nutrition

Eat fat. Lose weight. No, really.

March 20, 2012

My scale smiled at me this morning, showing almost two more pounds down. I actually skipped an entire number on the scale. I never saw it. Hope to never see it again, either!!

It feels so good to have my weight coming off again. A friend of mine who lives locally and is also losing weight but is two sizes smaller than me keeps passing me down her fat pants as they become my skinny pants. I love it. Soon they’ll each become my own fat pants. Well, hers. But you know what I mean! I’ve been drinking tons of water and definitely not eating a low fat diet. A recent discovery of mine has been coconut oil. And I am in love.

Coconut oil is fattier, but healthier, than one of its cooking oil counterparts, olive oil. It is solid at room temperature which is why it looks white here. I use a little scoop to cook with. Here is a chicken breast in the pan with coconut oil.

You can see the coconut oil melts and is clear when it gets warm. There is definitely a coconutty flavor to it, but once I cook my food in it, I no longer taste it much on whatever I’m eating, like chicken and veggies. Which is too bad, really. Because I love the flavor of coconut. Even though as a child I despised it.

So people are constantly stopping me on the street and asking me exactly what I eat throughout the day, how the natural supplements I’m taking are helping me shed fat and in general how it is that I’m getting so stinking svelte.

Okay, no one stops me on the street and asks me that. And I’m not svelte. I’m just less fat. But I’m getting there. So bear with me.

But honestly, some of you have asked. And since I, ahem, love to talk, I thought it would be fun to have a live chat about it! So mark your calendars (or remember, if you can, but I’m way too old to be able to do that any longer) for tomorrow night at 8:00 pm Central. Right here I’ll be live chatting about all things health and weight loss, at least as far as they concern what I’ve personally been doing. If you want, you can go there now and leave questions for me so I can answer them when the chat starts tomorrow.

Oh and another oil I am in love with is grapeseed oil. You can cook with it, too, but I also like it as a cold oil in my (lettuce or pasta) salads. We still use plenty of regular old butter, too. It’s better for you than your doctor tells you it is. Promise! And as I try to get away from carbs (except at lunchtime, that is when I eat mine), I’m avoiding more and more refined sugars, too. My MSC’s favorite sweetener is agave.

I drizzle the all natural nectar onto their oatmeal, pancakes and waffles. You can actually use it in place of sugar in your baking, too. I don’t bake, so that’s a moot point for me. I’m paring back my body fat by eating a high protein and veggie diet. You can spot a few of my snacks in my cupboard, too: Wasa crackers, peanut butter and reused glass jars full of nuts. Eating fat. Losing weight. Fun times!

Eating healthy makes me look and feel good. And I’m overdue for both of those things in my life right now. Now if you’ll pardon me, I have some beef jerky and almonds calling my name. See you tomorrow night!

Filed Under: getting healthy, nutrition | 54 Comments

What’s for lunch?

February 3, 2012

Lots of things are new and up in the air for us. In areas where I can, I am trying to hold on to a sense of sameness and stability for our children. With that being said, here’s what’s for lunch.

Yes, we still use our favorite little divided plates. It’s a crying shame we only have four; Flurry could start using one now!

I love nutrition. It’s a passion of mine, to be sure! How do I get my children to eat healthy? There are really a few ways I do it. First, healthy food is almost all they are ever offered at any given point in the day. If healthy food is all they’re offered, it’s all they’ll eat! Second, choices are huge. Most days, lunches for our five little ones look just like this. Lots of options in small amounts on one plate, with the children given the understanding that they may eat whatever they like and not what they don’t. The freedom sure helps them in being adventurous and in not making eating a battle. Also, young children love to dip. When I have hummus, ranch dressing or goat cheese as a dip, they are likely to eat many more carrots and celery sticks than when I don’t. Finally, eating healthy becomes more natural for children when it is modeled for them. I was a slacker about that for the longest time, but I’ve been eating exclusively healthy (and in normal portion sizes) for a couple months now. It makes a difference for the whole family!

