The Farmer's Garden

Do you garden and grow more food than you can eat? Do you wish you could eat garden fresh produce without needing to garden?


Here's a cool solution for every one.

The Farmers Garden, where you can buy sell and trade locally grown backyard produce. It's free to register and post adds on the site and easy to browse adds to find others in your area with produce to sell. I'm hoping someone with a garden in my area will register soon. Maureen Farmer, the creator of this site, is a master gardener who built this site as practice while learning php. Thanks for the great idea and service Maureen.

Pantry Basics-Day Two

Breakfast this morning was crock pot porridge. I added an apple to the basic recipe. We also had yogurt and some really nice persimmons that the GH brought home from his parent's house. I guess they came from a neighbor.

I totally forgot that I had to think about lunch, since we don't have any easy protein, like cheese or peanut butter on hand. I cooked up some quinoa in chicken broth and while that was cooking I fast boiled some brown lentils. When both were cooked I drained the lentils and stirred them into the quinoa with salt, pepper, and ground cumin.

1/2 cups quinoa $0.50
chicken broth-made from leftover chicken
3/4 cup lentils $0.40

It tastes especially good with my husband's own special blend of apple cider vinegar, with a dash of cayenne, salt, ground mustard, minced fresh garlic, thyme, oregano, and a little bit of sugar drizzled over the top. He makes it a jarful at a time and we just keep eating it. Apple cider vinegar is supposed to be good for colds and metabolism as well as digestion. Cayenne has health and immunity boosting abilities and has been shown to help in weight loss. Oregano is an anti-bacterial, okay it's good for you, and delicious. You get the idea.

apple cider vinegar-$0.70/jar we used less than a quarter of it.

Cost of lunch $1

Before leaving for the library I put some black eyed peas, 3 cups, in the crock pot with water and salt.
On the way home we passed the farmer's market and I needed something green and fresh. (The sprouts I started won't be ready until tomorrow at the earliest.) I spent $4 and came home with a shopping bag full of kale and lettuce and 5 limes.

Tonight for dinner I tried to recreate something my friend from India gave me once, I think I came pretty close.

I started with a spice blend called Panch Phoran. You can get it at Cost Plus, or in bulk at an Indian grocery store. It's a spice blend containing mustard, cumin, fennel, nigella and fenugreek seeds.

1 tbsp vegetable oil-negligible
1 tbsp panch phoran- $0.30
1/2 onion, chopped fine $0.20
1 tsp minced garlic-$0.05
6-7 cups cooked black eyed peas $1.50

Heat the oil in a skillet and roast the spices for two or three minutes. Add the onion and saute until translucent. Add the garlic. Continue stirring and cooking until the onions are cooked through. Add the beans and fry about 5 minutes more. Serve with rice, and yogurt. (My friend also added a lot of chili which made this really spicy. I didn't this time because I wanted the kids to eat it.)

I chopped up a few stalks of kale and tossed them with apple cider vinegar, honey and olive oil. My kids asked for seconds. I guess that starving them continues to work. :)

Two kale stalks $0.20
1 1/2 cups rice-$0.40
1/4 cup homemade yogurt $0.15

Total cost for dinner $2.80

Lunch and dinner for 4 $3.80

I'm too tired to figure out breakfast today. Baby's teething and has a cold, Maybe tomorrow I'll have the energy to do a cost analysis on our porridge.

Trader Joe's vs Big Lot's, the face off continues

My hubby and I have a little running competition going. I find the best deals I can at Big Lot's and through the fliers. He then likes to try and prove how much cheaper it is at Trader Joe's.

The last time I was at Big Lot's I picked up a bag of Ghirardelli's chocolate chips for $2.50. I figured I could stock up for baking, and I found some nuts for 3$ a bag which are normally $6.
Now, I know that Big Lot's is a salvage store so the nuts weren't likely to be fresh, but I figured it would work out fine for baking.

