Benefits of Gardening and Fresh Produce
Nothing tastes better than fruits or vegetables or picked fresh from your own garden!! A strawberry or pea pod you pick right from the garden will taste sweeter partly because you know you grew it yourself. In addition, when you grow your own food you have control over what, if any, pesticides or fertilizers are used. Babies and toddlers are especially vulnerable to the possible effects of pesticides as they are less able to detoxify toxic chemical due to their smaller size.
Another reason to grow your own fruits and vegetables is that they will be much fresher, and fresher produce will generally contain more nutrients. According to Lisa Ramirez, Times Herald-Record, “Much of the produce sold at large supermarket chains is grown hundreds of miles away….places such as California, Florida and Mexico. That means days — perhaps even more than a week — have passed since it was picked, packaged and trucked to the store, where it can sit on the shelves even longer. Often, too, produce is picked before it’s ready, preventing it from ever reaching its nutritional potential.”
The organic garden contains no harsh or dangerous chemicals, so most of these fruits and vegetables can be eaten after a quick rinse. Other fruits and vegetables treated with chemicals will need to be thoroughly washed to avoid the dangers associated with them.
Other benefits of gardening include getting physical exercise while doing something you enjoy. It cultivates a nurturing attitude towards nature and the environment when working with the soil and plants. Enjoying the warm weather and summer breezes while listening to the birds is also relaxing. It provides a creative outlet and sense of accomplishment. Gardening also connects you with others when you share the bounty with friends and family. It’s a great activity to do with kids too. Give them a section of the garden all their own….a great learning experience for them!
If the traditional garden is not possible, you might try container gardening. Containers allow you to enjoy fresh vegetables and herbs when your space is limited. More information on container gardening can be found at http://containergardeningtips.com/container-gardening-advantages/.
Other sources for obtaining fresh fruits and vegetables are:
1) Pick your own farms & orchards – Listed by county at http://www.pickyourown.org/MN.htm or by city at http://www.mfma.org/memberdirectory.php.
2) Local farmers’ markets – No matter where you live, there is probably a farmers’ market nearby. Check at http://www3.mda.state.mn.us/mngrown/ to find one located near you.
3) Food cooperatives or co-ops – These are member-owned businesses that provide its members with local organic food at discount prices. They are open to the general public too. Listed alphabetical by city below. http://www.organicconsumers.org/state/greenbiz.cfm?state=MN&type=biz
4) Community Supported Agriculture [CSA] – Each member pays a share of the farm’s expenses and receives a weekly portion of its crops. Check at http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/csa.html to select one near you.
5) Community Gardens – This is any space where plants are grown and maintained by a community to meet the needs of that community. Check at http://www.gardeningmatters.org/ for more information and location.
6) Roadside stands – Fresh, usually picked just hours before being set up.
Locally grown goods taste better, is better for your health as it is tends to be safer, helps reduce global warming due to shorter transportation distances, and it helps the local economy.
So enjoy the bounty of fresh, tasty seasonal fruits and vegetables, whether you grow them yourself or obtain them from other sources! Happy summertime eating to you and your family!
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/kidpesticide.htm
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080723/HEALTH/807230315/-1/HEALTH05
http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/locally_grown.htm
Earth Day
LET’S MAKE EARTH DAY BE EVERY DAY!
Earth Day celebrates its 40th anniversary this year! When Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin proclaimed April 22, 1970 to be Earth Day, more than 20 million people participated in events to help clean up the environment. Today Earth Day is observed around the world, with events planned to encourage environmentally aware behaviors, such as recycling, reducing or reusing disposable items, using energy efficiently, reducing air pollution, conserving our natural resources, and using chemicals safely or reducing their use as much as possible!
What are some of the benefits for the environment and our health when we eliminate using household cleaners containing harmful chemicals?
Benefits for the environment:
- The harmful chemicals in cleaning products go down drains and accumulate in our water supply, hurting us and the environment.
