GO ORGANIC FOR EARTH DAY!

IT'S EARTH DAY! Make a healthy change in your diet and go organic. Organic crops are healthier than conventional crops, have no nasty additives or pesticides, are not genetically modified, undergo strict USDA standards, is safer for wildlife and the environment, and simply just tastes better. Make a healthy change and make Earth Day Every Day! Go Organic!

For more great reasons to go organic, read this great post from HealthNewsDigest.com

Last Minute Basket Case!

I only have a couple of days left to give the Easter Bunny hints for the all-natural/ organic treats. I hope these last minute tips will help.

Try using all-natural food coloring for the Easter eggs. India Tree has great natural decorating colors and can be found at most food stores selling all-natural products. Create soft pastels to rich jewel tones using these plant based colorants. India Tree also has a wide range of decorating sugars.

India Tree decorative products

Instead of peanut butter cups that are full of unwanted chemicals, try Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. They are creamy, delicious, and do not have any artificial colors, artificial flavors, or preservatives.

available at Trader Joe's

Lastly, for the Easter Bunny touch, add Annie's Homegrown Bunny Graham Friends and Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks. Available at most grocery stores and Target. 

Hoppy Easter everyone. Do not allow the holiday stress defeat you from providing better treats for your family.

Challenge: Make a Fun and Colorful School Lunch without Artificial Food Dyes.

I don't know about your kids, but mine do not love the idea of wheat bread. I have found a way to trick them into loving it, and they even show off to their friends at the lunch table!

Check out these easy steps below for making an interesting looking sandwich. Your kids will be impressed!

Use 1 slice of wheat bread and 1 slice of honey wheat bread for each  sandwich.
I use all natural ingredients.

Here, I do the usual for a simple PB&J, but this works for any sandwich.

Put halves together.

Cut diagonally.

Here's the trick! Flip the top and bottom triangles to reveal the lighter wheat bread.

Add other goodies and finish the packed lunch. Enjoy!

Get food dyes out of our schools!

Last Chance to Tell the ASDA to Get the Food Dyes out of the Schools

The following is copied from the Feingold website.

---

Dear Feingold Friends, 

LAST CHANCE REMINDER:
This is a message from
Dr. Michael Jacobson of the Center for
Science in the Public Interest:

We need your help to
get food dyes out of schools!

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has proposed common-sense standards to improve school lunches and breakfasts: more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; fat-free and low-fat milk; less salt; fewer unhealthy saturated and trans fats; and moderate calories.

BUT, USDA did nothing to get rid of food dyes, which the Food and Drug Administration acknowledges cause hyperactivity in some children. I hope that you, as a parent concerned about the effect of dyes on children, will send a comment to USDA! Tell USDA that dyes have no place in school breakfasts and lunches.

The deadline for comments is Wednesday, April 13th.

To submit a comment, go to GO HERE. (If that doesn't work, see below.) Copy and edit the sample comment included below, if you wish. Or submit your own comment or your own story. (The form gives you only 20 minutes, so you may want to prepare it first, and then paste it in the form.) Whatever you do, please submit a comment. This is our golden opportunity to get dyes out of school foods in the U.S.

Sincerely,

Michael Jacobson, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Center for Science in the Public Interest 


If the link given above doesn't work, paste the following URL into your browser:

http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=FNS-2007-0038-0002

If even that doesn't work, go to www.regulations.gov and click on the 4th item listed:

Nutrition Standards in National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs: Incorporating 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans into Proposed School MealPatterns (Document ID FNS-2007-0038-0002)

and then click on the red button at top right that says "Submit a Comment."

---

Sample Comment
to edit as you wish

I thank USDA for its efforts to improve the nutrition quality of school lunches and breakfasts. However, USDA's proposal says nothing about food dyes. As a parent of a child whose behavior is impaired by dyes, I strongly urge USDA to bar the inclusion of any foods containing synthetic dyes (Red 40, Yellow 5, and others) in the School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program. These neurotoxic chemicals have no place in school cafeterias. The evidence for an adverse effect of dyes on the behavior of some children is widely recognized. In fact, the British government, on the basis of two major studies that it commissioned, has urged (largely successfully) food manufacturers to switch to safer natural colorings. Subsequently, the European Union required that most dyed foods bear a label warning. And recently the FDA acknowledged at its March 30-31, 2011, advisory committee meeting that dyes (and other food constituents) impair the behavior of some children. Because dyes harm some children, because dyes serve no health function whatsoever, because synthetic dyes can be replaced by safe natural colorings, and because school meals are consumed exclusively by children, the only responsible action is to bar the inclusion of dyes in school meals. Respectfully, [Your Name] [Your Address] [City, State ZIP]

Thank you.