The first thing the GH says when he sees them on the counter, "How come you got those there? Their cheaper at Trader Joe's, and better quality."

The next time he comes home with a larger bag of chocolate chips, milk and dark chocolate that he paid $1.69 a bag for, each. The nuts were more though.

I guess you could call that a tie. But the Trader Joe's Chocolate chips taste better, and so do the nuts.

A cool gift idea

Am I the only one freaked out by all the new info on polyurethanes leaching from plastic bottles. From what I''ve read, if the little number on the bottom of the bottle is a 1, 2, 3. 6, or 7, you could be getting dangerous cancer and birth defect causing chemicals from your bottled water, and water bottle, yes, even the Nalgenes. So I when to check my bottle that was supposed to be this great okay to drink from plastic and guess what. It's slowly poisoning me after all.

That's why I'm finally making the switch to metal. I LOVE the water bottles made by SIGG. They are so pretty. They have cool designs. They're made in Switzerland, not China.



Every one needs to drink water right? Why not out of a personalized bottle that is virtually indestructible and will last for year and years, provided they don't lose it. (The only way I know to break the things is to put them in the freezer with water in them, even if you only fill them halfway and leave the lid off. That's how I destroyed my husband's bottle. The one he's had longer than he's known me. The one that he has carried with him on every single trip he's ever taken to South East Asia. Basically I destroyed all of his souvenirs of almost a decade by wrecking that thing. Gulp.)

But he's getting a new one. I'm telling our family who ask to get us all one of these this year. And people on my list may just find something similar in their box as well.

So, DRINK MORE WATER.

ps. If you can't afford a cool little bottle. You could always
just use a glass jar with a screw top lid, or a glass bottle, which is what I am currently using. Just don't drop it by accident.

chorizo, now with chicken

"Don't ask, just eat it."

I was sitting in a friend's RV near the beach in San Diego. He was making us breakfast. Chorizo and eggs, and warm flour tortillas. Chorizo is a spicy Mexican sausage that he squeezed from it's skin and cooked up like farmers sausage along with the eggs. It's a favorite breakfast in these parts. But you REALLY don't want to know what's in it. I have heard murmured references to rat droppings voiced around however.

Eating such tasty food, and having a cross cultural experience should be exciting, but perhaps not that exciting. That's what the folks at Trader Joe's seem to think. They have come out with their own version of Chorizo. It's made from chicken, tastes like the real thing, and you can enjoy it without worrying about the rat droppings. So go and try some today. Add eggs and soft warm tortillas and pretend you're on a beach somewhere warm watching the sun rise. At least, that's what I'd do.

Light summer meal, sweet salad, bread, and cheese

Several leaves of organic red leaf lettuce and green leaf lettuce-torn into medium sized pieces $0.25

2/3 cup of finely sliced organic purple cabbage. $0.05

1/2 organic cucumber quartered and sliced. $0.25

2 sprigs organic flat leaf parsley from patio herb garden-only the leaves. Free

One large nectarine cut into chunks $0.75

1/2 cup almonds-toasted thanks to Genoa's comment

less than 1/4 cup of Annie's Low-Fat Raspberry Vinaigrette $0.30

Combine in a salad bowl. Total cost $1.60

Serve with slices of crusty artisan sourdough made with whole wheat organic flour $1.00

Add some slices of cheese $0.50

Cold water with a twist of lime $0.10

And some grapes for dessert. $0.40

Cost for entire meal $3.60

That's what we had for dinner tonight after walking all the way to and from the farmer's market yesterday.

Kellogg's commits to raising nutrition of kids food

I read this article with great interest the other day. Kellogg's the world's leading cereal producer has caved to public pressure and will be upgrading the nutrition standards of the cereals that it advertises to children under the age of 12. It will be revising the caloric content and salt and sugar content of it's cereals. While I applaud this development and agree that it's a good thing for lobbyists to push for a healthier food standard, I can't help wondering about a lot of issues the article raised for me.

