Jeneration Eden

Category: My Life

  • The Non-Toxic Feed

    The Non-Toxic Feed

     

     

    If you ask me what I remember most vividly from the first few months of each of my 4 children’s lives, I’d love to be able to tell you that I recall the supple feel of their new, smooth skin, their big blue eyes staring at me in fresh, daily wonder and the peaceful, almost imperceptible way their tiny backs rose and settled as they slept.

    I’d like to tell you all of that, but, in truth, what is sharpest in my mind to this very day is the around-the-clock nursing, the constant hovering over a stove watching bottles and breast pump parts bob around in hot water, the desperate freezer searches for bags of stored breast milk.

    Feeding babies is a full-time job and it requires physical and mental stamina. And, unless you’re straight-up breastfeeding 100% of the time, it also requires some non-toxic know-how. Don’t be concerned if the following is all news to you; any step you take going forward will benefit your baby in very important ways.

    So, without further ado – because, in about 10 minutes, someone’s gonna be wailing for liquid eats – an informative and practical guide to safely feeding your soft skinned, wide-eyed, little one…

    Choosing a safe baby bottle has become a loaded issue, what with myriad conversations about how plastics pollute our bodies and the world. The big topic for a long time was BPA – Bisphenol A – a known endocrine disruptor. Found in the bodies of 98% of Americans, it’s a worrisome synthetic chemical that’s tough to avoid.

    Most baby bottles haven’t been made with BPA for some years and the US government officially banned BPA from bottles in 2012. So, problem solved? Not so fast. There have been quite a few studies done about “regrettable substitutions,” chemicals that have replaced BPA but have either little health data or similarly concerning data, as well as reports, including this one from Mother Jones, which indicate that many other plastics, including the so called “safe” plastics, leach synthetic estrogens, which can affect many aspects of development.

    What’s a new mama to do? Two words: Go glass. And two more words: Go Stainless. Glass and stainless steel are as safe as you can get and the baby market is crawling with brands that make this an easy buy. Born Free, Weego Baby and Lifefactory are just some of the companies that offer glass bottles wrapped in silicone sleeves. These bottles can last a long time, but should be checked regularly for chips or cracks. Klean Kanteen’s child line, Kid Kanteen, makes stainless steel bottles, as does organickidz. Silicone nipples should top them all off.

    What about what you put in those bottles?  If you’re buying powdered or concentrated formula for regular use or supplementation, you have to mix it with water, but these days, options for water types flood our lives. It’s a good idea to talk to your child’s pediatrician early on to get information about your local water quality and what’s normally recommended in your area.

    According to the CDC, cold tap water, run for several minutes first, can be used to make infant formula, but because of concerns about mild fluorosis (white spots on permanent teeth), babies who are fed formula exclusively should have their formula alternately mixed with fluoride-free bottled water, often labeled as de-ionized, purified, demineralized, or distilled. A good option is Gerber Pure Water.

    In addition, The American Academy of Pediatrics more conservatively recommends that sterile water be used for infant formula, at least for the first few months, which often means boiling water for no more than one minute and letting it sit for thirty seconds before use.

    In either of the above cases, tap water should be filtered, especially for infants. Brita makes effective carbon filters, which are appropriate for many water supplies, and now offers stainless steel pitchers as well. GE also makes carbon filters, including faucet mount and under-sink filters, as well as reverse osmosis filtration systems which are important for certain water sources. For more detailed information, check out the Environmental Working Group’s Water Filter Buying Guide, which provides information about specific contaminants and the filters best suited to reduce those contaminants.

    Nursing moms have a few choices of their own to make. While milk straight from the breast is best in terms of vitamins, bacteria-killing properties and fat content, expressed milk has a place in our busy lives. Two popular breast pump companies, Medela and Hygeia, make BPA-free breast pumps and accessories. Hygeia prides itself on its “eco friendly breast pumps” that can be reused or recycled. Medela has responded to the call for plastic-free products by offering up certain glass pump parts, as well as glass bottles for pumping and storage.

    And, speaking of storage, because breast milk can last in the refrigerator for 5 to 8 days and in the back of a self-contained freezer for 3 to 6 months, both are good options for keeping milk on hand. Years ago, my freezer was filled with BPA-free plastic storage bags from Medela, but, if I was pumping away today, I’d more often use glass bottles or glass storage containers, like these from weangreen.com.

