Month / October 2012

by tessbrennan

Want to get healthy, not sure where to start.

When I started trying to get healthier, I wasn’t sure where to start. I tried diets of all types and yo-yo’d for years, but without a road map of where I was going, it was a futile attempt.  Lose weight, pack it back on plus some more.

Today, I want to share some resources that could help.

1. Decide WHY you want to get healthier, why EXACTLY and WRITE
IT DOWN!

2. Journal what you eat and drink, EVERYTHING, for a week.

a. Keep a written journal of everything you put in your mouth.

b. Use an app like http://myfitnesspal.com I really like this one to use on my phone AND my laptop… whichever I choose. (I also use the Shaklee 180 app that comes with my maintenance program.)

c. The average American over-consumes 300 calories a day. It isn’t
until we begin to pay very close attention to what we consume that
we realize where our challenges lie. (Many times this is from Drinks) This does NOT mean to substitute with “sugar free” options. Artificial sweeteners add a whole new set of problems.

3. Begin to move – the options here are limitless.

a.  I did it with walking, lots of walking. Park and walk the whole
outdoor mall, walk around the block, walk a 5K event, walk if
you haven’t “moved” with purpose in ages, simply begin small
walk to the mailbox and back, do it twice if you can.

b.  Join a gym, a lot of my friends have done this, I prefer to spend
my dollars elsewhere.

c.  Hire a personal trainer.  Get specific advice that works for YOU.

d.  Pick a cause & work toward an event. (I have done 60 mile walks)

4. Choose healthier options that taste GREAT!

a.  Knock out all artificial sweeteners, colors, & flavors.

b.  Look for new recipes, or do what I do, make healthier substitutions
for some of the ingredients.

c. Pick 1 thing and do it till you’ve got it down, then pick something
else to master.

IMG-20111030-00286
Starting line for day 3 of the 2011 Tampa 3-day, 60-mile walk for Breast Cancer.

For more suggestions or a personal consultation to get you started on your own, personal map for improved health, contact me.

by tessbrennan

Healthy Pumpkin Bread

We purchased a big pumpkin from the store and I was really worried about how it was going to cook up, since many sites say not to use the large pumpkins.

Well, it worked GREAT! We got 3 quarts of pumpkin puree’ and it is delicious.  We froze 1 1/2 quarts, made the following recipe with 1 pint, saved a pint for smoothies, and are making pumpkin muffins tonight with the other pint.

How we puréed the pumpkin.

half pumpkinPumpkin puree

Cut the pumpkin in half, set it in a baking dish with a 1/4 inch of water in it.

Bake the pumpkin 1/2 for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. Take it carefully out of the oven so as to NOT splash HOT water all over yourself, flip the now cooked and soft pumpkin over into a large bowl and then scoop out the inner flesh.

I scoop the flesh into my blender and blend until it is puréed then dump it into the bowl and repeat until I have it all done.  This pumpkin yielded 3 quarts of pumpkin puree.

Now for the Pumpkin Bread Recipe. (leave the oven set at 350 degrees F)

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of pumpkin puree
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup veg. oil
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2/3 cup of water
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 cup organic raw sugar
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 3 cups of unbleached flour

 

  1. In a large bowl, I mix the pumpkin puree, eggs, oils, water, & sugar until it is very well blended.
  2. In another bowl, I whisk together all the dry ingredients.
  3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet until JUST blended.
  4. Pour into oiled bread pans. (I used coconut oil to grease them)
  5. Bake for about 50 minutes in my preheated oven and they were perfect.
  6. Loaves are done when a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.
  7. Cool loaves on a wire rack, slice and serve!

I hope you enjoy this bread as much as my family and co-workers have!

Pumpkin bread

Here is what the puree looks like in my freezer.  I freeze it in ziplocks in 2 cup servings, so when I want to make a recipe that calls for a can of pumpkin, I have my own pure pumpkin to cook with. Smile

pumpkin in the freezer

by tessbrennan

Science mimics life–children with degenerative diseases.

I’m amazed and somewhat disheartened at the large number of children we see these days with degenerative diseases that, in days gone by, were only diseases of the aged.

Why the change? The change, I believe, is very multi-faceted.  I will attach some videos that explain a bit why I feel this way.