The first thought of course was that they could meet those guidelines just by making the portion sizes smaller, which doesn't change anything but the label.

The other thing that it had me wondering however was why is it necessary to control advertising to children? Why is it the responsibility of the food producers to make kids food healthier instead of the responsibility of parents to make informed choices as consumers? Aren't parents the ones who purchase the breakfast cereal, and aren't they able to say no and explain to their children why they are making that choice?

Perhaps I don't understand because I don't let my kids watch commercial television most of the time. If they want Dora, I'll rent the DVD. They don't watch TV unless I'm there with them. Is Shrek really more of an influence for some children than their parents are? I doubt it but I want to hear your opinion about all of this.

The Saga Continues

It's time for an update on the weight loss plan I suppose. Well, the last time I weighed myself I was around 145lbs. I rarely weigh myself, I don't own a scale. But this week I pulled some snug pre-pregnant pants out of the closet and they fit once more. I am about 15 lbs away from the goal weight I had in January. I don't quite understand why my pants are fitting already when I'm still so far off, but I'm not complaining. I still have a bit of fat on my belly, but my hipbones have re-emerged once more so we're not that far away.

So, in the interest of full disclosure, here's how much I've been sticking to my plan.

1. Curtailing the snacking has been partially successful. I still have snacks but they are usually fruit these days. I only end up snacking about once a day.
   
2. I'm still eating while standing from time to time. I've learned something interesting though. I've been really aware of my posture since I gave birth because I don't want to turn into a hunchbacked old woman. When I sit up straight I pay attention to my food better, I eat slower and I'm generally more aware of what I'm eating.
3. I was doing really well with not eating while doing something else until recently. I've once or twice eaten my breakfast at the computer just this week.
4. My portion sizes are under control. I use a smaller plate, and I put my food in the middle of the plate being sure to leave a border around the outside. I find this rule of thumb handy,
   
5. Exercise every day. Well...my treadmill sits there gathering dust because it's in my bedroom where the baby sleeps, and I usually don't want to risk waking her when I have time to exercise, bad planning on my part. Here's what I've really been doing. When I take my children to the playground, I walk around while they're playing. I just keep walking and walking until they're ready to go home. (Unless one of my friends is there, then I usually stand around and talk to them instead.) I dance around with the baby when ever hits of the 80's is playing on my husband's i-tunes, which seems to be often these days. Why 80's? I have no idea, but we both think it's fun. I walked 2 miles for a fund raiser and raised almost $1000. I bench press the baby too, 10 reps at a time, she's getting heavier in direct proportion to my workout needs. I sit her on my belly against my raised legs and do crunches to play peekaboo. (I hold her so she doesn't fall.) I carry her everywhere. I walk to do all of my errands. I'm rarely breaking a sweat, unless it's really hot out, but it must be working a little since I'm smaller. I am stretching.
6. I'm eating leftover salad for lunch and after dinner.
7. I am still eating dessert a few times a week and squares of dark chocolate, but I'm not eating large portions, and I'm eating less challah bread too.

So, that doesn't look as bad as I thought it would when I decided to confess but I think the real reason I'm losing weight is because I eat the way I tell you I do, all the time. My breakfast is homemade meusli with homemade yogurt every day except Saturday. I really do eat salad everyday, and I don't eat junk food, hardly ever. The last Saturday snacking binge I was on included seasoned pecans and dried tamarind. (I know, I should really cut back.)

So there you have it, it's not that hard, and most of the battle is won when I'm finished shopping, the choices made there make the choices at home easier.

As I've been saying

I found this article via this post at Gastrokid. If you are not yet convinced of how important it can be to read labels and avoid additives in your food, this article may help you out. It includes a detailed breakdown of some common food additives and why they might not be that good for you. It's a handy reference.

flour

Whole grains are better for you. They contain many more nutrients than more refined flours because most of the nutrient content is in the germ and the bran. The best kind of flour you can eat is flour that was ground less than 24 hours ago. After 24 hours the nutrients start to die off due to oxidation, (exposure to air) and the longer a flour sits on the shelf the more it resembles glue paste and the less it resembles food. I know a lot of families who have a grain grinder and bulk order buckets of whole grains that they grind in small batches so they always have fresh flour for baking. Not everyone can afford to buy a grinder, like me. (I can borrow my MIL's though, and do often.)