So, what’s for lunch, exactly? And why? I’m so glad you asked!

fresh broccoli – overflowing with vitamins and contains trace minerals

blueberries – full of antioxidants which provide cancer protection

chili – the kidney beans provide fiber while the tomatoes and sauce are a great source of lycopene (which makes the tomatoes red and is another antioxidant) the beef in this chili my friend Julie made for us came from a grass fed cow (the meat is lower in calories and high in Omega-3 fatty acids because the greens the cow ate was hight in those)

endive – this sister of the lettuce leaf is high in Vitamin A, another antioxidant

avocado – chock full of great fats that are wonderful for children’s developing brains

beef jerky – protein

raisins – although these sweet morsels have more (natural) sugar than grapes, they still contain iron and fiber and are good for the eyes

carrots – these veggies are a great source of beta carotene which is great for eyes and lungs

clementines – besides being easy to peel, these little fruits pack a punch with Vitamin C

apples – full of fiber and great for the liver

pears – high in folic acids and another healthy choice loved by the liver, in juice form, pears cool down a fever

goat cheese dip – a good source of protein and fat

puffed brown rice cereal – while the cereal making process takes most of the nutrients out of the rice, these are still a source of protein and an example of a one ingredient food (brown rice is the only thing on the ingredient list

That is what’s for lunch around here. Same old, same old. This stability in our meals is one sense of normalcy I can give my children right now. So I’ll take it!

Filed Under: nutrition, recipes and ideas | 45 Comments

“An avocado a day…

January 10, 2012

…how would you end this sentence?“

Filed Under: nutrition, Small Fry | 167 Comments

Make your own yogurt!!!

November 1, 2011

Got milk, a few glass jars and a little patience?

Good! That’s almost all you need to make your own yogurt! Yes, I have become sold on the notion of making yogurt for our family since giving it a few go’s with our goat milk recently! The reasons to love yogurt are many, not the least of which are the healthy bacteria in the wonderful food. Live cultures and enzymes make yogurt a fantastic food for (even the very) young and old alike.

Yogurt, especially the organic kind, can be pricey, but it doesn’t need to be. I had no earthly idea making yogurt was as easy as I’m about to show you, but it is. And fun. And so rewarding! No yogurt maker or green thumb or high ACT score needed!

1. Start with milk.

We use our unpasteurized goat milk. But you don’t have to! Whole milk works best, though you can for sure use 2% or a lower fat milk if you want. Cow milk is fine. Of course, goat is better, but I’m not biased or anything! You can use organic or not. It can even be pasteurized. Best not to use “ultra pasteurized” if you can help it, though. Make as much or as little yogurt as you want. I’ll explain how to make a quart here.

2. Strain warm milk straight from your freshly milked goats in the barn into a large glass bowl.

2. Warm your milk in either a crockpot on low for four hours or in a double boiler.

However you warm your milk if it’s not already warm, just make sure it reaches 110 degrees. You’ll need to stir it if you double boil it but not if you have it in the crock pot!

3. Add 2 Tablespoons of yogurt.

This is called the starter. You must use yogurt that contains “live cultures.” This is easy to find at the grocery store. Once you’ve made your own yogurt once, just save a little of it to use as the starter the next time.

4. Whisk the milk and yogurt together well.

Try to get all of the clumps out! You may find it easier to whisk the yogurt into just a removed cup or two of the milk and then return that to the rest of the milk after you’ve whisked. Your call.

5. Pour the milk and yogurt mixture into glass jars.

5. Return the milk and yogurt mixture to your crockpot.

6. Cover the jars with towels to insulate them and set them somewhere warm. (On a heating pad, atop a warm oven, on your refrigerator, almost totally submerged in a pan with hot water, etc.)

6. Cover the crockpot and leave it on warm for a couple hours, then turn it off, cover it in towels to insulate it and let it sit somewhere warm (see above ideas) for the rest of the time.

7. Leave it alone for 6 to 8 hours!

Don’t disturb the yogurt during this time. It will thicken and amaze you! The bacteria in the yogurt will “eat” the milk and grow more bacteria. If you leave it sit for closer to a whole day, it will have even more healthy probiotics! When it’s all cultured, you’ll be able to separate the yogurt a little with a knife. Note that homemade yogurt is going to be runnier than store bought. Did you know that some store bought yogurt has gelatin in it? Ick!

