Fruit as a Dessert

Can Fruit be a Delicious Dessert?...I challenge you to try it!  

I tried a new receipt for dessert tonight. Still avoiding all dairy and processed foods, my options have been limited. I have been having a square of 80% cocoa chocolate bar... That is getting old.

So yesterday, I froze 2 bananas and decided I would put them in my Magic Bullet and make 'ice cream'. I added a spoon full of brown sugar, a sprinkle of nutmeg, a little almond milk, and blend.

Make sure to cut the banana up to small frozen chances so it blends easily.

Add some Raspberries or a Strawberry, some cinnamon, and put it in a fancy glass and you will feel just like u r having a rich calorie filled dessert:)

My Mother - by Sequoia Leopold

Mother Knows Best - 

My mother is probably going to live forever and I think I just got the receipt for it today.  Her famous homemade granola!  My mom has eaten organic and fresh and local and unprocessed foods her whole life, effortlessly.  She shopped at organic local grocery stores before it was chic and always tried to convince me that fruit was a desert (even going as far as to freeze the dessert).

Now that I am trying to improve my overall life thru nutrition, what better way then with my mothers homemade granola.  I am getting much better in the kitchen these days!

I grew up on this stuff as much as I fought for Lucky Charms they never appeared in my house.  I am lucky now as I have an amazing immune system and I know it is from my childhood.  One year (birth to first birthday) in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri with no Anti-bacterial spray or handy wipes will do that!!!

Belt - Switzer - Leopold Granola 
Old Fashioned Oats
Sweetened Coconut Flakes
Wheat Germ
Sunflower Seeds (raw)
Brown Sugar
Honey
Molasses
Vegetable Oil
Flax Seed***
Sesame Seed
Walnuts
Almonds ***
Pecans
Dried Apricots
Dried Papaya
Dried Mango

Spread it out on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven until just barely crispy...then let it cool, bag it up and ready for breakfast each morning.  You only need about 1/4 cup.

I eat mine with Almond Milk and fruit.  It also makes a great snack during the day (keep it in your car so you are not tempted by drive thru's and Starbucks)

Also a great alternative to Gold Fish Crackers for little ones!

Test Results are In...by Ryan Leopold

At the beginning of this challenge, I went to Sound Natural Medicine in Kirkland to get by blood tested for food allergies.  Dr. Lisa Wada came highly recommended so I thought I would do the test and see what the fuss was all about.  So after 3-weeks or so, I went in to get the results.

The test basically looks at your blood to determine how you will react to different kinds of foods like dairy, gluten, meats, veggies, nuts and grains.  Apparently we all react different to various kinds of foods but our bodies specifically react worse to certain foods.  I have always felt off and had stomach issues with things like heavy cheese products such as pizza.  To my utter disappointment, I have a strong food allergy to dairy and specifically cheese, milk and yogurt!  I also tested high on one of my favorite things...eggs!!!  The egg one is really annoying because I love breakfast and I have been really into egg while omelettes and scramble's of late.

Dr. Wada encouraged me to take at least 6-weeks to test the results for myself so I guess I am going to avoid all dairy and eggs and see how I feel!  My overall plan for optimum health and performance is to keep trying different things to see what sticks.  I do not plan to never eat eggs or dairy but if I feel better without them then maybe I simply eat less of the things my body reacts bad too and increase what I know my body prefers.

If you want to get a blood test for allergies, here is the link to Dr. Wada's practice:

Sound Natural Medicine

To be honest, things challenge has really not been that hard.  I have lost about 7-pounds so far and that really was not my goal.  The only hard part is taking the time to get fruits and veggies into my meals...it is a lot easier to eat convenience foods especially when I am busy.  Almost 30-days into the 90-day challenge and things are going great and I am loving the way I am feeling for sure!

Ryan

fat, sick and nearly dead!--by Ryan Leopold

I don't know about anyone else but I am really getting into nutrition based documentaries on Netflix!  I find them fascinating and eye opening to say the least.  There are a ton of them on Netfilx and the one that I liked the most so far is called.. "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead".  If you have not seen it, check it out, the stories are great, inspiring and the content makes a ton of sense.

Another great documentary Sequoia and I watched last night was Engine 2, a follow-up to "Forks over Knives".  I strongly recommend this one as well.

One of the things that stood out to me was when they interviewed a doctor, his name is Dr. Joel Fuhrman, he is the author of the book "Eat to Live".  In the movie he talked about his food pyramid, at least the one he supports in his program.  I felt it was a really good guide for eating a whole food, nutrition, plant based diet.  As you can see from the picture, he has his recommendations on what to eat each day and week.  It seems like a great model for optimum health without cutting EVERYTHING out by simply increasing the good and decreasing the bad.  Sooo more veggies and fruits and less meat, dairy, flour and sweets.  This is the model I have been working off for my challenge so to see it visually helps me out a ton and will hopefully keep me focused.  I am still progressing to get to the point where I follow this on a more regular basis but I think I have done a pretty decent job so far...BUT, a work in progress!

