More Whole Foods Yummies & Other Goodness.

Well, friends, I think it's safe to say that the organic eating revolution has begun. I was surprised by how many comments were posted about my recent Whole Foods blog post...but pleasantly surprised to say the least! Before I go any further, I want to state for the record that I’m no expert on nutrition or organic eating or anything of the sort, but I'm very excited to see that many friends (several of whom were reading this blog unbeknownst to me!) have decided to make the trip to Whole Foods or Wild Oats and give the organic eating a try. YAY for you, because your body is going to love you. You know, I haven't heard one person yet say that the food doesn't taste better or make him or her feel better...but what I have heard over and over again recently is how tired people are, how bad they feel, that they have no energy, that their body aches...and it goes on and on. The fact is, we're all tired of feeling crappy. As our personal trainer/holistic/organic eating mentor friend says all the time, "God didn't screw up; we did." God gave us the right things to eat. And as my wonderful husband and I are finding out with our new vegetable garden (which you can read about on his blog), God gave us work to do to stay active. God provided a beautiful world full of plants and trees for us to live on. The funny thing is, this is the one "diet" that's been around since the beginning of time, yet it's treated as the "new" way to be healthy! Ha! So I give our trainer friend Craig full credit for this whole thing, as he's the one who first introduced it to us. Furthermore, I hope that the “organic eating thing” isn’t just a fad but that we are all discovering a new way of life that will help us be much better equipped to do our God's work on this earth, as we live longer, healthier, and stronger lives. And stay tuned, because there is going to be a lot more to come from this girl on this topic...especially more thoughts on natural living, simplicity, and gardening :).

Pause: More on this later in another post, but one of the biggest hurdles I've had to overcome is my whole distorted body image that I realize has been shaped by the world's twisted view of what is beautiful and healthy. Oh yes, I used to want the skinny arms and thighs at any cost. And when I'm being honest, there are still days when I say to myself, in secret, "I'd so much rather be skinny than healthy." It makes me sick when I realize what I'm saying, because God's view of what is healthy and beautiful is so much more than being a size 6 or how big the gap is between my inner thighs when I'm standing with my feet together. This is a huge hurdle for me, but I want to be able to say confidently one of these days..."I love my body the way God created me. And my goal is to be healthy and treat it as His creation, no matter what size or weight I am." Wow, even typing that, I realize I have a long way to go. There's so much more I could say about this, but I'll save it for another time...

So last week, we went out to dinner for our friend Stephanie's birthday, and we were on a mission to find an organic restaurant in Dallas. Surely, we thought, with all the wealth and money in this city spent on appearances, we could easily find a restaurant that serves all organic foods? Well, it was tougher to find one than we thought. Finally, Stephanie discovered online a Greek restaurant called Nikolini's Organic City, a lovely organic gem right in the heart of Dallas! The experience did not disappoint, and here's why:

First of all....

• We were celebrating the life of a friend, so that already made it special.
  

Second through sixth of all...

• We all ate one of the most delicious meals of our lives replete with organic meats and delicious Greek salad and vegetables (each of us got something different: beef burger, lamb, filet mignon, salmon, and vegetarian "Moussaka").
• We had personal table-side service by Olina Nikolini herself whose husband Gino cooked all 5 of our meals at the same time.
• The Nikolini's immigrated from the Greek city of Thessalonica - how cool is that?!
• Our trainer/holistic friend, Craig, generously treated all of us to the entire meal.
• Romantic Greek music on a patio with white twinkle lights...need I go on? :)

Needless to say, it was a fun evening! Here we are above with Olina Nikolini....

So, back to the point of this post – for all of you newly-converted organic food lovers and Whole Foods veterans, the wait is over :). I’ve put together another tasty list of items to try!

