by Heather Ferber | Sep 21, 2019 | Back to School, Busy Mom Kitchen Tips, Eating for Energy, General Health, Nutrition, Peds Health |
Children all over the US have a week or more of classes under their belts, parents are appreciating the return to structured days, but some parents are already beginning to stress about packing lunches. No need to panic! Packing healthy, delicious school lunches can simple and enjoyable with a few tips from Heather Ferber of Better Health By Heather.
- Get the right supplies – a festive lunch box goes a long way in making healthy school lunches a lot of fun. Planet Box and UKonserve are two of my favorite brands that make high quality, durable, ecofriendly modular food containers that are easy to transport and clean.
- Plan ahead – Take a few minutes every week or two to map our favorite ideas and make sure the ingredients are stocked in your fridge. Map it out on paper, write or print it out, and hang in the kitchen. All you need is a list of 15 lunch options and that gives you three weeks of ideas that you can rotate for months!
- Fat/Fiber/Protein – Each meal should incorporate these three nutritional components to help balance your child’s blood sugars and help them stay focused, energized and satiated until the school bell rings around 3pm.
- Maximize Dinner Leftovers – Bust out of the sandwich rut by using your dinner leftovers and popping them into wraps or over rice. Think about creating a “bowl” concept with a protein, a few veggies and your child’s favorite carb (i.e. brown rice, potatoes, or corn)
- Make It Fun! – Get your children involved in the preparation and creative process. Engage them with vibrant colors, fun shapes, and silly lunch box love notes. The time you spend together in the kitchen is perfect for chatting, listening to music and evening practicing a few dance moves.
Simple, Delicious & Nutritious Lunch Ideas:
- Wraps
- Burritos/Bowls
- Quesadillas
- Cheese/meat/cracker/veggie tray
- Soups
Healthier Packaged Snacks:
- KIND Bars & Lara Bars
- Organic jerky
- Wholly Guacamole & non GMO corn chips
- Seven Seeds Greek Almond Spread & Veggies
- Organic Valley cheese sticks & cauliflower cheese chips (From the Ground Up)
- Wild Planet Tuna packets
- Made in Nature Supersnacks
- Quinoa quick meal (Kitchen & Love)
- Jicama chips
- Mama Chia Pods
- Nut Butter packets
- Popcorn
BHBH School Lunch Favorites:
- Chicken salad in sprouted or spelt wraps
- BLTA – bacon, lettuce/spinach, tomato, avocado wraps
- Egg, bean, cheese & veggies burritos (pre-make and freeze)
- Chicken/brown rice/broccoli bowl
- Salmon/quinoa/celery/onion bowl
- White bean chili
- Dinner leftovers!
Make your children simple, healthy school lunches!
by Heather Ferber | Sep 17, 2018 | Back to School, Busy Mom Kitchen Tips, Eating for Energy, General Health |
It’s back to school time for children all over Southeastern Wisconsin. Many parents are looking forward to the return of structured days, but some are panicking about packing healthy school lunches for the next 9 months. Here are a few of my thoughts on packing nutritious, delicious and easy healthy school lunches.
Heather’s Tips for Packing Healthy Lunches:
- Get the right supplies – A festive lunch box and colorful containers go a long way in making healthy school lunches fun!
- Plan ahead – Take a few minutes every week or two to map out favorite lunch ideas and make sure the ingredients are stocked in your fridge before Monday. All you really need is a list of 15 lunch options and that gives your 3 weeks of ideas. Rotate that and you can be set for months!
- Make it fun for your kids! Yes, kiddos just want to have fun. Get them involved in the preparation process or cut fun shapes, make fun colors, or write silly lunch box love notes to keep them engaged and looking forward to the lunch prep process.
- Fat/Fiber/Protein with each meal – A lunch comprised of these three components will help your student stay focused, energized and satiated.
- Maximize Dinner Leftovers – Need to bust out of the sandwich rut? Use your dinner leftovers to create an easy to-go lunch the next day.
Heather’s Favorite Fun Containers:
- Yumbox Bento Boxes – leakproof, colorful, compact containers that are easy to open and make food fun!
- U Konserve Stainless Containers – eco friendly, colorful stainless containers in a wide variety of sizes
- Lunchbots – make healthy fuel fun with a wide variety of stainless containers and thermoses
Easy Healthy Lunch Ideas – Make Your Own:
- Wraps/Pinwheels
- Burritos
- Bowls
- Soups
Healthy Packaged Snacks:
- KIND Bars
- Lara Bars
- Organic/hormone free Jerky
- Wholly Guacamole & Organic corn chips
- Hummus & Veggies
- Popcorn
- Fruit & Nut butter packet
- Mama Chia Pods
Some BHBH School Lunch Favorites!
