Here are some great snack foods to grab on a moments notice:
*Apples, bananas, oranges, etc. always come prepackaged and, if on hand, can be quickly added to any lunch box or basket.
*Raw nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pine nuts, cashews are great snack nibblers.
*Trail mixes consisting of raw nuts and dried fruits can come in a variety of combinations, always yummy to snack on.
*Fruits leather (real, no added sugar), dried fruit snacks and such (which should be just fruit) are also great to have.
*Popcorn can be popped for a great treat.  Hot air popped corn is best (avoid micro-waved corn for many reasons). If popped with hot air, it is much lower in calories, and won’t have near as much fat or salt added as other methods.
*Whole grain crackers with healthy veggie dips and spreads are a great snack to take along.
Don’t forget all the wonderful fresh cut veggies with dips, hummus, etc. Veggie platters and dip is always a great party dish to take along and is one of the first things to be consumed. Everyone likes veggies and dips!
Whole grain and live food snack bars are great, containing high nutrition and low calories.  Many market varieties are just the opposite which can be high in sugar, fat, calories, and unhealthy whey protein.
Remember too that you can plan ahead for great snack drinks.  Pure water, raw fruit juices and green drinks are very satisfying in quenching the thirst.

There’s a lot out there that’s just poor foods, but there is so many great foods that provide good nourishment. On-the-foods can be good nutritious ones, we just have to plan and think nutritiously!

Stevia could soon make a dramatic showing in the U.S. market.  You may be surprised to learn where. BUT BEWARE! It’s not all we hoped for.

For several years, Coca Cola and Cargill (one of the world’s largest providers of food and agricultural products) have worked together to develop a Stevia-based sweetener for use as an additive in foods and beverages.  The FDA now allows Stevia as a dietary supplement only, not as a food additive.  The companies may be closer to getting the FDA approval they need to use Stevia in their products.  The brand name will be Truvia™. I would at this point say “be wary” of anything taken from nature and “patented” that just means they have had to  change the product from a naturally occuring substance to be able to patent it.

While widespread use and approval of Stevia is long overdue, there may be cause for concern.  The FDA’s oversight of Stevia as a food additive- like the FDA’s oversight of so many things – may lead to market advantages for those companies that have a lot of lobbying power (like Coca Cola and Cargill).  Coca Cola has already filed 24 patent applications covering Stevia’s use in products ranging from vitamins to cereal.  As a result, the world’s largest beverage maker may be seeking to corner the market on the natural sweetener.

Think of what WalMart has done to local retailers.  We don’t want to see the long-time champions of Stevia left in the dust just when Stevia may reach a tipping point in the marketplace.  Support the natural product companies who have provided us with Stevia for so long through thick and thin.

Stevia is a great product, but stick with the “real thing” (and I don’t mean coke).

STARTING THE SCHOOL YEAR STRONG

As the new school year approaches, parents everywhere are gathering the supplies their kids will need when they head out the door. This fall, arm your kids not just with backpacks but with the nutrition that will help them perform their best.

Nature’s Sunshine has a variety of products designed to help kids stay healthy, happy and ready to learn Highlighted here are a few favorites.

Set Your Child’s Sights on Success with Focus Attention
Focus Attention combines powerful nutrients that help the brain maintain a healthy, balanced level of stimulation. By supplying the brain with the vital nutrients it needs, Focus Attention may help improve your child’s concentration so he or she can thrive at school. Available in capsules and a great-tasting powder drink mix.

Start their Day the Herbasaurs® Way!
Herbasaurs products are designed specifically with kids’ nutritional needs in mind. While mass-market vitamin supplements can be loaded with sugar and other extras kids don’t need, Herbasaurs products are sweetened naturally and contain no artificial colors, flavors, sucrose or starch. So you can feel confident giving them to your kids every day.

Chewable Multiple Vitamins and Minerals
Getting your kids to eat their fruits and veggies might be a struggle, but you’ll never have to beg them to take their vitamins! This great-tasting chewable, naturally sweetened with xylitol, fructose and citrus flavors, contains 12 essential vitamins plus minerals and iron.

Liquid Multiple Vitamins Plus Iron
Recommended for children who prefer a liquid, this formula has a pleasant orange flavor. Each dose equips kids with a full day’s supply of 12 essential vitamins plus iron and zinc.

