7 Day Real Food Challenge

Do you think you can eat only real food for 7 days straight?

To some of you this might sound nearly impossible and some of you may be thinking – I already do. This challenge is designed to help those of you who really want to live the real food lifestyle but might need a little guidance to get started. This challenge is also for all of you who have already figured it out, but you have fallen off the bandwagon. Sometimes life gets hectic and our diets seem to suffer. It's never too late to get back into the healthy food routine!

So, What is the 7 Day Real Food Challenge?

There is a big group of us following this challenge. Everyone who joins this challenge is making a pact to eat only real food for 7 days – specifically on April 21st - 27th. Already there are 28 bloggers who have committed to this challenge and are here as a support team for everyone who joins us. Here is your support team:

Todd Dosenberry from Primal Toad
Amanda from Natural Living Mama
Erin Odom from The Humbled Homemaker
Janey McKeever from Consistantly Sporadic
Jaime Reid from Jaime Reids Kitchen
Anne Simpson from Authentic Simplicity
Laura Broach from Mama Making Changes
Mike Lamitola from MikeLamitola.com
Alix from Blessed in Homemaking
Stacy Karen from A Delightful Home
Nina Nelson from Shalom Mama
Melissa Joulwan from Well Fed
Kimball Young from Heavy on Wholesome
Laura Prevost from Head over heels in Health
Victoria Moore from Yogi Mami
Carol Lovett from Ditch the Wheat
Katie Stanley from Nourishing Simplicity
Jami Leigh from Young Wifes Guide
Andrea from Homemade for Elle
Sara Warren from Unorthadox Momma
Amanda Anderson from Chef Amanda Anderson.com
Sara Roylance from Sara Roylance.com
Sara Shay from Your Thriving family
Jennifer from Hybrid Rasta Mama
Marillyn Beard from Just Making Noise
Nichi from My Healthy Beginning
Michelle Elnycky from The Crooked House Blog

So... for those of you who think this might be way too hard to do – you have all these experts here to back you up and help you meet the challenge. It’s not only these bloggers that will be doing the challenge but many of our readers will be following along. We will have a special Facebook group for discussions about the challenge and a place to reach out to everyone for help and support. There are two ways you can participate in the challenge:

Option # 1 (Free)

Join us and make the commitment to eat only real food for 7 days starting on April 21 – April 27, 2013. You will receive:

• An e-guidebook on “What is Real Food?”
• A chance to win one of our fabulous real food prizes

To enter this challenge for free click here

Option # 2 ($29)

If you want to get really serious about this challenge and take full advantage of the support you can get from this group – this is for you. Making a big lifestyle change can be difficult on your own but with a huge group of people doing it along with you it is a lot easier – and a lot more fun! As a member of this challenge you will receive:

• An e-guidebook on “What is Real Food?”
• A full real food Paleo meal plan for 7 days – three meals a day and snacks
• Recipes for all of the items in the meal plan (37 Delicious recipes!!)
• A shopping list to help you prepare for the challenge
• Tips on how to prepare your kitchen for this event
• Membership to our private Facebook group which is a place to reach out for help and ask questions
• A chance to win one of our fabulous real food prizes - worth over $600+

PLUS these fabulous Bonuses (worth over $40+) for everyone who buys this package...

• A copy of "Your Grocery Budget Toolbox eBook" ($7.99 value). This eBook is the perfect guide for anyone new to eating healthy, learn how to save time and money with a few simple strategies. Follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest
• A copy of Health Coach, Mike Lamitola's music album, "Fitting Out," ($7.00 value). Mike's music is inspired by real life experiences, dreams and some very random thoughts. Follow Mike on Facebook
• A 20% discount to Natural Living Mama's Product shop. Natural Living Mamma offers herbal body and skin care, salves, and teas made from only natural ingredients. Click here to visit her shop or follow her on Facebook
• A copy of The Holistic Mama's Audio Class,"How to Eat Real Food on a Budget" ($29.00 value) Follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest
• A 15% discount to Blessed in Homemaking Etsy shop. Blessed In Homemaking offers organic and all natural body care products, gentle baby care products, herbal products, crocheted items, and more, for your healthy lifestyle. Follow on Facebook

The meal plan for this challenge is a Paleo menu! This means that all the recipes are grain-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free. If you have ever thought about trying the Paleo / Primal diet and thought it was too hard this is the perfect chance to try it out. All of these done for you planning items and the built in support are designed to make this challenge much less of a challenge to complete. What do you think – are you ready to take the 7 Day Real Food Challenge?

Click here to join us and get the plan, recipes, and support now!

