We asked our community for their favorite natural remedies for seasonal allergies, and these three came out on top:
Local honey: Right before going to bed, consume 1 teaspoon of honey mixed with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, or try chewing a piece of honeycomb from a local bee farm or farmer’s market. According to Earth Clinic, symptoms may disappear within 30 minutes!

Neti Pots: Flush sinuses and keep them clear with this small teapot-shaped vessel. Be sure to always use distilled, sterilized, or previously boiled water.

Bee pollen: The natural supplement produced by bees, available at health food stores, has been known to improve symptoms. Try to start taking it before allergy season is in full swing to build up a tolerance before maintaining a daily intake.

by Intergrative Health and Nutrtion

If McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Burger King all rejected it, you know it can’t be good.

Only a few weeks after the government announced new guidelines to improve the nutritional value of school lunches, the U.S. is buzzing with some startling news. In addition to offering more fruits and veggies, cafeterias will also be serving a decidedly less healthful option: pink slime.

Last week, The Daily reported that the USDA plans to purchase 7 million pounds of the controversial meat filler from Beef Products Inc. for use in America’s school lunch program.

Once only used for dog food, this substance – officially termed “lean beef trimmings” but better known as “pink slime” – is a ground-up combination of beef scraps and connective tissue that is treated with ammonium hydroxide to kill pathogens. In spite of this sterilization process, a 2009 New York Times investigation discovered dozens of instances of E. coli and salmonella pathogens in pink slime samples from across the country.

Despite concerns over its safety, pink slime has become a mainstay in American burgers since it was reportedly approved for consumption by former Secretary of Agriculture Joann Smith. (Smith stepped down in 1993 and joined Beef Product Inc.’s Board of Directors, and it is reported that she has since earned at least $1.2 million in this position.) According to some estimates, pink slime is now in up to 70% of supermarket beef without any indication on the label.

Public outcry against pink slime, led by celebrity chef and healthy school lunch advocate Jamie Oliver, prompted McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Burger King to announce just this January that they would no longer use the filler. Rejected by fast food joints, but acceptable for our children? This only fuels the outrage against the USDA’s plans to purchase tons of pink slime for American cafeterias.

So what can you do?

Take a stand and sign this petition urging the USDA to stop using pink slime in school food.Started by food columnist and mother of two Bettina Siegel, the petition already has over 200,000 signatures!

By Intergrative Nutrition

Halloween can be a tricky holiday. The omnipresent candy, the festive parties, and the excited enthusiasm of costumed kids can make us go overboard on treating ourselves – especially since we can rationalize that the holiday comes but once a year.
Truly, Halloween is a good time to treat yourself and your kids – not just with a little extra candy, but also with family activities. Bob for apples, tell spooky stories, or have a mini pumpkin hunt!
Halloween definitely doesn’t have to be scary for your health, which is why we’ve compiled this list of tips and recipes to help you moderate the treats and avoid the tricks.

Candy

The trickiest part of Halloween is keeping yourself and your kids from going nuts over all that candy. It’s in the grocery, the drugstore, and practically pouring from every nook and cranny, all shiny in neat individual wrappers. One piece seems so small, almost harmless.
Of course, it comes in a bag with 50 or 100 other tiny “harmless” pieces. Take heart, though – we have a few ways to tackle the Halloween-candy blues while still allowing a little festive indulgence.
Handing Out Candy Without Diving Into the Bowl

1. Buy a candy brand that you don’t particularly like to eat for handing out to the trick-or-treaters. Candy corn if you’re a chocolate lover, or Milky Ways if Bit O Honey is your downfall. You’ll be more likely to leave some for the trick-or-treaters.
2. Handing out apples might lead to an egged house, but non-edible options like stickers or yo-yos can be good for treat bags, too. Maybe include an organic lollipop or even a mini Larabar for good measure.
2. Go small. If you hand out something in really small portions like Hershey’s Kisses, not only will you be giving less sugar to the neighborhood kids, but you can also enjoy a few chocolate morsels yourself without much guilt.
3. Buy better candy for only yourself. You really want to waste your candy calorie budget on a few 3 Musketeers that have been sitting on a warehouse shelf for who knows how long? Have a small stash of quality chocolate, and you’ll be less likely to break into the cheaper stuff. For extra benefit, choose dark chocolate – it’s delicious and loaded with health promoting flavonoids. May we suggest Gnosis or Nibmor?
Keeping Your Kids Safe from Sugar Shock

