Veronica’s Blog

Sure, Veronica makes Pure Bars delicious, but she also makes blog posts interesting. Follow our founder’s musings, tips, and interviews on Veronica’s Blog.

Monday, April 16th, 2012

The Lunchbox Fund Event Raises Over $200,000 For Impoverished Children

Rain Phoenix and Veronica

The only thing better than being able to dress up and go out for a night in New York, is to dress up and go out in New York to raise money for an amazing cause. I was thrilled to be a part of the Lunchbox Fund Book Fair at the Peidmonte Room, Del Posto, March 21.

Topaz Page Green, who organized this event is the founder of The Lunchbox Fund. This remarkable organization provides a daily school lunch to children in impoverished regions of South Africa. Because many children are hungry, a lunch motivates them to come to school and learn which is the best hope to break the cycle of devastation in their lives. This creates stronger communities and a stronger world.

Pure Bar has been a proud supporter of The Lunchbox Fund for almost two years. We donated over 40,000 lunches last year and will donate even more this year. Having spent time in Africa with my grandparents who were missionaries, this opportunity touches my heart and hits close to home. It is always a blessing to come together with friends to help support a extraordinary cause.

The Spring Book Fair featured homemade celebrity publications that were auctioned off. There were creations from Yoko Ono, Desmond Tutu, Chuck Close, Mario Batali and more. It was also a star studded event with celebrities like Michael Stipe, Alan Cummings, Salman Rushdie, Rain Phoenix, Helena Christensen, and Courtney Love in attendance.

The best news of all though was that the Book Fair Event raised over $200,000 for The Lunchbox Fund and that’s a lot of lunches! I want to thank everyone who donated to this event and supported it, and especially to the Pure Bar customers who support our promotions and help us donate thousands of lunches to children who need them every year.

Monday, April 16th, 2012
Posted by: Veronica Bosgraaf - No Comments - Filed under: Featured, Pure Blogs, Pure News, Veronica's Blog

Friday, April 13th, 2012

Teaching Young Girls Confidence -Guest Blog Jessica Mendoza

In working with young girls all over the country, my goal is to teach them the skills to become better on the field, but also the best ways to develop their body and confidence off the field. Along with stations teaching girls to hit for power or make a diving catch, I have stations where we talk about nutrition and the importance of what we put into our bodies. One of the biggest questions I get at my events is “What do you eat to get into the shape you are in?”

My response is simple:

#1 Eat. Women are so conscious of calorie counting and trying to starve themselves for the “perfect” skinny body, when in reality that does the opposite. I know when I don’t eat because I am too busy or traveling and don’t have a lot of options, I run out of fuel. If I run out of fuel, I lose energy to do anything. If I keep this up, my metabolism will slow down and when I do decide to eat again, I will not be able to burn it off as easily as I once did. So eat.

#2 I love food and will eat almost anything in front of me when I’m hungry, so I surround myself with options I know will give me the most efficient energy throughout the day. As a high level athlete, I am asking my body to perform. The PUREST ingredients are what allow me to play at the highest level.

Each girl is given a Pure Bar and I educate them on why it is important to know what you are putting into your body. In just the two and a half months in 2012 alone, I have been able to educate over a thousand girls, and thanks to PURE Bar each one leaves with the my go-to for properly fueling my body: a wholesome all natural Pure Bar.

Friday, April 13th, 2012
Posted by: Veronica Bosgraaf - Comments Off - Filed under: Featured, Guest Blogs, Pure Blogs, Veronica's Blog

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

Aluminum Can Gardening

It’s a snow day here in Holland, Michigan so today it seems like spring is a long ways away. But March is right around the corner and I am ready to start spring a bit earlier. I ran across this creative recycling craft on www.craftgossip.com and thought it was the cutest idea ever for re-using old aluminum cans.

The great thing is we don’t have to wait for spring! Find a sunny window ledge and start some seeds right now! I like to punch a hole in the bottom of the can for drainage and place on a small plate or lid to catch water. Some great herbs to start from seed are:

Parsley

Sweet Basil

Chives

Sage

You can also start vegetables from seed to transplant into your garden later. Try pea plants, green beans, spinach, lettuce, and beets.