The plan and recipes require basic kitchen tools. A good set of knives is the best thing you can splurge on in my opinion - even better you may win some in the giveaways that go along with this challenge! Speaking of giveaways...Don’t forget about all of the fabulous prizes from our amazing sponsors!! We are giving away $600 worth of products! The Giveaways (over $600+ value)...


  Ergo Chef Knife Company, makers of ergonomically-designed professional chef knives, is giving one participant of our challenge their Pro-Series 7” Santoku knife, Come Apart Kitchen Shears and a 9” & 12” Duo Tongs (Retail value $132) Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube

  Taza Chocolate company, makers of traditional stone ground Mexican Chocolate, is giving one of our participants a package of their salted almond discs, their chipotle chili discs, a jar of chocolate covered hazelnuts and their 87% chocolate bar. Taza chocolate has a direct trade cacao program that cultivates face-to-face relationships with farmers. (Retail value $ 30.47) Follow them on Facebook and Twitter


  Kaya Foods, superfoods for delicious living, is giving one participant 5 bags of their delicious Kale and Veggie Chips, great for healthy snacking and a few $1.00 coupons (Retail value $ 10) Follow them on Facebook






   Yogi Tea, products inspired by Ayurveda is giving one participant of our challenge 4 boxes of a variety of our top selling teas and a Yogi tea mug. (Retail value $40)Yogi tea is committed to providing healthy, natural teas that are accessible to as many people as possible. Follow them on Facebook.





   Applegate, Organic & Natural Meats, is giving away a gift pack of products. (Retail value $ 25) Applegate meats are free of anti-biotics, growth hormones, nitrates, artificial ingredients and fillers which makes them far surpass the quality of conventional sliced sandwich meats. When buying Applegate products you can be confident you are eating a high quality product. Follow them on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter



  Trilight Health, makers of fast-acting, great tasting liquid herbal supplements, is giving one participant a $50 gift certificate to order products on their website! For over 20 years now, TriLight Health have supplied their customers nationwide with their high quality line of liquid herbal products. They specialize in great tasting, alcohol and sugar free, liquid herbal formulas for pregnancy, children, and the family. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter



  Eco Lunch Gear, eco friendly reusable lunch gear, is giving one participant a a reusable sandwich wrap (Retail value $10.50). Eco Lunch Gear was started by a Mom who saw a need for an alternative to plastic and aluminum foil, her products can be washed and reused over and over to save money and our environment. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter.  

Erin Odom from The Humbled Homemaker and creator of Real Food, Real Easy the eBook is giving one participant a copy of her eBook to help you continue with your Real Food journey (Retail value $$9.95) Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

Health Coach, Mike Lamitola, is giving one participant free entry to his Tele-seminar on Cravings. Do you have a sugar habit you've been trying to beat? In this tele-seminar, Mike will explain how. (Retail value $25.00) Follow Mike on Facebook and Twitter    

Alix from Blessed In Homemaking offers organic and all natural body care products, gentle baby care products, herbal products, crocheted items, and more, for your healthy lifestyle in her Etsy Shop. She is giving two participants a one ounce bag of loose chamomile tea (Retail value $8.00) Follow her on Facebook

Stacy Karen from A Delightful Home is giving one participant of this challenge a copy of her eBook, Simple Scrubs to Make and Give. Start making your own scrubs at home for yourself and others (Retail value $3.99) Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

Nina Nelson of Shalom Mama, is giving one participant of the challenge a healing balm and lavender mint lip balm from her etsy shop (Retail value $19.50) Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

 

Melissa Joulwan from The Clothes Make the Girl, is giving one participant a copy of her Paleo eBook called Well Fed: Paleo Recipes for People Who Like to Eat (Retail value $14.95). This is a great resource for anyone interested in Paleo diet, whether you are just getting started or you are just looking for some new recipes to try. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter

Health Coach, Laura Prevost is giving 10 lucky participants one of her Dynamite Coaching sessions. If you are looking for some support around breaking a bad habit, or getting yourself motivated, Laura will work through it with you in this session (Retail value $20.00/session) Follow Laura on Facebook or Twitter

Jami from Young Wife's Guide, is giving one participant a copy of her eBook, Apartment Gardening, which is a great resource for getting started growing food in small spaces (Retail value $2.99) Follow Jami on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

 

Jennifer from Hybrid Rasta Mama has also offered to give away two copies of her eBook, Cooking with Coconut Oil (Retail value $19.95). The 68 recipes in this eBook are all simple to make and the ingredients in the recipes are all readily available. This eBook is a great way to start getting more coconut oil in your diet to get all the amazing health benefits. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest

You will have the chance to win all of these prizes by joining is the challenge with either Option # 1 or Option # 2 detailed above!

Do you have questions about this event? Please feel free to comment on this post with any questions or concerns.

