Live Green Eat Clean

Creating a Healthy Family

What’s for dinner mom?

by Filed Under: Blog, Eat Clean

Oh all you moms out there know the proverbial question – what’s for dinner mom?  Even my almost 4 year old is starting to ask this.  They must either have an instinct for this question or it’s taught in school, either way, I ask myself this question all the time so I can’t really complain about it.  I feel your pain as a mom trying to get out of the pasta, pizza and taco night ruts.  So tonight, the dinner will be pork chops, apple sauce and bok choy!  mmmm good. I hope this will give you some ideas or inspiration to get out of the box.  Our new favorite green is bok choy…  This is a clean and healthy meal.
Grill or pan fry 4 oz pork chops with salt, pepper and garlic.  Pair with yummy tummy apple sauce and bok choy – voila!

Bon Appetite!

P.S.  I really need to take a photography class so I can learn how to use our fancy schmancy camera – my pictures admittedly suck.. 🙁

Mmmm Bok Choy

by Filed Under: Blog, Recipes

20283921_sBok choy, also known as Chinese cabbage or Pak-choi is one of our new favorite veggies.   Bok choy has been a part of Chinese culture for over 6000 years and falls under the dark leafy green veggie category in the US Diet. There are over twenty different varieties of bok choy, but the two most common are baby bok choy and traditional bok choy.  Here is the skinny on the health benefits of bok choy:

  • Low in calories – 1 cup is a meager 20 calories.
  • Low sodium – 1 cup is only 58 mg.
  • Low in saturated fats & cholesterol.  An excellent source of water-soluble antioxidant, vitamin-C (ascorbic acid). 1 cup provides 75% of your daily requirements of vitamin C. Regular consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.
  • Has more Vitamin-A (carotenes) and other flavonoid anti-oxidants than cabbage or cauliflower.  1 cup provides 7223 IUs of Vitamin-A or about 144% of RDA levels.
  • Good source of Vitamin K, 1 cup provides 57.8 mcg or about 72% of RDA levels. Vitamin-K promotes healthy bones by keeping calcium in the bones. Therefore, enough vitamin K in the diet makes your bone stronger, healthier and delay osteoporosis.  Vitamin-K has also shown to limit neuronal damage in the brain of Alzheimer patients.
  • Fresh bok choy has many B-complex vitamins which are essential because your body requires them from external sources to replenish.
  • Good source of fiber, protein, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, and potassium.
  • Low Glycemic – rates 1 on the glycemic index.

Nutritional source from nutritiondata.self.com.

Simple & Clean Bok Choy Recipe: 

Bok Choy Clean Stir Fry Recipe

Simple & Clean Bok Choy
 
Author: 
Nutrition Information
  • Serves: 2
  • Serving size: 1 C
  • Calories: 122
  • Fat: 7.8 g
  • Saturated fat: 1.1 g
  • Carbohydrates: 11.2 g
  • Sugar: 0
  • Fiber: 3.7 g
  • Protein: 6.1
  • Cholesterol: 0
Recipe type: Side Dish
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Print
Clean Bok Choy Recipe
Ingredients
  • 1½ pounds Bok Choy or Baby Bok Choy
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 1 shallot, finely minces
  • 1 teaspoon grated or minced fresh ginger
  • 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
Instructions
  1. Trim the stems off the Bok Choy and separate the leaves, clean & drain. Chop into smaller bits on the diagonal.
  2. Finely mince garlic, ginger and shallot.
  3. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and all ingredients into wok and cook on medium-high tossing well to coat the Bok Choy. When the leaves become slightly wilted cover and cook one more minute. Done – serve with main course and enjoy.
Notes
Vitamin A = 305% daily value Calcium = 37% daily value Vitamin C = 258% daily value Iron = 15% daily value

 

Photo updated 10-11-13: Image credit: robynmac / 123RF Stock Photo

Watermelon Breeze

by Filed Under: Blog, Recipes

It’s Thirsty Thursday and this looks amazing – can’t wait to try…

Watermelon Breeze15195645_s
3 cups cubed chilled watermelon
1 cup coconut water
Squeeze of fresh lime
Ice if needed
Sprig of mint
Put all ingredients in blender & blend until smooth.

Makes two servings
90 calories per serving.