- Many cleaning products contain petroleum, a non-renewable resource.
- Carcinogens and other chemicals in cleaning products all eventually end up in the environment, where they are very persistent (in many cases non-biodegradable) and damaging to wildlife and ecosystems and may end up back in your drinking water.
Benefits for our health:
- Reduce the presence of Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs, in the air. VOCs come from some cleaning products and most air-fresheners. They can lead to headaches, depression, and loss of focus.
- Childhood asthma rates are increasing (it has jumped by 400% in Canada), which means that
- these children have more sensitive lungs that will be affected more strongly by fumes from cleaning products.
- According to the EPA, these chemicals can impair your performance with the following health effects: eye, nose, and throat irritation; headaches, loss of coordination, nausea; damage to liver, kidney, and central nervous system. Some chemicals are suspected or known to cause cancer in humans.
SOURCE:http://www.earthday.net/actionplanspdf/Clean%20Green%20Cleaning%20Student%20Action%20PlanFF.pdf
The truth is that everything single thing we do every day has an impact on the planet — good or bad. The good news is that as individuals we have the power to control most of our choices and, therefore, the impact we create.
LET’S MAKE EARTH DAY BE EVERY DAY!!
Happy Gluten Free Birthday
Just when you think you have your new gluten free (GF) lifestyle figured out, along comes another activity to prepare for and redesign to fit your GF needs. A big one that is a dreaded activity for many parents, GF and gluten eating alike – the Birthday Party!
Perhaps your child is used to an annual visit to a party zone, with coupons for free pizza and a birthday cake provided. Maybe your family does a sleepover for 10, culminating in a breakfast of delicious chocolate chip pancakes for everyone. Whatever your past party plans, GF parties do need to be a little different to be safe for your child, but not so different that any other child attending will know they just had an entirely GF celebration.
The main aspects of a birthday party from a GF planning perspective are location, food, and cake. Obviously, a party in your home allows complete control over the presence of gluten, but that might not work best for your family if your child is used to celebrating elsewhere or your home is not conducive to groups of active kids. If you aren’t hosting the party in your own home, look for a place that will allow you bring in all your own food, such as a local park, pool, or zoo. An old-fashioned bowling alley can be a great choice if there is one in your area; and sometime places like karate studios will offer a birthday party package. A trip to the hair or nail salon is a fun party that doesn’t involve food at all!
When planning for the food at the birthday party, think about both the timing of the party and the expense. Not all birthday parties need to be centered on a meal. 2:00-4:00 on a Saturday afternoon with snacks and cake is a perfect option for a GF family. GF pretzels and chips, fruit, and cheese sticks may not seem festive, but kids love healthy snacks, and the lack of sugar can keep the craziness to a minimum. If you have to serve lunch, consider GF friendly options other than pizza and hotdogs, like tacos or nachos. Tacos in a bag (using snack size GF corn chips) are really fun! **Make sure your taco seasoning is Gluten Free, Penzey’s Spices offers great choices, or find a recipe to make your own**
The final, and probably biggest, hurdle in hosting a GF birthday party is the cake. Many people are not really bakers, nor do they have a local GF bakery to use. Since most kids only want the frosting anyway, it seems like a lot of money to buy a cake, and ice cream cakes usually have that crunchy stuff in the middle – not gluten free! Luckily, Betty Crocker has come through with the easiest Gluten Free cake mixes ever, which can generally be found in the baking aisle of your local grocery store. Available in chocolate or vanilla, one cakes mix makes 12 cupcakes that taste great, frost easily, and look like regular cake. Your party goers will never know the difference!
It is important to remember that our Gluten Free Kids want to be just like everyone else, especially on their birthdays. A little thoughtful planning and a yummy cake mix can make your child’s party all about them, and not all about the food they eat.
