Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Perfect Diet...?

I received this link the other day from Mike Geary. It is a great video from a doctor who suffered from MS and how she has been able to cure it. She has come back from a life of confinement to a wheel chair to doing whatever she wants. She is an amazing inspiration to me about the power of a healthy diet and what a healthy diet can do for you. If any one does not think that food has such a powerful impact on our genes and lives, they need to watch this video. 



Here is a link to her web page: http://www.terrywahls.com/.
Saving the world one stick of butter at a time.
God bless,
Jenn

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Tuesday Recipe... Dog Food

Raw Dog Food
I know this might sound crazy on a health and fitness blog, but if we take care of ourselves, shouldn't we also take great care of our dogs, or pets in general? I think so. So, I strive to take great care of our two dogs, Mungo and Otto, along with the rest of the zoo. But today, we are going to talk about the Boys. I tell people all the time, my two dogs eat better than most people do. They also get more exercise than most people! They all have to agree.

Here is what I make to feed them, for the most part. Mungo, our Scottie, eats a full raw diet. Otto, our Weim, eats a partial raw diet. He needs about three pounds of food a day when he eats raw due to his size and activity level. Otto is the energizer bunny on steroids! I do partial raw for him.

What you need:
5 lbs of ground beef
4 slices of liver, just how it comes in the package I buy
Other organ meat if I kind find it and it is not too expensive
1-2 cups of pumpkin or other squash
10-12 whole eggs, shell and all. I break the shells up small
freshly ground chia, flax and pumpkin seeds. I dumped some into my grinder, you should all know by now, I do not measure!
Sea weed, maybe about 1/4 cup. Hublet and I picked up a bunch of washed up sea weed when we were at the beach one year, so I use that, has great vitamins and minerals in it. If you do not have sea weed, use sea salt with added iodine. Make sure you are supporting their thyroid gland.

Method:
Mix the nasty, gooey mess all together, mix well. From here, I take out my kitchen scale, the only scale we own and the only reason I bought it was for the dogs, and make 2 pound blabs. Put them in saran wrap and freeze them. I take some out of the freezer as needed. 2 pounds will feed Mungo several meals, he gets about half a pound a day between two meals and about one to two supplements for Otto, depending on how much I feed him. They LOVE it!!!!!!

Both of their coats are shiny and soft. Both breeds usually have coarse fur, but not with this raw diet. They glisten in the sun. They are both happy and healthy.

Mungo has had some problems with yeast over growth. At his worst, he lost 90% of his hair. His skin was flaming red and he had no energy. This was a puppy who did not think he needed to sleep as a puppy, there was WAY to much playing to be accomplished in a day. He would wake up early with Daddy and play until about three in the afternoon. Take a short nap and then was back up ready to play when Daddy got home. He would play until we went to bed, no matter the time. When he had no energy and only wanted to sleep, you could understand my alarm and concern. With this raw diet, he is doing very well. Hair is all coming back in thick and shinny and all of his energy is coming back! I have taken him off of the raw diet and in time, he goes right back to scratching, nibbling on himself and losing his hair, so I will be keeping him on this diet.

For their treats, they get some coconut oil daily, code liver oil and when it is warm, raw meaty bones to chew. From the raw bones, they have very white clean teeth, Mungo is five and Otto is three. For their teeth to look as good as they do for their ages proves how important it is for them to chew raw bones. And it keeps them occupied, for a time.

This is in part how I strive to keep my two babies happy and healthy!

Saving the world one stick of butter at a time!
In the blessing of Christ,
Jenn












Monday, March 26, 2012

Red Meat

By now, I am sure most of you have read or heard, again, how bad red meat is for you. They have the all final study to prove this. Or do they? I know Big Pharma and the government and all others who have money to gain from this, would love you to believe red meat is the devil and going to kill you. Do not jump to conclusions to quickly from this so called study to prove this.