Shula Edelkind
Website Communications
Feingold Association

Easter Basket Make-Over

Hello Easter Bunny. I hope you are reading this post...

Easter Sunday is less than 2 weeks away and I have some ideas for updating the typical Easter basket. No more cellophane grass and Marshmallow Peeps... Yuck! No more Cadbury Creme Eggs with the fake raw egg oozing out of them... Double yuck! No more stereotypical Easter baskets that have to be stored away until next year. 

Start with the candy. Please consider eliminating ALL artificial food dyes, ALL artificial flavorings, and ALL artificial sweeteners. Natural Candy Store has a great selection of candy for special diets. Check out their tabs for organic candy, vegan candy, gluten-free candy, allergen-free candy, corn syrup-free candy, and my favorite - Feingold Candy for stages 1 and 2. Annie's Homegrown also has great options for granola bars, fruit snacks, and snack packs. I know that my kids love the Organic Berry Patch Fruit Snacks and the Cheddar Bunnies Snack Packs. What could be better in your basket than healthy bunnies? For a tasty organic candy bar try Crispy Cat Bars.

And really... do we need to overload on the candy treats? There are so many other goodies that we can give to our kids other than sugary treats. Toys, games, tennis balls, bubble blowers, coloring books... the possibilities are endless!

Here is some inspiration for an Easter Basket Make-Over. 

Beach Bucket

This is great for small boys and girls. Use a sand bucket and fill with beach toys, beach blanket, beach balls and more. Top off with a colorful reusable water bottle and some take along snacks. I love this Mirel™ bioplastic made from corn, not petroleum. Made in Maryland, not China.

zoe b organic

Dump Truck

Another one for the kiddies... Use a dump truck and fill with blocks and play tools. Add some yummy candy and treats to make it fun for Easter. I found this Eco-Friendly Truck at Land of Nod. Made from recycled plastic milk jugs and perfect for environmentally-concious families. 

Land of Nod

Art Bin 

Perfect for any young artist. Fill an art bin or caddy with age appropriate paint brushes, paints, markers, crayons, and more. Finish with candy and treats for the Easter touch.

Art Bin

Land of Nod

DIY Fashionista

Fill a tote or knitting basket with knitting needles, colorful yarns, and appliques. Stella Neptune has the best recycled cashmere appliques to save moth nibbled sweaters. Don't forget the candy and treats. 

  

Land of Nod

Stella Neptune

Book Worm

Load up a backpack with new books, a sketch pad, pencils, fun erasers, and book light. For older kids you could add a gift card to a local café.

  

Land of Nod

Barnes and Noble

Beauty Queen

Fill an organizing caddy with a new hair brush, headbands, and other pretty colorful things for a girl's hair. Add lip gloss and other sweet treats.

The Container Store

Music Lover

Fill a woven bin with a band tee, old school vinyl ( you play these on a record player... parents, this may need explaining),  earbuds, and a iTunes gift card. Add a tambourine and drumstick pencils for a fun music theme.

The Container Store

Paper-Source

Our kids are telling us something: Meet 11-year-old Birke Baehr, aspiring organic farmer.

At the 2010 TEDxNextGenerationAsheville, 11-year-old Birke Baehr spoke about What's Wrong With Our Food System. While most pre-teens are worried about what clothes to wear and what music to listen to, Birke is worried about what types of food we are putting into our bodies.

Birke gives me a great idea... My son Rileigh needs to complete several hours of community service for school credit. I think we will be making calls to local organic farms to see if they have volunteer opportunities. I'll let you know what I find out. Thank you Birke for the inspiration.