How to Handle Skin Allergies when you’re on Vacation
Skin allergies can be really hard to handle, but it’s even worse when you go on vacation. You don’t have any control over certain things which makes it difficult to go. Any time you come in contact with something that can irritate your skin, you have a problem. Depending on the severity of your skin allergies and how you can handle them, you may have to go home or stay inside until you get it under control.
One type of skin allergy can come with laundry soap. There may be certain types of laundry soap that make you break out and itch. When you go on vacation you may find it’s hard to stay in a hotel because of the sheets, towels, and wash cloths. If you have a bad case of skin allergies, you may need to pack your own bedding and towels and use them instead of what’s provided in your room. You’ll want to make sure you have enough to get you through your entire trip and you’ll also want to make sure you take them with you when you leave. It’s a good idea to not have the maid come and clean your room because she may take your sheets and towels thinking they belong to the hotel.
Another type of skin allergy can be caused by wearing clothes that have not been washed in your laundry soap. It’s a good idea to make sure you have enough clothes to get you through your trip and then one or two extras just in case, because you never know when your trip might be extended. If you find you have a need to buy new clothes while you’re on your trip, make sure you don’t wear them before you have time to wash them first. If you think you might need to wear a new outfit, you should bring some of your laundry soap with you so you have the ability to wash it in your own detergent.
Skin allergies are hard to deal with when you’re at home and you have full control over everything. When you go on vacation, you may find it’s hard to have fun and enjoy yourself because you can’t control the things your skin would come into contact with, but when you use the tips above you’ll find you can enjoy your vacation and not have to worry about your skin.
Are there any special measures YOU take when traveling to prevent skin irritation?
Eating Healthy While on Vacation
Eating healthy at home is a lot easier than it is to do it while you’re on vacation, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. The most important thing to do when you go on vacation is to plan ahead. Here are a few tips to help you eat healthy while on vacation.
1. Restaurants
When you decide where you’re going to go on vacation, go to the Internet to find restaurants in the area. Most restaurants have websites now so you’ll have the ability to see what their menu is and what the prices will be. This will help you to decide what you can have to eat. Sit-down restaurants will be better than fast food places, so you’ll want to look for those places; most hotels have them in their location so you’ll want to check with them as well.
2. Cook for yourself
If you get a room with a kitchen you can use that to your advantage. You can go to the store when you arrive at your destination and find things you can eat that are healthy for you. You’ll want to do meals that are easy since you’re on vacation. You don’t want to spend hours at a time cooking. Some rooms don’t have a full kitchen, but they have partial ones and you can still make it work. Come up with meals that don’t require cooking or if they have a microwave, come up with things you can cook in there.
3. Grocery Store
If you don’t have the ability to eat at restaurants and you can’t cook for yourself, you can make things work by shopping at the grocery store each day. You can purchase things you can eat without warming them up and that will help you to eat healthy. Before you travel come up with meals you can eat without the need for an oven, range, or microwave. This may include fruit salads, fresh salad, sandwiches, and other meals that can be made using items from the store.
4. Bring your own food
If you are traveling by car you can use a cooler to bring your own food. Planning ahead so you have enough room in your cooler may require a trip or two to the grocery store, but starting out with food will help. You should consider bringing things that don’t require being cold which will help with room in your cooler and preventing money being spent at the store.
Just because you eat healthy doesn’t mean you can’t travel. There are many ways to handle your meals including the four mentioned in this article. The most important thing to remember is you can make it happen with a little work and preparation.
Eating out Gluten Free
Eating out at a restaurant is so nice to do on occasion. It’s relaxing, gives you an opportunity to talk with your spouse or family, and you can have something you may not otherwise have for dinner. When you must eat gluten free foods, eating out may not be so easy.
Eating gluten free foods at a restaurant can be SCARY because you just never know if you can trust the chef and other employees to do what needs to be done to make sure it’s completely gluten free and not cooked alongside or in something that was also used for a non-gluten free product. While this may be difficult, if you have an understanding of what questions to ask, you’ll feel better about eating at that restaurant.
