Watermelon: Its not just for summer anymore. I love this sweet juicy fruit! It is rich in vitamin C to strengthen the immune system (important as the kids go back to the big Petri dish) lycopene, an important carotenoid proven to protect against destructive molecules that can damage cells and lead to cancer, potassium for heart health, beta carotene for healthy eyes and a super high water content to keep everyone hydrated.

Sugar snap peas: One of the only green vegetables most kids will eat raw. The sweet crunchy taste is very palatable and they are nutrient super stars! High in vitamin K, important for healthy bones, folic acid, all B vitamins which keep you energized, vitamin C, iron (great for us non-meat eaters) vitamin A for healthy eyes, protein (yes vegetables have protein) and high in fiber. You just can’t go wrong with this choice.

Kiwi: Fun, sweet, and pretty, these little guys pack more vitamin C than an orange, are rich in vitamin A and vitamin E, important for heart health. They are also a great source of fiber.

Carrot sticks: Don’t knock the old familiar! These babies are a kid favorite and are not just for eyes anymore. Carrots are packed with carotenoids which decrease the risk of many types of cancer. Carrots like most high fiber fruits and vegetables also regulate blood sugar to keep us even keeled all day long.

Mango: Exotic and succulent, mangos are a good source of iron, and very high in vitamins A, E, B, and C.

Salsa: How else can one get a kid to consume tomatoes, onions garlic and cilantro? I am amazed at how my kids balk at these veggies separately but mash them all together, add a chip and voila¡ the perfect dipping food. Fresh salsa is packed with lycopene, a carotenoid that helps prevent certain types of cancer, beta carotene, potassium, and vitamin C

Plums: My favorite food at the farmers market right now hands down. Plums have as much antioxidant power as blueberries, and contain unique phytochemicals which protect against harmful cell damage that can lead to disease.

Baby spinach: Off the chart baby! One of the best foods you can introduce your kids to. Use in the form of a salad or layer onto sandwiches. Spinach is bursting with vitamin K, iron, folate, vitamin C all B vitamins, and is a good source of Omega 3 fatty acids and also provides protein. Whew! What a super food.

Grapes: So fun to pop and rich in flavenoids that protect against heart disease by decreasing blood pressure and decreasing the risk of blood clots. They also increase blood flow to the brain. Man, who can’t use some of that during the day?

Foods Alive Flax Crackers: 8 flavors of these crisp raw crackers to choose from. Foods Alive sprouts and then dehydrates their crackers for maximum nutrient benefit. Eat as you would any cracker or chip. Perfect!

Pure Bars: Of course. These bars are 100% organic, raw, gluten free with no refined sugar. They provide Omega 3 fatty acids for brain and heart health, 4 grams fiber, 7 grams protein and all natural ingredients that read like a recipe. Plus they taste great and don’t melt, so bring them everywhere-oh and when you buy 3, the company plants a tree in your name in a national forest- healthy body, healthy earth.

Resources:
http://whfoods.org/
http://www.dietaryfiberfood.com/
http://www.organicfacts.net/

This was my first year competing in the NPF Championships and our team (the USSSA Florida Pride) won! Such a great way to finish off the summer. I have not been home for over three months, and my husband Adam and son, Caleb have been on the road with me. Nothing better than playing the sport you love surrounded by the people you love.

One of my biggest saviors this summer was finding healthy ways to eat while living the life on the road. I needed to eat healthy to keep my energy up to compete day in and day out. My main diet was a Pure Bar in the morning, some pb & j for lunch, another Pure Bar to snack on pre-game and a big dinner of protein and veggies for dinner. It can be challenging finding good options to eat on the road, so finding a grocery store and/or packing my own food was key.

I am sad softball season is over, but life on the road continues as I begin sideline reporting for ESPNU’s college football next week! From one sport to the next!

Will keep you updated!
Love it, Dream it, Live it!
Jessica

Figure 1 White Bread -depressant?

It got me thinking again about how food affects our mood. With my kids, it’s fascinating to observe. It seems like after every meal they are super-charged no matter what they eat. This tells me that kids are more influenced by food and given their little bodies feel its effects, good and bad probably to a greater degree than we do.

