The Holistic Family

Optimal Holistic Traditional Whole Food Diet Guidelines for Preconception Pregnancy and Nursing Women

2009-09-05T09:05:00.001-05:00

The Optimal Diet Guidelines for Preconception, Pregnant and Nursing Mothers

Unrestricted amounts of fresh organic vegetables and fruits, raw or slightly cooked, use a wide variety.

Soaked organic whole grains

Sprouted organic grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds

Lacto-fermented or wild-fermented condiments and beverages

2 tablespoons of coconut oil daily minimum, used in cooking or smoothies, etc.

Fermented Cod Liver Oil, Krill Oil, or other high quality DHA AND EPA source(vegetarian/vegan is not possible as they do not provide EPA, and EPA is a vital component of the brain and brain development for the baby, among other things)

Raw milk daily from organic pasture-fed cows or goats (learn more about raw milk at A Campaign for Real Milk, www.realmilk.com)

raw butter daily from organic pasture-fed cows

eggs daily, from organic pastured chicken; added to smoothies, salad dressings, scrambled eggs, etc.

3-4 ounces of fresh liver, weekly, if possible, from an organic pastured animal source

Fresh seafood, 2-4 times per week, particularly wild salmon, shellfish and fish eggs

Fresh organic pastured beef or lamb weekly, always consumed with the fat

Organic homemade bone broths used in soups, stews and sauces

Other uncommon super foods used daily or as often as possible, like:

chlorella, chlorophyll, spirulina, wheat grass, barley grass, broccoli sprouts, acai, rose hips, green tea, acerola cherry, flax seed, hemp seed, Himalayan pink crystal salt, cacao, maca, etc.

AVOID:

Trans fatty acids (e.g., hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils)
Junk foods
Processed Foods
Packaged foods
Commercial fried foods - consume fried foods ONLY from home and ONLY fried in coconut oil!
Sugar - consume ONLY natural sugars; agave, raw honey, grade A organic or wildcrafted maple syrup, raw unrefined cane sugar, coconut sugar, and palm sugar.
White flour - only whole grain flours, advised to use NON-GLUTEN flours, so no wheat if possible.
Soft Drinks or other Carbonated beverages
Caffeine
Alcohol
Cigarettes
Drugs (even prescription drugs)

USE WITH CAUTION AND GUIDANCE:

Herbs
Homeopathies
Gluten – if you are sensitive or allergic to gluten AVOID things with gluten!
Casein – if you are sensitive or allergic to casein AVOID things with processed dairy, use ONLY RAW GOAT MILK dairy products!

Even with an unassisted pregnancy and birth a mother needs to be able to provide OPTIMAL nutrition to her body and her developing baby. The best way to do this is with a Holistic Nutritionist specializing in Maternal and Pediatric care. This does not make the pregnancy or birth assisted, as nutrition is all that would be facilitated, if that is what the mother desires.

For resources, guidance, and additional information please visit our website at www.DuCheneNaturalHealth.com/SoulBirth.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene
Holistic Maternal and Pediatric Nutritionist
Wellness Consultant

Live GardenBurger Patè Lettuce Wraps

2009-08-14T15:13:00.004-05:00

After a fantas1tic raw food and vegetarian meal with a friend last night I was inspired to do some more raw today! Thanks January for an inspiring evening.

Live GardenBurger Patè Lettuce Wraps

1 head of Butter Lettuce

1 lbs of almonds, unsoaked and ground
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon of agave
1 tablespoon of coconut oil (or olive oil)
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of sea salt or himalayan salt (or other natural salt)
about a small handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Grind almonds in a food processor or blender, set aside.

Combine the carrot, celery, onion, agave, oil, seasonings, and salt and grind in a food processor or blender.

Mix everything together well. I mixed it in the blender, but you can do this by hand as well. If mixture isn't firm enough, add some ground flax seeds or more ground almonds.

Dollop your desired portion onto leaves of lettuce, wrap and serve! Enjoy!!

I added some fresh chopped tomatoes on top of my gardenburger patè and then wrapped it. So delicious!!

I also have some sun tea brewing!

Sun Tea:

1 gallon container, preferrably glass
1 gallon of filtered water
4 - 6 bags of your favorite tea (or any combination of teas) (the more bags the stronger the tea)
leave tags hanging outside of lid
3 -5 hours set out into the direct sunlight, move around if necessary to keep it in the sunlight

if you have an overcast, it will need to set out longer

You can add fresh mint, lemon, etc. for a nice flavor.

I do not like tea brewed with the lemon in it, as it tastes sore quicker to me. So, instead I add fresh lemon to my tea as I serve it.

I also do not like sweet tea, so I did not but any sweeteners in this, but you can. I would recommend agave, raw honey, or raw unprocessed/unrefined sugar cane sugar. You can brew with the sugar added or add the sugar later.

Enjoy!

The day is not up yet, there is still dinner to be had. So I will share what we did for dinner if we did a raw, vegan, or vegetarian dish or not.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Holistic Family Heritage Talk Radio LAUNCH SHOW Contest!

2009-07-14T13:08:00.001-05:00

Enter to WIN!

To enter to win your chance for a FREE PASS to our Conscious Family Living One Day Class here in Dallas, TX, simply reply to this post with:

Your Name
Your e-mail address
Why you would like to win!

Increase your chances of winning with MULTIPLE ENTRIES! Gain multiple entries by completing the following steps. Up to 10 total entries per participant!

One additional entry for each:

Fan Leigh Anne DuChene, Founder and President of Holistic Family Heritage on Facebook at www.facebook.com/holisticfamilyheritage
Friend us on MySpace at www.myspace.com/holisticfamilyheritage
Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/holisticfamily
Update your Facebook status to: "I am a Fan of Holistic Family Heritage! Check them out at www.facebook.com/holisticfamilyheritage." To confirm your FB status update you must post a comment, of your choosing, on our Fan Page, link in step one above, so we can link to your personal page and view your status updates!
E-mail 5 friends about Holistic Family Heritage, along with our link www.HolisticFamilyHeritage.com, stating that you are a fan and inviting them to join us on the talk show, on Facebook, MySpace, and on Holistic Family Village, and CC us, admin@HolisticFamilyHeritage, in the e-mail to confirm the e-mail.

Two additional entries:

Join Holistic Family Village at http://holisticfamilyheritage.ning.com – be sure to tell us your name and user email you signed-up under in your reply so we can confirm your entry.
Register for the Thursday, July 16^,2009, FREE 2 Hour Foundations Class in Dallas, TX by going to: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/382245306 - be sure to tell us your name you registered under in your reply to confirm your registration.

Once you complete one of the above ways for additional entries simply reply to the post again and state which one you completed, reply individually for each one to insure your additional entries are all accounted for.

Have fun, and good luck!

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Raw Food Pizza!!

2009-06-24T17:45:00.002-05:00

I have my first ever homemade raw food sprouted grain pizza crust on the dehydrator!!

I am so excited. I cannot wait to see how it all turns out!! We will be enjoying a homemade raw food pizza of Friday!

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne

Kids Konserve Waste-Free Lunch Kit Giveaway

2009-06-14T16:08:00.002-05:00

More giveaways!!

This is awesome, and ECO!! :o)

Giveaway closes tonight at midnight, PST!