1. Raw Manuka Honey. This is the most potent honey ever made, and it's found in only a few areas of New Zealand. And...yeah....it’s $26 a bottle. Our nutritionist friend Craig kindly gave us a bottle, and we’re guarding it like gold. But that’s easy, because this stuff is so strong that the tiniest drizzle goes a long way. So if you can’t rationalize paying $26 for a jar of honey (neither can we), then I’d recommend just the raw local honey that you can pour yourself at whole Foods. Supposedly the raw honey also helps prevent allergies from local allergens, which makes sense if you really think about it. Anyway, with this honey, I usually use it to decrease or replace the sugar in recipes. It's also absolutely delicious drizzled on a piece of rye cracker (keep reading) with butter. Oh, YUM.

2. Raw Almond & Cashew Butter. As I understand it, raw nut butters means the nut hasn't been roasted, so the process hasn’t denatured the nut. Basically, if you want to really mess up a nut and any nutritional value it naturally has, then roast and salt it. So raw is the way to go. By the way, I didn't realize how beautiful almond trees are! Here's a lovely almond blossom...who knew?

3. Wasa Rye Crispbread. These crackers are delicious and crunchy, and an added bonus is that they remind me of Europe :) Here are a few ways I’ve eaten them so far...

• With bananas and cottage cheese on top
• Dipped into the aforementioned raw almond or cashew butter
• With a slice of raw parmesan on top
• With a sunny-side-up egg on top with some salsa!
  

4. Raw Parmesano Reggiano. Oh, such good stuff. Grate it on anything....salad, pasta, chicken, eggs...or eat it on crackers or melt it on toast, or pair it with a slice of apple! It has a very sharp taste which complements a lot of foods. You can also grate it and combine it with bread crumbs and then bread some chicken breasts with it. I did that on Easter :)

5. Milled Flax Seed. This is a great sourced of Omega-3s, which fight against heart disease and bad cholesterol. I have a great buckwheat pancake recipe that calls for this sprinkled on top. You can also add it to muffin recipes for more density. Or even sprinkle it on stuff!

6. Natural Jam. We love the Whole Foods 365 Brand in Strawberry or Raspberry. It's just fruit-sweetened, with no added sugar. There are about a million things you can do with jam, but the other day I saw Rachael Ray take about 1 tbs. of her favorite flavor and whisk it with some olive oil and fresh lemon juice to make a really light fruity salad dressing! I'm a big fan of an organic Sicilian Orange Marmalade I found at Whole Foods as well.

7. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. Before you freak out about the amount of fat in it (like I did at first), know that it's a "stable, healthy saturated fat that is naturally free from trans-fatty acids." Coconut oil makes everything taste better. Cook your eggs in it for a little twist. I've also used it in baking as a substitute for canola. You can even dip vegetables or fruit in it. It hardens when it becomes a certain temperature and liquifies at higher temperatures, but you can eat it either way. If you want to find out more of the benefits of Coconut Oil, go here.

8. Organic Kefir mixed with organic local blueberries or strawberries. Kefir is like a drinkable yogurt, and it's probiotic, so it gives you lots of the "good" bacteria. I was told not to get the Helios brand of Kefir with "FOS" in it, because it's a sugar that bothers hypoglycemics like me. I think the Lifeway brand is better. I heart blueberries. They are a great antioxidant too. By the way, did you know that conventional strawberries are one the most pesticide-filled foods you can buy? Sick.

Regretfully, I haven’t been able to find Suncakes since I posted on here about them – so I'd like to know which one of you called all the Whole Foods in Dallas and bought them out? Whoever it was, it was a nasty trick!

1000 Miles to True Freedom.

“Gas in the car, get in...
Say we're never spontaneous
We're taking a chance at living the wild life, baby…

The clothes on our back are plenty
Everybody will wonder where we've gone to…
This could be a real good story, someday soon.”

A little over a week ago, I was in Nashville for a short trip, and Suz and I decided to do something we’ve wanted to do ever since we became friends: wake up at 6am on an ordinary Friday morning, throw an iPod, some clothes, apples, and peanut butter crackers into a bag, hop into Suz’ Jeep named Boy Scout and drive to one of our favorite places: the emerald coast of Florida. Oh yes, 500 spontaneous miles, many laughs, and one emergency bathroom stop later (giggle), we drove into Seaside, Florida with perma-grins on our faces and flip-flops on our feet that were itching to be removed so our toes could wiggle in the sugar white sand.