And make sure you get kids involved! They will love this little gardening/recycling project.

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012
Posted by: Veronica Bosgraaf - Comments Off - Filed under: Featured, Pure Blogs, Pures' Tips, Veronica's Blog

Saturday, February 25th, 2012

Blended Apple Pie Juice Recipe

The Apple Cinammon Pure Bar is my current favorite (it’s ever changing) so I decided to hit the kitchen and figure out how to create it in liquid form. I came up with this super easy juice which tastes like blended apple pie (score!) and has powerful apple cider vinegar which helps to curb sugar cravings, revs the metabolism and helps to balance your pH levels. Drink on!

Apple Pie Juice

2-3 apples put through a juicer

1-2 t apple cider vinegar (depending on how brave you are)

1 t cinnamon

1 quick dash of raw agave nectar

Mix well and enjoy!

-Kathryn Budig

Saturday, February 25th, 2012
Posted by: Kathryn Budig - Comments Off - Filed under: Featured, Gluten Free, Guest Blogs, Pure Blogs, Recipes, Veronica's Blog

Monday, February 6th, 2012

Easy Vegan Snacks

Eating Vegan is easier than ever- there are so many unique ingredients at our fingertips that whipping up something delicious is incredibly easy. And, if you’re like me, you love sneaking in vegan snacks, wowing unsuspecting carnivores, pescatarians, et al with how flavorful and satisfying vegan concoctions can be. For the newbies and the die-hards, here are two simple and delicious recipes that you can practically throw together while doing your hair, putting on makeup or walking the dog… Well two out of three, maybe.

Pesto Tortilla Pizza

Time: 15 minutes (10 of which is baking it)

I am a pine nut fanatic and love how they get all toasty and blend perfectly with the tart flavorful tomatoes in this super simple recipe. Tortillas are the perfect thin and crunchy pizza crust. Try my recipe below and then let your creative juices flow with different toppings of your choice!

1 package small flour tortillas (I like to use the 5 inch tortillas)
1 jar basil pesto (or make your own with this fabulous recipe)
1 jar sundried tomatoes
1 package pine nuts

Directions: Spread each tortilla with pesto, top with 3 sundried tomatoes and sprinkle with pine nuts. Bake on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes at 350 or until tortilla is crispy. Drizzle with olive oil before serving. Makes up to about 10 little pizzas.

Jicama with Roasted
Red Pepper Hummus and Dulse

Time: 10 minutes unless you want to make your own hummus, then 15

This recipe is a favorite of mine because it proves that you don’t need meat, butter or cream or even sugar or salt to make a wildly flavorful and hearty snack. I also LOVE introducing people to the sweet/crunchy taste of Jicama that I often use in place of crackers and the deep salty flavor of dulse seaweed (don’t tell them it’s seaweed until after they’ve eaten it).

1 Jicama peeled and sliced into cracker size pieces
One container of roasted red pepper hummus or make your own
One package dulse seaweed leaves (any natural food store will carry this)
Cayenne pepper

Directions: Spoon a dollop of hummus on each Jicama slice. Top with a dulse leaf and sprinkle with cayenne pepper. Makes about 12 single servings.

Monday, February 6th, 2012
Posted by: Veronica Bosgraaf - Comments Off - Filed under: Featured, Pure Blogs, Recipes, Veronica's Blog

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

Sweet and Delicious Daily Green Juice

The vision of a large glass of bright green juice may not make everyone’s taste buds pull out their pom pom’s, but let me tell you—this juice rocks.

Spinach is an amazing green (packed full of Vitamin C, dietary fiber and favonoids) which takes on any flavor added to it. You get all the benefits of a dark leafy green without the super ‘earthy’ taste and texture. Ginger adds a zip as well as aiding your digestion while lemon and celery help to flush your system while the carrot and apple adds sweetness. I drink this everyday and call it my super juice. Give it a whirl!