    When thawing and warming breast milk, avoid the microwave, as it can heat the milk unevenly and pull out nutrients. Bags of breast milk should be thawed overnight in the fridge, transferred to a non-toxic bottle, and then held under warm water. Glass bottles and containers can also be put in the fridge or placed directly from the freezer into a bowl of warm water.

    While the cycle of feeding/pumping/storing might have you running for a bed as soon as baby conks out, there’s still one more thing you have to do: clean it all up. If you live in an area with a safe water supply, you only need to sterilize your bottles and breast pump parts before the first use, by boiling them for 5 minutes in a pot of water or running them through an entire dishwasher cycle on the top rack. After that, however, you can regularly clean all the supplies in warm water with a non-toxic dish soap. My favorite is Better Life’s Dish it Out, but any mild plant-based soap that is free from synthetic chemicals will do the trick.

  • Winter Wisdom

    Winter Wisdom

     

     

     

    This blog first ran on the Premier Pediatrics website.

    Just when we’d finally gotten used to the fall weather, it seems that Old Man Winter is nipping at our toes. This will mean some chilly days playing outdoors, but, if your family is anything like mine, it also means plenty of hot chocolate and hanging out inside.

    While I’m hoping that my clan’s movie nights, card games and indoor basketball tournaments (yes, we have those) are all entertaining, I know that there’s another aspect of our experience indoors that is of utmost importance: the quality of the air in our home. The stuff we breathe in, day in and day out, affects our health and, considering how much time we’ll be spending indoors, the stuff better be clean. Southerners are not off the hook; even if your kids are often in bathing suits while others are in snowsuits, you still go home, sleep at home and spend lots of time in your home.

    According to the EPA, indoor air is many times more toxic than outdoor air — a result of products in our homes and toxics we bring in. So make it your business to defy those odds and make your home as sweet as it can be — naturally. These tips will help you do just that…

     

    TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF IN THE HOUSE

    I’ve always instinctively hated the idea of tracking whatever was on the bottom of my shoes into my kids’ bedrooms, but once I learned what might actually be on the bottom of said shoes, I realized I was factually on target. Bacteria is just the start; our soles can be laden with, among other things, pesticides and herbicides, heavy metals, gasoline and coal tar. These contaminants, which are linked to cancer and neurological problems, can be brought into the home where they become dust particles and are then breathed in, as well as absorbed through the skin. Young children are regularly on the floor and are therefore more apt to come into contact with whatever has settled there. Additionally, carpets are especially perfect resting grounds for these toxicants. So leave your shoes – and all the junk that’s on them – near the front door and keep your air and floors free from unhealthy substances.

    AVOID CONVENTIONAL AIR FRESHENERS

    Who doesn’t want a fresh-smelling home? But don’t hand me “Mountain Fresh Scent” in a can or any of those wall plug-ins. I’d go for pure cinnamon, coffee grinds or essential oils over hormone disruptors and respiratory toxicants any day…and you should too. Conventional air fresheners either mask smells by coating your nasal-passages (ugh) or spew out none other than endocrine disrupting phthalates, carcinogenic formaldehyde, unhealthy petroleum distillates and a host of other goodies. So ditch the synthetic chems for lavender sachets or bowls of odor-absorbing baking soda and the air in your home will be fresh…and healthy.

    SWITCH OVER ONE CLEANING PRODUCT

    It’s been many moons since my laundry room cabinet was stocked with bottles containing brightly colored liquids for all of the many cleaning jobs in my home. Long ago I did away with jugs that say “Caution” or “Harmful if Swallowed.” My secret weapon is now a vinegar and water combo. I use it for everything – kitchen, bathrooms, floors, you name it. But I appreciate that, although it’s effective and totally safe, not everyone feels comfortable using vinegar to clean an entire home. With that in mind, it would still be very worthwhile to choose one of your cleaners – say, your toilet bowl cleaner (which can be particularly caustic and dangerous) or your sink cleaner (which is likely full of respiratory toxicants) – and switch it over for a 1 cup vinegar to 1 cup water combo (you can even do a 1/2 cup vinegar to 1 cup water mix if you’re still a bit vinegar-shy). It’s effective, the smell dissipates within minutes and your kids will be breathing in many less toxicants even for this single change.

