Quick answer: Yes, kiwi skin is edible!

How many hours have you spent peeling, scooping and cutting out the fruit of the kiwi, avoiding the skin at all costs?

At first the kiwi skin might have a weird texture, it might feel rough or hairy to you, but it’s only because most of us have grown up not eating the skin. A lot of the nutrition is in the skin, and there is no reason we should be doing extra work to get rid of the best part of this fruit.

Kiwi’s contain as much Vitamin C as an orange and are also a great source of potassium, magnesium & vitamin E.

Eating the skin makes your prep time quicker, so make sure to clean the fruit well before you eat it and enjoy! Don’t just try it for the first time and say you don’t like it, give your taste buds a chance to get use to it.

Green Smoothie Kiwi Recipe

You all know that I love my green smoothies, so here is an easy green smoothie recipe  to fill your stomach with great nutrients!

Ingredients

• 2 kiwi, peeled and halved (I know I just told you the skins are good to eat (they are!) but for the smoothie peel them!)
• ½ banana
• 1 cup baby spinach (You don’t have to be precise, I just fill the blender with spinach)
• ½ cup vanilla yogurt (Use greek yogurt to get extra protein in the smoothie)
• 2 Tbls ground flax seed (optional – but a good source of Omega 3)
• ½ cup apple juice or milk, pick the flavor that tastes best for you
• Ice cubes (optional)

Instructions

Egg yolks are one of the most nutrient-dense, antioxidant-rich and vitamin-laden foods on the planet!

Eat the entire egg!

One large egg contains:

Vitamin B12: 9% of the RDA.
Vitamin B2: 15% of the RDA.
Vitamin A: 6% of the RDA.
Vitamin B5: 7% of the RDA.
Selenium: 22% of the RDA.
Eggs also contain small amounts of almost every vitamin and mineral required by the human body… including calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, manganese, Vitamin E, Folate and many more.

A large egg contains 77 calories, with 6 grams of quality protein, 5 grams of fat and trace amounts of carbohydrates. It is one of the few food sources for Vitamin D, a vitamin that many women are low on.

It’s important to note that almost all the nutrients are contained in the yolk, the white contains only protein.

Summary: EGGS ARE HEALTHY!

Eggs are an awesome food for weight loss

Eating a protein rich breakfast will leave you feeling fuller longer and help curb later snack attacks. The high fat/protein ratio in eggs, and low calorie food is one of the best ways to start the day.

Eggs aren’t the enemy in bad cholesterol

Eating the whole egg gets a bad rep for having too much cholesterol.

The ‘health world’ quickly switched to eating only egg whites early on, when reports started to come out about the risks of high cholesterol. Don’t get me wrong egg whites are a great source of protein in  your diet, but I still think there is good reason to eat the entire egg.

The real threat to high cholesterol is saturated and trans fats, not dietary cholesterol. Unless you have been specifically cautioned by your docotor due to health issues, I say enjoy the nutritional value of the whole egg. Your body needs the cholesterol in meat and eggs to make testerone to help build muscle and burn fat, and the cholesterol in eggs has been proven to actually lower LDL, or bad cholesterol, in your body.

Egg Break Down

Yolk

Most of the egg’s vitamins are found in the yolk. Also, this is where all of the fat and half of the protein is.

Egg White

The white is made of protein and water. A slight cloudiness indicates extreme freshness. As eggs age, the white becomes thinner and clearer.

Egg Shell

The shell keeps out bacteria. Never use an egg with a cracked or split shell.

Buying Guide

Freshness

There are two dates, a sell-by date and a pack date. The pack date is the day the eggs were packed, generally within a week from when they were laid (legally this can be as long as 30 days). The sell-by date is the legal limit until which eggs may be sold and is within 30 days of the pack date. Basically,  a carton of eggs may be up to two months old by the sell-by date.

According to USDA, eggs are ok for consumption for an additional three to five weeks past the sell-by date if refrigerated.

Color

The color of the egg depends on the breed of the chicken. It hasn’t been proven that  shell color (brown or white) has any effect on flavor or nutritional value.

Storing

Store eggs on a shelf in the refrigerator where the temperature is below 40 degrees. They are best kept in their original carton. If they are removed they may absorb flavors from other foods. The carton also helps maintain correct humidity which is ideally 70-80 percent.

What do you think? Eat the whole egg – or are you an egg white only eater?

Why do you go out to eat?

I don’t think eating out is a bad thing to do every now and then, but I do think we should be conscious of how often and what types of foods we’re eating.

To celebrate.

When you are celebrating a special event, most likely it’s special because it doesn’t happen that often. This means your eating out isn’t a habit, it’s a one time celebration which I wouldn’t think twice about. We all deserve to treat ourselves every now and then so if you have a special occasion, go out and enjoy!

By enjoy, I mean be aware of what you are eating, you don’t need the heavy cream sauces or a refill of bread at the table. You can most likely share if not skip dessert and I suggest boxing up half your  meal for leftovers the next day. These shouldn’t be huge sacrifices, just part of your lifestyle choices.

Eating out socially.

Although we need food to fuel our bodies and keep our energy up, a huge part of eating is social. I actually prefer to make eating a social event and almost rarely eat alone. Whether it is with my husband, family or friends I always opt to sit down at a meal with others. Social eating can be detrimental to our diets or a positive pick me up. A lot of it determines who you are eating with and where you are eating. Also, if you have conquered your own self control and temptation buttons when you order and portion control.

Especially women are known for using phrases such as “that’s all you’re eating”. This is a tactic from their own guilt when they see you controlling yourself and want you to indulge with them, making themselves feel better about overeating. Have you ever been in that situation? Don’t give in! Kindly smile and say, “Yes, this is all I am hungry for at this time” and change the subject.

