Tag Archives: eating healthy

Homemade Avocado Hummus

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A few years ago, I had worked a booth with the Anthropology Club at the farmers market at Bernice Gardens in Little Rock. Some farmer’s markets are quite a venue to visit; some are big, some are small, nevertheless, Bernice Gardens is quite the atmosphere mixed with farmers, artisans, artists, and a few food trucks.

While I was there I walked around visiting each booth, trying homemade pastries, freshly brewed coffee that was locally grown and roasted, homemade goat cheese, and homemade hummus. I purchased fresh produce from some of the farmers, some pastries, and some hummus. Now and then I have gone back, mostly for an Anthropology class, but to also support the local farmers and artisans. Plus, I had lived close enough, until now as I had moved further away.

The other day, my boss brought in a container of hummus that she had made herself. I asked her what all she put in there and it seemed an easy recipe that I didn’t know why I hadn’t made it myself before. She told me a variety of recipes she uses and I decided to try one for myself. However, if you don’t have a food processor like me, you can still make this using a mixer or a blender.

2 Avocadoes, peeled and seeded

1 can of cooked and drained chickpeas

1/4 tsp of cumin

1/4 tsp of paprika or pepper

1/4 tsp of curry (optional)

1 lemon, squeezed into the ingredients

2 tbsp of olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

If you are using a mixer, you may have to blend for a few mins until ingredients are well blended. Blender or food processor would work better.

Cold and Flu Season is Still Here

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The joys of surviving the cold and flu season. Will I get sick? Do I need the flu shot? When is the best time for the flu shot? What are the flu symptoms again? Wait, my co-worker sounds like they might have the flu!

This year, the flu bug has been around, if not some sort of nasty virus or two. Luckily, we’ve dodged the flu bug, three times this season. Unluckily, my daughter has caught two viruses.

A while back I had posted about  Alka Seltzer vs Nyquil. I have only had the flu once and wouldn’t want to wish it on anyone. Maybe is was also due to having strep throat on top of the flu. Yes, I tested positive for both nastiness.

Ever since then, I have been trying to maintain a health lifestyle by eating healthier, exercising more. Being a single mom, and an autism mom at that, I tend to stay quite busy. My healthy eating habits are a hit and miss; depends on how full my schedule is. But, I do tend to meet my daily step quota, if not I overachieve it.

At times, it gets hard to keep up with everything when keeping a very busy schedule. Some things I’ve learned when it’s this time of year is to up my Vitamin-C intake, especially if I have to be surrounded by people who seemed to have a cold, and you pray it isn’t the flu and drink plenty of water … not too much.

I take Airborne if I know the flu bug is in the office or if I start to feel a bit sluggish, as if I am coming down with something myself, I take Emergen-C. They both come in different flavors.

Alka Selzer Cold still helps out, much better than Nyquil, lol! And I’ve learned to stock up on all of this stuff, as a just in case scenario, especially this year as bad as the flu has been.

Stock up on the Lysol and hand sanitizer and Kleenex, too!

Not a fan of fast food

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I have two biology projects to work on, both are due tomorrow. I have finally finished the second one. Now I’m working on typing up the essay for the second project. The second project was for us students to eat out at five different fast food restaurants and type then up the calories, fat calories, fat grams, protein, sodium, cholesterol, and fiber on a specific website for each place we eat out at, for everything we consume, food and drink. Then type up an essay about where we ate and what we thought about this project.

The thing about living here in Bryant is that I’m surrounded by a plethora of restaurants, so I would not have a hard time on picking five places, that’s the easy part of the project. The hard part on this project is to afford eating out when I would prefer to buy food at the market and prepare the meal at home, for about fourth the price of what it would cost to go out and eat these days. The other hard part is eating food that isn’t good for me. I’m not big on eating a huge amount of sodium. During and after my pregnancy I was battling high blood pressure and a huge amount of sodium is one thing that I should steer clear of in order to keep my blood pressure from going back up. I’m proud to say that I’ve been able to get my health back in line and my blood pressure back to normal, but high blood pressure does run in my family.

Another thing that people aren’t aware of is not only does sodium raise your blood pressure, but it starts to chew away at your bones, making them brittle. As a woman this is bad, especially as I start to get older, things like osteoporosis would also start to set in.

I’m not trying to sound paranoid, but if you have things that run in your family that concern you as things in my family concerns me, you would react the same way as I do. Cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and arthritis. Obesity is another thing that runs in my family. I’m thankful that I have lost most of my baby weight, though I could stand to lose a few more pounds. You’re probably laughing, saying, but I just read your Dunkin Donut blog you just posted yesterday. I know, I know, it was opening day and I just had to have that one donut. I haven’t been back…yet. 😉

I had slipped a disk in my lower back which causes great discomfort when walking, so it’s hard to do much exercise, therefore I try to watch what I eat. Another reason I try to eat healthy is my daughter. She’ll eat what I eat. I’m proud to say that she loves fruits and veggies and asks for more. I try to show her healthy food choices by what I consume. Though once in awhile I’ll stop by McDonald’s, they do have salads and yogurt and smoothies (my little girl loves yogurt and smoothies) instead of getting the hamburgers and nuggets. I do get her the kids meal, though she doesn’t eat all of her fries and nuggets, but she does eat all of her apples and drinks all of her milk. And yes, the occasionally donut, but I don’t eat them every day and neither does she.

What are some of your food wrongs and rights?