Enter to Win here:

http://babyhalfoff.com/blog/?p=88

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

$100 BabyHalfoff.com Shopping Spree Giveaway

2009-06-14T15:57:00.001-05:00

Hi All!

This awesome giveaway ends at midnight tonight, PST!

Learn how you can Enter to Win at:

http://babyhalfoff.com/blog/?p=107

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Amy Kathryn Gladiola Diaper Bag/Handbag Giveaway

2009-06-14T15:31:00.002-05:00

At BabyHalfOff.com there are always AWESOME giveaways.

This is the most recent give away!

Check it out for 50% off a beautiful diaper bag!

http://babyhalfoff.com/blog/?p=145

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Iron Issues in Babies Starting Solids

2009-06-03T22:48:00.004-05:00

Some babies can become iron deficient. It is important that if this baby is still being breastfed that mom take supplements and foods necessary to increase iron content in her breastmilk.

If baby is eating solids some great foods to help increase iron are, baked sweet potato, fortified with brewers yeast and/or blackstrap molasses. This is a great combination!

Also slightly steamed spinach WITH oranges, or another vitamin C source is great too!

Other options for children under 12 months of age, raisins, prunes, apricots (dried), figs, peaches, pears, tomatos, turnip greens, collard greens (my son, JP, LOVES collard greens), winter squash.

If you are giving meats options available are liver, beef, chicken, turkey, fish, and pork. Please keep in mind it is most beneficial for all animal products to come from an organic, free-range, antibiotic-free, hormone-free, vaccine-free animal.

If your child is 28 months, or close to that age, and you have begun giving grains, legumes, beans, nuts, and seeds, you have even more options, like, pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, lima beans, peas, and lentils.

Soaked and sprouted is the best way to eat any grain, legume, bean, nut, or seed. This activiates the enzymes in them and aids in digestion and absorption.

It is very important to couple your iron sources with a good source of vitamin C to help the body use the iron.

Great vitamin C sources are, oranges, orange juice (fresh squeezed), grapefruit, grapefruit juice (fresh squeezed), cantaloupe, mango, papaya, strawberries, guava, cabbage, green chilies, red chilies, green pepper, tomato, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and cauliflower.

If baby is breastfeeding still, Mom needs to utilize these things in her diet too, to help increase the iron in her breastmilk.

There are iron supplements available on the market, but that should really only be used as a last resort, and truly in a health crisis situation.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene
Holistic Maternal and Pediatric Nutritionist
Wellness Consultant

More Ins-n-Outs of Introducing Solids to Baby in a Holistic Approach

2009-06-03T21:47:00.004-05:00

Whenever introducing a new food, no matter what the age is, always do one at a time, and wait at least 3 days, preferable longer, before introducing another new food.

I recommend waiting a week between food introductions, because some potential allergic reactions are delayed reactions and might not appear right away, it takes a few meals of the food to actually stimulate immune system response if there is going to be a reaction.

It doesn't matter if it is veggies first or fruit first. Some great first foods are avocado spears, bananas, egg yolk, baked sweet potato, and RIPE pears (cut into spears if desired).

Many people believe the myth that if you feed a child too many fruits that they will never eat veggies, because the fruit is sweet. Or that it is too much sugar for them. Well the sugar that is in fruit is natural sugar, quickly metabolized and utilized by their RAPIDLY growing and moving body, and I have never actually seen a child not eat veggies because of too many fruits in the diet.

The children that I see that don't eat veggies is due to TWO reasons, one they weren't given it early enough and often enough. And two, they never saw their parents eating it, children want to eat what their parents are eating, especially once they hit toddlerhood!

And, even if baby doesn't have any teeth yet, you can still offer food, this will actually become a teething comfort mechanism for baby potentially, JP LOVED frozen carrots and celery to chew on when he was teething, and this will also stimulate the gums and teeth buds to encourage the teeth to come in.

There is so much to introducing solid foods to baby, that if more comes up, I will certain add more to the posts! :o)

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene
Holistic Maternal and Pediatric Nutritionist
Wellness Consultant

A Holistic Approach to Introducing Solids to Baby - Baby Led Feeding

2009-06-03T21:13:00.003-05:00

Baby led feeding is an approach to solid food introduction that allows baby to explore and discover food on their own with parental supervision.

With baby-led feeding you give baby whole foods or foods cut into hand size spears or slices so that baby learns what is a comfortable and manageable bit size for them. This helps create their independence at the dinner table as well.

Never force baby to eat. If baby is showing "signs" of wanting food, and is AT LEAST 6 months old, then offer your baby the age appropriate food. If baby eats it fine, if not, then let baby play, explore, and discover these new textures, tastes, smells, etc..

Most babies that show "signs" of wanting food are actually simply wanting to do what we are doing. So, if you offer food and baby doesn't eat it, then offer baby utensils instead. Let baby get familiar with eating utensils by playing, exploring, and learning how to use them. They learn by watching so let them practice at the dinner table, not forcing them to eat anything.

Baby should still be getting most, if not all, of his/her nutrition from mom via breast milk. Or, if mom was not able to breastfeed, then baby should be getting nutrition from whatever breastfeeding alternative was chosen, breastfeeding alternative options are raw milk, homemade raw milk formula, other homemade formulas, fortified commercial formula, and then commercial formulas. Therefore, if baby is still being breastfeed, raw milk fed, or formula fed, then there is no need to rush the introduction of solid foods.

Great first time foods are avocado spears, bananas, egg yolk, sweet potato, and RIPE pears (cut into spears if desired).

I am sure there is still more that I am forgetting that I want to add to this topic, but I am not recalling more right now. So, if more comes there will be another post to this topic! :o)

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene
Holistic Maternal and Pediatric Nutritionist
Wellness Consultant

A Holistic Approach to Introducing Solids to Baby

2009-06-03T19:42:00.007-05:00

There are a lot of things to consider when looking into starting solids with your baby. First is to realize that their biochemistry is different than an older child's and even an adult's. So, one must take into consideration a baby's biochemistry and their physical and neurological developmental nutritional needs.

Pancreatic amylase enzyme is needed to digest grains, legumes, beans, nuts, and seeds. Pancreatic amylase doesn't start fully producing till around 28 months of age. Before this age it is either not produced or only slightly produced, production increases the closer to 28 months of age. If you introduce these foods prior to full production of the pancreatic amylase the foods are either not digested at all or only partially digested, this is why allergies to these foods tend to be so prevalent. Waiting to introduce these foods will greatly reduce the risk of allergies to these foods and autoimmune diseases associated with them.

This is exactly why we have waited to give our son, JP, grains, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds. We gave him quinoa before 28 months, which is one of the least allergenic of all(it is actually a grain alternative, it is a seed, and is the only vegetarian complete protein source), JP had a reaction to it every single time we gave it to him, at 21 months, and at 25 months.

He is now 28 months old and we are just now considering to re-introducing grains. He has done just fine all this time on a fruit and veggie diet, and breastmilk. We did start giving him more protein via raw whey protein powder in his daily smoothies, which he LOVES, around 22 months of age! And it has made a huge difference for him. He does eat meat from time to time, we just want him to have organic free range meats, so it isn't often that he gets meat, because we cannot afford it most of the time. He LOVES fish. We have been able to give him some wild caught fish a few times too, and he loves it.

