Easy Homemade Trail Mix Recipe:

Mix together any of:

1) Nuts (peanuts, walnuts, almonds – as long as your child is over 4 to avoid choking hazards. Or chop up finely).

2) Seeds (pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds).

3) Dried fruit (chopped apricots, dates, prunes, cranberries, cherries).

4) Dehydrated or freeze-dried fruit

5) Dried cereal (Cheerios, Shreddies, Nutrios)

6) Pretzels

No need to add sugar or oils, or to bake. Just mix together!

After a week of doing the Fresh NUrisment Smoothie Challenge I feel great!  Tanya makes morning smoothie recipes using 2 super foods per week!  The first week was chia seeds and spinach.  I have to say, I am pretty new at smoothie experimenting and the thought of spinach in my breakfast drink sounded terrible.  I was pleasantly surprised – not only did the smoothies taste amazing but they also kept me full until lunch and gave me lots of energy!

Tanya creates full meal plans for people as well and personalizes it to likes and dislikes to that you will actually enjoy what you eat!  Check out Tanya’s website for more info!

Enter for your chance to win a ultimate Mother’s Day Prize! From May 6th to 9th take your guesses at the sizes (in oz) of our 3 newest containers. We will draw on the 10th for a winner! Get your name in the draw by leaving a comment with your guess at the bottom of this post. Get your friends thinking big by sharing the event with them and get a bonus entry into the draw!

The prize? A starter kit of our new sizes! You will get an assortment of our sizes in a variety of colors!

ENTER NOW!

I thought I might be fun to share some tips with you today for feeding your baby or toddler. These are tips I often share on Twitter, in workshops and in consultations.  Some of them you may have heard before, some may be new. My hope is that one or two might make meal time a little more fun for all involved.

Feeding Baby

Six months is not a magic age. There is nothing that happens on your baby’s six month birthday that occurs to make them ready for solids. It is a guess, a rule, but as we know now all babies follow the rules. Instead, follow your baby’s lead. If your baby does not seem ready, no worries, breast milk or formula will fulfill your baby’s nutritional needs until he is ready.

Never force your baby to eat. This is disrespectful and teaches your baby to override their own hunger cues. Instead, watch your baby closely; she will cue you when she is done.

Remember food introduction is about getting your baby accustomed to food, teaching him to eat and making meal time fun. It is not about nutrition. Your breast milk or formula continues to meet your baby’s nutritional needs until his first birthday. Make eating fun, stress free and watch as your baby develops a love for healthy, real food.

Choose real food whenever possible when feeding your baby. Now is the time to tickle those taste buds with real food. Let them develop a taste for the subtle tastes of real food now and you will decrease the chances of picky eating later on.

Feeding Your Toddler

Let your toddler play with her food. Let your toddler feed herself. She learns about food by playing and feeding herself, let her do it. I know it is a little messy, but it is worth it.

After your toddlers first birthday, growth begins to slow down, don’t be surprised if appetite slows down too! The two often go hand in hand. Not to mention the fact your toddler will be much more immersed in his world and sometimes stopping to eat is not on the agenda.

If your toddler doesn’t feel like eating, don’t force the issue. Remember they have a really great sense of their hunger and they follow it. They will not starve. They will eat when hungry.

Try not to fall into the habit of getting a different meal for your toddler if they refuse to eat the one you served. You will quickly become a short order cook. Calmly explain that what you served dinner is it, there is nothing else. She can decide to eat it or not, but there is nothing else being made. Again, she won’t starve; she will eat when she is hungry.

Remember your toddler is very active and needs a constant supply of real food. Serve meals and snacks often. Keep portions small. Many a meltdown can be prevented if toddlers are well fed and are not falling prey to dropping blood sugar levels.

Allow your toddler some choice. If you have a toddler you know they like to make some decisions on their own. So give them a choice, but make sure you will be happy with whatever they choose. Offer an apple or banana, strawberries or blueberries.

Avoid the pull of snack foods labeled as toddler foods. These are highly processed, lack any real nutrition and tend to be loaded with artificial ingredients, sugar and salt. Choose real food, it best supports the energy demands of your toddler and the growth and development they are undergoing.

Feeding children is not always easy, you are not only dealing with their taste buds, but also with their desire to make known that they have a choice. The best thing you can do is serve up healthy nutritious food, sit back and let them decide what and how much to eat.