- Chicken Cesar salad wraps
- BLTA wraps – Add the “A” – avocado!
- Bean & Cheese Burritos (these can easily be premade and frozen)
- Egg & Veggie Burritos
- Chicken/Brown rice/Broccoli bowl
- Salmon/Quinoa/Celery/Onion bowl
- Edamame ginger soup
- Chicken veggie quinoa soup
- White bean chili
by Heather Ferber | Aug 30, 2017 | Back to School, Detoxification, Eating for Energy, General Health, Immune System, Nutrition, Skin Care, Weight Management |
Hey busy moms it’s back to school season again! Have you found yourself a bit stressed? More irritable and moody?
There are probably times you just don’t understand where your mood is coming from, and it changes without warning.
Unfortunately, this is a common experience for many women! But fortunately, there are foods that can effectively improve your mood. YAY! Right?!
By simply eating the right foods, you can experience a big difference in your mood and energy level. A diet packed with highly nutritious foods can drastically reduce the symptoms of hormonal imbalance such as mood swings, irritability, depression, acne, and weight gain.
Below is a list of a few of my favorite hormone-balancing foods for women…
Are you familiar with the blue-green algae found in ponds and lakes? Well, turns out, this blue-green gunk, known as spirulina, contains high amounts of magnesium, calcium, and potassium. It is rich in hormone-balancing nutrients, which can help reduce mood problems, cramps, inflammation, and breast tenderness. Ultimately, it can help reduce the risk of blood sugar problems which is one of the root cause of hormonal imbalance.
Cod liver oil is a historically popular remedy for all sorts of stuff, based on it’s nutritional content. Fortunately, the contemporary variety is much tastier than its predecessors! Fermented cod liver oil is rich in essential concentrated hormone-balancing nutrients such as Vitamin A, Vitamin D, and omega 3’s that help address mood problems, depression, inflammation, and fluid balance.
Vitex is also called Chaste Tree Berry, which is a powerful medicinal herb. This is especially ideal for women’s health because it helps produce high progesterone levels. Vitex can help relieve PMS symptoms such as depressed mood, irritability, headache, skin disorder, fatigue, bloating, breast fullness or sleeplessness. Vitex tinctures give you the best results and can be added to herbal teas.
In traditional Chinese medicine, bee pollen is specifically used to increase energy, reduce cravings, improve digestion, and build iron. Bee pollen is considered a complete food and is a great source of proteins and other important nutrients such as folic acid and vitamin B. These nutrients are effective in balancing hormones, improving your mood, and stabilizing weight.
Avocados are great sources of the good fats that are essential for hormone synthesis. The nutrients from avocados help your skin release and circulate the hormones necessary to stay healthy. It is recommended to eat a half an avocado per day to get a beneficial amount of fiber, monounsaturated fatty acids, vitamins C and E, potassium and lutein.
Salmon is good for your brain and heart health. It also balances your hormones because it contains omega-3 fatty acids, which serve as a major building block for hormone synthesis. Its anti-inflammatory properties can help fight skin irritations, including eczema and acne.
To stay healthy as well as balance your hormones, you need to eat the right foods!!!
The foods on this list can produce amazing results!!
Back to school month should be a time of happiness, organization, and new found freedom for moms. Time to take back your health and make mama #1 this month!
Join me for the Love Yourself Fall Detox, kicking off September 28th! Details coming soon on my website.
Heather Ferber is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, AADP who helps busy moms get fresh, focused and energized. She is a detox specialist helping women to rebuild gut health, balance hormones and thrive. She enjoys empowering moms to take back their health and feed their families better with simple, everyday advice and suggestions that can be easily integrated into today’s modern family’s hectic lives. You can find her on Fox 6 Real MKE once a month, speaking and teaching classes in the community, cooking in her kitchen for family and friends, playing her piano to relax, or out running with the family dog.
by Heather Ferber | Aug 25, 2017 | Back to School, Busy Mom Kitchen Tips, Eating for Energy, General Health, Nutrition, Peds Health |
Between school supply shopping and last minute summer adventures, it’s also time to think about back to school lunches.
They don’t need to be complicated and pinterest worthy – just simple, delicious and nutritious.
I popped into Fox 6 Real MKE earlier this week to put a healthier spin on two lunch favorites – chicken salad and burritos!
Easy Chicken Salad Wraps
Serves 2
1 cooked chicken breast, chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon taco seasoning
2 whole wheat or sprouted wraps (or lettuce wraps)
1 cup brown rice, already cooked
1/3 cucumber, cut in matchsticks
¼ cup red onion, chopped
½ avocado, sliced
fresh lime
¼ cheese, optional
In a mid size pan, over medium heat, sauté chicken breast in teaspoon of olive oil with the taco seasoning until blended. Set out wrap and layer it with chicken, rice, cucumber, onion, and avocado. Add a spritz of fresh lime and cheese if desired. Roll up wrap. Enjoy!
