Busy moms need to start their days on the right foot, loaded up with all the right types of foods!  Here are a few grab-and-go ideas to get you running with a full tank!

Fruit and Cheese Combo This is perfect any time of day but an apple and a few slices of a sharp cheese (like cheddar) makes a great and quick morning meal. The combination of fiber and protein will jump start your metabolism and ward off hunger.

Almond Butter WafflesFrozen, high fiber, whole grain, organic waffles are a great option for early mornings. Top with your favorite nut butter, a few chia or flax seeds, and you have an easy out-the-door meal.

Homemade Egg Muffin If you’re adverse to using the stove in the morning, this is where a microwave can come in handy.  Crack an egg or two or pour ½ cup of egg whites into a bowl and microwave, covered, for one minute while toasting a whole grain English muffin in the toaster. When both the egg and muffin are cooked, add a slice of organic cheese and you have the perfect egg muffin!

Fruit Smoothie Blend together protein powder (I like a rice protein), spirulina (a blue green algae very high in iron and antioxidants), some organic yogurt and any combination of fruit.  You can even throw your ingredients in the blender before bed, store it in the fridge overnight, and then all you have to do is push start in the morning!

Fruit Parfait This is another great one to prep the night before.  Simply fill a cup with ½ cup of Greek yogurt, some of your favorite fruits (you can use fresh, frozen, or dried) and 2 tablespoons of slivered almonds.  It’s refreshing and protein rich to get you off on the right track.

PLANTS

A little while back NASA conducted a study with the Associated Landscape Contractors of America on the abilities of plants to help clean indoor air and rid it of common pollutions. The study was conducted for purposes of purifying air in orbiting space stations, but the results of the study proved to be applicable to traditional homes as well.

Many homes today are as air tight as possible, as a means of conserving energy. But the result is that common indoor air pollutants, from furniture upholstery to floor stains, remain trapped inside the home. Synthetic building materials, furniture, paints, finishes, and cleaning products can emit organic compounds that have been linked to negative health affects. Together these create a phenomenon known often in office environments but also in homes as well as “sick building syndrome.”

Trees and plants, as you probably know, convert carbon dioxide into oxygen through the process of photosynthesis, which combat the CO2 emissions we’re constantly causing. Indoors, the same principles may be at work and are the reasons why plants prove to be very effective at removing certain interior air pollutants. The point – simple green plants can neutralize the big bad in-home contaminants.

While all of NASA’s selected plants proved to be effective at purifying the air, primarily through their leaves (roots and soil bacteria play an important role as well), certain plants seemed more effective at removing certain toxins than others.

For example, the bamboo palm, Janet Craig, and mother-in-law’s tongue all did very well in filtering out formaldehyde. Peace lily, gerbera daisy, and Marginata were effective in filtering trichloroethylene. And flowering plants like gerbera daisy and pot mums did exceptionally well in removing benzene, as did the peace lily, bamboo palm and Warneckei.

 Taken from “Sara Snow’s Fresh Living “ by Sara Snow

There is something going on in nurseries around this country of which unsuspecting new moms and dads are unaware.  Furniture, wall paint, fabric finishes like stain repellants and flame-retardants, and cleaning products all have the potential to send harmful chemicals into the nursery air, slowing turning it into a chemical soup environment.  It sounds scary, but it doesn’t have to be.

TIMING

Babies sleep on average anywhere from fourteen to eighteen hours a day, much of that time spent breathing in the nursery’s air. Many scientists are coming to believe that children are more vulnerable in the face of environmental toxins and other hazards than adults. This is because pound for pound infants and young children consume more food and water, and breathe more air than we do as adults. Their air intake, on a body-weight basis, is twice that of adults. And before they turn six months old babies will drink, pound for pound, seven times as much water and, by the time they’re five years, eat four times as much food. Their skin is more permeable and their still developing internal organs and systems are less adapted to and able to eliminate certain chemicals.

What all this boils down to is that you need to pay particularly close attention to the food babies eat, the water they drink, and the air they breathe. I know, it sounds a little scary and truthfully it is. But there is a lot that you can do to make it better.

Certainly picking the right materials and design elements is crucial, but so is the timing of it all. To allow proper off-gassing time, do all major remodeling months in advance.

Pregnant women and small children shouldn’t be near the work. If you do have to buy conventional furniture items, simply allow them ample time (a few months is best) to off-gas either off site or in a well-ventilated room long before you bring baby home.

Even blankets, diapers, and baby clothes should be washed ahead of time to remove any chemical residues from the manufacturing process. Be sure to wash these in a non-toxic detergent that is, at very least, free of synthetic fragrances.

Taken from “Sara Snow’s Fresh Living “ by Sara Snow

FOOD CHOICES

When I was growing up, finding healthy and organic foods wasn’t as easy as it is today. Today you can find organic milk and minimally processed meats at nearly any grocery store. You can find locally grown or prepared foods at a number of venues in your area. The shopping and basic sourcing for such foods has gotten much easier. So instead of “where do I find it?” the biggest stumbling block for most people today has become “where do I start?” Let’s dig in.