    AIR OUT YOUR DRY CLEANING

    The chemicals that are used for dry cleaning – specifically perchloroethylene (perc) – can be some nasty stuff. Perc can irritate the eye/nose/throat/skin and, with high levels of exposure, can lead to neurological problems, In addition, perc has been labeled a likely human carcinogen. If possible, dry clean your clothes at a “wet-cleaning” shop or one that utilizes CO2. If your dry-cleaner touts itself as organic, be sure to ask what they use in place of perc. But if a conventional dry cleaner is your only option, pull the plastic off of freshly dry-cleaned clothes and air them out for a few hours before bringing them inside. Otherwise the chemicals that might still be emitting underneath the plastic could contaminate the air in your home.

    OPEN YOUR WINDOWS

    You’d have to be at the mouth of a coal-burning factory for the air outside your home to be more toxic than the air indoors. Which is why opening windows, even for just a short time every day, can really improve the air quality in your home. Just as Mom always said, there really is a benefit to getting some “fresh air.” Even when the thermometer dips into those unhappy numbers, buck up and open up. It’s one of the great defenses against unhealthy air buildup in the home.

  • The Safest Summer Skin

    The Safest Summer Skin

     

     

     

    This blog first ran on the Premier Pediatrics website.

     

    In about two weeks, I’ll be sending three of my four kids to sleepaway camp. Which means that, in about two weeks, my youngest, a feisty seven-year-old, will finally get what he’s always wanted…to be the eldest kid at home (alas, the only kid at home, but he’ll take what he can get).

    Sibling idiosyncrasies aside, the summer of 2014 will see the little guy whooping it up with his local pals and hanging tight with Mom and Dad, while the others will be having a blast in their own bunks in the mountains, away from parental eyes.

    But one of the things that my kids will have in common these next eight weeks is the way that they’ll protect themselves from the summer sun and pesky skeeters. Because I know about the many worrisome chemicals that fill bottles of conventional sunscreens and bug sprays, all my kids will be using safer alternatives that will guard their bodies, inside and out.  So, whether they’re splashing around in a city park or swimming in a glistening lake, they’ll have the most effective and least toxic sunscreens and bug repellents on hand.

    Check out these tips for the safest ways to protect your own family from the harmful rays of the sun:

    • AVOID oxybenzone and octinoxate, both of which are known hormone disruptors as well as allergens
    • AVOID vitamin A as well as retinyl palmitate and retinol (forms of vit A), all of which can hasten the development of cancerous tumors when exposed to UV rays
    • AVOID aerosol sunscreens, which can be inhaled into the lungs
    • CHOOSE sunscreens that offer broad spectrum protection. This means defense against UVA and UVB rays, both of which are implicated in causing sun damage, including deadly melanomas
    • CHOOSE mineral-based sunscreens with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide as the main ingredients
    • CHOOSE sunscreens with a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) of 30 to 50, apply one ounce to all exposed parts 30 minutes prior to sun exposure and reapply every 2 hours or after swimming/excessive sweating

    JEN’S PICKS: Badger (my all time fave), The Honest Co., Aubrey Organics, Babo Botanicals, Kiss My Face (Mineral Formula)

    And what about those bugs?

    This issue is a bit trickier, as most ingredients (whether a synthetic chemical like DEET or a naturally occurring ingredient such as oil of lemon-eucalyptus), are not always 100% effective and have meaningful pros and cons.

    It is important to remember that babies under 6 months of age should not be exposed to bug repellants at all and that children under 3 should not use oil of lemon eucalyptus or its derivative, PMD.

    If your children will be in areas not known for bug-borne diseases (and they don’t mind a couple of bug bites), then no aggressive ingredient is required and options like Badger Anti-Bug Shake and Spray or Burt’s Bees Herbal Insect Repellent should do just fine (always do a skin test before using fully, as even these botanical repellents can cause allergic reactions).

    But while it’s best to avoid areas known for Lyme disease-transmitting ticks and to steer clear of standing water where West Nile-transmitting mosquitos might be nesting, that’s not always possible. If children are venturing into territory that might harbor such problems, it is vital that they wear hats, long sleeves and pants tucked into socks. And it’s also important that they are protected by the proper repellent for the circumstances.