Two middle schooler’s and a fourth grader! WOWZA! Where did the summer go?!
Easy Chicken Mason Jar Burrito Bowl
Serves 2 – Use 16 ounce mason jars
½ cup salsa
½ cup black beans
½ cup corn
1 cup cooked brown rice
fresh lime
cilantro
¼ cup red onion, chopped
1 cup cooked chicken, chopped
½ cup tomatoes, chopped
½ avocado, chopped
½ cup spinach
Divide ingredients between two 16 ounce (pint size) mason jars. Layer ingredients as listed: salsa, black beans, corn, rice, fresh lime juice, cilantro, onion, chicken, tomatoes, avocado, and spinach. Put lid on jar and place in fridge. When ready to eat, pour into a bowl, mix and enjoy!
Good luck to all the mama’s out there that are sending their babies back to school this week and next. I LOVE summer and it’s always tough to see this special time with my kiddos come to an end. But I’m also grateful for some time to focus on myself and my own personal health and wellness goals.
Coming soon! The details regarding my next fall detox program (all new recipes!) as well as my first 28 day, Whole New You program.
Heather Ferber is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, AADP who helps busy moms get fresh, focused and energized. She is a detox specialist helping women to rebuild gut health, balance hormones and thrive. She enjoys empowering moms to take back their health and feed their families better with simple, everyday advice and suggestions that can be easily integrated into today’s modern family’s hectic lives. You can find her on Fox 6 Real MKE once a month, speaking and teaching classes in the community, cooking in her kitchen for family and friends, playing her piano to relax, or out running with the family dog.
by Heather Ferber | Mar 15, 2017 | Back to School, Eating for Energy, General Health, Nutrition, Peds Health |
Two of my most frequently asked questions when working with clients are “What do you snack on?” and “What do your kiddos snack on?”
It’s time to write a blog post about snacks! YAY! And I’m going to break it down a bit for you into snacks I love during detox, snacks I love OUT of detox, and snacks my kiddos love. This will give you some great suggestions to try at your house!
DETOX SNACKS -for during detox time
- Smoothies
- Juices
- Small green apple, half green banana, or a cutie topped with sunbutter
- Wholly Guacamole topped with fresh lime juice, garlic and cilantro and plantain chips or Flackers
- Chia Pods – vanilla and blueberry are my fav. You can find at Whole Foods and other healthy grocers
- Coconut/Almond Milk Yogurt – topped with a few berries and hemp seeds
- Veggie crudités – carrots, celery, radish, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers
- Go Raw Sprouted Seeds – lots of flavors and options!
- Go Raw Sprouted Cookies – yes there are cookies for detox!
- Homemade Trail Mix – sunflower/hemp/chia/flax seeds with coconut flakes, goji berries or golden berries with a few pieces of other dried (unsweetened fruits) mixed in or 70% dark chocolate pieces or cacao nibs
- Superseedz – a fantastic mix of flavored pumpkin seeds from salty to savory to sweet
- Dark Chocolate – 70% or above
- Homemade Bone Broth – see my recipe here and watch me make it here
- Energy Orbs/Protein Balls/Whatever you want to call them – there are a million and one different recipes for these types of energy orbs. I always have a few of them included in my detox programs because they are so simple to make and taste delicious. You can usually freeze them too! Detox approved energy orbs would be grain free/dairy free/soy free/nut free/processed anything free and have only fruit sugar to sweeten them.
OTHER MOM SNACKS – out of detox
- Anything listed on the detox list
- Black bean dip with crudités or plantain chips
- Healthier bars – KIND bars (lower sugar ones), Chia Seed bars, or GoRaw bars (higher in sugar though)
- Justin’s Almond Butter packets – throw them on a small piece of fruit. YUM!
- Tanka Bars – apple/orange peel or spicy pepper are cleaner options
- Hail Merry – dark chocolate macaroon bites. Be careful! They are addictive. Even my kiddos like them and they are $$$$$ (I love the vanilla ones too!)
- Raw/Sprouted nuts – my favs are almonds, pecans, walnuts, cashews, macadamia, and pistachios (never met a nut I didn’t like)
- Dang Toasted Coconut Flakes – chili lime are awesome! Watch out for the sweeter ones – they have a lot of added sugar
- Navitas – coconut chips and superfood bars – wide variety!
- Salsa – with nonGMO corn chips or plantain chips
- KeVita’s! An entire line of sparkling probiotic beverages that are delicious!
KID SNACKS
- EVERYTHING you see LISTED ABOVE…plus….
