Carter's Corner

Life's Abundance Plant Protein Is Featured In New Beauty Magazine

I am so excited to share that New Beauty Magazine has selected Life's Abundance Plant Protein for inclusion in its Winter issue. On newsstands now, the magazine covers helpful information on skin care, fitness, celebrity news and healthy eating.

Carter and I drink a vanilla plant protein shake every morning mixed with fruit and we absolutely love it. As soon as he sees me grab the blender he gets very excited and will drink his entire cup without putting it down. As a Mom I love that I know exactly what I am feeding my little guy and that I am starting his day off on the right foot.

Beauty magazine

Life's Abundance Plant Protein

  • Non-GMO
  • Vegan
  • Gluten Free
  • Soy Free
  • Dairy Free
  • Grain free
  • No Added Sugar
  • No Artificial Flavors
  • No Artificial Preservatives
  • No Artificial Colors


Our 100% grain-free, plant-based protein powder is a nutrient-rich blend of clean, high-quality proteins including pea, chia, pumpkin, hemp and quinoa.

At only 100 calories, it contains 14 grams of high-quality protein in every serving. For comparison, one-half of a boneless chicken breast, cooked is about 13 grams of protein and 115 calories.

Life’s Abundance Plant Protein is absolutely delicious and you can feel great about drinking it every day, because each and every ingredient was carefully chosen for its quality and safety.

While other protein powders use sunflower oil, we decided not to use this oil because it is high in omega-6 fatty acids, a fat that is much too prevalent in the American diet. Our Life’s Abundance Plant Protein contains non-GMO coconut oil powder, which is a great source of beneficial fatty acids that are easily absorbed. In addition, this health-promoting oil adds to the delicious taste and smooth texture of our blend.

Life’s Abundance Plant Protein is ideal for pre or post workouts, breakfast or whenever you need a healthy boost of energy from protein or a quick on-the-go snack.

With a superior taste and texture, it mixes easily with water into a silky smooth, rich and satisfying shake. Add to smoothies, pancakes, baked goods, oatmeal and more for a delicious way to increase protein.

Life's Abundance www.HealthForYouAndPets.com



Dirty Dogs Might Be Just What The Doctor Ordered

I remember coming home from the hospital with Carter and laying him on the floor to introduce him to Bella. It wasn't until right then that my husband said, "how do we know if he's allergic to her?" I immediately panicked! How could we not have thought about this before bringing him home and having them interact for the very first time?

Luckily I was a nurse for a pediatrician at the time so I text her and she gave me reassurance. She said that it was actually a good thing to introduce Carter to Bella right away and that he’s a lot tougher than I give him credit for at just 2 days old. She told me that early introduction is actually good for his immune system.

My husband has asthma and bad allergies. He is actually allergic to Bella and reacts to most dogs which is why we were so quick to panic. When he was a young child he actually spent some time in the hospital in a “bubble” due to a flare up from an encounter with a cat.

Below is an article from PetLady that explains why having a dog in the house can actually be a good thing for a baby. Even at 7 months old when Bella passes by Carter he gets a huge smile on his face and giggles with their interactions. He attempts to pet her, chases her around the house in his walker, and he loves to be by her at all times.

Carter and Bella www.HealthForYouAndPets.com

Dirty Dogs Might Be Just What The Doctor Ordered

Who would have thought that the same dog that rolls in the mud, sniffs his or her fellow dog’s behinds, attracts fleas from time to time, and then gives you a big sloppy kiss — actually could be good for your health? But according to epidemiological studies, there is evidence that children who grow up in households with dogs have a lower risk for developing autoimmune illnesses, such as asthma and allergies, than those who don't.

Hygiene Hypothesis

According to research on this issue, there are hygienists who promote the ‘hygiene hypothesis,’ which believes that indoor living can do us more harm than good. This theory states that spending over 90 percent of our time in our bacteria-poor environment indoors — as as we do (especially early in life, when our immune systems are being formed) — can cause our bodies to overreact to harmless substances later on, making us more prone to air-borne illnesses.

