This post from homemademommy.net was SO helpful, I just had to share it with you real-food-fans here at OE! I would also add “organic” to all applicable items on the list, if your budget can swing it!:) There is also a chart near the end, that’s perfect for printing and referring to later. Enjoy!
How to turn any Recipe into a Real Food recipe | Homemade Mommy.
Encouraging Health,
Organic Eater
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED, BUT PLEASE READ ALL THE INSPIRING HEALTHY LIFE-CHANGE STORIES IN THE COMMENTS, AND TELL US YOUR STORY EVEN THOUGH THE CONTEST IS OVER! 10-22-12
I know. I know. That title sounds a little dramatic and over-the-top, but hear me out! First of all, it wasn’t the ONLY thing that changed my life, but it was one of the things that changed my life. In my old life, I used to love a certain soft drink, which shall remain nameless, but it has the letters D and P in it. In my twenties, I loved it way too much, having at least one or two every day. Then I got the news that my blood sugar levels were a little high, but that didn’t make me want to change anything (boy was I stupid!). Years went by, I had gestational diabetes which forced me to stop the soda (temporarily), I probably picked it back up after pregnancies were over, I can’t remember, blah blah blah… and I reached my 40s at about 1-2 cans (sometimes more) per week. Improvement, but far from ideal health. Then the contest that changed everything. Of course those extra calories (not to mention health issues!) had to go during the fitness contest! But oh how I wanted that cold, sweet, fizzy goodness on the back of my parched throat! I didn’t realize how addicted I really was. I was having major withdrawal symptoms, and it was not fun, and there were few alternatives. And then I found Zevia, Dr. Zevia to be exact. That discovery changed everything. I could still satisfy that oh-so-powerful craving for the fizzy, but because it was sweetened with stevia, there were no calories and no insulin spikes! Perfect. Well, almost. I had never been a fan of diet sodas, so I had to get used to the “diet flavor” first. But I did, and it became the perfect transition drink to get me “off” sugar sodas. For good. For real. Haven’t had one in well over a year now (cheers and applause here!). It enabled me to completely detox off soda, and for that I am forever grateful! No more unwanted empty calories, but more importantly, no sugar addiction and insulin spikes that my body could not handle, and that were causing a long list of problems for me. I had no idea my issues really were health problems and warning signs. I thought those things were “normal”, until I detoxed off the sugar and grains, and realized all the problems I was NOT having any more! It was so eye-opening for me! Zevia was a game-changer for me, that beat an addiction I didn’t even know I had, and certainly didn’t understand! I know better now, and for all of these things I am very grateful! Zevia, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!
When I met the wonderful Zevia people at Expo East this year, I actually got choked up trying to tell them how much I appreciated their product and what it had done for me. And I wanted to be able to share the opportunity for YOU to beat the sugar soda habit too! They generously offered TWO free 6 packs to the lucky winner of this, my FIRST give away! YAY!!! It’s a big day for Organic Eater! I asked them for two because I want you to be able to drink some and COOK WITH some. Yep, they have recipes at www.zevia.com, so you can cook sugar-free as well, and my next post will show you a fun Halloween-ish recipe I made! Your kids will love it! I hope to post the recipe by Saturday…
So, it’s my first give away, and you’re not going to have to “LIKE” anything. I don’t want you to “like” my blog because of free stuff. I want you to like and follow my blog because you think there is helpful and encouraging information here! I’d LOVE for you to follow the blog, but I don’t want to make it a requirement to enter a giveaway. Here’s what we’re doing instead: leave a comment here on the blog (see comment “balloon/bubble” at top) telling us HOW Zevia has changed your life (or at least helped!) if you have already tried it, OR tell us how you may WANT/NEED to change your soda-life with Zevia. That’s it. Contest closes at midnight Monday, Oct 22, and I’ll pick my favorite answer on Tuesday! (It will likely be Tuesday evening before I announce the winner, since I just remembered I’m doing a demo at Whole Foods that day!) Keep your answer brief, let’s say a 100 word MAX. You are encouraged to follow this blog, follow OrganicEater on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram, but I’m not requiring it. I would also like to ask you to RETWEET, reblog, etc. this contest on all your social media platforms. If you tweet or Instagram, be sure to include @zevia and @organiceater, so we can see who’s tweeting it up! It’s important people realize they do have an alternative to sugar sodas, and I want to help spread the word! Thanks guys! I appreciate you all so much. Thanks for being a part of this first GiveAway ever on Organic Eater, and I look forward to hearing from you!! To leave a comment, look for the little “bubble” at the top of this post.
Encouraging Health,
Organic Eater
Disclaimers: OrganicEater is not telling you to drink a Zevia every day of your life to be healthy. I’m telling you it can help reduce the sugar intake from sugar sodas you are currently drinking, and that is a great thing to do! If you drink diet sodas, I highly recommend changing from articificial sweeteners to this more naturally sweetened soda. This can be part of an overall #lowcrapdiet that I endorse, not a magic pill to make you healthy. If you need more reason to cut the sugar in your diet, please read here. Zevia will be mailing coupons to the winner, so please check www.zevia.com to see if it’s available in your area. It is only open to US and Canadian residents.
I had to unfollow someone today in social media. It bothered me to click “unfollow”, but I felt I had to. For at least the second time, I was reading not-exactly-accurate information they proclaimed as absolute truth. It wasn’t the misinformation that bothered me as much as it was the delivery. Delivery makes all the difference to me. There are plenty of people I follow, whose opinions I disagree with, but I still follow because their information is presented as an opinion, so I am fine with that! I guess all this comes with platforms like social media, but I am extremely guarded about who I let speak into my life, and since I was reading this person’s posts daily, I needed to cut that “speak” out of my life. Not because they believed something differently than me about food; I’m all about learning new things, but because their one-sided opinion was presented as broad-sweeping truth with no distinction made between good — and bad —, and therein lies the rub, for me anyway. (I do have opinions regarding absolute truth, but they are spiritual, and have nothing to do with food choices.)
