World Food Day

Happy World Food Day. October 16th. 

I am getting a Master in Nutrition Therapy. Food is everything to me. Not just because I eat, but because I tell other people how to eat, what to eat and what not to eat.

But there are other sides to this. Because just telling people what to eat would be way too easy.

In Colorado, 1 in 6 Children go hungry on a daily basis. They do not know where their next meal will come from. And when they do eat, it is not nourishing. It is processed and lacks nutrients, has added pesticides, preservatives and genetically engineered food plants.

Our children are malnourished, and not just the 1 in 6 mentioned above, most of our children are malnourished. It is a disaster. Look around you, I bet you can not tell me about ONE family that doesn't have a kid with Asthma, Food Allergies, Eczema, Environmental Allergies, Behavioural Problems, ADD, ADHA or Autism.

If this is not a crisis, I don't know what is. 

As a nutrition professional I obviously do turn to nutrition first to find a solution to a health problem. I do firmly believe though, and have seen it many times, that REAL FOOD can alleviate many problems and it should always be the first line of defense. And then prevention.

Coloradans have the chance to vote for or against mandatory GMO labeling on November 4th. Proposition 105 asks for mandatory labeling when a processed food or fresh produce is made with a crop that has been genetically engineered. This is big! This label means transparency, the right to know what we are feeding our children and for me as a nutrition professional - it means data. Data to track problems that may be associated with eating genetically engineered food stuff. What if our children are sick because of RoundUp ready soybeans? Corn that is engineered to produce its own pesticide and registered with the Environmental Protection Agency as a pesticide? What if we finally can answer the question 'Are we allergic to food or what has been done to it?'

These genetically modified crops have patents because they are genetically altered - no longer the same as nature made them - and therefor are being OWNED. GMOs are owned by companies that also sell the pesticides to go with them. Convenient, it is like one-stop-shopping. Except it is not funny, it is frustrating and sad and how many more of our children need to be sick? Isn't 1 in 68 kids being on the Autism Spectrum enough?

To go back to World Food Day. When I think about Food I also think about the Politics of it and how sad it is that not all children can grow up eating REAL FOOD and be healthy and happy developing human beings.

The opposition to Yes on 105 is spending 10 Million Dollars to defeat and deny Coloradans the Right to Know what we are eating, they are taking away our opportunity to know if GMOs can hurt us or not. With the 10 Million Dollars they could feed all the children of Colorado organic school lunches for years and years. I know that the world doesn't work like that, but shouldn't it?

Helping this campaign has taught me a lot. One of the things I learned is that behind everything that is happening, even in politics, there is a person. Every email address belongs to a person, every pamphlet was created by a person. As the volunteer coordinator I have met, talked to and hugged so many wonderful souls that are on this journey with us. There have been times I even cried talking to a person because I was so overwhelmed by their support. I am looking at you lovely lady from Hawaii.

I wonder about the people behind the 10 Million Dollars; the person who came up with the lies spread on television, the person that created the flyer that goes from door to door misleading voters into thinking GMO labeling will hurt our farmers and cost families a lot of money.
How do they sleep at night? How do they feed their children? How do they worry about hungry children? Is all that money worth selling your soul for?

Prop 105 is not asking anyone to change anything. Farmers grow what they grow, the KNOW what they grow and pass that information to the food manufacturer, which, by the way, they already do. Farmers who grow GMO and non-GMO already have a segregation system in place, it is nothing new, it is already there. Companies manufacturing food already know if their ingredients contain genetically engineered plants or not. U.S. companies already label their products sold in Europe. Why not here in the United States?

I am from Europe, my friends who are Moms over there have the right to choose what they feed their children. When I travel there with my girls, I get to choose. When I come to the U.S. I don't. My children are U.S. citizens, my second born is a native Coloradan. They have the right to know whether their food has been genetically engineered.

I could go on and on, but I want you all to remember that World Food Day should mean something.

It should make us all think about our food supply; about our broken food system that doesn't give every child access to enough

healthy food and how we can change the way we eat today so we can be healtier tomorrow.  

