Back to School…Back to Germs

Back to School…Back to Germs! Keeping your kids healthy When Going Back to School!

Updated: August 19, 2019

One of the most common questions I get asked when people hear I am taking nutrition courses is “how do I keep my kiddo healthy at school?”. I kind of chuckle to myself and tell them that the question they asked me is one of the two main reasons I decided to get a certification in nutritional health and coaching. So I wanted to share the things in our household I feel have really helped make an impact. Remember, I am NOT a doctor and this is NOT medical advice 🙂

The first half year of preschool for my son was ROUGH. I mean to the point I considered withdrawing him and just keeping him in a bubble. The sleepless nights, feeling like the worst parent ever for not being able to comfort my child when he felt so puny..it was just hard. Long story short, we went to the doctor so much for his “preschool colds” that a pulmonologist told us he was “pre-asthmatic”. Meaning he was too young to be declared asthmatic, but he was well on his way if he didn’t “outgrow” all these symptoms by the time he was 5. 5??!! I almost fell over when the doc told us that. One week later, before Christmas, he caught RSV. A healthy lung kid has a hard time with that virus, imagine one dubbed with “weak lungs”. It was a nightmare…I won’t even go into further detail than that. No way could I go on 3 more years of back and forth like this. So I came home, I googled, I googled some more…and I spent my sleepless nights researching everything I could on the presence of continuous colds in toddlers and young children. Needless to say, through my trials and errors, many of which were force tried on my husband before then trying on Lucas, I feel like we finally got a good grasp on preventative health and not just reactive health. So I wanted to share some of my daily routines of what we do here in our household. Let me start by saying this: There isn’t one magic vitamin or pill to keep anyone from getting sick. In my opinion, the way to do so means turning health consciousness into a lifestyle. Your way of thinking, doing, and planning changes. You have to look at health as the big picture, from a 5,000 foot view rather than getting into the weeds of it all and only seeing one option or a one-size fits all easy way. Your family’s health is all around you, in everything you do.

So what do we do here in our household? Here’s a breakdown with explanations below.

  1. The School supply list
  2. Healthy, rainbow colored diet.
  3. Elderberry syrup daily, not just during flu season
  4. Use of quality microfiber cloths (not talking just that one company here)
  5. Hand washing routine after school
  6. Parents digital routine at night
  7. Lice Preventative Spray

Wow so 7 things! It seems like a lot, but really it isn’t, so let’s discuss!

  1. The School Supply List– yep, you read that right. The last 2 years, it has become my first action towards trying to keep my kiddo (and others) germ free. Most preschool or elementary teachers ask for Clorox cleaning wipes on their school supply list. While I don’t use them in my home (because of other stuff I discuss later), I get the appeal, I used them for years before I realized I wasn’t using them correctly. Have you ever actually read the back of those things?? You must keep the surface wet for 4 minutes for it to kill the 99.9% of bacteria it claims to. I tested this once, and wiped and area with one cloth and tested how long it took to dry (a door knob)…..45 seconds. So that means about every 30 seconds for 4 minutes I would have to reapply the cloth in order to effectively kill 99.9% of bacteria. Also, it does not kill Norovirus, aka the dreaded stomach bug/flu. After my child’s first round of that at 2 years old, and quarantining my husband so he wouldn’t get it ( I soon realized it was a total lost cause when he did) out came the internet and down the rabbit hole I went. I found what’s called Clorox Hydrogen Peroxide cleaner, both in wipes and spray. You can’t buy it in stores, but you can from Amazon ( I also keep stock so just call me!).  So I did, and with my canisters and spray laying around it’s the first thing I drop off on my Momma friends doorsteps when I get that “my kids puking” text. What’s so great about it? It only has to sit for 30 seconds in order to kill most viruses and bacteria. The exceptions being: MRSA and Staph (4 minutes) and TB (4 minutes) and Norovirus and Rotavirus (1 minute). Most of the teachers have never seen or heard of this, so I explain and then basically tell them I will provide it for the year if they use it. When I talk about cleaning our cell phone cases below, this is what I use. I also use it on toys, or anything else that I can rinse off.