Something else to consider is that children do NOT need milk to get calcium or vitamin D, especially if they are still breastfeeding! If desiring to give dairy to your child, it should be for the healthy fats and fat soluble vitamins and minerals it offers them, and then you would ONLY want RAW dairy at that to be sure they are getting the full benefits. Processed dairy is the #1 cause of allergies and autoimmune diseases in childhood. You can avoid this by going RAW with dairy, and/or waiting till AFTER 2 years of age to give processed dairy, if ever.

Anyways, at 14 months JP was eating just about every fruit and veggie I could find at the market. However, he had almost all of his teeth. If your child does not have all his/her teeth yet, I'd suggest simply making sure you continue to steam, bake, broil, or grill the veggies so that it is a bit easier for him to chew. However, the firmer you allow the food to be, the more stimulation it gives the gums, which will stimulate the teeth to come in as well. You might try frozen cantaloupe spears, frozen pineapple spears, or frozen carrots for this as well. JP loved frozen carrots when he was teething.

Here is a list of the foods we used for JP, along with crucial information about introducing solids to babies on the right side!

** If there is a family history of allergies to any of the foods listed wait as close to 2 years of age as possible before introducing.**

vegetables

artichoke
asparragus
*beetroot
broccoli
brussel sprouts
carrot
*celery
chicory
*chinese cabbage
cauliflower
cucumber
*endive
eggplant
*fennel
french bean
green bean
green peas
jerusalem artichoke
*kohlrabi
*lettuce, all varieties
may turnip
mushroom (10 months)
paprika
peppers (not spicy)
parsnip
potato
pumpkin
*purslane
radish
rammenas
*red beets
white raddish
rubarb
salsifies
sauerkraut
*spinach
*spinach beet
sweet potato
tomato
*turnip tops
*turnip celery
*watercress
yams
young french beans
young peas (mangetout)
zucchini

1 1/2 years

6 months

vegetables don't need to be pureed
steamed, boiled, or baked and sliced into pieces is a nice way of introducing
do not force feeding vegetables

by offering whole foods or manageable large slices or spears you are letting your child learn how to take bits early own, so they learn what a healthy and manageable bit size is for them. Of course, this is done with supervision.

By not pureeing food for your baby it is also providing a teething comfort mechanism for them and simulating the gums and teeth buds to develop and come in appropriately and timely.

choose vegetables you eat yourself
do not heat up leftovers, just serve chilled

vegetables with a * are rich in nitrates, don't give them more than twice a week

if there is a history of allergies to any of the foods listed wait as close to 2 years of age as possible before introducing.

curly kale
*conical cabbage
green cabbage
leek
onion
white and red cabbage

At this age you can also dehydrate fruits and veggies to makes healthy snacks.

raw foods

fermented
foods

raw cucumber (peeled)
raw tomato

lacto-fermented veggies
kombucha
beet kavass
coconut kefir
coconut ginger-ale

6-8 months

12 months

varies per child, most can be given raw, this is simply a starter if you have previously been cooking the foods.

if there is a history of tomato allergies in your family wait till closer to 2 years of age before introducing.

other raw vegetables can come to the dinner table when your child is ready

fruits

apple
apricot
avocado
banana
cherry
cooking pears
grapes
mango
melon
peach
pear
plum
rose hip

6 months

peal the fruit and give it in pieces

at times you may give organic fruit without pealing

remove the seeds the first months

if you feel streamed, boiled, or baked fruit would be easier for your child to chew that is perfectly fine

however, most RIPE fruit, like pears for example, are VERY tender and do not need to be cooked for tenderness

grapefruit
lemon
mandarin
nectarine
tangerine
orange

9 months

If your child shows a reaction to acidic foods hold off on the citrus till after a year old.

blackberry
blueberry
elderberry
gooseberry
kiwi (green and yellow!)
pineapple
raspberry
red berry
strawberry

12 months

protein sources			Use ORGANIC, free range, antibiotic free, hormone free as much as possible
	chicken breast eggs(yolk only) fish lamb ground beef RAW cheese RAW milk RAW whey protein turkey breast	9-10 months	meat can be given, but it is not a must; there are more nutritious sources of iron, and if still breastfeeding they are getting all the protein and fat they need . an entirely vegetarian diet is possible the first 10-12 months (or longer) when allergic to raw cow's or goat's milk, wait until 2 years with raw cheeses and whey, but only if the re-introduction of raw milk was successful when allergic to egg: wait until after 2 year, but only if the re-introduction of egg was successful when allergic to something else: wait with egg and raw dairy until after 1 year
	Pork Egg (whole egg) seafood tempe	1 year	If NOT using RAW dairy, do NOT introduce till AFTER 2 YEARS. Processed dairy is the #1 cause of allergies and autoimmune diseases among children. These can be potentially avoided by not giving processed dairy till after 2 years of age, if ever.

	Pancreatic Amylase Dependent Category Grains Beans Legumes Nuts seeds	2 years	Grains are a decent protein and good carbohydrate source. Some beans and legumes are a good iron source. Nuts and seeds are also a good fat source. If wanting to try to introduce some of these before 2 years of age, it is best not to introduce at all before 18 months, and these are the best to start with; soaked or cooked chickpeas, hummus (soaked chickpeas and tahini, which is sesame seed butter), and quinoa (a grain alternative, is actually a seed, and is the ONLY vegetarian complete protein source). These tend to be the least allergenic. If you notice ANY signs of reaction, cold symptoms, skin rash, cough, congestion, sneezing, etc. eliminate and do not re-introduce till closer to 28 months. Wheat, gluten, and grains are the #2 cause of allergies among children. This too can potentially be avoided by not introducing any grains, nuts, seeds, beans, or legumes till after 2 years of age and as close to 28 months as possible. At 28 months is when a child's pancreatic amylase is active and able to digest these foods. Prior to then these foods are only partially digested which is why allergies are so prevalent.

This is adapted from http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/schema/engels.html to fit a true holistic whole food dietary approach.

This is what we have done. With the one exception of we use raw whey protein for JP's green smoothies, instead of loading on meats. He does eat meat, we just limit meat consumption in our house to as close to 10% or less of our total diet as possible. Read "The China Study" for more information on why it is important to limit your animal product intake.

The WAPF, Weston A. Price Foundation, www.WestonAPrice.org, is all about QUALITY of animal products and their importance in our health, but they do NOT talk about QUANTITY at all. So a combination of WAP guidelines and The China Study recommendations is a GREAT holistic approach to a healthy diet and lifestyle at any age!

Also, while the list for veggies is quite long, those are your options, JP hasn't had all of those veggies yet, as some I don't even know where to find them. J

Anyways, I this helps a little. Let me know if I can be of any assistance.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene
Holistic Maternal and Pediatric Nutritionist
Wellness Consultant

We Have Moved!

2009-05-18T17:21:00.002-05:00

Well, once again, I have decided to move my blog hosting location.

After using wordpress for awhile, I realized I am not very impressed with its capabilities. Blogger has so much more to offer its bloggers and is very user friendly. There are certainly features that WP has that I am greatly going to miss, like being able to have multiple pages on your blog, besides just the main page, and individual post pages.

But, there is so much more I LOVE about Blogger! I hope that this move makes our blog a lot more interesting and appealing visually!