  1. Our Dietary choices – it is becoming common knowledge that the Standard American Diet (sad) is grossly lacking in nutrition and the sustenance our bodies need to continue building healthy cells and thus healthy bodies & babies.  An example of a study that showed very similar results in test animals was Pottinger’s Cats:
    Dr. Price & Pottenger’s Cats (6 minutes 46 seconds)

    This site also offers some excellent insight to what these studies and research mean to each of us.

  2. Our Body Care choices – In an effort to be the best looking, the youngest looking, the tannest, have the smoothest, most-manageable hair, yet we – many times – don’t take the time to stop and read ingredients and believe that because they are sold over the counter they must be safe.  However the industry regulates itself and writes its own rules… and if you use an average of 8 products a day under the “allowable toxic limit” of 1, say .80 then after you slather on your 8 products, you are now at a potential of 6.4x above the “safe level”.
    The Story of Cosmetics (8 minutes 18 seconds)

     

  3. The Cleaning Products we choose – We bring products into our homes that are advertised to “kill germs” to “clean without work” and such sound great in the advertising but can actually harm our families.  We bring in neurotoxins and other poisons with the intention of protecting our children.

    Toxic Brew Part one (9 minutes 23 seconds)

  4. Unclean/un-pure water – Finally, we no longer drink fresh, clean water.  We drink water from bottles that can leach toxins into the water when the bottles are transported and allowed to reach hot temperatures, our tap water contains Flouride and we aren’t given a choice in the matter. Antibiotics, hormones, and pharmaceuticals & chlorine are showing up in our tap water.  Fresh water is becoming more difficult to come by.

What do we do?

We stay calm, focus on each issue one at a time, and make a conscious choice to pay attention to prevention and protect our families, our children, our grandchildren and the other future generations.  We’ve voted to make the popular products available with our dollars for years.

As we begin redirecting our spending to healthier choices, 1 choice at a time we begin to see a difference in our own household, then those of our friends, and eventually our world.

The change begins with me.

For more information on ways to begin redirecting toward healthier choices or for a personal consultation and road map for you and your household, contact me.

Make it a GREAT day!

 

by tessbrennan

Bigger isn’t always better, or is it?

I wasn’t sure about raising this topic, it’s a bit touchy, then my friend told me to go for it, so here it is! In a story run by MSNBC today it was stated that “Penis Size Does Matter” 

So, why the title? Well that comes from Dr. Oz.

“And, losing weight improves the sex lives of men in another way. "If you lose 35 pounds, if you’re a male, you are gaining one inch of penis length," he says. Often when a man is carrying a lot of extra weight, Dr. Oz says a fat bundle builds up and starts to surround the shaft. As a man drops the weight, that fat starts to recede.”

(I do want to clarify that by losing 35 pounds he means 35 pounds of extra weight not by losing 35 of your 70 pound body, sorry.)

I’m not saying that the size of a man’s penis makes a difference one way or another, I am not a scientist. 

obese

What I am saying is if this: If losing 10-100 pounds or more could help you in any way, I am here to assist you, coach and support you. I’ve lost over 55 pounds and kept it off for over 5 1/2 years and I have a host of colleagues that are here to work with us as you dive into your goal.

Contact me for a consultation to see what would be the best plan of action to get you back on the road to better health, and maybe better… Smile

by tessbrennan

Can’t believe I’ve been drinking coffee with Beaver Butt!

So, I start working for my friend, Mark Ackerman, and he makes coffee at the office.  I love a good cup of coffee (just one) with some flavored creamer… or at least I did.

Last weekend I was looking over a blog by Sean Croxton and this morning, my coffee had an off flavor that I just couldn’t overcome to complete drinking the cup. (I also felt the need to share such information with my co-workers.) Smile

Natural_Flavoring

So I did some research this morning and here is some of what I found… Wikipedia stated,

“Food use: In the United States, castoreum as a food additive is considered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be generally recognized as safe,[11] often referenced simply as a "natural

flavoring" in products’ lists of ingredients. While it can be used in both foods and beverages as a vanilla, raspberry and strawberry flavoring,[12] the annual industry consumption is around 300 pounds.[13]

Castoreum has been traditionally used in Scandinavia for flavoring snaps commonly referred to as "Bäverhojt".[14]”

Then I moved to health.com to get their take on the issue.