So, I am writing this post to encourage you (especially my young readers) to be discerning in life, and be careful who you allow to speak into your life on a daily basis. Don’t take advice from someone just because they have a blog, Instagram, or Facebook page where they give advice. Think for yourself. Research for yourself. That’s one of the reasons I put a zillion links all over my blog, because I want you to read & decide for yourself if you believe that too. In general, don’t take advice from people who have not experienced what you want from life. For example, I am not “skinny” at size 8-10. I cannot give you advice on how to get skinny, so don’t follow my blog to get skinny. But I am also never sick,and I have a long list of ailments that have been relieved since I started living this way. It has worked for me, but I am very careful to try not to use words like “never” or “always” when it comes to food (I realize I used it describing “sick” above, but that was describing my life, not food).
So, what about you? Do you follow people you know you don’t agree with? Do you try to educate them by commenting, or do you just keep quiet, or un-follow when they say something blatantly wrong in your opinion?
I follow many different kinds of foodies and enjoy reading many opinions. I consider myself pretty open-minded when it comes to food and food lifestyle choices. I’ve described on my blog that I “eat the fish and leave the bones” when reading something I do not agree with. I can do that because I read and think for myself, and I’m better at it at 44 than I was at 24 (at least one good thing to turning 40something! Can I get a witness?!) What I’m asking about are the people you really pay attention to on a constant basis; the ones who “speak into your life” consistently at some level. Who might you need to unfollow because they’re leading you away from truth? Who is speaking into your life in a way that is not helping you reach your goals or encouraging you? If it’s a spouse or parent, that’s a whole other issue you may need some professional counsel on, but if it’s just a “friend”, or a blogger, a tweeter, a poster of information that you can easily unfollow, maybe you should evaluate that. Evaluate and make corrections. There are many UNfollows in life, some more painful than others. Make sure you’re following those who lead well.
Encouraging Health,
Organic Eater
Here is a picture I posted on Instagram after creating this post…
NOTE FROM ORGANIC EATER: I reblogged this post from the Natural Noshings blog. Her recipes are often unique and easy, and I always enjoy her creativity, even if I don’t make a particular recipe. This is one of our new family favorite treats . Add chia seeds for more nutrition. Add chocolate chips for more yumminess. FYI: we used half honey and half molasses, and it gives them a rich caramel flavor! My son doesn’t even like nuts, and he eats these things up!
Another no-bake treat coming your way! If you can’t tell, I’m ALL about nuts and seeds these days. I can’t get enough almonds, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, pistachios, peanuts and pepitas…high calorie or not, nuts have been my go-to snack, baking ingredient and add-in around my kitchen.
I found myself adding a handful of walnuts, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds to a huge bowl of cooked quinoa that was also sprinkled with nutritional yeast. Yep, that was my quick lunch one day. No judging, please…it’s better than eating 12 of these treats for lunch with a glass of almond milk, right?
I guess this recipe could be called “salted mixed nut candy” or even a brittle, but the word “cluster” makes me giggle so I went with that.
I even enjoyed these goodies roughly chopped over a salad of grilled chicken, mixed greens, raspberries and blue cheese…
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I don’t fit in. I’m not a vegan, vegetarian, raw foodist, or paleo. I’m not a Traditional Foods expert either (I don’t even know how to make my own yogurt for heavens sake!). I LOVE all of those diets/lifestyles for different reasons, I just don’t fit in to only one of them 100%. The closest title I might fit is “real food” foodie, I suppose. But I do eat what some consider “processed food” (think protein bars and powders, not Doritos, here people), so I’m not a real food purist either. I’m an organic eater, obviously, but my blog goes into detail about how even that‘s not always my top priority in every food selection.
I do not diet. I did for 12 weeks while detoxing, but as soon as that contest was over, I figured out how to make food and exercise fit my real life, for the rest of my life. This is a lifestyle I choose to embrace and encourage others to do the same, but it’s hard to name it exactly….
I’ve been a little bummed, not fitting in with a particular food crowd, trying to navigate exactly where I fit in. I wanna #hashtag that identifies me a little better. Haha! And my problem was solved this week! I listened to a podcast at Underground Wellness (the guy who created “Just Eat Real Food”), and on there someone (forgive me for not researching and giving the credit) mentioned what will be my new mantra in eating: a LOW CRAP diet! Yes, that suits me just fine. I like it. It incorporates all my food beliefs into one simple phrase and makes me smile every time I hear it! I’m still Organic Eater (I love my social media name!), I just so resonated with this “low crap diet” thing! That broadly describes the way I try to live: low crap, real food, mostly organic and/or pesticide free, pastured animal products, traditional, and FOR ME it’s gotta be low sugar and grain because that stuff makes me FEEL like crap! So, I encourage you to find out what makes you feel like crap, and get that out of your life!! If you’re not sure, start with grains, dairy, fast food, processed foods, or sugar. Start eliminating one at a time and see how it goes. Experiment with your own lowcrap diet and see what works for you, just give it a couple weeks (at least), for each elimination and really pay attention to how your body is reacting. It could get worse before it gets better. There are lots of elimination diets out there, so contact me if you want some direction getting started.
So, how about you? What would you say your eating style would be named? Are you a purist at whatever food lifestyle you choose, or do you put an “-ish” on the end of whatever name you give yourself? Thanks for letting me rant a little, and now you will understand why you’ll see #lowcrapdiet on mysocial media posts from now on! 🙂 Enjoy!
Encouraging Health and low crap,
Organic Eater
Organic Eater 