H is for Hemp

H is for what? I know, I know, you're wondering why in the heck I'd want to talk about hemp, which is precisely why I chose this topic. And if you will bear with me, you'll see! 

Hemp often gets a bad rep because people confuse it with marijuana. Hemp, however, is not psychoactive (meaning it will not get you high). Hemp is a quite useful plant that has been used for at least 8000 years! Not only can the fibers in the stalks be used similarly to cotton, but hemp seed is very nutritious. Hemp is also the most sustainable bio fuel and can be used to make plastics.

Hemp can also be used to make paper. It produces more pulp per acre than trees and is more easily sustainable. Paper products made from hemp have also been said to be more durable and can be recycled more times. 

Did you know that hemp is naturally resistant to most insects and is therefore very easy to grow organically? Hemp also suppresses weeds, all on its own, without the help of herbicides. 

Are we starting to see why hemp is kinda cool? And why environmentalists champion it's use? There are more than 25000 documented uses for hemp! 

A few hemp products that I love:

• Straw covers for carrying your glass straw in a pocket, purse, or backpack. You can buy these (and the straws) at www.GlassDharma.com.
• At www.Hempys.com, you can find a new hemp purse for yourself and some hemp board shorts for him!

Do you own any hemp products or have links to some items you love?

F is for Food

Food...BIG subject. I could write a book I feel so strongly about many issues involving food. Don't worry! Not tonight and not here! This will be brief!

About a year ago, I started making more effort to eat healthier and to know more about what I eat, not just me but my family too. I've made a ton of changes since then and learned so much. I've also lost about thirty pounds in that time without being hungry! We rarely eat corn now, we buy locally grown, organic vegetables and free-range natural meat. I have given up pasta and rice. I buy local raw milk from grass fed cows. I could go on. I won't go into all of the whys in this post - after all I promised not to write a book tonight. I'll list a few links at the bottom of this post if you want to learn more.

I think we can all agree, however, that a diet of "real food" only is healthier than a diet of highly processed foods like potato chips, crackers, frozen dinners and the like. In January, I participated in the 7 Day Real Food Challenge from Holistic Mama. I got a 7 day menu plan, complete with recipes for everything on the menu and shopping list. My family and I agreed to do the Challenge together and it was a great experience! We were able to give up some of those highly processed foods that were remaining in our diet. In fact, separating our food into what was allowed and not allowed during the challenge, we realized how many unhealthy foods were still in our kitchen.


Holistic Mama is bringing back the 7 Day Real Food Challenge at the end of April! I'm so excited! I will be posting details since this time I am a contributing blogger, but you can head over to read about the challenge now by clicking here. Hope you'll join us when sign-ups open soon!

For more info on why we've made so many changes to our diet, try some of these links:

http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2009/
http://www.localharvest.org/buylocal.jsp
http://www.fixfood.org/
http://www.mamamakingchanges.com/2012/04/new-facts-draw-your-own-conclusions.html
http://robertkennerfilms.com/food_inc_return.html
http://www.transferofhealth.com/healthy-eating/why-eat-healthy/corn-facts/
http://www.mamamakingchanges.com/2012/07/summer-blog-challenge-day-49.html
http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking-101/resources/grass-fed-beef-grain-fed-beef-00412000070712/
http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2007/05/the-difficult-lives-and-deaths-of-factory-farmed-chickens/
http://worldtruth.tv/how-monsanto-big-ag-are-killing-us-planet-earth/
http://theholisticmama.com/store-7/?ap_id=lrbroach1973




Click here for a full list of my posts and a list of participating blogs in the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

A is for Arlee

Click here for a full list of my posts and a list of participating blogs in the 2013 A to Z Challenge!

For the first day of the A to Z Challenge, I want to recognize and thank Arlee Bird, founder of this event and a wonderfully prolific blogger. He writes Tossing It Out, Wrote by Rote, A Few Words, and A Faraway View. Of course, you can also find him at www.a-to-zchallenge.com! 

Click on the name of any one of his sites above and you will be redirected to it. I wanted to make it easy for you to find him. If you like what you see (and I know you will love at least one of his blogs!), please be sure to leave him a comment! I hope he finds himself wondering where in the world all the extra traffic came from today!

I'd also like to thank all of the A to Z Challenge co-hosts:

The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers)

Tossing It Out (Arlee Bird)

Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)

Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh)

Life is Good (Tina Downey)

Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)

Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)

The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)

The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)

Leave it to Livia (Livia Peterson)

No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)

Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp)

Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

The Challenge also has a Facebook page, email address 2012azinfo@gmail.com, and Twitter hashtag  #AtoZChallenge. 

