health and wellness

Easy Nutty Energy Bites

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Hello Friends, Happy Monday! I wanted to share a really quick and easy recipe my family has been enjoying this summer. These tasty and easy nutty energy bites are a healthful sweet treat that I’m sure will be making their way into my kiddos lunch boxes as they head back to school this week.

You know I love my chocolate and sweet treats, but I want to make them in the most healthful way possible–with wholesome ingredients that won’t sap my energy or derail my health and with sweetness that is balanced by protein and fiber to avoid a blood sugar spike or crash.

Easy Nutty Energy Bites

I love this recipe because its so flexible. This is one of my favorite combinations, but you can use any combo of nuts, seeds, oats, unsweetened coconut flakes, chocolate chips, raisins or other dried fruit for endless variations to suit everyone in the family.

And if you’re short on time or don’t feel like rolling out all of the bites, just grab a spoon and eat it right out of the bowl like you would cookie dough, its that good!

XO,  Kristi

PS – Speaking of school, its that time again! Make sure to check out my blog post Real Food School Lunches in Under Ten Minutes a Day for my favorite healthy lunchbox options and tips for making packing healthy lunches a breeze. Well as much of a breeze as packing lunches every day can be!

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5 from 1 vote

Easy Nutty Energy Bites

These make a perfect, healthful treat to satisfy your sweet cravings without the blood sugar crash and without derailing your health.
Calories: 3046kcal

Ingredients

Stir together:

Add in:

  • 1/3 c chopped walnuts
  • 1/3 c raw pumpkin seeds
  • 1/3 c mini chocolate chips we use Enjoy Life brand allergen free chocolate
  • OR 1 cup total of any combination of nuts seeds, oatmeal, unsweetened coconut flakes or dried fruit you prefer

Instructions

  • Roll the "dough" into small bite sized balls. You may need to adjust the amount of almond butter, honey and protein powder slightly as there is a lot of variation in the thickness of different brands of almond butter and raw honey. If your dough is too sticky to roll out, add a bit more Complete or just put it in the fridge for an hour or so. If its too dry, add a bit more honey or a bit of nut, coconut or olive
  • oil. Adjust as needed, you can't mess these up!
  • Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy! These freeze well if you want to save them longer.

Notes

A quick note about protein powders. I used to be a firm believer that protein powders aren't real food. Most aren't. I avoid anything with whey (a highly inflammatory and unhealthful byproduct of the dairy industry), processed or artificial sweeteners, colors, preservatives or additives. Juice Plus Complete is the only protein powder I've found that meets my definition of real food--minimally processed, nutrient dense, whole food, plant based protein from chemical-free, non-GMO legumes. grains, seeds and even mushrooms, one of the only food sources of Vitamin D--and its low glycemic and actually tastes really good! If you're interested in purchasing Complete I'd love to help! Just follow my link or shoot me a message.

Are your personal care products harming your health?

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Hello friends!

When I began my health journey (12 years ago now!) the first changes I made were to our food choices–eliminating soda, drastically reducing sugar & processed foods, increasing fruits and vegetables and buying organic as much as possible and switching to local, organic, grass fed animal products.

Several years later I began to realize, while these changes were really important, I was still exposing myself to a huge number of chemicals and toxic ingredients in my personal care & beauty products.

On average, women use 168 chemicals every day, most before they even step out of the house in the morning! Many of these chemicals are endocrine disruptors and/or labeled as probable carcinogens by the World Health Organization and others. According to the Environmental Working Group:

  • One in every 24 women, 4.3 million women altogether, are exposed daily to personal care product ingredients that are known or probable reproductive and developmental toxins, linked to impaired fertility or developmental harm for a baby in the womb or a child.
  • One of every five adults are potentially exposed every day to all seven of the top carcinogenic impurities common to personal care product ingredients: hydroquinone, ethylene dioxide, 1,4-dioxane, formaldehyde, nitrosamines, PAHs, and acrylamide. The top most common impurity ranked by number of people exposed is hydroquinone, which is a potential contaminant in products used daily by 94 percent of all women and 69 percent of all men.

Our skin is our largest organ, and somewhere between 60% and 100% (depending on which studies you look at and which area of the body you’re talking about) of what we put onto our bodies is absorbed into the blood stream. So while I believe healthy skin begins with what we put IN our bodies, its also really important to make sure the products we are using ON our bodies don’t contain toxic chemicals and ingredients that are harming our health.

There are more than 80,000 manmade chemicals used in our modern-day world. Most of these chemicals have no safety data – particularly those used in the skin care and beauty industry. The Food and Drug Administration allows companies to use chemicals known to be extremely harmful in the products we put on our bodies and on our kids’ bodies every single day.

The European Union has banned more than 1,300 chemicals from use in personal care products. Canada has banned 500. The United States has only partially banned 30.

So its up to us to do our own research, choose the products we use carefully, and let these companies know by where we spend our dollars, that we don’t appreciate toxic, health damaging chemicals in our products. 