I am moving all my blogs over to blogger, so I have my work cut out for me, but The Holistic Family blog is officially moved and I will start adding new posts here from here on out!

I will very soon have a private url domain name for my blog, so stay tuned for that update.

I wish you all the best, and enjoy stalking! :o)

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne

UPDATE!

2009-02-11T09:26:00.000-06:00

Well, I know it has been awhile since my last post.

A LOT has happened in my life that has really been overwhelming.

Over the past few weeks our raw diet has become more of just a vegetarian diet as financial difficulties have shown us that it is NOT cheap to go RAW, especially if you are transitioning and don't already have a good stock of necessary food staples like nuts, seeds, superfoods, etc., etc. And, not to mention the purchase of the equipment, while not necessary but makes life easier, is quite expensive.

So, we have decided to stick to vegetarian for now as it fits our budget and can incorporate a lot of grains and legumes that are not too pricey and will fill us up. :)

I do have a lot of vegetarian/vegan recipes that I will be posting soon that we have used. They are so great.

Anyways, we hit some MAJOR financial difficulties due to BOTH of our vehicles needing repairs in the same week that has cost us so far about $1000 and we still aren't done yet! Well, needless to say, we DID NOT have $1000 free to spend on such things and thus have taken a HUGE hit on our budget. We are working diligently to find ways to increase our income into our practice and thus our household.

Then to top things off, my grandmother has been in the hospital with blocked arteries and had quadruple bypass surgery yesterday! She is so far recovering well, and I pray that she continues to do so.

But, obviously, I have been a bit preoccupied with some crisis situations, that I believe are starting to come to a close and things are starting to calm down.

Many of you knew about some of these things that were going on, so I appreciate your patience, as I know many are anxiously awaiting updates and new recipes and ideas. :)

I want to thank all of my friends and family members that have prayed for, encouraged, and supported us through it all. I am so blessed with amazing friends and family members that are loving and supportive. It really made these past few weeks, and especially days, so much more bearable to receive your kind words of prayer, encouragement, solace, and support.

I love you all and may God bless you and those around you.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Excalibur is here!

2009-01-26T16:25:00.000-06:00

I am so excited my Excalibur dehydrator came last week. I haven't had the time to get the ingredients for my raw vegan pizza crust yet, so we are making Kale and Sweet Potato chips first. Things we already had available at home and are quick and easy snacks.

I am looking forward to making my sprouted raw vegan pizza crust, crackers, breads, and other things as well.

I will be posting them as we go. So stay tuned!

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne

Market Street, New in Coppell, TX!

2009-01-26T16:24:00.000-06:00

There is a new Market Street grocery store in Coppell, TX.

We went last week to check it out. It was better than your average grocery store, but not as good as Whole Foods, Central Market, Sprouts, or other truly natural grocery store.

I was thoroughly impressed to see "Expectant Mother" designated parking places! I have not seen that since I lived in Phoenix, AZ at the Paradise Valley Mall that I worked at.

You can find your general foods that the conventional grocery stores carry, like Doritos Cheese Tortilla Chips (yuck), but you can get some great things there too. Organic coconut milk, bulk nuts, a decent selection of natural body care and personal care products, free range ground buffalo meat, buffalo "hot dogs", and a bunch more.

The other thing besides the parking that impressed me were the prices on their bulk organic nuts. I have been pricing them for our raw food diet at all the local natural food stores, and at online stores. Market Street definitely had the best prices I have seen so far. I am also liking the convienence of it being just down the street from us and no shipping.

All-in-all, a great place to shop if you don't want to drive the drive to your nearest Whole Foods, which for us is a bit of a ways away. You are not going to find all the things that a WF's carries at Market Street, but a good enough selection I think.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Raw Burst Experience - Day 18

2009-01-18T19:26:00.000-06:00

Today was a mexican food day! YUM! I LOVE mexican food.

DH decided to surprise me with homemade raw salsa this afternoon. Since, I slept till noon. :) Man I love weekends!

Then we decided to finish it off for dinner with a mexican salad.

Salsa:

4 vine ripe tomatoes (quartered)
1/3 of an onion (chopped)
3 cloves of garlic
1 hot red pepper (chopped)
cilantro to taste
salt to taste

Salad bed:

1 bunch of fresh kale

Mock Mexican Chicken Salad:

1/4 c sunflower seeds
1 c cashews chopped (optional: soaked for 1 - 2 hours)
1 cucumber; peeled and seeded, chunks
2 green onions chopped
1 c pecans or almonds chopped
1 celery stalk chopped
1 t crushed red pepper
1 t cumin powder
juice for 1/2 a lemon

variation: traditional (non-mexican)

leave out:

1t crushed red pepper
1t cumin

add:

1 t dill
1/4 t of curry powder

eat without a bed of greens or with (whichever you prefer), top with salsa if doing Mock Mexican Chicken Salad.

Enjoy!

Xiser is back on schedule now. Today I did two workout sessions. Feels good to be working out again.

I am really looking forward to getting my Excalibur on Tuesday! I can't wait to start "uncooking" with my D.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Raw Burst Experience - Days 9 - 17

2009-01-18T18:59:00.001-06:00

Well, this week has been VERY interesting.

We have been very busy since grad school started back up for me and then Joe is seeing A LOT of patients.

It's also been a rather difficult week, as we were not prepared for RAW ON THE GO! This is part of the reason why I am SO EXCITED to have my Excalibur on it's way. It should be here on Tuesday. YEA!

This will enable us to take dehydrated fruits, veggies, veggie chips, sprouted grains, nuts, & seeds crackers and breads, fruit leathers, and SO MUCH MORE. These are easy ON THE GO RAW snacks.

Well, needless to say, we were not very good at sticking to our raw diet. We did well, but it was certainly not strict.

I have to say though, it was great to see how I feel after eating meats and cooked foods after being raw for 2 weeks. I felt so tired, lethargic, generally icky. I craved all my addictions, sugar, gluten, dairy, etc.. I started having headaches and nausea.

We DID do a raw asian and sushi night. It was amazing. This was on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2009. DH woke up and was raring to go. He had, up to then, not made any of the raw meals. This was all his idea and doing.

We started the day with raw fried rice, and ended it with lettuce wraps and sushi rolls, each topped off with it's own special sauce.

UMMMMM! It was delicious.

Unfortunately, though, DH has been lazy and procrastinating on getting the recipes to me. I know many of you wives, know exactly what I mean. He did it all from his head and wrote NOTHING down. URG! He keeps saying he will get them to me, but it's been a week now and nothing yet.

I WILL get them eventually, and will post them as soon as I get them. I know many of you are very interested in these.

We didn't try any new raw recipes this week, but pretty much kept it simple with basic salads and mostly things we had already made before to finish up some of our veggies.

We already have some new recipes and meals lined up to try for this coming week. So we will have a lot of new, fun, and interesting meals to share with you.

As for our burst training, that too took a temporary break. I had been over doing it on the xiser, so I had to let me legs rest. I started back up two days ago, doing only two - three workouts every OTHER day.

I have lost a total of 10 lbs, since Jan. 1, 2009. YEA!

There is so much more to come. So, Stay tuned!

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Excalibur is On His Way!

2009-01-14T06:47:00.001-06:00

I ordered my Excalibur dehydrator yesterday! YEA!!!!

