The China Study

Book Review: The China Study

I was continually blown away whilst reading this book.

I can't hep but wonder why our school system is getting children and teenagers to read books like "The Hobbit" & "Ballroom Dancing" when books like this could educate the next generation to make healthy choices that will affect their life in such a positive way!

Its amazing to see how the author had traveled to underdeveloped countries with the intention of providing better health with "high quality animal products" believeing that nutrition problems were due to lack of protein. Yet when all the research was done the evidence shows that the real dangers to do with nutrition lie within animal protein.
And yet 1st world countries are still pushing Atkins-type diets of huge protein intake??? WHY????

Also its amazing the number of diseases that are often blamed on 'genes' but yet these studies have proved that perhaps what is being passed on is not 'bad genes' but 'bad lifestyle'.
Quote from page 190: "Genes do not act in isolation; they need a trigger for their effects to be produced."
Of course the book goes into much detail as to why this is the case.

Quote from The China Study website:
The findings? "People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease ... People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease. These results could not be ignored," said Dr. Campbell.


Everything in this book is so researched & proven to be factual. The details of how the 'study' has been done are all given at the back of the book, so there is no secrets or misleading and sneaky ways of trying to distort the evidence, as is so often done when it comes to so-called 'scientific research' that surrounds nutrition.

Its quite scary to think of how much $$money$$ is being thrown into advertising and misleading information regarding our health & to promote products that are actually causing people more harm than good.
Not only are certain food industries responsible but also the medicine industry.
Our doctors are simply not being educated about what really improves health, but rather, how to mask problems with a pill.

Quote from page 321: "So why doesn't that medical system take nutrition seriously?
Four words: money, ego, power and control. While it is unfair to generalize about individual doctors, it is safe to say that the system they work in, the system that currently takes responsibility for promoting the health of Americans, is failing us. No one knows this better tan the tiny minority of doctors who treat their patients from a nutritional perspective."

The reader is provided with 8 principles to follow for eating right.
These are:

             #1 - Nutrition represents the combined activities of countless food substances. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

            #2 - Vitamin supplements are not a panacea for good health.

            #3 - There are virtually no nutrients in animal-based foods that are not better provided by plants.

            #4 - Genes do not determine disease on their own. Genes function only by being activated, or expressed, and nutrition plays a critical role in determining which genes, good or bad, are expressed.

           #5 - Nutrition can substantially control the adverse effects of noxious chemicals.

           #6 - The same nutrition that prevents disease in its early stages (before diagnosis) can also halt or reverse disease in its later stages (after diagnosis).

           #7 - Nutrition that is truly beneficial for one chronic disease will support health across the board.

          #8 - Good nutrition creates health in all areas of our existence. All parts are interconnected.

I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book and reading it thoroughly!
Every person deserves to know the TRUTH about health and what we have been taught and made to believe about food. It is their choice how they respond to that information, but surely we have the right to be properly informed!

You can get the book here at fishpond. They offer free shipping - gotta love that ;-)

Click here for the official website

RATING: 5/5  Its a MUST READ for EVERYONE!

DIY Thursday

Who's joining in the 21 day kickstart?

Thursday evenings suggested meal is: Kickstart DIY: Green, grain and a bean

 

                                         Green: Silverbeet

                                         Grain: Quinoa

                                         Bean: Chickpeas

Here's the DIY adventure that I had:

Today at Coles I picked up this awesome McCormick recipe-creations spice pack for only $1.14! Of course that meant I had to incorporate that into my meal too.

This mixture of herbs & spices was just AMAZING! They really complimented each other & I will definitely be using these recipe-creations packs again.
This blend contains ground coriander seeds, coriander leaves, chili, garlic, paprika, and lemon pepper.
I used only a third of the pack and have stored the rest in a glass jar use at a later date.

To make my DIY meal I chopped a whole bunch of silverbeet, added water and placed in the microwave for 5 minutes. 
I boiled half a cup of quinoa in 1 cup of water for approx 15 minutes until the quinoa was cooked through.

I chopped a yellow capsicum & an onion. Placed them in a pan to water saute with the spices provided in the pack (except the coriander leaves).  I sauteed for 5 minutes til the onion was soft then added a drained tin of chickpeas and a teaspoon of lemon juice.

I assembled my collection of "green, grain & bean" on my plate and topped with the coriander leaves provided by the marvellous spice pack!

Result:
AmAzInGlY delicious meal that was quick & easy that will now become a regular!

Spring Cleaning

YAY YAY YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How excited am I that this blog was linked up to the organised housewife challenge!
Check it out! That's my alphabetical pantry you see there ;-)

How are you going with the 20 day challenge?

Did you follow todays plan?

Today is the first day since last Autumn that I've been able to hang washing on the line and actually have it dry!

I guess that's lucky since washing bed linen always takes up so much space!!! lol

 After all - is there anything so lovely as a clean fresh bed at night time?

I was debating if its time to put away the winter blanket yet.... but then I remembered its the cats favourite sleeping spot, so for now it stays!

