Category Archives: Parenting

Grocery Aisle Tours

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I am developing a grocery aisle tour.

I did a few this summer and found I really enjoyed doing them.

In years past after I always ended my community education workshops with a field trip to Whole Foods.

We even had reunions! Recipe exchanges and a sharing of shifts parents noticed in kids health and behavior when diet changes were made!

Not sure what to call it exactly but for now “Grocery Aisle Tours” will do!!

The focus of the tour is choice

How to navigate  and find alternative foods in big box, grocery, health food store’s and the farmer’s market

Moving here it’s taken me two years to figure out how to find the foods I prefer to eat.

I prefer no altered fats, no unnecessary sugars or sweeteners, no food additive or preservatives.  Organic and local options are also important to me.  The learning curve to eat seasonal is new to me.  I’ve really enjoyed this shift.

This last  year I stopped buying food in cans to avoid BPA contamination

I am considering making my own butter to avoid PFOA, the same chemical used to coat Teflon  pans is used on the wax wrappers.  Who knew this detail ?  I didn’t.

One might ask why I do all this ?

20 years ago an author inspired me to look at what I was eating.

I wanted to do better for me and for my family.

Shifting my own food pantry took a lot of time and effort.

I find my needs continue to evolve and I have a lot to learn !  Even after all this time!

Back then I started to cook scratch and lean towards the slow vs the fast food movement.

I found cooking and the hearth around my table became therapeutic and ceremonial.

I want this for others!

When I worked for whole foods they said the more folks who buy organic the better the demand becomes.

The bigger the demand the larger a supply is needed.  My spending contributes to the growth of choices I personally believe in. Thats where I’d prefer to put my spending $

You would enjoy a grocery aisle tour if:

you are eliminating processed foods from your diet

want to eat and cook more healthfully

want to shorten the learning curve on all that label reading

want to fuel the alternative food market

 

Do We Really Need ALL This Back To School Stuff?

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The calendar page turns.

Holy smokes  - it’s August.

It’s that back to school time.

Can you feel it?

Time to spend absolute crazy amounts of money for “Back To School” things.

Must all those back to school things be brand spanking new?

I know it’s time to stand in squeaky new shoes, fresh haircuts, have sharpened No. 2′s ready to write, color matching notebooks and folders.  We all gear up for the delicious smell of crayons, book day, committee work, making school lunches and car pooling. We are all beginning to endure the registration lines.

I get this ritual. I did this year after year. and i love the feeling of back to school.

I use to actually save the entire year for the volume of cash I laid out at this time. I had an envelope titled school and each month I put money away.  The three major cash outlays each year;  back to school, the holidays and summer activities.

I think it’s time to pause and re-think this marketing ploy.

I think that some of the back to school expenses are not necessary.

I’d love to suggest a bit of restraint.

A bit of anti-consumerism.

Ask ourselves do we really really NEED all of this stuff?

If the shoes we have now fit, and are in good condition – could we wait to buy the new ones until we need to ?   Is there someone in school noticing if your daughter’s hair has just been cut?  Perhaps there are pencils, markers and crayons from last year that still function?? How can we re-use the binders and folders from the year prior?

I ask this not only to have one save money, but also from an environment perspective too.  So much is just pitched these days.   Mass purchasing lead to more pitching.   Where does it begin and where does end?

Think about it.

 

 

 

Heavy Metals Found In Protein Drinks

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A June WebMD article shared news of certain protein drinks having high levels of certain heavy metals.   These heavy metals at high dosages: mercury, lead, cadmium, and arsenic can cause health problems including damage to the kidneys.  The issue besides the high levels of heavy metals is that often protein drinks are over consumed. I find it interesting that an unregulated industry has an agency that makes suggestions for voluntary standards for labeling. How can a standard be voluntary??

Protein is a crucial for cellular health. When one is an athlete, protein needs are higher and critical for muscle repair.

Protein drinks are a tool, a “supplemental” not an end all to one’s daily needs for protein. I come from the eat sensibly, don’t eat the same thing all the time, take your vitamins mentality. Protein drinks are not your dinner. Unless they are properly defined as meal replacements.

The sports nutrition line I work with is solid, clean, and used by tremendous successful often high level WINNING athletes from around the world.

No heavy metals.

AND until the end of this month  – with a new membership and a $70 order – our trio of sports nutrition products are FREE   — >  $75 value!!

 

 

WOW!

 

 

 

Organic Dentifrice

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Why does a product that supposedly prevents tooth decay have to be artificially sweetened, have harmful food dye in it and other questionable ingredients like flouride?

