{This post is a guest post written by a fellow crossfit mom, Kelly.}

I have been busy finding new things to sprinkle my Linwoods superfood supplement on lately. I have sprinkled my Greek yogurt, dusted my oatmeal and even topped my chicken salad with it. It is cold ground flaxseed, almonds, bazil nuts, walnuts and Q10. It is vegan, sugar and gluten free a good source of fat in your diet and pretty yummy. It has a nutty flavor but is pretty mild tasting so it goes well on all kinds of foods. The ‘flavor’ I have is made mostly of flaxseed. Some people think flaxseed is a wonder food and some people recommend against it if you have any risk factors for breast cancer. They also offer a hemp variety. If you’re looking for a way to sneak in some good fat, fiber and minerals this might be a good thing to have around.

You can learn more about Linwoods Foods and order it online here.

Bullet-Proofing Your Immune System

Rightsize Your Worries

Paleo vs. Vegan

Yoga for Runners by Sage Rountree

Hot, Sweaty Mama’s Five Secrets to Life as a Fit Mom

Train Like a Mother

From Russia with Tough Love



Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso

So, if you had a book to recommend for your athletic mama, what would it be?

Image Credit: Google

Recently, I had a good conversation with one of my sons’ teachers who was lamenting about how she has actually been gaining 10 pounds a year since she was 24, she’s now 30, and really feeling the effects of the weight gain.  Now, she’s made progress by signing up for crossfit classes, however, she seems to find a myriad of reasons to not go.    We then proceeded to discuss her eating habits which sounded reasonable eggs for breakfast, sometimes a skipped lunch, red meat and asparagus for dinner along with a minimum of 4 glasses of whole milk per day.   I love this teacher, and I want so badly to help her!!

What can I do for you? I can keep you accountable by asking, “did you go workout today”? But, I don’t want to be the world’s biggest nag, either.  I’ve shared how I eat, I’ve shared how she can get help through our paleo food specialist at CDR, and I’ve told her about Washington Produce……I feel like I’m talking to a brick wall.    She continues to be muddled in “well, how come they eat the same things I do and they are not gaining weight?”

Change comes with a decision.  You decide it’s time to improve your health, and you do it.  One small step at a time.  You could even access affordable health insurance in your quest to improve your health!   Switching from whole milk to no milk, adding lunches and lots of dark leafy greens to your daily regimen.  That sounds like a lot, but really, it is just about adding healthy foods and subtracting foods that are not so healthy.   Honestly, with a 100 pounds to lose, it’s going to START with food, not with exercise.

If you are one of these people struggling to lose weight or improve your health, here are some very valuable resources to check out:

Experience Life Magazine

Robb Wolf

Whole 9 Life

Yesterday, I had the amazing pleasure of visiting Whole Foods.  We live 60 miles from a Whole Foods so this is a treat!  My goal when entering the store was to score snacks and lunch for the kids and I for our road trip to the Skirball Cultural Center.   However, my time limit in a store such as this is still under 15 minutes as any longer, and I’d be completely broke and my kids would have convinced me to buy them every kind of food that passed their eyes…from nuts, to yogurt drinks, to Whale Tale Chips, to Macaroni Salad, to mini-pizza’s!  Oh, yeah, I did go broke and it took only 15 minutes!

I, luckily, did manage to grab some of these Almond Butter packets (not in chocolate), some mixed nuts, cooked chicken and broccoli!  Whole Foods has an awesome variety of cooked healthy foods from a Sushi bar, to Olive Bar, to a Vegan Bar, to a Bakery, to …you name it, they have it.  I think there is a coffee bar, too?! In addition to having rows and rows of organic, grass fed beef, and lots of organic produce and supplies.   It’s a pretty cool store, if you have one nearby?!