The second school supply list item is Zoono. I get it from www.zoonousa.com    Use code EL15 for 15% off your entire order!!!

Unlike regular alcohol based sanitizers, this uses nano technology to create a thin film of protection on your hands. Think of it like a thin glove with thousands of tiny little spears that penetrate the outer layer of germs and kill them. What’s best about this stuff? Testing has shown that it will kill norovirus. No other hand sanitizer can do that. On a side note, testing is being done on creating commercial kitchen equipment that has this nano tech embedded in order to reduce the risk and spread of salmonella and e coli. I found that super interesting!

I started using this specifically because of their reporting on norovirus. I don’t use this daily. I know there are concerns with nano tech in cosmetics, however after emailing the company back and forth, according to them, their formula does not pass the skin barrier via absorption or into the bloodstream, it simply lays on top of the skin until the skin sheds off or it is eventually washed off. This does not take the place of hand washing! You wash your hands like normal, and they say it wears off after a dozen or so handwashes during the day. So I save this for school days, and any days where we may be going somewhere particularly germy, specifically Chic fil a play place, grocery store, etc! I ask my husband to keep some in his car and use it during flu season when he has meetings outside his office, or if anyone in his office becomes sick. I usually use it before going to the grocery store, or Target. I also started using it any time I go to a doctors office, or if I take Lucas to his doctor for a well check.

2. Diet– You have heard it time and time again….”eat your vegetables”. Well, its true. Eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, and proteins/fats (by all means eat those good grass fed/finished meats!) will truly help you and your child fight off infections. You will be hitting your daily intake of essential and nonessential vitamins and amino acids and your body will be utilizing them more efficiently than the lab made vitamins you are popping. (kuddos to those taking whole foods vitamins!) I really feel that the reason we are all so much healthier in the summer is because such an abundance of fruit and veggies are readily available, affordable and delicious. Try to carry that way of eating into the fall and winter months! Soups in the winter are a great way to do this, because kids drink the liquid part (so no nutrition is lost) and all kids like to dip, so make them a grilled cheese to go with it! If you ever need help figuring out food choices for you or your family, don’t hesitate to send me an email! Or join our facebook group and ask away!

3.Elderberry Syrup– After last year’s flu season, there isn’t a Mom around that hasn’t heard of this. Some say its folk tale and refuse to use it. While Elderberry syrup has its roots in herbal medicine, it also has the scientific research to back it up. It is loaded up with Vitamins A, B, and C, as well as iron, potassium, phosphorus, copper, fiber, protein and antioxidants. Elderberry syrup got its headlining start in Panama in 1995 when it was used to treat an influenza outbreak. Since then, it has been studied in small randomized studies, all with promising results. One study found it helped reduce cold symptoms of airline passengers faster than placebo groups.1 Another study found it reduced influenza A and B symptoms by 4 days versus placebo group.2 It is a very promising anti-viral and anti-bacterial herb.

But wait! That’s not all! Here, we don’t just use elderberry syrup to ward off colds and flus. This is a short list to highlight some of the elderberry’s benefits. Find them all here. Helps with: digestion, constipation, reduces blood pressure, reduces LDL, expectorant for phlegm (great for bronchitis or asthma), protects against effects of autoimmune disorders, helps regulate blood sugar, promotes bone strength and lessens joint pain.

Want to order some? Check out Erin’s Elderberries!

Elderberry syrup can be bought over the counter, and last year it was in high demand and often people were unable to find it. I recommend stocking up before the season hits, or you can also make your own. If you do choose to buy, look for an organic brand with no high fructose corn syrup or coloring. Making the syrup is your best bet. It is super cheap compared to buying it! You can get about 100 servings of homemade for the cost of 10 servings in a store bought brand. For something your entire family should take daily (more so when you are sick), that’s a huge savings!

