To celebrate Memorial Day, Integrative Nutrition is offering a chance to save on the cost of enrollment if you enroll between Tuesday, May 21st – Memorial Day, Monday, May 27th.

You’ll be able to save $500 + an additional $500 if you pay in full. That’s up to $1,000 in savings!

The next class begins in July and this is the perfect time to enroll because you’ll be able to get started on your materials and get to know the community before the course begins, so you’ll be ahead of the curve.

This is a very rare opportunity since IIN has greatly reduced the frequency of these savings offers so give them a call if you don’t want to miss out.

Let me know if you have any questions about the school, I’m happy to share my personal experience with you.

Space will be limited so call (877)733-1520 or email
      Coachblair@integrativenutrition.com right away and tell them I referred you!

ps, if you’re not ready to begin, but want to take advantage of these savings, you can enroll, and start when you’re ready!

Homemade nut and seed milks are best, of course, but I used to purchase boxed milks too, and they were always organic.

There’s an ingredient in boxed milks that I’m no longer confident in recommending. It’s carrageenan, a food additive that’s extracted from red seaweed and is used as a thickening agent.  This additive has been controversial for decades, but the FDA and other nations continue to stand behind it. Sadly, our standards for organic certification in the US do not protect us from this additive.

Carrageenan is also found in soy milk, cheeses, yogurts and ice creams, even baby foods, and studies show that it can cause gastrointestinal inflammation and higher rates of lesions, ulcerations, and even malignant tumors.  Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome have been tied to this as well.

For a list of products that contain and do not contain carrageenan, please visit the Cornucopia website, and download their free report on this subject and their shopping guide.

For an easy recipe for homemade hemp milk, click here.

These small and mild tasting seeds contain all of the amino acids necessary, making them ideal for vegans and raw foodists. Hemp also provides magnesium, iron and potassium; minerals we’re often lacking in.

I use hemp seeds in my smoothies for added protein, and I use them to top to my salads almost every day. My husband loves hemp seeds on his morning granola, and my son thinks they taste like pine nuts!

If you haven’t discovered this tasty seed yet, now’s the time. Here’s my favorite recipe for hemp milk…

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup hemp seeds
• 1 dropper liquid stevia OR 1 tbsp coconut sugar to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• possible additions, depending on your taste level (I mean taste buds!):  cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, or all three.  You can also add raw cacao to create a chocolate milk.

Directions:

Add ingredients to your high speed blender and blend.  Adjust your seasonings and sweetness level. You can strain the milk through a nut milk bag (purchased at your local health food store) or use a cheesecloth.

I prefer mine not strained; in the Vitamix you might get a mild “grit” at the bottom when ingredients settle, but I find that if I mix it prior to using it doesn’t bother me.  And I don’t want to strain out that beneficial fiber!

Not only does coconut taste good, but it’s credited with numerous nutritional benefits, among them anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory.  The coconut has been a staple of pacific islanders for centuries, and is said to promote weight loss, a healthy digestion, and provide immunity support.

For a quick round up of how I use this marvelous nut, daily, read on..

1) Coconut Water: Said to be a form of natural electrolytes, coconut water is my drink of choice for my son, and I’m glad he loves it.  This is the perfect way to hydrate in warm weather, and an excellent choice before, and or, after a work out. I love adding it to my smoothies, both the green and creamy ones, for a nourishing, hydrating boost to my day.

2) Coconut Pulp: I use fresh coconut pulp as “ribbons” and to create a raw “pasta” dish, or I add a couple of tablespoons to my morning smoothie.  Dried coconut pulp can be purchased as flakes or shreds, and can be used in your smoothies too, or as a base to many raw desserts.

3) Coconut Sugar: Coconut sugar is my current go-to choice for a sugar substitute, especially when baking or creating raw treats.  It’s delicious and tastes sweet, not bitter. In a crystal form, it’s sometimes sold as Palm Sugar, and has a quality similar to raw sugar.  This is delicious in granola, for a crystal effect like cane sugar, or sprinkled on your morning oatmeal or quinoa.  Coconut sugar also comes in a liquid form, handy for making desserts and raw treats as well.

4) Coconut Aminos: I use coconut aminos as a soy substitute, since I’m soy intolerant, and it provides the same effect as soy sauce when I make a stir fry.  This is also great as a sushi dip. It’s made from coconut sap that’s been aged, and sea salt.

5) Coconut Oil: The mother ship of my kitchen, and bathroom! Seriously, I use this everyday for something.  Coconut oil is a heart healthy fat, and can be used safely (without going rancid due to it’s high heat tolerance) for frying anything.  My son loves his eggs cooked in this, I use it for vegetables too.  In the bathroom, we all use this as a body oil, before, or during, or after a shower.  I like to add essential oils to mine, grapefruit in the morning and lavender at night.  I put coconut oil on my hair before I shampoo it for conditioning, and I use it on my face in the winter, if I’m feeling dry.  This also makes a wonderful cuticle oil.