More and more restaurants are adding gluten free meals to their menu so it’s easier for those that must be careful to have the ability to eat out as well. To find out if your favorite restaurant has this type of menu, I recommend that you call your location. Sometimes what one location does is not the way another location does it, so it’s better to check than to assume and find out after it’s too late that you can’t eat there. You will want to ask specific questions about how they deal with food allergies before you go to the restaurant.
Another way to be certain you can eat at a specific restaurant is to know what they serve; this will help you to plan what you can have before you get there. Eating gluten free foods may not allow you to eat at certain restaurants, but when you look at the menu ahead of time you’ll know for sure.
If you’re uncertain if a meal is gluten free and would have no cross contamination, it is important to ask questions. Make sure that your server knows you have an allergy to gluten (wheat) and make sure they understand that it’s important for you to find meals that in no way contain this item and that no cross-contamination could be possible. When your server and the chef knows your situation, they’ll help you to find a meal that you can have to eat. It is also a good idea to speak to a manager and make them aware of your allergy.
It can seem intimidating to go out to a restaurant when you have a food allergy, and you may feel limited in what you can eat and where you can go to eat. When you’re informed, and when you know what questions to ask, and you know for sure you can have, going out to eat at a restaurant won’t be that intimidating.
What steps do you take to make sure your food is safe when eating out??
Saving Money When Shopping Gluten Free
A common comment I get from people is how EXPENSIVE it must be to buy gluten free food. It’s true, our grocery budget is a lot higher than it used to be. There are ways, however, to save money even when shopping for gluten free food.
Most people look for coupons to save money on groceries, but that’s not easy when you must buy gluten free foods. These products generally cost more than traditional (gluten containing) products and the manufacturers don’t produce coupons for them. That makes it more difficult to save money, but it’s still possible.
Many grocery stores have weekly ads that contain products that are on sale or on clearance. When this happens, it’s a good idea to stock up on items that are on sale and gluten free. This will help you to save money now and not have to pay the hire price later. When shopping the sale shelf, it’s important to look at expiration dates and make sure you can use the item before it expires. You won’t save money if you throw things away.
Depending on your location and what types of newspapers you have, you may not be able to find good coupons for the gluten free foods you purchase. Searching for coupons online is an alternative to the traditional newspaper coupon-clipping. You can sometimes find coupons online that aren’t available elsewhere. Another option is to check the manufacturer’s website, or even email the manufacturer to ask if they have coupons available.
Keep track of prices for items you use regularly. Know the prices at various stores in your area, and stock up when you find a deal. You may need to regularly go to more than one grocery store if they each have better deals on different items.
Online shopping can be a nice alternative for non-perishable food items. We buy many items in bulk online and can get a much better deal that way. Even with shipping, the cost is sometimes reduced by buying in bulk.
Ask your local natural foods store or gluten free food store if they offer loyalty discount cards, or even a discount for buying in bulk. The Whole Foods Store near us offers a “case discount” on any item where you purchase twelve or more. That extra 10% off can be significant savings if purchasing things like a dozen gluten free, dairy free yogurt.
The bottom line is that there ARE ways to save money when shopping gluten free; you just have to look a little more closely than when doing ‘traditional’ grocery shopping.
What ways have you found to stretch your gluten free grocery budget? I’d love to hear them!
Tips for a Gluten Free Lunch Box
Tips for a Gluten Free Lunch Box
Every day, Gluten Free (GF) kids head off to school each day without having the ability to buy lunch in the cafeteria. Even if you are planning to work with your school district’s nutrition services to determine possible GF options for your child, that will take time and there will probably be quite a few lunches needed before that happens.
Here are some easy ideas for those first few days:
- Cut up fruits and veggies
- GF brands of corn chips with a container of salsa
- Corn tortilla wraps
- Hard boiled eggs – a favorite in our house
And if your child can eat dairy:
- Cheese sticks
- Cottage cheese containers
- Yogurt with some GF granola to mix in
One of the most important Gluten Free lunch box purchases is a small hot thermos – I recommend buying a high quality camping thermos, not a kid’s one. You will want to be sure the food was still hot at lunch time, and we always heat the thermos with some boiling water before putting in the food.