Amidst the myriad of times we’ve been to Destin and the memories we’ve made there, something was very different about this trip. I think we’d both come to expect multiple beach trips each year and had become greedy with how much time we could spend in the “perfect little beach town.” But due to a few situations that have happened lately, this trip was characterized not by greed but by overwhelming thankfulness: several days of working overtime that allowed us to both get off work on Friday, my husband giving me an enthusiastic thumbs-up and encouraging us to get a hotel rather than sleeping in our cars as originally planned :), our financial problems and then Suz’s generosity to pay for all the gas…So, tell me, would I have appreciated this sweet trip so much if life hadn’t been standing in the way of it before? Would I have treasured a day-and-a-half getaway with one of my closest friends if I didn’t normally live hundreds of miles away from her? I can’t help but think that sometimes God makes us release the fingers that so tightly grasp our dreams and ideals before He will give us some or all of it back – in His time and in the right way.

And now for some pics from the trip....

0 minutes into the trip. We left so early that no one was awake except the Pest Control man, who we asked to take this shot. Judging by the blurriness, we figure he should probably stick to spraying termites :).

Morning sun is shining, and we’ll be at the beach in 7 hours. Can’t fake these smiles!

Somewhere between Nashville and the Alabama line: Two Idealists in the car always makes for some good laughs. We pass an 18-wheeler truck in the shoulder with smoke pouring out of the side of it, and what does Suz have to say? “Ooooh, look at how the sunbeams are shining through the smoke! That’s beautiful!”

1.5 hours into the trip: The Alabama line. We made it out of Tennessee, and we’re happy to announce that not only is that a rocket, but yes Alabama is STILL happy to see us.


No road trip is complete without some luscious Diet Sunkist!


7.5 hours into the trip: It’s cloudy, but we’re finally in Seaside, so who cares?


8 hours into the trip: I think we can pass as beach house owners, don’t you? We sure look like the kind of gals who could own million dollar summer homes. Hee hee.

Here are some more fun ones from the beach…

Wow...just wow.





16 hours into the trip: Let’s not forget the infamous Destin Walmart – where else can you get airbrushed t-shirts and useless plastic beach bling??





16.5 hours into the trip: All the ice cream shops were closed when we finished dinner, so we bought some No Sugar Added Breyers Peanut Butter Tracks at Walmart and ate it in our hotel room. Yes, we’re both seeking recovery for this addiction, and I realize it violates my previous Whole Foods post :). But no time with Suz is complete without an ice cream run!!



28 hours into the trip: Beautifully sunny Seaside welcomes us Saturday morning at one of our favorite picture spots.


33 hours into the trip: Ice cream, sunshine, and a quiet spot to sit in a quaint beach town – I didn’t think I’d ever get Suz to leave this gazebo :).


34 hours into the trip: Saw this beach house and fell in love. It’s even my favorite color, and the handpainted sign above the door says, “Remember To Smile.” What a wonderful way to end our day before heading back to Nashville…


“If the ocean is warm we'll take a swim…
Fill our pockets with sand to prove we went…
To our friends.”

The next morning, sleepy-eyed at the airport, I was fishing for my boarding pass and found sand in my purse :). I closed my eyes and said, “Thank you, Jesus.” Not because I had been at the beach, but because since the last time I was there, I’ve been learning what true spiritual freedom is. I’ve been learning that I don’t need to get away to Seaside, FL to be on a spiritual high or to feel content with my life. Instead of having the momentary satisfaction that comes from worldly things or places or being with certain people, I’m tasting the kind of freedom that comes from a deep change inside the heart.

When this is happening, I believe that everything I enjoy about this life...from the coast to being in the sun to ice cream to Diet Sunkist…all point to a much greater joy. Only can we truly enjoy and appreciate the little gifts this world has to offer when they do not stand alone.