What the rest of us can do is this. Check the dates on the whole wheat flour you buy at the market. Try to get it as recent as possible. Keep your flour in the freezer to keep the oils in the germ from going rancid. If you can't find whole wheat flour at your local store, you can either talk to the manager and request that they keep some in stock, or you can start looking around online and order in bulk. If you live anywhere near where grain is grown, find out where the grain is milled and stored and buy it straight from there. (My grandpa is a farmer so we got all of our flour this way, from his fields.)

One flour that I like to use is King Arthur Flour white whole wheat flour.
Not only is it free from bleaches, bromates, and chemicals, it's a very light whole wheat flour because it is made from winter wheat instead of regular wheat. This flour adapts very well to recipes that call for white flour. Trader Joe's carries it, but so do Albertson's and Von's, so I imagine that if you live in the US it is readily accessible.

One other thing that I have done that is fairly simple to do is to sprout my own wheat berries and add them to bread. This of course assumes that you are making your own bread. Sprouts significantly increase the nutrient content in the grain and make the bread fairly sweet.

To learn how to sprout wheat go here.

I have made bread by just adding the sprouts to the bread recipe, it comes out with a very strong texture and a few hard bits. I prefer to dry the sprouts in the oven for a few hours on its lowest setting and then grind them in the blender before adding them to my flour.

Lentil Barley Soup and good sausage

For a while, several years ago, the Genius Husband and I ate mostly meatless meals. Our friends assumed we were vegetarian until we told them that it was out of economy more than anything else. Well, it felt better to eat as we were also, but for my husband especially the meatless quality of our lives was an economy measure to get him through grad school. Even now, we usually eat 3-4 meatless meals every week. (Pregnancy doesn’t count of course because I need animal protein to make up for all of the extra work. I’m not a happy vegetarian mom though I’d like to be. I need steak.) All that is to say that I learned a lot from 1000 Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles. When I first bought it in university I didn’t even know what quinoa is let alone have any in my cupboard but she teaches what things are, how to prepare them and there are so many recipes that there is something that will suit every taste.

Anyway, on to the recipe which isn’t from the book. You can also combine all of these ingredients in a crockpot and go to work and it will be done when you get home if you set it on low.

You will need 6-8 cups of water or broth. If it’s water add bullion I like the Better Than Bullion Turkey broth, which can be found at most grocery stores.

Put water/broth in a stockpot.

Add 1/2 cup of olive oil

Add 1 1/2 cups lentils
Add 1 1/2 cups barley (hulled or pearled, rinse it if it’s pearled.)

Fine chop one medium onion: add to pot.

Mince 4 cloves of garlic and add to pot.

Add:

Salt and pepper to taste.

1 tbsp thyme

1/2 tsp ground oregano

2 tbsp cumin

1tbsp curry powder (optional)

several drops chipotle Tabasco sauce.

Bring to a boil and simmer for 1/2 an hour or so until lentils begin to soften.

Add sliced celery, carrots, and any other vegetables that you want and simmer until vegetables are soft.

My husband really likes this soup when I add a spicy sausage to it.

I’ve mentioned sausage a few times, so I thought I’d tell you about a brand that I really like and yes it’s a Trader Joe’s, but also at Albertson’s and other places. Cantella’s makes really good sausage. It’s precooked, no MSG, no gluten, mainly chicken but they do make one pork Andouille that I mention recently. I don’t really like sausage by itself. I’m not one to cook a whole sausage and eat it straight, the texture tends to bother me, but I find it very useful in adding flavor to other dishes. That’s why I like Cantella’s because they have some really strong flavors that go a long way in other things like soup and casserole and quiche and other things, one or two is enough.