“Allergies and asthma are both examples of the way that the immune system is misfiring,” said Jordan Peccia, a professor of environmental engineering at Yale University. “An allergy is our immune system attacking something that it shouldn’t attack, because it hasn’t been calibrated properly.”

Dogs counters Hygiene Hypothesis

Peccia states that exposure to animal micro-organisms during the first three months of life helps to stimulate a child’s immune system so that it doesn’t become overly sensitive as they grow.

A study published last year in The New England Journal of Medicine found that Amish children in Indiana who grew up in proximity to barnyard animals had far lower rates of asthma than Hutterite children, who were raised apart from animals, on large mechanized farms in North Dakota.

When we are deprived of contact with these ancestral bacterial allies, our immune systems sometimes lose the ability to distinguish between friend and foe. The solution: “If we can’t bring our kids to the farm, maybe we can bring the farm to kids,” said Dr. Gilbert, the director of the Microbiome Center at the University of Chicago who believes that cohabitation with all kinds of animals is the solution. He believes it's the next best thing to living next door to a farm for training a growing immune system.

Research has shown that dog ownership raised the levels of 56 different classes of bacterial species in the indoor environment which in most instances are good for us. While a few microbes are less than advantageous, the potential upsides of dog ownership appears to outweigh the risks, according to these studies.

Love Hormone

Netzin Steklis is a biologist at the University of Arizona who is working on a study addressing the elderly. Her research is discovering how living with dogs changes seniors’ skin and gut microbiomes, and as a result — how dogs can lift our mood.

“It is not just an oxytocin story anymore,” she said, referring to the brain chemical often called the ‘hormone of love.’ She suspects that the physiological effect of this type of bacteria in our guts may contribute to the well-known anti-depressive benefit of dog ownership.

Health For You And Pets www.HealthForYouAndPets.com


Does Your Diet Fall Short In The Greens Department?

Becoming a Mom has really changed the way I look at life and everything in it. I want to be a positive role model for my son and lead a healthy active lifestyle. Like many busy Moms my diet definitely fell short in a lot of categories, greens being one of them.

I am an extremely picky eater and prior to pregnancy my diet consistently of mainly carbs. Throughout pregnancy and nursing I have really tried to branch out and start adding some color to my diet, which isn't as scary as I once believed that it would be. Since smoothies and shakes are so fast, easy, and convenient I thought why not try adding a scoop of the Greens Blend.

Depending on the day and the amount of time I have in the mornings, I will either add a scoop of the Greens Blend to my morning smoothie or have it later in the day mixed with ice cold water. Either way the smooth delicious berry flavor is a fast and easy way to get the nutrients that my body needs to get me through the day.

Greens Blend from Life's Abundance is:

  • Non GMO
  • Vegan
  • Gluten free
  • Soy free
  • Dairy free
  • Naturally flavored
  • No added sugar
  • No artificial flavors
  • No artificial colors
  • No artificial preservatives


Our Greens Blend nourishes your body with a blend of raw, certified-organic grasses plus certified, organic mushrooms.

Our organic raw greens are grown in glacial soil and cut at peak harvest before the jointing stage, so you're getting the best quality greens. Because they are raw, they retain more nutrients than cooked greens.

To boost this formula’s nutrient value, we added a certified organic blend of reishi, maitake, and shitake mushrooms to provide a vegetarian source of iron and B vitamins, and also a great source of phytonutrients and antioxidants. 

Life’s Abundance Greens Blend has a delicious-yet-subtle berry flavor and silky smooth texture. It mixes easily with water or into your favorite smoothie. It is one of the best tasting GMO-free greens blends on the market and leaves no "grassy" aftertaste.

At only 25 calories per serving, this nutrient dense supplement is a simple way to help you consume the recommended 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily.

Adding a scoop to a shake or simply mixing with ice cold water, you can't go wrong giving your body the nutrients it craves.

