Tips!

As I was browing through a local magazine, The Neighbourhood Express, I came across an article of interest to this week's topic of food. So many people in our society struggle with the idea of food... food addictions, food allergies, overindulgence (especially when fall hits, the weather cools off, it becomes darker at night, and holiday season is upon us!)... all of these factors lead many of us to crawl up on our comfy couches and indulge in things that make us more COMFORTABLE. Food provides many of us with a level of comfort...
Today let's think: what ELSE in our lives could comfort us???? Are there more healthy outlets that we can be reaching to other than "comfort foods"? Seeing as comfort foods usually are not the healthiest choices, and they usually are eaten in larger quantities to relieve an emotional hole in our beings... lol... too deep? Too deep, most def. But here are a few tips to keeping the eating for the purpose as NOURISHMENT FOR OUR BODIES, from The Neighbourhood Express:


Fast eating- completely swallow each spoonful of food before lifting your spoon to get another spoonful- use smaller utensils- consciously take time to eat, chew, and saaaavour your food!-

Eat only while sitting in ONE area of your house- avoid eating in front of the tv- set 1 room for eating, and only eat in that room!

Take time to eat- sounds like too much work? Take time to eat, and see how it not only changes your eating habits for the better, but most likely your family life, and your perspective on life!

Chew gum while cooking!

Brush your teeth early at night to tell yourself that you are finished eating for the evening!

Some tips for you- they may not come right away, and may require some work- but in the end, you will be grateful you implemented these changes! And if you already do these things, cheers to you! Keep it up! Write us to let us know how it's going!

Eating and Loving,

Chanel and Heather

FOOD FOOD FOOD

On the eve of this eating “extravaganza” Thanksgiving long weekend, I thought perhaps an interesting movie to pick up this weekend for you and your family to check out is “Food, Inc.” Although I myself haven’t seen it yet (I will this weekend) I have heard it will change your eating habits forever! Check out the trailer on youtube.com…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eKYyD14d_0&feature=fvst

How much do we really know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families?

“In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies.

Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of our farmers, the safety of workers and our own environment.

We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of e coli -- the harmful bacteria that cause illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually.

We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Food, Inc. reveals surprising -- and often shocking truths -- about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.”

YIKES! So perhaps the scare tactic doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for MEEE, so check it out this weekend, and take a second look/thought next time you do your grocery shopping?

Cheaper & BIGGER doesn’t equal BETTER!

Heather and Chanel

TOP Green Products....

Top 5 Green products we bring into our homes:

1. Dish Soap and Laundry Detergent: These products are readily available at a great price in almost all local stores, including locally owned stores. Prices are awesome (at Costco the ECO laundry detergent is HALF the price of other detergents, and works like a charm!), and we make it a priority to purchase these products because of the mark that other detergents (laundry and dish) leave on our bodies (to be ingested or worn) and in the residual water system, which then leads to more harmful chemicals being needed to clean the water, and perpetuates this vicious cycle of chemical toxicity!
2. Cleaning Products: Products such as these just became SUPER popular and available all over the market. Everywhere from Walmart to your local health food store carry them. Example of a reason why we use these: Swiffer products have been linked to numerous pet deaths because of the chemicals that are used to clean the floors in homes. Sprays, liquids, and other chemicals used to “clean” (get rid of bacteria in a flash) are also killing, whether we notice an immediate effect or not. The label poisonous is directly printed on their bottles. Think about it….
3. Bananas: Because of where they are grown (Australia, Hawaii, etc), they are picked green and when they arrive to Canada, they are put in a gas chamber to ripen. Really?? Even though we don’t ingest the peel (well WE don’t…), these chemicals leach into the fruit and enter into our bodies. There are other Fruits and Veggies which receive the ripening gas, so do some research, where is it coming from, when was it picked, etc.
4. Grapes, Peaches, Tomatoes, etc (fruits with really thin skin): All the pesticides used to grow and prevent insect invasion soak directly into the fruit because of the thin layer of skin… yummmm
5. Meat: Hormone injected animals…. Do we need to say more?

This is our list for now, they are the products that we have made an conscious effort to keep green in our homes.

Note: Children, because they are in the process of growing, are much more susceptible to the chemicals in food and products.... Think about it, just think about it, that’s all we ask!

Test your edible products! Taste the difference between organic and non-organic foods.

Try this: 1. Buy a organic banana and a non-organic banana, eat the organic first then try the non-organic one... you decided!

2. Another one that literately makes your nose hairs stand on end is dried apricots. From the grocery store buy some non- organic dried apricots (the nice orange ones) and then from a health food store buy some organic dried apricots (brown, bc. there is no sulfur added to preserve the colour). Eat a couple of the organic apricots first, then crack the non-organic bag and just take a wiff, the sulfur smell is BRUTTALLLL, you will be blowwwwn away!

What are some of your priorities?

Lean Green Eating Machines,

Heather and Chanel

Hi Ho Hi Ho, it’s off to the grocers we go…

Ok, so we’ve looked into organic foods and products, and we’ve developed a list of our priorities when it comes to buying organic/natural products.

We would like to mention that YOU NEED TO BE IN CHARGE OF YOUR OWN PRIORITIES! We hold a strong belief that you need to prioritize for yourself. In a perfect world, we would all be eating locally grown, organic products. But because of our location (I don’t think anything can be grown in the winters that we have…. we are barely able to survive ourselves!) and the society in which we live, this is often difficult. Moral of the story: pick and choose for yourself, do your own research, and take responsibility for the stuff you put in your homes and your bodies.

We would appreciate more knowledge in our quest, so any info or insights that you may have are welcomed!

Eat Clean, Go Green,

Chanel and Heather