That’s my round up, how do YOU use coconuts in your daily routine?

I pulled together some healthy solutions for your Mom or Grandmom to keep them young, and frisky, and beautiful as always.

Here are a few things that I’ve shared with my Mother over the past few years;

1) Probiotics: A healthy gut is the key to a strong immunity, and the digestive system can weaken with age, depending on your diet and lifestyle. Adding probiotics to your Mom’s daily routine can help her with digestive issues, elimination, and ultimately, strengthen her immunity.  Translation: she’ll feel better and not get sick as often.

2) Enzymes: Your body produces enzymes to assist with digestion and  help absorb the nutrients present in your food.  Aging can often mean diminished enzyme production leading to digestive disorders like belching, gas, and lower tract discomfort, not to mention an inability to absorb nutrients that are necessary to health.  A broad spectrum enzyme can assist in digestion, and eliminate some of these symptoms.  Think of enzymes as a fountain of youth.

3) Vitamins B and C:  The essential B and C Vitamins are not stored in your body, and therefore must be replenished daily.  Both Vitamin B and C are diminished by stress and aging, so adding in a good Multi-B Complex and Vitamin C supplement can boost your Mom’s energy.  Make sure it contains a daily dose of B12, and if not, add in a B12 supplement for an extra boost. Watch Mom go!

4) Magnesium: Some Mom’s have trouble calming down at the end of the day or  falling asleep at night. Magnesium is an essential mineral that many women are deficient in.   Magnesium helps Mom’s body absorb calcium and therefore strengthens her bones, plus  it’s relaxing and has an anti-anxiety effect.    I recommend a cup of CALM, a powdered drink, by Peter Gillam for nighttime.  Go slowly, as this can loosen stools if you take too much.  A warm magnesium drink at the end of the day is much healthier for Mom than a daily glass of wine.

Happy Mother’s Day to you, and your Mom, and your Grandmom!!

With love,

Holli xo

The resulting portraits were, in most cases, unrecognizable.  The other portrait described by a stranger, in all cases were kinder,  and actually looked like the subject.

Sad, right? And true about women for the most part. We’re often our worst critics, harsh and unloving to a fault often about our own appearance.

The funny add on to this story is that somebody did a spoof on the way men view themselves, and in the original portrait a self described movie star appeared; guys described themselves as George Clooney look-a-likes, or Brad Pitt, when nothing was further from the truth.

Where does that body confidence come from? Are mothers raising their boys with more confidence than their daughters? Is it the media, women’s magazines and good old Barbie that begins impossible comparisons at a young age?

I had already seen both videos when I caught Bobbie Thomas on the Today Show last week.  Bobbie is the Style Expert for the Today Show, and what I’ve always loved about her segments is that Bobbie seems like a real gal, in fact I just learned that she was a rape crisis counselor in her early career. That’s as real as it gets.

Bobbie shot a video of herself and a group of real women sitting around in their bras and Spanx, talking about their bodies- given that a bra and Spanx is my go-to under the dress outfit, it was like looking in a mirror, but what struck me again was that no one was really happy with their bodies.

Everyone of them said that they’d felt “fat” that week, expressed fear of bathing suit season coming up, and one woman complained that she didn’t have hips.  These women expressed fear about their curves, and dismay at both having and not having them, and the result was one of confusion.  (see the video below to watch)

Is every women this unhappy or insecure about their face or body?  Are women today destined to a life of “not good enough”or has it always been that way?

I know I have days where I am happy with my looks, and it’s usually when I feel great, and have been taking care of myself with good food and movement. You knew I was going to say that, but it’s true.

I’ve been the gal who describes herself with discouragement and sadness, and I’ve lived in fear of bathing suit season, so it’s not automatic for me. I have to work on it.

I learned how to ramp up my nutrition, boost my moods and endorphins and get as good as I can get for where I am in life.  I’ve never felt perfect, far from it, but I try to keep my foods in balance and self nurturing and love as part of my daily routine. Some days it’s hard, but other times, when its all rolling, nothing feels better.

Share your story here, and let me know how you feel about this topic.  How satisfied are you about what’s under your dress?  If you’re not, what do you do about it to get back on track?

PS Bobbie Thomas has a new book that I’m ordering called The Power of Style.  I’m guessing it’s geared towards women of all sizes and styles. 

It’s more of an assemble, rather than a recipe, but I think you’ll love it.

Ingredients

1 slice of your favorite healthy bread (I prefer Ezekial sprouted whole grain, or gluten free)

1/2 avocado, sliced thin

squirt of fresh lemon

sprinkle of red pepper flakes

drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

twist of Himalayan sea salt

Toast your bread, and layer the avocado on top. Squeeze a bit of lemon, sprinkle some red pepper, and drizzle with the best olive oil you can find.  Finish off with a few twists of Himalayan sea salt.

This is a wonderful breakfast or lunch.

A Place at the Table: one nation, underfed

Actor Jeff Bridges comments, “If any other nation in the world treated their kids this way, we’d be at war.” He refers to hunger in America, an issue being brought to light by a new film called A Place at the Table.