 

How to Drink Your Greens

Many people assume a green juice is for other people. They claim they don’t like veggies. They fear the poison-colored concoction will taste even worse than it looks. They think die-hard green juicers seem nutritionally elitist and willing to compromise their taste buds in the name of super fuel.

While there is definitely a spectrum of green -- from beginner to advanced -- there is a place for you somewhere along the line. I promise. And I’m encouraging you to join the party, because nothing bad happens when people add more whole green foods to their diet. Nothing. Zilch.

There are a few ways to go about getting more greens into your diet, and I promise they’re way easier than you think. Best part? You don’t even need a fork. You only need a straw.

Here are three ways to drink your greens …

1) Hop on the green juice train. If you want to make your own juice, you’ll need a juicer but not necessarily the fanciest one on the market. Juicing is a process that extracts the liquid from whatever you put in it, and it leaves all the pulp out of your cup. The pulp is full of beneficial fiber, but if pulp isn’t your thing, you still get plenty of vitamins and minerals from drinking just the juice. Not into cooked broccoli, kale, collards or spinach? You may like them better in a raw juice. Sometimes the flavors are milder when raw and combined with other ingredients.

Immediately after the juice is made, it starts losing its nutritional powers, so you’ll want to grab a straw STAT. Green juice is sensitive to time (how long from when it was made until it is consumed), temperature (heat can diminish some of the vitamin potency) and storage (air and clear glass containers can also make the juice less potent). But even not-so-fresh juice is better than no juice at all, so don’t let this deter you. Just make sure to put in the fridge and drink within 24 hours if you’re not drinking as soon as you make it. Here’s a great beginner recipe if you’re just getting your feet wet:

Keri’s Beginner Greens Juice

● ½ head of romaine lettuce
● ½ cucumber
● ½ cup spinach leaves
● 1 green apple

Clean all produce well. Toss in the juicer in order and drink immediately.

2) Get your smoothie on. If you don’t have any more room on your kitchen counter for yet another appliance, then your handy blender is waiting for you to let it make a smoothie. A blender can’t separate the pulp from the juice, which is why by definition smoothies are thicker and well, smoother. The smoothie crowd is just as cool as the green juice crowd, and some would even argue smoothies are even healthier than juices because of that pulp stuff I mentioned.

My formula for the perfect smoothie is incredibly simple … 1 cup milk (cow’s, nut or seed-based milk), 1 fruit, a handful of greens, 1 healthy fat, an extra (call it a flavor wild-card) and protein powder.

One of my fave healthy fats is coconut because it’s loaded with health-promoting properties, flavor and, of course, healthy fats. The fat in coconut is mostly MCTs (medium-chain triglycerides) and although they are a type of saturated fat, they are not the same saturated fat as you’ll get from say fatty meat.

3) Add a green supplement to your drink. Think green juices and smoothies too much work for you? I’ve got you covered. At Life’s Abundance, we’ve created a Greens Blend that is jam-packed to the brim with nutrients. All you have to do is mix with water. Yep, it’s that easy. Add a scoop to water and mix. The Greens Blend is made of organic greens (picked at peak nutrient density) and an organic mushroom blend for overall health. The best part? It doesn’t have that I-just-ate-dirt-from-the-yard taste. It has a yummy, berry flavor. You can add to water, your morning smoothie, baked goods like zucchini muffins or even to yogurt. Most important, just drink up. Greens are the master of the health universe. 


Need A Boost? Try The Delicious Minerals And Antioxidants From Life's Abundance!

Need a boost? This delicious Minerals and Antioxidants is just what I needed to give me a little extra kick to make it through the day after a busy night shift!

Even Carter was up for some after his long night home alone with Daddy!

  Minerals & Antioxidants www.HealthForYouAndPets.com

To order yours today just click here or email me at [email protected] for a sample.