Here are some hot lunch suggestions:
- Rice – plain is fine, but homemade chicken fried rice is even better
- Soup – You can make it from scratch, but there are more and more GF brands available every day
- Mac & cheese – Trader Joe’s makes a good one that is also the cheapest, but there are other brands, too
- Leftovers!
It probably seems like time you won’t have to make a hot lunch while also making breakfast, but kids love to help, and before you know it, they will be heating things up in the microwave and boiling up the mac & cheese noodles themselves.
Your child will probably notice right away that turkey or PBJ sandwiches are no longer showing up in lunches. As most people discover, packaged gluten free breads are prohibitively expensive and don’t taste all that great. There are definitely some good mixes available, but expense and taste are a consideration with those as well.
If you enjoy making yeast breads from scratch, Nicole Hunn’s Gluten Free on a Shoestring is an excellent resource. If you have the time and inclination to bake, this is the place to go for recipes and tips – everything from sandwich bread, tortillas and hamburger buns, to muffins and cookies of all kinds. If you want to splurge on bakery bread and live in the Minneapolis / St Paul metro area, Bittersweet Bakery is a favorite of ours.
In a few more years, maybe our schools will have as many Gluten Free options in the cafeteria as grocery stores and restaurants are starting to have in the real world. In the meantime, lunch from home can have lots of variety and nutrition for our Gluten Free kids. It may take a little extra time and planning, but maybe not as much as you think, and it is totally worth it!
Going Gluten Free and Dairy Free on the Allure of the Seas
Curt and I just returned from an amazing trip aboard the Allure of the Seas (the largest cruise ship in
the world!!). It was an incentive trip that I earned through my work as an Independent Sales Consultant and Vice President Sales Leader with Norwex.
I was initially somewhat apprehensive about going on a cruise again. We went last year on a different ship and Curt got pretty bad DH symptoms from cross-contamination with gluten in the various foods. We found out on that trip that the staff would do things like tell him that a pan of bacon was gluten free, and then we would realize days later that they layer bread in the bottom of the meat pans, which results in cross-contamination with the gluten in the bread. I would recommend watching for things like this if you take a cruise.
We did our research prior to the trip. I contacted Royal Caribbean and was told that we could bring our own salad dressing and any non-perishable items such as protein bars. They said that they did supply soy milk for coffee etc., but did not have dairy free butter available. We found individual packets of Walden Farms gluten free dairy free salad dressing through the website http://www.minimus.biz/Gluten-Free.aspx. We also purchased quite a few packets of Justin’s Natural Almond Butter in various flavors from the same website. Curt packed several boxes of his favorite protein and meal bars for times away from the ship when he might not be able to find adequate food.
The first night on the ship, we spoke to our dining room waiter and the head waiter about Curt’s dietary needs. They were very accommodating and took notes. His choice of meal the first night was somewhat limited, but they did have gluten free bread available. He enjoyed having the almond butter to put on it. Before we left the dining room for the evening, the head waiter came to our table and took Curt’s meal order for the following night; carefully pointing out which items could be made gluten and dairy free. He was pleased to have an excellent meal each evening in the dining room. One special touch was that the chef made a special gluten free dessert each night for Curt. We had a few others in our group who were also gluten and dairy free, and this was a nice touch for them.
The Allure of the Seas had many restaurants and cafes. One cafe that we stopped at a few times in 
the evening offered ‘design your own pizza.’ We were pleased to find that they offered gluten free pizza crusts. Curt had several pizzas there (avoiding the cheese of course), until one night we realized that they were using the same spoon to spread sauce on both gluten containing and gluten-free pizza crusts. That was the one ‘fail’ we noticed with regard to cross-contamination on the ship. They were careful to cut it on a separate cutting board with a clean knife.