Simple ways to make healthy changes.

It’s Friday, I have so many things to write about that I can’t decide where to begin and I don’t have a lot of time. I’m going to reply to some of the things mentioned in my comments. (Please comment, it gives me an idea of what those reading would like to see on this site, and then I can be more helpful.)

Smoov tells me she needs more time and more make ahead recipes. Since I’m all about trying to make changing eating habits simple, I’ll try and give this a go.

First of all, have you seen this yet? Really go and look, I’ll wait. You need to see it. Did you see what was on the bottom? Water, that’s right, we are 90% water, and we need a lot of it to stay healthy. I’ve read some fascinating literature that speculates that many of our chronic degenerative diseases in North America may simply be the result of chronic dehydration and could be corrected if we drank enough water. When you consider all of the diuretics that we routinely consume in our culture, in coffee, tea, soft drinks, we are not only failing to hydrate ourselves when we drink mostly these kinds of beverages instead of water, we are actually adding to our level of dehydration. Even mild dehydration, loss of 1-2% body water can cause us to have poorer concentration, headaches, and be more irritable. It may also keep us from shedding unwanted fat cells according to one doctor.

So the first change we can all make, which is really simple and not time consuming at all, is to drink enough water. I have a very large, half-gallon, water bottle that I keep filled. I have a purifier on my tap so that it tastes better. Because I am pregnant my minimum requirement for water is 2 of these a day. I find it easiest to keep track of how much water I am drinking if I take this with me and make sure that I empty it twice daily. Another way to do it is to keep a pitcher in the fridge or on the counter and make sure you have drunk all of the water in it by the end of the day. Most people work, so taking the water bottle with you is the simplest I would think, or keeping a large bottle filled in your office and pouring glasses from it throughout the day. Make it your goal to empty that bottle or pitcher before you go to bed every day. The way to calculate your minimum water requirement is to drink half of your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 100lbs, you need 50 ounces of water each day. Every cup of coffee you drink or other diuretic beverage you need to add that much more water to you daily intake to replace what is lost. My kids each have their own water bottle, sport top to avoid spills, and they drink from them through out the day. When they complain that they are thirsty, I give them water. I try to get fun looking bottles so that they think it’s fun to drink from them.

A lot of what we need to do in order to follow the rest of the pyramid takes place at the grocery store.

The second level of the pyramid is fruits and vegetables. This is the kind of change that doesn’t take all that much time after you leave the grocery store. When you go shopping, make it a point to get enough produce to make at least 3 salads. Most of us go shopping at least twice a week so this is a good number because it keeps things from going bad. If you are in a real hurry you can get salads in a bag. Don’t get the white lettuce and cabbage mix; get something dark green, romaine, spinach (wash it before you use it and you’ll be fine) even Albertson’s has organic spring green salad mixes available. Get a good dressing or two. I really like the Annie’s Naturals, and they have lot’s of interesting flavors to choose from. If you want to save money and not buy convenience, just plan time when you come home from shopping to pre-wash and precut all of your vegetables, for the next three days. When dinnertime comes you can grab all of these things and throw them into a bowl and there you have salad.

A trick that has worked for us is to serve the salad as a first course. When my children are hungry they will eat vegetables, big plates full of spinach, and not complain about it. This works for me too. If I eat a plate full of salad first, when I still have room for food, I eat less of the main course, whatever it is, and I eat much more of what I ought to be eating that way.

