What do you put on your skin?

Just recently I have started to read the labels on my lotion, shampoo, toothpaste etc. And I do wonder "How much of all of that stuff that I can't pronounce gets absorbed through my skin and does it affect me? Well some may think I'm being a little extreme, but I think it is definitely something to think about. It's hard to get "all natural" everything, but I have made a few small changes and I do think twice before I rub something into my skin. I have been using coconut oil for lotion. I love it because I love the smell of coconuts. (It kinda smells like an almond joy Roy =) But the ingredients read coconut oil. And that is it. It is edible. So I feel pretty safe rubbing it on my skin every day. And a little bit goes a long ways so it is pretty cheap to buy. I'm still trying to find a good sunscreen, but I came across this article and thought it was quite interesting so I thought I would share. Click here to read the article. Let me know what you think.

Healthiest Bean Dip I've Found

Bean Dip (recently sampled at the Wyatt Riot with raving reviews):

1 can whole kernal corn
1 can black beans
1 can black eyed peas
1 can kidney beans
(all of these are drained)

1 red pepper diced small
1 yellow pepper diced small
1 orange pepper diced small
1-2 green peppers diced small
1 small onion diced
6 roma tomatoes diced
2-3 avacados diced (or 7-8 avacados for Paige style dip:)
Pour light catalina salad dressing over to desired sweetness, and put in a big bowl!

The New USDA Dietary Guidelines Symbol

You probably all remember the food pyramid. Well they have now changed the pyramid to a plate which makes a lot more sense and is a lot easier to think about as you are preparing meals. Go to www.choosemyplate.gov to learn more about this plate and lots of other healthy tips.

The meal that has been feeding us all week

Don't be afraid to add some health to traditional recipes!  I've been on this puree kick for a couple months now, but am now venturing out and tweaking other recipes.  We really don't have a problem eating our veggies in this house, but I decided that if we could have more veggies and just toss them in everyday recipes, why not...?  I saw the Pioneer Woman on TV last month making the "best lasagna ever"- her words.  My mouth was watering looking at the finished dish, so I knew I had to try it.  Her site is awesome, with really good recipes and lots of laughs.  I imagine her life kinda like Paige's.  She fell in love with a real cowboy, moved to a ranch with him, and feeds him good food everyday.  Well anyway, I made some changes to her recipes for the health of it, and this lasagna turned out to be pretty dang good.  Still don't know if its the healthiest version, but lets take baby steps.

 Lasagna

1 1/2 lbs ground beef  1lb lean ground turkey (I use beef and turkey in my recipes, you just need to be conscious of the lean percentage vs. fat percentage in ground meats)  

1 lb hot breakfast sausage (Jimmy Dean) next time I'll plan ahead and search harder for a healthier substitute

2 garlic cloves, minced  I always used dried, cheaper in the long run for me

2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes

2 tablespoons dried basil

1 teaspoon salt     

2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans whole tomatoes  substituted for petite diced no salt added, any other Wyatt boy not like tomatoes??

2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste

3 cups cottage cheese  substituted for low-fat

2 eggs, beaten  only added 1 egg, you could probably get away with just an egg white

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes

 1 pound mozzarella slices  used lower fat shredded

1 package lasagna noodles

1/2 cup pureed cauliflower, I added this to the cottage cheese mixture

1/2 cup sweet potato (ok, this I actually kept out of the sauce so we could have Mashed Sweet Potatoes on the side)    

I also drained all the fat from the meat, even if she said not to.  And substituted no-boil lasagna noodles, because lasagna already takes enough time to make.  See the link below for the full recipe, and amazing pictures with more instructions. 

 http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_lasagn/

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Boil a few potatoes until soft.  Take the skins off.  Cut up and mash.  We add nothing to them, they're so good alone.

A spinach salad with nuts or a darker leaf lettuce salad would also be a great side.  Just thought I'd share, because its nice to try something new and tweak recipes so they work better for you.

Drink Water!!!

I believe that water is SO GOOD for you! Our bodies need it to work their best. I read somewhere that the first thing you should do in the morning is drink a big tall glass of water. I've tried to make this a habit. I just bought these stainless steel water bottles so that this summer we can each have a bottle to drink from. They even have cool little sippy spouts for the kids. I'm going to fill them up every day and hope that they will all be empty by the end of the day. It should save me a few dishes too. =)

Here's some info about water that I copied and pasted from www.dumblittleman.com/2007/07/9-great-reasons-to-drink-water-and-how.html

Here are 9 powerful reasons to drink water (with tips on how to form the water habit afterwards):
Weight loss
Water is one of the best tools for weight loss, first of all because it often replaces high-calorie drinks like soda and juice and alcohol with a drink that doesn't have any calories. But it's also a great appetite suppressant, and often when we think we're hungry, we're actually just thirsty. Water has no fat, no calories, no carbs, no sugar. Drink plenty to help your weight-loss regimen.

Heart healthy
Drinking a good amount of water could lower your risks of a heart attack. A six-year study published in the May 1, 2002 American Journal of Epidemiology found that those who drink more than 5 glasses of water a day were 41% less likely to die from a heart attack during the study period than those who drank less than two glasses.

