This past year, my husband and I discovered that we both were reacting to gluten in our food. Not so much of an allergy, but definitely an intolerance. Did you know that up to 6-10% estimated people are celiacs or have a gluten allergy? Wheat products are not easy for human to digest even for the person without celiacs disease.
Valentine’s Day would not be the same without a delicious sweet treat to share with the ones you love. In this blog post, I’m sharing 7 Low Carb Valentine’s Day Treats to help you celebrate love without sacrificing your health goals. So let’s get in the kitchen and get low carb baking!
Valentine’s day treats for me represent love and chocolate! A close second would be Cheesecake… and the ultimate treat would be chocolate drizzled on a cheesecake. As we all know, these treats would typically be high and sugar and not very good for a low carb lifestyle. read more
Here are 6 Ways to Save Money this Valentine’s Day without feeling like a cheapskate. Valentine’s Day is not one of my favorite holidays… but it is never a bad thing to recognize the ones you love and let them know in some special way. When you are trying to save money, sometimes you feel pressure to spend more than you really should. Remember that expensive gifts don’t equal more love. You will show love to your husband more by staying on budget than a fancy new watch.
6 Ways to Save Money on Valentine’s Day
1) Split baby sitting cost with other couples.
Hire 1-2 baby sitters to watch several kids at one house. Let them have a pizza and movie night while all the parents get to go out on date. Leave craft supplies for older kids to work on their own Valentine’s day cards to keep them busy.
2) Find free things to do in your town.
We have an art museum here in Richmond that is free every day to the public. It is romantic to walk around (and pretend like you are more cultured that you really are.) Most larger cites will have a website that list free ideas to do in town. One idea is to go to a local park and walk hand in hand depending on weather. Go to a nice shopping center and window shop.
The Winter Olympics are a fun event to watch as a whole family. The Olympics can be a great time to teach your kids about other countries and learn about competition events. Get your kids excited and active by making your own Olympians.
You can style them after their favorite Olympic Skiers or snowboarders:
We know how hectic life can get, juggling kids, work, and trying to whip up healthy meals that everyone will love. That’s why we’re excited to share a recipe that’s not only quick and easy but also low carb and keto-friendly. Say hello to our Low Carb & Keto Philly Cheesesteak Casserole! This dish is a delicious twist on the classic cheesesteak, packed with all the flavors you love but without the carbs. Perfect for those busy weeknights when you want a satisfying meal without spending hours in the kitchen. Let’s get cooking, mamas!read more
Here on Found it Fridays, I’m going to take the opportunity to highlight and share some recipes or ideas that I have stumbled upon during the past week. I’m open to recipes, crafts, tips, anything goes! If it is something worthy to share, it is worthy of Found it Fridays.
I love this recipe idea for easy low carb mozzarella sticks. I think that these would be perfect for a movie date at home or an extra special treat for the kid’s snack. Mozzarella sticks are a childhood favorite of mine too!
First off, I love Stacy. I can’t share the love enough. This idea is both so cute and frugal (two things that sum up Stacy in my mind too). If you are looking for a funny blog to follow full of helpful tips, recipes, and saving money tips, hers is the one to hit up. I can’t wait to try out this date night with Adam.
{Oh My!, this Southern Girl Can’t contain herself} Sara is a good blogging friend of mine. She is also a southern girl, so she knows that bread pudding runs deep in a southern girl’s cravings. First off this is low sugar and healthy. This recipe is also made in the crockpot! What more could you want in a recipe?
With Valentine’s Day approaching, I was thinking a good strawberry cake would be a good recipe to include. I found this one from Melissa at Satisfying Eats. She gave up grains and her health improved tremendously. We are basically grain free at our house. I love that this recipe is low carb and grain free – – and so pretty too.
What new things have you found this week on pinterest or other blogs you follow? Share a link in a comment for me to go check out. Maybe I’ll include it in my next Found it Friday too! read more
Angela of Grassfed Mama shares healthy tips for busy moms.
Trim Healthy Mama on a Whole Foods Diet
There is some criticism in the whole foods world about Trim Healthy Mama. I’d like to take the time to debunk the myth that Trim Healthy Mama can’t be included in a whole food’s lifestyle.
What is Trim Healthy Mama?