    The Environmental Working Group does a great job of laying out the scenarios and offering the most appropriate options, including details on the currently recommended ingredients and the safest ways to handle them. Take a look at EWG’s Guide to Bug Repellents for Kids and you’ll be ready to send your kids around the block or across the country for some happy and safe summer fun.

     

     

     

     

  • Untitled post 592

    I need to hydrate my skin every night after I wash my face, but I don’t want to do it with chemicals that are harsh and even dangerous. That’s why I love Juice Beauty’s 

  • Windex with your Latte, Anyone?

    Windex with your Latte, Anyone?

    Every time you spray your windows with a conventional cleaner, you’re contaminating the air in your home. Each time you spritz the stuff, you’re letting loose a whole army of toxic chemicals that can negatively impact your children’s health.

    And by the way, your lungs ain’t getting off scott-free either.

    Take this very morning. After my alarm woke me up (and by alarm I mean my 7 year-old), I helped whip four kids into shape, took one of them to the eye doctor, talked shop with the PTA president and did a pretty hefty supermarket run.

    So, by 10:15, I’d lived a whole day and I just wanted to relax with a cup of coffee.

    You can then imagine my annoyance – no, my pissed-off-ness – when, as I sat down, latte in front of me, the guy with the rag starts spraying the glass table with, you guessed it, Windex.

    The smell of the neon stuff is awful, obviously. But that was just the tip of the ‘ole iceberg for my detail-oriented self. I mean hell, I didn’t want to breathe in ammonium hydroxide and ethanolamine this AM! I wanted my coffee without respiratory toxicants, thank you. And back to that telltale smell that offends even the least neurotic out there. That’s a mashup of “nonspecific” synthetic chemicals – aka skin irritants and neurotoxins.  And those will mess with anyone, Type A or otherwise.

    As for the non-coffee drinking set? Your children are the most vulnerable to those very worrisome chemicals because, pound for pound, they breathe in more air than you and are still developing. The risks they face from inhaling these toxicants regularly are real and that’s without even mentioning the possibility of accidental ingestion.

    But don’t worry, it’s never too late to make changes, and this one’s simple. Herewith, a DIY non-toxic window cleaner:

    • 2 cups water

    • 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

    • 1/2 teaspoon natural dish soap

    Combine the ingredients in a bottle and spray away. Wipe down with a newspaper or a microfiber cloth. If you think the vinegar scent might offend tiny noses, open the windows or grab a non-toxic glass cleaner online or in your local market. Green Shield Organic Glass Cleaner and Whole Foods Market Glass Cleaner are two great options.

    So, if I do nothing in this post other than to get you to consider swapping your chemical window and glass cleaner for a non-toxic version, I’ll sleep well tonight. And if you actually make the change, your kids will too.

     

     

  • The Future of Nutrition is Now

    The Future of Nutrition is Now

     

     

    I’m coming off a very inspiring week. I was sitting in front of the computer with earphones on for much of each day, drowning out the sound of everything else going on around me. I wouldn’t normally tout this sort of antisocial, sedentary behavior, but as I was lucky enough to be listening to a 5 day online conference on the future of nutrition, I’d say this was an exception to the rule. From Monday through Friday I was the beneficiary of powerful and achievable life lessons, compelling insights and an explosion of plain, simple and tangible truths.

    The Future of Nutrition Conference was organized by the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, founded by Marc David, a nationally recognized teacher, speaker and author who has made it his life’s mission to share his many decades worth of research and experience on eating, thinking and living healthfully.

    Throughout the week, attendees listened to over 50 established and respected doctors, nutritionists, scientists, healthy living advocates and ambitious entrepreneurs speak one-on-one with David, who, with his easy-going and relatable attitude, made the whole experience extremely enjoyable. All the experts spoke in great detail about how the right attitude and the most beneficial nutrients intertwine to create a healthy, happy, meaningful life.

    As you might imagine, the conversations bubbled over with scientific evidence, potent information and interesting ideas — waaaaay too much stuff for any one blog post.  But amidst all the talk of the benefits of veganism, the advantages of vegetarianism and the wonders of the paleo diet, there were many relevant, down to earth, agreed-upon insights that really moved me; they made perfect sense and were brilliant in their simplicity. My hope is that my family – and yours – can abide by many of these ideals.