With love, n. 

From Processed Foods to DIY lunchables

Back in January I did a presentation on lunchables for our neighborhood school's PTO meeting. Here is a quick overview from the presentation.


Modern health problems - Processed food. 

- 2/3 of the American Population is overweight. That is more than 50% which means it is MORE NORMAL TO BE OVERWEIGHT THAN NOT.

- Today we are raising the first generation of children that will NOT OUT-LIVE THEIR PARENTS

- In the last 20 years we saw a 400% increase in FOOD ALLERGIES, a 300% increase in ASTHMA and a 400% increase in ADHD

- 1500 to 6000% increase in AUTISM!!! *1

Why did this happen?

In the last 20-30 years, food quality as dramatically decreased. *2

Today's food has ingredients that have never been in our food before. GMOs, pesticides, chemicals, hormones, antibiotics and altered oils are all contributing to toxicity in the body.

There is no limit of the number of pesticides that can be sprayed on produce. A conventionally grown apple has been sprayed 30 times before we buy it at the supermarket.

Processed food consumption has never been this high! The foods we are supposed to consume come without a label. If they have a label we need to read the ingredients and if there are words we can not pronounce or if we do not know what they mean, the item should stay in the shelf. 

The consumer has a lot of power. If we learn to read labels and refuse to buy products with artificial ingredients the companies will lose sales and come up with something better so they can make money again. It really is that simple. 

Non-Food School Rewards and Birthday Treats!

A couple of months ago I started volunteering at my daughter's Elementary School. There was a new wellness team building and after I raised concerns about all the sugary treats circulating in the school they suggested that I could help by jumping on the wellness team wagon. So I did. And wow, first up, those teachers are amazing! Great group of very motivated ladies with great ideas and while they often tell me how happy they are to have me on their team, I am equally as grateful and honored to have the opportunity to make positive changes.

The background

According to the new Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (a 'new' policy signed into law and supported by first lady Michele Obama) every school has the opportunity and responsibility to teach children wellness that will last a lifetime. Nutrition and Sports education have to be implemented, not just in PE and the regular curriculum, but as a way of life at the school.

(from the Jamie Oliver Foundation homepage, an explanation from the law:)

The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act requires that schools update their local wellness policies and include goals for nutrition promotion. Wellness committees should include many stakeholders, including physical education teachers, school health professionals, students, parents and other interested community members, school board members and school administrators.

Our Wellness Team decided to challenge teachers and parents to go 'treat' free and encourage whole foods or non-food items for birthday treats and in school rewards are slowly being changed into non-food items.

To implement this, I found all these great resources online:

- Non-Food celebrations and reward ideas for elementary schools

- 100daysofrealfood, Student Rewards

- 100daysofrealfood Non-Food rewards

And also from the Holistic Family Nutrition pinterest board:
http://www.pinterest.com/holisticfamilyn/

If you have been thinking about helping out in your kids' school, don't be shy, they are so grateful for everyone who comes and helps out. If there is anything I can help you with or if you have any questions on how to approach the school about this food/treat reward issue, please feel free to contact me. I can hook you up with information I have gathered and handouts I have written.

Another really good source is the Jamie Oliver Foundation. He has it all on the website; packages for parents on how to approach the school, info on the law and how to find out what can be changed and what can not.

With the food politics how it is and the creative ways food manufacturers come up with new man-made ingredients we can no longer ignore the sweet 'treats' that are handed out on a daily basis. They do matter, even in small amounts. Next time you pick up a candy, please read the ingredients. Recognize the words? Can you pronounce them? I bet you probably do not.

Other reasons that speak for Non-Food rewards in schools:

- The number of children with severe, life threatening allergies is increasing. These children have to sit out, possibly at another table, while the rest of the class gets to eat a 'treat'. That just makes me sad.

