Welcome to the 4th week of Five Fun Food Fact Fridays!
This week was a downer after the hype of the Olympics. I was so disappointed in the Subway and McDonalds advertising. I am very doubtful that the athletes actually eat fritos on their sub! I really dislike the way our society advertises health with crappy food. (I said it–crappy food!, I’ve wanted to say it for a while but didn’t have the courage. This is for another post and not for today.)
On the blog this week I wrote about the dirty dozen, shared a video making my sweet potato lunch and wrote a post on 11 ways to use sweet potatoes! We eat lots of sweet potatoes–14 years ago someone told me (Laura) that sweet potatoes boosted fertility–so I began eating them! I’m not sure if that is an old wives tale or not but . . . I have 4 kids! I have a great recipe for the stuffed sweet potatoes but I feel weird sharing a recipe made up of leftovers stuffed in a sweet potato. Is that even a recipe?
These are the Five Fun Food Facts for this Friday!
#1. Meditation? This is a food blog!
I know right! The journey to writing Renee’s Kitchen has been brewing for several years now. I won’t bore you with years of details and I’ll fast forward to last year. My word for 2013 was intention–being present in each moment. One of the steps I took towards being intentional was to begin a meditation practice or mindfulness practice–I found a few people who had soothing voices and I listened. I walked each day while listening. One day I listened to a message/meditation on living in harmony. For me that clicked. I knew that I had NOT been living in harmony and I needed to make some changes. I sought out teachers and guides to help me on the journey of purpose and passion. Renee’s Kitchen is a blog about embracing a vegan plant-based diet as well as embracing the idea that we can all live in harmony and with compassion.
I’ve been following Bex now for a year –she is a mom of 4, a yoga instructor and has her own business. I admire here on all levels. Her website has some great “four-minute” meditations and lots of free yoga classes. She is pregnant with baby #5 and I couldn’t’ be happier for her!
#2. Sweet Potato Frittata (and living sustainably)
Kirsten has a fabulous looking sweet potato frittata recipe! Not only is Kirsten an awesome cook she is an author as well– Less Toxic Living: How to Reduce Your Everyday Exposure to Toxic Chemicals – an Introduction for Families. I have read this book and made some very simple changes for a big impact on how we live. I am on her email list and she sends me great information every so often–anything from a great recipe to if my berries are toxic! What I really love about Kirsten is that she answers my emails–I can ask her a question and she will joyfully do the research and point me in the direction that I need to go. I love having a resource like her in my life–so I wanted to share it with you.
#3. The best place for nutritional information!
My go-to website for all nutrition information is SELFnutrition data. I’m a visual person so the graphs and charts are exactly what I need to see how what I’m eating measures up!
#4. Kids and toxins
Leah is a mom who lost over 100 pounds! Ok–so that is amazing! I am thrilled to have found her website (this weeks favorite!) and it has tons of well researched information. This post on kids/hidden toxins was eye-opening and frankly a little scary. The website is called MAMAVATION and I spent WAY too much time reading post after post–it just really spoke to my heart and validated some of my crazy thoughts! I like it when I can find a place that makes me feel like I’m not “out there”.
#5. What is an anti-inflammatory?
I think of Tylenol . .. or is it Advil? I always need to double-check the label. How can Tylenol and a pineapple are both an anti-inflammatory?
Well, it’s complicated. I began to research inflammation I found–no controversy! All of the medical research seems to agree on what causes inflammation in the chronic diseases like arthritis and the acute trauma like:
- high sugar diet
- sedentary life style/work environment
- over training
- lack of sleep
- stress
- not getting enough down time
- not being in nature enough
- too much and too little Omega 3 and Omega 6
Mark Sisson has an amazing blog loaded with information.
Another resource is Dr. Weil’s website. It has some great recommendations on his version of an anti-inflammatory diet. What I found to be striking is the recommendation to eat fish and lean proteins TWICE A WEEK! So that really is 98% vegan.
“Following an anti-inflammatory diet can help counteract the chronic inflammation that is a root cause of many serious diseases, including those that become more frequent as people age. It is a way of selecting and preparing foods based on science that can help people achieve and maintain optimum health over their lifetime.”
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Have a Blessed Weekend!
L.O.V.E.,
Renee
P.S. I’m going to mention this in my email to subscribers and I thought I would also share it here, because it made me laugh out loud! for real–not just the LOL without meaning! Kathleen interviewed Pooh, a cat who writes, about the book he wrote “Why Cats are Better than Dogs.”