Taking elderberry syrup-(note I am not a doctor, just explaining how I do things!). We take it daily, everyone in our home. When someone is running a fever or feels a little lousy, that dosage goes to the single dosage amount every single hour until that person feels better. We had to spend an entire month at my parents house over the summer and Lucas came down with 2 101 degree fevers during that time. None of which lasted more than 8 hours because I never travel without the means to make syrup!

The final advantage to making your own syrup is the added health benefits. You know exactly whats going in it, it isn’t over processed, and you can add other beneficial ingredients like ginger, echinacea and cloves. AND the honey…oh the honey…well that will give you even more added protection and health benefits, not just immediately, but months down the road as well! We have all heard about the anti-bacterial and anti-viral benefits of raw local honey, as well as the allergy benefits. I have done a lot of digging into this as well (apparently all I do is research and find answers to questions!), because some doctors claim its all hodge-podge while others totally believe in it.

During my research I found that for honey to be the most effective for allergies, it must be started 3-4 months PRIOR to the season. For spring time allergies, that means starting your honey at C hristmas or the new year, NOT when the allergy symptoms arise. People have reported having lesser suffering issues if they wait until they get symptoms, but if you start prepping your body before hand, you may have little to no allergy symptoms. I didn’t come across all of this research until around April of this year. And then I realized…Oh! I’ve been giving Lucas elderberry syrup with local honey since before Christmas! And guess what…NO ONE in this house suffered from allergies this spring/summer (we will see how fall goes). Lucas was always the worst…he took Zyrtec in the am AND Benadryl at night for his allergies, along with a rescue inhaler. Not one bottle of either has been bought since we started using my Elderberry syrup , and when we went back to his pulmonologist, he cleared him of any “pre-asthmatic” symptoms. We haven’t had to go back to see him since.

4. Quality microfiber cloths– Okay, I am sure you are thinking “what the heck is this girl about to try and get me to buy?”. Nothing. A good friend of mine approached me many years ago about (specifically) “that expensive brand” cleaning cloths, because she knew we were as toxic chemical free in our home as we could be. Of course since I had never heard of this, I went home to research it, wondering what kind of money Id be spending at this “tupperware” like party of hers. I found the concept very interesting, but of course my inquisitive brain knew that this wasn’t or couldn’t be a new thing, or invention, so where did it come from? How did this start? Long story short…it let me to cleaning with microfiber cloths in my home on a daily basis, just not with Norwex. A quick explanation because I am planning on doing a post dedicated to just this subject.

Good quality microfiber cloths (like Norwex) are woven at 1/200th the size of the human hair. If you look at it under a microscope, it looks like a little hook instead of a loop weave. This “hook” is what grabs dirt, grim and germs into the cloth instead of swishing them all about on your surfaces, and the size of the hook (1/200th of a hair) allows it to pick up particles as small as 0.33 microns. What does that mean…well, the flu virus is a little over 0.4 microns (some websites report .5), so technically (again, not a doc just sharing info I have found via personal research), that means if the flu virus is sitting on your counter and you clean it with a microfiber cloth woven at 1/200th , you are removing that germ. Now, I am NOT knocking Norwex. I love them, I have several of their cloths. However, I do have way more of the brand eCloth. Why? They are woven at the same size, and significantly cheaper. What’s the catch? Ecloth does not have the silver interwoven into the cloth. What does this mean? Nothing really. The silver is woven in so that you can take longer in between washings, as it provides an internal way to kill off the bacteria over time while the rag sits. It does NOT kill the germs on contact. I pretty much use a rag a day and throw it in the wash pile, because I don’t want to risk contamination, but in places where water is scarce, this would be a good option.