Here are two wonderful reviews of the study. Read them before full heartily jumping to this conclusion and dumping red meat from your diet.
This one from Rob Wolf is shorter and more concise. A quick read, but has all of the info you need to make your decision.
This one from Mark Sission, guest post from Denise Minger, is lengthy, but it has all the details. Denise has a special ability to debunk studies. She goes through and explains the faulty research and where they have strayed.

Saving the world one stick of butter at a time!
God bless
Jenn

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Love

I am currently re-reading a book from one of my favorite authors, Mathew Kelly. I know it might sound a bit odd to re-read a book, but his books need to be read and re-read. They are really that great. Every time you read through one of his books, you learn many knew things, about yourself, your world, who you are and where you need to grow and change in your life to become the "best-version-of-yourself" as he calls it. The book is called The Seven Levels of Intimacy. I can not highly recommend the book enough. If you are struggling in a relationship or want to learn how to more effectively communicate with others, this is the book for you. This is a book which will challenge you to grow, hard sometimes, but a good thing, a necessary thing.

In Chapter Five, at the end he speaks about what life is really about. We might have our own ideas, but Matthew says life is about love. I would have to agree with him 100%. We all want to be selflessly loved in this life. We also want to give love, it should ALWAYS be selfless. Obligatory love needs to disappear from our lives, easier said than done. When we are loved and give love, our worlds are a happier place, things just do not seem to be as bad. We can make it through those hard times when we have someone's unconditional love beside us.

What is hindering us from truly being able to love?
One of the first things, in my opinion, is obligatory love. The, I will only love some one if they love me like this. Or, I will love them if they give me to right gift. I will love them is they treat me the way I see fit. I will only love you if you stay with in my little box, step out and my love is finished. Selfish love, or strings attached love are other ways to look at this. We need to love others because God has blessed them with life. He loves them, so we need to love them as well. This does not mean we have to like them, just love them. I know this is very difficult to do some days. Along with you, probably, I have people in my life I wished I did not have to love. In the end, I hope I am a better person for doing so. It is difficult. A grace I have to pray for frequently. This does not only apply to people we do not want to love. The most important people we must stop this with, is those closets to us, our spouse, parents, our children, close friends and other family members. As Matthew would call them our primary and high priority secondary relationships.

We need to love them for who they are as a person. The gifts they bring into your life and the relationship. When we can begin to love selflessly, the small things they do, are just that, small. When your husband leaves his socks all over the house, or does not close doors behind him, your children have to change their clothes five times and leave them on the floor, whatever those announces are, they become miniscule because you love this person so much it does not matter.  If you are having a difficult time with this, write down all of the things you love about this person. See how you feel as you write. Every time they begin to drive you up a wall again, take that love letter back out and read it. Selfless love will change your live.

While I was reading these few paragraphs from Matthew, what hit me was this: If we do not first love ourselves, how are we to love or allow anyone else to love us? To me, this is very important. If we can not love ourselves, how can any one else love us? How can we allow any one else to love us? We need to learn to love ourselves. We live in a society that tells us constantly we are not good enough, a place which does not foster self love, but self hatred. If you want to truly be free to love others, selflessly love others, you must learn to love yourself first. I do not mean in a narcissistic way, full of ourselves or prideful. I am talking about true love of self. Being able to admit to our failures and short comings, but also be able to have confidence in the gift's God has blessed us with.

How you do that? I am not entirely sure? This is a processes I am learning myself. I am not sure how, but I know this is something we need to do. We can not love until we love our whole self that God made.

Saving the world one stick of butter at a time
God bless you with strength in this journey of true love,
Jenn









Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Tuesday Recipe: Spring Salads


Well, it is getting to that time of year when spring has sprung! My daffodils are blooming in my front yard! If that does not say spring, than I do not know what does. We have had a very crazy warm winter here in Utah, along with so many others. Spring is in the air at any rate. Our luck is it will turn cold, rainy and snowy in about two months. Well, to help with those winter blues and keep our minds on the new spring time, here are some salads to enjoy!