“While it sounds downright disgusting, the FDA says it’s GRAS, meaning it’s “generally recognized as safe.” You won’t see this one on the food label because it’s generally listed as “natural flavoring.” It’s natural all right—naturally icky.”

Finally, I found a bit more information “According to G.A. Burdock in a 2007 article published in the International Journal of Toxicology, “Castoreum extract… is a natural product prepared by direct hot-alcohol extraction of castoreum, the dried and macerated castor sac scent glands (and their secretions) from the male or female beaver. It has been used extensively in perfumery and has been added to food as a flavor ingredient for at least 80 years. Both the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regard castoreum extract as generally recognized as safe (GRAS).”

When castoreum occurs in a food, it does not have to be listed by its name. It is considered a “natural flavor” and may be so designated on a food package according to the CFR: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=501.22

Here is the interview with Sean Croxton explaining Beaver Butt!

Whether Beaver Butt is true or not, it should be understood, that just because something states it contains “natural flavoring” that “natural” derivative may not be from what you were originally thinking… 

I will now purchase products that LIST their ingredients rather than HIDING them with words like “natural”.  “Natural Beaver Butt” is something I’d prefer to be CERTAIN is NOT in my coffee! Smile

by tessbrennan

Candy–1 step at a time!

I am so excited about a new find, introduced to me by my friend, Shirley Koritnik.  An option for candy that my daughter can have safely, (corn allergy) and that I can feel good about (no artificial ingredients) as an occasional treat for her.

UNREAL CANDY

Meet UnReal!  WOW… Here you can see what its made of and who is eating it. 

Tom Brady + Gisele Bundchen + Matt Damon + John Legend + Jack Dorsey + Mark Hyman = UnJunked!

 

Now, when you feel the need for a sweet snack, you have an option that doesn’t contain all of the artificial schtuff.  You have a choice! UNREAL!

Dr. Mark Hyman has written an excellent blog article on this as well, you can find it here.

We vote, every day with our $$’s.  Vote today for something that is VERY UnReal!

Make it a GREAT Day! 

Oh, almost forgot… places we can find it in SW Florida…  Walgreens, CVS, Michael’s, Staples, and very soon…TARGET!   I can hardly wait!!!!

by tessbrennan

Making Healthy Tomato Sauce From Scratch

With the recent knowledge of our daughter’s allergy to corn, our lives are rapidly changing and its not been easy, so we are now learning to read labels and discovering that most everything, processed at all, contains a corn product of some kind & it allows me to eliminate things I may not realize may even be in our foods.

Tonight, I took a bunch of tomatoes our neighbor gave us and am processing them into a homemade spaghetti sauce that I will freeze in quart bags for use in the future.  I began by processing the raw tomatoes.

After processing the tomatoes I threw everything into the crock pot to slow cook for around 8 hours.

Here’s my recipe: (sort of – I cook by handfuls like Grandma Ringer did)

Grandma Ringer

10-12 Fresh, ripe tomatoes (processed as above)

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 cup of chopped, fresh onions

1/2 cup of grated zucchini (I shred & freeze mine so I have it to use when I need it)

1/2 cup of shredded carrots

3-5 cloves of Garlic sliced thin

2 teaspoons of oregano

4 teaspoons of basil

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon sugar

Instructions:

  1. Pour Olive oil in bottom of crock, spread out the onions.
  2. Spread zucchini over onions (or drop frozen cubes around)
  3. Spread out carrots
  4. dump in peeled tomatoes & garlic
  5. Sprinkle spices over the tomatoes and stick the bay leaves down in it.
  6. Cook on low for 8-10 hours
  7. Stir, break up tomatoes further if need be
  8. Cool & pour into quart ziplocks and freeze flat.

When ready to enjoy it, thaw a quart, add some cooked ground beef, ground turkey, or shredded chicken and serve over whole wheat pasta.   Yummers!!!

Thank you Grandma Ringer (95 yrs old) for taking the time to teach me to cook with handfuls, and a love of the art of cooking that many have never been taught.  I love you!