5 Commons Signs Of Mineral Deficiency 

unexplained-aches-and-pains

Don’t take this the wrong way, but chances are that you’re deficient … in minerals. That’s because nearly half of the U.S. population receives less than the daily recommended levels of one or more minerals. Despite awareness campaigns to highlight the critical role minerals play in optimal body function, confusion persists about how to avoid a mineral deficiency and know if you’re affected.

Inadequate mineral intake has become problematic because our food supply simply does not provide the same amounts or variety of minerals that diets did 100 years ago. This is largely because our food is grown in increasingly de-mineralized soils. Plus, the more that we rely on processed food (even if it’s fortified), the fewer minerals we ultimately consume.

Other factors affecting mineral levels include pregnancy, dehydration-causing illnesses like those involving vomiting or diarrhea, and more serious medical conditions such as kidney disease. Certain medications and alcohol consumption are also common causes of reduced mineral absorption. For these reasons, in the U.S. nearly a quarter of all of dietary supplements are purchased based on a physician’s recommendation.

tired-at-work

That covers a lot of territory. So, how do you know which column you’re in – adequate or deficient? To help you make a determination, here are the top five most common signs of mineral deficiency and their underlying culprits:

1. Low energy or fatigue: If you’ve been waking up tired, relying on an extra cup of coffee, or generally wondering where the pep in your step has gone, it may be a sign that you are low in magnesium, calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, sodium, selenium, copper or chromium.

2. Aches and pains: If your limbs feel a bit wobbly after walking a flight of stairs, you are experiencing leg cramps or have unexplained joint or bone pain, you may have low levels of magnesium, calcium, potassium, sodium or manganese.

3. Emotional or cognitive symptoms: Inadequate magnesium, iron, potassium, sodium, zinc or chromium contribute to irritability, confusion, brain fog, mood swings and even anxiety. Be aware that women’s mineral stores are regularly depleted. Experimenting with supplementation during ovulation can be a means to help with menstrual symptoms of an upcoming cycle.

4. Tummy trouble: We commonly associate bloating, gas, nausea, stomach cramps and diarrhea with food sensitivity, but low levels of potassium, sodium, zinc and magnesium can also lead to these same gastric issues.

5. Visible changes in your appearance: Calcium, iron, sulfur, zinc and copper all support the integumentary system which is the protective grouping that involves hair, skin and nails. The development of brittle, course or thinning hair, pale skin or brittle, yellow or spotted nails can all point to a long-running deficiency in one or more of these minerals.

brittle-hair

For precise information and advice on your mineral levels, talk to your doctor about adding these tests as part of your annual physical. If the results indicate a deficiency, be aware that even with supplementation and diet improvements, it may take up to a year to fully reverse depletions such that a blood test can confirm. That being said, your efforts will surely be rewarded!

To add a steady source of minerals to your diet without investing in half a dozen costly supplements, look for one product that provides a wide array of these life-sustaining substances. Life’s Abundance Minerals & Antioxidants drink mix fits that bill, containing 74 trace minerals including calcium and magnesium that have been sustainably sourced from sea vegetables. Plus, this product features a wealth of antioxidants from 11 super fruits and alkalizing, electrolyte-rich organic coconut water. This formula features aloe vera powder which provides a source of digestive enzymes to help maximize the product’s benefit. Plus, it’s absolutely delicious, which makes Minerals & Antioxidants a dream solution to give the entire family what they’ve been missing.


Carter's Pediatritian Is Dr Darcy Lesniak And We're Featured In Her Video

It's Carter's Corner time! Carter is my adorable now 4 month son and we recently went to visit our favorite Pediatritian, Dr. Darcy Lesniak. Dr. Darcy is a pediatrician with Columbia St. Mary's Community Physician Group in Germantown, Wisconsin. We are very excited that she included me and Carter in her well baby video! 

If you are seeking a pediatrician in the Germantown, WI area, please call 414-332-DOCS (3627) to schedule an appointment with Dr. Darcy Lesniak! You and your baby will be glad you did!