If this seems daunting to you, you’re not alone! It was for me and it has been a slow process of finding products I like, that work well, that I can feel good about using on my body and on my children’s bodies, AND made by companies I can feel good about supporting.

EWG’s Skin Deep Database

One resource I LOVE is the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep cosmetics database, where they rate personal care products based on how well they work, and whether they contain ingredients that are harmful to our health. I highly recommend researching the products you use in this database!

My Skin Care Routine & Favorite Products

Although you couldn’t tell by looking in my bathroom cabinet, I’ve become pretty minimalist when it comes to my personal care products & what I actually use every day.

For washing my face every morning and evening & removing makeup, I love my Norwex body cloths. No cleansers are needed with these microfiber cloths that contain silver to make them antibacterial. Just get the cloth wet and it gently cleans & cleanses without any harmful chemicals. They even remove mascara! While they’re a bit pricey, they last forever and I consider it a huge savings since I spend money on other facial cleansers and make up removers. (if you need a Norwex consultant, reach out to my friend Carrie at carrie.aiken.business@gmail.com)

After washing my face, I use either:

My other favorite skin care product right now is Beautycounter’s Number 3 Charcoal Mask, which I use once/week.

Whether it was finding better, safer products (maybe), all of the vegetables, fruits, healthy fats & water I consume every single day (yes, most definitely) or eliminating inflammatory foods like gluten, dairy and sugar (which makes a HUGE difference in my skin!) at 42 my skin is honestly the brightest and clearest it has ever been.

For body soap, I like to buy locally made pure & natural cleansing bars or I order Dr. Bronners or Kiss My Face Olive Oil Bars from Amazon. For a body moisturizer, I use pure, organic Almond, Coconut or Sesame Oils, also from Plant Therapy.

For shampoo & conditioner I use Beautycounter’s Daily Shampoo & Daily Conditioner (for me) or BC’s kids shampoo and conditioner for my kiddos.

For brushing my teeth, I’ve recently started using the Natural Toothpowder from Primal Life Organics.

Beauty counter

After a LOT of research, I switched all of my makeup and some of my skin care products to Beautycounter and I’m so thrilled with it that I became a Beautycounter consultant so I can share it with my friends and clients. (I never endorse or recommend products that I don’t personally use and love!!)

Beautycounter’s mission is to get safer products into the hands of everyone. As a result, Beautycounter has banned the use of more than 1,500 questionable or harmful chemicals, all while ensuring their products perform well and that they’re as indulgent as any luxe product on the market. You can find out more about the ingredients BC does not and will not ever use here, by checking out “the Never list.”

You can find out more about Beautycounter’s mission and purchase Beautycounter products here. (When you shop with me – Kristi Cirignano – as your consultant, you are helping to support my work at Nourished for Life Wellness Coaching. Thank you!!!) It’s not just makeup–Beautycounter also offers hair care, kids products, body products, and skincare.

I love all of the makeup I have tried (especially the Dew Skin Tinted Moisturizer, eye liner, eye brown pencil and the lengthening mascara) and as I mentioned above, I’m also really loving their Daily Shampoo and Conditioner, Number 3 Balancing Oil and Number 3 Balancing Mask. Feel free to send me a message if you have questions about any Beautycounter products and I’ll be happy to help!

To your health and wellness!

PS: Local friends, join me Wednesday, March 14 from 10:30 to 11:30 for a FREE workshop at Sift Yoga introducing a series I’ll be doing in April called Stressed to Zen! We’ll talk about what stress is, how it can help us and how it can harm our health and how to change your perception of stress to find more peace and joy in your life!

PSS: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. I share products & companies I love with you regardless of whether they have an affiliate program, and I only recommend products I actually use and love! By purchasing through my affiliate links, a small percentage of your purchase goes to help support my mission of providing resources, information and support to empower people to change their health and their future through whole foods and a healthy lifestyle. Thank you!!!

Making Whole Food Nutrition a Priority, Part 1

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Last week I made beef stock. Yep, I was pretty excited and proud of myself. I make chicken stock fairly often…every time I roast whole chickens in fact. But I had a chance to get some stock bones from local grass fed cows and decided to make some beef bone broth. It was amazingly rich and delicious, full of gut healing nutrients and collagen. I ended up with six quarts of beautiful stock and I froze most of it in glass jars to use this fall.

Whole Food Nutrition

At least half of you are probably thinking right now that I clearly have WAY too much time on my hands. But I assure you that is not the case! I’m a very busy, work-from-home mom with 4 kids to keep up with, including a 2-1/2 year old whose constant and ever changing demands keep me running from morning till bedtime.

But this post is not actually about making bone broth, although I highly recommend it! (You can read about some of the benefits and check out the recipe I used here.)

This post is actually about making real food a priority. None of us, including me, have time to spend all day in the kitchen, which is why in my next couple of posts I’m going to share some of my favorite tips for eating real, whole foods in the very limited time we have.

Tip #1 is simply to choose to make whole food nutrition a priority. 