The Trim Healthy Mama (THM) diet is a lifestyle approach to eating developed by sisters Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison. It is based on the premise of separating fuels, where meals are designed to focus on either carbohydrates or fats, but not both together, to optimize metabolism and promote weight loss.read more
Do you kids love the movie “Frozen” by Disney as much as my girls? There was a time when we watched this movie twice a day! I decided there were a lot of teachable moments inside the Frozen movie so I created this Bible Study based on the Frozen Movie by Disney. Enjoy!
Angela of Grassfed Mama shares healthy tips for busy moms.
Teachable Moments: Frozen Bible Study
Frozen is the latest animated film from Disney Studios. Here is a simple Bible Study to go along with our new favorite movie, Frozen. If you have watched the recent movie, you may see that there are a lot of teachable moments in the film to talk about fear and love and their powers in our lives. We have enjoyed watching this movie (over and over) with our daughters and learning about fear and love. read more
So many women decide it’s time to lose weight at the beginning of the new year.
It’s time for a change, time to take charge of their over eating. Maybe they will even decide to start exercising too.
Sadly though, many women decide to succumb to very strict low calorie diets thinking they are the key to losing weight.
A low calorie diet for a women would be eating less than 1500 calories in a day. Very low calorie diets recommend 800 calories in a day. Pass the celery!
Low Calorie Diets Do More Harm than Good
Everyone has to eat enough calories each day just to keep their body functioning: to breathe, to digest their food, to keep organs working. This number of calories is called a Basal Metabolic Rate. You can use this calculator to figure out your BMR here.
If you eat below this personal BMR, your body will start to turn on itself and eat lean muscle mass to function.
Lean muscle mass is exactly what we want, though. This is what fires up our metabolism to burn more calories, keeps us strong, toned and prevents injury.
Low Calorie Diets Do Not Work Long Term
You may start a low calorie diet, tracking your food intake and eating less to find that you have lost 3-5 pounds the first 2 weeks or so. Don’t be fooled by this weight loss. Part of this decrease is a decrease of food in your system (or bowels). Secondly, you could also just be losing water weight.
This kind of weight loss is not sustainable and will eventually stall… and pretty fast honestly.
Your body will catch on that you aren’t eating as much and will dial your metabolism knob back to adjust to functioning on less calories. Additionally, you will get hungry and cheat… but now your body will go into storage mode immediately because it has been starving for more nutrition.
And be honest with yourself…. you will cheat on a low calorie diet.
What’s the Answer?
Low calorie diets are not the answer. A better approach is to eat for health while fueling your metabolism.
Eat more Thermogenic Foods.
One way to do this is to increase foods that boost your metabolism. Some of these include: coconut oil, eating hot peppers and chilies, and drinking green or oolong tea. Eating more low calorie vegetables burn calories just by chewing and digesting them. You can also try this supplement that I love to speed up my metabolism using thermogenics.
Salt is often touted at something we all need to reduce in our diets. High salt consumption is blamed for a whole host of diseases like hypertension and heart disease. But new research shows that this isn’t the case! Salt is really a healthy food for our diets and is essential for our bodies! Along with other trace minerals like magnesium, salt contains sodium and chloride which are necessary for our body.
Natural salt is not something new to our diets. Salt is mentioned in the bible nearly 50 times! In traditional cultures salt was used to preserve food and could even be used as currency. Salt is still as important now as it was then.
Adrenal Fatigue is so common these days. Feeling sluggish, not able to get out of bed in the mornings, dealing with insomnia, craving salt? You may have adrenal fatigue. One way to combat adrenal fatigue is to feed your adrenal glands with sea salt! Your body naturally wants to heal itself with a salty craving – so feed it wisely.
You shouldn’t have to restrict salt when it comes form good, quality sources. My naturopath recommended that we increase our salt to a 1/2 teaspoon at each meal. She recommended this salt: Finely Ground Pure Himalayan Salt (Affiliate link)
Dr. Mercola shares that you need to maintain proper salt to potassium ratio because the imbalance can lead to
hypertension, cataracts, stomach ulcers, kidney stones, memory decline, osteoporosis, and rheumatoid arthritis. read more
. I’d like to take the time to debunk the myth that Trim Healthy Mama can’t be included in a whole food’s lifestyle.
