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Green “Moothie”

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This blog post is from one of my contributors Sara.

Yes, that’s how my son says “smoothies.”  He begs for them!  Seriously, both you and your kids can benefit from a daily green smoothie. It’s a great way to get veggies into a picky eater (adult or child!)  I got on the smoothie kick as part of a cleanse after attending a detox seminar at Red Mountain Spa (awesome place) and reading the book “Clean.”   As Dustin talks about on his website, it’s important to get this post-workout nourishment  for your muscles.  (no more than one hour afterwards).

Sara’s Green Smoothie

2 cups coconut water

1 cup lowfat milk or almond milk

1 scoop protein powder such as featured on Dustin’s site http://dustinmaherfitness.com/prograde/

½ ripe banana or 1 cup frozen berries

1 apple or pear, skin on, cored

1 avocado

Fresh ginger- one inch

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp cinnamon

Large Handful of spinach or other greens

½ cucumber

1 tbs. Chia seeds (Selba)

Blend until smooth! Serves 2. It keeps in the fridge just fine for a day.

Other things that I love to add to smoothies:

Flaxseed oil

Dates (great to use to sweeten if you don’t have fruit on hand)

Agave Nectar

Parsley (you wouldn’t believe how good it is for you!)

What’s your favorite “moothie” additive?

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My Secret to Drinking More Water…

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by Shelly K, contributor to Dustin's blog

….The Right Water Bottle!

A couple years ago, when I wanted to reduce/eliminate sippy cup usage by my two boys, I set out to find an appropriate drinking container that would accomplish the following: 1) be relatively spill proof, while offering the boys some control; 2) provide an oportunity to drink plenty of water anywhere; 3) reduce reliance on disposable containers while out and about (like at the pool).  To accomplish this task, I needed to define the criteria required for these drinking containers.     

So my list criteria for the perfect water bottle ensued:     

Continue Reading →

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New Years Resolutions – who needs’em!?

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HI! This is Patty – one of Dustin’s bloggers.

This is an email I sent my group of FMFLers that work out together, thought it would also be a good blog!

Continue Reading →

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Christmas Cookie Conondrum

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The final product

Hi there, this is Katy one of Dustin’s blog contributors.  This is one of my favorite times of the year.  I love all of the family traditions that go along with the holidays, but there is one tradition that I seriously thought about cancelling this year.  It’s our annual Christmas cookie baking weekend.  My mom, my sister, and our 5 young children all get together for a full weekend of baking.  This typically involves tons of butter, sugar, flour, chocolate…. well, you get the idea.  As you may have guessed from my previous blog “To Bake or Not to Bake”, I am a sucker for cookies.  So, instead of cancelling, I challenged myself to find a decent sugar cookie recipe that was better for us then the one we’ve used for years.  Continue Reading →

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Where do your eggs come from?

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Hey, this is Melissa Kirby, one of Dustin’s blog contributors.

What do you think about when you pick up a carton of eggs?

I wonder how the chickens that laid those eggs are treated.  Did they spend their days scratching and pecking for bugs outside in the sunshine or were they crammed together in a dark barn where they could barely move?  The latter is not only inhumane, it degrades the quality of the eggs as well.  Dustin proves this point in a previous post he did on nutrition in eggs.

"Cage Free" Factory Farm

Free Range Family Farm

Free range eggs in the Madison area cost between $3 and $4 for a dozen versus the $1 to $2 for “supermarket” eggs.  The difference in the quality and flavor are well worth the price difference.

The only way to know if you are truly getting free range eggs are to buy them from a farm who’s practices you are familiar with.  I get my eggs from Daval’s Bison Farm or Keene Organics.  Search for local farms in your area and ask them how they care for their chickens.  Farmers markets are good places to find vendors.

If you have to buy your eggs from a grocery store here are some things to look for:

  • Chickens are not vegetarians.  They eat bugs, grubs and grass.  If the carton says “vegetarian fed” they are not given access to the outside (no, a concrete pad does not count as “outside”).
  • The color of the egg shell depends on the type of chicken laying the egg, not how they were fed.
  • The more orange the yolk the more nutrients it contains.
  • Companies like to play with wording.
    • “Cage Free” is a term not regulated by the USDA.  It means the chickens are not confined to a pen.  They can still be stuck in a barn.
    • “Free Range” means the chickens had SOME access to outside.  What exactly that means is not clearly defined.
    • “Organic” only means the chickens were given organic feed.

Hopefully these guidelines give you a more clear understanding of what to look for when egg shopping.

I have really only scratched the surface (pun intended)on the issues relating to farming and marketing practices surrounding the egg industry.

What comments and questions do you have for me?

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