Saturday, August 28, 2010

Couponing For Health Foods Update

A few months back I posted about how I was saving close to 50% on my groceries by shopping at Publix.  Well, that's when I was able to use two or more competitor coupons from Target, CVS, Family Dollar, Harvey's and Save A Lot. 

Now both Publix stores that are within a 2 mile radius of my home will only allow me to use ONE of those competitor coupons per grocery visit and I can no longer use CVS ($5 off $25 purchase) and Harvey's ($2 off $5 produce) coupons.

I guess the couponing rage has caught on to more shoppers in my area because not only are they tighting policies, they are also getting cleared out of inventory on BOGO's the first two or three days of the sale!

So, now my savings is around 30-40%, still better than what it was when I was not paying attention to sales flyers or using coupons.  And now I am asking myself, do I really need this item even though it is super cheap or free?!  For example, I bought about 20 boxes of the Kashi 7 Whole Grain Flakes and Puffs because they were .50 a box with coupons.  The cereal, though healthier than most, is essentially processed food and not really all that high in nutrients.  My family would be better off eating oatmeal or home made granola in place of the cereal.   Of course the preferred breakfast is the Green Smoothie!

So, now I'm being more careful about what I buy.  Some of the things I have been buying on sale and lightly stocking with coupons are:

-Eden Organic Beans, Tomatoes, tomatoe paste and Pasta Sauces (BPA Free Can)
-Cascadian Farms Frozen Fruit and Vegetables
-Bob's Redmill Whole Oats
-Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta
-Texas Organic Brown Rice
-Lundberg Farms Organic Rice
-Unsweetened Almond Breeze
-Annie's Natural's Fat Free Dressings
-San-J Organic Low Sodium Tamari
-Nuts and seeds on Amazon.com
-Wildwood Sprouted Tofu
-Wildwood Organic Soy Yogurt and Probiotic Soymilk
-Food for Life Sprouted Whole Grain Breads
-Lightlife Organic Tempeh
-Tribe Organic Hummus
-Organicville Salsa
-Larabars (for the kids :)

And I'm not just shopping at Publix, I am back to shopping at Whole Foods and occasionally Hoover's Essential Health Market when I have a coupon for something I need that never goes on sale at Publix.

Drawing for the Free Book is coming up on the 31st!

Just a reminder that I am giving away a free copy of The Engine 2 Diet on the 31st!  You still have time to increase your chances of winning by posting a comment on my blog between now and the 31st.  I will be using Random.com to select the winner. 

Come on people!  Your post can be as simple as writing "Cool, thanks!".  How easy is that?!!

Champagne Grapes Make a Fun Snack

Aren't these beautiful!?  Champagne Grapes are in season and you can get them at Publix and Whole Foods right now.  They are a fun snack for the kids because they are small and easy for them to handle.  They have a very mellow, sweet taste.  Definitely pick some up on your next shopping trip.

Shucking Beans on a Friday Night

Beans, Magical Beans...all from our garden!
Vineet and Anika are proud of their bean harvest
Anika's hands busy at work!

How do you spend your Friday nights? At our house we spend at least one or two Friday's a month preparing food from our garden for storage so we can use it later. I love beans because you can dry them and store them in an airtight container for months. They grow really well in Florida, so all my Florida friends make sure you plant beans next Spring!

These beans will make a wonderful crockpot soup!







Wednesday, August 18, 2010

My Favorite Smoothie Boosters

Pictured above are two of my favorite smoothie boosters, whole golden flax seeds (not Oil!!) and Matcha Green Tea. The flax increases fiber consumption, reduces risk of cardiovascular disease, helps to drop cholesterol levels, and reduces inflammation in the body!  It's one of those foods you need to consume daily.

Green Tea contains polyphenols encluding EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) "which has been shown in laboratory studies to inhibit the growth of several types of breast cancer cells and to inhibit an enzyme called urokinase that is involved in tumor metastasis". source article: Green Tea and Breast Cancer by Dr. Pam Popper 

Green Tea doesn't just make an impact on breast cancer cells, it works the same for prostate as well!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Raw Vegan food...is it always "healthy"?

I love the creativity of raw food chefs.  They can take a typical Standard American Diet dish and totally raw it up.  Pictured above is a raw meal called "I am Fabulous" that I ordered from Cafe Gratitude on a recent vacation in Healdsburg, CA.  You might be able to guess from looking at it that it is a raw lasagna.  The "pasta sheets" are cucumbers sliced thin lengthwise.  The "cheese" is a ricotta made from cashews and walnuts and the inside layers are filled with mashed olives, basil and olive oil.  The dressing on the salad with beautiful sprouts is made from figs, walnuts and oil. 

As most of you know from my posts on this blog, I am an advocate of a high raw, low fat diet.  However, I am not a 100% raw foodist.  I believe that certain foods provide more nutrients and are better digested lightly steamed or cooked than raw.  Foods like broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, collards and kale. Collards and kale work well in green smoothies, but we do need to chew our food more often than drinking it from a blender.  I believe we have teeth for a reason!

While the lasagna was beautiful in presentation and appeared to be made of the freshest organic ingredients, I have a hard time calling it "healthy" when it was obviously very high in fat.  I do not know the exact fat grams but I would guess it was at least 30 grams.  That is a lot of fat for a person to digest in one meal.  I split this meal between my kids and I still had a hard time finishing it because I could feel the oil having an effect on my body.  

Oils are low nutrient, high calorie foods. They do not contain nutrients, fiber or phytochemicals that were in the original seed or fruit.  Oils contain minimal amounts of Vitamin E, making it of very little value in the diet.  One thing I do want to make sure everyone knows is to not cook with oils, or least try to avoid cooking foods at high temps with oil.  See my article on my website about oils for more details.

At home I eat a very low fat diet and use almost no oil.  My main sources of fat are avocado, nuts and seeds and I use those sparingly. There are traces of fat in grains, fruits and vegetables, so I don't obsess about whether I'm getting enough fat.  I can just tell by how I feel when I've had too much fat...tired and sluggish, with upset digestion.

I have been following Eat For Health for several years and have coached dozens of individuals on Eat for Health who have lost weight and regained health.  It is also much easier to follow and maintain than the popular raw food diets currently circulating.

If you are looking for a 100% raw food plan that is also low fat, I recommend the 80/10/10 Diet by Douglas Graham and Frederic Patenaude's The Raw Secrets.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Subscribe to What a Healthy Family Eats and enter to win FREE books!

Every month, starting this month, I will be giving away a book that supports a low fat animal free plant based diet.  I will be giving away personal favorites that I have read and tested recipes from.

You can enter to win by subscribing to my blog AND posting comments.  Each time you post a comment you increase your chances of winning the book.  This month I am giving away The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn.  This is the best book to give to any person in your life who just doesn't get the whole concept that you can eat an animal free diet, ENJOY eating, feel satisfied, and be healthy!  There are lots of hearty recipes in this book that will satisfy even the most die hard meat eater. 

Good luck and thanks for supporting my blog!