So what do I do with these? I clean everything with them. At night, after everyone is in bed, I take a damp cloth and I wipe down the door knobs, and anything else I feel might be compromised from the day. When its cleaning time, I clean the whole house with them. I figure wherever those germs lurk, hopefully that cloth will find them! I also keep little ones in my truck, so if Lucas or I get particularly gross, or we can’t wash our hands, I can wipe us down knowing most of the germs are being wiped off. Click here to shop! Their shipping is super fast!!

5. Hand Washing Routine– Like our diets, we’ve all heard this too! Wash your hands! Well, during school and especially flu season, I take this seriously! I actually put a sign on the outside of our door to our garage to remind everyone to wash their hands as soon as they walk in! No one does anything until they do. Luckily we have a half bath right at the entrance from our garage, so it makes it very seamless. At school, I take Lucas to the bathroom and we both wash our hands before we leave. Granted he somehow crawls on the floor or touches everything on the way out, but I at least tried (plus he’s got his Zoono on, so that helps!)! Plus it gets him in a routine and he doesn’t fight me on washing his hands in the house. This is a simple chore, but so many of us just don’t do it more during the worst parts of the year.

6. Parent’s Digital Routine at Night– This goes along with my nightly door knob cleaning(dont wan’t to take the time to do this? Join my Facebook group and learn a trick I have found!!)  I take mine and my husbands cell phone cases off and sanitize them. I throw them, along with anything else that needs to be sanitized from the day (a toy he took t out of the house during flu season), into the sink, and spray with the aforementioned clorox spray. I go do some other random chore then come back, rinse off and go. I usually only do this nightly starting in late October until flu season is over. When flu season isn’t as rampant, I will switch to every other day or every couple of days depending on where we have been. We pick up so many germs via our phones, depending on where we lay them down, what we touch and then touch the phone, etc. And you know your little one is grabbing at it all the time!

7. Preventative Spray– So while lice won’t physically make you ill, the last thing any Mom wants is finding those little suckers in your kids hair! Like we don’t have enough to clean besides basically cloroxing our house from the roof down. No one has time for that! So I make a homemade spray from all organic essential oils. During school season I have 2 bottles…one I keep at home and one I keep in my purse. Because there are days I leave with him in tow and I have forgotten to do everything (sunscreen, bug spray, etc) So I keep a little pouch of all of these in my purse for those just in case days. Lord knows the one day I forget to spray him will be the one day he comes home with it!

So does this sound like I am a hypochondriac? Ha! I can assure you I am not, but what I am is a very careful Momma who wants to give her kid every opportunity to not be sick and enjoy his tiny little life!  I am probably the first Mom that would tell my kid to go play in a mud puddle, not complain if he eats dirt (I mean cause he did and I actually called Poison Control one time because I didn’t know if potting soil from Lowes was ok to eat lol!), or has to come back from the park wearing only his diaper. Update: He’s potty trained now, so we usually ride home naked or with the spare underwear I keep in the truck lol!

This is just our daily routine, and what I have learned through school, as well as a ton of my own research and testing in our home. Germs are good for us, they live in us and on us and also protect us. What I try to keep away is the bad germs, the ones that want my kiddo not to be a Tiny Healthy Human.

Happy New School Year Everyone. May it be your best and healthiest yet!

In good health,

Erin

Some Links contained herein are affiliate links where I do make a small commission from sales. Please note I do not talk about these products because I am an affiliate, rather I am an affiliate after years of using these products and wanted to help spread the word!! These are all my own opinions and may not reflect those of the company. This blog is not meant to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure diseases. Please always consult your doctor for anything and everything! Thank you!

  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4848651/
  2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15080016

Yumble Review!!

Yumble….Can it Really Help De-Stress a Mom?