My problem with clutter in the bedroom happens around my clothing :-/

I tend to throw items on this lovely wooden box & leave them there. Don't you think I have a nice shoe collection too?!!?
Sometimes the pile is clean clothes that are waiting to be put away, and sometimes its... well lets just say not-so-clean clothes!
Either way I think I'll officially add to my housewife New Habit list "To clear clothing pile each night". 

And I did just that this afternoon:

Clearly this took a bit of time because the sun went down quite significantly between the photos!!!
The pile of boxes on the left hand-side is from when we moved in :-/

Oh dear! I have added that to my weekend list!

Since I am still working during school hours, yet I want to make the most of the housewife challenge, I am keeping myself a list of tasks-to-do on the weekend that completely tackle all of the clutter and not just 'surface clutter' as I like to call it. Its all very well and good to clear desk tops & wash linen but these boxes are the type of things that I always overlook when I 'clean and tidy'. That's why they sit well hidden in the corner - so that most of the time they don't bother me! 

This week I also started following the PCRM's 21 day kickstart.

Of course I still had to grocery shop & write my meals down, but that's an easy week of meal planning since there was no thought involved!

The meals on the kickstart are so tasty & I have enjoyed following along the kickstart program for a number of years now!

They have a forum where you can get involved with questions/comments if you have any concerns.

I plan to blog about all the DIY recipes that it encourages us to do. So stayed tuned for some tasty recipes!

Are you spring cleaning?

Do you like to spring clean your home or your body more?

Meal Planning Tips

Where do you stand regarding the whole meal planning issue?

Do you find it easier to meal plan? Does it help your week feel more organised?

Do you wish you could meal plan but it just doesn't seem to happen?

I have meal planned for a few years now. Though it has always seemed to be in a different way!

I am amazed by the people who say they can meal plan for a month in advance!!!! That just simply blows my mind!
To be honest I struggle with planning a whole week at once!!!

And besides, I like my fresh fruit & veg too much!

Here's what working for me currently:

I have recently decided to shop 2 times a week instead of once.

Sounds silly, but it actually SAVES us money! And it also makes each shop much quicker. I was finding that by the middle of the week we needed fresh bread & more vegetables and other random odds and ends which somehow didn't make it on the list the first time. This always meant that even if I intended to get just 3 things, I would always come out with another trolley load! Come on admit it..... that happens to us all hey ;-)

This helps us also if we have last minute plans for the weekends, extra leftovers that we weren't expecting to have or if we decided we feel like something special.

It has really helped us to reduce waste & feel a lot more organised when it comes to our pantry and fridge. 

An overloaded fridge at the start of the week can be so frustrating. Shopping twice a week stops the fridge being so full that you can't get to the things at the back of the shelves.

So I shop on Sunday & Thursday. Each of those days I sit down and plan what we'll have til the next shopping day - taking into account, what we already have as supplies, what we felt like during the last couple of days and what leftovers we have that need to be used up.

I always leave Sunday nights as 'free' meals to be filled in later with whatever we have on hand.

Here's our meal plan board:

Its a contact chalk board that we purchased from Myer.

Works a treat & so easy to use. It sits where visitors cannot easily see it and doesn't then look 'messy' in the kitchen (yes my writing on here is not so neat and its often written in code!). 

Because I eat different meals to my husband (mostly) we have a separate column for dinner each & there is also a column for my daughters lunch (she has the same dinner as me). I like to give her a variety of lunch box items so she isn't always having a sandwich (post on that coming soon).

I have a column for Fuhrman's gombbs to remind me of all the healthful food I should be eating each day. 

Its also nice to be able to at a glance note if either of us will be out for the evening meal. I am often home rather late on my travel-to-work day, so I often use Wednesday as leftovers day - alternatively I am catching up with friends and have a meal out with them. 

This is also a great way to be able to note food that is in the fridge that needs to be used up asap. I can just write a quick word in the gombbs column to remind me. I guess its more like a reminder column than anything else!!!!

I am finding that I only really need to 'plan' our evening meals as breakfast is easy enough & I usually just have salad for lunch, or any leftovers that need to be used up. I used to plan the other meals though.

I haven't always had this marvellous board (don't I have a clever hubby! <3)
I used a printed spreadsheet for ages, that I just printed multiple times and then would fill in each week.

So don't think you need anything special to make meal-planning work.

I always make a shopping list - ALWAYS!

Yes, I literally sit down with a pen and paper and go through catalogues! It doesn't really take that long and it saves me time in the grocery store.

I always check out the weekly specials at the grocery stores to work out what items I wish to purchase from which stores. 

This is another reason I find shopping twice a week works out better.

I used to get so annoyed that half the things we needed were on special at one store and half at another store & I did not like having to decide which to shop at!!!

Problem solved - on the weeks where they have equally inviting specials, I can do one shop at either!

It makes "cactus" hour so much easier!

There is nothing worse than getting to meal starting time and having no idea what you should make. It takes forever to decide and then it always seems that you don't really have 'all' the ingredients you need!

And correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that always the time when children are the most grizzly too?!?!?  ;-)

I have always involved my daughter in my cooking since she was quite young. I found that when she was younger this really helped me cope with cactus hour. She would nibble on chopped veggies (chick peas have always been a huge favourite!) & get odds and ends out of the cupboard for me. It has well and truly paid off now! She is an amazing little helper in the kitchen & finally I can say that she really is more help than hindrance!!! There are several things that she can even cook herself like pasta, pancakes & cookies. Not bad for a 7 year old! I wonder how many more years til I don't even need to cook at all ;-) 

Only joking, I LOVE cooking, and its soooooooo much more enjoyable with a plan to stick to! Even if that means I just write a few ingredients on the board so that I can experiment with a new recipe!

Soba Noodle Stir-fry

Is it possible to have easy noodles at home, better than take-away???

I think so ;-)

This dish takes me less time to prepare than it does for me to drive to our Noodle shop & wait for them to be cooked!

1 packet dried soba noodles   **

5 cups finely chopped asian cabbage

1 large carrot, julienne sliced

1 onion, chopped into slices

2cm piece fresh ginger, grated

200g marinated tofu - sliced (You can marinate your own if you prefer) 

1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

- sesame seeds to serve

**You may be able to find egg-free fresh soba noodles, but I haven't been able to.

Soak the soba noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes whilst you prepare the stir-fry. 

 Heat a wok til hot. Add the cabbage, onion & ginger.

Add the carrot and continue to cook until the cabbage has cooked down quite significantly.

Saute the tofu in a frying pan until lightly browned.

Add the noodles and the tofu to the cabbage mix.

Pour over the rice wine vinegar & the soy sauce.

Stir to combine well & serve in a noodle bowl with sesame seeds on top.

Same recipe different noodle....

 This recipe also works great with hokkien noodles!

Basic Lentil Bolognese

This bolognese is just delicious.

Its so simple to make, and its quick.

It compliments many bases such as pasta, zucchini noodles, and baked potatoes to name a few!

It reheats well so makes for great leftovers.

 That means it ticks all the boxes!

....So let's get started!

 Here's what you need:

• 1 onion

• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

• 1 teaspoon mixed italian herbs

• 1 carrot

• 1/2 capsicum

• 1 tin lentils

• 1 cup tomato cooking sauce

In a frying pan, saute the chopped onion with the garlic & the italian herbs. If you need to add a little water to stop them from sticking then do so.

Chop the carrot and capsicum into little cubes and when the onion is soft, add them to the pan. Cook until all vegetables are soft, adding little bits of water as needed so to not over-brown the vegetables, and so they don't stick to the pan.

Add the lentils and the tomato cooking sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes until warmed through. 

NB: In place of the cooking sauce, you can use a tin of tomato pieces & a Tablespoon of tomato paste if you prefer.

Serve over desired base.

Optional: sprinkle with fresh herbs such as basil or oregano.

How I Organised my Craft Room

Well to tell the truth its actually the craft "side-of-the-room" as I do share it with my office for when I work at home!

But none the less, it needed to be organised!

It was very frustrating to want to sew and not be able to find the items needed easily.

Step One: 

Determine what pieces of furniture are needed.

Previously these Ikea shelves were in my daughters room, but when we moved she now has a massive built in wardrobe that fits everything, so I inherited these shelves for my craft room! 
Obviously I needed my sewing table (again inherited from my daughter's previous room as she now has a built in desk too!). I would like to invest in a proper sewing table oneday so I can also fit my over-looker on, but for now, this will make do! Organising doesn't have to be expensive.
I needed 'somewhere' to put my half done projects that would be easily accessible & where they wouldn't be put away and forgotten. I bought an ottoman with a removable lid. This works fantastic because if someone needs to come in & chat to me while I'm sewing they have a comfy little seat! 

Step Two:

Work out what you want to keep.

This part can be hard! I had so many boxes of craft things when we moved & I just had to sit down & go through ~every~single~one~ of them & sort out what I wanted to keep and what I didn't.

I did this out of the room so that nothing was put away & forgotten about.

Step Three:

Determine 'how' your items will be stored.

I wanted to make all my items fit & be easy to access. 

I worked out which type of storage would work best for what I needed stored and I slowly bought storage pieces to fit into the cubes in matching colours.

Step Four: 

Work out where the things will go.

Along the bottom I have the largest tubs and I have card making supplies in two and jewellery making supplies in the other two. 

I have put several sewing odds and ends in smaller boxes so they are easier to access when needed.

I have all my patterns and books along the top in magazine holders & small crates.

So far this is working out fantastically!

Step Five:

Set a day aside for the big clean out!

That meant moving all the things out of the cubes & into the lounge room where they would be allocated into their new boxes & put back - neat and tidy and in order! 

I must add how helpful it was to already have my plan in mind of where I wanted everything to go, so I wasn't left wondering where to put what as I bought things back into my craft room.

 So, here's what I started with:

 

And here's how it ended up:

And the other side of the room
From this:

To this:

 

A much calmer & more organised place to get creative in!

I did have a little helper along the way ;-)

Next in line for a good clean up is: