Baby & Mommy Yummies

Mommies want the best for their baby's tummy, but often overlook their own. With the following simple and creative recipes you can turn homemade baby food into a snack or meal for mommy too!

My son, 8 months old

Having a hard time getting to sleep at night?

Get your zzzzzz's with these foods 

Miranda on The Marilyn Denis Show - January 25, 2012 

Check out these sleep Q&A's 

Sleep Panel Q&A - Miranda on The Marilyn Denis Show - January 25th, 2012

Here's some extra info on the Do's & Don'ts of Eating for a Better Night's Sleep

Do’s

·      Choose foods at dinner that are easier to digest and higher in Tryptophan, Melatonin, Calcium, Magnesium & B Vitamins: Beans, lentils, whole-grains (quinoa, millet, brown rice, wild rice) raw & cooked veggies (leafy greens) lean proteins (chicken, turkey, tofu, eggs, shrimp, halibut, tuna)

·        Eat 4 hours before you go to bed. Your stomach should not be too full, but not too empty. Digestion slows down while asleep, and a full stomach may interrupt sleep.

·         Choose lower glycemic foods (gradual rise of blood sugar) brown rice, sweet potatoes, beans, and fruits and vegetables. Lower then 55 on the rating scale.

·         Eat a small unrefined complex carbohydrate with protein post-dinner snack 1 hour before bed to help increase production of sleep inducing brain chemicals and to fortify the body’s nighttime energy reserve.

Don’ts

·      Eat a heavy meal late at night.

·      Eat hard-to-digest proteins, (beef, pork) eat these earlier in the day

·      Go to bed on an empty stomach, as a completely empty stomach may wake you up with a grumbling belly.

·      Drink coffee, tea, and cola with your dinner. The caffeine will be sure to keep you up. Don’t drink a caffeinated drink past 4 p.m.

·      Eat sugary snacks and foods with food coloring or other artificial flavors. They can give nightmares and can cause interrupted sleep.

·      Eat any food that doesn’t sit well with you personally. If you eat something and it often gives you a physical or emotional reaction, avoid it or it may disrupt sleep.

·      Eat spicy foods late at night

·      Eat gas producing foods, keep you and your partner awake

**Eating every 3-4 hours throughout the day will help to keep you feeling balanced and you won’t gorge at dinner. Choosing easy-to-digest foods will help you to ease your body into rest mode to encourage detoxification and repair**

 

Safe Snacks

·      Banana – contains Tryptophan & Magnesium, potassium: all helpful for activating the calming and sleep-inducing brain chemical serotonin.

·      Almonds/Almond milk -supplies tryptophan, magnesium and protein that can help maintain a stable blood sugar level while sleeping.

·      Whole Grain Hot or Cold Cereal

     Hot: Oatmeal, Brown Rice Cereal (Bob’s Red Mill)

     Cold: Millet Puffs, Whole O’s

         With unsweetened almond milk or rice milk or plain yogurt

-       Contains B vitamins, calcium & tryptophan to ease the body into    

relaxing and encourage sleep.

·      Ancient Grain Crackers (Mary’s Crackers) add some goat cheese, or hummus to dip - Complex carbohydrate-rich foods increase the availability of tryptophan in the bloodstream, increasing the sleep-inducing effects

·      Edamame Beans, soy milk, soy nuts, - helpful in fighting hot flashes at night due to the estrogen-like compounds if that’s keeping you up

·      Hard Boiled Egg  -a quick, rich protein snack helpful in keeping your blood sugar stable throughout the night. (don't forget to have it with a small complex carb..spelt crackers)

·      Brown Rice Cake with Pumpkin Seed Butter  - high amount of tryptophan in pumpkin seeds, great complex carb for increase of tryptophan

 

·      Nuts/Seeds  -  Sachi Inchi seeds have 8 times the amount of tryptophan then turkey.  Chia seeds have good levels too. Omega 3 fats are helpful for reducing stress and relaxing the nervous system.

