Sugar? Yes, Peas!

That's right, today we talk about snacks!  Just because you are eating healthy, doesn't mean you can't have snacks!  No we don't buy potato chips, and candy bars, and cheese crackers, and artificially flavored foods.  We do, however buy lots of easy snack foods.

I do still buy crackers, but I look for natural or organic varieties and look for fairly plain crackers that we "dress" up.  I also buy lots of fresh fruits and I look for fruit that is small and easy to grab quickly such as small apples, the mini oranges, plums, grapes, berries, bananas, and small peaches.  Of course many veggies make great snack foods too like carrots, celery (with peanut butter), grape or pear tomatoes, sugar snap peas, green beans, and packages of pre cut broccoli florets.  I do buy these things organic if at all possible and I aim for local produce as well.

We also snack on raisins, dried peaches, dried cantaloupe, dates, air popped popcorn with coconut oil, and sometimes we even snack on natural cereals as a quick on our way out the door kind of snack.  I make muffins from time to time, or serve the kiddos yogurt and granola or fruit, we also do peanut butter and fruit preserves for snacks.

I have growing boys and so they do need lots of nutrients, they get most of their needs met at meal times but they do get a portion of their needs met by snacks.  To me that means they need to have filling and nutritious snacks, not junk.  So yes, we do get sugar in our daily diets but our sugars come from fruits and vegetables.  When you are not eating candy bars, ice cream, and other sugary snacks it is amazing how sweet a carrot it, often I find apples to be too sweet to eat alone and I have to pair them with peanut butter!  Sugar snap peas are named that for a reason, because they do contain a lot of natural sugars!

The best part is that I really don't have to worry about portion sizes anymore!  I just bring the foods home, wash them in the sink, and then put them right into the fridge.  When my boys are hungry they just go and grab some fruit, or veggies.  The foods are healthy, and our meals are healthy and filling, so the boys don't tend to over eat and I don't need to monitor quite so closely what they are snacking on.

Birbitt Thinks that fruits and veggies are so much healthier and more convenient.  Give it a try!

A Laundry Review & Giveaway: Naturally Active Pure Oxygen Whitener

I am a mother of boys, three of them, and boys get dirty and get stains on their clothes.  Sometimes I even get stains on my clothes from my children.  It used to be that this wasn't an issue for me, I'd just spray some sort of stain remover on and then wash my clothes.  Well, now that we are taking the chemicals out of our home, those sorts of stain removers are no longer in my supply cabinet.

That is where today's review comes in!  See I have a really cute skirt than I love to wear, and it's a very light shade of khaki, really it's just barely darker than an eggshell type color.  The last time I wore it my toddler wrapped his hands around me and got a nice yellow mustard stain on the back of the skirt.  I didn't know about the mustard until after I took the skirt out of the dryer, and by then it's usually too late to remove a stain.  I tried several tricks and nothing worked. 

Then my Healthy Child Healthy World party kit arrived, and inside were some products for me to try, and to give away to my party guests.  The first item I decided to try was the Naturally Active Pure Oxygen Whitener by ecoSTOREusa.  I took out that lovely skirt with the bright yellow mustard stain, and applied a paste made from the Naturally Active Pure Oxygen Whitener and plain water.  I rubbed it into the stain let it set a minute, and then rinsed it away. 

This is where things get weird, at least to me, the yellow stain turned a sort of rust red color and I thought oh great I just made it worse (not that the skirt was wearable at all at this point).  So I tossed it up over the shower bar to dry and figured I'd try something else later.  When I went back to take it down after it had dried the stain, both yellow and rust red, was GONE!  That's right GONE!  A set in, two week old, yellow mustard stain was gone and I could once again wear my lovely skirt.

About the Product:

That red bar at the bottom of the package there reads "No nasty* chemicals" and if you read the back of the package it says "NO toxic petrochemicals, NO phosphates, NO nitrates, NO chlorine, NO EDTA, NO obtical whiteners, NO dyes or synthetic perfumes." 

This is from the Company's What We Stand For page: 

We believe in the realities of today and the possibilities of  tomorrow.