    • “What we put in our body is information for every function of our body.” I know that. You know that. But how well do we actually live it? Functional nutritionist Andrea Nakayama made clear how important it is to really live by the notion that what we put into our bodies is absolutely connected to our health and happiness.
    • There is no one-size-fits-all diet, as we are all physiologically different and have different biological challenges. But the experts agree that our bodies should be full of colorful and green leafy vegetables, fruits such as berries, beans, healthy grains (although some really push for a gluten-free diet), lean sources of protein and healthy fats. Those categories should be the cornerstone of everyone’s diet.
    • If you choose to eat fish, it should be only certain wild varieties (like Alaskan salmon) and if you eat dairy and meat, it should be from grass fed animals, with a third party organic certification, in order to avoid pesticides, antibiotics and hormones.
    • Avoid refined sugar and processed foods as much as possible. This is important for everyone – adults and children alike. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride spoke specifically about children and how these products are literally addictive and extremely toxic to children’s bodies, leading to many serious physical and behavioral problems.
    • From Heather White, executive director of the Environmental Working Group – an organization that I love – came some important daily tidbits: Become a label reader and buy foods with the fewest ingredients; buy organic as much as possible – refer to EWG’s dirty dozen list for produce that should be purchased organic; avoid plastics and instead use stainless steel, glass and bamboo; buy a water filter for your tap water in order to clean it of many contaminants.
    • From Darya Rose, a neuroscientist and food writer, a few simple ideas: Focus on health, not weight. Eat a healthy breakfast. Pack your own lunch. Create a happy relationship with food, not a stressful one; do this by making little healthy changes in your diet and by understanding that there is a balance and you don’t have to be impeccable all the time.
    • “If you’re standing on a thumbtack, don’t take aspirin, get off the thumbtack!” Seems obvious, right? But, says Robyn O’Brein, tireless healthy food warrior, speaker and author, many people don’t realize that they’re taking aspirin when it comes to eating, dealing with symptoms rather than the source of the problems. But if you really want to change the way you feel, then you need to change the things that you eat. Take a hard look at your diet, speak to an expert if need be, and start eating more healthfully. Get off the thumbtack.
    • Dr. David Katz, founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, said many things that resonated with me. His basic premise? Life is more fun if you’re healthy. You can “add years to your life and life to your years” if you happily and properly prioritize your health. On that note, he spoke about how taste buds can become accustomed to anything you offer them and that you can “rehabilitate them” by swapping in healthier versions of the current foods that you eat (say, a tomato sauce with much less sugar than the one you’re currently buying). He also spoke about families. How to teach kids about healthy living? Just live it in your own home. Create an environment that is full of healthy foods and ideas and regularly serve yourself and your kids tasty, healthy whole foods – like many of those mentioned in this blog. Children will benefit enormously, emotionally and physically, from these actions. In creating this type of home, you will be implicitly giving your children the tools for lifelong health.
    • Advocating for healthy eating is not a moral argument and it’s not about being a good or bad person. It’s also not about being a perfect person, by any stretch. Many of the experts spoke about doing one’s best and knowing that indulgences, if they are right for you, can be part of life. But overall, it’s very important to look at your own body and health, to know that you really are what you eat, and to try and create an overall eating plan that consists of delicious, healthy foods. Take good care of yourself and the people you love and life will be a lot tastier…

     

     

     

     

     

  • Quick Kitchen Wisdom for 2014

    Quick Kitchen Wisdom for 2014

     

     

     

    This post first ran on igokids.com. 

    The kitchen is at the heart of my very busy life. My four children’s ample appetites guarantee that I’m a regular in that space, faithfully whipping up meals, snacks and drinks like a pro. And while I’ve learned that homemade whole wheat pizza is really tasty and that spinach can be secretively blended into a smoothie, I’ve also learned that the kitchen is ground zero for many common, synthetic chemicals that can find their way into children’s very vulnerable bodies. The best take-home lesson though, is that there’s quite a bit we can do to protect our families from these toxicants.

    Other than promising to shed unwanted pounds and vowing to spend less time on your cell phone, resolve to ring in 2014 with some easy actions that will banish certain chemicals from your kids’ diets and help green up your kitchen as well.