Birke is an aspiring organic farmer, volunteers at the Humane Society and loves working with animals. View Birke's profile at ted.com.

The Kids' Table: FDA to take another look at artificial food colorings

I just read this Baltimore Sun article from yesterday and wanted to share it with everyone. Please read it and make good choices when grocery shopping.

The Kids' Table: FDA to take another look at artificial food colorings

Great Product for Parents of Children with Food Allergies

Allerbling wristband

Allerbling - Allergy Awareness wristband

Our family is lucky that we do not suffer from food allergies. Although, we avoid several ingredients for health/focus/behavior issues, nothing is life threatening.

We have family, friends, and neighbors who are not as fortunate, and suffer from severe food allergies. I have seen how frightening it can be for those parents to send their child to school or to a friends house because they feared for their child's life.

Allerbling has created a simple visual education tool for children ages 3 and up. The Allerbling wristband notifies teachers/caregivers to the child's food allergies, as well as opens up conversation to help that child to talk about what foods they can and cannot eat. Plus it's super cute!

Allerbling donates a portion of every full Allerbling Kit to the Food Allergy Initiative (FAI).

Do not let food allergies defeat you!

I don't need no stinkin' Starbucks!

OK. OK. So I occasionally go to Starbucks, but it's more satisfying to make my decaf mocha latte myself. It's pretty easy if you have the right stuff.

What you need: 

brewed coffee

1 cup + of milk in glass measuring cup

2 tbsp organic sugar

2 tbsp all natural Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa

milk frother

2 coffee cups

Steps:

• brew the coffee as directed

• heat milk in the microwave, about 2 minutes

• add 1 tbsp sugar to each coffee cup

• add 1 tbsp cocoa to each coffee cup

• fill each coffee cup half way with coffee, mix well

• skim the funky skin from the top of the heated milk, froth till foamy on top

• hold foam back with spoon and fill each coffee cup with heated milk

• spoon foam on top of each coffee cup

Yum! I will not let Starbucks defeat me!

Now off to pilates so the calories don't defeat my either. :)

organic sugar • all natural unsweetened cocoa • cute mixer/frother

add coffee to sugar and cocoa then mix

sugar and cocoa in cups

froth that heated milk

deelish homemade decaf mocha latte

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my Undefeated Mom blog. I never thought that I would be writing a blog, but several things in the past week have fueled me to share my family story. This story will unfold through future posts, but first things first... who am I?

My name is Jackie. I am a graphic designer, music lover, fashion freak, wife to an awesome man (Ross), mother of 2 great boys (Jackson and Rileigh), and hopefully much more. I constantly struggle and face challenges with who I am and who I want to be, which is why I choose the title Undefeated Mom.

Last week was one of the most interesting weeks of my life. On Monday, I went to hopefully the first of many pilates classes with my husband, came home to work, and had two phone interviews with NBC Universal and MSNBC.com/Today.com regarding the FDA hearings to ban artificial food dyes. Tuesday morning a TV crew was in our home filming us make breakfast and get ready for school, followed by an emotional on camera interview. Tuesday evening we were on the Nightly News and received phone calls from friends and family all over the country. Wednesday morning our story aired on the Today show and we received even more calls, and Moms Today ran the story on their website. Thursday morning the FDA rejected the ban on artificial food dyes, and by the afternoon I was feeling defeated and drained... Thursday evening, with the suggestion from my wonderful cousin Alison, I decided to start this blog.

Friday was pretty uneventful, but the weekend was full of excitement. Saturday afternoon Jackson participated at the citywide science fair, while Ross and I test drove a Tesla Roadster. Later that afternoon we watched Rileigh's last hockey game of the winter season which ended in a big win (8-5). Today, Sunday, Jackson and I attended the citywide science fair awards program where he took 1st place in the engineering category. Talk about a great start to the week!

I do not intend for this blog to be a constant play by play of my daily activities, but I think it's necessary to understand where I am starting from. My initial idea for this blog was to discuss the unnecessary chemicals in our foods and the health concerns associated with them... but then I realized that I have more to share than just my thoughts on food and diet. I hope to use this blog to share experiences, give and gain advice, and grow.

No matter the struggle, I refuse to be defeated.