“Do it now! Today will be yesterday tomorrow.” E.C.Mckenzie
Do you find yourself often saying “tomorrow I’ll eat better.” Well I do. I will have a fabulous healthy eating day and then, later after dinner, have that craving for that cookie calling my name. That one cookie can sometimes turn into one more, then one more and then before you know it….. well you know. Eating healthy is a lifestyle not a diet. Fresh, healthy foods are waiting for us, we just have to make that choice.
Joelle Rabion, health and wellness nutritionist lead a wonderful informative discussion on eating well. The ABC’s of Healthy Eating was the perfect lesson for starting off the school year right. Joelle displayed a variety of glorious greens including kale, collards, swiss chard, bok choy, spinach and more. The health benefits include, cleaning out toxins and fats, purifying the blood, helping to prevent cancer, keeping skin fresh and clearing blemishes along with a multitude of health benefits. Good breakfast choices like muesli, millet, steal cut oatmeal are fabulous ways to start off your day. Many of the Goddesses with children were given ideas for helping to include vegetables into their diets. Shopping the grocery store and first staying on the periphery where all the good stuff is located is a good start . When you work your way in the middle, it will become more processed and it is where as a consumer, you need to be alert to labels. The 5 ingredient rule was a good reminder. If an item has more than 5 ingredients, chances are it isn’t as healthy. Keeping sugar under 10 grams when deciding on food items is also a good key to choosing items. We saw just how confusing it can be when reading labels as the word SUGAR has so many names. We are the advocates for ourselves and our family and so it is important for us to be alert, aware and make good choices for what goes into our body. Keeping food journals, eliminating certain foods for a while then slowly reintroducing them, will also help to pinpoint what foods work well for our bodies by the way we feel after eating them.
After our very thought provoking discussion, the Goddesses with Joelle’s help cooked up a healthy meal of warm quinoa and broccoli salad with carrot-ginger dressing and seaweed sesame salad. We all walked away with some more yummy recipes including Zucchini Blondies (a great way to give veggies to those reluctant kids.)
Goddess questions :
“what is the deal with low carb diets?”
“what is more nutritious, frozen veggies, vs fresh veggies- do petite carrots have any nutritional value?”
“how do you get your kids to eat a larger variety of foods”
“when choosing fish, is it better to choose farm raised or wild?”
“what sugar alternatives are good to use instead of real sugar or splenda, sugar twin etc”
“my kids like pop, what sodas are good, if any?”
“what are good breakfast , snack choices for kids when on the go.”
Look to comments for Joelle’s answers and more.
Thanks to all for your generous donations towards the Monday Meal. The money raised will go towards the cost of a meal to feed the homeless. As many expressed interest, we will be planning a Goddess Monday Meal soon. We will shop, and make a healthy meal for 50 homeless Chicagoland area people in need ,at Temple Sholom. Look for date to be announced soon
Thank you to Smarty Party for the wonderful space for this event. A special thank you to Joelle Rabion for sharing her wonderful food knowledge with us. Let’s start TODAY to eat better so we can start off the school year feeling better in our bodies.
Many Goddesses expressed interest to learn more. If you would like to contact Joelle, please do so at joelle@goodfoodbetterlife.com