I must say, if you have ever wanted an Excalibur dehydrator NOW is the time to buy from the company website at http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/product.php. They have some awesome FREEBIES! till Jan. 31, 2009, with your purchase of a 5 or 9 tray dehydrator.

I got the 9 tray of course, I plan on doing A LOT of "uncooking"! Breads, crackers, chips, fruit leathers, trail mixes, etc., etc.. The list seems endless.

I am so excited. I think my first thing might have to be pizza crust. I want some RAW VEGAN pizza so very badly.

Well, anyways, I have to get to class now. I just HAD to post about getting my D. I will be posting like a mad woman this evening to get everyone caught up. Some of you already know that we did a raw vegan asian and sushi night. So, I will be sharing how that went and the recipes that my DH used.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Busy, Busy!

2009-01-14T06:40:00.000-06:00

Wow, well I started back to chiropractic school on monday, and, well, it just seems like my life was kicked up a notch as far as how busy I am. So, I haven't had the time to post and catch up on my past week's worth of meals and recipes. I will be doing that this evening, as class starts in 20 mins, right now.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Raw Burst Experience - Day 8

2009-01-08T21:28:00.000-06:00

Jan. 8, 2009 - Day 8

Another house cleaning day.

I actually did a fast for the first part of the day. So, I was up around 8am, no breakfast and I didn't have lunch till around 1 pm.

L: avocado sandwhich
1 avocado sliced
your choice of healthy sprouted grain, nut, and/or seed bread
Rawnch Dressing - recipe on Day 3's post
dash of salt
dash of crushed red peppers
1 tsp of hot pepper relish (homemade by a friend of ours, so I do not have the recipe)

It was very tasty.

We are house hunting right now and didn't get in till a bit later this evening. So, we are having a later dinner.

We had a bag of potatoes that needed to be eaten up. So, DH really wanted to make some homemade potatoe chips. He has been deep frying them in coconut oil for most of the evening.
I didn't want just potatoe chips for dinner so I was trying to think of something other than a salad that would help use up the Rawnch Dressing for the week. Remember, it only keeps for a week, it is raw food. I couldn't find anything that fit what I was thinking of online, so I developed my own recipe to make a falafel type patty out of nuts and seeds.

D: coconut oil fried potato chips.

Nut Patties - by Leigh Anne DuChene

Servings: 6 small patties
Prep time: 1 - 2 hours
Requires a dehydrator or oven. If using your oven, preheat to 200 degrees.

1 c cashews
1/3 c almonds
2 T sunflower seeds
1 T flax seeds
2 garlic cloves
1/2 yellow or white onion - chopped
1 t evoo
1 - 2 T water (only if you do not soak the nuts for 4 - 6 hours before hand)
2 pinches of salt
2 pinches of pepper
2 T fresh parsley - chopped

put all ingredients in the Total Blender and blend till it is a battery/doughy consistancy. Stir, if necessary, between pulses to mix ingredients well, and insure all the nuts and seeds are getting ground up. If you do not have a Total Blender, Vita Mix, or other high powered blender, blend nuts and seeds individually to a powder, then blend onion and garlic to a chunky paste. You can then hand mix them with the remaining ingredients in a bowl till they form a batter. Then, form into desired size patties and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or your dehydrator sheets. Put in oven for 45 mins - 1 hour or Dehydrate for 1 - 2 hours. Once they are firm you can remove them. Serve with the Rawnch Dressing drizzled ontop, or your favorate dressing/dip.

They were great. I ate mine per the recipe, DH decided he wanted to see what they would taste like fried in coconut oil. I have to say, I didn't much like it fried. I think they tasted pretty darn great per the recipe, even if that may seem a bit bias! :)

Today was my mandatory rest day from exercising, so no x-iser workout sessions today. I will be picking them up agian tomorrow, though.

If you try the Nut Patties recipe, please let me know what you think and any additions or subtractions you did that you felt made them taste better. Feel free to experiement. That is the beauty of this experience.

Enjoy the raw goodness.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Raw Burst Experience - Day 7

2009-01-08T19:46:00.001-06:00

Jan. 7, 2009 - Day 7

We were very leisurely today. We did a bit of shopping, some house cleaning, and that's about it.

I kicked breakfast up a notch today with a real smoothie. It was delicious.

B: chocolate vanilla coconut smoothie
1/2 c coconut milk
3 scoops of Amazing Grass Chocolate Green SuperFood
1 scoop of Designs For Health PaleoMeal (natural vanilla)
1 large handful of almonds
1 T sunflower seeds
1 T flax seeds
2 T maple syrup
1 c ice
1/2 c water

blend till a smoothie and enjoy. It was wonderful.

L: apples with almond butter again

D: well this was the first official meal that did not fall within our dietary plans, and that we did not already have at the house to be eaten up. We ordered an i Fratelli pizza, green onion. So, no meat, but it did have cheese, and wheat (we are attempting a gluten-free diet as much as possible as well). But it was great, as always, and we accepted our weakness, and have refocused to continue on our Raw diet.

You know this is the biggest thing, not to let the slip-ups ruin it all together. Don't get discouraged, acknowledge the weakness, accept the weakness, and then make plans to not let it happen again. I am also a firm believer in allowing yourself indulgences. It is all about moderation and self-control.

DH left the x-iser at home today (YEA!), so I did 2 workouts today. After the last workout, my legs where really hurting. DH said I needed to take a rest day to let my muscles heal and build.

So, tomorrow is a rest day. YEA!

Today was nice and leisurely. I really enjoyed it.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Dealing with Toddler Aggression

2009-01-07T17:56:00.000-06:00

Well, since the holidays are officially over now, I have noticed that my sweet little boy, 2 y/o, is being very aggressive and irritable. This is HIGHLY unusual for him.

There are several things that I think have factored into the reason for this.

First, is the fact that daddy had been promoting hitting with "play hitting". He would let JP gently hit him and then react to it in a dramatic fashion that JP would think is funny. This led JP to thinking that hitting is funny. Needless to say, this type of play has come to a quick halt.

Second, I think the fact that his daily routine and sleep patterns got thrown way out of whack with the holidays. Between traveling, being at new places, and staying up/out late with family, he was not getting the sleep he needed.

Third, he was around other toddler boys that are a year or two older than him that are a bit aggressive themselves. They are not way aggressive, but being around them every day during the holidays definitely taught him about hitting, throwing, and pushing.

Here are the steps we are taking to help redirect him to be more gentle.

First, no more "play hitting" at all.

Second, to really make sure he is not exposed to any aggressiveness from movies, books, and toys. He does not watch TV, at all. He has watched some movies with us before, but we have decided NO MORE. He can only watch Baby Einstein, Little Einsteins, or other fully nurturing show on DVD, but only once or twice a week, at MOST.

Third, is that I bought him a cloth baby doll and we are teaching him how to be loving and nurturing to the baby doll. With things like rocking the baby, patting the baby, playing gently with the baby, carrying baby in a sling, dressing baby, putting clothes on baby, putting baby to bed, taking baby to go potty or changing his cloth diaper, giving baby a "pretend bath", etc., etc. I am hoping that this will really help him learn how to be more gentle and nurturing as well as teach him how to take care of himself and help others.

This is the approach that my dad and step-mom took with my 3 y/o, half brother, and it worked really well with him. I think that it will work well with JP, given enough time.