Regarding me, certain things I consume have an obvious effect, like coffee. I know caffeine lifts me. I admit that I crave my coffee in the morning. It makes me happy and I like it, and I’m not yet entirely convinced it is bad for me in moderation. But it does change my mood. Should I be concerned about that?

Figure 2 mmmmm coffee

I’m trying to currently assess how eating more raw fruits and vegetables and less breads, refined sugar and processed food affects me personally. This is more difficult for me to asses, probably because I tend to eat mostly healthy and raw anyway so the occasional cranberry nut muffin from Deboer bakery doesn’t seem to greatly impact me negatively (maybe that’s because I also get a fully charged latte to go with it). What I have noticed is that when I start my morning out with a sliced mango, leftover hummus or Pure Bar, I am less hungry throughout the day.

If I start introducing processed or bread products, I get hungrier and hungrier. I’ve also noticed that as I eat more raw food and more whole foods my body becomes partial to them, wanting bad foods less and good foods more (thanks body!). It is less of a challenge now for me then it ever has to eat the way I should. I believe this is because I have gradually introduced more raw and whole organic foods into my diet.

But maybe its not so much about the immediate effects of food choices. Even though I am not a patient person, eating raw is probably more about the long term effects on inner health, mental health and even outer shine that should be motivating me to take the path of organic, raw and real most often. It certainly is what motivates me to instill those choices in the lives of my kids.

If you’re reading this let me know how food affects your mood. What have you noticed? What works for you, what doesn’t? I am interested in your individual experience because even though we operate differently, the old adage “You are what you eat” is true for all of

It is exciting to be part of a company that shares the same values as me. I am very passionate about sharing with children and adults about being healthy and active in mind, body and spirit! The other day, I had the opportunity to speak to a youth triathlon club; ages 5-14 about my career as an elite triathlete. I shared with the children five tips for a successful triathlon season, but I truly feel that these tips can be helpful for anyone at any age in trying to accomplish a goal in any type of sport.

1. Don’t forget to fuel your body correctly! Without proper hydration and nutrition, your body will not be able to perform to it’s best abilities. Eating healthy will also keep your body healthy….it’s no fun being sick! Pure offers a perfect snack while outdoors. P.S. Don’t forget to hydrate—

2. Be a good sport! It is important whether you are running on a trail or playing soccer with your friends to cheer on your teammates or friends. If you are outside on a jog, encourage other joggers with a hello, a good job or a smile—-these small little gestures can go a long way.

3. Be safe! If you are out biking for example, always wear your helmet. If you are going swimming in a lake, never swim alone. The outdoors is a great way to be healthy and active, but remember to plan accordingly.

4. Set goals! Success is not an accident. It takes hard work and planning. Be sure to write your goals down and to tell others about the goals you want to accomplish—goals next month, next year or ten years from now.

5. Have Fun! Spend time outdoors with family and friends or maybe some time alone.

I believe following these five tips can help you live life to the fullest. Oh, and my favorite bar flavor….hard to pick just one because they are all so delicious, but I would have to say Chocolate Brownie (how can anything with the word chocolate not be delicious?). My husband’s favorite is the Cranberry Orange.

The weighing and bucket shack

Pleasant Hill Farm has acres upon acres of beautiful fat sweet organic blueberries as well as apple orchards, peach trees and raspberry gardens-all untouched by harmful pesticides and herbicides and surrounded by huge Michigan forests.

Sweet Michigan Blueberries

I love taking my children to places where they can connect with the earth and our food sources.  They also understand where and how food is grown seasonally and the benefit of organic produce.  They pop plump little blueberry after blueberry into their mouths while breathing fresh air and interacting with creation.  What an amazing experience!

The weather was nice –not too hot, slightly overcast with the sun peeking out now and then.  We picked for about an hour, took a break under a little shade tree and then picked for another half hour or so.  We will return in the fall to gather apples and peaches.  Some years they will let the kids pick in their own personal vegetable garden when they have too much produce.  The kids get to harvest green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, raspberries and peppers.  Today we left with 12 pounds of organic blue blueberries.  I’d love to make a pie but I almost feel bad altering these little gems in any way.  Eating them by the handful is definitely the best!

