Creating a Healthy Family
Ezekiel Toast with Avocado
1 slice of Ezekiel Bread {we use the low sodium version}
1/2 small avocado
pepper to taste
Toast the bread an top it with 1/2 a small avocado and sprinkle with pepper. That’s all there is to it – except to enjoy!
Nutrition value based on MyFitnessPal.com:
Let me know what you think of this snack by commenting below. AND if you are eating this up, why not sign up for my newsletter for email updates, special offers and more tips!
This is the easiest, tastiest pizza sauce {if I don’t say so myself}:
Easy Peasy Pizza Sauce
1 can organic Tomato Sauce
1 can organic Tomato Paste
1/2 T Garlic Powder {or fresh garlic}
1 T dried Basil
1 T dried Oregano
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and voila – you are done! This sauce freezes very well.
Let me know what you think of this snack by commenting below, tweeting, pinning or sharing on facebook. AND if you are eating this up, why not sign up for my newsletter for email updates, special offers and more tips!
When it comes to toxic chemicals, kids are not just little adults. You’d think a newborn baby would have a fresh start when it comes to toxic chemicals. But chemicals move across the placenta, so a baby emerges with some of the same pollution in its system as its mother. Tests of umbilical blood have detected chemicals that cause cancer and birth defects as well as those that are toxic to the brain and nervous system.
Once born, infants take in even more pollution, through breathing, eating, and passage through the skin, just as adults do. But they are at greater risk from these exposures because of their physical differences. They have a faster metabolism. Their bodies are still developing rapidly, and exposures to toxic chemicals may disrupt a critical developmental step. They may not be able to protect themselves from chemicals as well as adults, because their immune systems are immature. And, per pound of body weight, they receive a greater dose of any chemical they’re exposed to. Some of the differences are stark.
Per pound of body weight, a young child
What You Can Do
Membership in Shaklee is usually $19.95 and is excellent value considering you save 15% on your first order and all subsequent orders! Great savings on the finest health products on the planet, from the #1 Natural Nutrition Co. in the U.S.
OMG! SO happy you asked! We’re excited for you to find out! We understand you may not know much about me and Shaklee, or the meaningful impact on your life when you align yourself with us and our brand partner, but we know you’re in for a special treat! You’re about to discover the best-kept secret in the world of health and wellness.
Savings: Ongoing 15% discount is just one benefit, but Members save up to 25% on select products you place on Auto-Ship {repeat orders sent to you each month} that YOU control YOURSELF. You determine the date the order ships, and the products you want and you do it through your own FREE and secure online ordering account in the member center. You can even delete the order instantaneously! If you prefer, I can manage it for you, but that’s up to you. Like I said – you’re running the show and have full control!
No Strings: Unlike some company memberships, there are no strings attached and no hidden agendas with us. You choose to order a little or a lot and there are NO monthly quotas to comply with and you aren’t required to sell ANYTHING. And get this – no one will pester you to be a Distributor, although it’s an option if you so choose {Plan Bs are good have}.
Health Benefits: Friends! This is the priceless part I love! Our health and wellness products are the highest quality available. Their purity is second to none. The products address total wellness – with product lines that target good health from the inside, outside and all around you. You’re already using “similar” products in your home from a different brand – ones that may not be green and natural like ours. I invite you to use OUR brand and discover the health benefits I know you’ll enjoy, along with$$ savings that will cause you to do a double take! Simply switch brands – every product carries a 100% money-back guarantee! Saweet!
Unique Services: When you join as a Member with me {LiveGreenEatClean} you’ll experience added value! You’ll get:
Just purchase ANY Shaklee product on our commercial site, accept the offer to join FREE and we’ll automatically waive the $19.95 Membership Fee.
Did you know the food choices you make and the way you shop for, prepare, and serve food can negatively impact the environment? Well, that is absolutely true—and it is becoming increasingly important that we all help our environment in every way we can. Here are some great “eating green” tips to help you get started.