• We are Accessible: Success comes from sharing our expertise and experience.
• We are Human: We are welcoming and care about all of our customers.
• We are Open: Transparent details, complete disclosure of our product ingredients.
• We are Encouraging:  We believe in educating, interacting and communicating.

We believe in quality products that are healthy and offer value for the dollar. In today’s growing world of conscious consumers and label readers, No Nasty Chemicals™ resonates.  And it isn’t just a slogan.   We provide products that are:

• Safe and healthier for you and your family (and even your pets)
• Effective (perform as well as, and sometimes better than, the “leading” brands)
• Cost effective (value for the dollar)

We continually strive to bring you the most natural products that we can without the use of unnecessary or unsafe chemicals. We are:

• Committed to helping people make healthier lifestyle choices
• Dedicated to helping you reduce unnecessary and  potentially harmful chemicals in your life
• Determined to not only offer healthier, safer products, but to educating the world on eco-friendly products that contribute to healthy lifestyles and the sustainability of our planet and its fragile resources.

Ecostoreusa is an extension of EcoStore New Zealand and all ecostoreusa products are made at their Michigan manufacturing facility. They are committed to providing Earth friendly products, that are made from plant based ingredients.

What I love:
Obviously I love that there aren't any yucky chemicals in the product, but beyond that I love that the product works exactly as it is intended to!  I also like the price tag!  A 35.3oz (1Kg) canister of Naturally Active Pure Oxygen Whitener will only cost you $7.85 with free shipping if you spend 25.00 or more in their store!  ecoSTOREusa carries a variety of products for your home, bath and body, hair, baby, and pets all with the same No nasty* chemical guarantee!

Go ahead and check them out today!  You can check out their website here, their facebook page here, and follow them on twitter here.

I have good news, ecostoreusa has offered my readers the chance to win their very own canister of Naturally Active Pure Oxygen Whitener.  You may enter using the simple rafflecopter form below. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway Disclaimer: I was provided with the product for free as part of my healthy child healthy world party kit, I was not required to write a positive review (or any review for that matter), and all opinions expressed within are my own.

Let's talk Toddlers!

I'd like to break for a moment, and talk about toddlers:

You know those wonderfully active, getting into everything, following you around the house all day insisting you read to me or play with me, always hungry, I'll do it by myself, don't leave me, sometimes napping, mostly potty trained, always talking, never still, cute little innocent faced toddlers.  Like this one:

Click here to view these pictures larger

Let me tell you about this toddler of mine...
He's cute, and funny, and smart, and silly, and cute, and sassy, and energy filled, and creative, and he's so much work, but you know what?  He's worth every single minute of it! This crazy toddler of mine, he makes me laugh, smile, and cry, he makes me chase him when I'm tired, he snuggles with me when he's tired, he makes me laugh hysterically when something is funny, and he melts my heart with four simple words "I'm Wuv You Mama"!  He asks for kisses and hugs, he always wants "UP", can do it all by himself thank-you-very-much, unless it involves eating and then "I'm need help", he loves things all in a row neat and orderly, and he doesn't like his vegetables!

My wonderful toddler wakes up in the morning, and tip toes out to the kitchen where he climbs into the cabinet for the peanut butter, digs in the drawer for a spoon, and then sits on the floor happily munching peanut butter from the jar!  He quietly opens the fridge, gets himself an apple, and quietly quells his early morning hunger and thirst.  He knows what will wake his dear mama, and he knows that if mama is awake he'll have to eat a proper breakfast, so he's quiet as a mouse until his tummy is full and then he loudly rushes into my bedroom and proclaims "NEED Baby First".

This toddler of mine, pushes every boundary I have set for him, pulls on every string of his Daddy and Mine hearts, wears down every thread of our patience, brings humor into everyday things, and tests every limit known to him, he challenges himself each day, and needs constant reminding of just how he's supposed to behave...and you know what???

I LOVE HIM!

 Not only do I love him, but I love every minute of my crazy days with him and I thank God that I have 3 wonderful, healthy, handsome, and down right zany children!  I am blessed beyond measure, and thankful that the Lord felt me worthy to raise these three boys!  I always thought I wanted a girl, but now I KNOW that I was meant to parent boys!  