You’ll be feeling like Popeye in no time:)

Sweet and Delicious Daily Green Juice

Ingredients:
1 bag organic spinach
1 carrot
2 stalks of celery
1 inch of ginger, peeled
1 apple (such as Fuji)
1/2 lemon (leave the rind on)

Peel your ginger with a spoon, scraping the skin off by dragging the edge along the skin. Run your spinach through the juicer first followed by lemon, carrot, celery, ginger and apple. Serve it up!

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
Posted by: Kathryn Budig - Comments Off - Filed under: Featured, Guest Blogs, Pure Blogs, Recipes, Veronica's Blog

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

Music Therapy

The Christmas season and music go together. To me, music creates a mood. It soothes, it excites, it inspires, and it is a very powerful force. Listening to music is also a simple way to enhance your life. I love that.

Studies show that the human brain responds to music in ways that are beyond our comprehension. I am amazed at the emotion that music can evoke. How is that? Why do certain melodies move me to tears and others make me laugh. A song that I haven’t heard in a while can trigger deep memories.

Music is even used medically in brain damaged patients to stimulate the certain areas of the brain to take over functions lost in others. To me that means that listening to music creates more neural pathways and in a way “exercises” our brain.

For all of the above reasons, Music Therapy is becoming more popular. Because music has so powerful of an effect on our brain it is used therapeutically to control pain, manage stress and combat depression. From Alzheimer’s patients to very small children, it is fascinating how music can help develop and repair a brain. For everyday life it can help you relax, manage stress and take control over your own mood.

Our world is so visually stimulating, especially today with technology. Music keeps our auditory sense smart and developed. And the choices are endless. I love the soft flowing music and powerful chants played at the end of yoga while we meditate and breathe deep. I love fixing dinner and drinking a glass of wine while singing along to Maroon 5 or The Weepies. Pianists like Jason Walker calm me and bands like Live excite me.

Knowing the potential positive effects of music and the simplicity of surrounding myself with it, I can’t help but integrate it into my life more and more. It is wonderful way to enrich my life!

Learn more about music therapy

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
Posted by: Veronica Bosgraaf - Comments Off - Filed under: Featured, Pure Blogs, Veronica's Blog

Friday, October 14th, 2011

Getting Your Kids to Eat More Veggies

I have vivid memories of the look on my kids’ faces when I first fed them a spoonful of strained peas baby food. At that age looks don’t lie and I was convinced we are genetically predisposed to hate vegetables. However after growing older and wiser, and more creative perhaps I have come to realize that kids actually can develop a taste for, and grow to crave their vegetables… (And that strained peas don’t taste like peas at all, in fact it is questionable whether or not they are fit for human consumption).

I have learned that kids develop tastes for what they are fed. And they are much quicker to warm up to real veggies (not canned frozen or strained -God forbid). I used to start my 2 year old with a single piece of baby spinach on his plate and eventually he worked his way up to a little salad of baby spinach. I find that my kids actually prefer raw veggies to cooked. Carrots, broccoli, cucumber, cauliflower, salads, even sweet orange peppers and definitely sweet peas are veggies my kids eat by the handful now. I keep them readily available and set them out at snack time.

I was reading an article in USA today that basically said kids eat more vegetables when they are offered them more. Seems like a “No duh” kind of statement, but how many of us moms just put out the multicolored goldfish because it’s a quick fix and we know they will get eaten?

The article references a study that showed when preschoolers were given more carrot sticks and tomato soup they ate significantly more then when they were given half the amount. It’s an argument for increased exposure- serve more fruits and veggies and the kids will eat more fruits and veggies.

A somewhat tricky but great way to get veggies into kids is to juice them. Kale-apple-lemon is an all time favorite juice of my kids. Nice and green but sweet and sour so you can’t taste the kale. It’s a good way to get kids and yourself for that matter to consume veggies you wouldn’t otherwise touch with a ten foot pole.

