So it’s Saturday night and we just finished a great day with our wonderful six year old daughter Gabriella. We spent some time today and last weekend at our local farmers market . It is now her favorite activity she actually looks forward to going to the market. This particular market is located in Silver Spring, Maryland and starts at 9am-1pm. We make it a weekly family experience it’s a lot of fun.
We encourage Gabriella to pick out her favorite fruits and vegetables at the market. Last week she picked nectarines, peaches, kale and fresh corn!! Wow the fruits and the corn were so sweet and juicy she loved them and she had a sense of purpose, pride and involvement.
Today at the market she asked for a snack and we gave her a nectarine which she was very content with. We do allow her to have treats, like today, at the movies we saw Cars 2; we had popcorn and M&Ms but we made that choice at least knowing consciously… that is the true power…. what chemicals are in M&Ms especially the coloring and that the popcorn if butter is added has cholesterol. So it’s occasionally a treat for her but most of the time it’s organic baked sweets or Rice Dream (an alternative ice cream) in moderation of course.
Our daughter Gabriella loves the fresh salsa we get from Chef Elroy she loves the medium flavor because it has a little kick to it’s not to spicy either. Next week we will try the Mango flavor she can’t wait. I must admit it is the tastiest and freshest salsa I have ever tried. The salsa was also a hit with her beautiful cousins and our nieces Ruby Lu and Kaniz. The came to our home last weekend and devoured the salsa and chips and they Love to eat sweets and foods that are not good for you and are usually extremely over processed, so we were thrilled. We are trying to encourage them to eat healthier alternatives as well as introduce them to their parents. So far the apple, banana, kale, orange, and strawberry fruit drink with agave a (natural sweetner ) is also a hit. I use our juicer to make the drinks and Voila!, they always want more. It’s always fresh local organic fruit that I use for our daily juicing and our smoothies.
The kids get all the vitamins, nutrients, and calcium right from the source in one drink and want more because it is sweet but natural sweet. We also encouraged them to be involved with the shopping when we take a trip to the Whole Foods Market to shop. We took all three girls shopping last weekend and they were thrilled.They helped pick out the fresh vegetables and fruit and other organic products .It really makes a difference when they are involved in the process of choosing healthy foods and preparing them. They also, particularly Gabriella, now make a habit of reading all labels on the foods we are purchasing and have in the house. For most kids it’s fun, Especially when it’s been explained to them over and over again the benefits of eating healthy and the very negative effects of not eating healthy.
The Body is a person’s Temple and you only have one so it should be treasured more then anything in life because you only get one body in your life. This is Why we choose healthy eating to be a lifestyle not a diet and we have been toxic free for over one year by making a conscious choose to eat only organic foods and when we have anything else every blue moon we feel the difference and the pain shooting through parts of our body . Even eating a piece of cake that has fructose corn syrup you can feel the difference in your body. Unfortunately the majority of the population have not made the commitment yet to eat only organic/local foods. So even though we usually travel with our own food because once you change to organic you never feel the same again. We are sometimes in a position where we bite the bullet and go off the organic trail for a minute or two.
We spent a a lot of time at Dino’s Brother’s home in Stafford, VA over the summer and we do our best to bring up organic cakes when we can for birthday’s. They certainly taste better, that’s for sure. We eat like Kings and we are healthy that is the truth our food is delicious so yes it’s worth the extra cost, every penny of it. It is not that substantial of a difference. If you had a Rolls Royce would you put cheap gas in it?, is my question to you this evening? So why would you put toxic, over processed food with no nutritional value in your body ,Nada.
Before I go until next time a wonderful recipe to try is Barbeque Seitan Sandwiches .Seitan is a meat alternative made out of wheat so it has lots of protein and it has a meat like texture YUMMY YUMMY .You don’t even miss the pork/beef/chicken but you can of course substitute. I recommend lean organic/kosher meat, preferably chicken. Add a green salad and fresh corn organic of course and you won’t regret it or need dessert. You can make your own dressing or buy your favorite organic brand. Adding apples or pears is good because kids love the sweetness and the texture. And of course buy the barbeque sauce organic. You can find other great recipe at www.vegrecipes.org. Next time I will give you a great smoothie recipe for kids and adults.
Sweet Dreams til next time!!
Kim Mendoza and Family
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