Tell me, what do you love about your toddler?  If you don't have a toddler, tell me what you loved about your child when he/she WAS a toddler.  If you don't have children, tell me what you love about someone else's toddler!  I wanna hear it all, the good, the better, and the best...that's right there's no bad here, so lay it all out for us!  

Birbitt thinks...TODDLERS ARE WONDERFUL! :)

Review: The American Patriot's Bible

I recently had the opportunity to review The American Patriot's Bible King James Version, and I really like it.  It is not your everyday take it to church with you Bible, but rather a very nice shelf bible for home use and reference. 

The first pages are for recording marriages, deaths, births, military service and the like - similar to the very large family Bibles that used to be given to every newly married couple.  Next it goes through the Seven Principles of the Judeo-Christian Ethic, the very principles that our nation was founded on.  Now this Bible does not insist that our founding fathers were Christians, only that they used Judeo-Christian principles. The focus of this Bible is to shed light on how the Bible helped to shape our nation.

There are articles throughout the Bible that show how many of our famous people and events where shaped by the Bible,  or explain why our constitution is worded as it is, or to explain some important piece of U.S. History.  There are also small tidbits at the bottom of some pages that either provide a famous quote, or comparison, or shed light on a particular concept or word.

In addition The American Patriot's Bible also contains 12 four-page color insert sections that cover such topics as: The Bible and American Presidents, Faith of the Founders, The American Revolution, The Bible and American Education, Christianity and the American Frontier, and seven other topics as they relate both to our nation and the Bible.  The purpose of The American Patriot's Bible is not to convince anyone that we are living in a Christian nation, or to rewrite history, or change the Bible in any way.  This Bible is simple meant to shed some light on the foundation of our country, give a glimpse into the lives of some truly great men and women, and to provide insight into how the Biblical principals of our founding fathers shaped not only our country but a great many people within our country.  Truly it is a lovely book and I am grateful to have it on my shelves!

I recommend this book to every one who loves both God and The United States.  It is simply a wonderful Bible full of information, quotes, and tidbits that bring you great feelings for both God and the U.S. It is a charming book, and it brings something to the table that I've not seen before, it brings together Christianity and Country into one book and for me it's simply priceless.

I was provided a copy of The American Patriot's Bble from BookSneeze in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions within this review are strictly my own.  

Breakfast in a hurry

I used to think that breakfast cereal made a good meal for the boys to start their day.  And you know what, if you choose the right cereals, and serve it with fruit and toast sure it does make an adequate breakfast.  Now, when I need a fast breakfast for the boys I get out our trusty Ninja Kitchen blender, take some fruit out of the freezer, grab some leafy greens from the crisper drawer, and some almond milk, water or fruit juice (depending on the flavor I'm making).

I purchase my organic frozen fruit already in perfect sizes for smoothies, with the exception of bananas which I purchase fresh and whole, and then freeze whole (after peeling).  If I get a good deal on leafy greens I will often buy them in bulk, and then chop and freeze and just use a handful in our smoothies.  These smoothies are not only filling, but the sweetness of the fruit covers well the flavor of the greens.

Some of our favorite combinations are:

Blueberry, Banana, and Spinach with apple juice
Pineapple, Banana, Celery and Orange Juice
Raspberries, Strawberries, Kale, and Fresh grapes
Frozen Grapes, Fresh Apples, Spinach, and water
Frozen berries, Spinach, and Almond milk
Mango, Pineapple, Banana, Kale and Orange Juice

Sometimes instead of desert I will mix up some frozen bananas, raspberries, and almond milk or yogurt and call it soft serve ice cream!

Forgive me for not having measurements handy, I don't measure I just go by proportion in my blender.  I use about 1/2 fruit 1/4 greens and 1/4 juice or milk.  For the "ice cream" I use 2/3 fruit and 1/3 milk or yogurt.

Birbitt thinks that ice cream can be healthy and simple.

More about Juice

Yesterday I talked about our changes involving drinks.  Today I want to tell you a bit more about our juice changes.  For us it wasn't just about eliminating sugar, or watching our weight or even choosing organic when possible, but I also wanted to know that the juice I was giving my children really contained all the goodness of the fruits.

