Gogo's Inspiration » Other – Food & Drink

Your Local Farmers

admin — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:44:54 +0000

Farmers like anybody are trying to make money with their business. What used to happen with farmers was that locally people would buy their foods. Certainly some of it may have been shipped off, but most of it was bought and sold locally. Families did not have the luxury for centuries of heading to the store to buy whatever it was they wanted. Produce was seasonal, as was the case with most of the items bought. Now local farmers in some areas are trying to once again provide good produce, milk, meat and eggs to their local community. This is really important to those wanting fresh and organic food. Locally buying food also can cut down on trucking pollution by not having food shipped thousands of miles, rather just buy it locally and save on these costs that affect our planet.

So no matter what your reasons are for wanting good and local food, do some research as there may be more local farmers around then you realize. And for those of you that have never tried this, head out to a couple of local farms and see what is happening for yourselves.

Kids Health

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 23:58:47 +0000

No, this is not an article telling you how to improve the health of your kids. There are many ways to eat that can be wrong and many ways to eat that can be OK. There are also many people that say activity is good for kids, and some that say there can be too much of that depending on what it is they are doing.

The point to this post really is that taking an active part in the health of your child can be important long term. Sometimes we end up in ruts and we tend to stay the course if things are looking good or normal. It does not mean that they are, but to our eyes things seem fine. For example, you may not even notice that your child is gaining too much weight or is not eating enough of the rights foods. Or maybe they don’t drink enough water. Maybe you should set some guidelines, maybe not, the point is that we sometimes have to work at taking notice at what is going on around us. As someone once said, fish do not talk much about being wet. So have fun, and get involved in your kids lives more if you are already not.

More Holidays Approaching

admin — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:56:45 +0000

Now that Thanksgiving is over, more holidays are approaching. So you made it through the last month doing OK on your diet and eating healthy. Then it may be easier for you to continue down that path since you have had victory.

But for some maybe you did not do so well and are not doing so well. The best thing to do here is to set a realistic date as to when you will start back up. You may want to start before Christmas or not, that is up to you. The key here is making sure you start at the point in which you say you will. It can be a huge motivating factor to start a dietary program when you say you will.

What can be less motivating is always saying you will and never doing it. The good thing is that once the holidays are over they will be over for while. You can really get a huge jumpstart on your program and fly into the next fall holiday season rock solid and not wavering a bit. So have fun, be careful not to overeat anything, and start at a date that you will actually start.

Real Local Living

admin — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:14:00 +0000

Depending on where it is you live, local living can be done. Lots of time in the health industry you hear lots of about ‘Going Local’. Basically what that means is trying to buy as much as you can from the people that live nearby. Many people start with produce, then meat and dairy from there, as well as eggs. It can be hard to find other things made locally but shopping the stores in your town is also one way to go.

Around lots of places you will find CSA’s. These local produce farms can be a great way to get organically grown produce quite inexpensively. Now remember if there is a bad crop then you will be at the mercy of that just like the farmer and his family. Usually you pay a share price and that will get you a season worth of produce, usually a 1/2 to a full bushel a week.

These places also can be a great place to get you all natural eggs, meat and dairy. So if you are looking to go local, check with your local County Chamber Of Commerce, Craigslist, or Google search some sites that handle these types of requests.

Turkey Day

admin — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:30:27 +0000

For lots of people, thanksgiving will be a time of good eating and good company. People will sit down to variations of the traditional style meal with turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. And even for the non meat eaters, they can always go with the typical standby of a tofurky…

Lots of people during this time also struggle with the fact that they tend to overeat. For those that are overweight already, the holidays can really seem like a daunting thing to have to go through. There are so many temptations and rich foods to choose from. The rich foods can also tempt you many times throughout the season.

So what is a person to do? Well there can be a several options; truly the ultimate way to handle this is up to you and you alone. You can consider just making sure that you do not overeat. You can also stay away from too many refined foods and sweets. Also you can see if there may be a way to offer some healthier choices for these meals, possibly take something healthy to a potluck. Sure there can be some more fun foods, but there can also be some healthier ones to offer some balance.

So watch what you’re doing, have fun and enjoy, just don’t over enjoy…

Peanut Butter Is Back

admin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:41:34 +0000

It is a little surprising to me to see that peanut butter sales are doing so well after that massive recall that left tons of people ill and worse. But it seems as a nation we love our peanut butter. We are willing to jump right back in, even though regulations within the industry have changed little. When you mass produce foods like this, contamination issues become more widespread.

You have to try and make very wise decisions for you and your family. Consider where you buy your food, check out the source and demand quality from the companies you buy from. No matter how good a company is though, there is always a chance you could get ill from your food.

So whether or not you choose to go back to peanut butter already is up to you. Always remember what you’re feeding to your family though. Demand the best from the companies you choose to eat from, we do.

What Are You Eating?

admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:53:49 +0000

Here in our house, we follow a traditional eating lifestyle. Basically we eat all organically when we can, we do not eat processed or packaged foods, and we live on a strict grocery budget and meal plan system. It took some time and effort to get to this point. But along the way we learned a ton and had so much fun doing it. We support local agricultural efforts by buying from local farms which is another great thing for the local community here.

So at best, we know how our food is grown, raised and stored. And why shouldn’t we? We have had to email cookware companies and food companies certain questions as exactly what is in what they sell for a few specific things we get online. The good food companies openly share exactly how the do things at their location.

In a regular grocery store setting, how do you know what you’re eating? Well for one, look at the back of the label. It tells some of the story. Have you ever seen the ingredient natural flavors? Basically food companies can put a whole list of FDA approved additives in and just label it natural flavors.

Challenge the companies you buy from to email you what they actually put in their food. Chances are they will not tell you. They have too much to hide and will not tell you a thing. So go to Google, start slowly and learn more about what it is you are actually eating. Be informed! Ask your doctor for help if you need it.

Feeding Our Kids

admin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:49:14 +0000

When was the last time any of us thought about what we fed our kids? Kids today do not eat the same as kids 20 to 30 years ago. Studies have shown for example that kids love fast food, especially McDonald’s; they know what those golden arches mean when they see them. They did some tests and found that if they replaced the food in the McDonald’s containers with homemade foods, kids didn’t care, they ate it anyway. It still had the wrapper so they thought they were good to go.

Your kids are not in control, you are. So many parents say that their kids just don’t like certain foods and only eat things like pizza and fries. -Literally. And guess what they feed them, pizza and fries.

We may want to start thinking about what we feed our kids. McDonalds and a pizza can be a fun treat, but it does not have to be their staple. When we were kids we ate what was served and had no problems with it. What has happened today? So read some of those ingredient labels and think about what you’re feeding your kids!