A to Z Blog Challenge

In April 2013, Mama Making Changes will be participating in the A to Z Blog Challenge. I love challenges because they hold me accountable for posting daily, which is something that I tend to plan but not always do. 

In the A to Z Challenge, participants' post titles will start with the letter of the day every day except Sunday. Participating bloggers are also asked to visit and comment on at least 5 other blogs on the linky each day, starting with the blog that is listed after your own. 

The best part of this challenge is that participating blogs should see a huge increase in activity! This has been referred to as a "blog hop on steroids" because there are so many participants! 

Sign-ups are open now so click here to find out more or to sign up. I'm excited and ready to begin!

Photo-A-Day Challenge: Day 12

Today's Prompt:  Candy Cane

This is my sister doing her best impression of a candy cane!
What do you think? How'd she do?

Click here or the tab at the top of the page to see the other photos in the December Photo-A-Day Challenge!

Photo-A-Day Challenge: Day One

December 1 Prompt - Smile :)

If this doesn't make ya smile, what will?!!

December Photo-A-Day Challenge Hop

Mama Making Changes is sponsoring a Photo-A-Day Challenge Hop for December 2012! Below is a list of dates in December and beside each one is a prompt, which is a suggestion for your photo that day. Let's see how creative we can get! Think outside the box! And have fun! 



Each day, after I post the photo of the day, I will change the suggestion to a clickable link. Just click the link to see the photo! 

Calling all Bloggers! Would you like to join me? Just copy and paste the button and the intro above and the list below to your page and add your blog to the linky at the bottom of this post. I'll email the linky code to you after you sign up. Feel free to make some changes to the introduction to customize it to your blog, as long as you give include the link to Mama Making Changes.

December Photo-A-Day Challenge

12/1      Smile :)

12/2      2012 Event I won't forget

12/3      Red

12/4      It's so cold!

12/5      Decorate

12/6      One

12/7      Flashback

12/8      Green

12/9      Yummy

12/10     Lights

12/11     Friendship

12/12     Local 

12/13     Candy cane

12/14     Wrap it up!

12/15     I love...

12/16     Two 

12/17     Toy

12/18     Warm and cozy

12/19     Tree

12/20     Special

12/21     Sweet

12/22     White

12/23     Homemade

12/24     Joy

12/25     Good morning!

12/26     Relax

12/27     Me

12/28     Three

12/29     Family

12/30     Resolution

12/31     Celebrate!

Summer Excercise Challenge

EricksonandCo.com is hosting a Summer Excersise Challenge! I am intrigued, but I'm not sure if I can do quite as much as this asks for. I am thinking I can change it up a bit to allow for my bad ankle because I can't run. I'm going to sleep on it, but check it out and see what you think! Maybe you would like to join and get in a little better shape this summer. Here is the schedule for the first two weeks so you can see what you think. For more details or to join, go to: http://ericksonandco.com/2012/07/exercise-challenge/#comment-142

Week 1:
(You can always change the days up – For example, if you need Wednesday as your rest day instead of Saturday/Sunday. And adjust as needed; Can’t run 1 mile? Start at half a mile! Hate running? Ride your bike instead (or walk or swim)!

Day 1: Run 1 mile and post time (no judging!!) We need a base time to see if we are improving, stretch at least once
Day 2: Yoga or Pilates (or your favorite exercise video) (Comment saying what you did)
Day 3: Run half mile as fast as can and post time, Stretch at least once
Day 4: Pilates or Yoga (or your favorite exercise video)
Day 5: Run 1 mile and post time, stretch at least once
Day 6: stretch
Day 7: stretch

Week 2:
Day 1: Run 1.25 miles (and post time), stretch at least once
Day 2: Yoga or Pilates
Day 3: Run .75 miles as fast as can (and post time), don’t forget to stretch
Day 4: Yoga or Pilates
Day 5: Run 1.25 miles (post time), stretch!
Day 6: Stretch!
Day 7: Stretch

Summer Blog Challenge: Day 2

Challenge of the Day: Post a picture of yourself smiling.

Okay, I hate having my picture made. Really. I love my camera and I am always taking pictures of everyone else, but I don't have many pictures of me. So after spending way too much time looking through all of the thousands of digital images saved on my laptop, I decided to take a picture just for this. I had no choice. Every somewhat recent pic of myself smiling has already been posted somewhere on my blog in the last few months. You only recall seeing a couple of pics of me? I know! That's my point! Haha. Anyway, here it is, my self-portrait...

Remember, this blog challenge has lots and lots of participating bloggers and you can click the button at the top of this post or on the right side of my page to go to a list of all of them with links to their blogs. Look around at some of them and see all of the different responses each day. You can share your faves on Facebook or Twitter!