Another interesting tidbit is that research has shown kids eat what their parents eat. So guess what mom and dad? Start modeling good vegetable behavior. But really, this does not have to be a chore. I’ve always said life is too short to eat what you don’t like. Find the veggies you like and enjoy them often as a family. You’ll be developing good habits in your kids and be all the healthier because of it

Friday, October 14th, 2011
Posted by: Veronica Bosgraaf - Comments Off - Filed under: Featured, Veronica's Blog

Friday, September 9th, 2011

Farm to Table

"Farm to Table" Yard

I recently had the opportunity to attend a very cool fundraiser in my neck of the woods called “Farm To Table”. It was a dinner that we purchased tickets for and all the proceeds went to support our local art center which offers many programs to kids and adults alike. Itwas a great cause! But the idea around the dinner was the best part.

"Farm to Table" invitation

The entire evening was a celebration of our local farmers and the food they provide. Special attention was given to the fact that when you buy from local farmers markets directly, the money goes straight to family farms and the community. And of course because the food we consumed that night was straight from the farm, it was some of the most fresh and flavorful food I’ve ever experienced.

Cocktail table under the tent

The evening started with a gathering in the expansive yard where there was a cocktail tent and plenty of opportunity to explore the gardens and mingle with the guests. From there we moved into a large, rugged barn which had long rows of tables with quaint dinnerware and huge vases of pear tree limbs.

"Farm to Table" dinner

The menu consisted of garden fresh greens with heirloom tomatoes, roasted baby red potatoes, fresh sautéed green beans, quarter chickens and T-bone steaks for the meat eaters and homemade peach cobbler for dessert. All local fare, it cannot be beat!

Friends

I am so impressed with this idea for a fundraiser. People always want to eat great food, be in an amazing setting and support more than one cause while they are having fun. I would encourage you to try or suggest this idea in your communities and create an unforgettable and
charitable experience!

Friday, September 9th, 2011
Posted by: Veronica Bosgraaf - Comments Off - Filed under: Featured, Pure Blogs, Veronica's Blog

Monday, August 1st, 2011

Pill Popping

61 % of Americans use prescription medications to treat ailments. That doesn’t count the number of over the counter pain killers, sleep meds and cold remedies we also take. Obviously some medications are essential but I ran across an article today that got me thinking about our pill popping habit as a nation. It was entitled,

“Depression treatment tactics that are inexpensive, don’t involve drugs, and are scalable”

I actually tweeted it here http://twitter.com/ThePureBar because I thought it was so interesting. Basically the article outlined how only 30-40% of depression patients are helped by medication and how implementing PAI (positive activity interventions) that include meditation, thinking positive thoughts, counting one’s blessings, giving to others, and physical exercise actually helped a greater number of people alleviate their depression (sounds like things my grandma used to tell me to do when I started complaining).

I don’t want to downplay the seriousness of depression but it makes me think how overly dependent of medications we are in America. We pop pills so readily, before evaluating our lifestyle and what may be contributing to our ailments because we have been socialized and media-ized into thinking medication will solve our problems. Often medication is just a Band-Aid.

What if we first tried a natural solution to our ailments like the PAI treatment that was so successful for people suffering from depression? I know so many people on anxiety medication and I can’t help but wonder if these “Positive Activity Interventions”would work for them as well. What about cutting back on over the counter meds? For example, if I get a headache I drink more water, I meditate, breathe deeply and eat fresh foods. Most of the time it goes away without the Tylenol. If I wake up with a sore back I do a routine of stretches and sit ups. This works better and faster for me than a Motrin.

My point is that whatever the ailment, instead of jumping to medication so quickly we should examine our lifestyle, our eating habits, caffeine intake, alcohol use, sleeping habits, and stress levels first. Incorporating fun physical activity, volunteering, drinking tons of water and eating the right foods can change your life and your view on life. Medication is a tool but it is a costly one both in dollars and potential bodily harm. I feel like it just makes sense to be self-aware and examine your lifestyle before popping pills.

For more information check out this US News article http://health.usnews.com/health-news/managing-your-healthcare/diabetes/articles/2010/10/07/overmedication-are-americans-taking-too-many-drugs

Monday, August 1st, 2011
Posted by: Veronica Bosgraaf - Comments Off - Filed under: Featured, Pure Blogs, Veronica's Blog