Even if you don’t have a nutrition degree, a salad makes you feel smart about what you’re putting into your body. The perfect spring salad is simple to prepare, consisting of
fresh ingredients and a pop of color. If you’re feeling inspired to create a fresh salad, check out these winning combinations:

Strawberry Spinach Grilled Chicken Salad
Start with a bed of fresh baby spinach leaves. Add sliced strawberries,
bleu cheese crumbles, and a handful of pine nuts. Top with grilled chicken
and serve with vinaigrette dressing. 

Broccoli Salad
Cook and crumble 10 slices of bacon. Cut one head of broccoli into
bite-size pieces and toss in a bowl with crumbled bacon and one chopped red
onion. Add raisins, nuts, or sunflower seeds as desired. Wisk dressing
ingredients in a small bowl: 3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar, 2 Tbsp. white
sugar, and 1 cup mayonnaise. Pour over salad and stir until combined. 
Instead of buying store bought mayonnaise, you can make your own, SO much healthier for you.

Cucumber Salad
Slice a cucumber and a red onion. Toss together in a large bowl.
Combine one quarter cup red vinegar, one quarter cup white vinegar, and one
quarter cup olive oil. Pour over the cucumber salad and top with a dash of
dried dill.

Greek Pasta Salad
Cook 12 ounces of your favorite pasta until tender, drain and rinse
with cold water. Toss with cucumber, cherry tomatoes, feta, olives, onion,
and oregano in a large bowl. Combine one half cup olive oil and 3 Tbsp. red
wine vinegar, pour over salad and combine. Enjoy! 
For this salad, instead of regular pasta, make sure you are doing something like quinoa or rice. If you can not find these, on the occasion, wheat pasta is ok, as long as you do not have gluten intolerance or celiac. But instead, I would avoid this one all together and make something else! 

Grilled Corn, Avacado, and Tomato Salad
Grill two ears of corn until tender. Cut the corn off the cob into a
bowl. Add one pint of sliced cherry tomatoes, and one diced avacado. In
another bowl, wisk together 1/4 cup olive oil, the juice of one lemon, and
a dash of salt and pepper. Stir the dressing into the salad and serve
immediately. 
Be sure your corn is organic. This is also a once in awhile type of a recipe. Corn turns to sugar in your system very quickly, so you get those steep blood sugar rises. You want organic, but corn is one of the most genetically modified foods and has many pesticides used on it.

These salads will only take a few minutes to assemble, but each are
healthy and colorful. Serve one at your next get-together and your friends
will think you've turned into a chief, or at least figured out how to make some tasty healthy salads.


Sorry about how this turned out. It was typed in another browser and does not copy and past well, note to self.

Saving the world one stick of butter at a time!
God bless,
Jenn

Monday, March 19, 2012

Vitamins and Supplaments

I know pill popping, even vitamins and supplements, is the popular thing to do today. Are they necessary and should we be doing this?

Here is my two cents on the subject.
I do truly believe we should obtain our vitamins and minerals from whole food. To accopmlish this, you have to be eating real whole food, along with minimal to no grains and here. The other big reason for not eating grains is the phytates in grains are anti-nutrients. What this means is the vitamins and minerals are no longer available for you. They are bound in the phytates and flushed out of your system. At this point it does not matter if you are taking large amounts of supplements or eating healthy, you will not absorb most these nutrients.

On the flip side, I understand our food today is defiecent in vitamins and minerals. Between genetic alterations, soil depletion, being picked way to early to shipped from who knows where and then chemically ripped, there is not much left for the vitamins and minerals. Even if you eat a very healthy diet. So what do you do? Through in the the towel and eat what ever junk food you want?!

If you are then thinking about putting supplements into your diet to make sure you are receiving all of the nutrients you need due to not getting it all from your food, there are some things to consider. What type of supplements, chemically made or whole food? What company? Do you really need them?

