Detoxify Your Life - Protein Challenge

For Day 2 of the 28 Day Challenge from 360YourLife.com, we are learning about Protein.  Protein is an essential part of your diet.  All Proteins that you eat are converted into amino acids that our cells need in order to function properly.

There are a few things everyone should know about protein.  First of all, most of us were raised with the "Protein Myth", to believe that the only source of real protein is through meat products.  While meat products DO provide protein, they are not the ONLY source of protein available!  Getting our protein from a variety of sources is very important, because we need to make sure we are getting as many different amino acids as we can.  There are 20 different kinds of amino acids, several of which our body cannot create on it's own and we need to get them through our foods.  These are called "essential amino acids".  The best way to make sure we are getting a variety of the 20 different kinds of amino acids is to get a variety of proteins in our diet.  When people let go of the myth that "meat is where I get my protein", they become open to other great sources of proteins and essential amino acids which will help their body function at it's very best!

Some non-meat high protein foods are;
Cheese (especially Mozzarella and cottage cheese)
Tofu, Soy, Soy Beans
Beans; Kidney beans, White beans, Lima Beans, fava beans, black beans etc
Eggs (especially egg whites)
Milk, Cheese, Yogurt
Nuts and Seeds (pumpkin seeds, almonds, etc)
Spirulina
Flax Seeds
Chia Seeds

I'm not saying you should or have to go vegetarian, just that it is beneficial for you to make sure you are getting your protein from a wide variety of sources!

The other thing everyone should be aware of with protein; is it safe?  Do you know where it came from?  In the case of meat... how was it raised, what was it fed, how was it processed?  When it comes to other protein sources that are plant based; were they grown naturally?  Organic?  Are they from genetically modified crops?  I know how it is, you're thinking "I would go crazy if I knew the truth about my food and where it came from.  I'd rather not know."  You're partly right, once you know the truth about this stuff, you can't forget it.  You can't un-know it.  But in this case, is Ignorance Bliss, or is Ignorance a death sentence?  Studies have linked the consumption of conventionally raised meats with cancer and heart disease, hormonal disorders, etc.  The long term effects of Genetically modified foods (GMOs) is still uncertain, but early testing of animals has shown a direct relationship between GMOs and cancer.  The sad truth is, the food industry isn't interested in the quality of what they produce, as much as they are in the quantity, and in the end... the profit.  So, even with your meats, there are healthy protiens in them... yes.  But what else are you getting along with those proteins?  I'm pretty sure a side effect of cancer or early heart disease is not what you wanted when you bought that steak.

What to do about it?  Here is what you need to look for;

Clean Protein Options

• Organic, grass fed beef
• Organic, free range chicken and turkey
• Wild-caught fish
• free-range, organic eggs
• non GMO Soy

There are several documentaries available now which explore these ideas and the truth about the food industry.  I would highly recommend you watch these;

Hungry For Change - http://www.hungryforchange.tv/
Food Inc. - http://www.takepart.com/foodinc/film
Food Matters - http://www.foodmatters.tv/
Frankensteer - http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/frankensteer_2005/
Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead - http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/
Vegucated - http://www.getvegucated.com/

People tell me "I don't want to know."  Just stop.  You NEED to know.  The only way we can make a change is to first wake up and be aware, and then we can know what changes to make!  The more people start changing their eating habits (and their shopping habits), the industry will follow suit and change to provide the people with what they want!!

Today's Challenge was to substitute the protein in one of your favorite recipes with a "clean" protein from the list above.

This morning I had my daily protein shake.  I love using Shaklee Energizing Soy Protein Powder* to make shakes, because it is high in protein, has essential amino acids, plenty of vitamins, and it is made using non-GMO Soy!

Today's recipe;

1 cup chopped strawberries

1 1/2 cup Almond Milk

3 Tablespoons Shaklee Energizing Soy Protein

1 tablespoon Flax Seeds

1 tablespoon Chia Seeds

Put everything in the blender except for the Chia seeds.  Blend until smooth.  Add the Chia seeds when you pour the smoothie in a glass.  Stir & enjoy!

*If you are interested in purchasing the Shaklee Energizing Soy Protein, or curious about other Shaklee brand products, contact me!