1. Eat a scrumptious, filling meal before you and your kids hit the pavement. Both of you will be less tempted to munch on candy while you go door-to-door.
2. Upon arriving home after trick-or-treating, let your kids pick out 5 or 6 pieces of candy to enjoy that night. Then pop their bag in the refrigerator. The candy will still be good out of the fridge, but they won’t be able to eat it as fast. Younger kids may also forget about their stash altogether – out of sight, out of mind.
2. After Halloween, ration out the candy as you see fit, OR…
3. Buy the remainder candy off them. Your kids might be happy to trade their hard-earned candy for cold cash, a new toy, or a promise of a trip to the zoo!

By Intergrative Nutrition

We are welcoming back Fresh Florida Produce with a 100% local bag…offering a mix of certified organic and sustainable local produce (never conventional).

Kids are notorious for looking at anything leafy and green as their dinner-table enemy. They’ll sooner forgo dessert than willingly eat their recommended servings of vegetables.

Short of force-feeding, what is a concerned parent to do? Researchers at Pennsylvania State University may have found a solution – and your kids may never be the wiser!

In a three week study, the research team substituted pureed zucchini, broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, and squash into childrens’ meals, increasing their intake of vegetables up to 73 grams and reducing their caloric intake by up to 12 percent!

The best part? On of a scale from yucky to yummy, 70 percent of the children rated their vegetable infused meals as O.K. or yummy!

It may be a little deceptive, and kids still need to learn how delicious vegetables  can be in their original form, but sometimes taking the “stealthy vegetables” route can be a stress-saver for parents and kids alike.

Here are a few ideas to season your kids’ favorite dishes with healthy veggies:

• Hide pureed spinach in tomato sauce for pizza or spaghetti
• Add pureed cauliflower in mashed potatoes or cheesy pasta sauce
• Sneak pureed zucchini into chili
• Fortify brownies with pureed black beans or pumpkin
• Substitute our “Sweet Sensation” vegetable sauce for sugar

You get the idea! Go nuts, you sneaky cook, you.

By Intergrative Nutrition

Monday’s are now MEATLESS!

Michael Pollan’s now famous advice, “Eat food, not too much, mostly vegetables,” has become a rallying cry for concerned Americans. Sounds like a great idea, but switching to a plant-based diet (even one day a week) can be tough when most of us can’t seem to fit in the five recommended servings of fruit and vegetable a day. Join instructor Korrin Rogers  of Palmetto Organics at Taste! on Sundays to explore how even the staunchest carnivore can reduce their intake of meat, without sacrificing flavor or satiety.

Individual classes are $35 and will include lecture, ample samples, a recipe packet and shopping list.

Cutting out meat just 1 day per week has the same equivalence of driving a Prius. Most of us can’t afford to buy a new Prius, but we can cut out meat 1 day a week. It’s also great for your health!

Sun 7/30

1-3

register by Wed 7/27 at korrinq@mac.com

Class will be held at Taste 645 Atlantic

Atlantic Beach

Korrin is a holistic health coach and natural foods chef with  a passion for working with parents and children to improve not only their health and family life but the health of our PLANET!!  She is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and the The Natural Gourmet Institute in NYC.

Many children in our country start off Saturday morning with their favorite cartoon or television show. This is prime time for advertisers to sell the latest trend in children’s toys and foods. The problem is that the latest trend in food is generally an alarmingly unhealthy choice for children. A debate has sparked between the food industry and the federal government about what qualifies as an appropriate and healthy food to advertise to children. According to a recent New York Times article, the food industry began an initiative in 2007, to fight childhood obesity, and are trying to advertise and sell healthier choices for kids.