    Opt for organic: Pesticides – many of which are carcinogenic and neurotoxic – are a particular menace to children’s growing bodies. But fear not. You can reduce your child’s exposure to these synthetic chemicals without turning over your whole kitchen. Check out the Environmental Working Group’s list of the most contaminated produce – which includes many kid faves such as apples, grapes and strawberries – at http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/summary.php, choose you family’s mainstays from the list and buy them organic. This is a great way to protect your kids without breaking the bank.

    Score some stainless steel: Six years ago I snatched up a bunch of stainless steel water bottles from hwww.kleankanteen.com/ and, since then, my kids have rarely put a plastic bottle to their lips. And that’s a very good thing. Single use and reusable plastic bottles can leach endocrine disrupting chemicals and carcinogens and they further our reliance on petrochemicals. In addition, bottled water is often not regulated; filtered tap water is a better option.

    Nix the non-stick: Your might think that your non-stick pans are vital to Sunday brunch, but your weekends will look a lot healthier without them. The gasses that are released from brand name coatings like Teflon are highly toxic and linked to many health problems including developmental concerns and cancer. They’re nothing you want your kids breathing in. So start by swapping a few non-stick pans for stainless steel or cast iron ones; you can find some great stainless options at allcookwarefind.com. They are safe and, with a little EVOO warmed up, your omelets will slide off of them just beautifully.

     

     

  • This is My Forty

    This is My Forty

    This post first ran on the Children’s Cause for Cancer Advocacy website.

    I once thought that turning 40 would be a significant milestone in my life. Like most people, I assumed that the act of marking time by focusing on the calendar was the main, fitting way to celebrate progress, the perfect way to celebrate life. My “landmark” birthday would surely be meaningful in its own right.

    But many things happened on my way to 40. Experiences, both emotional and profound, rushed in and capsized my notions about which moments I would honor with my time, my attention and my memory. Instead of standing on deck, squinting toward the distant shore of an upcoming birthday, I gradually found myself celebrating moments that were organically swirling at my feet.

    The awakening began with the birth of our first child, 12 years ago. Within 5 1/2 years, our brood grew by 3 more. In that intense and overwhelmingly busy time, I began to shed the idea that any one day was destined to be more relevant than all others just by virtue of its place on the calendar. Of course, a birthday can be a special, exciting time – for adults and certainly for children – but, in my life, the memories that have endured having nothing to do with candles on a cake. I don’t recall my 27th birthday, but I remember my first son’s toothless grins that appeared every time we played Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I’ve forgotten how I celebrated my 29th birthday, but I recall my second son’s childlike awe in the Museum of Natural History. Is my 30th birthday vivid? My 33rd? No and no. But I will always remember how adorable my daughter looked in her first pair of pink converse sneakers, as well as my 4th child’s very early ability to dance right on beat.

    Becoming a parent was a powerful lesson, but it was only part of my education. In April of 2011, my husband and I were blindsided by the fact that our young son’s low grade fever, a fever that surfaced and abated several times over 2 weeks, was a symptom of something far more insidious than a virus or infection. At 8 years old, our child was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and our world was turned on its head. But amidst all the worry and fear, I reaped the benefits of my ever-blooming understanding that there was magnificence in life’s more modest moments; suddenly, no other insight was more important or more true. My ability to hear euphony in a child’s unexpected, silly reaction or my appreciation of a deep connection built while explaining away a child’s fear were the most beautifully wrapped gifts I opened during some of my darkest hours.

    August 6th, 2013, was chemo day for my son. It was also my 40th birthday. Sitting in the pediatric cancer center, bearing witness to incomparable levels of sadness and strength, no one aware that it was my big 4-0, I knew unmistakably that for 12 years I had been following an authentic map, one that had allowed me to unearth the real treasures in my world. On this map of life, the most meaningful milestones are not the days marked by birthdays or anniversaries, but those seemingly quotidian experiences I share with my children, my family, my friends — snapshots that, in reality, are not insignificant at all. Turning 40 paled in comparison to the brunch that I shared with my daughter early in the summer before she left for sleepaway camp; the walk I took with my eldest son recently, our arms linked; the fun basketball game I played with my youngest child; the way I was able to make my son laugh during that chemo week, even when he was feeling so horrible from the meds. I know that thosetypes of moments are the big ones — the ones that will most enrich the years I’m given and provide me with the fortitude to navigate the frothy, unforgiving waves that might crash against my vessel. Those are the milestones of a life well lived.