Meal delivery kits are all the rage nowadays. There are several companies to choose from and most cater to a variety of diet preferences. When my husband and I considered trying one, my first thoughts when looking at the menus and serving sizes were…”why only 2 or 4?”, and “I am never going to get my picky 2 year old to eat this stuff!”.  So one night, when I couldn’t sleep, I googled “meal delivery for toddlers”. I wasn’t expecting to get any results back, but I was at least filling my time until my brain turned off enough to sleep. Much to my surprise, there it was: delivery meals for kids. A couple of different companies showed up in the results. So I ended up choosing Yumble for a couple of reasons: 1. They delivered to our zipcode,  2. the meals looked like something I would feed him on a daily basis, and 3. It was cheaper than the only other service that delivered to our area. Read on for a full review of Yumble and also a discount link to order if you would like to try it for your family!

So you may be asking, why on earth would you want a meal delivery for a kiddo? Well, for this mama it was several reasons, but the biggest reason was my stress level. My son ALWAYS decides he is starving when I am cooking. At no other time during the day does he think he is just going to fall off the face of the planet as he does when this Mama steps into the kitchen and he hears me get a frying pan out. The problem with this is that he is tugging on me, whining, wanting up on the counter, or he is just making himself at home in the pantry shoving anything into his mouth he can find. I can’t get him a decent meal ready fast enough. So the thought of a healthy pre-cooked meal waiting for him in the fridge when I start cooking that he can have was a really attractive option for me. Would it ruin meal time? Not really, because every day he already would eat his “dinner” before us, and then just sit with us at the table while we ate. So the goal was really only to get better food into his stomach, and to do that it needed to be ready to go. This way he could sit and eat while I cooked, and I wasn’t half frazzled every single night at dinner time. Also, as much as I try try try, I just do not have a day or a weekend day I can spend prepping food. That stresses me out even more, and the failure to do so when planning on doing it, just makes me feel like I’ve failed and the week has not even started yet. So for our lifestyle at the moment, this seemed like a too good to be true option.

So what exactly is Yumble? Yumble is food for kids 2-14 that is delivered straight to your doorstep. It is already cooked, and all you have to do is warm it up in either the microwave or the oven. There are some options (like the munch a lunch) that is kind of like a lunchable so no heating is necessary. You can choose between having 6, 12, and 24 meals a week delivered. The more meals you get, the cheaper per meal they cost. Delivery is always free, and depending on where you live, your delivery comes on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Pricing ranges from 7.99 a meal (47.94 a week) to 6.99 a meal (167.76  a week).

In order to do a review of Yumble I had 2 weeks of deliveries sent to our house. I kept the first week and had Lucas try every one. The second week I handed them out to Mom friends with varying kid ages and asked them for feedback. Yumble didn’t ask me to write this, nor did they send me free meals to review. I paid for this on my own, because I was truly interested in this as a healthy option for my Tiny Healthy Human, and everyone else as well! All of the pictures below are from me or the Moms that volunteered to try the meals!

I’m going to discuss Yumble based on Pros and Cons of what I experienced as well as the feedback from the other Moms. So, I will go by topic and discuss the good and bad of each.

1. Website itself-Ordering is super easy, and the website very user friendly. You are allowed to skip meal weeks at your choosing. There is no requirement on how many weeks you have to buy. So you could buy a couple of weeks and then skip 4 months straight if you wanted to. The bad side of ordering is that there is no app for phones, so you have to physically log into their web browser. They send a “reminder” email to choose your meals or skip for the week, but they do so LESS THAN 24 hours before your choice closes. So if you see the email at lunch and then forget for the day and remember right when you wake up the next day (speaking from experience right there), it is too late. Since this service is targeted towards busy Moms, in my opinion,  that is something that needs to be changed. One meal delivery service my family has tried (review also coming) sends text reminders a week and 2 days before your choices close, which is fantastic! Yumble should seriously consider something like that.