·      Sour Cherries, fresh, dried or pure juice are one of few food sources of melatonin, which has been found to promote better sleep and lessen the effects of jet lag. Since melatonin is found in small quantities in the body, a slight increase can produce great results. There is 13.5 nanograms (ng) (one billionth of a gram) of melatonin per 1 gram of cherries, which is higher than the amount normally found in the blood.

·      Grapes  - Nebbiolo grapes have the highest amounts of melatonin – found in Barolo wines.

·      Lemon Balm Tea (my fav!) - helpful in calming and reducing anxiety. This herb is used for nervous agitation, sleeping problems, functional gastrointestinal complaints.

Miranda Malisani's Top 5 Snack Bars

Healthy Holiday Eating

It’s the Holiday Time! There’s a chill in the air, bright lights on the streets and festive frolicking at every mall. There is also holiday treats in the office at work, tins of sugary temptations at home and parties to go to with an abundance of heavy food options.  Although it is a cheerful time of year it can also be a guilt-ridden stressful time because of the lack of control surrounding food you may feel during the holidays.

You may wonder, how you are going to enjoy yourself and not gain weight?

You may think about it so much that you just say:

“Whatever! The holidays only come once a year so I am going to eat whatever I want and then worry about it in January.”

I like to call this the Food Trap Layaway. It’s the one responsible for the yo-yo cycle of weight-gain.  It’s the same as the buy now, pay later purchases we make.

As much as you tell yourself you will put money aside, or you will eat better tomorrow it is just so hard to put it into action.

It is no wonder that January is the most depressing month of the year.

This holiday season, I encourage you to change your self-talk to:

“I am going to be in-control of my food decisions and I am going to enjoy doing so”

You have it in you, just make the connection this time around.

Changing your perception about eating will help you to become more responsible for your health.  You will start to relate more to the feeling of giving your body good quality fuel rather than feeling bummed out that you have to deny yourself that gooey piece of Aunt Carol’s Sweet Potato Pie.

Changing your food attitude can create a feeling of empowerment and excitement that makes the holidays just as joyous.

This season, eat for health, rather than how it hits your palate.

All the best for a healthy and happy 2012!

Miranda Malisani
Holistic Nutritionist, Founder of Live Light Nutrition
Nutrition Expert for The Marilyn Denis Show on CTV
miranda@livelightnutrition.com
www.livelightnutrition.com

Attention All 2010/2011 Brides

Lose Weight Before Your BIG Day

It's the day you have waited for your whole life. You imagined yourself walking down the aisle in the most beautiful gown with your hair and make up perfect and everyone watching you. It's your moment. 

There's only one problem. You didn't envision yourself carrying extra weight and this is getting in the way of your dream.

What can you do?  

• You can starve yourself hoping that you will lose the weight and just deal with having no energy, and risk getting sick for your special day 
  

• You can eat only celery and drink lots of water promoted by low-cal diets.  Lets hope that you will not lose your hair and nails that you really need for your wedding day and after for that matter  

• Force yourself off of carbs and become a moody mess, thus causing that huge wedding fight with your future mother-in-law, that you just don't need

Or you can empower yourself with a realistic plan that is personalized to your weight loss needs.

A plan that: 

• looks at the "whole picture" and what you need as an individual to lose the weight  

• helps to minimize the stress you are experiencing 

• helps to boost your immunity to ward of illness for the day and the honeymoon (many brides end up sick on their honeymoon due to the after effects of stress)  
• offers you continual, round the clock nutrition and wellness support 
• comes into your home for assessment. With your crazy schedule you don't need to leave the house for the umpteenth time (travel fee may apply)
• offered by a Holistic Nutritionist who is passionate about helping others to realize their health potential and really cares about your weight loss success   
• Costs less than the average diet clinic

Live Light Nutrition offers the following bridal packages:

