Morsels of Fun!

I'm going to cut to the chase this time.  You guys are so awesome, weeding through my verbosity all the time, I'm just going to reward your perserverance!

The first morsel of education, as I told you on Monday, was that I could gain 44 nutrients if I ground my own grain.  But if I could gain, what had I been losing?  I discovered the flour I was buying had hardly any nutrients left in it!  If I could refrigerate my freshly ground grains and that would help preserve the nutrients, then since the flour I was buying had not been refrigerated, that meant it was not fresh.

Oh.  And fresh is not just one of those five letter trendy words.  Fresh means BETTER for the body.

The second morsel was that the sugars and preservatives in the bread (two words which never really scared me) could be removed and there could still exist good bread.

I didn't believe it till I tasted it.

Now, we make bread that has grain, honey, and yeast in it.  We use a dough enhancer that's all natural.  It's amazing to know there is one less [BIG] place where sugar resides in our house.  AND IT WAS SO SIMPLE.

Tune in later this week for the kicker, the third morsel that sent me over the edge into what I used to call Granola Land.

Rich food, rich story

As you read in my last post, this story just keeps getting richer.

I have never been a foodie.  I honestly just eat what's in front of me.  As I get older, I see how that could be a problem.  And yet, I don't want that to be an obsession.  I have always thought how I spend my time shows what I worship, and food has never been a satisfying idol for me :)

So - I like to keep things simple.

Enter Technology 

Do we or do we not live in the 21st century?  I purchased two machines, the Nutri Mill and the Bosch Universal Plus, to make the transition to health easier.  I have set up a business I believe in this so very much, called Wendy's Fresh Mills.  In the next few days, I will walk you through the morsels of education that blew my mind and caused me to make such a dramatic change in how we lead life at home.

We now grind our own wheat, spelt, seeds, AND the beans and rice we have been grinding for seven years.

First Morsel

The Nutri Mill was specifically built for this purpose.  Grinding the beans and rice left me with a cemetery of blenders that just couldn't cut it.  Now, we are now free to keep grinding, and grinding more types of whole grains and rices and beans, to retain the 44 nutrients that are lost in these flours if they have not been refrigerated.

Yes, folks, 44 nutrients have the potential to be lost if they are not refrigerated after the grinding process!

And that is your first morsel.  Come back on Wednesday for more.  In the meantime, visit me on Facebook at Wendy's Fresh Mills for more information.  This isn't a shameless plug.  This is a plug for your health!

From Muffintop to Muffins

Well, folks, in the final analysis, I may have gotten rid of the muffin top, but not rid of the muffins.

With a little help from the right jeans (thank you Marta for referring me to Miss Me jeans), this personal trainer is rockin the waistline.

I also ended up training for a couple of half marathons, and for some reason, that helped!  So that's that for muffin top.  Without vasering, I might add.

But the muffins... the muffins are here to stay.

A New Start

I am embracing the muffins, and making them more healthful.  My family enjoys them; nay, we love them. My vegetables love their shot at being stealth, too, crammed into muffins.  They're like Jack Bauer, in a kitchen.

I want to start to share with you ways I have changed carbs into wonderful sources of nutrition.  The story ends with major technology entering my life and making me less challenged.

Let's Start with a Prequel

But it starts with a beautiful sister-in-law, a jewelry maker intent on feeding her kids only the best (see her work at Samsara Creations).  I thought, if I could just do one thing she does for my kids, I'll be set.  And so I bought the book she told me to buy: Ruth Yaron's "Super Baby Food"

Okay folks, this is the book on healthful eating before it was a craze.  Published in 1998, her foresight is mind-blowing.

But I want to highlight p. 214: the beginning of my education with whole grains. I had no idea that a combination of whole grains and dried legumes could provide my children with the perfect protein beginning to their days.

I knew immediately the savings I would have; the nutrition? A huge bonus!

To my children now, this is called "Special Oatmeal." They ask for it! It's hard to believe, but my daughter craves ground beans and rice over instant flakes of nothingness. I crave it, too: it certainly puts a longer pause in between breakfast and snack time. Thankful for Tonya and her gift of nutrition education, and thankful for a platform with which to share it with others.