Kind Bars

So in one of our Christmas baskets Jeff and I put a Kind Bar, because unlike most other bars on the market, it actually looked pretty cute as a basket stuffer.  Kind Bars had me weary at first because they just tasted too good to be true, so the next time I was at Starbucks getting my high-maintenance latte, I held the line up further to pick one up and analyze the front AND back of the bar.  I love cranberries and almonds, so I chose that to analyze.

Ingredients : Almonds, dried cranberries (cranberries, sugar, sunflower oil), macadamias, honey, non GMO glucose, puffed rice, chicory fiber, soy lecithin, Vitamins: Vitamin A Acetate, Ascorbic Acid (Vit C), D-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E).

Vitamins and Minerals : Vitamin A (50% DV), Vitamin C (50% DV), Calcium (4% DV), Iron (4% DV), Vitamin E (50% DV), Phosphorus (8% DV), Magnesium (10% DV), Zinc (4% DV)

Serving Size : 1 Bar (40g)

So at 190 calories this bar is very good – it is also labeled at low-glycemic which means it has little effect on your blood sugar (when your blood sugar is unbalanced, your appetite and hormones become unbalanced causing weight gain, mood and sleep issues). Perhaps the only 2 things I felt mildy red-flagged about was the glucose (sugar) and sunflower oil – the sugar because I don’t like added sugar in foods, though the fat of the nuts would offset the unbalancing aspect of it, and the sunflower oil because it oxidizes very easily, which is not good for the body.

All in all, I really like these bars when I’m on the go or have forgotten to eat and need a quick bite to eat – they’re sweet, crunchy and quite delicious.

Alex Recommends: Creme de la Crepe Cafe

This is my favorite breakfast and lunch restaurant, and amazing for dinner. I am a self-confessed Francophile and having read French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mirielle Guillamo. I happen to feel extremely comfortable and in fact excited to eat here every time I do.  The owner is very nice, the atmosphere cute and casual and the food downright amazing.  I will continue to immediately pipe it in to the “Where do you want to eat?” get togethers just because I am ALWAYS in the mood for the ratatouille, omelettes and salads.

Winter Egg White Omelette

Ingredients:

1.  4 Egg Whites

2.  1 oz Goat Cheese, shredded

3.  1/4 Red Bell Pepper, chopped

4. 2 T. Onion, chopped

5. Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
Spray pan with olive oil cooking spray.  Turn heat on to medium heat.  Pour in egg whites.  When egg whites start to become white, spirnkle cheese on one half.  When edges of omelette can be pulled away by the spatula easily without sticking, pull non-cheese half of omelette over and fold onto cheese-half.  Gently place omelette on plate and sprinkle with red bell pepper and onions (a little raw vegetables are good for you!)

Review: by Hand Granola

by Hand Granola

www.byhandgranola.com

So I happen to LOVE this granola.  I had seen it in little places around the South Bay, and I figured I’d give it a try since it’s a local business, family run and has a cute story – the one we all want to hear.  Someone just LOVES something so much (mmm granola) and wants to make a business out of it because then work is play and they feel good about selling their passion.  They bring their family into it and voila!  Everyone is having a great time making their living from something they actually love and don’t feel like they are ‘pushing’ on anyone else.
Okay. So. Down to the nitty gritty. Is it good?YES!  I’ve had my share of granola, the generic kinds when I was younger, the Kashi kind (which actually has GMO’s in them despite their non-GMO labelling according to Dr. Mercola), the Whole Foods bulk bins kinds and my own home-made kind.  I know my granola.   by Hand’s is particularly good!  My mom even, who is somewhat of a food-snob (which is totally fine and she knows it) and usually doesn’t have cinnamon, tried a piece and actually said it was “really good” which is just crazy coming from her.  She pointed out its very cinnamon-taste but said she did like it ‘somehow.’
All in all, I loved it.  I will most definitely have it in my yogurt because the only ingredient that raised any flag with me was the soy powder, but I wouldn’t be eating enough of it at one time to cause any issues.  (I have learned that soy is a thyroid-suppressant and mucus-forming in the body – in fact Oprah ‘blew out’ her thyroid consuming a lot of soy, and Natalia Rose, CN and author of Raw Food Detox Diet and Raw Food Life Force Energy considers it the most mucus-forming food on the Planet).

Try this granola!