Want yours thicker?

8. Strain the yogurt.

Once the yogurt has set for a number of hours (overnight has worked best for me), you can strain it to make it thicker, even as thick as greek yogurt if you want. Just line a colander with cheesecloth or coffee filters and set the yogurt in there to strain. (You can use the whey that drips out to make rice or pasta so it doesn’t go to waste!)

9. Add yummy stuff.

Mix in jam, blended fresh fruit, honey, vanilla extract, cinnamon or whatever else your heart desires. Store in lidded glass jars. Your fresh homemade yogurt will keep for about a week! You can use it to cook with, too.

Interested in the cost savings here? I know I sure was! Stonyfield Organic Yogurt costs about $3.89 for a quart. YoBaby 4-packs are at least $2.29 for the 16 ounces of yogurt you get. That’s a great brand of excellent yogurt, but if you make your own, you’ll save! Even using whole, organic milk from the grocery store at $6 a gallon you can still make a quart of your own organic yogurt for around $1.50. Compare to the $3.89 for the Stonyfield quarts and the $4.58 YoBaby costs a quart, and you can see the difference!

Now factor in the fact that Big Mac can put away a half quart of yogurt for snack with no problem and the fact that we have four other young yogurt eaters and you can see how this is going to add up quickly to save us money! Since we have our own goats (and, therefore, milk) our yogurt is even cheaper. I figure our raw goat milk costs us about $0.75 a gallon, counting full feeding of the goats when it’s not nice out. That’s $157.50 less a month that we’ve been spending on milk for our family since we moved to The Farm! (We drink about a gallon a day.) Lulie and Freya graze, though, and will take many of their calories in that way again starting next spring so our gallons will average out to be even cheaper than $0.75 a gallon if you look at the big picture. That means that our yogurt costs only $0.19 a quart to make! Taking into account the initial investment of buying the goats in the first place, the goats will pay for their purchase price 7 and a half times over in just the first year we have them! I get excited about this kind of stuff, can you tell?

Our main goal in moving to The Farm was to spend less on our housing costs, but changing some of the ways we do other things only seemed natural, too. I’ve always been interested in the natural way of eating and doing things, but here at The Farm I’ve been able to do even more natural things. Having goats and chickens is work but it’s definitely not that bad. And the amount of money we save in milk alone is well worth it. Now factor in the yogurt, cheese (I am trying this next!), egg, butter and chicken savings (Yes, we butchered two chickens today. That was a first.) and having these animals will clearly help us reach some of our financial goals sooner. Or replace some worn out winter boots. Or help more villages in Africa. Or buy cat food. Or save for the kids’ college funds. Or all of the above!

I know, I know. I shouldn’t count my chickens before they hatch, but I’m so excited about all this!

As you can tell. Thanks for listening. Y’all are so good at that.

Now it’s back to eating my yogurt.

Filed Under: goats, nutrition, recipes and ideas, the farm | 97 Comments

a crockpot full of Omega-3 goodness

October 19, 2011

If you’ve read my blog for long, you’ll know that I love nutrition. It’s so important for me to make sure our Many Small Children have a sound nutritional basis for their days and their overall health. Powerful foods like seeds, nuts, avocado, whole grains, eggs, goat milk, flaxseeds, blueberries and kale fill our plates as often as possible. One of the reasons I love some of these foods, flaxseeds and flaxseed oil especially, is they are full of Omega-3 fatty acids.

It is so important for children to get enough Omega-3(s) in their diets because it is vital for brain development. Our brains are the fattiest of any organ in our bodies; the fats in our brains develop during the first few years of life.

Studies have shown connections between diets high in Omega-3(s) with good hand-eye coordination, improved memory, boosted vision, lowered anxiety and even reduced symptoms of ADHD.

I try to get Omega-3′s into our Many Small Children’s diets any way I can. I put flax oil in Flurry’s milk sometimes, the raw goat milk we drink is full of it and I sprinkle flaxseeds or flaxseed meal in our steel cut oats.