One other thing that I have found helpful is to put out snacks when I start to prepare a meal. The time of day when I’m most likely to just grab things and put them in my mouth without thinking about it is if I am frantically preparing dinner. This is also the time of day when my children will attach themselves to my knees and cry and scream and get in the way and make us all frustrated. I keep a bag of organic baby cut carrots in the fridge at all times. I also keep broccoli and red peppers because those are the things my kids love to eat. I will start dinner prep by putting a bowl of vegetables on the table; I don’t need dip anymore because they don’t ask for it. This way they will snack on vegetables, which I don’t mind them filling up with before dinner, and I will do the same because it’s convenient, and we are getting even more of what we should be eating. Also, they disengage from my legs and I can be more efficient. I also keep dry roasted soy nuts on hand for snacking on throughout the day, or raw pumpkin seeds, or nuts. These are all full of healthy oils and nutrients and keep us going in between meals.

The one other level of that food pyramid is also something that you can take care of while shopping. Make a choice to purchase whole grain versions of your usual dinner starches, pasta, rice, bread, even yams instead of white potatoes, etc. and then when you go to make dinner, you have already done the main work of making that part of it healthier.

When you shop for meat, make it a point to purchase lean cuts of meat. Go for fish, chicken breast, lean ground beef, etc. This saves you needing to take the time to trim them when you are at home and preparing them.

Choose low fat dairy options also, milk, yogurt, sour cream, and cottage cheese. (Okay, I never buy low fat cheese, I just eat it in moderation because it really doesn’t taste all that good otherwise, but if you find yourself eating a lot of it a day go for low fat, or change your snacks to fruit, vegetables, and seeds.)

If you need to snack through out the day or your children do, purchase fruits and vegetables that lend themselves to snacking; apples, oranges, bananas, pears, broccoli, celery, carrots, cucumbers, mini tomatoes, etc.

While I know that I haven’t answered the “What do I make for dinner?” question, making these few changes while you shop and prepare food and snack you can improve your diet a lot. Adding what is good for you is usually a much easier beginning point than taking away what is bad.

Next week I will talk about dinner ideas and share some recipes.

Happy weekend.

Where to Start

Daisy gave me a great idea for a first post. In her comment over at my other blog, where I talk about starting this one, she said,

“I don't have a title for your new blog, but I'll read it when you start it! I have to gradually make changes in my family's eating habits or they won't buy into the concept.”

So this is where we will begin, by answering the question of where to start and how to make those little changes that add up to one big change. Taste is something that it takes time to develop, little changes over time are not noticeable, but eventually when you try something “fake” again, as opposed to something “real” you will taste what I’m talking about.

Let’s look first at those things that are probably already in your cupboard.

Peanut butter
Jam
Bread
Tortillas
Pasta
Crackers
Cereal
Juice
Rice
Etc.

Make no mistake these things are not all created equal. If you have been purchasing a brand that gets a lot of TV commercial time, the odds are that it’s not actually good for you. I could venture a lot of guesses as to why, but the main one would be that they started needing to advertise in the first place in order to convince people to purchase an inferior product. Let’s look first at your peanut butter, go ahead and get the jar, I’ll wait. Look at the side and read the ingredients list. It should say roasted peanuts, and salt, if you like it salted. Oh wait, does yours have more in it? By chance does it say icing sugar? What about hydrogenated oils, does it have that? Do you remember that moment when you stood at the store doing a price comparison between say Kraft or Skippy and that weird looking organic, or not main brand jar that cost about $2 more? Do you remember thinking that the one you were holding was cheaper, and it was the one that you’re kids liked? Maybe you didn’t even stand and think about it. You are not getting more for your money when your peanut butter is full of icing sugar and packed with lard, (Hydrogenated oil). You are being ripped off, and you have been misled into feeding yourself and your family something terribly unhealthy.