Since I do not own a juice extractor I do not make too many of my own juices.  I do have a high powered blender, and I can make sort of juices in that, but the nice smooth truly liquid quality of juice I just can not do.  So when I buy juice I read labels carefully,  I look for juices that are refrigerated, pasteurized as little as possible, and that are pure fruit juice with no added ingredients, I also prefer organic juices, but often those are only shelved juice. 

Sometimes I do need to buy shelf juice, and in that case I always choose organic juices, and again look for juice that has no added ingredients, and has been messed with as little as possible.  This means that for apple juice I purchase unfiltered apple juice which is cloudy, but delicious.

Would I love to own a juice extractor?  YES! I would, but right now that is not in the family budget and so I will need to be satisfied with purchasing juice from the grocery store.

Why all this talk about unfiltered, organic, unpasteurized (or lightly pasteurized), and no added ingredients?  Well the no added ingredients is a no-brainer I only want the fruit juice no sugar, or corn syrup, or any other substance that doesn't occur naturally IN the fruit.  Organic is another no-brainer, I don't want chemical fertilizers, or pesticides leeching into my juice and I certainly do not want any Genetically Modified (GMO) fruits in my juice.  Now the others are a little more tricky, I mean sure pasteurizing my juice won't hurt me, but it will destroy some of the nutrients in my juice and it will affect the taste of my juice and certainly by destroying nutrients the juice will no longer have the full nutrition of the fruit it was juiced from.  Unfiltered? Same thing, it won't hurt me, but it won't help either.  When you filter juice you are removing the bits of fruit that remain in the juice, which means that you have taken away nutrients and fiber, again if I'm going to consider my juice a food shouldn't it be complete? 

Birbitt thinks real juice is so much tastier than processed juice, and a juice extractor is for sure on my wish list!

Changing our thinking about drinks

As we started to research, and read, and discover information we realized that our drinks such as milk and juice and *gasp* kool-aid really weren't drinks at all.  They are food, in liquid form and if we wanted to be healthy we need to see our drinks as food.  So we made a new rule, that water was the only beverage we would drink unless it was a meal or snack time and then we could choose to have something else as part of the meal. 

Of course some of our beverages are no longer a regular option.  Soda, Kool-aid, and other sugary drinks aren't offered except on rare special occasions and even then we look for a healthier option.  Sodas now are either sparkling mineral water with flavored stevia added in, or a soda such as Hansen's that is made with pure cane sugar instead of processed white sugar or artificial sweeteners.  Our sweetener of choice is now Stevia, and our go to beverages are iced tea, lemonade, and natural fruit juices. 

We have also changed our stance on milk.  I used to believe that milk was a necessary thing for a young child to grow and develop as they should, of course I now know that is not exactly true.  I will not bore you with all the reasons we should not drink milk, but I will give you one thing to think about.  If breastmilk is considered the perfect food for human babies, would it not follow that cow's milk is the perfect food for cow babies?  Then why would we a) take the milk away from the cow babies (google the dairy industry, what you learn my shock you) and b) give cow food to our human children? 

Now since my children have been accustomed to receiving cow milk with their dinner, and Twiggles is accustomed to a drink of milk before bed I could not take away the milk without replacing it with something.  That something is Almond milk, Coconut milk, Oat milk, Rice milk, Sunflower milk, Hazelnut milk, and sometimes soy milk (though I must admit soy sometimes scares me and I personally can't drink it).  These drinks are FOOD!  They provide nourishment, and vitamins and minerals. 

Remembering this helps me to keep my food intake in check.  I remind myself that if I have a glass of juice, I won't be thirsty but I will probably still be hungry so I will instead drink water with a few drops of Young Living essential oil added in to flavor and give added benefits, and have a light snack such as a piece of fruit or a handful of raw veggies. 

So our everyday drink is now water.  With meals we may have tea, lemonade, juice, or non-dairy milk, and snacks may come with water or juice or milk depending on what is offered.  I have noticed a big difference in my children this way, they aren't quite so hyper and crazy, they sleep better, and little Twiggles he is actually eating meals!

Birbitt thinks that what seems like a small change really can have big effects!