Ahh, yes. Steel cut oats. Now that the weather here at The Farm is turning cooler, I am myself turning to this warm family favorite more often. Made in our cute red crockpot sitting in our yellow kitchen overnight, my recipe for steel cut oats is piping hot and ready to pour cream over for breakfast as soon as we rise.

Here’s how I do it:

Put 2 or 3 cups of steel cut oats in a large crockpot.

Add at least 4 parts water for every 1 part steel cut oats I put in, more if I plan to cook them for over 8 hours. So, for 2 cups of oats, I put 8 or 9 cups of water in. More water is better than less. If it’s too soupy in the morning, I’ll add a bit of quick oats before we eat it.

Add 4 Tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup of flaxseeds

and a sprinkle of cinnamon

As late at night as I can possibly stay up, I turn my crockpot on low. (Not warm, low.)

In the morning, we have a ready made breakfast, hot and healthy. I stir it up well (the flaxseeds rise to the top), then dish it out into bowls. We pour cream on top and sprinkle with flaxseed meal and sometimes a few crushed walnuts or sliced strawberries.

What is your favorite kid-friendly recipe containing an Omega-3 rich food? If you share with me how you sneak those healthy fats into your family’s diet, you will have a chance to win a $500 grocery shopping spree!

Not only are Omega-3′s found in my steel cut oatmeal recipe and other great foods MckDaddy loves to make for us like salmon, it can also be found in Horizon® Organic Milk. Learn more about Horizon’s commitment to healthy families right here.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Horizon. The opinions expressed by me do not necessarily reflect the view of the Horizon Organic brand.

Filed Under: nutrition |

what farmhands are eating these days

September 30, 2011

our little farmhands

are hungry these days

a normal snack ’round these parts

hard boiled eggs

milk from our new goats Freya and Lulie

fresh broccoli and carrots

hummus

fresh picked grapes

and tortilla wedges

that’s what they had yesterday

while Flurry slept

the plates? they are some my mom had for us growing up

the same ones

she gave them to me

they are taco plates

to hold hard shell tacos up

but we use them for other stuff too

and

our big farmhand has an appetite as well

he has been building a huge barn at a farm nearby

plus a goat milking stand for me today

so MckDaddy’s been eating lots of fish

(that he bakes or fries)

that he and the bigs catch

almost every day while fishing on our lake out back

while I was stay back and keep the (proverbial) home fires burning

back at the farmhouse

with the littles

so that is what our

farmhands are eating these days

Filed Under: nutrition | 27 Comments

Baby Got Back Flax

July 19, 2011

If you’ve read my blog for long, you likely know about my obsession with all things flax. There are a few healthy nuggets, like steel cut oats, avocado, egg yolks and flaxseeds, that get me excited enough to blog about. Giving our MSC a nutritious start to their days, and their lives, is important to me. Using flaxseeds, flaxseed meal and flaxseed oil is one of the ways I love to accomplish that goal!

In our family, Baby Got ~~Back~~ Flax.

Flaxseeds are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids (the fats being in a more isolated, concentrated form in the oil than they are in the seeds or meal), making them a great food for baby. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been mixing a little flaxseed oil in with some of the babyfood I make when our infants start eating solids. I’ve been known to put a dribble in Flurry’s bottle of milk or a dash in the older MSC’s protein drink.

Flax isn’t just for babies, mind you. Ground flaxseed meal is our older children’s favorite yogurt and applesauce topper. I mix the meal into brownie recipes, piping hot bowls of steel cut oats and even into chocolate chip cookies. And flax is not just for babies and children, either.

While on our RV trip, on the home stretch the other week, we camped at Yellowstone. We didn’t have an electrical hookup at the campground there, so we dry camped. Before the refrigerator lost its cool once we were parked, I used what was left in it to make some sandwiches.