ORGANIC FOODS

Not that long ago the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit and non-partisan health and environmental research organization, put out a list it called the “Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce.” To create the guide, the EWG compiled and analyzed the results from over forty-three thousand tests that the USDA and FDA conducted between 2000 and 2004 to detect pesticide levels on and in common fruits and vegetables. From this data the EWG listed forty-four different fruits and vegetables (grapes were listed twice because they studied both domestic and imported) and ranked them according to which had the highest or lowest “pesticide load” when tested in the edible form. In other words, an apple was washed before being tested; a banana was peeled, etc.

The EWG’s reason for their analysis of the government collected data, and their ensuing “shopper’s guide” was two-fold.

First, they believed that pesticides and other chemicals could have a harmful affect on people. Second, they wanted to give shoppers an easy reference guide for avoiding pesticides in everyday fruits and vegetables. According to an EWG simulation, people can lower their pesticide exposure by nearly ninety-percent (fourteen pesticide exposures per day) by avoiding the produce items from their “dirty dozen” list.

The result has become an often-referenced list of the twelve cleanest and twelve dirtiest (the “dirty dozen”) fruits and vegetables. The list is an excellent starting point for people wondering which produce to begin with when integrating in organic. This is not to say that you should never eat the items on the dirty list, only that they tend to be higher in pesticide residues, so if you’re looking to lessen your exposure, these should be the fruits and vegetables where you try to buy organics first. And that perhaps the items on the “clean” list are ones where conventional is a little safer, and an opportunity to save money by forgoing the organically farmed varieties for these few items.

Taken from “Sara Snow’s Fresh Living “ by Sara Snow

FOOD

There are three things that I remember most strikingly about my childhood: faith, food and family community. As Christians we had a strong faith, and for that we were taught to be honest, respectful, kind to others, and kind to the earth. Aside from that, though, food was the central focus of our life. We grew it, cooked it, ate it, shared it, talked about it, used it for healing, and, as it was also the source of my dad’s income, counted on it for our health and livelihood.

That sounds grandiose, but it was true. Food is life sustaining, if you’ll allow it to be. It has character, balance, sensitivity, and the ability to heal or harm; but it takes being in tune enough with your body to know which foods to eat in order to heal and not cause harm.

As you can well imagine the foods we ate were quite different from what most people were eating at the time. While other kids my age were downing their sugar smacks and brownies, we adhered most closely to a macrobiotic diet, eventually adding in a little meat but sticking to meals involving cooked vegetables, whole grains like bulgur and brown rice, sea vegetables like nori and kombu, and magnificent stir fries and salads from our gardens.

We learned lessons from food too. I remember going to friend’s houses for overnights and play dates. And my mom would say to us, “Laura’s mom is probably going to make those peanut-buttery, caramel, brownie bars”…foods we obviously didn’t get to eat at home. And then she would assure us that it was ok to have one if we felt like it, but to pay close attention to how it made us feel; did we feel hyped up at first and then low on energy an hour later? Did it give one of us a headache and make the other feel like taking a nap? Did it make us bounce off the walls or hurt our stomachs?

It was an experiential situation, like everything else in our lives. And, later when we returned from Laura’s house, we would talk about why we don’t eat foods like that in our family; because they don’t make you feel great, they do your body no good, and so, aside from the occasional indulgence, they may as well be ignored. Because of this I never felt deprived growing up. I experienced junk foods that other kids were eating and decided on my own that I didn’t like them.

Taken from “Sara Snow’s Fresh Living “ by Sara Snow

MY UPBRINGING

I was born at home, in my parent’s bed. There weren’t many naturopathic OBGYN’s at the time and home births were not very common, but my parents found someone they trusted—someone who would make house calls and home deliveries—so that our first breaths wouldn’t be in the sterile environment of a hospital.

My older brother took a LONG time to come into this world. Dr. Vander Yacht napped off and on on the couch for the final six of the twenty-six hours that my mom labored. About two years later I was a little quicker, but without any meds at all my mom felt every moment of my birth.

OUR HOME

A few more years into this life my parents had notions for more children, and were starting to form a vision that involved raising their family in the country, with fewer modern conveniences but a greater connection to nature and the simplicity and freedom that it could bring….

The house [we built] was a tri-level with a wood stove inside and solar hot water panels on a south-facing hill outside. Without a furnace we relied on the wood stove and the collected solar heat from the greenhouse to keep us warm when the temperature outside dropped.

In the colder months we would keep the door between the house and the greenhouse closed until mid morning when the sun had been up for several hours and heat had started to gather in the greenhouse.

I remember as a child watching the thermometer on the other side of the sliding glass door until it rose to a temperature higher than that of the house, indicating that it was time to throw open the door and let the heat flood in.

Dinners in the summer came mostly from the organic vegetable and crop gardens. Everything from potatoes, greens, and corn to currants, melons, and herbs came from these gardens. We ate like kings and queens from late spring through mid-fall and froze and jarred extras through the plentiful months so we could enjoy the just-picked freshness (and nutritious qualities “fresh” frozen can have) even after a chill set in.

We lived in a secluded family community where we could run barefoot from house to house, swap cucumbers for beets when one’s harvest was especially good, take picnics in the woods together, and ski through endless wooded trails in the winter. It was “simple” living at its finest.

Taken from “Sara Snow’s Fresh Living “ by Sara Snow