How about a toothpaste that doesn’t have a warning label on it?

“WARNINGS: Keep out of reach of children under 6 years of age. If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek PROFESSIONAL HELP or contact a POISON CONTROL center immediately.”

Ever wonder about the word “poison”

For myself and my family we choose to use an organic dentifrice that is flouride free, that is sweetened with xylitol, and that has crushed egg shells in it as an abrasive.

As an added benefit research indicates that xylitol inhibits bacteria growth and significantly reduces the incidence of ear infections! Dr Green shares information about that study here

Many of my mom clients have been known to brush their kids tongues with it!!

Absolutely love this product.

I also use baking soda. Many say that baking soda is too abrasive.  Truth be it’s not the backing soda that is the concern it’s when you brush your teeth improperly that causes harm. I raised both my kids without flouride treatments and we removed flouride from our water.

Abraham Lincoln’s Last Murder Case Drama Held In Museum

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My daughter is performing in this local historical drama.

Press release shared w/ permission.

Museum to Host Lincoln Courtroom Drama

BLOOMINGTON, ILL. – The McLean County Museum of History, in partnership with Illinois Voices Theatre, will present The Affray: Lincoln’s Last Murder Case. The play is an original dramatization of Abraham Lincoln’s successful defense of Peachy Quinn Harrison, a young Springfield resident who was accused of the murder of Greek Crafton. The trial took place just months before Lincoln accepted the Republican nomination for the presidency.

The play will be presented in the historic Governor Fifer Courtroom at the Museum, located at 200 N Main St. in Bloomington, Ill., July 15, 16, and 17. This program is supported in part by the Heritage Association of McLean County and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission of McLean County.

Robert Bray and Jared Brown fashioned the script based on surviving testimony from the transcript of the trial. The Affray, written in six scenes, reproduces some elements of the trial accurately but in some cases relies on what probably occurred. The play also poses the question:  Will Lincoln introduce the testimony of a venerable preacher which may be a lie? The cast of ten, who portray an array of characters, will vividly conjure up the atmosphere of a tense trial which will be staged in the Museum’s Courtroom.

There will be three performances of the trial: Friday, July 15 and Saturday, July 16 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, July 17 at 1 p.m. Robert Bray will lead a discussion of the actual Harrison trial immediately following the Sunday matinee performance.

The opening night performance on Friday, July 15, will be a special museum fundraiser, and tickets are $25 per person. Those who purchase tickets for the Friday opening night performance will also receive a free special, limited-edition Abraham Lincoln autobiography poster. Proceeds from opening night ticket sales will go to support free Museum educational programs for area schools and nursing homes. Special guest Sam Perroni will offer a short introduction about Lincoln’s career as a trial lawyer before the play. Perroni is a trial lawyer and author of the book, Kind Eyes, a novel inspired by the Peachy Harrison case. Copies of his book will also be for sale following the performance with proceeds donated to the Museum.

Tickets for the performances on Saturday, July 16, and Sunday, July 17, are priced at $10 for Museum members and $12 for non-members.

Jared Brown, former director of the School of Theatre Arts at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, is the author of six published books, including four biographies of individuals in theatre or film; a history of the theatre in America during the revolution; and a novel. His most recent book is Mind the Gap and 2 Other Mysteries. He directed his evening of three one-act plays, Three for the Show, at Heartland Theatre in November 2010. He has also written a number of episodes for the Evergreen Cemetery Discovery Walk and performed in one of them.

Robert Bray is the R. Forrest Colwell Professor of English at Illinois Wesleyan University. A native of Kansas, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and has focused his work on 19th century American literature and history. His most recent scholarly works are a 2005 biography of the frontier Methodist preacher, Peter Cartwright in (Cartwright was Peachy Quinn Harrison’s grandfather), and Reading with Lincoln in 2010. He is the co-author of one previous play, Lincoln’s in Town! produced for the Lincoln Bicentennial in 2009.

Sam Perroni, a native of Bloomington-Normal, is a former Arkansas criminal defense attorney and federal prosecutor. He is currently an adjunct professor of white collar crime at the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and is of counsel with the law firm of Perroni and Koebler. He has published several works for various law journals and books throughout his career. He has also had a lifelong interest in Lincoln’s legal career, which inspired him to publish the novel Kind Eyes in 2009.

Ticket may be reserved in advance at the Museum or purchased at the door the day of each performance. Seating is limited.

For more information or to reserve tickets, contact the Education Department at (309) 827-0428 or via e-mail at education@mchistory.org.

 

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image by karen hanrahan