"Let Food Be Thy Medicine." -Hippocrates

People seem to think that our family has a pretty healthy diet. If that means that we absolutely do not go to McDonalds, they are right. If that means we do not have a HUGE tub of sour cream in our fridge, they are wrong :)

We haven't always been the healthiest of eaters. Like most things that last, it has been (and continues to be) a gradual process; we are becoming more aware and more disciplined and creative with each passing year. Friends keep asking me to post recipes on my blog, so I will continue to do that. It is fun to get new ideas from other families. I am so guilty of thinking things are so hard and impossible and time-consuming (like making tortillas) and then finding out after years of avoiding that "thing" that it really is super easy.

One thing we do, that may be a little different is giving our boys the same food that we are eating, from about the time they are 7-8 months old. Like today, we made taco salad, and instead of giving Max a jar of carrots, or just the cheese and avocado, we take everything that we are eating and blend it up in our mini food processor for him to eat. Maybe we've just gotten lucky with kids that will generally eat anything, and occasionally Levi will tell me, "I don't like that!"...but I think that they have been trained to accept a variety of tastes and textures. For instance, if I am making a somewhat spicy Indian curry, I will blend up the rice and curry and stir it into some whole milk yogurt. Here's a snack tip too. Sometimes we give them the typical cheerios or goldfish, but do you know what is way better? They love snacking on garbanzo beans! I make them from dry beans (from the bulk section at Whole Foods) and put just a tiny bit of salt in the water and that is a great, nutritious (and inexpensive) snack that wastes essentially nothing...no big boxes to throw away or recycle.

Back to taco salads. We eat them a lot. They are just so easy to throw together, especially since we eat vegetarian ones. I think choosing not to buy much meat helps leave room in our budget for buying more organics. I definitely can't afford to buy everything at Whole Foods, but there are a few things that I always buy organic. Like apples, lettuces, parsley, cilantro, potatoes, etc. Things that are not as important to get organically grown (from a nutritional standpoint) are: Bananas, avocados, broccoli, and onions. We often do not buy organic tomatoes, but at Sam's there are ones that are certified pesticide-free. That works for me. I, personally feel so much better when I eat well. Not to mention, my kids are in their formative years, and I really don't want them taking in a lot of chemicals, pesticides, or preservatives.

And a note about Sam's...I broke up with that Walmart big box place several months ago, but we recently got back together. Walmart and Sam's are absolutely terrible in so many ways. They have essentially put out all of the mom-and-pop owned grocery stores, hardware stores, and countless other types of stores and small businesses across the nation. They exploit so many people and nations in order for us to get our cheap things. I hate them for that. I believe that I do vote with my dollar, and I really try to support local businesses as often as I can. I don't buy a lot at Sam's and I rarely go to Walmart (except to develop pictures or pick up Zach's insulin,) but I did the math and figured that I would save about $100 per year on mixed greens alone if I got back together with Sam's. We go through about a container a week, and they are 3.99 at Sam's and 5.99 at Reasors and Whole Foods. So now, when I walk into Sam's, I know that I can only buy 5 or 6 things, and they all have to be ridiculously healthy. Otherwise, it is no longer saving me money or making my life better. I will buy a pack of 5 avocados, mixed greens, a huge bag of fresh broccoli, a 2lb block of Tillamook cheese, and a big bag of almonds or walnuts, or something like that.

I also wanted to share that fish oil is a potent anti-depressant and mood stabilizer. It works for me anyway. I take a couple of teaspoons a day (at separate times) mixed with apple juice. If I stay on my fish oil, I don't need to take any anti-depressants at all. I wish I would have known about fish oil supplementation when I was 20 :) Oh well.

Here are some pics from today's taco salads:

Oh yeah, and in the one with Levi's funny face, he is not crying. He is having so much fun, he can hardly contain himself. In the one with Max's hand at his mouth, he is signing "eat." What a love. Hope you've enjoyed this post. I'd love to hear if you liked any of the ideas and would like to hear if you have any similar ideas for me. Thank you for reading!