We were almost out of mayo, so after I scraped what I could out of the jar, I mixed some flaxseed oil and crushed sea salt in with a big can of tuna. After tossing in some toasted peanuts and chopped garlic, I liberally loaded up some English muffins with the mixture, adding a slice of Swiss cheese and grapes on the side. It was a meal celebrated by one and all, even my husband who liked it in spite of the fact that flaxseed oil isn’t his favorite food.

It probably helped that I didn’t tell him it was in there. But I guess now he knows. Hi, Honey!

Filed Under: nutrition | 51 Comments

How to get your kids to eat anything.

April 28, 2010

Or almost anything. Or to at least try some of what you serve them. Or how to at least not get yourself worked up when your child refuses to eat. Okay, whatever. I don’t have all the answers for children’s eating, ahem, issues. But our four children do eat really, really well. So I’ll share [...]

Filed Under: my mothering style, nutrition | 6 Comments

MckMama’s nut butter

June 7, 2009

Allergy warning: This post may contain photographs that were processed on the same equipment used to photograph nuts. Proceed with caution.

Granola. Crunchy. Earthy. Yes, I am, thankyouverymuch. I’ll have you know, on the off chance that you were wondering, that I do shave my legs, wear makeup and use electricity though.

Indeed, granola munchers have it right when it comes to eating: a dry snack made of oats and nuts and seeds and dehydrated fruit ranks right up there with other nutritional giants.

Why?

Man, I’m so happy you asked.

Well, for one reason, because of the nuts. Did you know what powerhouses these foods are? While the MckFamily is far from a vegetarian family, we do like to get lots of our protein from sources other than animal. And nuts are one of the best plant sources of protein. Remember this exceedingly unique recipe for Groundnut Stew? Plus, nuts are rich in fiber, phytonutrients and antioxidants such as Vitamin E and selenium. Nuts are also high in plant sterols and fat, but thankfully it’s mostly the monounsaturated and polyunsaturated kinds. You know, the good omega 3 fatty acids, which have been shown to lower LDL cholesterol.

Nuts are high in calories, meaning that you and I don’t need to go nuts too much every day. But dense, healthy, rich foods that are extremely nutritious, portable, and kid friendly are high on the list of what Prince Charming and I like to nourish the MHM (Many Hungry Mouths) in our house with.

Because I am crunchy and granola, because I love concoctions, hate paying full price for prepared items, adore experimenting in the kitchen, but dislike recipes, because I hate seeing stuff go to waste and love being inventive, I came up with smashingly nutritious, downright delicious recipe for nut butter the other day.

And because I like you all so much, I’m going to share it with you. My recipe, that is. Not my nut butter. I don’t really like to share. But I’m working on that.

MckMama’s Nut Butter

1 c sunflower seeds

3 c raw nuts, any type. I used what we had on hand which was: cashews, almonds, walnuts and macadamia nuts.

1 leftover partially full jar of half-eaten peanut butter. Was that terribly redundant?

2 full jars of unopened peanut butter, any kind if your choosing

1/3 jar of almond butter, and whatever other leftover nut butters you have sitting around your house. I think you get the idea.

honey

1/4 c tahini, that’s sesame seed paste. It has a very strong flavor and is used, with garbanzo beans, in making hummus.

3 T Nutella, or however much is left over in your jar of the chocolate/hazelnut delicacy. Which isn’t usually much at our house.

Put all the nuts and seeds in a blender or food processor.

Mix until very well chopped, but before the mixture gets too pasty, chewy and gooey.

Completely random aside:

If you want, keep some of the chopped nut/seed mixture in a separate little bowl. I kept about a half cup of it and added that to a cup and a half of uncooked steel cut oats last night. I then added about 4 parts water to the oats/nuts and cooked it on low in my mini crockpot all night long. You’ll have to toy around with the amounts, based on your liking and on your crockpot. But 4:1 water to oats works well for us. Add more water the next time if your oatmeal is too dry or burnt in the morning, less water if it’s too soupy or pudding like.

Back to my nut butter recipe:

Put the premade nut butters, Nutella, tahini and a drizzle of honey in a large mixing bowl with the newly chopped nut/seed mixture.

Combine well with a wooden spoon. Or a metal one. Heck, just go ahead and use plastic if you want to live on the edge.