Did you ever wonder how it could be possible that THE AVERAGE AMERICAN CHILD CONSUMES ALMOST 10LBS OF SUGAR EACH WEEK?!!!! This is how it happens; it’s hidden in almost every food you find on the shelf. The next time you go to the store look for a peanut butter that only has peanuts in it, and salt. If you have a Trader Joe’s near you, (You can go to here to find out.) they are your best bet to find healthful versions of almost all of those items on my list and it won’t break the bank. If you are not lucky enough to be close to a TJ’s here are a few brands that I like if you can find them. Vons used to sell a store brand peanut butter that was really just peanuts. Adam’s peanut butter is also good. At local health food stores you can sometimes find the little machines that make fresh peanut butter as you watch. This was a highlight of shopping trips for me when I was young, and a good way to get your children excited about eating real peanut butter that isn’t sweetened. It’s a good idea to get organic if you can find it, because peanuts are one of those things that have a lot of pesticides left on them by the time they get to you. One more tip. If your peanut butter has separated and the oil is sitting on top, as often happens in real nut butters, you have two choices. If you are trying to eat low fat and watch your calories, pour it out into your sink, or a jar to keep for cooking, and Viola, you have low fat peanut butter. Simple isn’t it? If you intend to mix the oil back in, which makes it easier to spread, sometimes I pour out half the oil and keep the rest, turn the jar upside down for a while in your cupboard, the oil will try to rise to the top/bottom and it will be easier to stir when you do. Nut butters should be kept in the fridge after opening, and it won’t separate again once it’s cool.

Next let’s look at jam. It should have more fruit than sugar, which should go without saying, but just in case…. I prefer the sugar free fruit sweetened jams, they are lower calorie and glycemic index (I’ll talk about that later), and a little bit healthier, though jam really is jam. The jam in my cupboard right now has 8 grams of sugar per tbsp. Always check the serving size to see if it’s what you will actually use in one sandwich or if you will use several servings in one sandwich. Manufacturers like to fudge on labels by reducing the serving size so it doesn’t look as bad.

Bread. Here we have a problem. Go to TJ’s if you can, or an Artisan bakery that cooks with whole grains. You must ask them what kind of flour they use because they won’t tell you otherwise. At TJ’s they have many wonderful selections. It you are not ready to deal with the squirrelly texture of sprouted grain yet, they have a lovely TJ’s brand seven-grain bread that tastes like white bread, is nice and soft and makes great sandwiches. It also says French village on the label. Then there are whole wheat and whole grain breads, in the grocery store most of these will have corn syrup in them, which is ten times worse than sugar, and many will have nasty hydrogenated oils in them as well. (I will write a whole post on oils one day, with research links, but for now, it’s indigestible and may contribute to cancer and degenerative diseases.) In fact, I dare you to go to the super market and find me a loaf of whole wheat bread that doesn’t have corn syrup or hydrogenated oil in it, we’ll ignore preservatives for now. Some Vons stores carry Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain bread, which is very good for you but is an acquired taste for the newbies, so that one doesn’t count. If you find one leave a comment and I’ll give you a prize, of my choosing, I’ll try to think of something cool.

Okay, moving on. Tortillas. Corn tortillas are easy, usually fine. Give or take a preservative or two, these are a pretty safe bet. Flour tortillas are more difficult, again, go and explore TJ’s if you can. (Here in Southern CA we also have a plethora of amazing tortillarias where you can buy them fresh made, but that’s probably not an option for many of you.) Almost all main brands of flour tortillas have hydrogenated oils and preservatives in them, so they can sit on the shelf in your store for so long without going bad, and so they don’t stick together. Too bad this renders them inedible. Most of these brands will make a whole wheat version too, which will have the bad stuff in them as well, but the whole grain option at least provides some nutrient value. (I will talk about whole grains soon as well, right now I just want to help you the next time you go grocery shopping.) Opt for these if that’s your only choice, it will at least begin to put you and your family's taste buds on a healthier path.

So we have only covered 4 items so far. I will motor through and explain in later posts.

Pasta. Try the whole grain versions on the shelf. To ease into it gradually, mix half white and half wholegrain for a while to get used to the texture. But they’re noodles, cover them with enough sauce most kids, and grown-ups, won’t notice.

