I started this blog not because I am an expert in nutrition, diet or exercise but because I am a pushing forty, happily married, cancer surviving, mother of two who just wants to raise a healthy family without having to have a personal chef, trainer or a degree in nutrition. Why should I have to read the label of every single food item I buy for my family? What happened to food just being food?
Two years ago when I found I had cancer, my family and I, who already exercised and ate pretty healthy, really started doing a lot of research on what we were eating. We began to read the labels of everything we bought. The first few weeks of doing this meant for long hours at the grocery store. I found myself exclaiming out loud in the aisles, “I’ve been feeding this to my kids?” It produced a number of wary looks from fellow shoppers. Once I began to get a handle of what products I thought were okay and what to avoid it began to get much easier but what I found shocking is the number of preservatives, hidden trans fat, and over processed foods that are in our diets. Why should there be ten ingredients in butter? Shouldn’t butter just be cream and salt?
So I decided I would start off 2009 with a blog that had great food tips, easy healthy recipes, and information that I could share with others on getting back to a more natural way of eating. I wanted to help others so they would not have to do all the leg work I have done over the last couple of years to put healthy food on my families table.
1 Corinthians 6:19,20 (New Living Translation)
Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
The first thing I want to talk about is breakfast. For me, it’s boring. I do not get excited about breakfast at home. It is utilitarian. Although I would prefer a nice big toasted everything bagel with a bunch of cinnamon swirl cream cheese. That’s not what I eat. Six out of seven days a week I eat either cereal or oatmeal with fruit. I know it sounds pretty bland but you can really make it a great start to a super healthy day. Here are a few suggestions:
Kashi Heart to Heart Brown Maple Oatmeal
Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal
Kashi Heart to Heart Cereal
Whatever I choose I always add about a teaspoon of cinnamon to my cereal, ground flax seed (I’ll tell you why next), and fruit – usually blueberries or sliced bananas. To make the cold cereal even better I use light vanilla soy milk. I know it may sound strange but it is so good. I like it so much that I never use regular milk anymore. If you don’t like the extra vanilla flavoring than just get regular light soy milk. My favorite brand is Light Silk Soymilk. It’s all natural.
The reason I usually choose Kashi brand cereals or oatmeal is that I know I can trust that their products are going to be all natural. I don’t have to read the list of ingredients before buying their products – I have found from my research and reading the labels of many different brands of cereal that they consistently use all natural ingredients. Here’s their website if you want to look at the products they sell.
http://kashi.com/
I also want to add that I do not work for anybody or get anything for mentioning products. I am just simply sharing my opinion about products I love. As I mentioned, I have spent a lot of time reading labels and just want to share the information I have found so that I can help others get back to more natural way of eating.