Whole Foods = pretty darn close to Heaven.

OK so the title of this post is a bit of an exaggeration, but all I know is that I’ve felt a hundred times healthier, more energetic, alive, and strong, since we went all organic.

Call me a health nut, call me “granola,” call me whatever you want, but the extra cost of natural foods is worth it to me now. I just can’t help but be reminded that they didn’t inject meat with hormones in Biblical times, nor were strawberries grown to mutant sizes. And it should be worth mentioning that some of the healthiest people in the world (lowest rates of cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes…) are those who live in the south of Italy and other Mediterranean locales. They eat food in its purest form.

A good friend of ours is a holistic nutritionist and corrective exercise specialist (among about 10 other titles), and he always reminds us, “If God didn’t make it, don’t eat it.” And while that sounds radical, I’m finding through practice that there is a lot of truth to that saying. I only have one body, and I’m not going to waste it. I’m not going to obsess about it either, because the Scriptures say, “do not worry about what you will eat or drink,” but I believe I can love people better and serve God better when I’m feeling my healthiest. I have to admit I can’t completely give up having ice cream and some sugar every now and then (tee hee!), but the change between what I put in my body now and what I used to is pretty drastic.

My workouts have gone through a complete overhaul as well (I heart my yoga mat), and that’s a huge part of my physical and mental changes, but for now I'm going to focus on the good eats found at Whole Foods ~ and those favorites I put in my cart every time.


1. Organic Produce. Folks, I'm not lying when I say that I just recently started to truly taste fruits & vegetables. There's a distinct difference in taste with organic produce. Apples, pineapples, strawberries, ohhhh the oranges, pears....shallots, onions, avocado, broccoli...pretty much everything in the produce section :).

2. Ezekiel 4:9 Live Grain Bread. This is the best bread I have EVER put in my mouth. Sesame is my favorite flavor, but all of the Food For Life flavors are great. Toasted with a bit of real butter and some natural orange marmalade...and it melts in your mouth. There is no flour in this bread, just natural grains.

3. Carob Energee Nuggets. Yes, ma'am. This is a great treat to curb a sweet tooth. Just one nugget, and I'm satisfied (now that's a phrase you don't hear everyday...). Although this pic shows them in a package, I've only found them in the "bulk" bins at Whole Foods, and they're made of honey, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, cashews, peanuts, carob powder, peanut butter, and pumpkin seeds. Mmmm.

4. Stevia. This is a wonderful substitute for sugar, and it comes from a plant instead of being manufactured in a factory with chlorine bleach like Splenda. Sick. I made this delicious Oatmeal Apple Muffins recipe using Stevia last week...and wow, you couldn't eat just one. Warning: Stevia doesn't taste very good in coffee. But it's perfect in tea. Which leads me to....

5. Yerba Maté. I have Jenni to thank for this recommendation! Not only is it a natural stimulant, but it also detoxifies the body, boosts immune function, and decreases hunger cravings, along with a host of other good things. In Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay, they drink it out of a hollowed-out gourd. I love the Chocolatté flavor by Guayaki. It comes in a bag just like tea, and you steep it in hot water. I add one packet of Stevia. Of course the FDA won't approve it because our nation is addicted to crap like sugar and preservatives. The FDA sucks.


6. California Suncakes. Another great natural treat! I love the poppy seed flavor. It almost has the consistency of a scone – dense and very filling. I've read that parents use this as a great natural snack for their kids. Sure beats Pop Tarts. Oh, and I love the packaging artwork :).

7. Turkey Bacon. This is a breakfast staple for me. Heck, an anytime staple. It kind of resembles the taylor ham I grew up eating in Jersey. Way less greasy than pork bacon, and it comes in wider thin strips. I love to tear it into pieces and scramble it with eggs and green onion. Or dill. Or raw broccoli! It's also great wrapped around a chicken breast and secured with tooth pics while baked - gives the chicken a great flavor.

