One of the most frequent email requests I receive is how and what to feed children as snacks.
One thing is for sure, the selection of snacks that pass muster even at the health food store is slim! Rancid vegetable oils like canola or soy along with other unhealthy additives such as vital wheat gluten are frequently used even if most of the ingredients are organic.
I re-read the ingredients on a bag of “natural” ginger snaps at the store recently that I had purchased in the past only to discover with dismay that the ingredients had changed and now contained soy flour!
“Another one bites the dust!” I thought to myself. Yet another snack added to my no-buy list!
In this video, I show you some of the favorite snacks I make in my own home. Limiting grains to a moderate level as practiced by Traditional Cultures is a good goal to strive for when making snacks – overeating of grains even if homemade and carefully prepared to eliminate anti-nutrients can bring on weight issues in a hurry and encourage lack of variety in your family’s diet.
Never heard of “properly preparing” grains before? Check out the linked article to find out how.
This video was filmed for the Weston A. Price Foundation as part of the 12-part Beginner Series to Traditional Cooking I’ve been working on over the past few months. I still have 3 more to post, so stay tuned for more to come!
For a full transcript of this video in any language, click here.
I am curious about the carob too. 🙂
This is off topic but you look awesome, Sarah!
Thanks Ranjani. I actually wear makeup for these shoots which I don’t normally wear. 🙂
Don’t sell yourself short Sarah! You do look fantastic, and it’s not the makeup, it is a testament to your healthy traditional lifestyle!! 🙂
You are very kind. I appreciate the compliment. 🙂
Even so… I can still tell that your skin and hair look great. Kudos to your lifestyle and wise choices! Some of us still working on it 😉
I’m wondering about vital wheat gluten too…it’s the only thing I’ve found that makes my sprouted wheat bread turn out.
Sprouting the grain to make your bread breaks the gluten down but then adding it back in cancels out much of the benefit of sprouting to begin with.
Try sourdough bread instead as sprouted bread is indeed difficult to get to turn out.
Sarah – is the sourdough bread that you purchase made with soaked or sprouted grain, does it need to be?
Sourdough bread doesn’t need to be made with sprouted flour although it’s fine if it is. The sour leavening process breaks down the gluten and other anti-nutrients.
You mentioned vital wheat gluten as a bad thing. I use wheat gluten in my bread recipe. Is all wheat gluten bad, and why?
Wheat gluten is a plant protein which is extremely difficult to digest .. when you prepare breads traditionally, gluten is broken down to ease digestion and absorption so adding it back in defeats the purpose of the whole exercise.
Hi Sarah, thanks for the wonderful ideas! One question about the popcorn, even you seek out organtic kernels, is there any way to ensure they are not from GMO corn? I have read that with the high farming of this type of corn, and cross pollination, pretty much all corn is GMO nowadays.
No, I don’t think all corn is GMO yet. But this could be the case in the future. We still eat organic corn for now 🙂
Organic is supposed to mean GMO-free. So that is your best bet. I don’t think there is a way to avoid cross pollination altogether…
GMO organic corn is meant for the seed it is started with, not the end result. It would be impossible to stop cross pollination unless you grew the corn in a hot house (like those yummy tomotatoes you see in the store (yes, dripping with sarcasm)) which would be a scary thought.
Sarah,
In your trail mix video why do you recommend carob chips over chocolate chips and is there a particluar brand you prefer? Thanks again for your great tips. Your website has been incredibly helpful for me in preparing nourishing traditions style food with ease!
Hi Tracey, I do prefer carob chips to chocolate chips as carob has no caffeine in it which I do not recommend for children except on the very rare occasion.
We use Sunspire Carob Chips and they have no added sugar unlike chocolate chips and contain palm oil as the fat which is great. They do contain whey powder which I do not like but it is small amounts.
I wanted to suggest the Enjoy Life brand of chips. I like their mini chips which taste very good and have only 3 ingredients!! They do have evaporated cane juice in them, though. They are gluten and dairy free.
Just wondering about kombuha. Do you use a caffeine free tea for your family?
No you must caffeinated tea to make proper kombucha. The caffeine as well as nearly all the sugar is used up during fermentation.
Thanks! I just use black tea and I’m glad to know the caffeine is used up in fermentation.
Some folks may have missed Tuesday’s important post (if, like mine, it came in the email underneath Wednesday’s post). It has a short, poignant video message from Michael Schmidt, the Ontario dairy farmer who is in the third week of a hunger strike on behalf of real milk and food freedom.
Be sure to see it and act now to urge Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to meet with him, thereby ending the hunger strike.
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/activist-michael-schmidts-video-message-to-supporters/
Hi Raquel, you simply dry the nuts until they are dry. This takes about 18-24 hours. Quicker if you take out the pan and turn the nuts frequently. make sure the oven is no hotter than 150F
Do you take fermented cod liver oil? I find my skin splits less easily when I take this.
Also, too much sugar in the diet in the form of either grains or sweets can cause the skin to split easily.
Yes I do take fermented cod liver oil. My skin isn’t dry its just my lips. I have cut down on my grains and don’t eat very much sugar. I also drink lots of water.
Do you lick your lips a lot? I find my kids get chapped lips in a hurry when they do this absentmindedly.
http://www.blossomsbarn.com makes a totally natural lip balm. Check it out! Works great for those winter chaps and especially for kids who get those red clown lips from licking them in the cold weather. Yummy flavors, too. There are no artificial ingredients and great oils to boot.
My husband had chronic extremely chapped lips (exfoliative cheilitis) for over 10+ years. We tried everything and nothing worked. They would crack, become crusty and peel every few days. After tons of research we finally realized he was suffering from candida. (Growing up his dad was a doctor who would give him antibiotics for every little thing, even the common cold, so it’s no wonder he had candida). He had many other signs of candida. So he went on the GAPS diet for about eight months including biokult probiotics and codliver oil and took some anti-candida supplements such as grape seed extract and oil of oregano. His lips are 100% completely healed now. We couldn’t be happier!
Awesome can’t wait to try some of these snacks! How long do you dry out the nuts in the oven for?
Another question off topic, my lips are extremely dry, cracking and now bleeding! I’ve tried soooo many lip chaps and they make it worse. I though I ate lots of healthy fat but maybe I need more? I eat about half a can of full fat coconut milk in a shake, a whole avocado, 1 tsp FCLO and some kind of meat about 2 -3 times a day and also EVOO. I can’t have butter for now but I will be trying ghee soon. Should I eat more? I read that too much vitamin A can cause dryness but my skin isn’t dry. What do you suggest? Thanks in advance.
I just wanted to comment about your dry lips, Raquel. I find that my lips are extremely dry and cracked when I am not consuming enough bone broth. I find that when I go back to a strict GAPS diet and consume a lot of bone broth then my dry lips are healed.
I have found two things helpful – much more water and fixing my digsestive system. Cracked lips can be a sign of digestive diseases like Crohn’s. I didn’t have that, but I have also had a ton of chapped lips Try taking digestive enzymes, probiotics, and making your own fermented foods. Look into SCD and GAPS diets. They sound crazy, but they can help. And count how much water one drinks by the cup, per day. I found out mine was only three! Yikes! You could also look into food testing, to find hidden, non-common allergens. Good luck..
Video: Healthy Snacks! – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/Jud07mwN