Anyway, about the Justin Almond Butter…ever heard of it?  I’d never tried, but, was interested in having a healthy, delicious fat to carry around and eat all by itself.   Can I just say, DELICIOUS?!  You can buy them in boxes via Amazon for around .81 a packet which is a bit cheaper than Whole Foods.   Having them around here (for me) anyway would get expensive and addicting because truly when there is anything really yummy in the house whether it’s cashews, dark chocolate, medjul dates or macadamia nuts–they are not long in the cupboard!  Reminds me of when I was a kid and I knew there were Twinkies in the house!! We’d sneak, lie and do anything to get that last Twinkie.

You can purchase Justin Almond butter on Amazon (link).

Or check out Justin’s Nut Butter products here. 

For the last 3-4 months, I’ve added two products for which I am totally in LOVE with.  Rejuvenate Whey Protein for those early morning pre-workout “what to eat before a workout, I’m hungry, but I can’t eat real food at 5 in the morning.”

From the website:

These are the added ingredients and what they do:

• Amino acids build muscles naturally
• Glutamine helps with muscle recovery and maintenance
• Glucosamine HCL* and chondroitin sulfate controls inflammation and promotes joint health
• Low glycemic index cherry powder for sustained energy..

I love that it mixes easily with water and tastes great.  And, as far as I am concerned, since I am past 40, anything that is going to help me fight aging and inflammation is a bonus for me!

In addition to the Rejuvenate, I’ve also recently added the post workout/Recovery Whey Protein.    It’s essential for me to get protein/calories in my system as soon as I’m done working out.  It usually takes me an hour before I can get to real food following a workout, and this Recovery Protein can give me what I need mixed with water fast.  It’s so easy to put some in my promotional bottles and go.

I’ve also noticed that I have been less sore when using this product!

From the website:

Feel free to click over and read about their products, they also have an amazing fish oil, too!

P.S. This post was NOT sponsored by SFH.  The opinions above are my own.

Yes, it’s January, and if you don’t live in Southern California or somewhere warmish..planting a garden is the furthest thing from your mind.  But, really, it’s time to make a plan, order some seeds and get them in seed pots.  Why am I pushing gardening on you now when you might have been looking for a food/fitness post? Because, this is my website and I can talk about what interests me…it’s always been about food since it’s earliest days.  We eat tons of fruits and vegetables to the tune of $70ish dollars a week!  Zucchini, Onions, Carrots, Squash and Spinach are all vegetables I eat every single week…and they also happen to be very easy vegetables to grow (at least here- although I’ve never been successful with carrots).  You can actually help the planet by growing your own food, seriously.

This post was inspired by this TED talk and I’m planning my next veggie garden NOW.  Who’s with me?

It all started with a pizza…way back when…. {see “How to Trash Your Kitchen in 15 Minutes Flat” , the Kale Chip Experiment and Tears of Seasoning.

I’ve always used cooking as a means of managing my young children while I attempt to get dinner on the table. But, really, it’s become it’s own thing now. My children are 8 and 5 and they are both VERY interested in getting their hands dirty in the kitchen. As my tastes and interests have changed, they’ve just gone with the flow up until now.

My youngest child is still very much a carrot, strawberry and protein kind of kid, however, he’s the one whose most interested in cooking {also should give credit to the movie Ratatouille}  and I find it fascinating the recipes he’s been picking out!  We are currently working our way through, Everyday Paleo and last night Ratatouille was on the menu even though my child will in general have nothing to do with zucchini, onions or tomatoes!  My deal with him is if he cooks it, he has to at least have 2 bites {Book Review}.   And, he eats it.  I am not sure if it’s the process of cooking he likes, or having control over the stove the most but I can’t get him out of the kitchen.  “I’ve got it mommy” he tells me with my biggest kitchen knife.  Cooking with kids can be dangerous, nothing like hot food and sharp knifes……and, yes, I have little panic attacks because he thinks he’s got it!   All in all, though, we are having a blast cooking together every night and I can only hope that eventually he will develop tastes for more than just carrots and strawberries.

My little chefs!

Anyone, have any suggestions?

Flirty Aprons for Mothers and Daughters.

And for the boys, so, far, all I’ve found is on Etsy.

is now published on Social Moms!