Go Vegetarian at least once a week. And this is NOT because we are vegetarians {we do love our Texas BBQ}, but because the cost to the environment is far greater than the cost to produce vegetarian protein foods such as vegetables, beans, soybeans, legumes, etc.
Make a shopping list. Take inventory of everything you need for preparing healthy meals before you head to the grocery store, farmers market or Whole Foods/Trader Joe’s. This will prevent multiple trips back and forth to the store. You’ll save on fuel, help reduce gasoline emissions, and save wear and tear on your car.
Grab your re-usable bags. Neither paper nor plastic bags are a good choice for the environment. It takes gallons of crude oil to make plastic bags, and many trees are sacrificed to make paper bags. Invest in reusable canvas shopping bags—and be sure that you bring them with you! You can also get fruit and veggie bags that are reusable – we love them!
Au Revour Plastic Bottles. Americans buy billions of plastic water bottles every year, and every year tons of these empty bottles get thrown in the trash. Break the habit—use a neoprene bottle instead and consider a water-filtering system for use at home.
Buy local and organic – hit up those local farmers markets. Buying locally grown foods cuts down on the environmental costs associated with transporting produce to your community from great distances. In the summer months, farmer’s markets are the ideal place to buy local produce, but certain grocery store chains actually feature local produce! Try to choose organic produce whenever possible as this is an excellent way to reduce exposure to pesticides and help reduce the runoff and pollutants that may contaminate our water, soil, and air. We are huge fans of farmers markets and are committed to buying organic whenever possible {especially the dirty dozen}.
Be an efficient kitchen ninja. Save energy and speed up cooking times by covering pots. When it’s time to clean up, make sure the dishwasher is “full” before you run it. If you have a small number of dirty dishes, think about doing them the old-fashioned “by hand” way, without constantly running the water {meaning fill up the sink}, and be sure to use a biodegradable dish detergent.
1. Reduce – The first step to fighting messes and keeping your home spic-and-span is getting rid of all that stuff you never use. Go through all the places where it accumulates–try closets, junk drawers, out-of-reach shelves, attics and basements, and any other place where you’re inclined to toss stuff as you say, “I’ll deal with this later” and be diligent about– separating out what you really will use someday from what you never will. Be honest: you may say you like that sweater your aunt gave you for Christmas in 2004, but if it still has the tags on it, you aren’t ever going to wear it. And be practical: do you really need that quesadilla maker? We’re not suggesting that you trim down to an uber-minimalist lifestyle, but the quickest way to cut your cleaning time is to simply have less stuff to clean.
2. Reuse – Now you have a pile that you’re ready to get rid of–but wait: don’t just trash it. First, go through and see if any of those items could serve a purpose you haven’t thought of before: Do you have enough books to stack up and use as a side table? Can you take the frames off those ugly paintings and use them elsewhere? We know of ways to reuse everything from single mittens and broken guitar strings to holiday greeting cards and ceramic tiles–so while we aren’t suggesting you keep all this around just in case, see if any of what you have can save you from buying something else.
3. Donate – Once you’ve taken stock of what you can use, separate out items that someone else might need. This includes dishes, kitchen gadgets, clothes, books, magazines, toys, home decor–all of these items could find a second life with someone else. If you need instant gratification, just drop it all off at your local Goodwill or Salvation Army; if you’re slightly more patient, try offering items for sale or barter on Craigslist, turning your goods over to an artist, donating through Freecycle, or seeing what you can get for that collection of comic books on eBay. Your house will be less cluttered; someone else can skip buying new; and the landfills will be that much emptier.
4. Recycle – Once you’ve exhausted all the other options, it’s time to hit the recycling bucket. Of course you’re already recycling newspapers, magazines, and any glass that isn’t salvageable, but take a second look at the rest of your trash, too: did you clean out the fridge? Find a compost pile. Get rid of old electronics, from cell phones to VCRs to ancient computers, by passing them off to retailers with a recycling program or to a specialized electronics recycling company. Check anything plastic to make sure it’s recyclable, and make sure to safely dispose of anything that’s not recyclable or trash-friendly, like old paint or batteries.
