a little on the "hippie" side

I'll admit it. I have a little bit of a "hippie" inside me when it comes to food, vitamins and health care issues. It's definitely rooted in my own memories of my childhood where we very often found ourselves visiting out local health food store with my mom (called "Peoples Grocery" in little Manhattan...yes, it's still there in thriving business), to pick up our co-op grocery's. I loved the smell of that store- it was so distinct, a mix of ground barley, wheat flour, and citrus tea (which they always had steaming, in a pot, for customers).

Now, that I'm doing the majority of "health and wellness" care for my own family- I've really found myself sticking closely to some of those ideas, because I truly believe they work. This cold season, in particular, I have been terribly pleased with our lack of illness. We have only had three runny noses, one child had a very, very mild run in with strep, and that's it (hopefully...!)! And, by the way, we don't do the seasonal shots either (I'm not totally against them- but I have my own concerns- so I've decided to opt out the past few years. There might come a time, when I am more open to using that resource).

I think the following things have really helped us out:

Hand washing: Yes- a concerted effort to wash our hands- or "soap them" as we say- with hand sanitizer when faucets aren't available. I keep the latter in our car and my purse and we use it religiously after shopping trips, and basically any time we re-enter our car.

Sneaking in Veggies: Yikes. This one is REALLY hard. Especially if you have little ones. Our kiddo's aren't too picky, but they tend to ignore veggies and outright refuse to eat them sometimes. We keep serving them, and bribing them (yes, even with dessert), and we can usually win a few mouthfuls at a time. I mostly rely on sneaking our veggies in through purees. I love this book: Deceptively Delicious. And have found it very helpful in giving me ideas, to boost nutrition through hiding veggies in our food. I'm not very good at all the prep work she suggests, and usually take the "easy road" through pureeing frozen veggies (I try to squeak frozen organic into our budget when possible), and some canned. This really saves me time, and I think you get the same general results. I've also used baby food occasionally as a substitute (baby food sweet potatoes are an easy add puree). Also, if you're interested in making your own baby food puree- wholesome baby food has some wonderful tips recipes (I really love their website).

Embracing our Breadmaker: I'm in love with our breadmaker (Mr. M. brought it to the marriage- compliments of his GiGi). I've found this is an absolutely winning nutrition booster in our house! What kiddo's don't like a crumbly, warm, buttered, semi-sweet slice of bread? I've found our kiddo's munch it up, as I happily watch them, thinking of all the ground flax seed meal, whole wheat, organic unbleached flour, and evaporated cane sugar going into their tummy's. I love how I can control the ingredients- and yes, I've even added some veggie puree a few times- although this really takes patience and a desire to experiment before you get it right. By the way, here's my favorite breadmaker recipe right here.

Nutritional Supplement's: This year, I decided to bulk up our nutritional supplement's- a little more- to see if that helped keep us healthy. Thank goodness for GOOD TASTING vitamins! Getting little ones to take supplement's has never been easier! (And, to my own mom, a quick note- I still remember when you made us take spoonfuls of that thick, nasty smelling, fish oil- back in the '80's- wow, that stuff was brutal to get down your throat! Yep, and I'd probably consider doing it to my own kids now, too- now that I get the health perks. Although they now probably sell it in "strawberry flavor" or something more appealing like that!)

This is our supplement menu:
Yummi Bears (Whole Food) and Yummi Bears (Multi-Vitamin)- for our preschooler, given on rotating days (some ingredients overlap between the two)
Infant Care- Multi Vitamin Drops- for our young toddler
Little Blends- Horizon Organics Fruit and Veggie Blend Yogurt (we add water and make it "drinkable yogurt, and have one daily- because this way at least they "drink" a veggie. Plus there's a 75 cent off coupon in each package- which makes buying it a bit more bearable)
Hylands C-Plus Cold Tablets at the on-set of any cold symptoms we take a few of these.
And my new favorite: Barleans Omega Swirl Yogurt Blend- just a spoonful once a day for another boost towards good nutrition- we love the strawberry blend.

Oh my, this has turned into a novel. Well, here's to hiding veggies in your little one's food; vitamins that taste and look like gummie bears; yogurt that tastes like strawberry's but really has sweet potatoes in it; and to being a mom in the 21st century with a world of amazing nutritional information at our fingertips!