The Healthy Journal

I'm all about healthy foods that are closest to the real thing. That is, fresh from farm to fork with little stops in between. But now and then we need a little help from our friends who are dedicated to creating foods that contain healthy ingredients, nothing artificial, no or little sugar and are minimally processed. The other day I stopped by our local  Nugget Market  for a fresh juice and passed a very animated, energetic and inviting food vendor. "Start your day with love," said Maddy holding up a sample cup filled with strawberry-colored O's. I whooshed by to order my juice, but returned to chat while sipping my yummy nectar of vegetables (kale and spinach) with grapefruit, lemon and apple. "They're made with beans—navy beans, lentils and garbanzo beans." Now that's a wallop of good stuff that will  stick to your bones . Maddy went over the ingredients and talked about  Home Grown Foods  the company behind the healthy breakfast cereal. Home Gro...

I wanted to point you to a guest post I did this week over at Grace for Moms . Most parents are challenged to get their kids to eat healthy foods. The key is start early. First foods are very important and interaction (yes, getting messy) with those foods is part of gaining a love for healthy stuff. Pop on over to the post at Grace for Moms to add some tips to your arsenal. NOTE: You'll see there was a giveaway for promo codes of The Prisoner of Carrot Castle iPad storybook. No worries. I'll give out 5 codes to 5 commenters on this blog. Spread the word to moms and dads to read the article then scoot over here to post comments for a chance to get a code for your own personal copy of The Prisoner of Carrot Castle * —a fun way to encourage eating veggies for your kids. *iPad required to download the book app. However, if you have an iPhone, there is a FREE game app kids LOVE that goes with the story. Download the iPhone app here .

Happy Food Education Day! Worldwide, there are more than 42 million children under the age of five who are either overweight or obese, and it's the first time that the next generation will live shorter lives than their parents if things don't change. We eat, but we eat foods high in calories and low in nutrients. We are overfed yet undernourished. So much so that the world's biggest killers are now diet-related diseases, including heart failure and stroke. So what can we do? It all starts with education . It’s essential that we arm future generations with the life skills they urgently need in order to lead healthier, happier, more productive lives. Educating the next generation about real, nourishing foods and supporting them to live healthier lifestyles is the key to a real food revolution. Jamie Oliver has made it his lifelong work to teach kids to eat a healthy diet. Join Jamie and other health-minded people like him and sign the petition to educate our kids. As a chil...

I can't believe that it has been three years since The Prisoner of Carrot Castle hit the App Store for the iPad. Since then Aiden's adventures have been read to children around the world from Brazil and China to Saudi Arabia and South Africa. Through an interactive story, kids learn that eating vegetables is an action-packed adventure. Today through the use of iPads in the classroom, The Prisoner of Carrot Castle is enjoyed on a richer level. Schools across the US are using the story with a curriculum that supports Common Core Standards. Find out how eSpark is using The Prisoner of Carrot Castle  and other educational kid's apps on their platform to accentuate learning and track student progress. If you are a teacher and wish to learn more, you can download the free curriculum at Purple Carrot Books . For educational discounts, please contact Apple about their Volume Purchase Program . Meanwhile if you don't have your copy of The Prisoner of Carrot Castle , you can d...

Give a warm welcome to special guest poster, my friend, Nancy Hill—a fellow traveler on the journey of eating clean, traditional foods. She has two of the sweetest boys, which she adopted as wee ones knowing they needed special care. Enjoy reading about her latest diet journey and a blessing. ~Chris Well, lots of changes going on around here…dietarily speaking! After 6 years, we’re officially no longer vegetarian. We’re now eating Paleo-style (although I dislike the label “Paleo!"), Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) to be exact, recommended by our new functional-pediatrician doc to address Philip’s GI issues. It was not an easy decision, or transition, but based on weeks of research, we feel it’s the best move at this point to help heal Philip’s gut and resolve his dysbiosis / small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) , as well as malabsorption and nutritional deficiencies. Funny thing is, the more research I did, the more I came to realize that I needed this change as much...

I love the dress-up part of Halloween. When our son was young, I enjoyed coming up with fun costumes. One year I made a tyrannosaurus rex costume and my husband and I dressed as cave man and woman. We won best group costume at our community Halloween Festival as the Prehistoric Family. What I don't like is all the candy. Lots of sugar gets consumed even before we hand out candy to trick or treaters calling at our door (of course not in my household). Seeing all those tiny (and some not so tiny) kids dressed as their favorite hero, princess or ghoulish figure at your door is part of the fun of Halloween. But we don't have to give them candy. We get lots of kids to our door from the neighborhood, but they get something different from us—fun/playful treats. I'm not about to contribute to the sugar addiction of a new generation. I went to the Dollar Store and spent $10 getting multi-packs of erasers, pencils, bling rings, dinosaurs, bugs and glow-in-the-dark bats. It's all...

Many of you know I'm a children's author and today I'm pleased to announce my latest book, Ethan Blecher Braves a Bully , is officially launched. Volume 1 of this new series with Ethan Blecher navigates the struggles every child might encounter in elementary school. Parents and teachers will appreciate that it's a fun read for kids, but not irreverent. Our "every child" hero finds himself the focus of a bully in his new school. His parents decide to send him to spring camp hoping he will make some friends, but the outlook turns terrifying when his nemesis shows up. Find out if Ethan's fearful attitude and shy nature get the best of him or will he muster some courage and stand up to the bully? The sensitive issue of bullying is a timely subject in our culture today. It is a huge problem by the time kids enter middle school . Too many young children have tragically taken their own lives because they were being bullied at that tender age. Emotional trauma rea...