5. Plan ahead – If you keep these tips in mind all year, then your 2013 spring cleaning will be that much easier. Don’t let stuff accumulate in your home; don’t buy things you don’t need; and don’t be shy about returning gifts you won’t ever use. Take advantage of the seasons to edit your collections and donate or sell goods–you might get more at a consignment shop for a winter coat in the fall then in the spring, and your yard sale of extra house wares may do better in late summer if you can catch the back-to-college crowd. Thinking green throughout all areas of your life–from your office to your wardrobe to your home electronics–will put you ahead of the game come next spring.
Avoiding Toxic Ingredients in Cleaners
Since the EPA doesn’t require manufacturers to list every ingredient in a household cleaner, it can be hard to know exactly what you’re getting. Look for supplies or kits that are plant-based and fragrance-free, and that promise to not harmful ingrdients. Products that don’t test on animals are a plus, as are ones that are biodegradable as well as biocompatible (biodegradable means they’ll break down into their original ingredients, which is fine unless those ingredients aren’t natural; biocompatible products break down into water that’s safe for reuse). And be wary of companies that claim their product is “99% natural”–there’s no way of knowing what might be in that unlisted 1%.
Celebrate Earth Day with Basic H2!
Photo updated 10-11-13: Image credit: brookefuller / 123RF Stock Photo
I get asked all the time, “Do you really buy and eat that produce in all your pictures?” The answer is YES! We do! And we’ve become super efficient about eating it all and not wasting anything. I don’t know about you, but we used to go to the grocery store and just buy food, which means a lot of impulse purchasing and wasteful spending. Then in about a week and right before we do another grocery store run, we’d clear out the fridge. We were always pretty amazed at how much food we didn’t eat and how much was rotten and had to be thrown away. What a waste!
We decided a couple years ago to go on the Dave Ramsey all cash program. Basically, you don’t buy it unless you have the cash. And I don’t mean cash in the bank or on the credit card. I mean cold hard paper and coin cash, envelope style. I won’t bore you with all the ins and outs of the envelope program that Ramsey promotes, but suffice it to say, it freaking works! If you want to be debt free, I suggest you take a look. So, we allot $400 a month for food for a family of 3 {albeit a 4 year old who doesn’t eat too much, but starting to eat more and more}. I am adamant about eating organic as much as possible, not so much because the nutritional value is higher {it might be, but who really knows}, but the main reason is that I don’t want the extra chemicals on my food, nor do I want to consume genetically modified food {GMO}. With this in mind and my budget, we have had to plan and become more efficient in our purchasing power. We purchase organic chicken and meats from Costco in bulk and freeze once a month. Then, I usually plan the weekly menus on Friday night and buy what we need for those meals. No crazy impulse purchases! Often times, I just show up at the local farmers market and buy a few things that are unique or look yummy at the time. This week I got some bib lettuce so I can make some healthy lettuce wraps or perhaps some tacos using the bib lettuce rather than a tortilla {ya 140 calories saved right there}. I also got some purple cabbage and kale for yummy green smoothies! Nothing like drinking your veggies.
So back to my fridge! Here is what I got at the farmers market today:
Farmers Market 2-16-13
And here is my fridge after I made some grab and go snacks {hard boiled eggs whites, hummus, yogurt, etc}, washed and put away all the produce.
What’s in your fridge?
And just to prove this really is how my fridge looks at any given time here is a photo I took a week or so ago because Nicholas was helping me around the kitchen!
Fridge 2-10-13, Nicholas is such a good helper!
