my son.  His is much worse than mine, but, may I add, completely disappears when he leaves gluten out of his diet.  So, anyhow, I found these products.  I know apple cider vinegar is good for the gut and good for the skin.  Keeps the microbes healthy and in check.  But I did not want to make the products myself.  Again, how much can I do everyday?

LOVE this company's stuff:  http://www.justnaturalskincare.com/Psoriasis/ALL-skin-psoriasis-products.html

Bottom Line:  Psoriasis Advice

1.  100% Whole food diet... am I a broken record about this or what?!

2.  Gluten free, no refined sugar.

3.  Naked sun:  as naked as you are comfortable being outside!  Sun to the skin, protect the face (it's the wrinkle factor on the face!).

This is the email, I just received from JustNatural,  offering a 20% discount in March.  There is no better way to try something new than with a discount! OK, maybe free, but that is not an option!  They even have products for stopping hair loss with age.....

JustNatural's Coupon

      Use 

March2014

  as coupon code

20% off

Shop Today use code March2014 at checkout

Click to visit 

JustNatural

    We wish a warm thank you to all of our wonderful customers

www.justnaturalskincare.com

11101 S. Crown Way Wellington, FL 33414

Copyright © 2014 Just Natural Products LLC. All rights reserved.

Again, we wish a warm thank you to all of our awesome customers!

We would like to introduce and share with you the quality of natural hair and skin care products.

In nature many ingredients can be found that are beneficial for your hair and skin care needs. But in today’s hectic world of constant marketing the plain truth is often hard to come by.

Hair care and skin care products that are made with chemicals are often touted as being this or that solution. The reality is that chemical ingredients are often used in hair care products to replace the more expensive and effective alternative, that is real natural and organic ingredients.

Please consider choosing products with fewer chemicals and your hair and skin will thank you for it. We ask that you try natural hair care products and experience the change for yourself.

We bring nature closer to you.

Build a Better Breakfast...

Building a Better Breakfast... or Lunch... or Dinner:   I will eat this concoction at any meal, when my heart and soul are asking for it! When we think breakfast, most people think cereal and milk (or donuts and coffee!). Cereal is a poor health choice for breakfast, or any meal, for that matter.  I confess, I ate my share of Frosted Flakes and Wheaties, as a kid.  I am even guilty of adding extra sugar to that bowl of cereal.  The sugar bowl did sit in the middle of the table.  What was it there for, if not for me to use??  Yes Mom, I am throwing you under the bus with a rocket launcher duct taped to your butt! So, I have grown up and learned a lesson or two.  Taking care of hospital patients, whose health was severely compromised by poor diet and lifestyle choices, taught me many lessons in a hurry. I do believe I had a passion for health way before nursing school, but that IS another story! Here is a fine article on breakfast cereals (Why re-invent the wheel or re-write the article?), http://www.naturalfertilityandwellness.com/what-is-cereal-good-for/ So here is one of my fun breakfast concoctions.  I start with thin slices of root veggies. Here you see my favorite...beets, in case you have forgotten my obsessive passion with beets! I saute' them in butter for 2-3 minutes on one side. Then.... I flip them over and immediately pile shredded kale on top, then.... I immediately add two eggs and hold them in place, on the kale, until they are "glued" in place.  I like my eggs to be soft cooked and unbroken.  Then.... I add a few slices of cheese, cover the pan, and let cook for 3-4 minutes on low heat.  It's the egg yolk thing, I don't want them getting hard!  And... Voila!  Breakfast (lunch or dinner) is finished!  See top picture for finished breakfast.  And breakfast is gluten free, grain free, and YUMMY to boot. Want information about gluten free?  Ask me.  I am a big fan of getting modern wheat and its gluten out of your diet.  I stick to spelt and kamut and eat it only on occasion.  Grains go right to my butt.  When I eat too many grains and grain based products (brown rice, pasta, pizza dough, bread, etc.), I just crave more.  This starts the cycle of eating more grains, then craving more grains & carbohydrates, craving more sugary things... and well, we are back to my butt! (No, not Mom's butt, her's is under the bus!)   PS  I recommend that you don't eat most gluten free products.  They are junk food, not made with whole food ingredients!  Read ingredients, do not assume the product is healthy.  Again, want information?  Ask me! I do this "breakfast" with many different root veggies as the base slices.  Other good choices for the "base" veggies:   slices of butternut squash, delicata squash, butter cup squash, onion... use your imagination! Apple slices on the bottom, sprinkled with cinnamon, is very yummy too! Eat well, have fun, and if I can be any help to you and your healing endeavors... come find me.  I will be under the bus with Mom!  Paula