What type, chemically made or whole food:
If you are going to do any type of supplementing, it needs to be whole food. Many tests have been conducted on synthetically made vitamins, minerals and so forth, none of them fare too well. In fact, frequently there is more harm than good done by these synthetic vitamins. We only have a basic understanding of all of the vitamins, minerals, phytonutients and  the synergistics of how all of these work together. When vitamins are synthetically made, you miss all of these very important benefits. Some of these synergistics could actually be why real, whole food is SOOOO good for us. Yes, vitamins and minerals are all important, but how they interact with each other and the environment they are in could be more important and where all of the protection comes from. So, take a real whole food supplement.
There can also be problems with the process of making supplements. Very briefly, out DNA has two strands. In nature one side of the strand is read to make all of the amino acids. When vitamins are synthetically made, the opposite side is read. The side nature does not use. We do not know all of the side effects of this. It is something to be concerned with. When we begin mucking around with nature, we can do some very nasty things. Stick to a whole food supplement.

What company:
I do not have to much advice on this one. I take a few supplements, one from the doctor and a few from my chiropractor. My Vit. D is from a company called www.biotechpharmacal.com. This is what my doc recommends. My body has responded very well to it. The supplements from my chiropractor are from a company called www.standardprocess.com. They are a whole food supplement, easily digested and I can tell the difference in my body with them. When you are looking into supplements, do some research about the company. Find out how they make their supplements, their processes, what ingredients they use, how they are grown, what other people say about them. Go to a health food store and ask questions. This is time to bring in your critical thinking skills.

Do you really need them:
Only you can answer this question for your self or your doctor. Look at your food habits, are they conducive to living a healthy, happy life? Or are you not so good with your food choices and need some extra support? Are you dealing with some type of disease and maybe you need some extra support to get through it or you can not absorb your nutrients due to your condition? You and your health care provider need to be the ones who decide what if any supplements you need.

One supplement I do recommend taking is code liver oil. You get your omega 3, DHA, EPA, Vit. A and D as well as other vital nutrients to your health. If you go to the Weston Price Foundation, they have some great articles on code liver oil and where to purchase it from along with dosage recommendations.

Hope this helps at least some. This is a complicated subject matter. One that needs to be waded through before charging ahead and wasting money. If you are not absorbing the supplements, you have some really expensive urine and who wants that?

Saving the world one stick of butter at a time.
Many of God's blessings be showered upon you,
Jenn









Monday, March 5, 2012

What One Change Are You Making?

When we look at something which needs to be accomplished and we look at the whole big picture, everything that needs to be completed, does it make you feel over whelmed and not even want to begin? Not only is this a problem for a large project for work or school, cleaning your house, what ever your project is, this can be the same issue with changing your food habits.

Do you look at your way of eating and ALL of the changes which you should make, feel over whelmed and so you do not make any changes at all?
Have you tried eating healthier and after a week or two give up because you are over whelmed, craving your old foods, do not know how to cook different foods, stressed out and go back?
Maybe you have a different reason for not making a change and sticking to it. Identify that reason. Being able to identify where you problem is, is one of the first steps in making a change. Figure yours out!

One big tip I can give you is this, make ONE change at a time.
If you break the picture up into smaller pieces it makes it so much easier. Instead of thinking you need to make every change all at once, just make one. Set a goal for yourself to make one change for a month and see how much better you feel. Then build on it. One change can make all of the difference in the world. Also, making this change, sticking to it and feeling better, can give you the motivation to continue making changes. You always feel better about yourself when you can accomplish something, gives you a bust of self confidence. By making one change to your healthy eating way of life, you can really tell the difference in your body and how that ONE change can impact your life. You will also not feel like everything is being taken away from you all at once.

This change can be as simple as deciding to add more water your daily routine. Or maybe replacing one of your sodas to a glass of water, add some lemon or lime to it. Add one vegetable to every meal you eat. This could be the same veggie for every meal, just as long as you are adding some veggies and color to your meal. Instead of that doughnut for a snack, have a piece of fruit and a handful of nuts. Go for a 30 minute walk in the evening instead of watching one more TV show.