I know it pretty much looks the same. We can be incredibly boring with what we buy, but I have to say that we’ve become incredibly creative about not getting bored with the menu items. So while a lot of the food is the same, we don’t eat the same thing all the time….sheesh…give us more credit than that, will ya? 🙂
And now for shits and giggles, here is my pantry…I know, I know, I am crazy organized – it’s just my nature!!!
Pantry 2-16-13
We pretty much always have a good supply of healthy grab and go snacks and it makes life so much easier if it’s all organized. Nicholas has his own bucket of snacks and I love it when he just goes in the pantry and gets a healthy snack. Believe it or not, his two favorite snacks are the Shaklee 180 Lemon Cranberry bars and Nori Chips! Crazy….takes after his mommy on those – his daddy won’t touch either with a ten foot pole! More for us, I say…
So there you have it! We do buy and eat those fruits and veggies I post. And we do it on a budget!
As a side note and to be fair, our food budget might be less than some others because we don’t buy cleaning products or personal care products from the grocery store. WHAT? You might be thinking, “Gross, you don’t clean your house or bathe?” No, that’s not the case at all. We actually save a lot of money on cleaning products by purchasing the Shaklee Cleaners – not to mention we share the Shaklee products with friends, who also save $ and in turn we get a bonus check which pays for our products {cleaners, personal care products, Shaklee 180 and all our vitamins and protein shakes} – this really helps with the budget ALOT! Does your grocery store pay you to refer your friends? Nope, mine neither, but Shaklee does. I won’t go on and on about this, but if you want to save money on your grocery bills, then let me know and I will help you all the way!
Happy organic, healthy & clean eating my friends!
If you have friends who are serious athletes or are into bodybuilding, you might have heard them talking about leucine. What exactly is it and what’s all the fuss? It turns out that this may be the secret weapon to losing weight the right way—and to keeping it off. So let’s give it the attention it deserves.
What’s Leucine?
Leucine is an essential amino acid that helps with protein synthesis. In other words, it’s one of nine building blocks of protein that can only be obtained from diet. It’s present in protein-rich foods, including milk and other dairy products, tofu and other soy foods, as well as fish, chicken, and lean meat.
What’s the Big Deal?
Once absorbed, leucine goes directly to muscle tissue, where activates a chain of events that ultimately creates lean muscle. Think of it as cash to build a home—the home being muscle. When you have enough cash, you can pay the contractor to buy the equipment needed to build your home. Similarly, when you have enough leucine, your body can start making muscle protein. And the more leucine you have, the more muscle you can build.
What Does Leucine and Muscle Have to Do With Losing Weight?
On most weight-loss diets, you end up losing muscle in addition to fat. That’s because when you take in fewer calories than your body needs, your body has less energy to fuel basic biological functions. To make up for that, your body breaks down muscle proteins for energy. This is bad because it’s your muscles that help burn calories. Here’s where leucine does its magic while you lose weight; by stimulating protein synthesis it helps your body preserve muscle mass while you lose the right kind of weight—from fat, that is. In turn, your metabolism stays up, which is the key to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight for the long haul.
No wonder our Shaklee 180 Products are packed with leucine and people are seeing results!!!
Ask me how to get started now! This isn’t just for weight loss – get the Lean & Healthy Pack for everyday health!
Photo updated 10-11-13: Image credit: molekuul / 123RF Stock Photo
Whether you are a working mom, stay at home mom, or a single career oriented woman I know you have an insanely busy schedule. Life these days seems to be all about multi-tasking and running at 100 mile hour speeds. It’s tough to stay fit and healthy- who has time – – I get it!! I am a wife and mom with not only a hectic corporate job but I own my own health and wellness business PLUS we maintain our own house {aka, no nanny, no cleaning lady, etc}. I am usually going from sun up to midnight – so I GET IT!!!! Life is busy and there is no time for anything!
For the past couple years, I’ve been working with women who were battling the middle-age bulge and starting to look…well let’s just say it – a little bit frumpy and feeling not so sexy. What they all really wanted was to feel and, more importantly, look sexy or even stunning and to get their body back!