When my oldest daughter Anna decided to become a vegetarian at age six, (yes six) it threw our family for a bit of a loop. However, after researching it we learned that increasing our intake of vegetarian fare would be a healthier way to go for our entire family, and that Anna could grow healthy and strong on a well balanced vegetarian diet. I get a lot of questions about being a vegetarian, so I thought I would dive into it a little.

First let’s define vegetarianism. Vegetarians do not consume meat but they do consume animal products (cheese, eggs) as long as it is not animal flesh. Vegans on the other hand do not consume any animal products.

The history of vegetarianism dates way back to ancient India and Greek civilizations in 6th century BCE. The primary reason why these civilizations ate no meat was to avoid violence against animals. Interesting since this was Anna’s primary reason as well…

Today there are many reasons:

Aesthetics: Some people just have no desire to eat an animal that was once alive. It is aesthetically-sight, smell, thought, unpleasant to them.

Economics: A vegetarian diet is less expensive than diet that includes meat. Vegetarian protein sources (lentils, beans, legumes) can be purchased for a quarter of the cost of most meat.

Health: Vegetarians have less exposure to chemical carcinogens, food additives, drugs (penicillin, antibiotics) synthetic hormones and bacteria (botulism) because they do not eat meat. They tend to have a low cholesterol, low saturated fat, high fiber diets which work to slow the progress of heart disease and lead to lower incidence of colon cancer, breast, ovarian and endometrial cancer. Vegetarian diets are also high in folate, anti-oxidant vitamins like C and E, carotenoids, and phytochemicals. Overall, vegetarians have substantially reduced risks for obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, and certain cancers. Vegetarian diets that are low in saturated fats have also been successfully used to reverse severe coronary artery disease.

Ethics: There are many who believe the process used to raise and slaughter animals on factory farms is inhumane. We have lost that respect and relationship we used to have with animals on the family farms. Kids don’t know where meat comes from…half the time neither do we. A great objective book on this is Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dillema.

There is also the ethical question of using land and resources to feed animals for human consumption instead of growing crops for human consumption.. It takes 16 pounds of grain to create every 1 pound of meat. 70% crops in the US go to feed animals for consumption and the U.S. livestock population consumes enough grain and soybeans to feed more than five times the entire U.S. population. One acre of pasture produces an average of 165 pounds of beef; the same acre can produce 20,000 pounds of potatoes. If Americans reduced their meat consumption by only 10 percent, it would free 12 million tons of grain annually for human consumption. That alone would be enough to adequately feed each of the 60 million people who starve to death each year.

Environmental:

Large animal farms have devastating effects on the environment. Fecal run off from factory farms off pollutes more water than all industry combined (Smithsonian Institute). The equivalent of 7 football fields are bulldozed every day to make room to farm animals (260 million acres), and growing one pound of red meat uses as much energy as driving an SUV 40 miles.

What about protein? It’s a very common question, one I also had as Anna and I were researching the vegetarian lifestyle

It is actually difficult to become protein deficient unless you quit eating all together. Just about all unrefined foods contain significant amounts of protein. Potatoes are 11% protein, oranges 8%, beans 26%, and tofu 34%. A statistic that has always been interesting to me is that breast milk only contains 5% protein, and infants grow more in their first year of life –adding more mass and muscle, than any other time.

Strict vegetarianism is not for everyone. However, decreasing your meat consumption can only do good for your body and the environment. Try substituting 1-2 meat meals a week with vegetarian fare. There are so many delicious vegetarian meals. Start experimenting with some. Vegetarian chili, soups (avocado, bean,) vegetable curry, vegetable stews. grilled vegetables, lentils and rice, Greek salads, hummus, guacamole-are some great ways to start. Most restaurants also offer great vegetarian choices on their menus. Find more recipes online at websites like http://www.vegcooking.com/

If you do continue to consume meat, buy from a local organic farm, where the animals are free range, free of hormones, free of antibiotics and treated kindly. You can find a local family farm at www.Localharvest.org

Happy eating!

