How I stay disciplined ...

Once upon a time it was Christmas night & dinner rolls danced from my head into my plate & over the lips went two or three rolls made of wheat enriched flour. On into the next morning did my indulgences go...as I devoured over-processed instant grits made with butter & cheese. Yummmmm, right? Well, yes while the taste was delish, the feelings of sugar drops dancing throughout my body all day reminded me of how I pass up many of these wheat/dairy/processed foods that taste oh-so-good! Staying gluten & wheat free is how I keep cravings at bay!

The wonders of HUMMUS!

Who knew you could replace cheese or salad dressing with hummus for a tasty alternative?  If you have dairy sensitivities, & are also looking to cut the fats, go for healthy hummus!  The key ingredients of hummus are chickpeas & tahini (sesame seeds), which are rich in:

                                       *fiber & protein
                                       *folic acid, zinc, and magnesium.
                                       *Calcium & iron

Beans are known to lower blood cholesterol & help to prevent cancer.

It is delicious in lasagna when you can't use cheese.  Try it!  It's delish!!!!

All the colors of the rainbow!

My lunch is sautéed tuna, kale, spaghetti squash, onion & peppers in olive oil & flavored with Penzy's salt free seasoning. A whole lotta yum & healthy all at the same time!

S-t-r-e-t-c-h out your ingredients to avoid getting too much of one thing!!

I love cocktail sauce but it contains a lot of sugar, and I also love guacamole (made with lots of "gaaaahlic", as Emeril says!), so mix them.  I love to eat boiled shrimp for a snack, & dip it into a mixture of avocado & cocktail sauce, & you have lower fat & sugar content in your dip!  This is far easier than making homemade cocktail sauce in order to cut on sugar!

The cocktail sauce adds tons of flavor to the avocado, so no need to add seasonings. 

*2 tablespoons of cocktail sauce = approximately 5-10 g of sugar
*2 tablespoons of avocado = 4.5 g fat

Avocado has good fats, so you need them, but if you are cutting back on fats, you can tweak it to your specifications.  Even out the score so you don't have to sacrifice taste for old fashioned "dieting"!

Confessions of a self proclaimed "antitoxin health princess"

I'm going to make fun of myself by saying I'm a hypocrite! I crave this JUNK! The higher the sugar the better so don't give me that whipped icing crap! Another dirty secret of mine....I'm notorious for buying mini birthday cakes, eating it whole on a single Friday night just because...& no it wasn't my birthday, (but it's been probably a year since I last did it, so maybe that's progress)!  Let's not forget to mention that I love White Chocolate Reese's cups (eating the whole bag in one sitting yes), & pizza with triple cheese!  EEEEK!  I admitted my sins to you...well, most of them anyway!

Since I have a portion control issue, and sort of a sweet tooth, I stay away from sugar all day Mon.-Fri. and I "treat" (or maybe I should say, "contaminate") myself with this "mystery food". I call it that because there are a lot of synthetic ingredients in many of these products...ahem, except for Little Caeasars! Hale to the Little Caesars for not including whey (found in milk) in their sauce, as I can put that on my son's gluten & yeast free pizza crust. Patrick cannot have the Little Caesar's crust because he must have gluten/yeast free, however I commend them for not having whey in their crust for those not effected by milk products! Many pizza places include it in their sauces and crust.. It may not effect many, but it's a problem when trying to avoid milk proteins.

Oh, and did I lie by saying that I avoid sugar on a weekday? Yes, but my cravings are so fierce that my drug of choice has to be my favorite...Rainblo chewing gum. If I don't have Rainblo, any 'ol bubble gum will do! I began resorting to gum at night because I wanted to avoid snacking at night, but by the time I'm finished with all of that gum, I might as well have had a sugary snack! I tried sugar free, but darnit...my body says, "SUGAR PLEASE"! Still though, the sugar free has aspartame and whatever else synthetic in it, so it's not much better.

So you see, my interest in foods evolved over time. Patrick showed me a lot...maybe too much, but I learned that much of what I ate had been causing most of my chronic fatigue in years past.  Get tired of being tired & then watching your son come up with behavioral challenges, and it is enough to make anyone look at their foods with a fine tooth comb!

You can read more on food addictions aired this morning on Good Morning America....