I also went to the store and found some Organic, Grass Fed beef to use in our spaghetti!  

and a couple other things I found at the store, while I was in the process of locating clean and healthy proteins;

Detoxify Your Life, Day 1 - Grains

I have signed up at 360YourLife for a 28 Day Challenge to Detoxify your life!  I will share here what I learn, and my journey along the process!!  You can sign up for the next 28 Day Challenge HERE  (it starts in October) and try it yourself, or just follow along with what I share here!  I do suggest you sign up at 360YourLife because you will have access to some very informative blogs, newsletters, and videos!

For Week 1, we are learning about Nutrition, and how to get the most out of what we eat!  In today's blog and newsletter, Brooke told us about the differences between refined grains and Whole Wheat.  Most things on the shelves and in your cupboards are probably Refined grains.... the pasta, bread, cereal, pizza dough, etc. that is all made from refined grains rather than Whole Wheat.  In a refined grain, such as white bread and pasta, White Flour is the main ingredient.  White flour is simply the endosperm of the grain....leaving out the bran and the germ portions  and leaving behind just the center of the grain which is primarily starch.  This makes it low in nutrients and vitamins, lacking in fiber, and the starch transforms to sugar in our blood stream leading to sugar spikes.  White Flour has been linked to diabetes and Heart Disease, among other illnesses.  It is also addictive!  Because of the "sugar spike", we feel a temporary high (although our body has received very little nutrition) and then a "crash" later on where we feel tired and hungry again.  So, one of the simplest ways to eat healthier is to switch to grain products that are 100% Whole Grain.  This way you get the entirety of the grain, not just part of it!  You get the nutrition, vitamins, and fiber that help you balance and digest the starch of the endosperm.  Just as nature intended, it's better for you in it's complete form!! You want things that have the FIRST ingredient listed as Whole Wheat Flour.  To help you find these items, The Whole Grains Council has created This Stamp which you will see on foods that are made with Whole Wheat Flour instead of White Flour or refined, over-processed flour.  Also check out this website for more great information on the Health Benefits of Whole Grains!

I don't buy White Bread, but after this challenge I will be making sure to check the labels on all bread!  Some so called "Wheat" bread simply adds Wheat Germ to the refined White Flour in order to call it Wheat Bread, but this is not the same!  Look for Whole Wheat as the FIRST ingredient and check for the Whole Wheat stamp! As a bonus, the bread I found also has NO High Fructose Corn Syrup added!  Score!! Here are a couple things I found at my local grocery store (not a health food store, just the grocery store I normally shop at)

Uncle Ben's Whole Grains Medley - Brown & Wild Rice - $1.29

Orowheat 100% Whole Wheat Bread - $2.99

Ronzoni Healthy Harvest 100% Whole Grain Spaghetti - $1.99

After discussing Whole Grains, Brooke at 360YourLife talked about Gluten Free options.  Just switching to Whole Grains alone is helpful, but you are still possibly harming your body.... because let's face it... even too much of a good thing can be bad for you.  If you eat the recommended daily servings of Grain (6 to 9 servings a day) but you are only getting grain that comes from Whole Wheat, you will be denying your body the variety of nutrition it needs.  There are a number of health problems that have been linked to Gluten, which is found in Wheat products.  Some people may choose to go 100% Gluten Free and avoid gluten altogether, but if you simply substitute some of your Wheat grains with Gluten Free options, you are giving yourself a more balanced intake of grains.  Grains that are Gluten free are considered to be "sprouted grains", which are significantly higher in protein, vitamins, and enzymes.  They are much lower on the Glycemic Index (G.I.), which means they are digested more slowly, keeping you feeling fuller longer.  Also, since these grains are digested more slowly, there is a more gradual release of sugars into your bloodstream as the complex starches are converted into natural sugars; reducing the "sugar spike" you see from processed grains and wheat products.

Today's Challenge was this; Choose ONE of your favorite grain foods and swap it out for a Gluten-Free option.  I couldn't pick just one!  Here is what I was able to find at my local grocery store.  Again, I was surprised I didn't have to go to a specialty health-food store to find these things!  If you look close enough, they are available to you!  Also, the price difference wasn't that much, I felt satisfied with the amount of money that I spent on these products! 

This one isn't new to our household, it's a family favorite. 

I found these Delallo brand Gluten-Free pastas.  We eat a lot of pasta in our house, so it's worth it to try something new!  These were on sale for $2.89 each.

Private Selection Wild Rice - $1.59  Wild Rice is a perfect example of a Sprouted Grain that is not processed or refined.  You get all the good benefits of a gluten-free grain.

Village Harvest Quinoa - $5.19.  Quinoa is another good example of a gluten-free Whole Sprouted Grain.