Recipe thanks to Skirt.com. [Read more…]

Clean Eating Tip: Smaller Portions = Smaller Pants

by Filed Under: Blog, Clean Eating Tips

You might be thinking, hey I am eating healthy foods so I can even more! Well that isn’t necessarily the case. Yes, if you eat clean you can usually eat more per meal for the same amount of calories, but you can’t eat an infinite amount of clean foods. Listen to your body’s natural ability to tell you when you’re full and when you’re hungry. Even healthy, clean foods need to be eaten in balance. Tips to control over eating – drink some water before you eat more, maybe you’re just thirsty or use a smaller plate.

Why I love Shaklee Vitalizer!

by Filed Under: Blog, Eat Clean, Shaklee

Let me explain, nutritionists, dietitians, and other experts agree our daily diets are far from perfect and throw our bodies out of balance when it comes to getting all the nutrients we need for optimum vitality. If you really research the issues—and believe me, I have!—you’d clearly see the need for eating more fruits and veggies, exercising more, and taking certain supplements. The supplements most experts agree we all could use include a balanced multivitamin/multimineral supplement to address common deficiencies; fish oil to help keep heart health in check; extra calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D for bone health; carotenoids and polyphenols (aka phytonutrients) for circulation, eye health, immunity, and antioxidant protection; B vitamins for energy metabolism; and probiotics for a healthy gut and immune system. Now that’s a ton of stuff, and it’s just plain inconvenient—which is why most people don’t do it.

I often found myself in a hurry and forgetting to either pull all my vitamins out for the day or forgetting to take them at all.  What good is that!  So, I tried lots of things, putting them in a baggie on Sunday for the week, but that became daunting there were so many!  What’s a girl to do to help keep herself and her family healthy?  And finally, Shaklee came out with Vitalizer!   I’m a huge fan of our Vitalizer and I take it with dinner every day. I currently work 8-10 hours a day (not counting all the blackberry time), try to eat well, exercise when I can, throwing in some weights a couple times a week.  On most weekends, I am running around getting all the shopping and cleaning done for the next week, plus fitting in fun family time with an active toddler. Vitalizer gives me all the nutrients I need to keep living my active and busy lifestyle. I actually feel like completely drained when I don’t get it.

Here are my top 5 reasons (and there are many more) for why I love Shaklee Vitalizer so much:

  1. Easy!  Let’s face it, it’s easy to grab a vita strip for the day all in one convenient vita strip of 6 tablets taken once a day – need I say more.
  2. 80 bio-optimized nutrients, based on 55 years of nutritional science in one daily serving, with 12 patents and patents pending using the S.M.A.R.T delivery system.  Shaklee spent years getting it right, not only to pull all of the above nutrients in an easy once-a-day program, but also to make sure that the right nutrients get absorbed in the right place in your intestinal tract.  Not all nutrients are absorbed equally. Some are activated in the stomach (folic acid, B12, some minerals). Some cannot stand the stomach acid (probiotics). Some are absorbed too quickly so they need a slow release (B vitamins, vitamin C). And some are best released in the very upper intestine (fish oil). Nobody ever thought of grouping all these nutrients accordingly into differently releasing tablets or capsules. Well Shaklee did it and I am so thankful for that.
  3. No added flavors, sweeteners, preservatives – no explanation needed here! Who wants that extra unnecessary crap – not me.
  4. 1000+ quality tests ever time Vitalizer is made, plus based on 12 Clinical Studies.  Shaklee does their own internal quality assurance testing of raw materials and final products to make sure the products are safe, have what they say they have in them and are consistent. Vitalizer is also based on 12 clinical studies and a first-of-its-kind Landmark Study. In this groundbreaking study, Shaklee collaborated with researchers from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health to evaluate long-term Shaklee supplement users. The study showed the overall health of Shaklee users was markedly better than non-supplement users.  The study found that Shaklee users had 33% lower triglyceride levels, 11% lower cholesterol to HDL rations, among other things.  It’s an amazing study and I know these products work because my family has been using them for over 30 years and my parents are some of the healthiest people I know. Here is a graph of some of the results of that Landmark Study.
  5. It’s been to outer space! Commander Mark Kelly, who took a picture with his vitalizer in SPACE! This is just plain cool – of course it might be awhile before they go up in space again but Shaklee is ready when NASA is.  Another cool tidbit:  Shaklee has been providing astronauts with a customized re-hydration beverage called AstroAde (a special version of Shaklee Performance) since 1993!? Astronauts experience General Re-entry Syndrome and some symptoms of this include vertigo, fatigue, gastrointestinal discomfort, disequilibrium and general debilitation occurring during reentry to earth’s atmosphere and immediately after landing.  Not only do professional athletes rely on Shaklee supplements but astronauts do as well – pretty darn awesome!
  6. Ok I lied – there is a 6th reason I couldn’t pass up:  Shaklee membership is FREE with the purchase of Vitalizer.  This means you can get a 15% discount on all products.  Who doesn’t like FREE and discounts….

