Alvarado St. Bakery makes their breads, bagels, buns, pizzas, and tortillas from sprouted whole wheat as opposed to flour. They take whole, organic wheat berries and soak them in filtered water until they “sprout” and begin to grow. This concept of baking dates back to biblical times when sprouted grains were used. This process naturally makes starchy grains easily digestible and more readily assimilated by the body.

Alvarado St. Bakery would never knowingly use GMO ingredients. (genetically modified) They are in support of the growing movement here in the U.S. that wants the government to insist that foods be clearly labeled if they are GMOs. (Products are not allowed to be labeled as such now.)

Botox for migraines is something I never would have thought of for providing relief from headaches. According to the New York Headache Center, the treatment can last on average three months or even longer. The drawback is the cost, but many insurance companies will cover Botox when it is done for headaches and other medical conditions.

By the way, Botox was approved by the FDA 18 years ago for the treatment of eye disorders, and they discovered it helped wrinkles around the eyes as well. People also noticed an improvement in their headaches.

Our daughter and s-i-l gave me a great book for part of my Mother’s Day gift. It’s called The Organic Food Shopper’s Guide by Jeff Cox, published this year. Talk about an eye opener, I’ve read a little about genetically modified food crops (GMO), but this book goes into detail. Now, I’m really concerned about what kind of weird foods we might be eating. It’s very concerning to think that we might be eating foods that could be damaging to our health.

• In 2001, a genetically modified corn crop contained a gene which produced “aprotinin” which is a “trypsin inhibitor,” known to cause pancreatic disease in animals. (Pollen can spread and turn non-GMO plants offspring into GMO plants.)
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• Another genetically altered corn crop produced a glycoprotein found on the surface of two strains of HIV and “simian immunodeficiency virus.” When this gets into the human blood stream, it kills white blood cells. The U.S. ordered this crop destroyed, but it had contaminated another 155 acres of corn which also had to be destroyed. (My question is how many other crops were contaminated?)

• In the U.S., genetically modified foods are not allowed to be labeled!

I’ve just started reading this book, so I will probably be sharing more info later.

Most places have fried chicken tenders, but Jack-in-the-Box also offers grilled chicken tenders which is great news for those of us trying to lose weight or eat healthy! And what’s really great is that their tenders are delicious! I’ve had them quite a few times now, and they’re consistently good. So…when we go to Jack-in-the-Box, I order two or three grilled chicken tenders (you can ask for one, two, three, or however many you want) plus a side salad - I just use a small amount of salad dressing. That makes a perfect meal for me!

By the way, 4 grilled chicken strips have 180 calories and 2 grams of fat! Awesome!

( 4 Crispy chicken strips have 500 calories and 25 grams of fat!!!)

Click here to check Nutritional Information for Jack in the Box.

This is from AOL’s Outrageous Fast Food:

Quiznos’ Tuna Melt, regular
Calories: 1420 calories
Fat: 118 g
Sodium:1535 mg

Wendy’s Baconator
Calories: 1680
Fat: 103 g
Sodium: 1800 mg

Burger King’s Enormous Omelette Sandwich
Calories: 730
Fat: 45 g
Sodium: 1940 mg

McDonald’s Chocolate Triple Thick Shake, (32 fl oz)
Calories: 1160
Fat: 27 g
Sodium: 510 mg

KFC’s Chicken and Biscuit Bowl
Calories:870
Fat: 44 g
Sodium: 2420 mg

White Castle’s Fish Nibblers Calories:
Calories: 1050

Fat: 25 g
Sodium: 2980 mg

This are just a few foods, but they clearly show how unhealthy a lot of fast foods are for people!

If you have problems with your feet when you go for walks, you might consider these guidelines:

• My doctor said to buy running shoes because they have better support than walking shoes. Even though I haven’t been running in years, I still buy running shoes.
• My doctor also said to replace my shoes every six months. The support in the shoe breaks down even though the shoe may look great on the outside. I over-pronate on my left foot and break down the support on the inside under the ball of my foot. (I didn’t buy new shoes when I was supposed to this last time, and I started having foot and ankle problems. As soon as I bought new shoes, the problem went away.)
  
• If you over-pronate, check out New Balance shoes. They are great for that problem!
  
• I always buy running shoes that are a whole size larger than my regular shoes. I normally wear a 7 1/2, but I buy a size 8 1/2 for running shoes.
  

My running shoes are so comfortable for walking that I wish I could wear them all the time!

A lot of people probably know of someone who has trouble with alcohol. It may be someone at work, at school, a neighbor, a relative, or an acquaintance. The sad thing about alcohol addiction is that it ruins so many lives. Hopefully, that person will get help somewhere and maybe go to alcohol rehab.

When I taught school before, we had a unit on “Say No To Drugs!” One lesson in that unit was about alcohol, because alcohol is a type of drug. It can really mess a person up when they become addicted to it! Maybe that made an impression on some of those kids and maybe kept a few of them from becoming addicted to alcohol!  Hopefully!!

Everyone can benefit from massage therapy. Here are a few examples:

• Anyone who has aching muscles, including fibromyalgia, benefits from massage therapy. I have been to massage therapists for massages in the past, and it was wonderful! My favorite type of massage was the deep tissue massage which really helped me the most. In fact, I found one lady who did deep tissue massage, and she was the only one I would go to.

• Even pregnant women can have massages. When our daughter was pregnant last year, she went for a prenatal massage and thought it was very relaxing.

• Massages are great, too, for someone under stress. It helps relieve tension.
  

If you’ve never had a massage, I highly recommend one!

Every once in a while I read a post, and when I’m through…all I can say is, “Wow!” This is one of those posts for me: What Cancer Can’t Do, from Wanda at Apples-Zeros. We get so tied up in the busy, hectic lives we live that often we don’t take time to stop and think about what truly matters in our lives!

I heard something recently on the radio (KLTY) that makes a lot of sense for eating healthy foods & not gaining weight. When eating out, try to stay away from the 4 “C’s” which are:

1. Crispy
2. Crunchy (fried food crunchy)
3. Creamy
4. Cheesy

With these types of foods, a red flag goes up for added saturated fat (depending on the type of fat used) plus calories!