Blue Diamond Nut-Thins Crackers - $2.57 each.  Wheat & Gluten free, these crackers are made from nuts and rice! 

Food Should Taste Good brand Multigrain Tortilla Chips - $2.59

My kids LOVE to snack on chips!  These ones are Gluten Free, made from Brown Rice, Flax, Sesame and Sunflower Seeds, and Quinoa.

So, in completing today's challenge, I think I have a good variety of snacks and side-dishes for the week that are either Whole Grain or Gluten Free!  Off to a good start!!  Remember if you're doing this challenge, the goal is to just pick ONE thing in your pantry and switch it out with a gluten free option.  You don't have to go all out like I did, just pick one thing and make a change! Good Luck!

My 3-Day Detox!

Hello friends!  I know it's been awhile since I have blogged here, and I hope to remedy that!  I hope you are all doing well and that 2013 has been amazing for you so far!  It's been pretty fantastic for me so far!

I wanted to tell you about something I did this last week!  I did a 3 day detox to help remove toxins from my bodies.  I was thinking a lot about how the sugars, processed foods, etc have lots of added stuff we don't need, and how our bodies sometimes need help getting rid of those toxins!  The best way to get those toxins out of your body is to avoid the source of those toxins! 

For THREE Days I had; No Meat, No Dairy*, No Sugars, No Processed Foods, No Coffee!  I did this to give my body a chance to cleanse itself, sort of a Re-Boot of my system!  I recently started taking a new vitamin supplement; VitaLea from Shaklee.   I was also using Shaklee's Energizing Soy Protein Powder added into smoothies every day before work. Within 6 days of taking these I was already noticing a huge difference in the way I felt!  More sustained energy, better mood, less fatigue, less body aches, and the bronchitis I had been fighting off since Christmas finally went away!  This was great, but I figured if I felt this good now, how much better would I feel if I detoxed my body of all this other junk and really gave my body the ability to fully absorb some of these great nutrients I was giving it!  So I decided to do a 3 Day Detox and give my body the Re-Boot it really needed!

For Day 1, I started with Shank Prakshalana.  This is an ancient Yoga method for clearing out the bowels, intestines, and colon.  It's basically a salt-water cleanse in which you drink salted water and then do a series of yoga moves to open the intestines and get the water flowing through your system.  It's not very glamorous, and I won't go into too much detail here... but the point is you remove a lot of the "stuff" that gets stuck in all the twists and turns of the intestines and lines the inside of the colon.  There are many health benefits to doing Shank Prakshalana, and I highly suggest you research it and learn as much about it as you can before you give it a try!  Learn more HERE, and Here, and HeRe. :)

After the Shank Prakshalana I ate a bowl of cooked rice with butter.  It's necessary to eat something solid, yet easy on the system, and suggested to have something buttery to help lubricate the intestinal walls.  But you want to stick with something very plain... nothing spicy or overly flavored, and nothing too hard to digest. 

For awhile after eating my rice I just sipped some water with lime slices and mint leaves added in.  I made sure to drink plenty of water the rest of the day and through my whole 3 day detox. 

Later on that day, I made a smoothie.  I made it with Blueberries, Almond Milk, Plain Organic Yogurt, and My Shaklee Energizing Soy Protein Powder.  *(the plain organic yogurt is the only dairy, other than some butter in my rice, that I had for this whole 3-day detox.) With this I took my daily multivitamins, and then some more water.  I continued to sip on water all day. 

At dinner time I had another bowl of rice with butter, but I also added in some fresh baby spinach.  More water before bed!

Day 2, for breakfast I made myself a nice cup of hot green tea with some organic honey, and a bowl of plain oatmeal.  Usually I have coffee with lots of flavored creamer, and if I have oatmeal I usually add milk and sugar or use the pre-flavored sweetened kind.

A little before lunch time I made a juice with my juicer - I used 2 grapefruits, a large cucumber, and about 3 big handfuls of baby spinach.  It was delicious!

For Lunch I had another smoothie, the same as on Day 1.

For Dinner I had more rice with butter, and with cooked baby spinach and carrots added in.

All day long I drank LOTS of water!

For Day 3, I had my Green Tea, no honey added.  I didn't have any oatmeal or anything else to eat.  Surprisingly, I just wasn't feeling hungry yet. 
About an hour after I got up, I made another juice in my juicer; Grapefruit, Spinach, cucumber, and beet. YUM!