Short on time.

You are leaving work, running to your kids soccer practice and have a 20 minute window to get your entire family dinner – what do you do?  Stop at Chick Fil A and get a few chicken sandwiches. Well, at least you stopped and got a grilled chicken sandwich – I was afraid you were going to say something like burger and fries at the McDonalds.

I get it. I really do. Sometimes we don’t have a choice and we have to stop by and serve dinner at the local fast food joint down the street. The key is not making this a routine. If you have an appointment every Thursday after work and you know your kids are going to be hungry… PLAN AHEAD! Prepare sandwiches, fresh fruit and veggies and eat them on the go. If you have a park nearby sit outside on a bench together and enjoy!

Lazy.

You have all the food in your kitchen to throw together a semi-healthy edible meal, but if we are being honest you are just too darn lazy. This is where my easy go to meals come in! Have 5 – 6 options of foods that you can literally throw together in a pinch when you don’t feel like cooking. It won’t be your healthiest meal, but i guarantee it will be healthier than anything you will get out at a restaurant.

Why we all need to cook at home more

Less Salt & Sugar in your food

Salt and Sugar make foods taste better (big surprise). Restaurants will always add more salt, sugar and fats to your foods to enhance the flavor of your food. Until you are use to it, healthy food doesn’t naturally taste as good because our taste buds are use to getting the extra sugar/salt.

You need to start taking the sugar and salt out of your diet and train your tastebuds to find healthy foods delicious. It sounds ridiculous to you maybe now, but the more salt you take out of your diet, the less you crave salty foods and the less satisfying salty foods are. The same goes for sugar! It’s not going to happen overnight, but don’t give up!

Smaller Portions

It’s not a surprise that restaurants serve us enough in one entree for 2 – 3 people. As much as we all would like to believe we are strong enough to portion control ourselves, we almost always end up eating too many calories in one sitting.

When you cook at home, I always suggest filling a smaller dinner plate with food instead of eating off of a big dinner plate. This will help you control your portions and trick your mind into thinking you are eating more food.

We can control what goes in our food

This means we can eat more real foods and less processed foods. When you purchase your food you can pick local healthy options instead of trusting a restaurant to make those choices for you.

Save Money

The excuse healthy food is too expensive is full of crap. First, put your money to what you deem important and a priority, I would say our health should be on the top of that list! Second, yes whole foods is expensive but if you are simply buying fresh veggies and fruits to eat on throughout the week you will be surprised at how inexpensive your weekly grocery trips can be. I always say you should try to shop on the outside aisles of the grocery store, the middle aisles are more processed options.

Set a goal for yourself of only eating out 1 – 2x a week, that includes all of your breakfasts, lunches and dinners so pick wisely!

I want to hear from you. Why do you eat out? Is it often or every now and then? Are you able to control what you eat or do you feel like you are constantly battling finding healthy options?

Whenever I look for granola at the grocery store I struggle to find one with a low sugar content, and when I do like the look of the nutritional information it is always one of the most expensive available. In an effort to save money and eat healthy I have decided to start making my own homemade granola, best part is my husband loves the recipe so he eats it too.

Here’s my favorite homemade granola – let me know in the comments what you think!

Ingredients

4 – 5 cups of Oatmeal

1 C. Flaxseed

1 C. Sliced Almonds

1 C. Sunflower Seeds

1/2 C Agave Nectar (maple syrup/honey)

1/2 C. Vegetable Oil (or canola)

1/2 t salt

1 T Vanilla Extract

2 C. Dried Fruit

The How To Part

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

Combine the oatmeal, flaxseed, almonds and sunflower seeds in a bowl.

Combine the agave, vegetable oil, salt and vanilla extract in a separate bowl.

Pour the agave mixture over the oat mixture and mix until everything is coated.

Spread out the granola on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Once cool, combine the granola and fruit.

Why Do We Need Iron When We’re Pregnant?

As your body produces more blood during pregnancy (as much as 50% more), you need more iron than ever to help carry the oxygen and nutrients to the growing fetus. By week 20 you have pretty much depleted the stored iron in your body, and conveniently this is when your baby needs the most new red blood cells.

Having too low levels of iron puts you at risk for anemia during pregnancy. This will make you feel tired, have poor concentration and an increased risk of infection. Excessive low levels of iron can cause premature birth and low birth weight in your baby.

Iron in food

There are two types of iron in food: Iron from animals (called haem iron) and iron from plants (called non-haem iron). Haem iron is taken up by the body about 10x better than non-haem iron. When it comes to iron from animals, the redder the meat the better. If you are a vegetarian you need to make sure you eat more of the non-haem iron to get enough nutrients in  your system.

Vitamin C is iron’s best friend. With each meal add in some orange juice, a clementine or a kiwi – anything that contains vitamin C and will help your body absorb more iron.

In addition you will want to avoid foods during your meal that prevent iron from being absorbed. Tea, coffee, calcium, herbal and other medications can block plant iron from being absorbed by the body.

Pregnant women are recommended to get at least 27 mg of iron with no more than 45 mg. Most prenatal vitamins contain at least 30 mg of iron.

Iron rich foods

These are only a select few of the many foods that can help add iron to your diet.

Meat

• Lean beef
• Chicken
• Lean Pork
• Egg
• Kidney beans
• Baked Beans
• Tofu

Breads

• Iron fortified breakfast cereals
• Oats
• Wholegrain bread

Vegetables

• Spinach
• Asparagus
• Green beans
• Green peas

Fruit

• Dried Apricots
• Prunes
• Fresh Fruit

Nuts

• Cashews
• Pistachios
• Almonds
• Natural Peanut Butter

Good luck adding in more iron to your diet!