A good berry has a little weight to it.

It has been too long since my last post. I have been preparing my home for sale and finally have the sign in the ground.  As I’ve been making improvements to my house, I am warmed by the bounty of my small urban garden.

August is blackberry month at my house.  From about the first or second week of the month onward, we can pick very large (picture 2″) berries, dripping with antioxidants, fiber, vitamins C, K, A, folic acid and much more.  Blackberries have a very high oxygen radical absorbant capacity (ORAC) value.  If you’re not familiar with “free radicals,” they are not the anarchists who hang out at the corner picketing for chaos, rather they are the chemical byproducts that float around the body and either get eliminated by antioxidants in our food or they build up and cause more problems.  Blackberries are one of the top antioxidant-rich foods.  Blackberries help our bodies to eliminate those dangerous byproducts.  Why go to the rain forest when you can grow a healthy, productive plant in your own yard, unless you have no yard of course?

What is not to like about the blackberry?  Well, nothing really, unless you don’t want thorns.  The variety I grow in my garden is thornless, which makes it safe around children.  And, yes, they love to pick and these these tasty, nutrient-dense foods and leave dark stains on my porch.  Sigh - all in the name of good health.

If you’re not blessed with an abundant garden, then pick up a container of antioxidant-rich blackberries and eliminate those chemical byproducts from your body.  In the meantime, I wish you happy abundance wherever you live.

The seeds of a blackberry are high in Omega-3 and -6s.

My daughter just had to leave some for the robins. The sticks were empty the next day.

The other day Cleveland, Ohio was hit with a whammy of a summer thunderstorm.  My kids, led by my eldest, begged to go out and soak up the storm.  How could I resist?  I’d be out there, too, if I didn’t have four people to dry off!

Any time I can encourage fitness through play and closeness with nature, then I don’t hesitate as long as safety is not compromised.  It was so cute hearing the squeels and laughter.  Another added bonus: the garden was watered for me!

See what my oldest two had to say about thunderstorms.

School is drawing near and heck, summer is just as busy (who am I kidding?). Isn’t it refreshing to be able to draw on some standard fare that you can keep in your kitchen for those rushed times of life and still give your family a healthy meal?

Here’s a lunch idea that I whipped up for my kids (ages 2, 4 & 6) that was simple, quick and nutritious.  It helps to keep the ingredients on hand at all times. Of course, feel free to improvise with other healthy items.

Whole-grain Peanut Butter Sandwich

(my kids are little, so a half sandwich for each one suffices).  I gave them tomatoes from the garden (harvest time is upon us!!), carrots or cucumber and apple slices and these neat potato and corn chips that I found at a health-food store.  The chips are a bonus as I usually do not buy them, but the ingredients were few and did not have dies, preservatives, MSG, nor trans-fats.

I try to think in terms of balancing proteins, starches, fibrous carbohydrates (veggies/fruits) and healthy fats with every meal I feed my kids.  There are times when they are not eating that way; however, I am less guilty and they are more healthy for my feeding them responsibly the rest of the time.  The main reason I do this aside from general health is to keep their blood-sugar in balance.  Ever notice that melt downs occur before mealtime or, hopefully not, during the time a meal should be happening?

If you want more ideas on staples to keep in stock for quick nutrition, then see my latest article called “Quick Ideas for Family Nutrition.” Start planning now how brown bag lunches to school or work can be healthier for your family.

What are some quick and healthy lunch ideas you recommend?

You can use this recipe for non-pasteurized cow’s milk, almond, rice or organic cow’s milk.

I’m a fan of raw cow’s milk.  It comes with a creamy top, which I pour off and save for other uses (great source of conjugated linoleic acid a.k.a. CLA, a cancer-fighting, heart healthy, anti-inflammatory fatty acid). Check out my articles section for more details on it.

But I digress.  Follow these simple steps with three simple ingredients to nourish your kids (and yourself,

post-workout that is).  Watch the video to get the official commentary from my two-year-old.

Ingredients:

16 oz. Milk

1-2T Honey (or 2tsp. stevia powder for 0 natural calories)

2T/16 oz. Cocoa powder

Put ingredients together into blender

Mix with blender

Thoroughly blended. Raw milk has creamy froth at the top.