Banana Oat Muffins (bread)

They don’t even taste healthy!
¾ ground nuts or chopped
2 ¾ cups oat flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
¼ cup of milled flax seed or oat bran (opt.)
3 Tbsp oil
½ c. milk
1 c. pure maple syrup
1 egg
2 small bananas

Mix together the dry ingredients.
Beat in the rest of the ingredients.
Pour into oiled and floured muffin tins.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

They are great for breakfast on the go and for snacks. My kids and husband love them! Note: My husband is pickier than my kids, and he couldn’t believe they were healthy.

Are You A Baby Cow?

People are often surprised when I tell them I don’t drink dairy milk or eat a lot of dairy products, and they always ask, “What about calcium?” or “How do you get enough calcium?” Well, in my opinion dairy products are not a good absorbable source of calcium. I know this is a radical thought for some, but I believe we have been brain washed and misinformed. It is a fact that our bodies have to have magnesium to absorb calcium; dairy milk has no magnesium. It is also a fact that high protein content keeps our body from absorbing calcium; we all know that dairy is high in protein. Ask your selves this, “Who is cow’s milk designed for or what was it’s original purpose?” (I know it sounds like a silly question) The answer is, of course, “baby cows”. So, the next logical question then is, “Why are we, as humans, drinking it?” Hum, maybe this can explain why so many people are allergic to it or have digestive problems with it. And now we have to be concerned about the hormones and antibiotics they inject into the cows.

Some good absorbable sources of calcium are oranges, broccoli, dried apricots, sesame seeds, almonds, walnuts, green leafy vegetables, sprouts, beans, and whole grains. So, I try to eat these foods daily. You should know that these sources do have less calcium than dairy by the mg, but with these sources your body is going to be able to absorb more of the calcium. They naturally have magnesium and their protein levels aren’t counter productively high.

Michelle

If you have any question, please feel free to email me at askmichelleabouthealth@yahoo.com

Candied cheerios

Easy, kids love them

½ cup honey or pure maple syrup
1 jar peanut butter (16 oz.)
About 8 cups of toasted oats
You can add flax oil
or milled flax seed (for added fiber and omega fatty acids)

1. Heat and blend the first 2 ingredients
2. Remove from heat, add cheerios and flax
   
3. Spread them out on wax paper or on your clean container
4. Let cool
5. Eat warm or cold

You could turn them into bars by press them into a cake pan, let cool, cut, and serve.

Sweeteners? Turbinado? Raw Sugar? Brown Sugar? Sucanat?

I have had people ask me questions involving these different sugars. Is raw sugar a good sugar substitute? What is the difference between sucanat and turbinado? Is brown sugar better than white sugar?

Let’s start with white sugar; it is highly refined cane juice. All nutrients have been removed and chemicals have been added during the different stages of the refining process.

Next, brown sugar is the same refined white sugar with molasses added to it. I believe it tastes better but is not better for you than white sugar.

Now turbinado sugar and raw sugar is the same thing. It is not really raw; it is just less refined than white sugar. It does have a small amount of nutrients left in it. It has been said to metabolize the same as white sugar making it NOT a good substitute if you are diabetic, watching your weight, improving your health, or not wanting your kids to get a sugar rush. It is better than white if you are looking for something that is closer to its natural state. I don’t personally use it.

Finally, sucanat is unrefined cane sugar. It is processed less than turbinado and a lot less than white sugar. It has more nutrients than turbinado. The natural molasses is still intact, and makes an excellent substitute for brown sugar. It does metabolize slower than white sugar but not enough to make it safe for diabetics or people that have to watch their blood sugar levels including kids prone to getting hyper and losing concentration. It is definitely a better choose than white sugar if you are wanting to eat more natural and improve your health, but remember it is still sugar so it should be used in moderation. I use this occasionally, and I have been able to use it to replace white sugar as while as brown sugar.