Chewable Antioxidants with Grapine®
Herbasaurs Antioxidants help young, growing bodies fight the damaging effects of free radicals caused by oxidation, pollutants, the sun and even exercise. Each lemon-lime flavored tablet offers antioxidant protection with beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, Grapine and licorice flavonoid extract.

Chewable Elderberry Plus
With a host of germs out there just waiting to be shared, it’s nice to know you can strengthen your child’s defenses before sending him or her off to school each day. Chewable Elderberry Plus contains elderberry, reishi mushroom and astragalus for immune and respiratory system support—in a great-tasting lemon-lime Dinotab®.

Great Taste Makes Vitamin C an Easy Pill for Kids to Swallow
Kids and adults alike can enjoy the protective benefits of Vitamin C. Nature’s Sunshine chewable wafers are made with vitamin C and whole orange juice, along with rose hips, orange and natural lemon-lime flavor. Each tablet delivers 410 percent of the Daily Value to keep kids’ immune systems strong.

Keep Kids’ Digestive Systems in Balance with L. Reuteri
A healthy intestinal tract is home to billions of delicate microorganisms that aid in the digestion process. Stress, environmental conditions and antibiotics can destroy them, but NSP probiotics—including L. Reuteri—help repopulate these tiny friends. This strain of friendly flora is chewable, suitable for young children and requires no refrigeration—making it a great choice both for travel and daily use at home.

Herbasaurs Homeopathic Medicines—Perfect for What Ails Your Little Ones
Nature’s Sunshine offers many products designed to keep your kids healthy. But even with a strong line of defense, there are still times when your little ones get sick. Herbasaurs Homeopathic Medicines help them recover fast.

Cold
Herbasaurs Cold offers relief of symptoms of minor colds, including runny nose, sneezing, headache and minor sore throat pain.

Cough Syrup
Herbasaurs Cough Syrup affords relief from coughs due to common colds or minor throat and bronchial irritation.

Teething
Herbasaurs Teething formula offers temporary relief of minor gum soreness due to teething in infants and children.

Bedwetting
Herbasaurs Bedwetting is a natural homeopathic medicine to assist a child’s body in overcoming nighttime bedwetting.

Calming
Herbasaurs Calming aids children experiencing restless sleep, fussiness and irritability accompanying minor illness and teething.

Stock up on the best back-to-school supplies around—quality supplements from Nature’s Sunshine. you can order at www.mynsp.com/shari

Studies have linked pesticides to an astounding array of health problems including:

*     Cancer
*     Fertility problems
*     Brain tumors
*     Childhood leukemia
*     Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
*     Birth defects
*     Irritation to skin and eyes
*     Hormone or endocrine system problems
*     Nervous system damage

Those especially at risk from pesticides are children, whose bodies are still developing, along with pregnant women, whose unborn children are extremely susceptible to damage from these toxic chemicals.

Even low levels of pesticides, consumed over time, can be problematic. A study in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, for instance, found that people who had been exposed to low levels of pesticides were 1.13 times as likely to have Parkinson’s disease as those who had never been exposed.

And if you eat produce, there’s a good chance you’re being exposed. According to Hazardous Pesticides in the European Parliament, released October 2007, the eight food samples they tested, which ranged from oranges to strawberries to grapes, contained 28 different pesticide residues, with an average of almost five per fruit.

The pesticides included:

*      10 known carcinogens
*      3 neurotoxins
*      3 reproductive or developmental toxins
*      8 suspected endocrine disrupters
*      2 contaminants classified as “Highly Hazardous” by the World Health Organization

Three of the eight food samples contained pesticide residues so high they were technically illegal to sell, and the oranges contained illegally high levels of imazalil, a carcinogen. By eating just one orange, a 5-year-old would receive 70 percent of the “Acute Reference Dose” for that chemical.

Fortunately, the amount of pesticides you consume is something you can take control of.

How Can You Stop Consuming Pesticides?