Energy
Being dehydrated can sap your energy and make you feel tired -- even mild dehydration of as little as 1 or 2 percent of your body weight. If you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated -- and this can lead to fatigue, muscle weakness, dizziness and other symptoms.

Headache cure
Another symptom of dehydration is headaches. In fact, often when we have headaches it's simply a matter of not drinking enough water. There are lots of other causes of headaches of course, but dehydration is a common one.

Healthy skin
Drinking water can clear up your skin and people often report a healthy glow after drinking water. It won't happen overnight, of course, but just a week of drinking a healthy amount of water can have good effects on your skin.

Digestive problems
Our digestive systems need a good amount of water to digest food properly. Often water can help cure stomach acid problems, and water along with fiber can cure constipation (often a result of dehydration).

Cleansing
Water is used by the body to help flush out toxins and waste products from the body.

Cancer risk
Related to the digestive system item above, drinking a healthy amount of water has also been found to reduce the risk of colon cancer by 45%. Drinking lots of water can also reduce the risk of bladder cancer by 50% and potentially reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Better exercise
Being dehydrated can severely hamper your athletic activities, slowing you down and making it harder to lift weights. Exercise requires additional water, so be sure to hydrate before, during and after exercise.

How to form the water habit
So you're convinced that water is healthier, but you'd like to know more about how to make drinking water a daily habit.

How much water?
This is a debatable question. What's clear is that the old recommendation of "eight 8-ounce glasses a day" isn't right, for several reasons: that amount includes all dietary water intake, including food and non-water beverages; it also ignores a person's body weight, which is an important factor in figuring the amount; it also varies if you are sick or exercise. It's also not good to just drink when you're thirsty -- you're already dehydrated by then. Best is to form a routine: drink a glass when you wake up, a glass with each meal, a glass in between meals, and be sure to drink before, during and after exercise. Try to generally keep yourself from getting thirsty.

Carry a bottle
A lot of people find it useful to get a big plastic drinking bottle, fill it with water, and carry it around with them all day. I like to keep a glass of water at my desk, and I drink from it all day long. When it's empty, I fill it up again, and keep drinking.

Set a reminder
Set your watch to beep at the top of each hour, or set a periodic computer reminder, so that you don't forget to drink water.

Substitute water
If you would normally get a soda, or an alcoholic beverage, get a glass of water instead. Try sparkling water instead of alcohol at social functions.

Filter
Instead of spending a fortune on bottled water, invest in a filter for your home faucet. It'll make tap water taste like bottled, at a fraction of the price.

Exercise
Exercising can help make you want to drink water more. It's not necessary to drink sports drinks like Gatorade when you exercise, unless you are doing it for more than an hour. Just drink water. If you're going to exercise, be sure to drink water a couple hours ahead of time, so that it will get through your system in time, and again, drink during and after exercise as well.

Track it
It often helps, when forming a new habit, to keep track of it -- it increases awareness and helps you ensure that you're staying on track. Keep a little log (it can be done on an index card or a notebook), which can be as simple as a tick mark for each glass of water you drink.

Bountiful Baskets

This is a great way to get your fruits and vegetables and at a great price. You also get to try some varieties you wouldn't normally buy. Just go to www.bountifulbaskets.org and follow the links to a location near your home, you can sign up to pick up a basket everyother week full of fun healthy goodies!

Olive Oil

Olive oil is a healthy substitution that I use almost every day. My dad got me started on this one (he used to make us toast for breakfast and spread olive oil on the toast with a pastry brush...I haven't gone to that extreme yet...but it is in my blood!)

Olive oil is awesome substituted in recipes, and is also great tossed with steamed veggies. We also love the Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing mixes. They are easy, and in the box there are recipes for a bunch of other fun, healthy salad dressings with olive oil.
Here are a couple facts about olive oil:

Olive oil is high in monounsaturated fatty acid (the "good" fatty acid that helps lower your LDL cholesterol and raise your HDL cholesterol). It contains oleic acid, omega-3 fatty acid (alpha-linolenic acid), omega-6 fatty acid (linoleic acid), antioxidants and vitamin E.

Because of it's good effect on cholesterol, olive oil has been found to decrease the chance of heart disease. Studies found that it was best to substitute olive oil for unhealthy oils in you diet, and not just add excess olive oil. The oleic acid found in olive oil is also believed to prevent cancer.

There are many different qualities of olive oil. In order from high quality to low quality: extra virgin, fine virgin (or just virgin), pure olive oil, and light olive oil. The higher quality olive oils are higher in vitamin E and antioxidants, but also have a strong olive oil taste. The lower quality olive oils have a more neutral taste. I use the pure olive oil or light olive oil most of the time, just because the taste of it doesn't over power the taste of my recipes.
Olive oil has no trans fat, however, if you cook it above it's smoke point (approx 340 degrees F) then the structure of the olive oil can become hydrogenated and produce some trans fat. So the less cooking the better when using olive oil.

And my last pointer on olive oil, it is TONS cheaper at Costco! So...let the substituting begin!

(Info and picture from: http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/food-nutrition/facts/olive-oil-nutrition-facts.htm)