  

Still not convinced?…

8 Ways to Green Your 4th of July

by Filed Under: Blog, Live Green

 

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1. Get outside!  The best way to reduce your party’s footprint is avoid added costs to your electric bill by utilizing the outdoors – perfect lighting, temperature and truly inherent green setting.  Host your barbecue at midday when the light is bright or fight soaring temperatures and take advantage of the cooler evening weather.

2. Ditch the disposable party ware.  They’re popular and easy, but they’re not so convenient for the environment.

3. Use propane for grilling. According to the Environment Impact Assessment Review  “the overwhelming factors are that as a fuel, LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) is dramatically more efficient than charcoal in its production and considerably more efficient in cooking.”

4. Save (and reuse) your decorations. The decorations are the same from year to year, so take the time to store and save your decorations. You or someone you know can use them again next year, which helps to save on a bit of unneeded trash and some cash later.

5. Opt for greener fireworks.  Fireworks are hardly an environmentally friendly activity, but they’re an unwavering Fourth of July tradition. If you’re setting off your own fireworks this year, be sure to use fireworks rich in nitrogen. They often cost a bit more but put out less smoke into the environment. Another option is to gather your group and go see your local fireworks display. It’s a great way to see a much bigger fireworks show and negates you from harming the environment with your own personal display.

6. Gather in groups. This may seem like a no-brainer for such a popular holiday, but the larger a group you gather (preferably outdoors), the less energy you use at individual parties that may take place indoors.

7. Use large water containers. Plastic water bottles are convenient, but like other disposable goods, they can add up fast. In lieu of individual plastic bottles, store water for your family or guests in large containers so they can re-fill their reusable water bottles or reusable cups. If you must use plastic water bottles, at least recycle them.

8. Don’t forget to recycle.  One of the easiest ways to go green is to recycle your waste. So be sure to put a clearly marked bin out at your party.

Tips from: http://earth911.com/news/2011/07/01/4th-of-july-party/2/

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July!

Photo updated 10-11-13: Image credit: andreykuzmin / 123RF Stock Photo

Sweet & Sour Chicken

by Filed Under: Blog, Recipes

Sweet & Sour Chicken
Nutrition Information
  • Serves: 4
  • Serving size: 1
  • Calories: 161
  • Fat: 1.5g
  • Carbohydrates: 17g
  • Fiber: 2g
  • Protein: 21g
  • Cholesterol: 48mg
Recipe type: Entree
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Print
Ingredients
  • 2 chicken breasts (cut in small chunks)
  • ⅓ c low sodium soy sauce
  • 2 T raw honey
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 t fresh grated ginger
  • ¼ t red pepper flakes
  • 1 red bell pepper (cut in small chunks)
  • 1 green bell pepper (cut in small chunks)
  • 1 onion (cut in small chunks)
  • 1 c fresh pineapple (cut in small chunks)
  • cilantro to taste
  • 1 c cooked brown rice (optional)
Instructions
  1. Start cooking rice as per package instructions.
  2. In a small bowl mix together soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger & red pepper flakes. Put chicken in a shallow dish and add soy sauce mixture. Cover & refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 8 hours.
  3. Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, marinade & onion - saute until cooked. Add bell peepers and pineapple and cook for another 5 minutes or to desired vegetable tenderness (we like our crunchy). Sprinkle with cilantro & serve over rice if you choose (we do).
Notes
Nutrients per serving, not including the rice (add rice nutrients based on package)

I RECOMMEND SHAKLEE

DISCLAIMER

This blog is meant to be a source of informative content about nutrition and health. None of the information on this site is intended to be medical advice. Instead, I hope you find this blog helpful as a learning tool and a thought-provoking information source. It should be noted that I do get paid a small commission for some of the products I talk about and link to from my blog. Your support keeps this blog running and is greatly appreciated.

 

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