The lunchtime favorite for our group was the Park Cafe. They had a salad line where employees would create a special salad and toss it, putting in as many of the ingredients as you would like. Curt found many options that were gluten and dairy free. The Park Cafe also had some delicious roast beef available at a carving station, and plenty of fresh fruit. For those of us that can enjoy gluten, they also had delicious pastries and desserts.
The Windjammer Cafe offered some gluten free items, but we found that it wasn’t consistent from day to day. The staff were willing to toast some gluten free bread for Curt each morning, and they did point out which eggs, meat and potatoes were gluten free. The biggest risk at the Windjammer was the issue of cross contamination from other guests.
All things said, we were very pleased with Royal Caribbean’s attempts to accommodate a serious 
food allergy. The staff was friendly and eager to assist. Now…for one last picture of us dressed up on the first “formal night.”
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy your travels, and I would love to hear any good tips for traveling gluten free and dairy free!
~ Suzanne
Eating Gluten Free – the First Big Decision
Another great post from my friend Anneke on their big decision … does one or everyone eat gluten free?
If we were all single, living alone and cooking for ourselves, eating gluten free (GF) would be so much easier – not cheaper, of course, but easier. No cross-contamination, no separate snacks and cookware, no eating the lonely GF cupcake while everyone else has Grandma’s family recipe double-chocolate cake. One of the first big decisions you need to make is whether you plan to continue cooking with gluten while also cooking GF.
At first glance, this might seem easy – GF is expensive and doesn’t taste as good (or so you think), so why make the rest of the family suffer? Believe me, I contemplated making two meals, boiling two types of pasta and having multiple kinds of bread and snacks. Partly, I think this decision is based on who in the family needs to eat GF and why. For those of us with celiac disease, the tiniest portion of gluten can bring on symptoms, while other people (on a GF diet but not celiac) may not react as strongly or as quickly to being “glutenized.” If the person on a GF diet is an adult, it seems easier to have separate meals, adults can handle being different, but if it is a child it is much harder to see others eating the “good stuff.”
My decision came down to who, how many, and ultimately, the size of my kitchen. I have celiac disease, I do the cooking, and I didn’t want to expose myself constantly to gluten while preparing meals. My daughter also has celiac, and when I went from cooking GF for one person to cooking for two, it started to make more sense to go all GF in our home. The final vote, however, came down to the space I have to use – my kitchen is small, has little storage space, and a very bad flow. Think about this – if you are cooking both GF and with gluten, you need to have two sets of the following cooking equipment:
• Colanders
• Utensils (especially if you cook with wood or bamboo)
• Any stoneware or cast iron
• Toasters
• Dish towels, cloths or sponges
• Cutting boards
We got into space issues very quickly in my kitchen (the toaster was for sure going to cause a big problem), and when you add the need to store GF products in a separate cabinet, or at least on a separate shelf, I was out of room before I even got started! I decided to cook gluten free for everyone, all the time. My exceptions were mostly self-contained foods, like packaged granola bars for lunch boxes; although with experience, I have learned to make my own snacks and those are mostly all GF now, too.
The important thing to remember here is that whatever decision you make, that decision is right for you and your family. Decisions can be changed, too, and as you learn to cook GF and find more resources to help you, you may find yourself ready to include more GF cooking for the whole family. You will adapt to this new lifestyle, and it will become easier with time.
I often wondered if going to all the trouble and expense of GF cooking for a family was worth it, until I had an “ah-ha” moment one day in my kitchen. I was cooking for a crowd of teenagers – pasta and bread, of course – and decided to use regular pasta and serve bread from the local bakery. The stress that I felt while keeping my dishes separate to be completely scoured of gluten later, and the number of times I washed gluten from my hands and counters told me that having gluten in my kitchen is just not worth it. That afternoon of cooking with gluten was enough to tell me that going GF all the way was the right choice for my family!