2. Packaging- I was super worried about getting these meals during the summer. Would they still be cold? The answer, yes. I actually wish some other meal delivery kits we have tried would take note of how these guys ship. That being said, there was a hiccup with sweating and ruining some of the packaging on week 2. The packaging is a thick paper that comes apart and has some form of activity on it for the kids. Coloring, or making a mask, etc. If the paper gets ruined thanks to the ice packs sweating then what good does that do anyone?

3. Super Fast and Easy-All Moms reported getting the food heated up and on the table was a breeze. The bad part of this, in my opinion, is the packaging. Several other moms reported this as well. The food comes in black plastic #1 PETE. Pretty much all microwavable meals in the grocery store come in this. However, it is not a plastic I use in my home if I can avoid it. It contains Polyethylene Terephthalate, which can leach antimony when heated. Antimony is used as a catalyst and a flame retardant, and has been labeled a “possible carcinogen”. Pretty much every website I looked at that discussed plastics said this is definitely an “avoid it” plastic. It is also only manufactured as a onetime use, so if you do use it, do not re-use it!! Did that stop me from feeding the food to my son or the other moms using it? No. What the majority of us did was move the food to a glass container and heat. Now that is an extra step and one more dirty dish. So for me and some families that don’t use this plastic, Yumble isn’t a fridge to oven kind of meal. On another note, some meals do not require heating, so they are a great option for school, a field trip, or days when you just need to reach and grab a hefty snack and run out the door.

4. Ingredients- This is the BIG question here. Especially for this Mama. We eat about 90% organic in our home. Yumble is not organic but they say they “use organic ingredients whenever possible” and that when so done, they would label the ingredients as organic. So I purposefully looked at every single ingredient in every single Yumble meal we got. Never once was their an organic ingredient listed. That was disappointing. They do say their proteins are all antibiotic and hormone free. They do not use food dyes, preservatives or ADD refined sugar.The facility they prepare in is not a nut free facility, although none of their recipes contain nuts. They also cater to varying diets. There is no mention of GMO on their website and I have not received an email answer back regarding that. To me that was a little odd, considering anytime I had a question, customer service got back to me within 12 hours! They do use corn as an ingredient and also soy lecithin and soybean oil in a lot of their meals, so unless they tell me they don’t use GMOs, then you can bet those ingredients are GMO. If I ever hear back, I will edit the post accordingly.

As for the rest of the ingredients, I didn’t see any icky fillers (which is good considering they say no preservatives). They use whole wheat as an ingredient and as a mom I would prefer to see 100% whole wheat, but for me that isn’t a deal breaker. The one thing for me though, that may be a deal breaker is the sodium. I looked at the meals that I ordered for Lucas (the ones I thought he would eat) and I was appalled at the amount of sodium!! The macaroni and cheese with broccoli bites came in at 1,110mg!!!! And the “munch a lunch” I mentioned earlier packs a whopping 1,920mg!! For a 2 year old!!! I’ll be honest, it was my fault I didn’t look at the nutrition information before I ordered. I would have never in a million years let my kid eat that!

Let’s just talk about sodium for a minute so you can understand why I am not happy about this. The American Pediatric Association, World Health Organization, and Center for Disease Control have all set the “ideal human daily intake” of sodium at 1,500 or less. That is for everyone, children and adults alike. Some associations say more, some say less and some actually break it down by age group. I prefer breaking it down by age group, because I think that my adult kidneys can handle the processing of a higher amount of sodium than my 2 year olds. What I have found for toddlers age 1-3 (this is from my nutrition textbook I have referenced before on this blog) is 0.9g a day. That is 900mg of sodium. Ages 4-8 is 1,300mg and 9-13 is 1,500. So some Yumble meals have more sodium than my toddler should have ALL day! I am not ok with that. Increased sodium levels lead to increased blood pressure as a child and as an adult, with the varying other health risks associated with that. Did you know the CDC reports that 9 in 10 children eat too much sodium and 1 in 6 kids ages 8-17 are living with high blood pressure!!!??? 1 in 6!! Just.Can’t.Even. This was a blow to my heart right here. Now, not all Yumble meals are super high in sodium, so if you choose Yumble and are concerned about sodium, make sure to look at all the nutrition info before choosing the meals! (you can see all the ingredients and nutrition info when choosing your meals each week.)