Fourth, we are getting back to our daily and bedtime routine, so sleep will be adequate and regular.

I will let you all know how it all goes.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Raw Burst Experience - Day 6

2009-01-07T17:34:00.000-06:00

Jan. 6, 2009 - Day 6

Today was a great day! I spent the day at my sister-in-law's, because she wanted me to show her how to make the Rawnch Dressings/Dip!!!!

I had made it over the holidays and brought it to one of our dinners. She LOVED it! I left what I had brought with her, and then she ran out and decided she would like for me to show her how to make it and give her the recipe. It was such a cool day. She is not a raw foodist or vegan, but was TOTALLY impressed with how it tasted. It tastes so much better than ANY store bought brand of ranch dressing, or even any homemade dairy based ranch that I have made in the past.

So, it was so much fun.

Breakfast was quick again, like yesterday, since I had to be at my SIL's by 9am. We planned a day around letting the cashews soak. :) Girls movie day! Oh, and JP enjoyed playing with his cousin's toys while his cousin was at school and terrorizing their dog, Tyson.

B: Amazing Grass Chocolate Green Super Food shake. Mixed as directed on the jar with water.and a Designs For Health PaleoMeal (Natural Vanilla Flavor) shake, again, mixed as directedon jar with water.

L: was of course our homemade rawnch dressing with carrots and a small organic field greens salad.

Then we wrapped things up and I headed home, while she went to pick up her step-son from school.

I didn't eat dinner last night as I was not hungry at all. I did, however, get to go to a LLL (La Leche League) meeting for the first time in almost 6 months. I haven't been able to go much at all since I started back to school back in May of 2008.

I only got one burst training workout in yesterday as well, as DH took it to work with him again.

That wraps up day 6.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Raw Burst Experience - Day 5

2009-01-07T17:22:00.000-06:00

Jan. 5, 2009 - Day 5

Today was an interesting day as I had little to no appitite. No sleeping in today, back to the morning grind!

Breakfast was very basic and quick as I had to travel in the icy weather to a friend's house.

B: Amazing Grass Chocolate Green Super Food shake. Mixed as directed on the jar with water.and a Designs For Health PaleoMeal (Natural Vanilla Flavor) shake, again, mixed as directedon jar with water.

Today was interesting because I did not have much of an appetite all day long.

L: was 1 apple sliced into wedges with raw almond butter, that my son pretty much took away from me. :)

Dinner was very simple as well, we had the Raw Butternut Squash soup again, this time I added about 1 T of Designs For Health probiotics powder to the mix, which then required a bit more water, about 1 - 1 1/2 cups or more of water in addition to the original recipe. The probiotics really thicken it up.

In addition to the soup, my DH prepared a delicious avocado salad.

servings: 1

2 avocadoes cubed
1 garlic clove minced
1 hot red pepper chopped
1/4 of a cucumber thinly sliced
a few cilantro leafs chopped up
juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper
organic evoo (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

I think that was everything he tossed in. It was delicious. Unfortunately I still didn't have much of an appitite so I didn't eat much of either one; the soup or salad.

I only got to do one workout of burst training today, as I was gone most of the day, and hubby took the x-iser to the office today anyways.

Well, I think that was about it for our experience today.

OH, we have pictures of our dishes that I will be loading on here, I just have to find the USB cord to our camera. ;)

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Raw Burst Experience - Day 4

2009-01-05T00:25:00.000-06:00

Today was a very fun day.

As usual we slept-in, as this is our last day to do so.

Again, no breakfast because we woke up around 11 am.

For lunch we went to Cosmic Cafe, a vegetarian restaurant, on Oak Lawn in Dallas. The food was delicious.

Hummus and Nan (not vegan I know)

Tomato Soup (This was AWESOME!)

Taco Trinity - three corn tortillas with squash, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers
served with black beans, rice, and a small salad with vinaigrette dressing.

We then drove around Dallas site seeing in the Uptown and Turtle Creek areas till we made our way over to Whole Foods.

We got a few things we needed. Though, we went with the intent of buying a lot of things that we needed, but quickly discovered that we could get most things cheaper by purchasing them online. Which is what we are doing for our nuts, seeds, oils, and spices.

I made a delicious dinner that was inspired by a recipe found on www.goneraw.com

Warming Butternut Squash SoupSubmitted by daniefon on December 7, 2008 - 3:36pm

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

2 cups of boiling water
1 cup peeled, cubed butternut squash
1 peeled orange
2 Tbsp coconut flakes or chips
2 Tbsp almonds (or other nut of preference)
2 tsp miso, if you aren't a miso fan, add additional salt at the end
2 tsp maple syrup (or other sweetener of preference)
2 pinches of ginger
1 pinch of cinnamon
1 pinch of cayenne
salt to taste

Preparation:

Boil about 2 cups of water in tea kettle.

Meanwhile, peel butternut squash, cut open, remove seeds and pulp, cut into cubes. You will only be using 1 cup of squash, so if you have extra put in a storage container for additional soup later or future use in another recipe.

Put everything in blender with 1 1/2 cups of hot water. Blend until it is perfectly smooth. Add more water to create the desired consistency, I prefer the consistency of a thick cream soup.

Taste and adjust seasonings accordingly.

Garnishings:
This soup can be embellished in many ways. You could add cilantro, onions, or cashew cream, be creative.

We all, even my 2 year old, really enjoyed this soup!

For exercising, I, again, got 2 lower body workouts in.

The great news is that I have lost 3 lbs. in 3 days so far. I had already lost 3 pounds a few days prior to starting this program. So, from my starting weight to my goal weight I have lost a total of 6 lbs. (YEA!) We are doing great!

Hope you all are enjoying the recipes and the experience with us.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Raw Burst Experience - Day 3

2009-01-04T23:59:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, Jan 3rd. was day 3 of our Raw Burst Experience.

We did really well, though, another late starting day.

Again, no breakfast, slept-in till 11:30 (man I love vacations!!!!)

L: We had lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (a vegetarien, vegan, and raw food friendly restaurant in Irving, TX)

We both had a large plate of mixed field green salad with seeds and raisins. Topped off with a citrus vinegarette dressing.

We also enjoyed a bowl of vegetarian chili (it was yummy).

D: Avocado Ranch Salad

Rawnch Dressing: (my recipe after trial and error from other recipes that I didn't like as much, so did some tweeking)

soak: 2hrs
prep: 5 mins
chill: 1 hr (optional, but it does taste much better chilled)

ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cashew - soak for 2 hrs - drain
1 cup filtered water
3 Tbsp lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
1/3 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar (preferably raw and unfiltered, we use Bragg's)
1/3 cup organic (raw, unfiltered is best) extra virgin olive oil (We prefer Bariani's)
2 Tbsp maple syrup (or other natural sweetener like agave, raw honey, or dates)
2 large cloves of garlic (or 3 small cloves)
1 tsp garlic powder
3 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dill
1 Tbsp sea salt or himalayan salt
1/2 tsp basil

when finished add the last two ingredients:
1/4 cup minced parsley
1/2 tsp of additional dill (optional) (if you like it a bit more tangy than add this)

blend all but last two ingredients. Stir in last two ingredients. Pour in a storage container. Makes about 3 cups of dressing.