Unfortunately, the food industry has an odd conception of what is healthy for a child to eat and what is not; Froot Loops with 12 grams of sugar per serving are deemed healthy by their standard. While that amount of sugar is clearly a less than healthy choice for kids, the battle between the food industry giants and the federal government will continue to rage on.

Although it is tough to fight such a big industry on a topic like this, we can all take our own steps to raise happy and healthy children.

Since sugar-filled breakfast foods are one of the largest culprits of target advertising, we came up with a few healthier options to feed your children first thing in the morning:

• Avocado on an Ezekiel muffin or whole grain toast sprinkled with sea salt and extra virgin olive oil
• Raw muesli with fresh berries
• Oatmeal with organic raisins and a touch of maple syrup
• Baked apples or pears sprinkled with oats and/or chopped nuts drizzled with honey or maple syrup
• Fresh fruit smoothies
• Almond butter and banana sandwiches on whole grain toast
• Breakfast egg sandwich with a whole grain muffin, turkey bacon and organic cheese
• Red quinoa with berries and/or bananas, warm milk and honey or maple syrup

by Intergrative Nutrition

Eat Right with Color…

So how does it work?

Think back to your last meal. How many colors were on your plate? If you answered 4 or 5, then congrats! You are eating right with color.

If you answered 1 or 2, then let’s talk:

Mother Nature has a habit of putting lots of healthy vitamins and minerals into foods that grow in the dirt, but did you know she took the trouble to color-code them for our convenience?

• green foods contain antioxidants and nutrients that promote healthy vision
• orange and deep yellow foods also help promote healthy vision, plus they contain vitamins that boost your immune system
• purple and blue foods contain antioxidants that provide anti-aging benefits, plus they help with memory, and urinary tract health
• red foods are good for heart health, vision, and your immune system
• some white, tan, and brown foods have nutrients that promote heart health
• bonus: each of these colors also help reduce your risk of cancer!

Of course, these aren’t the only benefits to eating a more colorful, plant-based diet. These kinds of foods also provide a good source of fiber, a boost in mental function, and tons of other feel-good perks.

How are you going to eat more colors this month?

By Intergrative Nutrition

Genetically Modified fruits and vegetables? Old news. The new food of the future? Test-tube-raised meat. Sound a little bit like a sci-fi movie? South Carolina scientist, Vladimir Mironov, M.D., Ph.D., doesn’t think so.

The claim?

Your hamburger will look, smell and taste just like red meat, yet it didn’t come from a cow. The idea of growing meat in a lab has a certain appeal to people who are becoming increasingly aware of the negative aspects of factory farming. If all meat is eventually grown in a lab, it would end a world of over looked animal abuse.

Mironov tells Reuters that “in-vitro meat” is the answer to an anticipated food shortage, and an end to the extreme carbon emissions that are produced from conventional farming of animals for meat. The test tube meat would reduce the need to farm animals for meat as well as provide a constant food source for the growing human population with out using a large amount of natural resources.

Mironov also says that the meat can be grown to meet specific needs, including weight loss and increased brain activity, or taste preferences. No matter if you like your steak lean or fatty, it can be grown—in a test-tube—to your standards.

The reality?

The meat is 100% unnatural. Why not, instead of fueling our bodies with yet another genetically modified product, switch to a different source of protein?

Sid Lerner, a seasoned Madison Avenue advertising veteran, suggests limiting meat consumption in his campaign, Meatless Monday. When we can get a healthy amount of protein from plant-based foods, Meatless Monday seems like it might be a bit more reasonable than spending billions of dollars to grow artificial meat.

Or support local farmers and purchase your meat from grass-fed organic farms with ethical practices? There are many alternatives to consuming test-tube meat. Visit The Compassionate Farming Education Initiative for more information.

What do you think about in-vitro meat?

By Intergrative Nutrition