Great workout today, I will get my cardio in tomorrow and yoga on Saturday.  Meals went well today as well.  Eggs whites with veggies in the a.m. with red potatoes instead of toast.  Juice guy around noon then some veggies as a snack.  I had a little chicken teriyaki for dinner with brown rice but I only ate half the order and saved the rest for later.

I will start my cleanse after the Super Bowl.  Really looking forward to that especially after I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead!

Out for now....Ryan

Power of Momentum (Video Update 2)-by Ryan Leopold

Things are going great but it is amazing to me how much that "momentum" has to do with our successes or failures when it comes to any kind of goal or objective.  I was doing really well for the first 11-days of our 90-day challenge then we went out of town for 4-days.  Even with a well thought out plan in place...I did not eat my 2 servings of fruit and 2 servicing of veggies a day, I only worked out once and I did drink a little bit...Hawks game, what are you going to do?

It has been a week and I have had a hard time getting back into my routine.  I am not feeling as good as I did the first week and I have been crazing fatty foods, sugar and a lot of carbs!  Still getting my fruits an veggies but I am simply eating too much.  I also found it difficult to blog everyday while we were gone so hence I did not have this platform to keep me accountable.  The key now is to get momentum working in the right direction again.

I will be starting a 9-day detox cleanse in about a week.  I am really excited to get that going...it has been about 2-years since my last cleanse so well over due.  I will keep a daily video blog on that because it really is an interesting process to share and the results tend to be pretty amazing!

Good an bad day today...I did get a little cardio in plus a great morning workout.  Had oatmeal and fruit for breakfast followed by juice guy (beets, kale, apples, carrots and celery).  BUT...I had teriyaki for lunch and a shrimp meal for dinner that I could tell was prepared with a lot of butter.  Not feeling well and I over ate!  Better day tomorrow and the rest of the week!

Out for now,  Ryan 

New Years Resolutions?--by Ryan Leopold

As I am working through this 90-day challenge and as I face my own obstacles, I thought I would do a little research on "new years resolutions" and I found some interesting facts from a the study below...

I will have a video post update tomorrow with my progress over the last week.

Statistic Verification

Source: University of Scranton. Journal of Clinical Psychology

Published: 12.13.2012

Rank	Top 10 New Years resolutions for 2012
1	Lose Weight
2	Getting Organized
3	Spend Less, Save More
4	Enjoy Life to the Fullest
5	Staying Fit and Healthy
6	Learn Something Exciting
7	Quit Smoking
8	Help Others in Their Dreams
9	Fall in Love
10	Spend More Time with Family

News Years Resolution Statistics	Data
Percent of Americans who usually make New Year’s Resolutions	45%
Percent of Americans who infrequently make New Year’s Resolutions	17%
Percent of Americans who absolutlely never make New Year’s Resolutions	38%
Percent of people who are successful in achieving their resolution	8%
Percent who have infrequent success	49%
Percent who never succeed and fail on their resolution each year	24%
People who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions
Type of Resolutions (Percent above 100% because of multiple resolutions)	Data
Self Improvement or education related resolutions	47%
Weight related resolutions	38%
Money related resolutions	34%
Relationship related resolutions	31%
Age Success Rates	Data
Percent of people in their twenties who achieve their resolution each year	39%
Percent of people over 50 who achieve their resolution each year	14%
Length of Resolutions	Data
Resolution maintained through first week	75%
Past two weeks	71%
Past one month	64%
Past six months	46%

Goal Review - Sequoia Leopold

Reaching my Goals 

It hasn't been as difficult as I thought it was going to be to change my diet and my workout regiment, but it is only motivating as I see changes happen immediately.  I need instant gratification from these changes, and there is just one category that is not improving as quickly as I wanted it to...Trying to have patience, but it is killing me.


I made a few goals at the beginning of this blog and Nutrition Project...most of them have been met and I have had amazing results.

• Weight Loss
• Energy
• Alertness
• Sleeping
• Fertility Category - is a little early to tell if we have made any progress
• Clear Skin - this one is taking longer then I would like

    I know that the blemishes that show up on your skin is from toxins or allergies or bacteria from over 2 weeks prior so I realize I have not gotten all the toxins out of my body or settled my hormone imbalance, but I thought I would see an immediate difference in my skin and I haven't.

In fact I feel like my skin has gotten worse;(  I will keep a close eye on this and make sure that I take out ALL Dairy.