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/hunger-fix-helps-food-addicts-lose-weight-17395274

So, before I rant about toxins in foods and unhealthy eating, let me first say I am upset with the lack of monitoring by the FDA to ensure food safety, and I'm not criticizing anyone for choosing this food over that. Additionally, the FDA is not required to disclose to the public everything that goes into processed foods. In concluding, eating preservative, dye, gluten, casein and whatever else free is expensive and time consuming. I however hope to learn ways to cut on both so I can reap the benefits of doing so & I can pass the tips along to you. That in itself takes time and money to figure out, so stay tuned.....

Welcome to my new blog!

Okay, so maybe I did this "basackwards"...but I wouldn't want to mislead you on my proven track record of doing most things any other way!  I try to do better, but I operate differently than most people when it comes to order.  Point being, this should have been my first post, but it will have to come second. 

I am excited to finally start my blog.  I love to write but need to learn more about condensing a lot of information into a small piece.  Forgive me if I ramble, especially when it comes to my passions in life, that being God, nutrition, my kids and jewelry making.  This blog will focus primarily on how I came to this place in my life, and my journey towards health and wellness.

Nutrition is where I wish I had started my educational career, but more importantly, I wish students were required to step out into the real world before they start their college careers.  Why?  Well, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says they can't adequately state the number, but I've often heard that the average worker changes career paths 7 times in his or her lifetime.  I have talked with someone who has changed 5 times in a 10 year period, & she is and always has been a successful woman, so that is not to say it is a bad thing to change career paths!  It is however, a lot of time and money when you consider educational costs, etc. to reach new career goals. 

That being said, at the age of 18, I did not know what I wanted to become, but I knew I had to get a Bachelor's degree.  Because I learn differently and the educational system has a "one size fits all" learning style, I was too preoccupied with getting through each test, rather than understanding and knowing my true passion.  My drive was passing and getting a degree, and needless to say, I had a lot of test anxiety.  I'm proud of obtaining a Corporate Communications degree, but I needed a narrower focus.  I guess I thought if I got my degree, that narrow focus would come flying out of the bushes & hit me upside the head!  Nooope...it has taken many more "hard knocks" to get it into my thick head!

Furthermore, I think I have felt the final "hard knock" & now I can look forward to pursuing a career in health and wellness, while helping others achieve their goals.  It's so exciting when someone asks me for advice on this topic.  I enjoy helping people who want to help themselves, and I find it rewarding to see them want to learn from me!!  Yeh!  I finally feel I can give back to this world!

Lastly, now I know my passion, so I will proudly boast I have finally figured it out, even though it may seem "basackwards"!  Thank you for allowing me to share my journey with you!

A pretty cake without artificial dyes?

We all know that the juice from blackberries & blueberries will make purple, and that beets will make pink & red, right? Well, consider this your ***TIP if you did not know! Today's mommy challenge is this...my son, Patrick, wants a Titanic ship cake. ***tip alert: Christina, his sitter, presented a wonderful idea of breaking a toy ship in half & making it "sink" into a cake! My dilemma with that? My son will want the art on it! You know the kind...with all that refined sugar in traditional birthday cakes...yeah, the stuff that I personally eat in the closet some nights...yes I AM human too!  I LOVE this stuff!  SHHHHHHH!  My kids can't know!!!  And although I refuse the artificial stuff, I might have to give a little on sugar this time...for the sake of having a nicely decorated cake! 

And shame on me for doubting my own tenacity last year, as I accomplished the impossible...I made a gluten & dairy free chocolate cake, and the best part?  It didn't taste like eating into an O-Cel-O cleaning sponge! The first gfcf cake was dubbed the "sugar daddy cake" because why? Well, it tasted like one! The sad part? I wasn't blogging & saving recipes so it's been misplaced! Big sad face!

Case in point...I made it happen and I DID include my "sneaky chef" ideas to that cake! It had no refined sugars, and it included blackbeans in the cake part & blueberries inside the icing...and yes you are still reading a blog post about making dessert! Stay tuned as I figure out this year's birthday cake adventure...you might learn a thing or two!

And oh...since a picture is worth a thousand words....by the look on Patrick's face, & Sydney's messy one, I think they liked it!