Will keep for about 1 week in refridgerator.

Dressing will thicken in the refridgerator to more of a dip, add water to thin to desired dressing consistancy if it thickens too much for your preference.

Avocodo Salad:

4 red leaf lettuce leaves
1/4 bunch of spinach
2 green onions (chopped)
1 hot red pepper (chopped) (remove seeds if desire a milder salad)
1 serrano pepper (chopped) (remove seeds if desire a milder salad)
2 avocados cubed (one for each person/bowl)

topped with broccoli sprouts as desired

drizzle 2 - 3 tsp of dressing ontop of salad, mix well.

Makes 2 salads.

Well, I didn't do my burst workouts as frequently as I intended to. But I did get in two lower body workouts.

For supplements we added taking 1 T of ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar) and 1 T of coconut oil 10 - 30 mins before we eat our meals. This is something that we are going to continue to do throughout our experience. The benefits of the ACV is that it helps aid in protien digestion, has alkalizing minerals, and most importantly is that it helps make our bodies insulin sensitive. That means that we will more efficiently burn energy (calories and sugar), basically the oposite of diabetes, which is insulin resistance. It will also help us build muscle and burn fat. The benefits of the coconut oil is that it will increase our basal metabolism, meaning we will burn more fat and energy, and it will help kill any yeast that is proliferating in our bodies. It also will decrease your appetite as it the fat will make you feel fuller quicker and longer.

I was feeling really good yesterday. Well rested and well nourished. Though we are still working on getting to bed at a decent hour. We have been staying up late and sleeping in, but that will be changing this week as I go back to school next week and Dr. Joe has patients this week. Vacation is almost over!!! :(

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Raw Burst Experience - Day 2

2009-01-03T00:38:00.000-06:00

Well, we had another slow going day, though not as rough.

We did some re-organization on how we are starting our program. Information is in my previous post, but basically my husband pointed out that we had a bit of animal products that we really cannot afford to waste, shouldn't waste, and don't want to waste. So, we decided to slowly, over the next few weeks, finish off the animal products we have and by then we will be 100% vegan. This way we don't have to try to finish off all the animal products in a day or so (YUCK! AND SUPER UNHEALTHY!).

So, today was a mix of our old diet and new vegan/raw diet.

We slept-in again, till almost noon again. So, lunch was our first meal of the day again.

Brunch:
bacon
scrambled eggs with onion, peppers, and garlic
toast with butter
lots of water

Dinner:
Lentil Taco Salad

lentils with homemade taco seasoning

taco seasoning:
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cayene pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 cup lentils (rinsed)3 cups of filtered or spring water

bring lentils to boil, reduce heat, add taco seasoning, simmer for 45 minutes. Stir occassionaly and add water if needed. Add additional salt to taste if desired. It is best to start off with minimal salt and add it to taste once lentils are done.

The salad is really any greens that you like for a salad base, but here is what we used:

4 leafs of red leaf lettuce
1/4 of a bunch of spinach
1/4 of a large yellow onion (chopped)
1 hot red pepper with seeds (chopped)
1 - 2 Tbsp of sweet hot pepper relish (this was homemade by a friend of ours, so I do not have the recipe)

top the salad with taco lentils and sprinkle some corn tortilla chips or other vegan chips ontop.

optional (non-vegan):
add shredded cheese

toss and enjoy.

Prep time: 1 hr
serves: 2 - 4

Dessert:

Carob Fudge (leftover from our family's Christmas this past Sunday.)

Recipe is from Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon

For our burst training exercise ,I did 4 workouts today (yeah!)

workout 1: lower body on the x-iser
workout 2: lower body on the x-iser
workout 3: upper body on the x-iser (this was my very first, ever, upper body workout on the x-iser)
workout 4: lower body on the x-iser

My husband did a few more workouts than I did, and did a lot more upper body workouts too.

He has been using the x-iser a lot longer than I have so he does a more difficult workout.

I didn't get the opportunity to blog about burst training today, so I will hopefully, be able to do that tomorrow. It is important for you to understand what it is I am talking about when I reference burst training or our burst workouts.

We did a lot of house work today, and will be continuing house work for the next few days, so we drank lots of water today.

For supplements, we took our usual:

Body Balance
Innate Choice Omega Sufficiency
Designs For Health Probiotics
Cell Food

Additional supplements:

I am finishing a regimen for thyroid support with Standard Process supplements.

All of the supplements we take are available through out practice. For information on our practice visit www.DuCheneNaturalHealth.com.

Well, I guess that is it for today. I am a bit tired and am going to hit the sack!

Peace and Blessing,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Rethinking Things!

2009-01-02T23:24:00.000-06:00

Well, our original intent was to go full-on vegan. However, my husband pointed out that we have bit of animal products; meat, homemade soup stocks, eggs, bread, butter, and other things, that we really cannot afford to waste. And, honestly, we are not ones to waste food, ever. I was raised to never waste food, and so was my husband.

So, we have decided to slowly, over the next week or two, finish up the animal products we have. This way we are not eating it all in a day or two (YUCK, YUCK!) and can have just a few things in our meals for the week that are not vegan. It will also be an easier transition on our digestive system.

Anyways, by the end of the next week or two we will be 100% vegan, primarily raw, for the next 3 months (end of March 2009).

So, while some of these recipes that I post during the first couple of weeks will have some animal products in them, it won't be much, and they will soon fade out completely.

Hope you still find the recipes and experience useful.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Raw Burst Experience - Day 1

2009-01-01T20:15:00.000-06:00

Day one was kinda rough, and slow going.

We slept in so didn't really eat breakfast. Instead, we had breakfast for lunch around 12pm, we had banana nut bread (not vegan, but like I said it was a bit rough getting started; with the what can we eat or do we want for breakfast within a vegan diet syndrome). Since we had not done our meal plans yet, we settled for the banana nut bread and are now starting our meal planning.
We went grocery shopping and picked up some more veggies and fruit, and other household supplies.

Dinner was much easier as we had things to choose from. We chose to make it simple tonight and did a raw greens smoothie.

Chocolate Raw Green Superfood Smoothieby: Leigh Anne DuChene

8 - 10 oz of filtered or spring water
1/3 of a bunch of spinach
1/3 of a bunch of collard greens
1 small pineapple (sliced and cored)
1 banana
3 scoops of Amazing Grass Chocolate Green Superfood
3 heaping Tbsp of coconut oil
2 Tbsp of maple syrup
1 -2 cups of ice

blend water, spinach, and greens, add pineapple and banana and blend, add AG Green Superfood, coconut oil, maple syrup, and ice and blend well.

servings: 3 - 4
prep time: 5 mins

This was a very tasty, filling, quick, and easy dinner.

For our exercise we did one session of burst training on our X-iser. I plan to explain more about burst training tomorrow.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Raw Burst - Our 2009 New Years Resolution

2009-01-01T13:36:00.000-06:00

We have decided to commit to a dietary and lifestyle change for 2009 that includes a 100% vegan, primarily raw (at least 90% raw, if not 100%), diet for 3 months (till the end of March 2009), and daily burst training with our X-iser.

Our goals are to get healthy and lose weight by cleaning up our moderately unhealthy diet and doing burst training daily. We pretty much stick to a holistic whole food diet, which up till today did include animal products primarily of organic, free-range, antibiotic free, hormone free, vaccine free, animals for meats, eggs, and raw dairy.