You see, it does not have to be dramatic and a complete over haul of your diet and daily life. One small change can spur you on to a life time of healthy eating and better choices. Break down that healthy eating plan into small bites and you will be successful! Give yourself the momentum to accomplish your goal and allow how much better you are feeling to drive you to those continued changes.

Saving the world one stick of butter at a time!
God's many blessings be showered upon you,
Jenn


Thursday, March 1, 2012

Letting Go Of Our Illusion of Control

The other day I was going through things in my head, I talk to myself and the dogs a lot. If people knew how much I talk to myself, you would probably think I am crazy, well...
I figure many things in my life out when I talk it through. I find talking to myself or the dogs and going over and over things, I begin to work out issues. Or, I come to a better understanding of something or have one of those, Ah Hah moments. This is what I am doing that is causing these issues or if I change this, things will be better. Most of the time good things do come of this crazy self talk.

The Illusion of Control was the light bulb for me. I was thinking, I am not a terribly controlling person, I am sure many would beg to differ on that one. Usually the thing we think we do not have, is exactly what we have. My control is not so much of having to control things I can not control, the weather, other people, situations that happen, but myself, my fears. I realized I was holding myself from achieving great things due to my control.

What about you? Do you think you are a controlling person?
Here are a few questions to ask yourself:
What are your greatest fears? Do I allow myself to not do what I want because of my fears?
What do you not like about yourself?
I am not.... Good enough, strong enough, beautiful enough...
If anyone knew "this" about me, they would not like me, think I am crazy, whatever your's is, so I will not allow anyone to know this about me. I will potentially hide the true me because of this.
I am sure if you take some time to reflect on your control issues, you can come up with more or other questions for yourself.

Most of the time, these are our fears and what we are negative with about ourselves, our I am not statements.

Once you have come face to face with your control issues, here are some other questions to ponder:
What is the fear, the bad thing that will happen if I let go of this control. The world is going to end! I am sure it will not.
If I let go of this fear, control, negativity about myself, if I get out of my own way, what is the good that will come?
Does the good out weighing the negative?
What will my life look like without this dark cloud  looming over my head?
Am I willing to work on this issue(s)?

If you are willing to work on your issues are a few ideas I have trying!
Write new mantras, I am good enough. I am smart enough. I can do whatever it is I am doing.
Repeat these to yourself while looking at yourself in the mirror. Throughout the day repeat these knew mantras to yourself. When those deep dark clouds begin to come, right away begin repeating your good positive mantras to yourself. Learn to recognize your triggers and try to avoid them or make something positive out of them instead. Talk with someone about your controls, this does not have to be a professional, it can be a friend who will help to support you on your journey. Find what will work for you and go for it!

Learn to forgive yourself. If we ask God to forgive us, He will. Learn to forgive yourself. When you falter and fall down, pick yourself back up, ask for forgiveness from others, God and yourself. Try again. Get back on that trail, keeping pushing and trying. If we can not forgive ourselves how are we suppose to go on?

Learn to love yourself, this can only happen if we forgive ourselves. Loving yourself does not mean being prideful or arrogant, stuck on yourself. Loving ourselves is being able to be honest with ourselves, forgive ourselves and be able to tell ourselves what we need to change. It is also being true to the Gifts God has blessed us with. Being able to see we are destroying ourselves, standing in our own way and we need to make BIG changes. Loving ourselves is being able to love the you God created. The person everyone else loves and sees.


Telling someone about your control issue can be very liberating. It is out in the open and can no longer have a hold over you. Our demons of control do not like to be in the open, they like to remain hidden and in the dark corner and recesses of our minds and hearts. Once they are out, a large portion of their power no longer has a hold over us. Once we take this step of letting the demon our of the box, we begin to heal and become our true self.

I think this is enough from me. Take time to come up with your own strategies that will work for you to change your life and be free from the illusion of control.
Saving the world one stick of butter at a time!
God bless,
Jenn