~ Flame retardant – practical uses in the outside world, but how about the inside world, the “inside you” world? Last month it was brought to light by a teen that gatorade contains brominated vegetable oil. Read more http://is.gd/IRlz6O
~The best way to thaw frozen food is in the refrigerator. At the same time it will reduce the energy used to keep the refrigerator cold, and it does not take the heat away from your home!
~The mothering Mother blog is even better! Starting next week there will be a weekly recipe to make “Meatless Monday” part of your dietary routine. On Wednesday visit the blog for the latest video on cooking, breathing and life in general! Friday will feature a written post, sometimes by Sydney, sometimes a guest. Like us, follow us, and watch yourself grow closer to Mother Nature, in body, mind and spirit!
mothering Mother Blog
For even more wholesome food for thought, presenting the
What does mothering Mother® nurturing Nature mean? It means taking care of Mother Nature through our daily actions. Mother Nature has given us so much and now it is time for us to be aware and active in creating a reciprocal relationship.
Each newsletter seeks to address opportunities in daily life to invite a connection to the Earth. mothering Mother® believes that food is an integral and ongoing way to nurture the Mother Nature relationship. We eat 2-3 times a day. Eating whole foods for a healthy body, and a calm mind, will also nurture the Earth. We are intricately connected with the Mother.
Use your cotton mothering Mother® bags as ongoing reminders of this evolving relationship. Less plastic is better for you and the Earth. Eating more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds are better for you, and the Earth. Allow the mothering of Mother and the nurturing of Nature to be your daily offering of thanks.
Namaste Sydney
It Has Been 1 Year
Sydney MacInnis
Today marks one year since Frances, my niece, was diagnosed with
Type 1 Diabetes. Frances and her parents began the process of learning to count carbs, Frances gave herself needles and everyone adjusted. This is a familiar story for families with this diagnoses.
What is less familiar is what is emerging in the home now. Since the New Year, Diane (Frances’s Mum) has started on a new approach to food for the entire family. The rules around food center around Frances “What is good for Frances is good for all of us.” It is okay for her to have a slice of pie or cake, but not to have 2 slices. Diabetes or not, 2 slices of dessert is not a healthy option.
Diane is the mother of 7 children, as well as the director of a Montessori School. Whew! Counting carbs in the initial months took work and focus. With time she became motivated to not just count carbs with Frances, but to look critically at how the entire family was eating, and to increase the consumption of vegetables and fruits, and decrease the consumption of white sugar. Observing her own consumption of sugar with tea brought Diane to awareness of her own habits. Diane wants to learn about and move toward a balanced diet for her family. After gathering information for a month, and after discussing with Frances, they launched into “balanced diet” action.
Interestingly, during this transition, Diane has not only focused on the food that she is purchasing and cooking, but on the actual kitchen itself!
She noticed that the kitchens on food shows are tidy and bright, and the ingredients are quickly accessible. This led her to purge the cupboards, update ingredients, organize the spices, and create space on the counters. A new rug and a new window treatment warmed up the kitchen area. A bookshelf was added, beside the stove, so that the new health focused cookbooks are out and available.
The mother/daughter duo making granola!
Change is not easy for any of us, and especially change around dietary habits. A true desire for change that comes from the heart center grounds the intention and dedication in a holistic way.
Many blessings of happy times and healthy meals to the Smith family. May the love and care that they are pouring into the food be a silent gift for all who eat in the home!
Natural Beginnings & Sweet Endings!
Stocking the kitchen with new sweeteners means an adjustment for habits that you may have developed over years of baking with refined sugars. Be patient with yourself, and your taste buds! The sweet taste is different, and we are creatures of habit! Once you are in the groove refined sugar tastes almost sickly sweet and may send you running for glasses of water.
Dates are naturally sweet, and Medjool dates are soft and sweet. Very sweet! The almonds and natural fiber in the date help to slow down the absorption of the sugar. The almonds are filling, naturally reducing the tendency to overeat.
Simple eating!
Stuffed Medjool Dates
10 – 12 Medjool dates
1/2 cup whole almonds
Soak the almonds in a bowl of water overnight, or, if short on time, pour boiling water over the almonds to completely cover them. Let them sit in the water for 15 minutes. Whichever method used, now drain and rinse the almonds. Slip the skins off so that you are left with shiny white almonds.
Put the almonds in a food processor and mulch for about 5 minutes. The natural oil in the almonds will gradually start to come out and this oil will bind of the pieces of almond together, creating a paste.
Slit each date lengthwise and take out the pit. Into this space put a teaspoon of the almond paste. Close back up, leaving some of the almond showing.
Altered foods create their own set of problems by putting foods into the body in forms and concentrations that are undeliverable by nature. Looking at refined sugar, no carbohydrate in nature offers sugar* in a similar concentration.
When we eat foods that contain sugar, the body digests the food first in the mouth (with proper chewing and saliva), then in the stomach and small intestine. When the food is broken down enough it enters into the bloodstream where it is taken off for further processing. When sugar enters the bloodstream the body releases insulin, which is manufactured in the pancreas, to manage the absorption of sugar in the body. If there is a large concentration of sugar in the bloodstream then the pancreas will release lots of insulin for the job.
When this happens the insulin overdoes the job by taking out too much sugar from the bloodstream, and then low blood sugar occurs which creates a drop in energy. The low energy is a signal to eat something to bring the energy back up, and consuming a sugar is the fastest way to restore energy. This is the cycle of hypoglycemia.
Glucose, found in carbohydrates and sugars is brain food! If there is no glucose in the bloodstream, such as when a person goes on a no carb diet, then the body manufactures glucose from other components. It is a lengthy process that puts strain on the liver and kidneys.
Carbohydrates in the most natural form contain fiber, which slows down the absorption of the sugars, and micro nutrients and enzymes, to assist with the metabolism of the food. Nature is good to us! With a refined sugar the fiber and digestive nutrients are removed, thus allowing the sugars to be absorbed more rapidly and spiking blood sugar levels. To digest white sugar the body takes nutrients and enzymes that are circulating in the body. Thus white sugar is a nutrient robber!
From an Ayurvedic perspective, one craves sweets in food when one cannot feel and experience the “sweetness” of life. Knowledge of what is happening in our body is helpful, but in a world of complex food choices and recommendations, eating foods in their simplest forms, and eating a balance of these foods, is a simple way to approach each meal.
Eat close to the Earth, live close to the Earth and may a healthy body and healthy relationships be your birthright!
Namaste
* The generic term sugar is used. Metabolized sugars are glucose, fructose, sucrose, galactose, lactose and maltose.