Hunger is not something normally associated with America, to the contrary, we hear and read studies about obesity epidemics and how Americans are getting fatter, especially our children. We see images of overweight kids, with children’s cartoons beginning to reflect their changing stature, yet hunger affects every single county in our nation, and it demands to be addressed.

In A Place at the Table, a new film by directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush, we’re invited to examine the lives of three separate individuals struggling with food insecurity.

A single mother trying to create a better life for her children, a fifth grader from Colorado who relies on friends and neighbors to feed her while she suffers with attention issues at school because she’s hungry, and a second grader with health issues, asthma, made worse by the poor quality of her inexpensive diet.

Up to 50 million Americans rely on charity programs currently to feed themselves and their families, and many or most of those charity programs can only afford to offer cheap, fast and processed food.

The families who are highlighted in this film, and families throughout the US are eating within a limited budget and fill up on fast, cheap and processed foods, resulting in a lack of nutrition and leading to emotional, intellectual and physical issues.

The film chronicles the history of this epidemic, beginning with America’s hunger issue in the late 1960’s and the attention then given to it by a caring public.

The 1970’s in American gave us a school breakfast program, food stamps and an expanded food program, and by the late 1970’s, there was very little hunger left. The 1980’s ushered in increased defense spending, tax cuts and the myth that, according to the film, charity programs could pick up the slack and replace government programs with the kindness of strangers.

Tom Colicchio, celebrity chef and contributor to A Place a the Table, says that America is producing more food than ever before, but our underprivileged citizens are undernourished, many existing on food stamps amounting to $3.00 a day.

The film shows a woman with a charity food bank making a delivery to a family, knowing that the food she’s taking is nutritionally empty. It breaks her heart, but she justifies that this will at least fill the empty belly, the void left from hunger. One of the items she brings is a huge grocery store cake, complete with colored sugar frosting. The recipients appear to be overweight, maybe even obese, and they’re hungry. They thank her, as the young overweight daughter appears thrilled to have cake to eat for breakfast each day that week.

The reality is that 1/6 of Americans face hunger today, and that this generation of kids will be the first to live sicker and die younger than their parents. There is not a shortage of food in our country, but there is a glut of cheap, unhealthy food and huge swaths of food deserts where healthy food is either unavailable or too expensive.

Our system is broken, and the future of our country is at stake. The implications of poor nutrition and hunger are social, economic and cultural, and it affects us all.

For more information, and to find out how to see A Place at the Table, please visit http://www.magpictures.com/aplaceatthetable/. (I viewed it on ITunes)

To get involved, and lend your voice, time or money, please visit www.feedingamerica.org

It’s called GMO’s, or genetically modified foods.  A few wealthy companies have board members in prominent places throughout our past and current government, and as a result GMO legislation appears to move quickly and safely throughout our legal system.

Never was this more clearly demonstrated than a couple of weeks ago, when a bill passed protecting GMO giant Monsanto from future legislation should anything negative associated with GMO’s ever be discovered. This bill was slipped into a larger bill, and signed by our President.

Since then, over 300,000 Americans have taken issue with this back door approach.

The truth is that Monsanto may indeed suffer lawsuits and damaging press in the future as more and more studies, both organized and anecdotal, come to light about the effects of GMO’s.

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) tested GMO’s and reported that “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with Genetically Modified (GM) food, including infertility, immune system problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system.” They asked physicians to advise patients to avoid GM foods. FDA scientists warned that GM foods could create hard-to-detect side effects, such as allergies, new diseases, and nutritional issues.

The latest studies, peer reviewed and published in Food and Chemical Toxicology showed something even more sinister. In a first-of-its-kind animal study, French researchers discovered that rats fed genetically engineered corn or exposed over a long period to the active ingredient in the weed killer Roundup suffered mammary tumors, showed kidney and liver damage, and died early. The GMO corn used in the study was Monsanto’s NK603 seed, a variety created to live through heavy and frequent dousing with Roundup.

GMO’s are potentially the worst of the worst of the non-negotiable foods for your diet. It’s the unknowns and untested risks involved that place this at the top of my list. The United States does not demand that food producers label GM foods, most likely because the majority of products lining the inner aisles of the grocery stores; the packages, mixes, soups, cereals, meals, breads, condiments, snacks, pastas, and more, contain GM ingredients.  Some fear that bringing this to light with forced labeling has the potential to damage sales and hurt the economy.  In just 10 to 15 short years, GMO’s have infiltrated our food supply. In the average U.S. super market, thousands of the food items offered contain GM ingredients.

The European Union led the way with laws demanding labeling in 1998, followed by Japan, New Zealand, Australia, China, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Indonesia, Russia, India, Chile, Taiwan, and South Africa. As of 2013, the United States and Canada, two giant producers of GM crops remained conspicuously absent from this list.
Our economy would be negatively impacted.

Thank you, dear friends, for listening and allowing me this forum to speak to you about issues that effect us all.