For lunch I made my smoothie again, but this time I added spinach to the blender!  2 large handfuls of baby spinach leaves, lots of blueberries, plain organic yogurt, and Almond Milk, the soy protein powder.  I had never added spinach to my smoothie before... it was only something I had used in my juicer!  A friend had suggested it and I have to say... it was fabulous!  My smoothie didn't taste like spinach, I could only really taste the blueberries!  The texture wasn't awful either... in fact I think the spinach made it MORE creamy!

Later on I made a simple Apple-Carrot-Ginger juice in my juicer for a bit of a "snack"... didn't need much because I wasn't starving! 

For dinner I had tomato soup.  This was the only store-bought pre-packaged food I had eaten, but it was a Healthy Choice brand chunky tomato soup, so I didn't feel like I was "cheating".  Plus, I was all out of rice and spinach!  Of course all day I drank lots of water, and had more water with dinner and before bed.

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And that was it!  After that I on the 4th day I allowed myself to eat & drink whatever I wanted.  Honestly I wasn't craving too much... I wanted more fruits and vegetables!  My body wanted more of the good stuff I had been feeding it for 3 days!  I did have a coffee this morning, but with soy milk instead of cream.  I was happy to realize I was having this coffee because I WANTED it, not because I needed it to wake up.  I felt awake in the morning without having coffee first!  And, I realized... I made it through 3 days of no coffee without getting a headache or a migraine!  Could this mean I have kicked my caffeine addiction??
I'm also drinking more water.  Spending 3 days paying Really Close Attention to what I put in my body made me realize I haven't been drinking enough water and it also got me used to drinking water again.  Now if I don't have a water bottle right next to me, I feel lost! 
It wasn't all easy!  Day 1 was rough because Shank Prakshalana is not easy on the system and requires some rest afterwards... I got the rest but felt rather cranky and discouraged by the end of the day.  But I stuck with it and in the morning I felt a lot better!  Day 2 was pretty easy.  Day 3 was pretty easy too, although I started seeing things I wanted to eat in my pantry and really had to fight off the urge a few times.  Because I knew it wasn't something my body needed, just something I craved due to old eating habits!

So this has been a really long blog post, but I had to share that I am feeling GREAT!  I think I gave my body a great advantage by letting it go for 3 days without a lot of junk!  I spent a lot of time thinking about the food choices I make and am ready to continue to make better healthy choices.  And I know I will continue to feel better with the Shaklee supplements I am now taking.

If you want to know more about Shaklee, please fill out the form HERE or watch the links on that page under the form.  I am excited and more than happy to share with you these great products!

Easy Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings

This is what I am making for dinner tonite.  I thought I would share the recipe, because it's really easy, and a recipe to fit a tight budget.  Cheap and Easy, just the way I like it!

Easy Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings

You Will Need;
4 - 6 large chicken breasts, thighs, or legs.  Bone-in or boneless, whatever you have available!  You can either cut the chicken into smaller pieces, or leave it in big pieces... whatever!
1 large can (26 oz) Cream of Chicken soup (condensed)
1 large can (26 oz) Cream of Mushroom soup (condensed)
2 cans buttermilk biscuits.  You know, the refrigerated kind of biscuits that come in a tube that you peel open?  What are those called?  Canned biscuits?  I've never really thought of it before.
Various chopped vegetables.  Your choice.  Carrots, onion, celery, potato, mushroom.  All of those would be good but in a pinch I would choose the celery and carrots.
Water
your large crockpot
4 to 5 packages of Ramen noodles, any flavor but for this recipe I am thinking Chicken would be best :)  These will be used later, and are optional.

Directions;

Thaw the chicken.
In the crockpot, mix the condensed soup (both cans) and one can of water (26 oz).  Mix until there are no lumps.
Add the chopped vegetables and the chicken.
Mix well and turn the crock pot on low heat for 4 to 5 hours, stirring occasionally.

About 30 minutes before you want to eat (and when you have checked that the chicken is fully cooked), open the canned biscuits.  Separate the biscuits and cut each biscuit into fourths.  These are your "Dumplings" Mix the biscuit pieces into the crockpot.  They will float on top.  Stir well, replace lid, and turn the crockpot to High.  Let cook another 30 minutes.  ** Check the dumplings.  They should be soft and doughy on the outside, but cooked in the middle like bread.

Serve on top of pasta, or in a bowl like soup.
Enjoy!  :)

** If you want to serve this on top of noodles, cook your noodles while the dumplings are cooking.  I usually just use chicken flavored Ramen Noodles but you can substitute any kind of pasta you want.