Mom's Favorite

I come from a fairly large family. I have four older sisters, and we all happen to live in the same town, along with my mother. Although no REAL competition exists among the siblings we all tend to vie for the "favorite daughter" spot in a joking kind of way. For example, when any one of us opens a card from our mother we read it out loud and interject our own words like,"you have brought more joy into my life than any of my other daughters." Or we might add embellishments such as,"I love you more than all the other girls combined."

But wait ... this is a nutrition blog. What does this have to do with nutrition?

My mother has Celiac Disease, which means she is allergic to gluten. Lately, at family gatherings, one of us has been bringing a gluten-free dessert. This is done, of course, to lay claim to the mythical "favorite daughter" crown. So for Memorial Day I decided to try a recipe from Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint Cookbook. Since all his recipes are gluten free, I was bound to come out on top. The recipe was for walnut meal brownies and they were divine!




Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup walnut meal (purchased or ground in a food processor


• 3/4 cup cocoa powder


• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder


• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp sea salt


• 2 large eggs


• 1 cup coconut milk (room temperature)


• 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup (I used syrup)


• 2 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1/3 cup extra virgin coconut oil (gently melted)
  
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts for topping (optional)


• butter for greasing pan

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13x9x2 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients until well blended. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, whisk eggs for one minute, then add coconut milk, honey or maple syrup and whisk again. Add melted coconut oil and whisk until wet ingredients are completely blended.
4. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients and whisk well; be sure to scrape sides and bowl bottom so no pockets of dry ingredients remain. Batter will be thinner consistency than conventional brownies. Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. If desired, sprinkle chopped walnuts on top of batter. Bake 35-40 minutes on center rack. Cool completely before cutting.

The verdict? Everyone loved them (even some of the kids). My mom declared these brownies the best dessert she had ever eaten. Well, not really, but don't tell my sisters!!

How Important to You is Better Nutrition?

If you had to rate your level of commitment to healthy eating, on a scale of 1 to 100, what would it be?

Sure, we all say we want to eat better... but what are we willing to do? Let's look at an example from my life that occurred this past weekend. My husband, kids, and I traveled to my in-laws for the weekend. Usually when we go, I loosen the nutrition reigns and don't stress about it. For the most part my husband and I stay on course, always work out at a local gym, and will allow ourselves some old favorites like pizza and some snack foods in the car.

On this particular trip, I ate "clean" with the exception of pizza on Saturday night. The ride home on Sunday, however, proved to be a recipe for disaster. In a word, Sunday was a carb-fest. And the problem with the occasional carb-fest is that it sparks that "need" for more sugar and carbohydrates. The cycle ensues: eat crappy carbs, get the high, crash, eat more crappy carbs, get the high.... You get the idea.

By the time we arrived home I was literally sick to my stomach! In the old days I would have vegged on the couch the rest of the evening and not planned my families' nutrition for the week ahead.

This time, instead, I snapped myself back to reality and got moving. I made the grocery list and headed out. I chose not to do the little $40 run to get us through Monday; rather, I bit the bullet and bought all the groceries for the week, making sure we were stocked with loads of protein, fruits and veggies.

The next morning, my work was still not complete. As I got the kids ready for school and preschool and myself ready for work, I fixed a few things for that evening and the following day. Roasted chicken went in the oven, and I cooked turkey burgers for my husband to take to work for lunch. As for me, I opted to fast. When my carb-fest ended Sunday evening at seven o'clock, I decided to give my digestive system a rest. I didn't eat again until Monday night dinner. By that evening I felt much better. All was right in my world again. Ahhh!

The lesson here lies in the fact that I was faced with a choice. We all have to make choices frequently, don't we? I could have taken the easy, lazy way out and not planned for the week ahead. Not only would my body and mind have suffered--so would my wallet. I would have set myself and my family up to be less than optimized for the week. Lacking quality, nutritious foods in the pantry and fridge, we would have needed to eat out. Instead, since my family's nutrition ranks so highly on my importance scale, I chose to take the better path and our kitchen is stocked with nutritious foods to keep our brains and bodies thriving.

What do you do when you fall off the nutrition wagon? Do you continue down that unhealthy path--or do you shake yourself out of it and get right back on track? As Barry Sears, author of The Zone says," You are only one meal away from getting back into the zone."

So back to my question: at what number would you rank your nutrition? On a 1 - 100 scale, post your commitment-level ranking in a comment. I'd love to hear from you!

Laying the Groundwork

This is exciting to once again launch a new business- one that I have always been passionate about. My hope is that when you read this blog you will take away valuable information that you can use right away so that you will be "armed" with the knowledge to live a healthier life.

I know that the multitude of information you read on nutrition and exercise is confusing. I'm here to help you weed through the junk and get to the truth. I've found through my research that if you stick to the basics (think of all the things your mother told you!) you will be less confused. Keep it simple and don't dissect everything you hear and read.

As I come across articles and research that I find helpful, I will pass them along to you.

Specifically I will be looking at --

• nutrition
• exercise
• and supplementation.

The combination of these 3 are crucial to a healthy life.

Come and take this journey with me!