Crackers. I’m sorry but every cracker on the store shelf has hydrogenated oil in it somewhere if you read the label. Notable exceptions include the Kashi Brand TLC crackers, Akmak whole-wheat crackers, most rice crackers and rice cakes, some brands of stoned wheat thins, Ryvita, Wasa, the ever present goldfish crackers from Pepperidge farms, and a couple more that are escaping memory. The trick is to label read and find out for yourselves what’s in them. Again TJ’s has a great cracker section, as will your local health food store, maybe, if it’s large enough, but I guarantee TJ’s will be cheaper. (I really hope I at least get a coupon or something from them for all of this.)

Cereal. Um, kind of a no brainer in some respects, cocoa puffs versus cheerios or cornflakes, duh!!! You will be surprised however to discover that almost all cereal has some amount of sugar in it, even cheerios and cornflakes. What we are aiming for is less rather than more. Read the label for sugar grams and fiber grams, as well as whole grain vs. whatever else. You want the amount of sugar to be low, and the fiber to be high, and made with whole grains. The more fiber in a cereal the more satisfying it is, the less you will need to eat, and the less of a hit your insulin levels will take digesting it, which will be good for your concentration and your appetite. (Oh yeah, that’s another post.) Puffed wheat and rice cereals are a good bet. Again, Kashi is a good choice, heritage oh’s, TJ’s oh’s, granola though sweetened is high in fiber and if it has nuts there is also protein. I’ll tell you how to make your own soon, I promise, or you can look up recipes for yourself, add low fat to your google search and you’ll find something healthy I promise. Porridge is a very safe bet. I love the Bob's Red Mill line of products and it doesn't take long to prepare, favorites here are the 7-grain porridge, that 8 grain wheat free porridge, the 10-grain porridge, you get the idea, What I love about these is that they sneak so many things into these porridges, like lentils and soy and flax and millet, all high in protein and nutrients and when you make it and serve it with frozen berries, or raisins, and cinnamon and milk, we like real maple syrup or molasses around here for sweeteners, my kids turn summersaults and thank me for giving them such a "treat" for breakfast. There are also oats, old-fashioned rolled, quick oats, steel cut/Irish oats, any brand that isn't premixed with flavoring or sweeteners will do.

Juice. Only real juice folks not colored and sweetened water. I don’t care how much Vitamin C the commercials say Sunny D has, or how happy the kids in the commercial look, it is not juice, it is not food, it’s vitamin fortified Kool-aid. Don’t even ask me about Kool-aid. NO!!! If there is anything on the label besides fruit juice, fresh or from concentrate, don’t take it home. It’s a waste of your money. I personally prefer to drink water, it’s low calorie, and your body needs a lot of it to work well. My kids get one drink of juice a day, if that. Stick to real fruit, it has fiber and nutrients that haven’t been cooked out of it in the pasteurizing process, and is just better for you. (Yeah, did you know that 80% of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables are lost when they are cooked? What do you think heat pasteurizing does to all of those fruit nutrients?)

Rice. Brown is better than white. All of the nutrients are in the bran, which is removed to make white rice. If you eat a lot of rice and don’t have a rice cooker, buy one, they are $20 at Target right now, they make cooking brown rice a snap. If not follow the stovetop cooking directions, though I find they always tell you to add too much water. Maybe everyone else likes their brown rice mushy, I don’t know. If it’s too mushy the first time, try taking out about 1/2 cup of water per cup of rice.

This is the easiest way I can think of to begin changing eating habits, and take little steps toward better eating. You can eat many of the same foods, and use the same recipes, but if you change the ingredients to more healthful ones it will make a difference.

One other thing I recomend as you begin on this food adventure is to try new things. Do you see a fruit that you have never had before in the produce section? Buy one; they often have little labels to help you know if it’s ripe and how to eat it. Take it home, cut it up and everyone taste. Do the same with vegetables, if you don’t know how to prepare something, type it in Google and see what comes up; there are hundreds of recipes on the Internet, as well as free information. Make trying new things an adventure, try to eat your produce raw, and have fun eating “real” food.