If you are traveling this summer and staying in hotels that offer hot breakfast, there are some great choices and some awful choices.  Most of these breakfast bars offer make-your-own waffles, and biscuits with gravy, along with fruit loops and sugary cereal. These are options you will want to avoid .

There are some hidden nutritional gems among the offerings.  Some good choices are peanut butter on whole grain toast; warm oatmeal with raisins; fruit with yogurt (make sure you read the sugar content on the yogurt, some are not as healthy as you might think); fresh fruit with hard boiled eggs.    If you start your morning with these options you will have even energy throughout the day and it will leave room for the sweets you might want to partake in say, late afternoon, or after dinner.

Homemade summer meal the my teens love

 I made my Mediterranean Quinoa Salad with wild salmon last night.  Kids loved it.  They had 3 helpings of the salad.  The leftovers for lunch will even be better today. We usually make extra so we will have plenty for a healthful, easy, and delicious lunch the next day.  

Both recipes can be found in my cookbook. Purchase it through my website www.healingpathsva.com

It is also a great natural anti-inflammatory for irritated and inflamed intestinal lining. 

Apples are a great source of Quercetin so eat your daily apple and feel better for it.

 I was asked by Bonnie Benwick of the Washington Post to provide my philosophy around devising healthy menus for children.  Here is what I had to offer. 

My philosophy around devising kid menus is about keeping it “kid friendly” but tweaking ingredients to make the meal more nutritious. The herbed buffalo burgers and sweet potato fries is a perfect example.  I call buffalo the skinny cow because its significantly lower fat and cholesterol content, yet the flavor is outstanding especially when paired with  the herbs.

  The sweet potatoes replace a high glycemic food with a high fiber option the delivers natural sweetness. The dessert provides ample natural sweetness and color from the fruit but is missing the high frucose corn syrup artificial flavors and colors that usually come eith kid friendly frozen treats.

 Ultimately its about flavor for the kids and this menu has been taste tested and kid approved.

Kids should be open to trying new foods. Making them part of planning a nutritious menu empowers them to choose healthier options than if forced upon them.

The my plate version is visually better but you have to dig deeper to understand what constitutes healthy lean proteins. Grains should state “whole” grains and the fruits and vegetables should specify that they be non starchy and rich in fiber.

Catch me on Chefs’ Recipes in tthe next week cooking up some summer favorites from my new cookbook.

Details to follow.

What came through over and over during the past four days is that the right foods can and will heal the body.

Good news for good nutrition!  So keep making those healthy recipes, it will change the way your cells behave and may just save your life~

The theme that has run through the conference in the last 2 days is the importance of having clear Phase I and Phase II liver detoxification pathways, specifically methylation.

Simply put, we need to keep our livers clear and running, because if we don’t, we are in trouble.

Studies are showing that children on the Autism spectrum from ADHD to full autism have impaired methylation,

Cancer victims are likely to have impaired methylation

Persons with metabolic syndrome x are likely to have impaired methylation

Persons with impaired immune system function are likely to have impaired methylation.

Get the picture?  This is where leafy greens, bright vegetables and fruits come into play, especially in juicing.

One great fruit that is especially important is avocado; rich in L-glutathione which is so important in activating methylation.

So eat an avocado a day, I do!  Especially in the summer. Make your own guacamole! put it in salads, as a spread, in smoothies, as a topper for my Cuban Black bean soup~

The first day of the conference validated the work I do.  Much of what was presented supports my approach to nutrition and wellness.  Yay~

Much was discussed today, but magnesium was a mineral that kept coming up in each of the guest speakers’ presentations.

Her are some highlights:

Supports nervous system function – may even act like lithum for depression

Autisitc spectrum children are deficient in this mineral

It is the anti-stress mineral

There is a deficiency of magniseum and other minerals in our food supply.

Protein Pump inhibitors such as nexium and prevecid help  create magneisum  and b-12 deficieneis

Sufficient magnesium  stores are needed fo proper reflexes

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