Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light. 

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Words: Dallan Forgail (8th Century)

Food for Bedtime

I periodically get informational emails from my insurance company. I used to delete them without even looking at the subject matter, but recently they've been sending some pretty interesting info. (Note: my interest level is much different from many people...just letting my freak flag fly!) Last night I got one on foods to eat before bed time, so I thought I'd pass it along.

Quick Bites: Eat Right to Help You Go Night-Night

Three out of five Americans have trouble sleeping on a regular basis. And most everyone has a night here or there where they can’t fall asleep. Does a hungry belly ever keep you up? Are you the thing that goes bump in the night as you rummage around in your refrigerator?

You want a snack, but not one that will keep you up. Are there foods that can help you sleep better?

Many people know the basics of what not to do, like avoiding large meals, caffeine and alcohol within a few hours of bedtime. But research shows that high-fat snacks such as french fries, potato chips and mozzarella sticks may also interrupt sleep cycles. Bacon, pepperoni and sausage contain high levels of tyramine, which may also keep you up.

Consider trying these foods for nighttime snacking:

1. Cherries: This fruit is one of the few natural food sources of melatonin, the chemical that controls the body’s internal clock to regulate sleep. Melatonin helps maintain your daily body rhythms and is an important antioxidant in the body known to fight cancer. If you can, find Montmorency cherries, a type of sour cherry. They have nearly six times more melatonin than a regular cherry.
2. Bananas: Potassium and magnesium are natural muscle relaxants, and bananas are a good source of both.
3. Scottish or Irish Oatmeal: A complex carbohydrate, oatmeal triggers a rise in blood sugar, which in turn triggers insulin production and the release of sleep-inducing brain chemicals. Oats are also rich in vitamin B6, an anti-stress vitamin, and melatonin. You might think of oatmeal as just a breakfast food, but it’s also a smart choice for a bedtime snack.
4. Edamame: Boiled edamame (soybeans in the pod) is high in magnesium, which has been shown in some studies to improve the quality of sleep.
5. Popcorn with Parmesan Cheese: This easy snack provides a tasty combo of carbohydrates and dairy. Dairy has tryptophan in it, which may help you sleep. And the carbohydrates in the popcorn help your brain absorb tryptophan better.

Be sure to keep your late-night snacking light and eat only when hungry. Not only do calories add up, but many experts believe that not getting enough sleep causes changes in the body that affect our ability to regulate our appetite. So a combination of the wrong kind of nighttime snacking and not enough sleep could result in weight gain.

I had no idea cherries had melatonin in them! I thought that was very interesting. I love learning ways to listen to and work with our bodies for better health. I've never appreciated sleep like I do now, I have no clue how I will ever have another baby again in the future! (Not an announcement.) 

Since yesterday, simple changes

My friend, Megan, told me about this awesome website called 100 Days of Real Food. It goes right along with what I'm trying to do, so I thought I'd share for anyone else that might be interested. What I particularly loved were her rules. Like I said yesterday, this can be so overwhelming! But her rules really help break down the process and make it seem less scary. I wish we lived in a warmer place where we had Farmer's Markets year round. I did have a friend tell me that between our town and the surrounding towns, there is a different Farmer's Market just about everyday in the summer! Just one more reason for me to look forward to the summer time!!

This is all a process for me, trying to decide what changes will work for our family and what changes won't. I liked the way 100 Days talks about eating locally. As I've been researching more and more about what exactly are 'organic' foods, I've found some interesting information. This first one is from the FDA's website.

Confusing Claims

The terms "natural," "healthy," and "organic" often cause confusion. "Consumers seem to think that 'natural' and 'organic' imply 'healthy,'" says Schneeman. "But these terms have different meanings from a regulatory point of view."

According to FDA policy, "natural" means the product does not contain synthetic or artificial ingredients. "Healthy," which is defined by regulation, means the product must meet certain criteria that limit the amounts of fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium, and require specific minimum amounts of vitamins, minerals, or other beneficial nutrients.

Food labeled "organic" must meet the standards set by the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Organic food differs from conventionally produced food in the way it is grown or produced. But USDA makes no claims that organically produced food is safer or more nutritious than conventionally produced food.

For example, says Schneeman, "A premium ice cream could be 'natural' or 'organic' and still be high in fat or saturated fat, so would not meet the criteria for 'healthy.'"

I followed up to find this from the USDA's website because a friend had told me that not all foods that are labeled 'organic' are actually organic. To me it seems like they need to be unless the farmer sells less than $5,000 worth of product. Anyone else ever heard of this claim?

Anyways, once the Farmer's Markets start, I'm hoping to buy my produce there because the fresher the food the more nutrient dense the product is. Until then, I'll have to just trust the labels at the store!

Fun fact: a fact that always stuck with me from my Nutrition 100 class in college was how frozen fruit and vegetables are often more nutrient dense than fresh fruits and vegetables. This is because a lot of fresh produce must be picked before it is completely ripe in order to avoid spoiling before it gets to the store. Frozen produce has the opportunity to develop all the way without having to worry about spoiling since it will be frozen. So don't forget about your friends in the frozen section!

Another interesting tid bit from the 100 Days website. She talks about looking at the food ingredients a lot, not to be confused with the food's nutrition label. One thing that really stood out to me was when she talked about bread.

"...what I bought for my husband from the grocery store was what I thought was whole-wheat bread. When we finally checked the ingredients and found 40 different items on the list, including white flour and sugar, we decided it was time for a change. Why would there be so many on the list if it only takes a handful of ingredients to make bread? ... honey whole-wheat loaf only has five ingredients – whole-wheat flour, water, yeast, salt and honey."

Now I've never been a real "ace" in the kitchen (just ask my mom) so I've truthfully never made real bread before. For some reason, anything involving 'yeast' is just scary to me. But when she states the small amount of ingredients that you need to make bread, and what all actually comes in bread, I was floored! I had never even thought about it. So of course I went straight to our pantry to look at our bread.

I just so happened to have bought Costco's Organic bread this week! I had never even noticed the Organic Symbol until I read about it on the USDA's website, but there she blows in all her green and white organic glory. While everything seems pretty normal in the ingredients, I think I might try to make our own bread. K just about died when I told him that :). Anybody have any good tips for a first time bread maker?

So that's where we are today. I'm going to shoot for organic/natural/locally grown produce in the coming weeks and attempt to make bread at some point. It's hard because our pantry is stocked FULL of all the foods I'm trying to get away from. Being the cheap frugal people that we are, I'm going to have to just transition as I go.

I do want to throw this out there: if I was working, there is no way in heck I'd consider doing a lot of this. It's so important to remember to just do the best you can. When I worked, I never would have had enough time to read ingredients, let alone, to try and make bread. (Note: I will probably fail big time at this...the key word is TRY and make bread!) This blog is all about the process of having a more balanced and healthy life.

A lifestyle change

If you are friends with me on Facebook, than you might have seen that K and I are trying to make some pretty significant lifestyle changes. I want to start altering the types of foods we buy. I'm still trying to sift through how far I want to take this and my own personal feelings on the matter. Lucky for you, you get to read my thought process!

I've always thought eating organically was for the hippies (haha). I know, I'm an anomaly in the blogging world. (Don't even get me started on all the oils and stuff that people are putting on their new born babies.) My SIL asked the other day what got me started thinking about making the change and I couldn't put my finger on one specific incident. As I was reflecting on it more today I started to realize that this had been a long time coming, little tid bits I'd hear from different places all began to build up in my psyche. Then, a few days ago, I was watching one of my guilty pleasure reality TV shows. This girl was talking about infertility and how it seems like so many more women are dealing with infertility now days than ever before. She mentioned how she wondered if it had something to do with the food we eat and all of the chemicals and hormones that are injected into them. That really stuck with me. I've never had to deal with infertility, but from what I know about it...it just sucks! There's no other way to put it.  Who knows, maybe we hear more about infertility issues now because most people are starting to have children later on in life or because we are just a lot more open in our society to talk about feelings and deeper subjects now. Either way, you can't help but wonder if it does play some minor role in these types of cases.

As a Health teacher, I know what I should be eating. I would say, compared to the average American, we do a fine job. We eat red meat sparingly, we have a vegetable or fruit with every meal, we don't drink a ton of soda, when we have beef or bacon it is always turkey alternatives, we try to drink a lot of water each day, we eat low fat dairy products (except J who still drinks whole milk) and I don't buy a ton of candy or anything like that (sometimes your health benefits from being cheap). I even stopped buying chicken breasts awhile ago when I took a look at the chicken breasts we bought and realized I'd never seen a chicken that big in my life! We still eat a lot of chicken, but I like to stick to the tenderloins because it just seems more natural? That isn't scientific based in any way, but I felt better about it. It's certainly a lot less fatty than the breast we had been buying before.

As a Health teacher, I know the importance of quality selections from each food group. I'm not interested in any fad diets or trends. We aren't trying to lose weight, we are trying to make healthy, long-lasting, lifestyle changes. Several of my friends recommended the Paleo diet. I've only researched it a little bit because, from what I've seen, it just isn't practical for our family. There's no way I could cut out all dairy or wheat or beans. I could if we needed to, but I don't want to. There are many health benefits from dairy, wheat, and beans--as long as you're eating the right kinds. It's a great option for many people, but just doesn't meet all of our needs.

My SIL gave me some great advice about not trying to change everything right at once. It really is just so overwhelming! So we are going to start this week by buying organic fruits and vegetables. We've talked about getting a juicer, but I read they can be a pain to clean. Also, we still live in an apartment, I'm not sure we could fit another appliance in this joint! Right now we've just been buying the Naked smoothies and I really like them so far! I think our next step will be to find farm fed meat. I have no idea how expensive that is (Does anyone know?) or if you can even buy that in a local grocery store (Anyone? Anyone?), but I'll find out next week! I also want to start collecting healthier recipeces. I was noticing at the store this week that many of our recipes call for cheese---like, we eat a ton of cheese! I think there is a place for cheese, but not in almost every dinner--that seems a bit much!

Does anyone have any great sites, blogs, books, thoughts, or opinions on any of this? I really would like to stick to research based information because there is just too much propaganda and hoopla mixed in with this subject. Bahaha, hoopla, never thought I'd type that word out.