There are numerous ways to make sure that the food you and your family depend on is as pesticide- and herbicide-free as possible. The top tips include:

1.      Choose organic produce and animal products (dairy, eggs, meat). By definition, organic producers must “abstain from the application of prohibited materials (including synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and sewage sludge) for 3 years prior to certification and then continually throughout their organic license.”
2.      Wash your produce thoroughly using a high-quality veggie wash. Contrary to popular belief, simply washing with water and peeling fruit and vegetables is not enough to protect yourself and your family from pesticides. It will reduce the levels somewhat, but it will not eliminate them.
3.      If you can’t buy organic, choose the least contaminated produce. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a not-for-profit environmental research organization, by avoiding the most-contaminated produce out there, and concentrating on the least contaminated instead, you can reduce your exposure to pesticides by almost 90 percent. (click here for a list of the 20 most contaminated and 20 least contaminated pesticides.)
4.      Choose organic varieties of other foods as well. Pesticide use usually centers on produce, but some studies have found wine, bread, wheat and flour products (such as pasta, pizza, cookies, cereal, and more) to contain high levels of pesticides as well.
5.      Make sure your water is pesticide-free. DEET, a chemical found in insect repellants, has been found in some drinking water supplies. The U.S. government doesn’t have standards for DEET in your water, so to find out if your water is safe you can have it independently tested to find out what, if any, contaminants exist.

Once you implement these tips, you may be wondering, will it really make an impact? According to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives, yes!

When kids switched from conventional food to organic food, their levels of pesticides became undetectable within eight to 36 hours.

“Once you switch from conventional food to organic, the pesticides (malathion and chlorpyrifos) that we can measure in the urine disappears. The level returns immediately when you go back to the conventional diets,” said Chensheng Lu, the lead author of the study and a professor at Emory University’s School of Public Health.

The 20 Fruits and Veggies With the MOST Pesticides

These are the ones that you should always buy organic, if possible. If you do buy conventional versions of the following produce, please be sure to wash them thoroughly (organic produce, of course, should also be washed just in case). These are ranked in order by EWG, with the worst of the bunch, peaches, at #1.

1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Sweet Bell Peppers
4. Celery
5. Nectarines
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Pears
9. Grapes (Imported)
10. Spinach
11. Lettuce
12. Potatoes
13. Carrots
14. Green Beans
15. Hot Peppers
16. Cucumbers
17. Raspberries
18. Plums
19. Grapes (Domestic)
20. Oranges

The 20 Fruits and Veggies With the LEAST Amount of Pesticides

According to EWG, the following produce has the lowest pesticide load, ranked in order with the produce with the absolute lowest pesticides first.

1. Onion
2. Avocado
3. Sweet corn (Frozen)
4. Pineapples
5. Mango
6. Asparagus
7. Sweet peas (Frozen)
8. Kiwi
9. Bananas
10. Cabbage
11. Broccoli
12. Papaya
13. Blueberries
14. Cauliflower
15. Winter Squash
16. Watermelon
17. Sweet potatoes
18. Tomatoes
19. Honeydew melon
20. Cantaloupe

Just one can of the popular stimulant energy drink Red Bull can increase your risk of heart attack or stroke. The effect was seen even in young people.

The caffeine-loaded beverage causes blood to become sticky, a pre-cursor to cardiovascular problems such as stroke.

One hour after drinking Red Bull, your blood system becomes abnormal, as might be expected from a patient with cardiovascular disease.

Red Bull is banned in Norway, Uruguay and Denmark because of health risks.

The price of food is continuing to rise along with the price of gas.  Whole Foods is reporting a decline in profits.  You know things have gotten out of hand when the Wall Street Journal reports that corn has gotten so expensive that feedlot cattle ranchers are feeding their cows leftover potato chips and M+M’s.

Click here for the news cast of this amazing information!

The good news is that there are many foods that are delicious and really good for your health that are good for your bank account and better for the planet than M&M hamburgers!

Here are some tips to help you save some money and support your health:

Buy in bulk This simple green practice is an easy place to start. The cost per unit is often cheaper than buying normal or single serving items. Buy a quart of yogurt instead of 8 oz. containers. Steel cut oats from the bulk aisle will save you loads over the pre-packaged variety.

Eat more plant based meals. I’m not saying you have to become a vegetarian or vegan if that’s not your thing. But it’s really easy to make one night of the week veg. options only. Devote one day a week to plant based foods to save your wallet, waistline and the planet.

Grow your own! There is still time to plant a fall garden.   An added bonus: Get your kids involved with this outdoor activity and your picky eater problems will diminish significantly.