  • Breakfast of (Little) Champions

    Breakfast of (Little) Champions

     

     

     

    I often find myself robed and slippered, still in glasses, concocting fun smoothies for my kids before they run off to school. Admittedly, the grating sound of the blender first thing in the AM is hardly music to my ears, but as there’s a veritable symphony of yummy, healthy stuff whirring inside that glass container, I’ve learned to love it. The morning smoothies at our place are a perfect start to the kids’ school days and for the adults in the house who chug the remainder, it’s a terrific start as well.

    After 8-12 hours of fasting (which is my blog-y way of referring to nighttime sleep), children need to refuel. They must feed their developing brains and bodies, and starting off the day with whole grains, fiber and protein is a great way to do that. With math class, gym and choir practice on the horizon, children need the proper attention/energy/attitude; good morning fare can help in those departments. Heck, we all know that being famished is hardly a mood enhancer.

    And when it comes to weight control – for kids and adults – eating a morning meal is right up there on the list of things-to-do to maintain a healthy weight. Studies have shown that eating a good breakfast can keep a person on track, helping him stay physically active and reducing the risk of obesity. So those few extra minutes of sleep instead of a meal can turn into a few extra pounds if it becomes a habit.

    Now you’re probably saying to yourself: Are you out of your bloggin’ mind Jen?!?! Who has time to make a wholesome breakfast and still get the kids rolling out the door on time?  Well, you do!! Because here’s the thing — there’s no need to be that perfectly coiffed family sitting around a table with grapefruit halves and stacks of whole grain pancakes at the ready (although my kids do enjoy good whole grain pancakes…but they’re reserved for dinner). Believe me, mornings at my apartment don’t look so neat. But the goal should be that each junior heads out to school with a tummy that is happy and healthy. And you can make that happen…in a jiffy.

    And in even better news, you can be somewhat casual about measurements. Just focus on a nice combo of ingredients and you’re golden. Here are a whole bunch of healthy, quick and very tasty breakfasts you can whip up for your kids – the very same kids who will actually make the morning bell.

    SMOOTHIES

    • Grind up a tablespoon of flaxseed in the blender. When it’s smooth, pour in 1/4 – 1/2 cup of organic milk, around 1/2 cup of plain organic yogurt, a frozen (or fresh) banana halved and 1/2 cup of organic frozen strawberries and/or blueberries. Blend. If it’s too thick, add more milk and blend again.
    • I found this next smoothie online at yummy mummy kitchen. Pour 1/2 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, soy milk or coconut milk into the blender. Add 1 cup of frozen pineapples, 1 cup of frozen mangos and a handful of fresh organic baby spinach. Scoop in plain organic yogurt and blend. If the blender is stopping, add more milk. (Add a dash of agave if it needs a kick of sweetness. You can also add some cubes to make it icier.) Yes, this smoothie is green, but as promised, it’s also yummy.

    YOGURT PARFAIT 

    • Grab a tall glass and scoop in some plain organic greek yogurt. Spoon on some organic fruit (blueberries, peaches, strawberries, bananas, mangos). More yogurt on that. Then granola. Then yogurt. Then fruit. Honey on top. And it looks real pretty.

    OATMEAL

    • Make oatmeal a breakfast staple — it’s an awesome way to start the day. You can make the stovetop kind (which takes about 10 minutes total) or go for instant. Once prepared, top it with chopped almonds, walnuts, fresh organic fruit or fruit preserves. Cool it off with some organic milk.

    NUTTY TOAST

    • Toast a whole wheat english muffin or a slice of whole what bread. Spread on some organic nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew), soy nut butter or sunflower butter. Slice some bananas on top. You can also swirl on a bit of honey.

    MORNING QUESADIILLA

    • Place a whole wheat tortilla on a warm frying pan lightly oiled with EVOO. Throw on some lowfat cheese (cheddar, muenster, swiss) and, after a minute or two, slice some organic apples on top — Granny Smith apples work great with cheddar. Fold and let cook until fully melted. Voila!