I use honey and pure maple syrup in recipes whenever I can. My kids due better with these sweeteners, so that leads me to believe that they metabolize slower than sucanat, and definitely slower than white sugar.

A completely safe (even for diabetics) natural alternative to white sugar is stevia, but that will be in a different article. I use stevia regularly.

I hope this clears up the possible confusion. Michelle

Makenna’s delicious oatmeal cookies

6 packets of stevia
1 cup of maple syrup
1 stick of butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1½ cup wheat flour or whole grain flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
3 cups of oats
Raisins or chocolate chips optionally

Mix
Drop by the spoonful on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

How can we help our kids learn through nutrition? Part 4

Okay we have talked about the importance of protein, whole grains, and vegetables. Now it is time to address the importance of fruit. Fruit is usually not a big problem to get kids to eat, we as parents just have to make sure we always have fresh fruit available.

Fruits have a lot of those antioxidants that we talked about in the last article on vegetables. Remember the antioxidants get rid of the free radicals that if left to there own devices would damage cells and those damaged cells could become any number of diseases. Fruit also has a cleansing effect on the body. Fruit provides many vitamins and minerals to help our children think and concentrate. The reasons for eating our fruits and vegetables might be the same but we get different vitamins and minerals from them. We typically get more minerals from our vegetables than our fruits because they are closer to the ground.

Anyway, we need to make sure our children are getting at least 2 servings of fruit per day. My kids always hear this question, right after they ask me for a snack, “Have you eaten your 2 fruits for the day?” One of the reasons I ask this when they are asking for a snack is because fruits are not supposed to be combined with other food especially meat. The reason for this is because fruit digests very fast and meat digests very slow. Therefore if you eat them together you force the digested fruit to sit there and wait for the meat to digest. The fruit will start to ferment inside you, and this can cause gas, bloating, and a stomach ache. Snack time is a great time to have your children eat their fruit alone.

Not all fruits and vegetables are created equal. The darker the better. For example, raw spinach has more nutrients than romaine lettuce and romaine has more nutrients than iceberg. In fact, iceberg lettuce is almost void of nutrients. Red grapes have more nutrients than green grapes.

Another very important thing to remember is that after fruits and vegetables are cooked a lot of the nutrients are lost. If they are highly processed and heated all the nutrients could be missing. You want to buy mainly raw and fresh, then second to that frozen, and try not to buy any canned fruits and vegetables. The fiber is definitely missing from your canned fruit, because of this and the fact the fruit naturally has sugar in it, it will cause a spike in your child’s blood sugar level. This can make your child hyper then tired, and cause him or her to have a hard time focusing.

When you cook your fruits and vegetables you also kill the enzymes. Enzymes are so important. Enzymes help your body digest the food you eat.

So, to sum things up for each meal pull one item from each of the following groups; protein, whole grain, and vegetable. Dinner time we just have a double portion of our vegetable. Breakfast, we don’t eat a vegetable. Snack time is always fruit first in our house. Don’t forget about the importance of drinking water.

I hope and pray this will help your family. Thanks, Michelle

Email me at askmichelleabouthealth@yahoo.com

Apple Crisp

About 10 apples
½ cup water
½ cup milled flax seed (optional, but it adds extra fiber)
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup of pure maple syrup or honey
6 packs of stevia*
½ cup butter (1 stick) softened
1½ cups oatmeal
½ cup whole grain flour
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Peel and slice the apples.
Place in the bottom of a 9” by 13” casserole dish.
Pour the water over the top of the apples.
Next just combine the rest of the ingredients and crumble over the top of the apples.
Bake for about 40 minutes until the top is crisp.

* Stevia can be found at any health food store. I like it because; it does nothing to your blood sugar level. It is natural and has no negative side effects. I use this to sweeten tea and lemonade, also. If you do not have or want to try the stevia, you can use a whole cup of maple syrup or honey instead of the ½ cup, if you do this also add maybe 1/3 cup of flour to get the right consistency.
Hope you like it!