Gorgeous & Glowing (8 Weeks) $600  

-Nutrition assessment

-Personalized plan with 10 weeks of nutrition guidance, menu plans, recipes

-Immune boosting and stress combating information

-Pantry purge

-Grocery store tour 

-Unlimited emails/phone calls 24/7

-Ongoing nutrition support

Sleek & Slim (10 Weeks) $750  

-Nutrition assessment

-Personalized plan with 10 weeks of nutrition guidance, menu plans, recipes

-Immune boosting and stress combating information 

-Pantry purge

-grocery store tour 

-unlimited emails/phone calls 24/7

-ongoing nutrition support

* All prices subject to applicable taxes

Contact miranda@livelightnutrition.com

or 416-846-4887

for your free, no obligation conversation about what service or package is best for you. Ask about discounts for joining with your partner or friend.



Need more info?
www.livelightnutrition.com 

Day 1 - October 12 (7 day Detox)

Upon Waking:  Half a lemon squeezed into room temperature 8 oz pure water

1/4 tsp probiotic (optional)

Within 40 minutes of Waking: 1/2 cup steel cut oats or millet with almond milk, walnuts, cinnamon and touch of maple syrup 

40 mins After Breakfast: Glass of 1/2 pure water, 1/2 unsweetened cranberry juice

Mid Morning Snack: Pear

30 mins Before Lunch: Glass of 1/2 pure water, 1/2 unsweetened cranberry juice

Lunch: Organic greens, 4oz anti-biotic free grilled chicken with lemon or apple cider vinegar and cold pressed olive oil

If thirsty with lunch choose room temperature water only

Mid-Afternoon Snack: Handful of pumpkins seeds or carrot and celery sticks

30 mins Before Dinner: Glass of pure water 

Dinner:  Brown rice pasta with tomato basil sauce with zucchini, spinach, onions, garlic with or without soft goat cheese

If thirsty with dinner choose room temperature water only

Late Night Snack if Desired: Small bowl of plain yogurt or air blown popcorn (use olive oil or flax oil instead of butter)

**1 cup of green tea is an acceptable replacement for coffee**

Weighing Your Options

It's no surprise that most people are constantly fighting with their jeans to fit.  We eat more, exercise less, rely on packaged foods rather than whole foods and have higher stress levels than ever before. Most importantly, we have ignored the messages our body's are trying to tell us. We have lost the ability to distinguish the signals of failing health and then get surprised when an illness pops up. We then expect that someone else should fix us, and get frustrated when it takes too long or can't find the answers to your health dilemna. 

At what point do we take responsibility for our own health.

Statistic Canada reports that "during the 2007-to-2009 period, just under 38% of adults were at a healthy weight. About 1% were underweight, 37% were overweight and 24% were obese." The overweight and obese percentages have increased since these reports.  According to a health survey conducted by the University of Ottawa, the latest analysis shows that 48% of adults were overweight (with a BMI of 25 to 29.9) and 26% were obese (with a BMI of 30 and over). 

With these high numbers comes a slew of weight loss programs, products, gadgets, pills, potions and surgeries. Although there are many products and methods to help one lose the weight, in general a one-sized fits all approach to weight loss just doesn't cut it.

 It's very simple. We all gain it in different ways, how can we expect to lose it in the same way. 

There are many weight loss programs that help one to dramatically lose the weight. It comes off faster than anyone could imagine. Unfortunately, weight is not the only thing that comes off. Being on such a low calorie diet can cause hair loss, nail loss, and general loss of health. Simply put, the body goes into starvation mode called Ketosis. This occurs when our glycogen stores run out and our body begins to produce ketones for energy. During this time, we feel less hungry and eventually our metabolic rate slows down. High ketone levels can be toxic, making the blood more acidic. With this elevated level, damage can occur to the kidneys and liver. 

These quick fix diets are a recipe for disaster. 

The key to weightloss is working with a health practitioner who can work with your individual metabolic needs, create a program that suits your lifestyle and one that takes into consideration your emotional, and physical state. 

Live Light Nutrition offers programs that are personally customized.We work with you to set goals and coach you throughout the entire program.  You health is too important to leave it in the hands of someone handing you a one-sized fits all approach.