When well mixed, spoon the mixture into the now empty peanut butter jars. You’ll have lots of nut butter, so once you’ve filled those, put the rest in an empty mason jar.

Ahem. Do note that I said empty, as adding MckMama’s nut butter to a mason jar that is filled with, say, pickled herring, homemade jam, honey butter or stewed tomatoes will not be an easy, or appetizing, task.

After you photograph a jar of it on your countertop, put the nut butter in the refrigerator. Or, you know, put it in your cupboard.

It’s your life.

Spread some of the nut butter into pita bread halves. Eat it yourself and serve as well to your voracious, swimsuited children with strawberries and water for lunch.

Sit back and marvel at how unbelievably healthy you’ve become. And hide your Diet Dr. Pepper so that no ones sees it.

Congratulating me on coming up with a recipe that did not include flaxmeal is altogether optional.

Filed Under: nutrition, snacks | 20 Comments

eating organic foods without breaking the bank

May 22, 2009

As most of you probably already know, I am semi-obsessed with eating foods in as close to their natural state as possible. I try to feed our family using foods that have only one ingredient (natural peanut butter made with only peanuts, for example, as opposed to Jif made with peanuts, sugar, oil and salt), foods that aren’t processed very much (baking with whole wheat or garbanzo bean flour, say, instead of with bleached white flour), and whole foods (like steel cuts oats which are gently cut and nearly whole instead of instant or quick rolled oats which are soaked, rolled flat, and then chopped with sugar and flavors sometimes added).

There is ever so much more nutrition in foods that are whole, close to their natural state, and not processed than there are in many conventional foods that Americans eat. Simple, whole foods are better for you, digestion-wise, too. Butter is better than margarine, fresh tomatoes trump canned spaghetti sauce, beans give you more bang for your buck than crackers, sprouted grain bread healthier than bread made with flours, fruit is more beneficial than juice and a carrot stick packs more punch than a fruit snack.

Did you know that before I decided I wanted to become an art teacher (that’s what I did before having children) I was dead set on becoming a nutritionist? It’s not uncommon for my lunch to look like this, as it did today:

Obviously, I was out of cilantro, or I would have added that to my beans, grains, epasote, cumin and coconut milk concoction.

And, because pesticides are not a food group I think deserves a prominent place in the food pyramid, we try to eat organically whenever possible. It can be difficult, though, to find organic produce that doesn’t cost and arm and a leg. So, just for you, I have created this handy dandy list of ways to eat organic foods without breaking the bank.

Which is kind of funny, actually, seeing as Small Fry broke Big Mac’s piggy bank this morning.

Anyway.

Eating organic foods without breaking the bank, MckMama style

1. If you can’t get your hands on organic produce, it’s safer to eat non-organic foods that have a peel which you don’t eat, like bananas and avocados.

2. Wash all of your fruits and vegetables well in soap and water, especially if they are not organic.

3. Learn the dirty dozen. It’s a list of the 12 fruits and vegetables that contain the most pesticides. If you can’t buy organic all the time, then it is at least best to buy organic when it comes to the dirty dozen. Buy organic when it comes to this list, ranked from worst (most pesticides) on down:

Peaches

Apples

Bell peppers

Celery

Nectarines

Strawberries

Cherries

Lettuce

Imported Grapes

Pears

Spinach

Potatoes

4. In fact, better than buying the dirty dozen organically, it’s even cheaper to grow your own! Plant a small garden in your yard, teach your children where food really comes from, save a ton of money and enjoy the educational, healthy and relaxing experience of growing and eating your very own produce.

5. Find a food share cooperative in your area. Many farmers are willing to drive their organic produce into the city if a bunch of neighbors are willing to pitch in and buy enough of it. Eliminating the middle man means everyone saves money. We get our raw milk this way. Look online or ask at your local natural food store to see if there is an organic vegetable share program in your area.

6. Finally, do remember to not sweat the small stuff. Whether you and your family eat organic foods or not will not impact you in eternity, so do keep it all in perspective!

The end.

Filed Under: nutrition, recipes and ideas | 2 Comments