5. Ok, now that I am done harping on that. Let’s look at tastiness. Did the kids actually eat these?? I saw other blog reviews of Yumble and they all talked about their picky eaters loving Yumble. Perfect. My son is super picky so this will be the magic pill. Nope. It wasn’t. He didn’t even like the cheese on the munch a lunch and the kid will scrape a hard piece of cheese off a sidewalk and eat it he likes cheese so much. He tried every single one and only ever ate a bite or 2 and wouldn’t touch it. This is honestly why I decided to reach out to my mom friends because I knew my review would have serious bias if I didn’t! So I had a total of 8 kids, ages 2-10 try these. Here is what I concluded after looking at the mom’s reviews. If your child isn’t a picky eater, this is perfect for your sanity! Super fast and easy and they gobble it up! If your child is a picky eater, more than likely they will not eat it. 100% of the mom’s who reported having picky eaters reported their kids took one bite and were done. Now, don’t let it discourage you from trying it (especially with the discount). Just go into it knowing your probability for success will be low!! Lol!! Every Mom reviewer that told me their kiddos liked the food said they would consider ordering it for their family, so to me that is a huge win!

6. Cost- Yes, Yumble is not cheap by any means. It just isn’t. It is pretty much the cost of a kid’s meal when you go to a restaurant. I did however price compare our local grocery store that delivers your groceries to your door with Yumble. Now, with getting the groceries delivered you still have to prep and cook the food. Yumble still won out on cost. If you meal plan and go  buy your own groceries and come home and once a week meal prep for the kiddos so you can essentially do this, then yes that would be cheaper. Most moms though are willing to spend a little more to have just a little more time and a little more sanity with their family, and this is definitely one way to do that.

To sum everything up,  based on experience and comments from other local Moms, Yumble is a good option for Moms and Dads who are short on time and don’t have picky eaters. If you have a picky eater and still want to try it (I would, even knowing now that Lucas didn’t like them, I like knowing that information), just do one week and then immediately skip the following weeks so that way you can wait and see if your kiddo likes them before ordering again! Everything comes straight to your door and you just put everything in the fridge until you are ready to use them.

I would recommend that if you do choose Yumble to get one or two of the little glass Pyrex dishes to put the food in to heat (mine shown to the right). If you want to try Yumble out, click this link so that you get a special Raising Tiny Healthy Humans discount. https://yumblekids.com/FWI6CW

If you decide to try Yumble, please be sure to leave a review on our Facebook group of Yumble so other parents can decide if they want to try it or not!  Happy healthy eating to you and your Tiny Healthy Humans!

Erin

Strawberry Season is Here!

It’s that time again…warm weather, school is getting out..AND…strawberry season! Other than the usual favorite times of year (Christmas, birthday, etc), strawberry season is something I look forward to as soon as the weather starts to cool and they are no longer available as we go into fall. Strawberries means that the hot summer air, renewal of crops, and fun of summer are just around the corner. I grew up with Aunts who made strawberry jelly every year, and I would wait patiently (or not) until we were allowed to open them to put on our biscuits! To this day, even though I live 12 hours away, my Aunts still make me strawberry jelly, and send it up with my parents when they visit. As you can tell I have a profound attachment to strawberries and they definitely are one of my favorite foods. Since it is, and since we are right in the height of strawberry season here in Virginia, I thought it best fitting to start my blog off with a kid friendly strawberry snack cookie.