8. Kombucha. This is an organic raw fermented tea. I know, gag a maggot, right? OH, but no! It tastes like spiked sparkling fruit juice! The first sip is kind of gross, but then you find yourself wanting more and more. Not bad for something that also detoxifies, helps reduce colds, regulates the appetite...and I just read it helps restore gray hair to its natural color - what? gimme a case of that stuff!

9. 96% Lean Grass-Fed Ground Beef. I used to not be a big beef fan, unless I was really in the mood for a burger from Logan's (Suz, can I get an Amen??). But this beef is unbelievable. Unless beef is marked "grass-fed," that means the cows are fed grain, and oftentimes they're fattened up way before they're supposed to be naturally. This beef is almost as lean as fish and chicken. Make burgers by mixing the ground beef with chopped onions and garlic (or jalapeños if you're feeling brave!).

10. Horizon Organic Cottage Cheese. This is by far the best cottage cheese I've ever tasted, and I would consider myself a cottage cheese connaiseur :). It also has at least 4 more grams of protein than other cottage cheeses I've seen. Mix it with strawberries, apples, or any other fruit. Put it on crackers. Spread it on live grain bread and sprinkle on some cinnamon. Mercy.

So, there you have it. I'm probably going to get beaten over the head by our holistic friend for including dairy on here, but that's a topic for another day.

Ice water toast!

Good thing we don't need Valentine's Day to have this much fun together... :)

A Greater Love.

My husband brought home some lovely red tulips for me last night as an early Valentine's gift. And on Sunday, I received a yellow candy heart from my 5-year-old friend Emma with a special "love" message on it that says: "Whiz Kid." It's still in my jacket pocket so everytime my hand touches it, I can be reminded of the simple giving heart of a child (and that I'm a genius, hee hee).

However, today I'm reminded of an even greater Love than that which can be symbolized by a heart-shaped candy or a stuffed teddy bear that's sold on the aisles of Walgreens, Target, and Walmart once a year. It's greater than bouquets of exotic roses from Central Market and yes, even Emeril's Espresso-Hazelnut Cheesecake with Orange Caramel Sauce (Lord, have mercy...).

This is the kind of Love that carries us even during seasons in our lives when we're not acknowledging the One whose arms are around us, a Love that chases after us when we don't show an ounce of love in return, a Love that waits patiently, drawing us, until we finally turn our faces in its direction with no other distraction.

"I taught Ephraim to walk,
Taking them by their arms;
But they did not know that I healed them.
I drew them with gentle cords,
With bands of love.
And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck.
I stooped and fed them."
~ Hosea 11:3-4

“I will betroth you to Me forever,
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And you shall know the Lord.”
~ Hosea 2:19-20

THIS, my friends, is true love. And may we remember it long past today.

Chubby bunny.

Well, folks, a few days ago I had the surgery we all dread as kids but which is reportedly even worse to have as an adult: yes, I had my wisdom teeth removed. And what a humbling experience it’s been. More than anything, I’m humbled by my husband’s servitude as he completely put himself aside for 3 straight days: cleaning the kitchen and making me an endless supply of smoothies and ice cream sundaes, keeping track of my medication schedule, setting me up on the couch with 4 pillows and every girly movie known to man, and even holding the drool bowl under my chin multiple times while I washed out my mouth with the syringe. Now, that’s love.

But what's really love is that he can still say I’m beautiful when I look like a chipmunk with my cheeks swollen out to kingdom come :). Of course I never wanted to reveal these photos, but in keeping with the spirit of being the “real” Christine on this blog, I’m officially unveiling the worst pics ever taken of me for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy :).

Coming out of the sedation fog and Steven already has me laughing...

Pitiful much?

Nice try, buddy....you still have to make me some soup.

Suz and I kinda think my cheeks look like the “swiss water” lady in the movie Return To Me in this pic - hee hee!

And the crowning glory of them all...I don't know what's worse about this pic: the fact that I look like a character out of The Chronicles of Narnia (Mrs. Tumnus, perhaps?) or the unidentifiable substance I'm about to put in my mouth!