- Food colorings: Yellow 5, Red 40, etc..... while approved by the FDA, they are linked to hyperactivity in children. In Europe, artificial food dyes are banned, or labeled with 'may cause hyperactivity in children'. No kidding. In the U.S. this stuff is in soups, candy, drinks, smoothies, crackers, etc....

- Sugar. Yes sugar. Sugar is no longer just sugar. The cheap candy is made with high fructose corn syrup (but HFCS is also found in various other processed food), a sugar from genetically modified corn that is processed to have a very high amount of fructose. Its introduction into our food supply directly links to obesity.

- The psychological aspect. In my opinion a good behaviour should not be rewarded with food. Such association will stick with the kid forever. Later, as an adult they will reward themselves for good or bad days with a pint of ice cream. (Sounds familiar?) (-;

To keeping the kids healthy, 

love, n.

School lunches

There are many healthy mom blogs posting school lunch ideas, so I am going to make this short and just post the pictures of the lunches I make for my daughter. The plan was to take a picture every day. Yeah, that didn't happen and probably never will. The lunches are also not very creative and cute looking. Just healthy stuff she likes.

We also had to figure out lunches she can eat fast, fill her up and give her the energy she needs for the rest of the day.

I was shocked to learn that first graders already do not have a snack break anymore and lunch time is only 20minutes short. We eat meals as a family at a table, we chat and eat slow and sometimes it takes an hour. 

So our girl needs to learn to eat quickly and safe the chatting for recess.(-; 

School rules also forbid her to take a bar out to the playground after lunch, I guess they want to keep the playground from getting cluttered with wrappers. Oh, all the fun rules and policies that are involved in keeping kids under control at an elementary school.(-; 

As you can see, there is a lot of pasta and pinto beans.(-; The little patties in the   3rd picture are homemade falafel.

A thumbs up to all the Mammas and Daddies who slave in the kitchen everyday to provide their kiddos a healthy school lunch! You rock! It is worth it!!! 

Love, n. 

Open Sandwiches Kids Style

My mom is here and she always cooks with the kids. It is great!!!
And since its too hot to even think about the stove or a warm meal, they made these little breads today. The girls were very creative and crafted little kitty faces on the sliced bread using carrots, tomatos, cucumbers, strawberries, yellow peppers and hard boiled eggs. As a spread on the bread to make the condiments stick they used avocado and different kinds of hummus. And by the way this activity keeps them busy for a while and a more picky eater might try something new because she made it herself.
Stay cool!

                                        

   love,n.

Homemade Pizza = Family Fun

We love to make pizza's as a family. It seems to have become a 'negro' family tradition. My Dad built a Pizza oven for his backyard and he makes 

THE BEST PIZZA EVER!

I started making homemade pizza with my kids. Its been years that I had frozen pizza, just not worth it.

And its so easy, your kids can do it. (-;

making the dough

flattening into whatever shape you want

tomato sauce first

then add whatever veggies you like

so much fun

cheese on the top! 

don't forget some herbs and spices

they each ate their whole pizza!

Pizza dough recipe:
For a family of four, makes about 5 little pizzas


 3 cups of whole grain flour (I use spelt flour)
add 
 1-2 tablespoons salt
 1/2 tablespoon dried yeast
 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

mix all those dry ingredients


add 
 approx. 3/4 cups of slightly warm water


Mix the dough with wooden spoon or your hands. 
Add more water if needed (or more flour).

You should have a nice elastic ball of dough, not sticky. 
Cover bowl with clear wrap and let the dough rise for at least 2 hours.


Then it is ready to form into pizzas.


Add tomato sauce first, then veggies, meats, fish......after your own taste. 
Sprinkle cheese on top, add spices and herbs.
I also pour a little olive oil on top.


Preheat oven to 375degrees Fahrenheit and bake pizzas for about 20 to 23 minutes. 


Tips:
Broiling at the end for a couple minutes adds some color to the pizzas.
Our Pizzas are usually vegan, we use vegan cheese (Daiya Brand) and whatever vegetables I have in  the fridge, there is always something, leftover veggies work as well.

BUON APPETITO!!!

love, n.