Everyone knows strawberries are a fruit and technically that makes them good for us. But why?? Why are we encouraged to eat these little morsels of goodness? Well, for starters, they are one fruit that has the highest concentration of Vitamin C. Folic Acid is readily available in strawberries, something our American diet is usually lacking in, and they have more iron and potassium than any other berry. Strawberries are also a good source of silicone as well. Silicone is present in our hones, cartilage, blood vessels, and tendons to make us strong. So give those kiddos some strawberries to help their bones grow! Lastly, strawberries have 7 phytonutrients, which are plant nutrients that are all the nontraditional substances in plants (excludes vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc) that give specific health benefits. So eat on up! Only thing is, they are acidic in nature, so don’t go on overload or you may end up with a little tummy ache!

Before sharing the recipe I did want to go over some hard truths about the strawberries we buy in the store. I am all for saving money, however, when it comes to strawberries it is one of the things I always buy organic. If the store is out of organic, I head to the frozen section. If the frozen section is out of organic strawberries then, well, we just don’t get them that week. During strawberry season this isn’t an issue, but I still encourage everyone to talk to their local farmers about their growing practices! So why will I never buy these in the store unless they are organic? Just a couple of reasons…1. In California alone, more than 300 pounds of scientifically proven endocrine disruptors are sprayed on these berries. Then, usually, they are sprayed AGAIN after harvesting so they stay in tact during shipping. During the off season, if the berries come from other countries, they have been found to have even more dangerous chemicals on them, because they need to make the long journey here. Have you ever gone to a strawberry field and picked your own? They don’t last too awful long do they?? Now think if you picked that strawberry in Mexico and had to get it to your grocery store…and on top of that it is still nice and juicy a week later in your fridge. For me and my family…no thank you! So I hope this will encourage you to look a little more into the berries you are buying your family, and also to encourage you to buy from your local farmers during the season!

Now on to the good stuff! This cookie/snack recipe can be made SO many ways! It can be dairy free, gluten free, and sugar free (except for naturally occurring sugar). I will add alternatives in parenthesis to help out a little, but really you can take this base and run with it any way you like. Add dried fruits, fresh fruits, or yogurt on top!

Strawberry Delight Snack Cookies

Ingredients:

2 TBS Flax

6 TBS water

1 1/2 cups Oat Flour-certified gluten free

1 1/2 cups Rolled Oats-certified gluten free (or use same amount of cooked quinoa)

1/2 to 1 cup unsweetened Shredded or flaked coconut

1/2 cup Brown Sugar (can substitute honey or 6 small scoops of Stevia, or Monk Fruit)- When all ingredients are mixed, take a taste and see if you need it sweeter..when cooked, it will taste slightly less sweet than before you bake them.

1 stick melted unsalted butter (dairy free use 1/2 cup melted coconut oil)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1-2 tsp vanilla extract

1 TBSP cinnamon

3/4-1 cup semi

sweet chocolate chips/morsels (use the diary free version, or leave this out!)

1 Cup diced strawberries (fresh or frozen)

Splash of milk (use any liquid…water, coconut milk, almond milk, etc)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 (if making immediately)

Mix together 2 TBSP Flax meal and 6 TBSP water and let sit and thicken…add in at the end when its good and thick.

Mix everything together, and add milk, water or coconut milk (or any liquid basically) to make them kind of almost sticky wet, basically just so they will hold together. Roll into balls however big or small you’d like and bake at 400 for about 11 min for a golf ball size. Lessen or lengthen time depending on

how big you make them. You want them to look kind of shiny wet on top, as the moisture will still evaporate a little once you take them out.

This recipe makes about 12-15 golf ball sized cookies. You can make this when you want the cookies, or what I do, is make them ahead of time, roll them out and put them in a container in the fridge and bake as I eat them. They are way more delicious served warm, plus there is no waste if you don’t eat them before they get stale. Personally I think the longer they sit in the fridge, the better since the flax and oats just keep absorbing the liquid and get softer.

Note: References for nutritional information from “Staying Healthy with Nutrition” by Elson Haas and Buck Levin (2006).