- Steel cut oats – topped with a hint of honey or fruit
- Organic yogurt – I mostly buy Stoneyfield and Siggi’s (not certified organic)
- Fried egg with slice of sprouted toast – Angelic Bakehouse is our family favorite
- Homemade nachos – organic corn chips with cheese and veggies
- Organic stove popped popcorn with sea salt and nutritional yeast. And yes, sometimes organic butter – YUM!
- Black Bean Brownies – yes! My kiddos love them as they are delicious! Here’s my recipe.
- Homemade muffins and breads. Lots of clean eating recipes out there to try. We enjoy trying recipes from 100 Days of Whole Foods and the 52 New Food Challenge.
- Organic turkey jerky or beef jerky – I’m not so much a fan but my kids do enjoy it.
Please feel free to share some of the favorite snacks at your house! Love to hear what others enjoy!
Heather Ferber is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, AADP who helps busy moms get fresh, focused and energized. She is a detox specialist helping to rebuild gut health, balance hormones and thrive. She enjoys empowering moms to take back their health and feed their families better with simple, everyday advice and suggestions that can be easily integrated into today’s modern family’s hectic lives. You can find her on Fox 6 Real MKE once a month, speaking and teaching classes in the community, cooking in her kitchen for family and friends, playing her piano to relax, or out running with the family dog.
by Heather Ferber | Aug 30, 2015 | Back to School, Busy Mom Kitchen Tips, Eating for Energy, General Health, Nutrition, Peds Health |
Well, we are already one week into our school routine at my house. WOOT! WOOT! Such a great feeling to be crossing a few items of my to-do list, getting my workouts in regularly, and having more time to blog
Our summer vacation was filled with tons of fun and limited structure…so after about 70 days of that we were ready to get back into more of a routine where we all enjoyed a little bit of time away from each other. Good thing summer break was only 80 days.
Of course, back to school time means making lunches and organizing daily snacks. Wanted to take this opportunity to share a few of my favorite snacks with you, both fresh and packaged items. While ideally, I’d love to say I’m giving my children whole food snacks 100% of the time, I’m not. I’m pretty much an 80/20 mom who does my best to be fantastic 80% of the time and then I don’t sweat the other 20%.
Here’s what you can usually find around my house for snacks:
- Veggies & Hummus – chop a variety of veggies at the beginning of the week and have them ready to take on the run. My favorites include carrots, celery, peppers of all colors, radishes, peapods, snap peas, broccoli, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, jicama
- Fresh Fruits – nothing better than nature’s sugar – apple, orange, banana, pear, peach, cherries, berries of any kind, dates and figs – nature’s candy!
- Trail mix (Make Your Own) – blend a variety of raw/soaked/sprouted/roasted nuts such as walnuts, cashews, almonds, pistachios with seeds such as pumpkin/pepita, non GMO sunflower, chia, and flax along with a few pieces of dried fruit. Store in a glass mason jar and have ready to take at a moment’s notice. We each make our own favorite blend at my house and label our jars in the pantry.
- Pumpkin seeds – or other seeds such as sunflower, chia, flax – they can be flavored and roasted many different ways. Or check out Eden Foods Organic to simplify your life.
- KIND Bars – look for lower sugar and all ingredients you can pronounce
- Panda licorice – still lots of sugar but a much cleaner “candy” ingredient list with molasses, wheat flour, raspberry puree, citric acid, natural flavor, black carrot juice, licorice extract.
- Nut butter packets/nut butter – Justin’s, Wild Friends, Organic MaraNatha, or Dr. Dave’s if you are local
- Non-GMO popcorn – Skinnypop is a Non-GMO brand
- Dark chocolate – aim to get to 70% or greater. Break up small pieces and add to your trail mix or yogurt on the go
- Organic String Cheese – yes, I do buy organic cheese at my house. Due to budget, this has forced us to use cheese as a condiment and occasional snack versus an everyday staple. Costco sells big bags of organic string cheese at a good price.
- Organic plain yogurt – again, not a daily indulgence but easy to take on the go and top with our favorite berries, nuts, seeds and dark chocolate for flavoring.
- Smoothies! – the perfect option to create a simple meal on the run. Combine a healthy protein, fat and fiber, and blend it up with your favorite greens and a bit of fruit and you have an energizing meal or snack to take with you. If you have not attended one of my Ultimate Green Smoothie classes, contact me! It’s a wealth of information and we have fun while tasting delicious smoothies. The products I use for smoothies that my kiddos and I both love can be found at http://www.mygsglife.com/heatherferber/ Contact me if you need help with an order.
TIP: Prepackaged items mentioned here can be found on Amazon, and locally at Woodman’s, Health Hut, and Whole Foods.
Good luck to many of you as you get your kiddos back to school this week!
Think about making healthier choices for your children and yourself. XO