We all lead such busy, hectic lives and it’s easy to use time as an excuse for not cooking or not eating as healthfully as we know we should. But honestly, what is more important than your health, or the health of your family? If there is one thing we should make a priority, isn’t it our health?

We all order our time and lives around the things that are our highest priorities. So why not make the decision, right here and now, to make your own and your family’s health a priority and invest your time in eating real, whole foods?

Once you make the decision to skip the drive thru, take out and processed, packaged foods at the grocery store and eat only real, whole foods, there may be a transition time when it seems overwhelming and really hard. But stick with it a few weeks and I promise you’ll soon get into a new groove where planning for healthy meals and snacks will just be a normal part of our life. You might even find you love it! And feeling great, having more energy and better health–both now and in the future–will be an amazing reward and the best gift you could give to your family.

So once you’ve made the decision, what next? How do you get started or improve on your commitment to eating real food?

Tip #2 — Set yourself up for success with a well stocked pantry and freezer.

The most important things you can do to set yourself up for success are planning and preparation. I’m going to devote part 2 of this series to how I go about planning our weekly meals, grocery shopping & meal prep. So stay tuned for that. But even more important than a weekly plan is your overall preparation with a well-stocked pantry and freezer. This makes last minute meals and snacks when you haven’t had time to plan much easier and makes it less likely you will resort to the drive thru or carry out or processed foods.

The things I buy in bulk and always have in my pantry include:

We buy meat from hormone and antibiotic free, pastured or grass fed animals in bulk from a local farm (Fischer Farms in Jasper, Indiana) so our freezer is always stocked. In my freezer you will also always find wild caught Alaskan Salmon, plenty of frozen fruit for smoothies (my daughters also like frozen fruit straight out of the freezer as a snack), extra loaves of sprouted wheat and gluten free bread and homemade stock for soup or other dishes.

This means even if I don’t have time to go to the grocery store all week, I can always pull together a healthy snack or meal in relatively short order.

Please don’t think real food has to be time consuming to prepare or fancy! No guilt here … there are plenty of times I don’t have time to cook a fancy meal. My go to quick-and-easy (but still real food) meals when I have had zero time to plan or prep a meal are:

  • Leftovers!! This is one huge advantage of cooking regularly.
  • Our favorite Buckwheat Pancakes
  • Eggs–scrambled, fried, hard boiled (if I have some already made) or if I have just a bit more time an omelette or frittata
  • Gluten free pasta with jarred pasta sauce or a quick pan sauce
  • Oatmeal
  • A nut butter sandwich on sprouted wheat or gluten free bead
  • A big lettuce salad with canned tuna, chickpeas, leftover chicken, avocado, nuts or berries. (You can find two of my favorite green salads here and here)
  • Depending on what I have on hand, we usually have fruit and/or veggies with hummus and/or a big leafy green salad on the side.
  • In a pinch I’m perfectly satisfied with a Complete plant-based protein shake. It’s satisfying and healthy and I feel a million times better than if I had gone through the drive thru.

We also have an aeroponic growing system called a Tower Garden which means I always have fresh lettuce, herbs and other greens growing right in my kitchen that I can grab for a quick salad or to go in a smoothie or protein shake. I absolutely love our Tower Garden and highly recommend it for any real food home.

#3 — Break your prep and cooking into smaller jobs and squeeze them in whenever and however fits your schedule. 

This is where I come back to the beef stock. It may seem like a big, overwhelming, time consuming project but it really couldn’t be easier when you break it up and fit it into your existing schedule. I kept the bones in my freezer til I had a few extra minutes one evening after dinner. Threw them in a stock pot with water and some aromatics and let it simmer over night. Five minutes and done. In the morning, I didn’t have time to deal with it so I stuck the whole stock pot in the refrigerator. 1 minute or less. One afternoon when I had a few minutes I strained the broth, put it in jars and put the jars in the freezer. 10 minutes max. It took a little planning but almost no actual time.

Another example of this is my favorite quinoa salad that I like to make for a dinner side dish or have on hand for a quick lunch or dinner. It feels like a lot of work by the time I cook the quinoa, make the dressing (an amazing tomato vinaigrette) and chop all of the vegetables. But it’s a lot more manageable if I break it up into smaller jobs. I make the dressing one day when I have time and put it in the fridge. When I’m cooking rice for dinner, I put on another pot and cook the quinoa at the same time. It goes in the fridge too until I have time to actually make the salad. And then it doesn’t take much time to chop the veggies and put it all together and I have a yummy and nourishing side dish or meal for whenever I need it.

These are just examples. Think about the real food dishes or meals your family likes, and figure out ways to break up your prep and cooking time to fit it into the nooks and crannies of your schedule.

Make the commitment. It may take some time and effort to make the transition and figure out how to make a real food eating plan work for you. But once you do, it really won’t take much more time, only a bit more planning! And it will be so worth it for your short and long term health!

XOXO,

PS —  For more tips and tricks, read Making Whole Food Nutrition a Priority, Part 2! And follow me on Facebook for more healthy living information and inspiration!