We decided that we have too easily fallen off the healthy path of nutrition to succumbing to the temptations of the junk foods, drinks, animal products. This has drastically affected our health over the past 2 years, and now we are wanting to TTC #2.

So, here we go with 3 months of raw vegan-ism, oh and gluten free. We have dabbled in raw vegan-ism for about 2 years now, but never committed to a steady diet of it. We plan to continue this diet beyond 3 months, but needed a decent challenge, but also a manageable goal. So, we agree on 3 months to begin our ultimate goal of a year of raw.

Along with this dietary lifestyle change we also will be committing to daily burst training on our X-iser. We have been using the X-iser for about 3 months now, but not consistently on my part. So, we have both committed to daily burst training.

To learn more about the X-iser go to http://www.xiser.com/, use affiliate code: DNHC (must be in all caps) to receive a discount on your X-iser!

I will be posting our daily meal plans, recipes or source of recipe, supplements we take, and any detox or cleanse that we do, our daily exercise routine, and any health and weight changes that we experience.

My goal is to lose 50 lbs. and my husband's goal is to lose 40 lbs, this is not limited to the 3 month time frame, as that would be an unhealthy goal. We simply are sticking to our dietary and exercise plan indefinitely till our goals are reached, and then will continue indefinitely to maintain our achieved weight and health.

So, stay tuned to hear more about our Raw Burst experience!

Happy New Year 2009!

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

http://www.duchenenaturalhealth.com/

http://www.soul-birth.com/

http://www.dfwholisticparenting.com/

http://www.holisticfamilyheritage.com/

Wow, It's Been Awhile!

2009-01-01T13:02:00.000-06:00

Well, it seems that school, family, business, and holidays really put a halt to my intentions of posting through the holidays.

We had a descent holiday session, we really enjoyed spending time with family. My father-in-law was down from Michigan for 2 weeks visiting throughout the Christmas and New Year holidays. He actually left today to go back to Michigan.

I am also a first-time auntie as of December 23, 2008. My sister had her son and I could not be a prouder auntie. He is so adorable. I think what really did it for me was the fact that my sister asked me for advice and help with breastfeeding. It was an honor to be able to be there and assist her with breastfeeding. Mama and baby are doing great, nursing is coming along well.

Well, we have some exciting Holistic New Year events coming up with our family and our businesses. So, stay tuned.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne

The End of Night

2008-11-10T17:30:00.000-06:00

I was listening to Think on KERA/Dallas NPR today at noon and they were interviewing Pete Strasser, Senior Technical Advisor, of the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA). The interview was about light pollution; its effects on the environment and us, and how to reduce it. This is the cover story of the November National Geographic issue called "The End of Night". It shows a picture of Chicago and all the unnecessary light that is emitted from the city from poor light planning and shielding. This causes an increase in energy consumption to power these lights and a lot of waste as the light is not direct to its purpose, street illumination, but instead is allowed to randomly shine anywhich direction, even up into the sky to do what?, light to bottoms of airplanes?

The organization, IDA, advocates proper lighting plans and shielding with its primary focus on street, billboards, and residential lighting to be properly controlled/shielded.

www.darksky.org

www.nationalgeographic.com

There should be a podcast feed up on the KERA website soon, here is the link to the program page so that those of you interested can track it so that when it is available you can listen to it.

http://www.kera.org/think/

I highly recommed listening to it, it was very very informative and interesting.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne

Infant Massage and Baby BEST

2008-11-02T15:16:00.000-06:00

Infant Massage and Baby B.E.S.T.

Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008

1:00 PM - 3:00 PM(ish) (depends on # of participants and time needed to learn the techniques)

Infiniti Health & DuChene Natural Health Center5401 W. Lovers LaneDallas, TX 75209

$50/participant

Participants need to bring their baby or toddler , blanket, towel, and lotion or oil (if require a special kind). I will have yoga mats, coconut oil, almond oil, and California Baby’s SuperSensitive Lotion, no fragrance, available for use.

The class is designed to teach parents, grandparents, caregivers, and others who are interested, how to affectively give their child a massage. There are many benefits of massage for infants and children. Some of those benefits include helping with sleep, colic, torticollis, constipation, fussiness, teething, and much more.Baby B.E.S.T., Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique, is an amazing bodywork techinque that balances the body’s energy and nervous system. Benefits of this technique are the same as massage, but the effects last a lot longer and ensure that the body is able to function, heal, and develop properly.

It costs thousands of dollars to learn and be certified in BEST, literally, and we teach it in our infant massage class, along with traditional massage, for only $50 per participant.

This is a great opportunity. If you would like to register for the class please contact me at LDuChene@Soul-Birth.com or 254-214-4645.

For more information on infant massage benefits please visit our site at www.soul-birth.com/infantmassage.aspx

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne
http://www.soul-birth.com/

Emotional Freedom Technique

2008-10-20T23:52:00.000-05:00

Our practice, DuChene Natural Health Center, is involved with the Peace Projectin Dallas.
http://www.peaceprojectfoundation.org/

We are having a FREE EFT class this Saturday the 25th. This will be atInfiniti Health at the corner of Inwood and Lovers Lane. Please RSVP ifyou can, and bring a chair. we are only set up with yoga mats rightnow. The event will start at 10 AM and go to about 2 PM with an hour lunch.

Go to http://www.emofree.com/ and watch the video; it will tell you about EFT.

Remember this is FREE for EVERYONE. Some people charge hundreds ofdollars for what we will be teaching you. So you might not want to miss this opportunity.

Dr. Joseph DuChene, Jr., D.C.
http://www.duchenenaturalhealth.com/
drjoe@duchenenaturalhealth.com

This is an amazing opportunity, and EFT is a great emotional healing technique for any issue. I have been using EFT in my practice for birth preparation, postpartum recovery, post cesarean healing, breastfeeding preparation and counseling, and parent coaching. I have see amazing results.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne DuChene

Meet the Holistic Family!

2008-10-18T19:20:00.000-05:00

We are the DuChene's, aka The Holistic Family. I am Leigh Anne, Holistic Mama, and my husband is Dr. Joe, Dr. Daddy, our son is JP, born 12/11/06, and we have #2 on the way, due 11/13/09.

We do a lot with holistic living and parenting. Dr. Joe is a holistic and natural chiropractor in Dallas, TX and I am a holistic and natural fertility, maternity, childbirth, pediatric, and parenting specialist. Our practice is DuChene Natural Health Center, www.DuCheneNaturalHealth.com.

I am the founder and president of Holistic Family Heritage, www.HolisticFamilyHeritage.com, a company that provides consious parenting classes, parenting educator trainings, parent coaching trainings, and holistic families community leader trainings.

I am also the founder and leader of DFW Holistic Families, www.DFWHolisticParenting.com, the first holistic families community associated with Holistic Family Heritage. I started DFW Holistic Families, formerly called DFW Holistic Parenting, to begin a local community of families and practitioners that live or strive to learn and live a holistic and conscious lifestyle and parenting style. With nearly 300 members after 2 years we are flourishing and thriving well.

Well, that is just a bit about us to begin with. You will get to know us and our philosophies well as this blog continues.

Peace and Blessings,

Leigh Anne ~ Holistic Mama