            

Celeriac and Carrot Salade

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium Celeriac, grated

2. 5 Carrots, grated

3. 1 T. Mustard

4. 3 T. Red Wine Vinegar

5. 4 T. Olive Oil

6. Salt and Pepper, to taste

7. Chopped Hazelnuts or Walnuts

8. 4 T. fresh chopped Dill

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add in grated celeriac and carrots and boil for 8 minutes or until soft, and then strain, reserving liquid for soup stock. Whisk together mustard, vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. Pour mixture into shredded root vegetables and lightly toss together.  Fold in dill. Serve warm

Strawberry Sheeps Milk Yogurt

Ingredients:

1. 1 C. Sheeps Milk Yogurt ( I like Bellweather Farms)

2.  2 T. Low Sugar Preserves

Mix together and enjoy!

Acai Brown Rice Breakfast

Serves 1

(Vegan/low-glycemic/low-fat)

Eat this after your Green Juice and fruit in the morning if you can’t make it to lunch on this lighter fare.  It is an amazing transitional recipe that is high in antioxidants, B vitamins (energy production), complex carbohydrates, Omega-3 fats, and is low-glycemic, low in fat and calories.

Ingredients:

1. 3/4 C. leftover cooked Brown Rice
2. 4 T. unsweetened Almond Milk
3. 1 tsp. Acai Powder
4. 2 tsp. ground Flax
5. 1 packet Stevia

Directions:

Heat the rice with the almond milk in a small saucepan until warm.  Mix in remaining ingredients and serve warm.

Burts Bee’s Natural Throat Drops

So it was Thanksgiving morning and I took a walk with Wolfgang in the stroller down Grand Ave in El Segundo to Rite Aid a little over a half mile away.  I went to get some items for our apartment like toilet paper and such, and I was starting to get a cold (sore throat, phlegm – yuck) so I was going to see if they had any good stuff that might help with the uncomfortable symptoms.  I got a box of anti-viral tissues, and as I looked over the cough drops (I actually LOVE eating cough drops like candy. Jeff says that’s really wierd) I noticed they pretty much all had toxic ingredients in them – even the ones with a ‘natural’ look to them, the ones that look like they’re from the early 1900’s from the only store in town with the bell on the door that jingles to let old man Larson know he has a customer.  I read food colorings (the inventor of these will not go near his inventions – he never intended his coloring to be put in food), high fructose corn syrup and its many other names, fructose, corn extracts like maltodextrin and other such ingredients.  Im sick – really? Do I want to be putting this stuff into my body? Even if I wasn’t sick? So I looked at the back of dozens of these cough drop packets and finally saw Burt’s Bees waaayy down at the bottom.

On the back, I noted no artifical:

• Colors
• Flavors
• Preservatives
• Sweeteners

Pretty good, ey? They do have sucrose (sugar) in them, as well as maltodextrin, which could make it unsafe for those allergic to gluten, but other than that the ingredients looked good, so I bought them. Quite delicious (I know that’s odd for many people) AND my throat felt better.

Review: Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo

Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen is an amazing book for people interested in the raw food lifestyle.  She explains her journey into raw foods and how she lost weigth and gained health in the process.  The book is FULL of recipes and great photos of them that will make you want to make them all as soon as possible!  I got this book years ago when I ‘went raw’ and still use it today to make some healthful meals and snacks, though I don’t go too much for the nut/seed-heavy recipes as much (the flax pancakes had Jeff and I uncomfortably full for 2 days)… I would focus more on the beverages and soups, and go lighter on her heavier recipes by dialing back the oils and having smaller portions of the nut/seed/grain recipes.

Review: The Continuum Concept

 

 

This book was recommended on two sites I visit every so often – detoxtheworld.com and kindlife.com.  Because I am pregnant, and the book covers human nature at its core and how separated we have become from that, I decided to read it (it also covers natural child-raising in its own way).  I have read quite a few books on raising children, and as the author states in this book,  they are often working ‘against’ the child, trying to ‘train’ him or her to fit into what western society demands of a person.  This include neglecting crying (or ‘training the baby to self-soothe), which harms the baby’s sense of security at a crucial point that will affect his/her thoughts for the rest of his/her life, dulling out important senses that become ‘edited out’ by the brain (sense of smell, acuity of hearing, ability to connect through the mind, acuity of vision, and ability to identify hundreds if not thousands of species of plants and animals without use of books) due to our not being encouraged to develop them.All in all, I found this book extremely informative and eye-opening to the magnificence that humans are in their ability to adapt the world around them, though when not raised with lots of love and security this adaptation can prove harmful to the human who will find other ways to feel secure.  I highly recommend The Continuum Concept to anyone who expects to have children, is currently expecting or already has them.