I am guessing you want that exact same thing – an end to yo-yo dieting and a return to the girlish figure you once had – plus to just feel great and have more energy. I am excited to share a special program for the woman {or man} with the insanely busy schedule who has been trying to lose the same 10-50+ pounds over and over and is just plain frustrated with not getting results!!!
You can have your sexy body back (or get it for the first time) and it’s not as hard as you think.
I’m looking for my next group ready to 180 their lives and get their SEXY back.
Will it be YOU?
Visit www.YouOn180.com to start Getting your Sexy back with a Shaklee 180!
THERE WILL BE:
* NO Expensive Gym Membership
* NO Embarrassing Classes
* NO Tasteless Diet Food
* NO Starving
* NO Points
* NO Yo-Yo Dieting
This is a proven and simple formula, and those who commit are more likely to finish and GET THE ABSOLUTE BEST RESULTS!
SEE THESE AMAZING RESULTS!
I lost a total of 50 pounds, 22 pounds in my first 90 days! And it put a spark in my marriage ~Lori
First 90 days, I lost 38 pounds. Our new baby gained a fit new daddy! ~Zack
Shaklee’s 180 program has completely transformed my body and my outlook and myself and life; definitely given me my sexy back and then some! ~Gina
THIS PROGRAM IS FOR ANYONE WHO:
* is serious about taking control of their health & fitness
* is willing to invest in themselves
* wants to drop a clothing size or more
* wants to stop the yo-yo diet cycle once and for all
* wants a step-by-step plan to achieve a healthy weight
* wants to be part of a supportive group of people on a similar journey
* wants to get off of hypertensive and/or cholesterol medications
* wants to get off of their diabetic medications
* wants or needs a low glycemic eating plan
* wants or needs gluten free products
* wants a lifestyle change
* wants to workout but doesn’t want to spend all day at the gym
* wants to be a health example to others and their families
Get ready for some fun!! From the comfort of your home, we’ll show you everything you need to know about the newest program on the market today to help you become your leanest and healthiest and get your sexy back! No one has the technology and healthy products that we have which guarantees you lose fat and inches, not muscle, all while boosting your metabolism so you can maintain your healthy weight – FOR GOOD!! Whether you’re looking to lose weight, maintain your current weight but build muscle mass, become healthier with more energy, we have healthy solutions for you!
Join us on a Shaklee 180 and Get your Sexy Back!
Visit www.YouOn180.com for more details or to contact me directly.
Every day we make decisions that affect our health—from what we choose to eat and drink to how much sleep and physical activity we get. But despite our best intentions, our super–busy lifestyles always seem to get in the way of making the very best choices. The good news is you have the power to change this! Make your health a priority. Protect your most valuable asset with smart supplementation. You’re worth it!
Overfed and Undernourished
How is it that Americans today consume an average of 610 calories a day more than they did 20 years ago—yet are still falling short in getting enough of the most critical nutrients needed for a long and healthy life? Blame it on our superbusy, fast food-packed lifestyles that drive us to make compromises of convenience, which are taking a toll on our nutritional status. {see earlier post}
Benefits of More than Just a Multivitamin
Eating a balanced diet rich in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables; getting plenty of sleep and regular exercise; and managing stress are all important lifestyle strategies to help support and maintain optimal health. But did you know there’s more you can do? Today, many leading experts in the fields of medicine, biochemistry, and nutrition believe wise nutrition supplementation can make a big difference in your health. {see earlier post}
Poor nutritional habits are becoming a national epidemic. Fast food sales have increased by 2,000% over the past 30 years and 90% of Americans fall short in getting all the essential nutrients they need from diet alone. But you are in control. Countless studies show nutrition supplementation can positively affect your health. Watch this video to learn more on why you should consider supplements. Why Supplement?
Photos updated 10-11-13:
Image credit: natalia7 / 123RF Stock Photo
Image credit: poznyakov / 123RF Stock Photo