Famous vegetarians:

Leonardo Da Vinci, Charles Darwin, Socrates, Plato, Sir Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, Clive Barker, David Duchovny, Drew Barrymore, Candice Bergen, Kim Basinger, Paul McCartney, Chelsea Clinton, Woody Harrelson, Steve Vai, Eddie Vedder, Lisa Simpson, Hank Aaron, Alec Baldwin, Bryan Adams, Peter Gabriel, Mary Tyler Moore, Leonard Nimoy, Alicia Silverstone, Liv Tyler, Jerry Seinfeld, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, Henry David Thoreau, Sheryl Crow, Beyonce, Jason Mraz, Uma Thurman.

RESOURCES:

Ann Mangels, Virginia Messina, and Vesanto Melina, “Position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada: Vegetarian Diets,” Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Jun. 2003, pp. 748-65. Elizabeth Somer, “Eating Meat: A Little Doesn’t Hurt,” WebMD, 1999. Neal Barnard, M.D., The Power of Your Plate, Book Publishing Co.: Summertown, Tenn., 1990, p. 26. Veg.com

2. Gold and Porritt. Robbins, p. 298.

Mark Gold and Jonathon Porritt, “The Global Benefits of Eating Less Meat,” 2004, p. 22. Ibid.

At age 6, I decided to become a vegetarian. I have always been an animal lover and when I learned that the chicken, cow, and pig that we were eating was the same as the animals we see at farms, I was shocked. I thought that it wasn’t right, and I have been a vegetarian ever since.

Although I am so glad that I made the decision to become a vegetarian and would encourage anyone who is thinking about doing the same, there are some obstacles that I have had to overcome. First of all, vegetarianism is a lifestyle that is becoming more popular, but most people are not vegetarians. So I have had to deal with the constant question of “Why are you a vegetarian?”and “Isn’t that bad for you?” Also I have had other parents and even teachers telling me that being a vegetarian wasn’t healthy. Even though it can be challenging sometimes, I have never regretted my decision. Being a vegetarian is very rewarding not only in the satisfaction of being able to know that an animal has not been killed for me to eat, but also physically. I eat lots of fruits and veggies and get a lot of my protein from lentils and nuts. Some of my favorite vegetarian meals are lentil soup, tacos with Boca meat, and humus.

Being a vegetarian is a great, rewarding decision and I would encourage anyone who is thinking about becoming one to research a little and dive in.

— Anna, age 12

Watch/listen to what ABC 7 says about Pure Bars!

Here is their review:

Spreading a little peanut butter on apple slices may be a healthier way to snack, but nothing beats an energy or protein bar for convenience. Trouble is, there are too many choices. So we munched and crunched numbers to find the best bars, ones that delivered on both taste and nutrition. It’s a tricky business since a bar might offer lots of fiber (really good) and then negate things with trans fats (really bad). And sugars, even dried fruit, do add up. Here are our top picks for when you’re ready to grab-and-go.

We set the “bar” high. Our criteria for healthy bars: Protein: 4-6 grams; Fiber: 5 grams (but 3 will work); Fat: mostly heart-healthy fats; Carbs: mostly whole grains with 10-20 grams sugar

Best Natural Bar: Pure Raw Fruit & Nut Bar
Our top flavor pick: Blueberry

Bar Stats: 190 calories, 6g protein, 8g fat (0.5g saturated), 3g fiber, 19g sugars
Pros: Made with nuts, seeds, and dried fruits, raw food bars harvest Mother Nature’s finest energy with minimal processing. Ranking them depends on your priorities. Organic a must? Pure bars are 100% organic; our runner up, Cashew Cookie Larabar, is not. Fat an issue? Pure edges out Larabar with a little less fat (8 grams versus 13). Love variety? Larabars offer a deliciously longer list of flavors from Cherry Pie to new Tropical Fruit Tart.
Cons: Lower amounts of protein than most energy bars.

Read the full review at Yahoo! Shine.