Smoothie Challenge Sign Up

Contact Tanya if you too would like to join!

Kat =)

Please list your answers in the comment box at the bottom of this post for your name to be entered into the draw!  Remember, you will get bonus entries for:

• Liking all of the retailers on Facebook
• Following all of the retailers on Twitter
• Sharing the scavenger hunt with your friends

Get Bonus Entries Here

Make sure what you’re washing gets truly clean. It doesn’t make sense to toss your personals in the wash with conventional detergent where they will bathe in chemicals. Stop overdosing on the bad stuff and start washing with natural soap in cold water (except use some warm or hot when you are sick to get rid of the ickies right way). And then there’s the fabric softeners, dryer sheets (and even dryer balls made from PVC) which also contain some not-so-snuggly ingredients. Make sure your fresh laundry is not in fact really dirty.

TAKE ACTION

Get real clean with super–concentrated, eco-effective Berry Plus laundry soap

Get yourself some BaaLLS (and grab some for your friends, too!)

This blog series is created from The Alphabet of Avoidance by Lisa Borden. Lisa is a champion for change, mom of 3, and owner of Borden Communications, and she believes, “If you aren’t outraged, then you just aren’t paying attention.” You can follow her on twitter @LisaBorden for rants, raves, inspiration and information.

It can be very overwhelming when it comes to purchasing the ‘right’ foods.  We are constantly bombarded with different messages about what is considered ‘healthy’.  One day we are told to purchase low fat foods and the next we are told the fat is ok but watch out for all that added sugar.

The truth is quite simple…eat as many foods in their natural whole state to ensure optimal nutrient intake.  Our bodies were not intended to digest all these processed and packaged foods which are so readily available.  Unfortunately these types of food are contributing to many health conditions which are on the rise.  So the question is…where do we start?

Well, a great place to start is by making better choices.  When I ask most people what types of yogurt they eat, they tell me about the flavored concoctions they find in the store: Strawberry Dream, Tropical Delight, Café Latté, etc.  I have to admit, these do sound delicious however they are not what I would consider ‘healthy’.  The second ingredient in most flavored yogurt is some form of sugar or artificial sweetener such as aspartame or sucralose. Rather than overload our bodies with unnecessary sugars or artificial sweeteners, we can easily make our own yogurt which is a much healthier option.

All you need:

-Large container plain yogurt (2%, Greek, Goat or Sheep*)

-Fruit of choice (bananas, berries, pineapple, mango etc.)

-Other options (cocoa powder, natural peanut butter or almond butter, vanilla extract, almond extract, etc.)

-Natural sweetener (raw honey, pure maple syrup, etc.)

*Goat and sheep dairy is easier for most individuals to digest.

Mix all ingredients in a food processor or by hand.  Store in fridge and enjoy for snacks or breakfast.  Use your creativity to come up with new flavours that the whole family will enjoy!

Chocolate, PB & Banana

1 large container plain yogurt (750g)

1 mashed ripe banana

4 TBSP natural PB

3 TBSP cocoa powder

1 TBSP raw honey

Strawberry Vanilla

1 large container plain yogurt (750g)

1 ½ cups fresh strawberries, rinsed

1 TBSP vanilla extract

1 ½ TBSP pure maple syrup

Lemon Delight

1 large container plain yogurt (750g)

2 lemons (I used the juice of Meyer Lemons – Absolutely delicious!)

Zest of 1 lemon

3 TBSP raw honey

½ TBSP almond extract

Learn more about Fresh NUrishment today! 

Get a bonus entry into the draw for each task you complete below:

• Like all the retailers involved in the party on Facebook
• Follow all the retailers involved in the party on Twitter
• Share the invite with your friends via social media

You know the drawer in your kitchen filled with utensils that serve one single purpose and typically aggravate you more than serve you? If you want to cut the crusts off a sandwich, use a knife – you don’t need a separate gadget to accomplish it, right?! If you simplify, it’ll be easier to find everything you are looking for when you need it. Having the right tools means you won’t need lots of little gimmicks.

TAKE ACTION

Read more about why I think single-use and single-purpose stuff sucks

This blog series is created from The Alphabet of Avoidance by Lisa Borden. Lisa is a champion for change, mom of 3, and owner of Borden Communications, and she believes, “If you aren’t outraged, then you just aren’t paying attention.” You can follow her on twitter @LisaBorden for rants, raves, inspiration and information.